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I think there's something wrong with my sourdough mother. It smells sour but not bad sour, it's nice and frothy on top - but it's not rising. I fed it for 5 days and the last day I was supposed to leave it to 'double and collapse' - but it never happened. It got bubbly on top, smelt strongly like apples and cheese, but it didn't rise a single bit inside the container. Is that normal? Is it a bung mother? It's in the fridge right now before I'm supposed to use for the first time in a couple of days. I'm just worried that there's yeast in there, sure, but not enough to actually do anything but bubble...
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Nov 2, 2013 11:42
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 06:13 |
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Foam Monkey posted:Thanks to this thread I made a thing. That's brilliant, thanks for posting. How did it taste?
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Nov 2, 2013 12:22
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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. Can you turn off the 80s photo filter? It makes the bread look blood red. Which I don't think it's supposed to.
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Nov 2, 2013 14:35
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Foam Monkey posted:Thanks to this thread I made a thing. I haven't made anything yet that requires a poolish. Isn't it so much better eating a fancy bread you made yourself? I hate buying bread now.
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Nov 2, 2013 14:51
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TenKindsOfCrazy posted:Well, The Doctor, here it is! Look my bread: This is awesome, I want that chocolate bread so much. Hazelnut is my favourite nut to have in everything - cake, chocolate, pastry, all things in life worth dying for can be enhanced with hazelnuts.
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Nov 2, 2013 15:11
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Also, I woke up my starter yesterday, it's been sitting in the fridge for...a long time. I fed it last night but it doesn't seem to be quite awake yet. I have a tendency to leave it in the fridge for ages without feeding it but it always seems to recover. The first picture here is the layer of hooch which was on top when I took it out, I poured that off and, as usual, underneath the top layer is the healthy happy starter. 
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Nov 2, 2013 15:25
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therattle posted:That's brilliant, thanks for posting. How did it taste? TenKindsOfCrazy posted:I haven't made anything yet that requires a poolish. Isn't it so much better eating a fancy bread you made yourself? I hate buying bread now. Here's a slice shot.  I regret nothing from making this bread. It's not quite right with the holey middle (don't know how to describe it otherwise), but it tastes amazing. With the poolish all I can say is that it does add something to the bread flavor wise, it's kinda hard to put the finger on it, but I am very happy that I made a tasty bread. But I must still achieve the airy holey middle I seek (ie. the airy style of the baguette.)
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Nov 2, 2013 15:57
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Foam Monkey posted:Here's a slice shot. Higher hydration leads to a looser crumb. Try more water. It makes the dough harder to work but it'll do the trick.
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Nov 2, 2013 20:14
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 he is awake I transferred my starter to another container since the other one was getting pretty gross and I didn't trust it not to grow mould on the counter top. Sourdough tomorrow! I think this starter is close to five months old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXGxyEOQdUg
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Nov 3, 2013 02:07
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Made croissants the other day, they came out pretty great (not actually this yellow, terrible cell phone camera). Flaky and buttery but not greasy. I did 243 layers of lamination for these. Don't have any crumb shots because I forgot to do that before people ate them all.
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Nov 3, 2013 06:13
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I actually made this for the Snacks Of Shame thread but it involved bread baking so here are my buns! Someone in that thread mentioned the Hocus Pocus Buns that their grandma used to make and I thought they sounded delicious. I used my favourite eggless challah recipe for the bread and more or less followed this recipe as a guideline to putting it all together.  These are pretty tasty!
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Nov 3, 2013 23:19
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Just put together the starter for these no knead soft sourdough rolls from the weekend bakery. That will hang out in my fridge overnight and chill on my counter top for about 12 hours tomorrow. My boyfriend is on a mission to get me honey, yogurt and butter. http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/no-knead-soft-sourdough-rolls/ Also making this "levain", except mine will be all whole wheat. http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/our-favorite-whole-wheat-levain-loaf/ This is a cool link with some info on what a "levain" is...the internet seems to be telling me that my starters are all technically "desem", since sourdough is rye, levain is white flour, and desem is wholewheat flour. After tonight I will be phasing half my "desem" into sourdough since I'm going to feed it rye, but I will keep my desem (whole wheat starter) as well.
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Nov 4, 2013 00:45
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YOU GUYS, I MADE A BREAD AND IT HAS HOLES AND ISN'T TOO DENSE AND THE INSIDE IS ALL SPONGY AND THE CRUST IS CRISPY AND AWESOME and I think I ate half the loaf in my excitement? I followed the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day mother recipe, subbing in half of white whole wheat flour, fridging it for two days. The dough was SUPER sloppy and wet, but I had faith and let it rise for about 90 minutes and then baked on parchment in my lidded dutch oven. I pulled the lid off at half an hour and then let it bake for another 15 to get the crust awesome. It ain't no braided challah, but I'm pretty pleased--it's lightyears better than every other bread I've ever made. Thank you so, so much, thread. I couldn't have done this without you.
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Nov 4, 2013 05:29
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I made a change and now my bread isn't working right  I've been using a generic 50/50 wheat bread recipe for a while. It works great, I do flatbreads and pizza shells and its workable and everything. I got some sourdough starter from a friend, and on her suggestion, made a 100% hydration white preferment with about an 1/8 cup of starter and let it go overnight. Then I mix in the wheat flour, knead, and bake as usual. Since I started with the preferment, the gluten development has gone to poo poo. Even when I knead for twice as long (by hand), I still can't get anywhere near enough stretch to make a pizza crust by hand without it becoming really holey. This is my first time with sourdough. Any suggestions?
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Nov 4, 2013 05:38
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Happiness Commando posted:I made a change and now my bread isn't working right Have you been feeding it right? Does it smell a bit acetone-y? I'd say get the starter on a good feeding schedule over the course of a week (a few days?) and then use it, be sure to let it at room-ish temperature for the last half day. Maybe also let the dough rest once you have balled it up in the fridge for a day or two. http://www.boomtownrap.com/885/sourdough-pizzas-as-good-as-home-oven-pizzas-get/ I've followed that recipe with my brother a few times and it's come out pretty drat well. It's even come out well when I've upped the preferment to 20 or so percent, instead of the table-listed 10%. Drifter fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Nov 4, 2013 |
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Nov 4, 2013 06:21
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Nicol Bolas posted:YOU GUYS, I MADE A BREAD AND IT HAS HOLES AND ISN'T TOO DENSE AND THE INSIDE IS ALL SPONGY AND THE CRUST IS CRISPY AND AWESOME and I think I ate half the loaf in my excitement? Bread excitement gets me all excited! I'm going to have to search out some of that Artisan Bread in 5 stuff. I went to the the site and the first post was about stovetop english muffins and now I have to try those.
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Nov 4, 2013 14:32
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After a year or two on a ketotic diet, I have changed jobs and have rediscovered my conservative roots as a fiscal vegetarian. Bad news is good news because at least I have the spare calories to eat and bake bread again which I really enjoy. This is my first batch back on the wagon, a classic Jim Lahey no-knead with a 24 hour rise: I have another batch that I am about to proof that has risen quite well due to brewing beer as it fermented: my house was 90 degrees much of yesterday!  What can I say? I'm a breader. I bread. I now know this about myself.
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Nov 5, 2013 02:29
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 I did a thing.  King Arthur flour, roughly 70/30 mix of unbleached white and whole wheat.Many thanks to therattle for making the first loaf of bread I have ever baked a success (mostly). It's a little chewy, and I forgot to slash the loaf until like ten minutes into baking the drat thing  , but it sure is tasty! I've already got plans to start experimenting with the basic no-knead recipe in the OP as soon as this loaf is gone.I'm mostly unemployed at the moment, getting by on Reserves checks and whatever freelance work I can find from time to time, so this is a huge help to my budget. Thanks again - this stuff is fantastic and I can't wait to start getting creative with it.
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Nov 5, 2013 02:47
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Full Metal Boxers posted:
It's a real pleasure!  I just got the ball rolling, others then picked it up and ran with it (to mix my metaphors).
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Nov 5, 2013 11:31
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Made my sourdough rolls last night! They were a success in that they were delicious, but only really a partial success. The 25 minute cooking time essentially turned into 40 minutes and still wasn't enough, probably because I used all whole wheat flour and my rolls came out slightly more dense than the original recipe. They also probably didn't rise enough on the last proofing after shaping and given it was getting on for past 1 am I had to go to bed. The flavour is great though!
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Nov 5, 2013 14:51
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Well so far in my bread baking my biggest hurdle has been creating something my four-year-old will eat. She's a picky eater to begin with but does love to eat super-soft, super-chewy rolls but so far I haven't been able to recreate them. I tried this recipe today: http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2012/07/02/super-soft-n-chewy-hoagie-rolls/  (Sorry no crumb shot. I was so excited to eat one by the time they'd cooled I forgot until after I got the homemade raspberry/blackberry jam my mom made on them.) The inner crumb is nice but doesn't have that elastic, chewy texture I'm going for. I used AP flour. Is that where I'm going wrong? Do I need to break down and buy bread flour?
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Nov 5, 2013 20:30
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TenKindsOfCrazy posted:The inner crumb is nice but doesn't have that elastic, chewy texture I'm going for. I used AP flour. Is that where I'm going wrong? Do I need to break down and buy bread flour? If you want more chew then you either need to cut back on the enrichments (think French Bread) or use bread flour. The higher protein content makes the bread much chewier.
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Nov 6, 2013 01:37
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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. Started a rye and pineapple juice starter after the replies to this post.    Judge my work
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Nov 6, 2013 03:28
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That's a great sourdough. It's a nice size and a nice crumb. I see that you don't have a thick crust but that really up to you if you want a thick crust or a soft crust. I can see the ends got dried up and developed a skin while it was proving. Keep an eye on that and try keep your dough hydrated before it goes into the oven. You lose some color and looks dull if the dough has a dry skin on it before it gets baked out.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:43
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NightConqueror posted:If you want more chew then you either need to cut back on the enrichments (think French Bread) or use bread flour. The higher protein content makes the bread much chewier. You mean cut out the butter in the recipe? It's possible that I'm not using the right terms to describe the bread my daughter will eat. I'm thinking specifically of some rolls my mom gets from a bakery. The crust is soft and the inside is very tender and the crumb is pretty dense, I guess, but super-soft. Lean doughs tend toward a harder crust, right? The ones I'm thinking of are almost soft enough to act kind of like play dough if you were to squeeze them in your hand. She actually ate more than a couple of bites of this hoagie bread so I'm closer, at least.
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Nov 6, 2013 04:30
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Does anyone have any tips for baking Gluten Free bread? I have a gluten allergy but I am jonesing for some bread in my diet.
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Nov 6, 2013 10:10
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On a similar note, are there any decent yeast free recipes? I'm just learning and want to keep in practice but I have to stay away from yeast for a while.
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Nov 6, 2013 15:09
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:On a similar note, are there any decent yeast free recipes? I'm just learning and want to keep in practice but I have to stay away from yeast for a while. I don't have any recipes, but I'm pretty sure the only way to make a bread without yeast is to do a quickbread leavened with baking powder, and that pretty much eliminates any possibility of a long rise. So maybe look for recipes that call for baking powder? The texture and technique will probably be totally different though.
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Nov 6, 2013 15:24
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:On a similar note, are there any decent yeast free recipes? I'm just learning and want to keep in practice but I have to stay away from yeast for a while. Why?
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Nov 6, 2013 15:55
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:On a similar note, are there any decent yeast free recipes? I'm just learning and want to keep in practice but I have to stay away from yeast for a while.
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Nov 6, 2013 15:59
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You could always try a salt rising bread
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Nov 6, 2013 16:06
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FishBulb posted:Why? Accidentally over did it on the fish oil supplements and gave myself gout. Have to spend the next 2-3 months ingesting as little yeast as possible.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:53
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Does anyone have suggestions for making sourdough starter where the tap water contains so many chloro amines that the starter bacteria just can't survive? I've tried making starter SEVERAL times and never had much success, the one time I did was with RO DI water, but eventually I got lazy and tried tap and the starter died within two days. I'd rather not be forced to buy bottled water just for my starter if I don't have to. I live in San Diego if that might make a difference.
Spikes32 fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Nov 9, 2013 |
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Nov 9, 2013 20:00
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Spikes32 posted:Does anyone have suggestions for making sourdough starter where the tap water contains so many chloro amines that the starter bacteria just can't survive? I've tried making starter SEVERAL times and never had much success, the one time I did was with RO DI water, but eventually I got lazy and tried tap and the starter died within two days. I'd rather not be forced to buy bottled water just for my starter if I don't have to. I like in San Diego if that might make a difference. Have you tried buying a cheap pitcher water filter? Something like this:  Failing that, boil the water and let it come back to the proper temperature before using.
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Nov 9, 2013 20:12
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Spikes32 posted:Does anyone have suggestions for making sourdough starter where the tap water contains so many chloro amines that the starter bacteria just can't survive? I've tried making starter SEVERAL times and never had much success, the one time I did was with RO DI water, but eventually I got lazy and tried tap and the starter died within two days. I'd rather not be forced to buy bottled water just for my starter if I don't have to. I live in San Diego if that might make a difference.
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Nov 9, 2013 21:55
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Spikes32 posted:Does anyone have suggestions for making sourdough starter where the tap water contains so many chloro amines that the starter bacteria just can't survive? I've tried making starter SEVERAL times and never had much success, the one time I did was with RO DI water, but eventually I got lazy and tried tap and the starter died within two days. I'd rather not be forced to buy bottled water just for my starter if I don't have to. I live in San Diego if that might make a difference. It's hard to kill a starter with tap water. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they begin a starter is tossing it once it stops bubbling. The starter will go into a dormant stage after a very intense 1-2 days of bubbling (which is brought on by the bad bacteria). Eventually the PH lowers enough where the bad bacteria are killed off and the good bacteria start taking over. It generally takes upwards of two weeks to get a strong enough starter to raise a loaf of bread.
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Nov 10, 2013 00:54
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Thanks guys, I'll try again with the tap water and if that doesn't work buy some activated carbon and make some kind of cheap filter. Also, last time I've just done the whole tap water plus flour and let sit till it bubbles, then replace half with new flour and water. Any other suggestions?
Spikes32 fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Nov 10, 2013 |
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Nov 10, 2013 17:16
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Could anyone recommend a good place in the U.S. to find a decent silicone baking mat without getting ripped off? In the meantime... 2nd loaf attempt was delicious, although still far more dense than expected:  There wasn't anything wrong with it per se, it just wasn't coming out exactly as advertised. So, I read back through the recipe and figured it out. Instant yeast. The recipe calls for instant yeast, and I was using regular old-fashioned dry yeast. Silly me. Loaf #3 is cooling on a cutting board now, so I'll be able to do a crumb shot soon, but before it even made it into the oven I could already tell that the dough seemed different, stickier, more like the images in the old No-Knead thread.  *edit* As promised:  Hmm. It's still very tasty, just, again, not the bubbly, airy result I was hoping for. King Arthur Flour (70/30 unbleached white/wheat), 66% hydration, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp instant yeast; 2 hour room temperature rise, followed by two and a half days in the fridge, then an hour and a half warming back up on the counter before baking. What should I try changing? Full Metal Boxers fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 10, 2013 |
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Nov 10, 2013 22:29
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It looks fine except for the yeast ratio. Add more yeast if you have a time commitment, if not just give it more time till its actually doubled in size. Could take 6 hours though if you only use a fourth of a tsp.
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Nov 10, 2013 23:10
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 06:13 |
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One of the "no-knead" recipes I've seen here mentions leaving it covered overnight and then baking afterwards; another (the King Arthur one, I think?) mentions a two-hour rise followed by refrigeration for up to a week. Can I mix up the dough around bedtime, leave it to rise overnight, and then refrigerate afterwards? Or does it need to be baked right away if I leave it out that long?
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Nov 10, 2013 23:28
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