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loldor
Jul 4, 2008

Tried my hand at sourdough for the first time. Went with the Norwich sourdough as described on wildyeastblog since it seems to be getting good reviews. After the prescribed time for the first fermentation I was sceptical about the dough actually rising. There were tiny bubbles of gas present in the dough, but not much for the 3 hours it spent fermenting. I chose to keep the batards in my fridge for the second fermentation, for a period of 14 hours. I finally got up at around 6 this morning on my Sunday of to be able to bake the bread before breakfast.

I build my starter up over the past 8 days. It took a while longer than expected to get going. Letting my cats throw it all over the floor twice during the nights probably did nothing but good for the developing yeast cultures. Surprisingly, even considering the slow first rise, this came out of the oven. I'm quite pleased with the result.

Pictures:


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TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.
An experiment that could have gone horribly wrong ended up one of the tastiest breads I've baked yet. I used a random recipe for crusty buns but made a cayenne cheddar swirl loaf with it.

TenKindsOfCrazy fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Oct 29, 2013

The Doctor
Jul 8, 2007

:toot: :toot: :toot:
Fallen Rib
Nice!! That looks delicious.

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

The Doctor posted:

Nice!! That looks delicious.

It was amazing with a huge bowl of tomato soup!

therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

An experiment that could have gone horribly wrong ended up one of the tastiest breads I've baked yet. I used a random recipe for crusty buns but made a cayenne cheddar swirl loaf with it.



Sweet baby Jesus, that looks amazing.

Phummus
Aug 4, 2006

If I get ten spare bucks, it's going for a 30-pack of Schlitz.
I made a bread. It came out pretty wrinkly:

IMG_7075.jpg by jmorris4371, on Flickr

But the crumb was very nice:

IMG_7081.jpg by jmorris4371, on Flickr

loldor
Jul 4, 2008

Phummus posted:

I made a bread. It came out pretty wrinkly:


But the crumb was very nice:


As a professional amateur baker, I can assure you that's not wrinkly, that's rustic.

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

therattle posted:

Sweet baby Jesus, that looks amazing.

I would eat some right now but it's all gone.

:saddowns:

Probably going to be my go-to party host gift for a while, though. It's a rather quick rise/bake for a nice-looking loaf. I just need to use nicer cheese than the bog-standard utility cheddar I had around.

uranium grass
Jan 15, 2005

I just finished catching up on this thread and have the bread-baking bug now, but I haven't in years so I thought I would start out with an easy recipe, but I have a question about it. The recipe I'm using is here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/hearth-bread-recipe

It says 'place on rack in cold oven' for the first baking method, and while that seemed a little odd, the second method specifies preheating it so I think it's intentional but I thought I'd double-check. Am I just reading the recipe wrong?

Devoyniche
Dec 21, 2008

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

I may just make up my own based on my favourite white bread recipe.

That's basically what that recipe is. I helped my sister make the chocolate bread from this page and it came out fine. I measured with volume, even.

Devoyniche fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Oct 30, 2013

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

Devoyniche posted:

That's basically what that recipe is. I helped my sister make the chocolate bread from this page and it came out fine. I measured with volume, even.

My god, thank you for that page! I'm going to try making that white batter bread tomorrow. And maybe the chocolate one as well.

ltr
Oct 29, 2004

Grrl Anachronism posted:

I just finished catching up on this thread and have the bread-baking bug now, but I haven't in years so I thought I would start out with an easy recipe, but I have a question about it. The recipe I'm using is here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/hearth-bread-recipe

It says 'place on rack in cold oven' for the first baking method, and while that seemed a little odd, the second method specifies preheating it so I think it's intentional but I thought I'd double-check. Am I just reading the recipe wrong?

The recipe is correct, or at least both ways produce edible bread. I've used this recipe several times and prefer the second baking method. I think the bread the recipe produces is a bit dense, but it's still good. Here's the loaves, I made with that recipe last week(I forgot to take a crumb shot though):

Aaronicon
Oct 2, 2010

A BLOO BLOO ANYONE I DISAGREE WITH IS A "BAD PERSON" WHO DESERVES TO DIE PLEEEASE DONT FALL ALL OVER YOURSELF WHITEWASHING THEM A BLOO BLOO
Good lord my wild yeast sourdough mother smells like cheese. Nature is a wild thing. It's a basic crushed-grape starter with a bread / whole wheat / touch of rye starter that I splashed in some pineapple juice to loosen it up and man is it just bubbling along. It's the first mother I've made and no sign of mould yet!

US Foreign Policy
Jan 5, 2006

Things to liberate:
You
Your shit
So I've decided to step up my cooking skills by learning how to do a really good loaf of bread. I am a devout lover of all things sourdough and have decided to start there - my question is what is the best route to go for yeast? King Arthur sells a live sourdough starter that they talk a big game about, but there's also a lot of other brands I know nothing about, nor do I particularly know the in's and out's of sourdough yeast enough to know what to look for. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or recommend a good starter yeast for sourdough? apologies if this likely common question has already been addressed and I missed it.

therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat

US Foreign Policy posted:

So I've decided to step up my cooking skills by learning how to do a really good loaf of bread. I am a devout lover of all things sourdough and have decided to start there - my question is what is the best route to go for yeast? King Arthur sells a live sourdough starter that they talk a big game about, but there's also a lot of other brands I know nothing about, nor do I particularly know the in's and out's of sourdough yeast enough to know what to look for. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or recommend a good starter yeast for sourdough? apologies if this likely common question has already been addressed and I missed it.

You can either buy a sourdough starter like the KA one, or make one by mixing some rye flour with water in a jar and leaving it somewhere warm for a few days (it's a bit more complicated than that, but really not much). Search for "make sourdough starter".

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

US Foreign Policy posted:

So I've decided to step up my cooking skills by learning how to do a really good loaf of bread. I am a devout lover of all things sourdough and have decided to start there - my question is what is the best route to go for yeast? King Arthur sells a live sourdough starter that they talk a big game about, but there's also a lot of other brands I know nothing about, nor do I particularly know the in's and out's of sourdough yeast enough to know what to look for. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or recommend a good starter yeast for sourdough? apologies if this likely common question has already been addressed and I missed it.

I've bookmarked this for when I decide to start my own starter: http://sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=startingastarter

I don't know if it's good advice but it might be a good enough starting point!

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

Devoyniche posted:

That's basically what that recipe is. I helped my sister make the chocolate bread from this page and it came out fine. I measured with volume, even.

OK, I made the white batter bread from that page today. Here are the results:





I had serious reservations about it. First it seemed more like a wet dough than a batter. There was no 'pouring' this into the bread pan as the recipes states. It was more like glop and then nudge around with my spoontula until it behaved itself. It rose very nicely, though, and it makes a very cute little loaf.

In the end it's like bread and cake got together and made a delicious baby. It tastes amazing but the crumb is too cake-like to satisfy my want for bread.

The Midniter
Jul 9, 2001

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

In the end it's like bread and cake got together and made a delicious baby. It tastes amazing but the crumb is too cake-like to satisfy my want for bread.

Leave a couple thick slices of that out overnight. Make french toast. Die happy.

twoot
Oct 29, 2012

Made a malted flour loaf, turned out pretty well;




It makes amazing toast.

muscat_gummy
Nov 30, 2008

US Foreign Policy posted:

So I've decided to step up my cooking skills by learning how to do a really good loaf of bread. I am a devout lover of all things sourdough and have decided to start there - my question is what is the best route to go for yeast? King Arthur sells a live sourdough starter that they talk a big game about, but there's also a lot of other brands I know nothing about, nor do I particularly know the in's and out's of sourdough yeast enough to know what to look for. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or recommend a good starter yeast for sourdough? apologies if this likely common question has already been addressed and I missed it.

If you haven't baked bread at all, you'll probably want to get your feet wet with some regular plain ol' white bread first!

As others posted, it's pretty simple to make your own starter! The basics are just flour and water. Rye flour or whole wheat; I've only tried rye and haven't had any problems with the two starters I've started so far. You mix them together, cover, and let them stand at room temp. Feed (discard good chuck of starter, add more flour and water) twice a day. Put it in the fridge once it's established (1-2 weeks, judge by how it smells) and feed less often, unless you want to feed twice a day. Check out detailed instructions because that's a very rough guide.

The resource linked a few posts above is a good guide, and the Fresh Loaf subforum on sourdoughs is really helpful too: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/forums/general-discussion-and-recipe-exchange/sourdough-and-starters

It's really easy to get one started but there's a little bit of nuance to caring for one and getting it to how you like it. The bacteria hanging out with the yeast are what give it it's sour flavor (Yeast is just yeast.), and those thrive better in certain conditions. Apparently a lower hydration starter will be more sour than a higher one; I haven't tried that and/or researched it more. Things like rising time for the bread you make with it also make a difference in how sour your bread is (longer = more sour). If kept in the fridge, how long before baking with it it's out on the counter also matters. What sort of flour you use (rye to get started but you can switch flours). How warm your house is. Etc.

It's pretty much an edible science project. :)

The Doctor
Jul 8, 2007

:toot: :toot: :toot:
Fallen Rib

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

OK, I made the white batter bread from that page today. Here are the results:





I had serious reservations about it. First it seemed more like a wet dough than a batter. There was no 'pouring' this into the bread pan as the recipes states. It was more like glop and then nudge around with my spoontula until it behaved itself. It rose very nicely, though, and it makes a very cute little loaf.

In the end it's like bread and cake got together and made a delicious baby. It tastes amazing but the crumb is too cake-like to satisfy my want for bread.

You can get a less cake-y consistency with a really wet recipe by increasing your proofing time, cooking at a slightly higher heat, and increasing cooking time by maybe 10 minutes or so to cook off some of the moisture.

e: that being said I'm loving starving right now and I would slice that bread-cake in half, slather it in butter and eat the entire thing.

MrYenko
Jun 18, 2012

#2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

The Doctor posted:

You can get a less cake-y consistency with a really wet recipe by increasing your proofing time, cooking at a slightly higher heat, and increasing cooking time by maybe 10 minutes or so to cook off some of the moisture.

e: that being said I'm loving starving right now and I would slice that bread-cake in half, slather it in butter and eat the entire thing.

I actually get the urge to slather it in icing.

This is why I'm fat. :saddowns:

Marta Velasquez
Mar 9, 2013

Good thing I was feeling suicidal this morning...
Fallen Rib

MrYenko posted:

I actually get the urge to slather it in icing.

This is why I'm fat. :saddowns:

Put them together and use buttercream :hfive:

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

The Doctor posted:

You can get a less cake-y consistency with a really wet recipe by increasing your proofing time, cooking at a slightly higher heat, and increasing cooking time by maybe 10 minutes or so to cook off some of the moisture.

e: that being said I'm loving starving right now and I would slice that bread-cake in half, slather it in butter and eat the entire thing.

In thinking about it more I bet the batter bread would work excellently for the chocolate bread conversion I want to do. This loaf tastes amazing, there is no question!

Oneiros
Jan 12, 2007



TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

OK, I made the white batter bread from that page today. Here are the results:





I had serious reservations about it. First it seemed more like a wet dough than a batter. There was no 'pouring' this into the bread pan as the recipes states. It was more like glop and then nudge around with my spoontula until it behaved itself. It rose very nicely, though, and it makes a very cute little loaf.

In the end it's like bread and cake got together and made a delicious baby. It tastes amazing but the crumb is too cake-like to satisfy my want for bread.

I tried this today and it was definitely more like a very wet dough than a batter. Mine didn't rise as much, though it still got to the top of the pan and was light and delicious anyway. It reminds me of a buttery yeast roll but in the form of a sandwich loaf.

For something you can throw together and have out cooling on a rack within an hour and a half it's fantastic.

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

Oneiros posted:

I tried this today and it was definitely more like a very wet dough than a batter. Mine didn't rise as much, though it still got to the top of the pan and was light and delicious anyway. It reminds me of a buttery yeast roll but in the form of a sandwich loaf.

For something you can throw together and have out cooling on a rack within an hour and a half it's fantastic.

I didn't think mine was rising for the first half hour then boom, there it went.

If you like quicker bread recipes I've been having a great time making these buns on weekends: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/40-minute-hamburger-buns

Mine take a little longer because I leave out the egg and add a half-hour rise time but they're delicious and everyone loves them.

Also :respek:, coyote buddy.

The Doctor
Jul 8, 2007

:toot: :toot: :toot:
Fallen Rib

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

In thinking about it more I bet the batter bread would work excellently for the chocolate bread conversion I want to do. This loaf tastes amazing, there is no question!

Do it. Do it for us!

Marta Velasquez
Mar 9, 2013

Good thing I was feeling suicidal this morning...
Fallen Rib
Current bread disaster: I don't have a clean kitchen towel to cover the dough while it rises. A wet paper towel will work, right? :downs:

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



contrapants posted:

Current bread disaster: I don't have a clean kitchen towel to cover the dough while it rises. A wet paper towel will work, right? :downs:
Got a clean t-shirt or a pillowcase, maybe? I put my dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Other times I just put it in the oven without turning it on.

I'm puzzled by your choice to wet the paper towels, but maybe I'm completely misunderstanding what anyone covers their dough for anyway. I'm just realizing I'm doing this myself in a complete cargo cult fashion.

ambient oatmeal
Jun 23, 2012

contrapants posted:

Current bread disaster: I don't have a clean kitchen towel to cover the dough while it rises. A wet paper towel will work, right? :downs:

I've done it, hasn't made any difference I could notice in the end result.

a dozen swans
Aug 24, 2012

Flipperwaldt posted:

Got a clean t-shirt or a pillowcase, maybe? I put my dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Other times I just put it in the oven without turning it on.

I'm puzzled by your choice to wet the paper towels, but maybe I'm completely misunderstanding what anyone covers their dough for anyway. I'm just realizing I'm doing this myself in a complete cargo cult fashion.

If it's quite dry where you are, the dough can develop a 'skin' on top that some people don't like.

US Foreign Policy
Jan 5, 2006

Things to liberate:
You
Your shit
While my sourdough starter chugs along, I figured I'd make a basic no-knead white bread loaf. Flour, water, salt, yeast. I am pleased with this, though ignore the instagram filter.




my first bready baby. It was life changing.

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

US Foreign Policy posted:

While my sourdough starter chugs along, I figured I'd make a basic no-knead white bread loaf. Flour, water, salt, yeast. I am pleased with this, though ignore the instagram filter.




my first bready baby. It was life changing.

Congratulations! How did it taste?

US Foreign Policy
Jan 5, 2006

Things to liberate:
You
Your shit

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

Congratulations! How did it taste?

Crunchy crusty goodness, let it rise for 5 hours before baking. Learned about putting water in a hot cast iron pot under the bread. Going to use the leftover dough to try making pretzels, where you give them a baking soda/water bath.

Bread is crazy.

MrYenko
Jun 18, 2012

#2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

This is the last time I made bread:



I was slightly unrealistic regarding loaf sizes...

therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat

US Foreign Policy posted:

Crunchy crusty goodness, let it rise for 5 hours before baking. Learned about putting water in a hot cast iron pot under the bread. Going to use the leftover dough to try making pretzels, where you give them a baking soda/water bath.

Bread is crazy.

Crazy awesome. Eating your first good loaf is one of the most satisfying things. One of us, one of us...

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

MrYenko posted:

This is the last time I made bread:



I was slightly unrealistic regarding loaf sizes...

That's frickin' biblical, there.

TenKindsOfCrazy
Aug 11, 2010

Tell me a story with my pudding and tea.

The Doctor posted:

Do it. Do it for us!

Well, The Doctor, here it is! Look my bread:

The batter bread with the addition of cocoa and hazelnuts. Chocolate Hazelnut Batter Bread:



Hazelnut Bread. It looks like Sonic The Hedgehog but drat if this isn't the tastiest bread I've ever made:



Chocolate Hazelnut crumb:



Ooooh, that crumb:



Sorry for the wonky colours in the last couple. Nighttime in my mom's kitchen.

Seriously, the regular hazelnut bread is to fricking die for. SO nutty and SO flavourful. This recipe and I used the soaking water for both loaves of bread actually since I soaked way more nuts than was called for and so had lots more water to use. I don't have a crumb shot for the white hazelnut bread since I cut it when it was still warm and the crumb was ugly. Next time I might chop the hazelnuts up because the whole hazelnuts give a kind of intense nut experience.

The chocolate bread has a definite taste of cocoa in the crust which I don't like much but the inner crumb is mild and delicious. Super soft and less cake-like than the white batter bread which I attribute to using the hazelnut water instead of milk. I did add a little milk when I needed more moisture in the batter but not a lot.

Foam Monkey
Jun 4, 2007
Lurkzilla
Grimey Drawer
Thanks to this thread I made a thing. :neckbeard:

It's an Asiago cheese Ciabatta following the recipe in the Bread Baker's Apprentice. This is the first time I've ever tried to make bread outside of a bread making machine before, and I had never even heard of poolish before this. So I wanted to thank all of you for showing me that it is possible to make my own bread, even if it is the fancy rustic style I like to buy so much.

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Troll Bridgington
Dec 22, 2011

Keeping up foreign relations.

TenKindsOfCrazy posted:

Well, The Doctor, here it is! Look my bread:

The batter bread with the addition of cocoa and hazelnuts. Chocolate Hazelnut Batter Bread:



Hazelnut Bread. It looks like Sonic The Hedgehog but drat if this isn't the tastiest bread I've ever made:



Chocolate Hazelnut crumb:



Ooooh, that crumb:



Sorry for the wonky colours in the last couple. Nighttime in my mom's kitchen.

Seriously, the regular hazelnut bread is to fricking die for. SO nutty and SO flavourful. This recipe and I used the soaking water for both loaves of bread actually since I soaked way more nuts than was called for and so had lots more water to use. I don't have a crumb shot for the white hazelnut bread since I cut it when it was still warm and the crumb was ugly. Next time I might chop the hazelnuts up because the whole hazelnuts give a kind of intense nut experience.

The chocolate bread has a definite taste of cocoa in the crust which I don't like much but the inner crumb is mild and delicious. Super soft and less cake-like than the white batter bread which I attribute to using the hazelnut water instead of milk. I did add a little milk when I needed more moisture in the batter but not a lot.
:swoon:My god, that hazlenut bread looks delicious. This thread sucks when I'm stuck at work, and hungry. :negative:

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