hmcinorganic's blog

Kaiser rolls after a long haitus

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I have been focusing on sourdough to the exclusion of all other breadmaking since May.  I finally decided to make Kaiser Rolls from "bread baker's apprentice." by Reinhart.  This is the first recipe I made when I started trying to become a better "artisan" baker.  We spent a month in Austria in 2006 and loved the bread over there so much that I got this cookbook.  I picked it because of the many good shaping pictures.  I knew I could make good tasting bread but I wanted to move on in my technique to well-shaped bread too.

exploding loaves!

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uh oh!  this happened again!  As usual, my timing for baking was way off.  I tried to fit breadmaking into a very busy day.  Same batch as usual, 123 sourdough with 1/3 of the flour being whole wheat.  I took the dough from the fridge and divided it into 3 batards.  Let rest 20 minutes and shaped into 3 baguettes.  scored with slashes.  The "porcupine" loaf was cut by my 5-y-o daughter. and that one split up the side;  whoops.  I don't think I sealed them well enough, and the porcupine cuts aren't deep enough.

1/3 whole wheat sourdough loaves

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I haven't made bread in a while;  busy at work and home.  I've been keeping my starter going so yesterday I had some time and threw together my "9's" loaf based on the 123 recipe on this site.  9oz starter, 18 oz water, (9 whole wheat + 9 bread + 9 white flour) and 2 tst salt.  I haven't been getting great gluten development using stretch and fold, so I made this one in the mixer.  Mixed for 4 minutes, let it rest for 30-60 minutes, then four more.  I did 2 stretch and folds over the next 4-8 hours and then let it ferment overnight in the fridge.

half whole wheat sourdough

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I again followed the 1-2-3 sourdough recipe but this time, I used 9 oz starter, 18 oz water, and 9 oz whole wheat flour, 9 oz bread flour and 9 oz all purpose flour (I ran out of bread flour).  I mixed until moist and let rest 1-2 hours.  did 3 stretch and folds over several hours and then put it in the fridge for an overnight retard (that ended up being almost 24 hours;  I punched it down after 12).  I shaped it, let it rise covered on the counter for 2 and a half hours or so.  Baked on a stone with steam, 500 °F for 2 minutes and then 450 for 38 more.

Apple Cheese braid

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I made the Apple cheese braid found in the comments below the blueberry cheese braid post.  I rolled it out and cut it square which made "braiding" it easier.  I made a little mini one withe leftovers and WOW it tastes good!  This is for tomorrow's breakfast.  I may have to hide it from my family, and myself!

picture isn't uploading now.  I'll post later.

123 sourdough!

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I made the 123 sourdough from my starter the other day.  I was amazed and pleased at how this loaf came together.  I don't think I put enough salt in it though, and its not really "sour."  but the starter culture is really vigorous and active, and it is more sour than last time.  I started with 9 oz of starter, 18 of water and 27 of flour, and made two nice loaves.  The crust is thick and chewy, and the crumb is moist, but has small even holes.  No picture of crumb.

Italian bread

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this is the Italian bread from Bread Bakers Apprentice, made with my Uncle's home grown olive oil.  These loaves were too long for my peel and I had a devil of a time getting them in the oven.  I had to cook them diagonally one at a time.  The 2nd one was dusted with flour before scoring because the first one almost completely deflated when scoring.  This dough was very hard to move around;  it may have over proofed but I had to run some errands.  I try to schedule bread in between all my other activities but sometimes it just doesn't work.  

sourdough boule

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I started the rye starter last weekend and it came together quickly and was fermenting away so I decided to try to make a batch this evening.  I also made two boules of french bread, but the dough was not behaving well;  too wet, and they spread sideways.  However, these turned out great!  (I followed the recipe from Bread Bakers Apprentice, basic sourdough):

french boule

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here is today's loaf!  it turned out well.  I made the french loaf from "The bread breakers apprentice" but tried the stretch and fold technique instead of kneading.  It worked;  I was amazed.  I put the dough in the fridge overnight and shaped them cold on the counter.  I had a hard time getting them off the counter.  I cooked it at 500 (by accident, forgot to turn it down to 450 when I put the loaves in) with steam.