Blog posts

Third in my series of Einkorn bakes.  This time I increased the Einkorn to 20% and reduced the Red Fife to 9% all of which was in the preferment.  Other changes I used the aliquot jar and ended bulk fermentation at 40%.  I did a preshape, bench rested for 15-20 mins then final shaped and into the banneton.  I left it out on the counter until the aliquot jar showed just over 50% total rise (not 50% additional rise) then put it into a 2ºC fridge for cold retard.

After taking too long a break from baking sourdough bread, I made a new starter and got right back into it. Here’s a loaf that’s 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour. 85% hydration.

I've followed The Fresh Loaf for years but this is my first time to post. 

I wonder if anyone else has made bread or rolls from dough that was placed in a bowl of water to rise? The recipe I've used is from Beatrice Ojakangas, I believe in her cookbook of Finnish recipes. The dough is placed in a tea towel then submerged in cold water to rise. It does work, and makes lovely rolls.

My question today is how did this method originate? I can make up stories that seem plausible, but I'd like to know how it really started.

Any ideas?

In my experience, Fresh-Milled flour has 7 "things" I need to allow for:

This is based on using a sourdough starter/levain. Commercial yeast (dry or fresh) will be slightly different.

1. Fresh-milled flour is usually thirstier, takes more water, than store-bought WW. This is a general rule. You will eventually find exceptions, i.e., some grain will already be high in moisture, and therefore need less water.

2. Fresh-milled flour takes more time to soften, so use 30-90 minutes of soak/autolyse (without starter/levain, depending on granularity (particle size).

Hi All - wanted to share a recent loaf in my quest for a open crumb but whole wheat loaf with decent rise... which so far is still eluding me. I’m new overall to sourdough (a classic quarantine baker if you will) but have been working with WW for health and flavor benefits mostly. 

Still struggling with a few areas, namely judging bulk fermentation, and handling during shaping though. Any feedback is always appreciated!

Recipe: 

240g Red Fife Whole Wheat Flour (Anson Mills) - 68%

40g Whole Wheat Spelt Flour - 11%

45g All Purpose - 13%

It has taken me a while to make real progress with sourdough, but after a few weeks of nurturing my starter and training myself to be more patient during the bulk ferment and proofing, I'm finally getting somewhere. Really pleased with how the crust and crumb turned out on this one. Getting a decent score is my last real hurdle; I can get an ear to open up quite nicely, but my diamond and box cuts often seal up as the loaf bakes. Still playing with some parameters there. Getting sort of back to work has cut down on time available for baking, alas.

One thing that can frustrating with croissants is having nice crumb towards the periphery but a hollow and collapsed interior.  One way that can help reduce this is to cut a 1/2 slit in the base of the triangular cut out.  I think the original purpose of this slit is allow for wider loaf since it promotes lateral rolling motion widening the loaf as it rolls up.  A nice benefit if this technique is for whatever geometric, physical reason I at least will see far fewer cases of cavernesque crumb.  Just a little tip / observation for other croissanteurs out there ;) 

On a pastry kick.  For those of you who love to laminate and work with brioche doughs, I always have about 1-2 croissants worth of off-cuts which usually get balled up and baked along side the croissants then promptly cursed and thrown out.  This is what they 'monkey bread'  it's just quasi laminated waste.  So today I decided to stuff it into canele molds.  It's a bit of trip since they look like canele but taste like kouign aman.  This has got thinking of some interesting ideas from here.  Main thing to note here is that all the dough went to good use !&

I have been experimenting with different methods of creating steam without using/buying a dutch oven, knowing that the dutch oven method really is the best and most hassle-free (no lava rocks, towels etc.) way to bake artisan style breads at home. I just didn't want to accumulate another single-use kitchen item to add to my already cluttered kitchen. So far, I've been happy with emulating the dutch oven method using the inside of a slow cooker and a deep ceramic casserole dish - both of them covered by a cookie sheet or upside down metal bowl for the first 20 minutes.