A Bread Thread

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Almanac Move Me Brettly beer bread, 2/3 cup beer of 1 2/3 total into 4 cup white 1tbl sugar, 2tea instant yeast, 1tea seasalt, rolled into 1/2 cup wheat.. simple. The last beer was Heretic Tangerine Tornado, both have been tasty, toasted even better! From CKTG the Kohetsu 1k6 Bread knife 240mm which is awesome going through the crust.. Now if only I can get someone to hook me up with some Kreuzberg beer from the monastery...

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ssend said:
Question for all you bakers of crusty loaves: you got a favorite bread knife?
Thanks!
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I just use a gyuto because it's easy to resharpen - my serrated knife only gets used for soft rye bread.
 
Our Son and his girlfriend are coming to visit this weekend. He texted me that he would like to have some of the seeded whole wheat bread that my Wife likes. He also said his girlfriend prefers the white bread I like. So today I baked one of each plus some rolls because - why not? ;)
 

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ssend said:
Question for all you bakers of crusty loaves: you got a favorite bread knife?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I’ve got a MAC MSB-105, which does great on a denser rye bread with a hard crust but moist crumb. It’s also effortlessly good for a horizontal cake split when needed for a Schwarzwälder kirschtorte.
The scolloped serrations seem to reduce tearing compared with the jagged pointed tooth ones that I’ve tried.
 
ssend said:
Question for all you bakers of crusty loaves: you got a favorite bread knife?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
NameAlreadyTaken said:
The scolloped serrations seem to reduce tearing compared with the jagged pointed tooth ones that I’ve tried.
Click to expand...

Agreed on scalloped serrations versus pointy.

I use a Victorinox stainless that doesn’t leave me wanting for more and is also excellent for tomatoes when you’re making a sarnie.

My job is very busy these days, so I don’t have time to be cranking out units like this guy midweek anymore. 😭

I also forgot how expensive good sourdough is to buy from a bakery until I didn’t have the time to make my own supply.
 

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Ok__mode_6953 said:
Agreed on scalloped serrations versus pointy.

I use a Victorinox stainless that doesn’t leave me wanting for more and is also excellent for tomatoes when you’re making a sarnie.

My job is very busy these days, so I don’t have time to be cranking out units like this guy midweek anymore. 😭

I also forgot how expensive good sourdough is to buy from a bakery until I didn’t have the time to make my own supply.
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Nice looking loaves!

I run a little bakery, and we've just decided to open a shop.. and we were thinking of offering bread knives to interested customers. I've enjoyed the Shun Classic, but it's expensive for most folks. I love the idea of just using a gyuto, but to make that work my customers would have to learn to sharpen. And that seems unlikely to happen.
 
Jovidah said:
Victorinox 26 cm pastry knife. Works really well, extra length is nice, and to top it off it's also affordable.
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This is the one I use, it’s a cheap banger.

You can either sharpen it with those mini dowel sharpeners (or an actual bit of dowel with sandpaper wrapped around) for serrated knives, or do what I do and gift the old one to a friend/family member along with a crusty loaf, and get yourself a new one for pennies.

I only feel the need to resharpen/replace mine every two/three years, and I use it for crusty bread every week.

Anecdotally, the only nasty cut I ever got working in a kitchen was from a super dull pointy serrated bread knife.

Instead of cutting me, it completely shredded my finger up. We replaced pointy bread knives with scalloped ones after that :D
 
Ok__mode_6953 said:
This is the one I use, it’s a cheap banger.

You can either sharpen it with those mini dowel sharpeners (or an actual bit of dowel with sandpaper wrapped around) for serrated knives, or do what I do and gift the old one to a friend/family member along with a crusty loaf, and get yourself a new one for pennies.

I only feel the need to resharpen/replace mine every two/three years, and I use it for crusty bread every week.

Anecdotally, the only nasty cut I ever got working in a kitchen was from a super dull pointy serrated bread knife.

Instead of cutting me, it completely shredded my finger up. We replaced pointy bread knives with scalloped ones after that :D
Click to expand...
Ya.. same here. Really painful cut.
 
I think its time I learn to make sourdough. Last time i tried to make a sourdough starter it molded out around the rim.
 
jprugel said:
I think its time I learn to make sourdough. Last time i tried to make a sourdough starter it molded out around the rim.
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It's not hard to do. I've had mine going for nearly four years now. There are plenty of instructions on the net. This one is decent but, really, all you need to do is mix some flour and water (equal amounts by weight), and then replenish it every day by discarding about ⅔ of it and replacing the removed starter with more flour and water at 100% hydration. Do that for a week or so, and you'll have an active starter.

https://foodgeek.dk/en/make-your-own-sourdough-starter-recipe/
Once the starter is established, you need to feed it only once a week. Discard ⅔ of the of the starter each week, and replenish with 100% hydration fresh dough. Let it rise for two or three hours, then stick it in the fridge. It'll survive there quite happily for the entire week. That's basically a maintenance schedule that will keep the starter alive indefinitely. And it keeps it alive at reasonable cost. You need about 50 g of flour per week, which is affordable. If you feed it every day (or even twice a day, as some people suggest), you'll be spending a fortune in flour over a year.

After a while, you may notice that the starter smells a bit like acetone (nail polish). That's normal if you feed it only once a week. Before baking, feed the starter twice, once two days in advance, and a second time one day in advance. That way, you get a nice active and lively starter that doesn't smell like nail polish. Having a really active starter makes a big difference when it comes to baking bread.

When mixing the starter, be sure to stir it vigorously so some air gets mixed into the dough. The yeasts and bacteria need oxygen, so whipping some air into the starter gives them a leg up.

My starter lives in an ordinary glass jar. After a few weeks, the jar gets sort of grotty, with bits of dried dough around the sides. When it starts looking too bad, I just empty out the starter, clean the jar, and put ⅓ starter back into the jar plus, ⅔ of 100% hydration dough.
 
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Michi said:
It's not hard to do. I've had mine going for more nearly four years now. There are plenty of instructions on the net. This one is decent but, really, all you need to do is mix some flour and water (equal amounts by weight), and then replenish it every day by discarding about ⅔ of it and replacing the removed starter with more flour and water at 100% hydration. Do that for a week or so, and you'll have an active starter.

https://foodgeek.dk/en/make-your-own-sourdough-starter-recipe/
Once the starter is established, you need to feed it only once a week. Discard ⅔ of the of the starter each week, and replenish with 100% hydration fresh dough. Let it rise for two or three hours, then stick it in the fridge. It'll survive there quite happily for the entire week. That's basically a maintenance schedule that will keep the starter alive indefinitely. And it keeps it alive at reasonable cost. You need about 50 g of flour per week, which is affordable. If you feed it every day (or even twice a day, as some people suggest), you'll be spending a fortune in flour over a year.

After a while, you may notice that the starter smells a bit like acetone (nail polish). That's normal if you feed it only once a week. Before baking, feed the starter twice, once two days in advance, and a second time one day in advance. That way, you get a nice active and lively starter that doesn't smell like nail polish. Having a really active starter makes a big difference when it comes to baking bread.

When mixing the starter, be sure to stir it vigorously so some air gets mixed into the dough. The yeasts and bacteria need oxygen, so whipping some air into the starter gives them a leg up.

My starter lives in an ordinary glass jar. After a few weeks, the jar gets sort of grotty, with bits of dried dough around the sides. When it starts looking too bad, I just empty out the starter, clean the jar, and put ⅓ starter back into the jar plus, ⅔ of 100% hydration dough.
Click to expand...
I am actually fairly familiar with how to make them, they are easy, I guess people just never add the cleaning part to their guides so I appreciate you adding that in :D
 
ian said:
Are you willing to share more details? What percentages of flours do you use? What’s your autolyze/mixing/stretch&fold/shaping routine? You always get such great spring and shape. I want to emulate it!
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Absolutely I can share deets. These loaves were as follows:

Bread flour 600g (I use ardent mills saskania)
Whole wheat 120g
Kamut flour 80g
Water 710g
Starter 200g
Salt 20g

No autolyse here, never been a fan and the timing just does not work for me. You can check out this video for my mixing and s&f, everything else is a bit different now (I should update it). Shaping is kept simple, just a 3 panel pamphlet fold, roll up, and pinch the ends.

Timing is mix at 6pm, s&f sets every hour 7pm-10pm, divide and preshape at 11pm, final shape and into fridge by midnight (ideally). Bake the morning after next, preheat the Dutch ovens at 630am convection bake 265c, load dough and spritz with water around 705am, bake for 25min with the lid, remove lid and bake for another 10+ until I'm happy with color.
 
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That’s an amazingly good video. Such clear instruction. Really helpful to see the dough develop. When I’ve gone without autolyze, I’ve usually done a really short mix, followed by a rest, and then tried to help along the gluten development later. Maybe I should mix like you do… your dough comes out crazy smooth looking and elastic. Can’t tell if it looks a bit different on vids than in real life, but I think you get a lot more structure than I do, as is evidenced by your great rise.
 
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