Bread Thread!

The Brew Mentor said:
Wow, go away for a week and a lot happened around here!

My Mother in law passed 1/29/20 and we've been very busy.

Everyone's bread is looking great!
I did a 500G loaf with my sourdough starter and finally dialed in the temperature and heat distribution to get a perfectly browned loaf! Thanks for the tips I stole from Trialben.
On the sourdough starter, I'm finding that if I keep it around 68-69°, I get a real nice sourness and more acidic acid notes.
If it struggles with that temperature, I just set it on top of the hot water tank with a feeding overnight and it takes off.
I have to admit that I'm really lazy with my starter.
I just open it up, toss in a couple of tablespoons of either unbleached APF or my organic whole wheat and stir it up with a little tap water until its about the consistency of pancake batter. Slide it into the cold corner of my kitchen counter top, and check it the next day.
With the small additions, I'm not discarding any of it if I'm baking once a week and if my starter gets full, i just toss it in the fridge.
So far, so good.
By the way, I think I might have a hard time eating those "Pretzels"!
Cheers,
Brian
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your mother in law. We just went to Reno yesterday to say our goodbyes to my son in law who's just waiting to see the rest of his family before he has the plug pulled this weekend.

Glad to hear about your results keeping your starter in the high 60s. That's the counter top temperature in our kitchen this time of year and we do like our sourdough to be sour. WIll be trying that as soon as the starter is strong enough.
 
Wow sorry to hear to both you and bob I'm so glad death has stayed far from my dearest and nearest so far but I'll always raise a glass to all those good souls who have walked this earth.

I'm trying another double batch today after a failed 75% hydration loaf man it was just tooo sticky so I've dropped it down to 65% to be safe on this one.
Here's my happy sourdough starter at about the top of a rise yesterday.
20200208_081345.jpg

You know I recon keeping a sourdough starter gives you a better understanding of yeast for In Beer brewing . It's sorta like making a starter just different medium and way less sanitation
 
The Brew Mentor said:
Wow, go away for a week and a lot happened around here!

My Mother in law passed 1/29/20 and we've been very busy.

Everyone's bread is looking great!
I did a 500G loaf with my sourdough starter and finally dialed in the temperature and heat distribution to get a perfectly browned loaf! Thanks for the tips I stole from Trialben.
On the sourdough starter, I'm finding that if I keep it around 68-69°, I get a real nice sourness and more acidic acid notes.
If it struggles with that temperature, I just set it on top of the hot water tank with a feeding overnight and it takes off.
I have to admit that I'm really lazy with my starter.
I just open it up, toss in a couple of tablespoons of either unbleached APF or my organic whole wheat and stir it up with a little tap water until its about the consistency of pancake batter. Slide it into the cold corner of my kitchen counter top, and check it the next day.
With the small additions, I'm not discarding any of it if I'm baking once a week and if my starter gets full, i just toss it in the fridge.
So far, so good.
By the way, I think I might have a hard time eating those "Pretzels"!
Cheers,
Brian
Click to expand...
Definitely sorry for your loss Brian...
 
I'm going for a recipe out of Flour Water Salt Yeast, this weekend. It's a white/wheat mix and looked like a good place to start using a sourdough starter.
 
Trialben said:
Wow sorry to hear to both you and bob I'm so glad death has stayed far from my dearest and nearest so far but I'll always raise a glass to all those good souls who have walked this earth.

I'm trying another double batch today after a failed 75% hydration loaf man it was just tooo sticky so I've dropped it down to 65% to be safe on this one.
Here's my happy sourdough starter at about the top of a rise yesterday.View attachment 8709
You know I recon keeping a sourdough starter gives you a better understanding of yeast for In Beer brewing . It's sorta like making a starter just different medium and way less sanitation
Click to expand...

Thanks Ben. Appreciate it. Life goes on, just with one lest friend.
 
Thanks everyone and sorry for your loss Bob.
I decided to make up a batch of pizza dough tonight with the starter.
I'll batch it up in the morning and toss it in the fridge for pizza on Sunday or Monday.
My mother in law ate though every rendition of pizza I made for an 8 month period of time while I was working on my crust.
She loved it all, but as I got closer to where I am today with it, she'd give me a little extra smile! She knew.
I'll miss her.
Cheers,
Brian
 
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Did a side by side this evening.

800g flour
30%wholegrain (240g)
70% plain flour (560g)
65% hydration (520g water)
2% salt. (20g)
25% starter (200g)


Hydrated dough 8AM
Last fold was 11:00AM (4 folds)
Left proof till 1:30 pm
Divided dough in half
Shaped both into boules and put into proofing bowls covered with plastic bag.

Bread on Left was then put into fridge Retarded. Bread on right was left on bench until 6pm where it was baked (let proof a bit long). The retarded dough was baked after bread that was left on the brench.
20200208_201830.jpg
just shows it's worth putting shapped dough in fridge overnight to retard it springs better.
 
Last edited:
Trialben said:
Did a side by side this evening.

800g flour
30%wholegrain (240g)
70% plain flour (560g)
65% hydration (520g water)
2% salt. (20g)
25% starter (200g)


Hydrated dough 8AM
Last fold was 11:00AM (4 folds)
Left proof till 1:30 pm
Divided dough in half
Shaped both into boules and put into proofing bowls covered with plastic bag.

Bread on Left was then put into fridge Retarded. Bread on right was left on bench until 6pm where it was baked (let proof a bit long). The retarded dough was baked after bread that was left on the brench.View attachment 8712 just shows it's worth putting shapped dough in fridge overnight to retard it springs better.
Click to expand...
How long did you keep it in the fridge?
Maybe you just over proofed the one on the bench.
 
It turned out excellent IMO! Had a piece with butter, and a couple with olive oil and sea salt. Never knew something like baking bread could be so interesting. I have definitely learned an overwhelming amount over the past couple of weeks, and these loafs are for sure a good payoff!
IMG_20200209_082040.jpg
 
The sourdough cold fermented pizza dough turned out fantastic crust wise. Looked great. Had the perfect crunch and all. However, I wasn't as fond of the taste. I may have to play with the sugar and salt ratios to see if I can get it where we want it in the taste department.
The crackers on the other hand are excellent and a huge hit. My son took to rolling out the dough and seasoning them up in all kinds of ways.
 
thunderwagn said:
I got tired of tossing the sourdough discards, so I've been saving them up and making other things. So far I've made pizza dough and cracker dough. Here's some of the crackers I've made. Pretty tasty!
View attachment 8734
Click to expand...

Hey TW..care to share the cracker recipe?? I'm wondering if it's like the one I had..basically flour and oil....I want to try something with mash crackers.
 
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