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No Knead Half WW

This is the bread I baked yesterday, using half and half whole wheat and white flour. It barely rose, though got a little oven spring. But it isn't a brick! The flavor is very good and the crumb is nice and soft. I think I overproofed by about 2 hours, but may have the other elements right.

Here's the dough just before going in the oven. The gluten strands on the dough surface didn't hold when I rounded the dough. You can see how torn up it looks. I stopped shaping because I was making it worse with each little stretch. Would the overproofing account for that? Quite a contrast to my last dough pic, isn't it! It's not well-risen, but it passed the finger-stick test, so in the oven it went. I didn't think it would take a free-form bake, so used my 4 quart saucepan for baking it.

Once the dough is losing it like this, is there any way to return it to a nice plump state that holds together? It actually has risen some in the colander since I shaped and placed the dough there, but the dough seemed rather torn up, and further rounding was just making it worse.

I should clarify that the overproofing seemed to be in the 18 hour stage.  The dough seemed a bit liquid in the center when I dumped it out on the board. 

Here are the exact ingredients used, with the standard NYT Jim Leahy method

215 grams KA white whole wheat flour

215 grams all purpose flour - GoldMedal

1.5 tsp. salt

.25 tsp. yeast

1.5 Tbsp. gluten

1/8 tsp. Vitamin C crystals

1 3/4 cup water

I would like to compare notes on starter maintenance routines. Hopefully others would find this interesting as well.

To best understand each starter, please include the following if you post your starter information.

• Hydration (water as a percent of total flour in the starter)
• Feeding ratios used, fermentation times, temperatures used (please specify how the feeding ratio is measured, e.g. by weight or volume)
  • When storing
  • When refreshing in anticipation of a baking session
• Type of flour used
• Refrigeration or other storage methods
• Any other interesting aspects of the starter

It doesn't matter what kind of starter you have. I'm just interested in collecting as many examples as possible in as much detail as possible. Anyone who has done this for a little while discovers a routine that works, so please share it if you have a moment. I'm guessing that the range of hydrations, feeding ratios, flour types, temperatures, and other aspects of these routines vary over a huge range.

I'm doing this as a blog entry, so we don't clutter the front page with too much detailed starter discussion.

Bill

Not a great success, which is frustrating as I did everything by the book - kept dashing back to check at each step. As I mentioned, the dough was great to work with and I had great hopes, but in the end there was practically no oven spring. The bread tasted good and the crust had the pretty "freckles", but there weren't many holes. My only thought is that I overproofed the loaves - I let them sit for 4 hours after coming out of the frig because that is what PR suggested. I had made batards and they rose nicely and didn't collapse when I slashed them. I would REALLY appreciate any comments from you more experienced bakers. By the way, I just checked out the Breadtopia site and Eric offers a spelt no knead recipe. Something else to try - no wonder my poor old brain is mithering, A

Here's the dough ready for the oven. I like wheat bran for keeping the towel from sticking to the dough.

Here's the loaf just dumped out on the 13" stone. This picture is taken through the oven door.

Here's the finished loaf. You can just see my new dough scraper propped on the cooling rack behind the bread. It measures the bread at nearly 5" high! The crust is definitely browner than I would like.

And last of all, the inside.

What I've changed since first loaves -
- I weigh out 430 grams of flour instead of measuring 3 cups. Apparently I was measuring lighter cups than Jim Lahey, as this looks more like bread dough, and not like a think pancake batter!
- I learned how to stretch and fold, using the envelope fold
- I use very little flour for the fold and rounding process. Of course this is easier, now that I have the correct amount in there to start with!
- This is the first loaf I've raised in a colander, instead of on a flat surface. I'm not sure that really made a difference, as the dough was so different by the time I placed it in the colander.
- This was also the first loaf I've baked directly on a stone, instead of in a pot. It's a good thing I decided to do that, because by the time the loaf was ready to go in the oven, it was obvious it wouldn't fit in the 4 quart pot I'd been using.
- Since I didn't have time for an 18 hour rise, I started with 90'F water instead of the 70'F I usually use.
- It was baked for about 10 minutes less time. I think my oven isn't regulating very well. 10 minutes before time to check the bread, I could smell it burning and took it out of the oven.

How the Bread was Better -
- Nice crisp crust, (had been a bit tough). I even heard that nice crackling sound as the crust cracked when I removed it from the oven!
- Much larger loaf
- The flavor was very good, though I'm not sure how the it compared to the last few loaves. We took it to a friend's house for dinner. Between the other food and the conversation, I didn't pay enough attention. I did find out it's surprisingly good with guacamole! The flavor is better than my very first NYT loaves, but even they were incredibly good. This is just a very easy method that also produces a very good loaf of bread. It's also whet my appetite for doing other types of bread.

Sourdough pancakes with fresh local strawberries, Red Beans and Rice with corn bread muffins and honey butter, pita bread with hummus and tabouli, and cinnamon rolls and a pot of hot coffee on a cloudy afternoon. Yup, we ate well this weekend. Nothing new or experimental, just good ol' home cookin'.

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to find a sandwich bread that my son will eat, other than white bread. This week, I made some Cornell bread straight from the Cornell University site. I like the idea of it because it has extra protein in the form of soy flour, dry milk, and wheat germ -- the three ingredients you have to have if you call it Cornell bread. I substituted whole wheat flour for 1/3 of the total amount; otherwise, I followed the recipe.

The dough remained a bit sticky even after shaping, and it didn't rise to great heights. But it has a mildly sweet flavor from the honey, and a moist texture. My son still won't eat the crusts, though! I've never offered to cut crusts off his bread, so I don't know where he came up with that. I just tell him it's the handle of the bread.

The recipe wants a 400F degree oven, which, midway through, I lowered about 50 degrees. I think you shouldn't have to use a temp. higher than 375F for this bread. All in all, it's pretty nice, and I'll probably make it again...after I make the 172 other breads on my 'to bake' list!

Sue

Hi Katie, my dough was great so I guess I didn't goof too much with the amount of starter. It had doubled in 2 1/2 hours and was so nice to work with. I decided to leave the loaves in the frig overnight and there they sit, snugly held in place with parchment and rolled towels. It will be REALLY hard for me to let them sit for 4 hours before baking but I will try to be patient. I am so thrilled with my near-disaster bread too - it keeps fresh, and I seem to remember reading somewhere that using a preferment is the reason. I'm hooked! Can I mention the Brummie words? My mom was fond of saying that someone "had a bob on themselves" which meant they throught they were hot stuff. She was so determined that we wouldn't get big headed and she said that "all my grandmother's geese were swans" meaning that Nana thought her family could do no wrong. So we were never praised, rather sad. Oh well, many years ago, but it is fun to look up some of the sayings. I will TRY to take pictures if the bread turns out as well as I hope, A

Fresh Labneh +zaatar

Fresh Labneh+Cheddar Cheese

Qashta"fresh cream" +honey

Feta Cheese+dried mint

http://arabicbites.blogspot.com/

Katie, I was so anxious to try using my starter instead of the barm - and already I have a question. My 4oz. of starter was less than 2/3cups. Do you think it was because my starter was revved up and more liquid? I sorta kinda split the difference and went ahead anyway - I'll let you know what happens. I am also fretting a bit about "firm French bread dough" because I have never made French bread and don't really know how firm it should be. I see PR says tacky but not sticky. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Thanks for your help, A

Weavershouse, you've blown my cover! I was born in a small place outside "Brummagam" and had no idea anyone over here would know about Brummie slang. My mother used to do what we called bread and scrape - she would spread butter VERY THINLY on the cut end of the loaf before slicing it. Guess that came from the butter being rationed during the war. Of course I had to Google the site you mentioned and sat here laughing out loud to the amazement of Boo the one eyed pug. Now she thinks I'm over the edge too like my son in Paso Robles, CA. I was relating the tale of the almost disaster to him and he pointed out that it is only bread. He is the one I sent some of my sourdough starter to, and whenever we talk I ask if he has fed it recently. He has had some success but seems to think he has to adopt a tough attitude about it - probably doesn't want to end up as obsessed as his mama. Off to take the recycling, no time to read all of the Brummie sayings. A