I managed to get my starter tripling so I figured it was time to attempt another bake.
It's looking good but not quite right yet. Good ferment/sour notes in it, but the crumb was not as even as I'd like. I was having to do a lot of adjusting of times on the fly and having to go by feel. We are just coming out of a cold snap where I am and the temperature in the house has not been consistent as well as being pretty cold at night in particular.
I mixed 50g of starter with 150g AP flour and 150g water and that sat overnight. But it was not behaving the way I expected and had not doubled after 12 hours so I gave it another couple of hours in the sun. It wasn't looking great so I added 200g flour and 100g water and gave it yet another few hours in the afternoon sun. I then added 800g flour, 580g water and 20g salt after supper. Kneaded it up and let it rise for an hour and a half, then gave it a few letter folds, then let it rise again... It was still really not rising, so I left it for almost 6 hours before I divided and shaped it. Then I popped them into the fridge for an overnight proof and baked them up this morning! Was approx. 36 hours start to finish.
I have been making a starter and it was doing okay i think. I wasn't being very rigid with it, but it was living and smelled amazing. I am currently trying to create bread with it. I have low hopes as of the stage of mixing it into dough as it just seems off but I will update this when I get closer to the end.
A few hours later...
Its not going well, it's dough but there's not much for rising after the initial 12 hr starter rise (bulk rise?) and then a 3 hr regular rise after kneading. Its still a very slack dough as well. Hydration is maybe off? Gah... I hope my next attempt goes better.
Still learning, but this is my favourite kneaded bread so far. I've used this recipe for cinnamon buns and mini loaves as well. It holds shapes really nicely. I have made pumpkins, skulls, snakes, and snails for example with it.
As per my last entry, I was making a 12 hour fermentation no knead bread and my brain for some reason said 24 hours...
So, although it did not get much bigger for the proofing, it did still manage to have a decent crumb considering. The flavour is outstanding, but I'm sure it would have also been amazing after the 12 hours too. Lol so I shall continue this journey and we'll see what happens next time!
I'm making myself a 12 hour fermentation no knead bread and my brain decided it needed 24... I noticed my mistake around hour 23... I should have noticed it earlier as I've been scrambling for hours trying to soften the "rind" that formed during the rise.
I'm soldiering on. But I don't think there will be anything left for the second rise now that I've folded it.
It smells fantastic, but I think it will be small.
