Blog posts

Will be starting sourdoughs again as it’s cooling off.

I wanted to see how kneading time can affect the openness of the crumb.

My hypothesis is longer and vigorous kneading will contribute to less open crumb, holding everything else equal.

Using the same starter, same recipe, formula, weight, tools, etc., the only difference was the kneading part (and the number of stretch and folds).

Recipe was adapted from the Perfect Loaf (https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sprouted-buckwheat-sourdough/), but I made a few modifications.

1:?? pm.  Initial mix, no measuring, just by eye. Prairie Gold, Kamut, ground chia seed, 1/10th of a 500 mg vitamin C tablet, no salt yet.  About 1.5 hours autolyse.

3:05 pm. Added 160 g of 100% hydration levain. Still no salt.

3:45 pm. Stretch and fold.

4:05 pm. Folded in 11 g pink Himalayan salt.

6:08 pm. Folded, dusted, put in lined banneton.   About 3 hours bulk ferment: 3:05 - 6:08 pm. 1233 g final weight, 2.72 pounds.

This bread was a real experiment! I had some apples from the farmer's market that I wanted to use, hard apple cider, and apple YW. I had also wanted to make another bread using oat porridge so I decided to do it all taking inspiration from the idea of apple/raisin oatmeal. This bread uses 5 different flours, oat porridge, sourdough levain, YW levain, raisins, hard cider, and grated apple. I kept the hydration at 55% because I was worried that the dough would turn to soup with all of the liquid from the oats and apple. The oats were not cooked, but were soaked overnight in the hard cider.

After a long absence it was time to get back to baking.  My starter stoically withstood the deep chill of neglect in my fridge and as is always a surprise to me came back to life with great vigour after a few feedings.  I liked the look of Tartine's Danish Rye and gave it a try. Dark seeded rye breads have always intrigued me. The recipe called for sprouted rye kernels but my lack of good timing and impatience had me use them just after a single night's full soak rather than fully sprouted.

Hi, I've been making baguettes every weekend. This is my fifth attempt, I made a blog post about my last one as well. I finally made one loaf I'm happy with. I took some advice I got from Alan and Dan and handled the dough more gently, let the dough autolyse before kneading, portioned the dough out before the cold ferment, and baked at 470 ˚F. I also watched some of their videos and kneaded the dough (this time 72% hydration) with 200 french folds.

.We attend an annual Thanksgiving reunion, and I usually bring the bread -- adapted to whatever the menu is.  Often the menu is comprised of the foods people grew up with in Northern Europe just after WWII, and the breads were the country breads of the time. This year, it is a more refined menu, calling for a more refined bread. 

Each year, I put some effort into selecting the right bread, and refining my technique.

Possibilities for a World Series international Community Bake?

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/world-50-best-breads/index.html

7th TFL Bake, Nov. 6, 2019.

452 g Prairie Gold, HWSW, home-milled coarse.

134 g Kamut khorasan wheat, home-milled coarse.   (586 g flour so far.)

1/4 tablet of 500 mg vitamin C. 

473 g water.  Initial hydration: 473 / 586 = 80.7%

Mix at 10:55 am.

Autolyse time: 2 hrs 10 min.