Community Bake - 123 SD (Tenth Anniversary)

Profile picture for user DanAyo
DanAyo on 4 Oct 2018 at 16:31

It’s been ten years this October since Flo posted her (now famous) 123 SD Bread. For those not familiar with our Community Bakes see THIS LINK.  Reference links are posted below below. The idea of a Community Bake is for those interested in baking and learning, to bake with us and post the results. I idea is that we all learn together. This is not a bread baking competition, everyone wins!

 

For those that don’t use a sourdough starter, there is a yeasted version on the very bottom of this post. If you need help with anything, reply requesting help.

 

Those that have baked this bread before might want to add vairious ingredients. New bakers to this bread can use the links below to get the basic loaf dialed in. The beauty of the 123 SD is the formula (recipe) requires no math. As Flo said, “it’s as easy as 1.2.3...”

 

Flo wrote me and asked that I post her correspondence for the gang to read.

 

- - - - - - Flo’s Correspondence - - - - - - 

 

Yes Oct. 2018 is the 10th anniversary of the 123 and I'm so delighted it is such a popular formula !

 

 

I don't bake bread anymore these days because I have been quite sick and one of the culprits that has been identified is wheat... I already knew since 2010 that rye makes me terribly sick, but baking without wheat is much more complicated.I have  been tempted to adapt 1.2.3 to GLuten Free flours but my results have not been great.I really have had to grieve over my inability to bake bread anymore, it was such a joy and pleasure for me...I will certainly, though, one day, put my hands -and my heart- back into some (gluten free) flours to bake bread once again !

 

Thank you SO much for posting the bake, it thrills me as much as it honors me !

 

Happy baking, and please feel free to post this email from me to all the SD bakers, with a big warm hello from me.

 

Flo

 

- - - - - - Second Correspondence - - - - - -

 

My 123 SD is my husband's fault ;-)

 

I had been baking with sourdough for many years, absolutely loving it, and so did my family. I had read many books about it, and kept experimenting with new recipes. One day, as I was saying that I had too much sourdough starter for the recipe I wanted to bake, my husband said "why don't you come up with a formula to easily bake with the precise weight of ripe starter you have on hand ? I'm sure it would be helpful". I answered something like "you mean as easy as 1.2.3 ?", while thinking "hey, why not try that ?" So I weighed my starter, added double that weight of water, and then triple that weight of flour. I mixed and let the dough rest 20 minutes. I added almost 2% of the flour's weight of salt, mixed again, let it rest, folding the dough once in a while etc. We loved the result and I began to play with the formula. A publisher even wanted to edit a book on it ! With a friend, we toyed with the idea, came up with numerous variations (which have never been rendered public), but life happened and we never did it. 2 years later, I began suspecting that one of my daughters and myself were not tolerating well gluten filled flours. I tried to adapt the 1.2.3 to gluten free bread baking. It did work but my sourdough starter was then too bitter. Nowadays, I rarely bake bread. But it fills me with joy (and maybe a hint of pride ;-) ) to hear about the 123 formula being still liked and useful !

 

Best regards

Flo

 

- - - - - - End Fol’s Correspondence - - - - - - 

 

Resources

 

123 Sourdough - No Knead - Do Nothing For those baking the 123 for the first time - check this out.

 

123 Challenge Great ideas for those considering spicing things up.

 

Everyone is welcomed to join. Beginners and experts, all learning together.

 

For those that don’t use a starter, you can you this recipe that has been converted to yeast. Using a pre-ferment will boost the flavor tremendously.

 

- - - - - - Yeasted version of the 123 bread - - - - - -

 

Here is a LINK  with information concerning preferments.

 

 Formula:

350g flour

250g water

7g salt

Poolish:

 

50g flour

50g water

0.2g dried (0.17g to be exact but 0.2g is fine) or 0.5 fresh yeast. NOTE - a pinch of dry yeast is 0.22 which is plenty close enough.

Left overnight and to be used the next day when active like in the photo on My Weekend Bakery. 

 

Final Recipe:

 

100g poolish

200g water

300g flour

7g salt

An optional pinch of extra yeast otherwise expect it to be slower

Something along these lines. But with such small amounts of yeast you can just use a small pinch in the poolish and use when ready. You'll get an overnight cool ferment out of it. Some extra yeast in the final dough is often added but not strictly necessary. 

 

- - - - - - End yeasted version of the 123 bread - - - - - - 

 

Dan

I’ve been experimenting with whole spelt. And seeds always make a loaf better. I went 50% whole spelt, 50% breaf flour (14% protein). 6% of each, sunflower, quinoa, hemp, and 4% poppy seeds. And for added sweetness, 20% honey.

Guess what! I tried mixing the untoasted and unsoaked seeds in with the dry ingredients (flours and salt). That was added to the water and starter mix. The bread turned out moist, tasted great, and baked up well. By the way, I didn’t add extra water for the add ins. I am excited to learn this short cut.

Did 4 sets of Coil Folds for the first hour. Bulk Fermented for 12 hr @ 72F. Put dough in freezer for 20 min before shaping (no pre-shape), proofed an hour @ 72F, then went back to freezer for 20 min. Turned out cold dough into preheated oblong clay baker and scored.

Seeds ramp up the flavor of every bread...

Danny

Love the shape of the loaf and the crust color! I'm curious about the color of your crumb: did you add coffee to this dough? It just seems so much browner than Abe's all-spelt loaf.

Thrilled to hear that your unsoaked seeds worked out and needed no additional hydration!

Hope you enjoyed it, for a change!

Carole

I think the sugars from the honey contributed to the color. I feel very fortunate to have enjoyed such early success baking with high percentages of spelt.

Danny

For anybody who is so inclined, here is a link to a current copy of my design tool:

Sourdough Formulation Design Rev1

Instructions are on the second sheet.
{note that while you can open it on an iPad or with a mobile browser on a phone, the instructions page is either inaccessible or shows as blank because the instructions are in a text box that overlays the spreadsheet. The solution is to download the file and open it with Excel, or at least use a browser that runs on a real computer (Mac or PC)}

Not for everybody but both powerful and flexible.

Input percentage of the flour that is to be pre-fermented, levain hydration, desired dough hydration, %salt, and total dough weight

You get exact weights for levain build (starter, water, flour) accounting for bowl and scraper losses and CO2 lost during fermentation; added water, flour, salt to make the desired dough weight as a single batch.

PM me if you have questions.

A very late edit: for the 1-2-3 formulation set the variables in the spreadsheet to
pre-fermented flour = 14.3%
levain hydration = 100%
dough hydration = 71.43%
salt = 2%

... that's what this Community bake has become, for me at least.  For this weekend's 123 bake I swapped out 20% bread flour for 10% each of spelt and home-ground pearl barley.  The barley lends quite a distinct flavour to the loaf that may be a good accompaniment for old fashioned vegetable barley soup next winter.

Joe, the image of your loaf is picturesque. Everything about it is perfect, including the burlap cloth.

Do you find that as little as 10% spelt makes for a much more extensible dough?

The blisters are gorgeous. Did you retard the dough?

I am glad the CB (Community Bakes) have received so much participation. The focus and intent of the CB is to get as many people as possible to bake and share their baking experiences with the entire group. Hopefully we can all learn together to be better bakers. The concept of uniting like minded bakers from the world over is coming to fruition. I hope to post future bakes in a timely manner and that the breads that are elected to be featured suite the majority of those willing to participate. It’s all about the group...

 If you are any one has a suggestion for future bakes or any other improvements, please PM me and let me know. I say again, it is all about the best interest of the group.

Dan

... the iPhone camera is amazing.  The burlap/linen cloth was gifted to me from Lithuania, and works well in extending a loaf's shelf life.

With spelt the dough probably handled a bit easier, though I did not detect a remarkable change from the norm.  I thought, however, that it may lack hydration with 20% whole wheat in addition to the spelt and barley, but it seems not when looking at the end product.  It certainly did not spread sideways during baking as I thought it might, but this could be owing to the decent pinch of diastatic malt I tossed onto the mix.

I retard almost all my bakes at 4C, though the blistering was also consequent to a few decent spritzes of water.  Retarding overnight suits my schedule, otherwise my weekends would be totally bespoken for!

Joe

I was surprised with the 123 hydration. My last 123 used 50% whole spelt and 22% non-soaked seeds. And the original formula was fine. I didn’t add additional water. Maybe the 20% honey had an affect on that. The bread was mosit and had a great flavor.

I am beginning to wonder if the “high hydration craze” is really necessary.

Dan

... got me wondering if hydration is affected in any manner through excessive steaming/spritzing?  The topic of steaming was comprehensively discussed in http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51541/more-consistency-lets-talk-about-steam, but I do not recall if this question was raised/answered.

There is a distinct difference in causation between internal hydration and external water/steam/spritzing, but I wonder of there is there a link, however slight? I do believe that excess in either can cause a sticky crumb.

Joe

I can’t say for sure, but the thought of external water penetrating a dough (and affecting the crumb) that is being baked in a super hot oven doesn’t sound plausible. At 212F water turns to vapor.

If you find out differently, I’d like to know.

Are you waiting long enough for your bread to cool before slicing? I know that will cause a wet crumb.

Danny

... "Moody crumb"?  I like it - could be a blues band! Taste was lovely, though toasted slices are quite dry and crispy.  I wonder if the barley/spelt mix affects residual water content of the loaf?

Looks like we're all kinda hooked!

The problem with the 1:2:3 formula is that it's too easy to remember, which means I'm not as disciplined as I ought to be about writing down what went into which bake!

This was a midweek bake for my associate who was heading down to her country home for the school holidays this week: 10% breadcrumb, 10% semolina and T65 flour; half veggie stock/half dead AYW. This is a riff on Susan's breadcrumb sourdough, which is itself her spin on her Norwich sourdough. Aside from the levain build the night before, this was all done in one day.

I think I tossed a couple of tablespoons of poppy seeds and toasted sunflower seeds in the dough.

And I had a bit of chocolate starter left from the choco-orange 1:2:3, so decided to use that in the banana bread recipe in Cultures for Health. Swapped out 25% of the flour for almond meal, added a bunch of raisins and an extra banana.

Love these recipes, they're so incredibly flexible.

Carole, I noticed that Susan’s Breadcrumb Sourdough counts the 10% breadcrumbs as flour. This doesn’t seem correct to me. I think the breadcrumbs should be handles as an add in. I say this because the breadcrumbs were baked and any enzymes that the original flour contained has been destroyed.

I hope others with knowledge of this will reply to set the record straight.

I’m not sure if you handled the crumbs as flour or add ins, but in this case it probably didn’t make a huge difference. I’m just curious to learn.

Dan

Looks like you’ve been busy baking.

That's a very good point, I think; I did handle them as flour -- my thinking never got as far as you did about it (so what else is new?)

So, the next time, I'll try them as an add-in!

Thanks for pointing that out!

I count them as non-gluten flour as they will affect the matrix if too much is added.  Crumbs will gel in the heat if wheat and the will contribute to crumb texture.  There are many recipes that include bread crumbs and plain or spiced croutons too.

What do you think about trying to make a 1,2,3 recipe and sub out half the flour with bread cubes?  Something pouring the starter and liquids over the bowl of cubes and toss to coat.  Let them sit ten minutes to hydrate then toss in the flour and half the salt. (Salt may be already in the bread cubes.)  Shape into a log, let proof and bake.  It won't have big holes but it could be interesting.

to the banana bread recipe. It really is quite flexible and forgiving. Swapping out some of the flour for almond meal makes it more like cake then bread. And the starter in it is great.

Enjoy!

I think I might try this recipe as an overnight bulk ferment and see what happens. Just to see. It might be a little long for it- less starter? 

Hey Ovy, I sent you a Personal Message with my phone number. Give me a call if you want to talk. I saw your images and I think your dough needs to be developed more.

Danny

I am trying to put all my baking in one place, thus here is my blog entry for the second attempt at 1-2-3. My first attempt is there and it was tiny (started with 50g starter-yeesh).

123 Second Attempt

This has been such a fun challenge, with so many variations and so much to learn, thank you Dan for suggesting.  Thank you too for all the community ideas, here I've tried the toast bread one.  Had it for breakfast this morning - crunchy, delicious, nutty - it's a keeper!  Thank you all!

For flavor, you will be hard pressed to find a better tasting bread that Hamelman’s Five-Grain Levain. Check this link out. Please post your bake if you decide to try it. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59038/community-bake-hamelmans-fivegrain-levain

By the way - everyone that baked the bread raved about the flavor.

Thanks for participating. 

Danny

I did my 123 with 50/50 AP and Baker's Flour. Started with 150g starter, wonderful soft crust.

But I wonder what I can tweak in this recipe to get more oven spring from it?

I plan on baking this until my bread goes 'boom'!

Third Attempt

Details of what I did are in my blog. 

123 the 3rd

And let me just say this is not my third back, perhaps my thirtieth, just my third attempt at 123.