tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55459334766244210462024-03-14T00:03:59.490-07:00fifty pence short"I want one white and one brown, but I'm fifty pence short, mate..."McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-88657650588492989762015-06-22T08:39:00.005-07:002015-06-22T08:39:58.864-07:00<h2>
Catching up</h2>
About six months ago, I let my starter die.<br /><br />I was seduced by Richard Bertinet's book, Dough, and in particular, his French country loaf. I'd not really done any yeasted bread before, so I was surprised by how good the flavour was. About three months after discovering him, I'd neglected my starter. A further six months on, I've grown tired of bland yeasted bread. So I've whipped up a new starter and I'm back off to the sourdough races.<br /><br />Recent loaves.<br /><br />I'd pretty much stopped making high hydration bread, and I'd moved away from miches. My daily bake had become a white flour, low hydration boule that made the best toast and sandwiches ever. So I'm trying to get back to baking that, but I'm currently out of white flour, so I'm making it today with Matthews 6 grain flour.<br /><br />The recipe is a deviation from Dan Leppard's White Leaven Bread from The Handmade Loaf, modified to reduce the hydration (and because I had no white flour.)<br /><br />Recipe.<br /><br />Leaven<br /><br />50 grams of vigorous 100% starter<br />75 grams of white flour<br />75 grams of water<br /><br />
I use a 100% starter, which I find easiest to maintain. I keep a pot with about 150-200 grams in the fridge. I'f I'm baking, I replace what I take out. If I'm not baking, once a week I just take 100 grams out and add 50 grams water and 50 grams flour to your starter. <br /><br />Mix these together and let them stand until the leaven has doubled in size. Time will depend on the temperature, but here in a mild English summer, it takes about four hours.<br /><br />Final dough<br /><br />When the 200 grams of leaven has doubled, add:<br /><br />10 grams sea salt<br />500 grams flour. (Normally I'd use Sainsbury's white bread flour -- the cheap one -- but today I'm using Matthews 6 grains.)<br />290 grams water<br /><br />This recipe should give you a loaf of 65% hydration. I know all the best recipes like 70% or higher, but I don't actually like the bread it produces. The holes are too big, so my jam falls through and it makes crap toast.<br /><br />I adjusted my formula using the <a href="http://joshuacronemeyer.github.io/Flour-and-Water/" target="_blank">sourdough hydration calculator.</a><br /><br />Anyway. mix your starter, your water, your flour and your salt and knead for about 10 minutes. I generally find 5 mins enough, but you want to mix until it forms a nice clean dough. Pop it in a floured bowl and let it rest for an hour.<br /><br />After it's had an hour, knock it back, shape it into a boule and then pop it into your banneton or a bowl that's lined with a floured teacloth.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-21269597956277551692012-03-19T21:05:00.003-07:002012-03-19T21:05:56.084-07:00Another Pain de CampagneWhat a difference it makes when you drop the hydration level back to 67%. This one is approx. 25% wholemeal flour, 75% white french flour.<br />
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What a pretty loaf, even if I do say so myself!<br />
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<br />McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-21150811168467398062012-03-19T13:39:00.000-07:002012-03-19T21:06:20.123-07:00Pain de Campaign from Bread MattersI've had a bit of French flour knocking around the house for a while, so I decided I was going to take another stab at a classical wet Pain de Campaign..<br />
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This was the style of bread that I started off trying to make. Eventually, I gave it up because my loaves just wen't turning out good. Oh sure, they were edible. Nothing you'd call bad. But they just didn't have that 'great' quality either. Given that I'd nailed that with my miche, I thought I'd take another shot at it.<br />
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The recipe that I was using comes from Andrew Lansley's book, Bread Matters. I like this book a lot. It's British, for one thing. It's aimed at the home baker rather than the professional. And he's passionate about his bread. So yeah, I do like this book a lot.<br />
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Anyway, I had a go at his recipe yesterday. Here's the outcome:<br />
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And here's a look at the crumb:<br />
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As usual, the taste of the bread is fine. But I'd like to be able to solve some of the aesthetic problems.<br />
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Lets look at the recipe<br />
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Stage 1: refresh the levain<br />
160 grms wheat levain starter<br />
50 grms stoneground wholemeal flour<br />
150 grms strong white flour<br />
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Mix at about 27c and leave for 4 hours<br />
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Final dough<br />
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100 grms stoneground wholemeal flour<br />
300 grms strong white flour<br />
7 grms sea salt (I used 10 and still didn't think it was enough)<br />
300 grms water<br />
300 grms production levain.<br />
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Mix all the ingredients except the production levain into a dough and knead for about 10 mins -- until you start to feel the gluten.<br />
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Then combine the production levain and work it well into the dough. At this stage you can add more water or flour, depending on how tight or slack you want the dough..<br />
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Even at the end of kneading, the dough should still stick to your hands and worktop.<br />
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When the dough is well kneaded, wet a section of worktop and the rim of a glass bowl. Cover the dough with your bowl and let it rest on the worktop for an hour..<br />
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After an hour, stretch and fold the dough, starting with the furthest away edge and folding into the centre.<br />
Then the front, and into the centre. And the sides.<br />
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You'll notice the dough tighten up and form a shaped boule. Dredge the dough in wholemeal flour and place, seam side up into a well floured banneton, then let it prove for around 4 hours.<br />
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When it's proved, turn it onto your peel, slash the dough and slip it into a preheated oven at about 220c. After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 200c for a further 30 minutes until the loaf has a good strong coloured crust.<br />
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Well, everything went pretty much as it said on the tin. It's a very wet dough. My calculation makes it 73% hydration, and so the dough is very soft, very wet and very difficult to handle and work. This makes it hard to get good definition in your slashes, when you turn it out of the banneton, it doesn't hold it's shape at all -- simply drops to a pancake. When it's on the second prove, it still feels like wet dough -- even three or four hours in.<br />
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As you can see from the picture, although there is random holes, there are a large number of big holes at the top of the dough rather than distributed evenly throughout. Presumably that is because a with dough as wet as this one, all the air bubbles will rise to the top.<br />
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Although it was just a 73% hydration dough, it felt more like an 80% hydration. It was like working with a ciabatta dough or something. When I look at people working with wet doughs on YouTube, they've got a dough that they're able to work with. <br />
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Here's an example of the kind of wet but workable dough I'm trying to shoot for:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ucmvzXv6lNs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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See that skin she gets? I just don't get that. My dough is still sticky -- even after the prove. I try to shape it, but it's just like I'm back to kneading again, the dough is that wet and sticky. The only way I can work it is by using wet hands/wet bench scrapers, etc.<br />
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So, does anyone have any idea what's going wrong here? Do I just need to drop the dough back to a dryer hydration? If I'm working with just white flour, that boule shapes pretty well identically to mine at 67% hydration. Am I underkneading? Overkneading? Something else?<br />
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I'd be really grateful for any hints as to what I'm doing wrong here Any thoughts, guys?McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-31585147581584816612012-01-05T07:45:00.001-08:002012-01-05T18:47:32.569-08:00Troubleshooting your bread<span style="font-size: small;">Troubleshooting your bread </span><br />
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(For Jon Derricott)<br />
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I don't want to come across as some sourdough baking expert here. What I can post about though, is what worked for *me*. I believe that the process of troubleshooting that I went through, can be helpful for anybody. I'm going to be talking about my standard miche recipe here again, because it's the one that I do that tastes the best, and that I've got absolutely nailed.<br />
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<div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6641554981/" title="Biga-style sourdough starter"><img alt="Biga-style sourdough starter by flimbag" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6641554981_32ddd7ee41.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6641554981/">Biga-style sourdough starter</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sourdough starter.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">I initially went about making my starter in the usual way. Plain white flour and water, feeding/refreshing every 24 hours or so. There are a million sourdough starter recipes on the net. I'd steer clear of the wild and whacky varieties. You don't need pineapples or raisings or any of that stuff. I used Theresa's formula on Northwest Sourdough. <br /><br />I can't recommend Theresa's site highly enough. Her free book, which you can download from the site, is at least as good as half of the books that I've bought. I used her sourdough starter, and it worked without any trouble. My first loaf was Theresa's recommended first loaf. And when I had problems, I used Theresa's forums to troubleshoot my problems. </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.northwestsourdough.com/index.php?cID=100" target="_blank">Theresa's starter recipe is here.</a></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">So, using Theresa's recipe gives you a basic 100% hydration sourdough starter. This is what you'd use for most sourdough recipes. It's what I use if I'm making a basic white sourdough.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">If I'm making my miche though, I want a firm biga-like starter (see picture above.) By creating the starter in multiple stages, we ensure that the activity of the yeast and other bacterias and enzymes are sufficiently active to give us a light and tasty loaf. So we go through three refreshment stages to get the starter in good condition to bake with.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Your timing doesn't have to be perfect when it comes to each of these stages. Refreshing aruond every 12 hours should be plenty, but you might be able to extend that to 24 hours per stage, or reduce it to 6 hours a stage, depending on how warm the temperature is and how active your starter is. The time it takes for your starter to double in volume will give you a good idea how long you need to take between refreshments.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Here is my recipe for enough starter for one and two loaves.<br /><br /><b>Stage 1</b></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">6 grams of 100% hydration starter</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">8 grams of water</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">14 grams of flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">[ 2 wholemeal, 1 spelt, 1 rye, 10 plain]</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="margin: 0pt;">Stage 2</span></b><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">28 grams starter (all of stage 1)</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">16 grams water</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">30 grams flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">[5 wholemeal, 3 spelt, 1 rye, 21 plain]</span><br />
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<b><span style="margin: 0pt;">Stage 3</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="margin: 0pt;">1 loaf</span></b><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> 74 grams starter (all of stage 2)</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">28 grams of water</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">50 grams of flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">[9 wholemeal, 5 spelt, 2 rye, 34 plain]</span><br />
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<b><span style="margin: 0pt;">2 loaves</span></b><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> 74 grams starter (all of stage 2)</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">66 grams of water</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">120 grams of flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">[22 wholemeal, 12 spelt, 4 rye, 82 plain]</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Sometimes I'll make up enough starter for a single loaf, sometimes I'll make up enough starter for two. If I do make enough starter for two, sometimes I'll make enough dough for two loaves all at once, other times, I'll make up enough dough for a loaf at a time.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Whichever I'm doing, the first thing I do is cut off 28 grams of starter for my next bake. That way, I can go directly to Stage 2. Then, I'll either divide the remainder of the starter into two, or use the lot if I'm making two loaves. There should be enough of this firm starter left for two batches of about 110 - 120 grams after you've put your 28 grams aside for the next bake.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /><b>Recipe for 1 loaf.</b></span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">I'll go with my recipe for 1 loaf here. If you're wanting to make more than one loaf, just double the quantities. </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">As I think I already said, I'm aiming for a loaf that is a 67% hydration. This means that 67% of your dough will be made up of plain water. This is a relatively wet dough -- not a very wet dough. A pain ancienne or a ciabatta dough might be in the high 70's, and many artisan sourdough loaves tend to be around 70% hydration. This will give you the large holes and the open structure that you're looking for, but it's a lot harder to work. </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Because this dough is around 50% wholemeal flour, it can take a relatively high hydration, but I don't like my hydration too high. I want a loaf that I can shape well, that'll give me good oven spring and a fairly closed while still irregular crust.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">OK, here's how I do it. With pictures.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">Ingredients</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> Soaker /autolyse stage</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">115 grams ripe biga-like sourdough starter</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">312 grams water approximately 78c.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">90 grams Bacheldre Mill Wholewheat Flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">40 grams Dove Farm Wholegrain Spelt Flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">14 grams Dove Farm Rye Flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">100 grams Waitrose Extra Strong Canadian Wholewheat Bread flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Break up my starter into small balls and drop them into my mixing bowl. As I said, it should be about 115 grams of ripe, puffy, biga-like starter.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6642782909/" title="Starter"><img alt="Starter by flimbag" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6642782909_1bb7197d72.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6642782909/">Starter</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div>
<br /><span style="margin: 0pt;">Add your water, then add the 90 grams Bacheldre Mill Wholewheat, 40 grams Dove Farm Spelt, 14 grams Rye, 100 grams Strong Canadian Wholewheat.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Use your scraper to combine the flour and starter well, and you'll have a soaker the consistency of mud. I let these flours and water soak together for at least an hour, but another hour or two isn't going to hurt it, and may well improve it.</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6642800981/" title="Soaker stage"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6642800981_1bb1c1dcea.jpg" alt="Soaker stage by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6642800981/">Soaker stage</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p>
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Final dough stage</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">After your soaker stage has had about an hour, it's time to make it into the final dough. I use:</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">9 grams Malden Sea Salt</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">111 grams Sainsburys Strong White Bread Flour</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">111 grams Waitrose Canadian Extra Strong White Bread Flour.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Mix the dough, the salt and the two white flours into your autolyse/soaker stage. It's really important not to forget the salt. Salt is critical to gluten development. Without it, you just get a sticky mess.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">When salt and flour is mixed in, tip the whole lot out onto your counter and knead your dough for 10 to 15 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Knowing when dough is sufficiently kneaded is something that you can tell mostly by feel. The more you do it, the better at it you get. What you're looking for is a silky smooth dough that's stretchy and feels good. However, wholewheat doughs are never quite as smooth and silky as white doughs, even with the extra water added.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">So, I knead for about 12 minutes. After 3 or 4 minutes, I stop for a minute or two to let the dough rest. That makes it much easier to knead when the dough goes slack again. After a few minutes, you'll feel it tightening up again. Take another break and give the dough another rest.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">When the dough has had it's full time, roll it into a ball, cover it with flour or peanut oil so that it doesn't stick to the sides, and pop it into a clingfilm covered bowl for an hour.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">After an hour, I bring it out and give the dough a couple of stretch and folds.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">Back into the bowl, another hour, another set of stretch and folds.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">After the second hour, I'm waiting for the dough to double in volume. In this weather, in my kitchen, that takes about two hours. In summer, it was taking less than one. Keep in mind two things:</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">There's no need to rush it. It's really hard to overprove sourdough. <br />Sourdough is supposed to be slow. The slower the better. The longer it takes, the more time flavour has to develop.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">When your dough has finally doubled in size, we're going to shape the dough. I tend to prefer to make a boule -- a round, ball like loaf -- mostly because it's easiest to do. I suggest you go to YouTube and watch the videos on shaping boules.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">Then, when your loaf is shaped, you're going to leave it for it's final prove. Again, in this weather, I like to give it around four hours at the ambient temperature of my kitchen. If you chill the dough, you can let it have anywhere from 8 hours to 20 hours or so.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">When the proving is over, it's time to pop it into the oven.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<b><span style="margin: 0pt;">Notes on troubleshooting</span></b><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">There were a handful of things I had to do before I could consistently make great bread and so I'm going to list them here before I give my detailed recipe.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">1.) Stick to a single formula -- if you're changing your bread recipe all the time, you'll never get it right. Pick a single recipe and then stick to it. </span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">2.) Modify a single variable at a time. If you think hydration is a problem, increase or reduce hydration several % each time you bake. Similarly, if you suspect time might be the problem, increase or reduce the time each time you bake. </span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;">3.) Aim for consistency. Make your changes in consistent, measured steps. Then try and judge if your change has made an improvement or not.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">4.) Record your experiments. There's a lot to go wrong with sourdough. Take notes and take pictures.</span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;">5.) If you're floundering, ask for help. People on the forums are really helpful. Join a baking forum and ask your questions there. Or ask me.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0pt;"><br /></span></div>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-46973688712802041152011-12-22T13:20:00.003-08:002011-12-22T13:28:04.737-08:00Another Place miche<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6555488553/" title="Another Place miche"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6555488553_9f4ee4c760.jpg" alt="Another Place miche by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6555488553/">Another Place miche</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Two loaves</p>
Just a picture of a couple of loaves to show how my quest for quality and consistency is going. This bread is absolutely fantastic. Wonderful flavour, wonderful texture, the closest I've come to bread perfection.
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6555505383/" title="Another Place miche -- crumb shot!"><img alt="Another Place miche -- crumb shot! by flimbag" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6555505383_7ffd74bf43.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="margin: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6555505383/">Another Place miche -- crumb shot!</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div>
Crumb shot
And here's a picture of the crumb, so you can see how wonderfully light and airy it is. Now that I've got the wholemeal down, I'll start trying to get the white bread sorted.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-48596309987912891702011-12-01T04:13:00.001-08:002012-03-19T21:06:44.810-07:00Baking masterclassSince I had my masterclass with Theresa and Ice over on Northwest Sourdough, my baking has gone from strength to strength.<br />
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My daily loaf is what I call 'Another Place Miche', but it's based largely on a recipe by queen of the online miches, <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/blog/shiaoping" target="_blank">Shiou-Ping</a>. My loaf is based upon her <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15778/g%C3%A9rard-rubaud-miche" target="_blank">Gerard Rubaud miche</a>, with some minor adjustments. I substitute 100 grams of her white flour with 100 grams of Waitrose's extra-strong wholemeal flour, so the loaf is now approximately 50% white flour, 45% wholewheat, and the other 5% being a mixture of spelt and rye. Hydration is 67%.<br />
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Here are a couple I knocked up this week. Nothing special -- they're pretty well this good every time I bake one now. I've just about got it down.<br />
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Perhaps I'll submit them to <a href="http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/" target="_blank">Yeastspotting</a> this week. I think they're good enough.<br />
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And the crumb:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Another Place Miche</b></span></div>
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<b>Recipe:</b><br />
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<b>Stage 1</b><br />
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6 grams starter<br />
8 grams water<br />
14 grams flour (2 grams wholewheat, 1 gram spelt, 1 gram rye, 10 grams strong white bread flour)<br />
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First stage takes anywhere from 6 to 16 hours to double in size and become nicely aerated. I tend to go for about 12 hours.<br />
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<b>Stage 2</b><br />
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28 grams starter (from stage 1 --alternately, from stage 3.)<br />
16 grams water<br />
30 grams flour (5 grams wholewheat, 3 grams spelt, 1 gram rye, 21 grams strong white bread flour)<br />
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<b>Stage 3 (for a single loaf)</b><br />
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74 grams starter (from stage 2)<br />
28 grams water (if doubling quantities, use 64 grams water)<br />
50 grams flour (9 grams wholewheat, 5 grams spelt, 2 grams rye, 34 grams strong white flour.)<br />
(If doubling quantities, I use 64 grams water, 20 grams wholewheat flour, 10 grams spelt, 4 grams rye, 80 grams of strong white bread flour.)<br />
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Whether you're making one loaf or two, you wamt to have 28 grams of starter left over so that you can use it as your stage 2 starter for your next loaf. Before you're ready to bake, take off 28 grams and put it in a container. Leave it on your conntertop, or pop into the fridge.<b><br /></b><br />
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Mix the 115 grams starter from stage3 into 312 grams of warm water. Add 190 grams of wholemeal flour, 40 grams of spelt and 14 grams of rye. Mix thoroughly, cover, and allow to stand for an hour or two.<br />
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After two hours, add 8 grams ground sea salt and 222 grams strong white bread flour and knead your dough for around 10 mins.<br />
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Oil a bowl pop your dough in and cover for an hour. After an hour, stretch and fold, and then back into the bowl for another hour. After the second hour, stretch and fold the dough then back into the bowl and cover again.<br />
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Wait until the dough has doubled in volume. At the moment, with kitchen temp at about 18 degrees c, that's taking about four or five hours from mixing the dough.<br />
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When the dough has doubled in volume, get it out and shape into a boule, then pop it into a lined bowl or banneton amd wait until the dough has doubled in size again.<br />
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Pre-heat the oven for half an hour (or more, depending on the size of your oven stone. At the moment, I'm using a pizza stone which does fine.) My oven is a fan assisted oven, and I heat it at the max,. 245 c.<br />
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Slash the top of your dough -- I use the classic hash slash -- pop it onto your oven stone, liberally apply steam to your oven using whatever method you prefer (I use a combo oven dish filled with a cup of boiling water, and spritzes of water every two mins for the first 8 mins.<br />
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For a single loaf, I bake for 10 minutes at 245 c, then turn down to 235 c for an additional 10 mins. Then, I turn down to 200 for the last 10 mins, upending the loaf 5 minutes before it's due to come out to make sure the loaf is evenly browned on the bottom.<br />
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After 30 mins, I rap the bottom to make sure it sounds hollow. If it doesn't, give it an additional 5 minutes, but usually it's fine after 20 mins.<br />
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Put it on a cooling rack and let it cool.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-82563850317571385782011-10-03T05:45:00.000-07:002011-10-03T05:45:52.389-07:00The quality improvesI said in my last post that I felt as though I'd made a breakthrough in my baking. Since then, I've baked another three or four loaves, using the same basic recipe, but with slight adjustments -- to the starter -- I didn't have enough of the firm starter that I normally use for this recipe, nor did I have the three days that it needs to make it -- so I reverted to my usual 100% hydration starter.
And of course, that throws out your hydration levels.<br />
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I suspect that many of my problems in the past have been a consequence of inaccuracy around my hydration levels. I'd been relying on one of the many on-line calculators. Maybe it worked and it was just me being careless? Maybe it was rubbish? And I don't think I ever used the same calculator twice.<br />
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Last week though, I discovered what I feel to be the best of all the online calculators for doing hydration levels. It's simple. It's graphic, so it's easy to read and to use. <a href="http://joshuacronemeyer.github.com/Flour-and-Water/">Here's a link. Have a little play around with it.</a><br />
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Anyway, having nailed my hydration level issue, there were a couple of other issues that needed nailing. Shaping, and adequate proofing times.<br />
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In the past, I'd simply go by what the recipe said. If it told me to bulk ferment for two and a half hours, that would be what the loaf would get. Yes, they always said that you have to go by how the dough feels -- but unless you know what proper dough feels like at the various stages, you're just kinda guessing.<br />
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And it shows in the loaf.<br />
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Looking back, I can see that my sourdough loaves have always been a bit underproved, a bit underdeveloped. Well, sometimes it was a bit -- and sometimes it was a lot.<br />
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The loaves were edible. They tasted great. But the crumb was *really* tough -- even when the loaf had risen enough.<br />
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I wasn't getting enough air in. The bulk ferment wasn't right. The proving wasn't right. The shaping wasn't right either. Hang on a sec:<br />
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Formula<br />
Kneading <br />
Bulk ferment<br />
Proving<br />
Shaping<br />
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That's just about *everything* that needed improving...<br />
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OK, lets take it from the top, and I'll use the loaf I baked last night as an example.<br />
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As I said, the recipe I was using was based on <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15778/g%C3%A9rard-rubaud-miche">Shiao Ping's Gerard Rubaud Miche.</a> I didn't need such a humungous loaf though, and I didn't have the three days to buld her biga-like starter, so I just wanted to whack it out using the starter I had in my fridge -- which was nice and ripe, but was 100% hydration.<br />
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So the recipe went:<br />
150g ripe sourdough starter<br />
292g water <br />
90g wholewheat flour<br />
40g spelt flour<br />
14g rye flour<br />
322g white flour<br />
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Mix the starter and the water together, and then add the various flours.When they're well mixed, cover the bowl for 25 mins to let the dough autolyse -- then add your 10g salt and start kneading the dough.<br />
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I know people say that you don't need to knead after autolysing. Personally, I've tried it both ways, and it comes out better with kneading. I give it about 10 mins using the Bertinet Method of kneading. Then, I make a ball, oil my glass mixing bowl, slap it it in and cover it with cling film.<br />
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After 30 minutes, I do a series of stretch and folds. I like to alternate my stretch and fold methods, so if I start using the envelope fold method, the next time I'll use Bertinet's stretch and fold technique. <br />
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I don't know if the style is crucial, but I think that it's crucial that you do them. It seems to really help in developing the gluten and getting a good, solid skin when you shape your dough later.<br />
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So, I do four lots of stretch and folds doing a set after 30 minutes. After my final set, I leave the dough alone until it doubles in size. I'm checking the sides of my glass bowl to make sure that I've got good, even aeration throughout the dough. If I've got both of these things -- which generally takes between an hour and a half to two hours, *after* my last set of stretch and folds -- then I'm ready to get my dough out of the bowl and stat shaping.<br />
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Shaping is something that I struggled with in the past as well, but that was because I wasn't giving my dough enough time to develop. Once I had, the whole thing became much easier to work with. So, I'd form a boule. Let it rest on the counter for five minutes. De-gas and flatten into a circle, then reshape into a boule for the second time. Another five minute rest. Then, do your second shaping.<br />
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There are a whole pile of YouTube videos that demonstrate shaping a boule. As long as your dough is sufficiently matured, theu're all good. Here, check it out. Reinhart again:<br />
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Once you've got your shaped boule, slap it into the Banneton to prove.<br />
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In the past, I was giving my loaves around an hour or an hour and a half to prove. That seemed right. It was what the recipe generally said. If you went by the size of the dough ball that I began with after mixing my dough, it was definitely double that size. And wouldn't the oven spring take care of any additional growth?<br />
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If you scroll back in my blog, you can see what my earlier loaves look like. As I said, they weren't bad. They tasted good. But some were better than others. I didn't have any consistency. Now, I believe I've cracked that. Check the loaf that I posted in my previous blog entry. And now check this one:<br />
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So now, I feel like I can move on to bake other breads having finally mastered the fundamentals of sourdough.<br />
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McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-73477340371939015932011-09-29T07:06:00.000-07:002011-09-29T08:09:24.236-07:00Catching upI've been neglecting my blog of late. Which isn't to say that I've been neglecting my baking, but I have had a couple of struggles -- more about those anon.<br /><br />Interesting things I've baked lately: I took a shot at baking baguettes using Peter Reinhart's <a href="http://homecookinginmontana.blogspot.com/2011/02/peter-reinhart-pain-lancienne-part.html">Pain a la Ancienne</a> method. This technique uses a very, very cold, very, very wet dough, and a tiny amount of yeast, and the dough is left for a very long time to allow the flavour to develop some proper complexity.<br /><br />It was an interesting exercise in baking, and the baguettes themselves were perfectly fine -- after a fashion. However, I really struggled to shape the loaves, and so while they tasted fine, they didn't actually look great. And I do want my bread to look good as well as tasting good. After all, anticipation is an important part of eating.<br /><br />I will try this recipe again, but I'll try it as foccacia or as a rough country loaf rather than as baguettes. Here's a couple of pictures from the bake:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6205/6068199847_e67d003cc3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6205/6068199847_e67d003cc3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/6069051034_f55de11d72http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 375px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6072/6069051034_f55de11d72.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A much more successful project, from my point of view, has been my attempt to create a <a href="http://www.poilane.fr/">poilane-style</a> miche. The idea is to reproduce the loaves produced by the late Lionel Polaine, whose signature country-style hearth baked loaf (the miche) is widely regarded as possibly the best loaf in the world.<br /><br />I've tried a couple of recipes, but I think the one that I liked the best -- and the one that I had most success with, has been the blogger, Shiao Ping's miche in honour of baker, Gerard Rubaud, the aptly named <a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15778/g%C3%A9rard-rubaud-miche">Gerard-Rubaud miche</a>.<br /><br />There were two things that were interesting to me about this loaf. All of my other breads had used a starter with a fairly high hydration -- generally 100% hydration. Also, I normally just take my starter out of the fridge, give it a quick refresh and I'm baking a few hours later.<br /><br />The Gerard Rubaud miche, in contrast, uses a firm starter -- akin to the Italian style biga, rather than the more usual sponge type levain. And the starter is a multiple-grain biga, that's built slowly, a little over time, over about three days. <br /><br />This is not a loaf for the person in a hurry.<br /><br />You can find the recipe for the loaf linked above on Shiao Ping's blog, but the loaf contains wholewheat flour, rye, spelt and plain flour.<br /><br />Here's a picture of my first attempt at the Gerard Rubaud miche. It tasted as good as it looked.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6149164907_88770a79f6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6149164907_88770a79f6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />My baking hasn't all been plain sailing of late though. I bought a bag of bread flour from Tescos a few weeks ago, and it completely screwed with my baking. I couldn't get a decent loaf out of the whole bag. Every dough I made was overly sticky and never became workable. Every single loaf I made using that bag was inedible and ended up as compost. And what's more, I used it to refresh my starter, so the whole thing infected my motherdough.<br /><br />I managed to refresh the whole thing out eventually, but the incident completely undermined my confidence in my ability to bake sourdough. I started adding a pinch of quick yeast to my loaves, just to be sure that the dough would be workable and would rise sufficiently.<br /><br />This weekend, I was discussing my problems with the very helpful guys on Northwest Sourdough on their troubleshooting forum. [Note: the thread has now been moved. You can find it <a href="http://teresal.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1353">here</a>. Ice and Theresa over there were particularly helpful to me in talking me though the process, and so as I was chatting with them, I decided I'd make a sourdough and post about it in real time. The people over there could give me feedback and we could talk about any issues as they came up.<br /><br />I didn't need a whole lot of advice, but what I did get was the equivalent of a masterclass in sourdough baking. Firstly, I learned that my hydration calculations were wrong. That explains why my dough was always wetter than I expected it to be.<br /><br />I also made a breakthrough in terms of my handling the dough -- stretching, folding, degassing, shaping. In the past, I've followed the YouTube videos on the subject, but I never really knew what the dough was supposed to feel like at the various stages. For me, that's been the biggest breakthrough. Everything that I read says that you have to be able to understand who the dough is supposed to feel at any given time. Unless someone actually shows you how to do it with a piece of dough that is good dough though, you've got no point of reference.<br /><br />However, because I knew that my dough was good, I was finally able to get a handle on how it should feel at every stage. When I finished my loaf, it came out and was unquestionably the best loaf I'd ever baked. Everything about it was absolutely perfect from my point of view. Perfect crust, perfect crumb, great oven spring, fantastic taste. Moist with great keeping capabilities. Here are a couple of pictures:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/6184109419_3983be823d.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/6184109419_3983be823d.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I was shooting for a 64% hydration, but as my calculations were off, I ended up with a 70% hydration dough. In the past, I've not been taken with loaves of such high hydration. They've turned out tough, and ended up making terrible toast. This loaf was the exact opposite though. Tender, moist, perfect with butter and perfect toasted.<br /><br />Here's a crumb shot:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6185544656_c1451939d2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6185544656_c1451939d2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And it tasted every bit as good as it looked. In fact, I've got one proving as I speak...McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-37957255422509349382011-08-15T12:42:00.001-07:002011-08-15T12:42:44.036-07:00Small white sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6046976820/" title="Small white sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6046976820_aee9d735a1.jpg" alt="Small white sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6046976820/">Small white sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Experimenting with small loaf sizes and long fermentation. These two had the levain fermenting for 15 hours, and a bulk fermentation in the fridge for about 9 hours, before proving in the bannetons for an additional 2.5 hours.<br /><br />Pretty loaves, but I haven't tasted them yet. Sainsbury's own brand strong white bread flour.</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-76344627069231722682011-08-13T07:18:00.001-07:002011-08-13T07:18:25.582-07:00Poppyseed bagels<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6037948625/" title="Poppyseed bagels"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/6037948625_0ef94bf358.jpg" alt="Poppyseed bagels by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6037948625/">Poppyseed bagels</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Today's recipe -- bagels</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-3762840585639889622011-08-08T16:04:00.001-07:002011-08-08T16:12:33.349-07:00Better Place sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6023330305/" title="Better Place sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/6023330305_119743000c.jpg" alt="Better Place sourdough by flimbag" /></a>
<br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6023330305/">Better Place sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.
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<br />I baked two loaves today.
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<br />I made a batch of dough last night, left it in the fridge for an overnight bulk ferment, and then was in too much of a hurry to get it into the oven this morning. Damn thing was underproved, and so it blew out of the bottom, and was undercooked in the middle. Really, just fit for the compost heap.
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<br />Of course, I hate not having a proper loaf in the house now, so I whipped up a new one this afternoon. Again, to my own recipe, using my own sourdough starter -- this is definitely the best of all of the loaves that I make. Mostly white, with around 15% rye flour and 5% wholemeal. this loaf has just the right amount of flour and flavour.
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<br />Looking in Sainsbury's this afternoon, a 400 gram sourdough (that's OK but not very good) will cost you £1.65. So an 800 gram loaf like this one, would cost about £3.30. It's just flour, water, yeast and salt -- and the yeast comes free!
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<br />There's gotta be a decent living if you could make bread as good as this on a large scale. I really like my idea of artisan bakery as a social enterprise. If I get made unemployed any time soon, that's what I'm gonna do.
<br /></span></div><p></p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-13414367216721086232011-08-07T03:39:00.000-07:002011-08-07T10:35:20.367-07:00Another day, another challah!<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6017667067/" title="Challah, baby!"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6140/6017667067_bb3c745cc6.jpg" alt="Challah, baby! by flimbag" /></a><br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6017667067/">Challah, baby!</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p><br /><br />Refusing to be defeated, I've decided to have another stab at a challah. This time, I'm going the yeasted (*spit*) route, in the hope that once I've mastered it, I'll go back to sourdough.<br /><br />Using Peter Reinhart's recipe in Crust and Crumb. He's got a later recipe in one of his later books, but this one is for a single loaf, so I thought that would make it easier (given that I didn't want to use a crate of eggs, a sledge of butter and then have to throw it all out again.<br /><br />Here's his recipe, along with my commentary:<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; "></span></span></p><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">3½ cups (16 ounces) unbleached bread flour</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">¼ cup (2 ounces) sugar</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">1 teaspoon (0.25 ounce) salt</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">2 teaspoons (0.22 ounce) instant yeast</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, softened</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">2 large eggs (3.33 ounces), beaten</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">2 large egg yolks (1.33 ounces), beaten, plus 1 yolk for egg wash</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">¼ cup (2 ounces) milk, at room temperature</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">½ cup water, at room temperature</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">Poppy or sesame seeds for topping (optional)</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="calibre_877" style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: 0pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: justify; ">Vegetable oil cooking spray.<br /><br />1. Combine all the dough ingredients in a bowl and mix to a ball.<br /><br />2. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead for 12 - 15 minutes until the dough is soft, pliable and neutral to the touch. It should be slightly tacky. If necessary, add flour.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Damn thing ate up a pile of flour. I'm pretty sure this is where I went wrong with my last effort. I just followed the recipe exactly, and yeah, it seemed terribly wet so I just used Richard Bertinet's method for working with wet doughs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">When I started with this I had to use Bertinet's method as well. No other way to get it into a kneadable state otherwise. But I kept on adding flour, until I got a sense of it being slightly tacky but workable. It was a long knead -- almost 20 mins, but I think it's probably impossible to over-knead with Bertinet's method.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Eventually, I got something that felt like a bread dough -- as opposed to a cakey type thing. So I went on:</span><br /><br />3. Place in a clean, oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Let it rise for an hour -- until it's about doubled in size.<br /><br />4. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead by hand for another 5 minutes. Re-oil your bowl, pop the dough back in. Re-cover with cling film. Another rising, another hour, another doubling.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">So far, so good. Still needs plenty of flour, but it's workable and does behave like dough. Because of all the oils and fat and sugar, you don't want to be working this with your hands for very long because it does get sticky again quickly. Started off with classical kneading, but soon reverted to the Bertinet method again.</span><br /><br />5. Divide the dough into three equal pieces (or more if you're making a more complex plait. I'm gonna try the easy one this week to minimize handling). Mist with cooking oil, cover and allow to rest for 20 mins.<br /><br />6. Working quickly, roll the pieces into eight inch long cigar shapes -- fatter in the middle, thinner on the ends. Cover each piece as you finish working it.<br /><br />7. Once you've got your plaits, lay them side by side on a floured surface. Plait the loaf. I'll link to a YouTube video to show how this is done.<br /><br />8. Put the loaf on a baking sheet that's been lined with baking parchment. Beat a single egg yolk. Use half the beaten egg to glaze the plait. Cover with cling film or a towel and let it rise for another hour or until doubled in size.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Still looking good. I prefer the other method of creating the plaits, in which you roll them out with a rolling pin and then roll them up. It seemed easier to work with them that way. I managed to get the thing plaited up, but it kept expanding as I kept plaiting.</span><br /><br /><div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6017897396/" title="Challah #2 - final prove"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/6017897396_cf0186bc6d.jpg" alt="Challah #2 - final prove by flimbag" /></a><br /></div><br /><br />9. Pop a shelf in the middle and preheat your oven to 190c -- 180c if you're using a fan assisted jobby as I am.<br /><br />10. Use the rest of the egg yolk to glaze the loaf again. If you're using poppy seeds, now is the time to put them on.<br /><br />11. Slap the thing in the oven for about 45 mins, turning half way through for even browning. Loaf wants to be about 85c in the centre when cooked. Or, you know, whack it on the bottom and hope it sounds challahw.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Gone into the oven now. This one had definitely doubled in size before it went into the oven -- unlike my previous sourdough attempt, which had just stopped by that point. Gonna be interesting to see how much oven spring I get, but so far, everything followed the recipe, as you'd expect.</span><br /><br />12. Get it out, slap it on a rack. Let it cool for an hour. Voila! Or not?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Whoa! Just checked it out after 15 mins and the damn thing is a monster! A challah the the size of a three year old kid! It's a little dark already, so I've turned the heat down, but it's impressive so far.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I'm done. Final pic at the top of the page. Looks like a winner!</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></blockquote>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-35873444583494944512011-08-04T23:12:00.001-07:002011-08-07T04:57:12.689-07:00Spelt sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6011024848/" title="Spelt sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6150/6011024848_57cc318878.jpg" alt="Spelt sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6011024848/">Spelt sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.<br /><br />This was a peculiar stuff to work with. That challah recipe claimed it would feel like modelling clay to work with. It didn't.<br /><br />This 20% spelt dough, on the other hand, felt just like modelling clay. I'd left the shaped loaf in the fridge for a long overnight prove, and when I got to it in the morning, I could see big air bubbles appearing before my eyes, just below the skin of the loaf.<br /><br />Then, when I tried to slash the loaf, I began to see just how wet the dough was below the skin. I started to lose control of my loaf during the slashing, so I gave up before I'd finished and slammed it in the oven.<br /><br />It seemed to behave fine once it was in the oven. Completely predictable. I've just taken it out, so I've no idea what the flavour or the crumb are like. I made this one 20% spelt, 80% white so I could get some sense of what the spelt flavour was like, without producing a heavy, inedible loaf. I've seen pictures of 100% spelt loaves and they don't look that appetizing.<br /><br />This one does look appetizing -- albeit somewhat lopsided. I'll post more when I've cut it and know about the crumb and the flavour.<br /><br />On tasting, I found this a bit disappointing. Perhaps it's because spelt is an acquired taste, but I didn't find it an improvement on either my white loaves or my wholemeal loaves. Also, the loaf seemed to dry out and stale very rapidly, which was a surprise because I didn't bake it especially long or hot.<br /><br />I'll try spelt again -- perhaps with wholemeal or rye -- but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for it. Obviously, there's a reason we use the flour we use most -- it's tastiest. Unless you've got some kind of gluten allergy, I don't see any reason to be messing with this stuff.<br /></span></div><p></p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-89806617214357952462011-08-04T13:00:00.001-07:002011-08-04T13:02:41.400-07:00WTF?<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6008169227/" title="WTF?"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6136/6008169227_7a08f67658.jpg" alt="WTF? by flimbag" /></a><br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6008169227/">WTF?</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><br />Did an overnight prove in the fridge yesterday and this is what I ended up with...<br /><br />Not sure what went wrong here. The loaf was inside a plastic bag that was sealed, but it looks as though all of the moisture has leaked out of the outer half-inch of loaf or so.<br /><br />Haven't cut into it yet, but there was virtually no oven spring or increase in size once the thing went into the oven. Could I have over-proved it?McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-87920261997030183262011-08-02T13:52:00.001-07:002011-08-07T05:01:37.715-07:00Norwich sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6002709145/" title="Norwich sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/6002709145_d02ba2dd9e.jpg" alt="Norwich sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br /><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/6002709145/">Norwich sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Promised I'd take Beryl a loaf to London tomorrow. These are mostly white, with 5% rye and 5% wholewheat.</p><p>Edit: of course, I forgot to take it with me. I baked it, I bagged it up, and then I started to panic -- have I got the train tickets? My wallet? My phone?</p><p>I always forget something. This time, it was Beryl's loaf. She'd chosen the round one.<br /></p><p>It was very tasty.<br /></p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-14931171613653177772011-08-01T15:15:00.001-07:002011-08-01T15:21:29.630-07:00White sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5999857554/" title="White sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/5999857554_6cb500bd4d.jpg" alt="White sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5999857554/">White sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p><br /><br /><div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5999304657/" title="White sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/5999304657_7d57824aec.jpg" alt="White sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5999304657/">White sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p><br /><br />A very pretty loaf tonight. Just a standard white sourdough, but I'm getting the hang of not completely degassing when I shape the loaf before proving, and that gave me a much bigger rise when proving, and an all around bigger loaf.<br /><br />When it came out of the oven, I could hear the crust singing. First time I've ever had a singing crust. My heart was singing too.<br /><br />Bread. How I love to bake it.<br /><br />This one is Sourdough #38McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-80994153344965556442011-07-31T10:49:00.001-07:002011-07-31T10:49:50.036-07:00Sourdough pizza<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5994301989/" title="Sourdough pizza"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6145/5994301989_b4ab74f83b.jpg" alt="Sourdough pizza by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5994301989/">Sourdough pizza</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Compensating for the crappy challah!</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-75565597348482423642011-07-31T02:50:00.001-07:002011-07-31T02:50:23.342-07:00White sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5992971067/" title="White sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/5992971067_0932c9f43a.jpg" alt="White sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5992971067/">White sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>The uselessness of my challah left me without bread. Whipped this up and let it prove overnight.</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-27180055173499118892011-07-30T13:53:00.001-07:002011-07-30T14:21:02.213-07:00Sourdough Challah -- baked!<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5991262555/" title="Sourdough Challah"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6142/5991262555_1530b3c74e.jpg" alt="Sourdough Challah by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5991262555/">Sourdough Challah</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p><br /><br />Hardest loaf so far. Everything about this loaf was hard, and nothing behaved as the recipe said it would. It said it wouldn't rise during the bulk ferment and it rose like mad. It said the texture would be like modelling clay -- it was more like ointment. Braiding was murder. Then, it said it'd rise three times its size during a five hour prove, and it didn't rise at all!<br /><br />Next time I try Challah, I'll do a yeasted one rather than a sourdough one.<br /><br />But at least it's recognizable as challah!<br /><br />Edit: On cutting, it's gotta be pronounced a failure. Too heavy and doughy. Will try again with yeast next time.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-28484448114241375012011-07-30T08:49:00.001-07:002011-07-30T08:49:57.276-07:00Sourdough Challah - proving<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5990416243/" title="Sourdough Challah - proving"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6129/5990416243_4fa97be60a.jpg" alt="Sourdough Challah - proving by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5990416243/">Sourdough Challah - proving</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Holla! It's Challah!</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-32501470980426482902011-07-30T05:07:00.001-07:002011-07-30T05:07:11.160-07:00Sourdough Challah - first ferment<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5990466750/" title="Sourdough Challah - first ferment"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6146/5990466750_b5324b4fc9.jpg" alt="Sourdough Challah - first ferment by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5990466750/">Sourdough Challah - first ferment</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Bertinet's method a revelation. I've watched the videos, never really believed it would happen.</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-50469982708556066722011-07-29T18:01:00.000-07:002011-07-29T18:05:45.981-07:00Sourdough ChallahBuilt a biga-life firm sourdough starter tonight, with the aim of baking a couple of sourdough challah's tomorrow.<br /><br />No question that this will be the most complex bread I've baked yet. Interesting to see how it goes. Gotta wait for my biga to triple in size, which it should have done by midday tomorrow.<br /><br />Need to buy honey and eggs in the morning, before I bake.<br /><br />The recipe I'm working from is here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4200/sourdough-challah-photos-recipe">Sourdough Challah</a>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-78882624288195950492011-07-28T22:33:00.001-07:002011-07-28T22:44:32.390-07:00Another Place Sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5986932556/" title="Another Place Sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5986932556_98f1b39a6d.jpg" alt="Another Place Sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5986932556/">Another Place Sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p><br /><br />Happy to be back in baking action.<br /><br />Yesterday's wholewheat and spelt effort was truly delicious. It probably could have used a little more salt -- I was overcompensating for the excess of salt in my previous loaf. At the moment, I'm using Cornish Sea Salt, and measuring by volume. I'm going to have to buy a little drug dealer gram scale so I have something that's accurate to less than a gram. Though my current scale claims it's accurate to the gram, my sense is that it's really only measuring in two gram increments.<br /><br />This morning, I'm back on my own home-grown recipe -- this time, with the addition of a little rye and wholewheat flour to give the white flour a bit of substance.<br /><br />Main flour is Sainsbury's own brand Strong Bread Flour. I wanted to see how it performed in comparison to the extra high gluten flour.<br /><br />Loaf is still cooling. More after I taste it.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-12067815914652160082011-07-27T15:25:00.001-07:002011-07-27T15:43:47.915-07:00Wholemeal and spelt sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5982911084/" title="Wholemeal and spelt sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/5982911084_8095cd113e.jpg" alt="Wholemeal and spelt sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5982911084/">Wholemeal and spelt sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p></p><br /><br />Sunday morning: I'd had a couple of loaves proving in the fridge overnight, so I got up early to bake. I should have realized something was amiss when a fuse blew, but everything came back on and the oven felt warm, so when the usual hour was up, I put in my pan of boiling water, spritzed in some mist and slapped in my loaf.<br /><br />When I came to turn it, ten minutes in, I figured out something was wrong. No malliard reaction. The crust was as pale as when I'd put it in. And when I felt the loaf to turn it, the loaf was barely warm.<br /><br />Turned out that the element on my oven had blown. They should last at least eight years, but this oven was only about four years old. According to the oven repair guy, Smeg had put in a more powerful element than the oven needed. You could see the bulge on the element where one part had distorted and touched another piece of the element.<br /><br />So, £88 snots to repair that. Next time, I'll just <a href="http://www.ransomspares.co.uk/advice/cooker-repair/replacing-faulty-oven-fan.htm">follow these instructions</a> and do it myself.<br /><br />But I'm glad to be back in baking action. <br /><br />Been listening to people on Facebook going on about how good spelt flour is. I know it's pretty low gluten stuff, so I didn't want to use it alone. I've seen a few spelt housebricks and they didn't look very appealing.<br /><br />So I went with a 50% white flour, 25% wholemeal, 25% spelt mix. You can see the picture above. It's still cooling, so I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545933476624421046.post-80772583307934784172011-07-21T13:49:00.001-07:002011-07-21T13:49:06.547-07:00Wholemeal sourdough<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5961694911/" title="Wholemeal sourdough"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5961694911_44c9bcd596.jpg" alt="Wholemeal sourdough by flimbag" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/5961694911/">Wholemeal sourdough</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bigger_flash/">flimbag</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Nice wholewheat sourdough tonight. 50% Canadian Extra Strong, 50% Sainsbury's Wholewheat flour.<br /><br />I'll post a pic of the crumb when I cut it.</p>McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10140987125258134125noreply@blogger.com0