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My first bread ever: Fluffy but sticky. My second bread ever:  This one was horribly dense, not sure what went wrong. Bread 4 & 5: The cut one is sticky, the uncut one I will post later. It is following the recipe in the no-knead OP.  edit: the uncut one was a bit more dry and yummy, I gave half to my neighbour as I made too much and she was snacking on it when walking out the door. Smaller batches next week. Basically this no-knead bread is bothering me a bit, I run into some issues. There seem to be two types of recipe's on the internet, one that contains as much (weight) water as flour and one (like in this thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3460932 ) and one that goes 3 : 2 in flour : water weight. Both give me a somewhat rubbery textured bread that tastes very good but the 1:1 bread is still very moist inside so that I have to toast the slices before they are "normal". What could be happening here? I would like to make a bit lighter bread, but also started a sourdough starter yesterday... So many choices! Anyway, the goal is to have fresh, home-made bread every Saterday for lunch. I'll figure it out someday, maybe after I finished reading all 100 pages of this thread (currently on page 4) Keetron fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Dec 8, 2019 |
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Dec 7, 2019 16:20
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effika posted:I really suggest finding one recipe and getting very good at it, then branch out into other stuff so you know more of why things are doing what. Set up an EverNote or OneNote notebook and keep detailed notes-- hydration levels, flour used, levain type & amount, proofing times & temps, baking times & temps, did you like the results, crumb photo, etc. effika posted:What temperature are you cooking your loaves to? For lean breads, shoot for over 200F, even over 205F to really cook the moisture out. effika posted:How long are you waiting to slice your bread? My sandwich loaves will be gummy if I slice them before they've had 24 hours to cool off and redistribute the moisture throughout the loaf. Smaller loaves (like the Serious Eats no-knead recipe) will also need time to cool off, but since they weigh less I can usually get away with waiting only an hour or two for better results. (Sometimes we only wait 15 minutes because the bread smells too good and dinner is ready and there won't be any leftovers anyway.) The longer time before slicing is likely why loaf #5 came out better than #4 despite being in the same batch. effika posted:What are you doing when you shape your loaves? I find a few stretch-and-folds after a bulk ferment time vital to getting some structure to no-knead dough. Don't be afraid to really move that dough around; look up "gluten cloaking" too for some ideas. effika posted:A lot of no-knead recipes end up in the 70-80% hydration range as the extra water seems to help the gluten formation in absence of manipulation. (Remember, hydration is by weight, and use metric to keep sane.) effika posted:Speaking of manipulation-- keep mixing your dough for a minute or two after the ingredients have come together. You'll feel it start to fight back a little, and that's the level of gluten formation you're going for before you leave the dough alone for hours/days.
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Dec 11, 2019 14:22
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Keetron posted:Well, it seems I killed my sourdough starter start only 4 days in so you have a point. I'll focus on no-knead for now, it fits my schedule. UPDAAAATE: I came in from work today and the starter that I thought was dead, was actually super fluffy so I fed it with 2 tbls of rye flour and one water. I'll keep ya'll up to date on this!
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Dec 11, 2019 17:33
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 Sourdough from home made starter. Slightly under cooked but really yummy. I think I might need a new measuring cup and scale, this dough was again a bit wet and I measured super careful.
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Dec 21, 2019 13:08
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Getting better at the noknead as well:
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Dec 22, 2019 19:53
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I am pretty happy with my Zwilling knife that came in the set I have:  But will be moving to a Sabatier soon, when I do some kitchen remodeling"  There is no real reason for this other than that I like spending frivolous money.
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Jan 4, 2020 15:36
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I think you are better off kneading than reading! Just use the recipe in the op or the noknead, that is all you need now.
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Jan 24, 2020 17:24
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I did not yet manage to get a good bread when kneading with the KitchenAid yet. Tell me your secrets!
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Feb 11, 2020 19:37
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Yesterday I went to the windmill again to get me some flours and got me some yeast from them as my sourdough project failed and the supermarket yeast I had was running low. Upon coming home, I checked the due date on the yeast I had, they were all past, some over a year. Hmmmm, good thing I bought new, that one is good for at least another two years. 125gr, baking a bread every week using an avg of 5gr, yeah, I might be able to finish it. In the evening I put up a slow ferment, high hydration, no-knead in a bowl. This morning I came down into the kitchen and it was like I stepped into a brewery! This is very active, beer smelling yeast! Not complaining, I wonder about the taste as I still have to bake it, next post will be a crumb shot and taste report. edit update!: The bread is in the oven and the house smells of bread and beer. It should be done just in time for lunch. Keetron fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Jun 6, 2020 |
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Jun 6, 2020 08:27
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I made a thing, it was okee, I think at 75-80% hydration it was a bit hard to handle.  A few weeks ago I discovered there is a real stone grinding windmill some 12K from my house, so I went and for rye, white wheat and wholegrain wheat flour. The rye to make into a sourdough starter and it started great but at like day 4 it would not bubble up anymore like it did on day 3 and started to smell like paint thinner. I kept it up, tried feeding a bit more but could it be the natural yeast is just so string it needs only two days to become a working starter? It bubbled up to almost twice the size when in the jar.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:04
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Hoping this thread can help me out. I tried several times to make a sourdough starter and they all end up smelling extremely sour and not rising or straight up hooch. I get my flours from an actual windmill with big rear end millstones and they are ground at most a week or two before I buy them. I can buy rye, spelt and wheat, spelt and wheat whole or sifted. I tried a starter with rye. Can someone point me to a website with a good manual on how to fix up a starter? Also a manual on what is levain and so on would help, most manuals I found online were written by hippies and very unreadable. (Oh yeah, I am from a country where in the 70s hippies kidnapped sourdough and it has only been the last few years since we got good and sinful white bread sourdough that is not a dense brick of sadness from the nature store) Goal: to bake a weekly loaf of wheat / spelt based sourdough that will fuel my weekend long run, provided my wife and kids don't devour it when I look away for two seconds. Just reading Aramoro talk about it like this is making me very jealous and I want that super tasty bread too!
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Jan 6, 2021 12:57
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effika posted:This one worked for me. Get some rye flour as a boost for it, and I've used whole wheat otherwise. It took about a month after it was ready to really be useful as the only leavening; in the meantime I threw a tiny bit of commercial yeast (like .25tsp) into the bread dough to help it get a better rise. If that one doesn't work, there are a lot of other good ideas on that site for a starter, like the pineapple juice one (part 1- background part 2- more science and the technique) Cool, thank you. Do you have a similar link on how to actually use the starter to make a bread? Also on that I get lost in fuzzy instructional websites that assume a degree from a culinary school...
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Jan 6, 2021 14:44
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effika posted:I love the Fresh Loaf forums so much. I learned about the 1-2-3 sourdough loaf from there and there are a ton of threads on it. The community bake one is the largest and most informative, if hardest to navigate. Even has people asking for troubleshooting help with their starters. The no-knead version (lots of pictures in the comments!) is what I usually do since I have barriers to kneading. You made my year.
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Jan 7, 2021 22:37
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I know nothing of bread machines and both times I tried to use one, it was a failure. One baked only super dense bread and the other blew the fuses when I plugged it in. When I want to bake bread, I go with the no-knead recipe that is linked on the first post of the thread. In short: toss ingredients together, stir, let rise for 12+h, fold a bunch, form loaf, let rise again, preheat over with Ducth oven, dump bread in Dutch oven, bake. There is a bit more to it, the author uses plastic wrap for covering, I rather use floured up cotton, for example, but it is a good start I think. E: Beaten by the man himself. drat. Here is some video that I studied that helped me as well, mostly on techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jizr6LR83Kk&t=51s (I cut off the intro for your convenience) Keetron fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Jan 9, 2021 |
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Jan 9, 2021 23:41
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It looks amazing, albeit a bit undercooked.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:06
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Chad Sexington posted:Made my first focaccia with some fancy hard red winter wheat I got from Castle Valley Mill. Might have gone a little crazy with the cheese, but it was really good with some roasted pepper & tomato soup. Think I might crank the temperature next time and do toppings afterward to really get crispy sides and bottom. 
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Jan 15, 2021 10:21
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effika posted:This one worked for me. Get some rye flour as a boost for it, and I've used whole wheat otherwise. Wanted to come back to this for a short moment. Just threw out some foul smelling soup I made because I hosed up the measurements for the second time while feeding the starter. My plan is to now copy this to word and change all the US measurements to gr, so a sane person can use it. Then print that and put it on the inside of my kitchen cabinet. The instructions are good but those measurements just tripped me up twice. And then I try again.
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Jan 16, 2021 09:29
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Boris Galerkin posted:I dunno, I’m new at this. How do I dry it? Jars go boom.
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Jan 29, 2021 17:13
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Boris Galerkin posted:I made my own following King Arthur’s instructions. Take 1 part flour and mix it with 1 part water (same mass for both). Cover it loosely and let it sit. Every day dump out half of it and mix in 1:1 more flour and water. EZPZ Wait, this is for real?
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Jan 30, 2021 22:03
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All this reading and talking about starters helps me realize where I went wrong in the past, which was: following the instructions to the letter or not at all because you hosed it up somewhere and then panic. I can do way better with: "Discard half of the starter, add one part starter, one part water, one part flour for a feeding, consistency like runny peanut butter is aimed for. Use the discard as desired. Feed close to daily outside the fridge, close to weekly in the fridge. Enjoy all your doughy foods." So this is what I will be trying this week. Things I will be doing a lot with the discard: heat olive oil in skillet, dump discard in, sprinkle Fleur de Sel on top, flip once dry, on low heat until done. Yum.
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Jan 31, 2021 16:26
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fourwood posted:Yeah, that's about right. In my experience with it so far it's relatively forgiving, but it can take a while to really get going. My starter didn't start rising until day, like, 10 or 11. So some patience can be required. Hokay, with the "sourdough starters are an art more than a science", it dawned on me where I went wrong. I approached any create your own sourdough recipe as a science and a recipe. You guys opened my eyes to help me see that all is well if I just listen to the yeast. You see, I buy my flour from a genuine stone grinder windmill that uses local, organic grains. See here for more info: https://eersteling.com/. Since my last post, I took a few days to think up a strategy on making a starter, I so badly want this to succeed. The journey is going like this: - day 1 evening: mix 40gr of rye flour and 40gr of water in container. Cover with wrap and set on counter. - dinnertime day 2: some really tiny bubbles seem to be forming. - day 2 feeding: throw a bit of the starter out and add 50gr of wheat flour and 50gr of water - day 3 dinnertime: the mixture doubled in size, many bubbles. - day 3 feeding: keep 60gr, add 60gr of wheat flour and 60gr of water. It smells like... an interesting sourdough starter, not really there yet. When scooping out the bubbly starter, it was really airy, I could have done the float test but completely forgot about that. There would have been a good chance it floated. I am writing this on day 3 in the knowledge that I already have a starter that can double in size in a day. This means (to me) that the grains I used were always really potent yeast carriers. This also means that if you keep to a normal starter recipe, I would quickly starve the yeasts as they grow too fast and use up all the feed. It also means that the starter should be ready for use tomorrow but I will keep discarding and feeding to mature it a bit, will set a noknead sourdough dough ready for baking Saturday morning. @Redleader, I use a cast iron Dutch Oven, heat it with the oven and place the high hydration (and scored) doughball in there (on a baking sheet that is useful for lifting in and out) and then spritz it a lot before putting the lid back on. Bake for 30 mins, take lid off bake another 15. The Dutch Oven will act as a mini high humidity chamber, works wonders for oven spring.
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Feb 2, 2021 19:58
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I'll take the time, the starter bubbled up in the morning and is now deflated again. I'll just feed with some 25gr starter and 50gr flour, 50gr water. That gives me a few days to figure out what a levain is.
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Feb 3, 2021 14:56
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fourwood posted:A levain is just a mini second starter you make from your main starter, and then the entirety of the levain gets mixed into the dough when it’s risen to its peak. So let's say I would like to have 100g levain, I take 30 from my starter and add 35gr of water and 35gr of wheat flour and leave that for something like a day and then mix that into my bread dough? So a levain is basically starter intended for baking? I am a developer, would levain be a branch and your starter the trunk in your VCS? And the purpose of the feeding of the starter is just so you always have live yeast at hand in a nice sour culture that allows only for the yeast and the desired bacteria to survive?
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Feb 3, 2021 19:19
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fourwood posted:Just don’t merge it back to trunk. That was indeed the part of the analogy that I was uncertain about myself, but you confirmed what I thought. Thank you for the 8h rise on a levain, that means I mix it around lunch and then can use it in the evening for an overnight no knead ferment.
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Feb 3, 2021 22:28
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Why are you heathens discussing butter in a bread thread? Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt, Time, wasn't that the magic?
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Feb 4, 2021 16:46
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Re: Bread crime, my son did the same yesterday. He is 6 yo and was so happy, he ran to me when I came back downstairs "Daddy, the crusty bit are so yum, I had to eat them." So I will put extra effort in more crusty bits next week.
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Feb 7, 2021 07:24
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Forgot to feed my starter last night and this morning it smelled like hooch. This is fine, I fed it right away and now I will continue feeding in the mornings instead of evening making it more likely I will use the discard. The rise is still underwhelming tho, not sure what is up with that. Doing the 50gr starter, 50gr WF, 50gr water daily for a few days, maybe it is too much of a slurry and all the gas escapes? The immediate alcohol makes me think the yeast is performing well enough and when I poured out the starter in another cup to be able to measure it, it smelled nice and sour. Should I just try a bread with it?
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Feb 10, 2021 09:20
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bolind posted:Same. You leave it out after feeding, I take it?
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Feb 10, 2021 13:29
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redreader posted:I think some of us are starting our sourdough starters and most of you have existing sourdough starters that you're already using. Yup, a little over a week now and I think 1:1:1 is underfeeding if I go daily, the rise is lackluster and it smells like alcohol. I was planning to try 1:2:2 but then i read this: Chad Sexington posted:I'd say 1:1:1 at LEAST. I just eyeball it these days, but I'm usually doing like 4:4:1. Gotta give the yeasties room to run. So you know, I will just experiment a bit and see what works. As long as it rises and does not smell like a distillery I think I'll be fine. It gives me something to do. :bread: This will also help I think : Murgos posted:I think the only thing that actually matters is that you keep your mix at 100% hydration.
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Feb 10, 2021 22:56
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Keetron posted:Yup, a little over a week now and I think 1:1:1 is underfeeding if I go daily, the rise is lackluster and it smells like alcohol. Update: it reeked of alcohol again this morning, this means I am underfeeding I believe so what I did was do a 1:2:2 feed this morning and see how well it rises during the day.
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Feb 11, 2021 10:59
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After 10 days of loving around with a starter, making levain, and god knows what, I forgot to salt the no knead dough. I just dumped salt on it and tried stirring it again but I am so angry right now. We'll see tomorrow when I bake it how it went but JFC does the universe not want me to bake sour dough bread.
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Feb 13, 2021 22:41
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trip report on the sour dough: - preheated the over at 180C, forgot to put it to 240 - turned oven to 240 when putting in the bread. - baked for 30 minutes with lid on dutch oven, then put lid on the furnace that my wife needed 10 minutes later when I was not in the room. She is doing fine by now but her thumb still hurts a few hours later. - baked another 15 minutes The initial 14 hour rise went okee, the rise after shaping the bread was lackluster. Taste of the bread is good, especially with some sour cream I had left over. To improve: - more fluffiness, either use more starter or feed the levain more? Not sure here. - heat up oven properly - salt properly And why does my dough smelled of alcohol after a 14h rise?  
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Feb 14, 2021 16:23
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Re: overlight. Both my ovens turn off the light after some time. The one has a 30C setting that I tried growing the levain in but eventually I just gave everything time. And I am still not sure if this will work but I put the starter in the fridge and we'll see Thursday how it went.
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Feb 16, 2021 13:51
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bolind posted:If you list the equipment you have, we can maybe guide you in the right direction. A very laid back, patient madman and even then, I have a mixer and like a slow ferment bread much more than a kneaded one.
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Feb 20, 2021 17:23
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Guildenstern Mother posted:I've got a poolish going and I'm unreasonably excited by how farty and bubbly it is. This is better than having a cat. smells better too. Petting leaves some things to be desired.
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Feb 22, 2021 16:48
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Also if you score it, it can rise easier and you will get bigger bubbles.
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Feb 23, 2021 08:07
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It seems my sourdough is now cultured: Still leaning on rye for the starter, but that is yum anyway so who cares.
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Feb 27, 2021 19:39
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Not baking any bread this weekend, just not feeling it and I ran out of stone ground flour anyway. So I used the starter discard and put it just straight in the pancake batter I was making my son. Used spelt as, you know, I ran out of wheat flour. Wife and son both commented these were the best pancakes ever, fluffy, rich in taste and just... good! I had none, so would not know but it was a nice way to get rid of starter discard.
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Mar 5, 2021 20:51
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Dear Diary, Today I tried to make bubbly poolish from my sourdough starter and failed again, it smelled like a bar used to on the Sunday morning after a football match and was just goopy. I read somewhere on the internet that using rye flour will break down gluten so instead I used AP flour for the poolish but it was probably a bad idea. Well, we are having guests and the smell indicated taste so I put it in the bread and added a pinch of commercial yeast. Don't tell anyone, but if this works, I will do it more often! Right now the dough is in the kitchen doing a slow ferment, who knows how it looks tomorrow morning?!? Waking up at 7 to fold it so I can bake it at 9 in time for lunch!
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Mar 27, 2021 22:13
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mediaphage posted:seems like it’s doing fine. the only thing adding a pinch of commercial yeast gets you is better rise and more stable proofing times. i do it all the time. It turned out pretty great, we had guests and I love how people cannot stop eating these breads.  The one in the back was the sourdough, the one in front was the backup bread. As a result, I could give my guests some bread to take home which they eagerly accepted. Mission accomplished. And that pinch will go in more often, it allows me to get risen sourdough breads and I love that.
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Mar 28, 2021 21:26
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