We don’t bake hardly ever. Just a rum cake for New Year’s Day. It’s a simple recipe, Ree Drummond’s with the pecan and brown sugar glaze option. (And balanced a little more toward rum than water by an ounce or so here and there.)
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I posted a photo of the whole cheesecake on the previous page. Here's a photo of a slice. This was iced with an unsweet sour cream icing and topped with sour cherry preserves, (store bought, but the best I have had). It went over very well.
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Some baguettes I made for my sister’s party. I think I might be getting the hang of this bread thing! 😎Attached FilesComment
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I know you all are probably getting sick of seeing my pretzel rolls. So here is my last post of them! 😎Attached FilesComment
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Yes, it's cold so I must bake! Sourdough starter was past its prime so I pulled out The Perfect Loaf Lemon Ciambella recipe. I've made this several times and always tweaked it (not to outstanding results!). This time I made it exactly to recipe. Haven't cut yet.
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Well here I got the elusive ear, and blisters galore! Maybe just a bit much blistering for my taste. For two loaves, this is 700G Dakota Maid bread flour, 100G Great River Milling Organic Spelt Flour, 530G water, 200G starter, and 16G salt. I baked on a pizza stone and covered with my aluminum hood for first 25 minutes. I did spritz the loaf with water before covering it. Baked at 475F for first 25 minutes covered followed by 15 minutes at 435F uncovered.
I'm adding spelt flour after reading about low FODMAP ("spelt flour breads made using traditional sourdough methods are much lower in FODMAP"); my wife sometimes suffers IBS, so I figure it can't hurt, and the spelt seems to make for a little softer crumb.
Last edited by treesmacker; January 7, 2025, 09:30 PM.Comment
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Weekend long project.... using some of Richard Chrz starter, which I fed Friday, used to make a batch of no-knead sourdough on Saturday, which fermented in the fridge until Monday morning, when I took it out, let it rise for 3 hours, and then baked in a dutch oven.
I just do a simple cross score on top before putting the lid on the dutch oven and popping into the preheated oven to bake.
I think it got a decent amount of rise...
And the proof is in the pudding... or the crumb. I really need to go look at that chart and see if this over-proofed, under-proofed, or properly proofed! Whatever it is, it eats good!
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Bread baking is something that’s interested me for years. It wasn’t until this week that I finally pulled the trigger. We did pasta last week and in a hurry I grabbed a loaf of premade garlic bread from the bakery/deli section of the store.
We’ve been trying to make better food choices, so for the first time I looked at the ingredients of the stores garlic bread…
Bread has 19 ingredients.
Garlic spread has 26 ingredients.
Many of which I don’t recognize as food!
So I found this recipe for a rustic Italian loaf. Ordered some organic Italian 00 flour online and went to town last night.
My bread…4 ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast).
Tonight I made Alfredo sauce from scratch, so I turned what was left into garlic bread.
My garlic butter spread…3 ingredients (butter, garlic, basil).
So not only do I have a more healthy version, but everyone in the family unanimously agreed it tasted way better than the store bought stuff.
I’m proud of this first loaf. I was honestly not counting on it looking or tasting good, so it was a nice surprise. Made a few notes on things to do differently next time…which my family is begging to be soon!
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Longer proof…check. I did rush things a bit as it was a night cook and I was getting tired. It had more than doubled in size (which the recipe said was the sign it did its thing) so I thought it was good to go. I’ll take my time with the next loaf.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice, everyone! -
Did the recipe call for two fermentation stages, i.e., one where it doubled and then a second where it was stretched/folded/shaped and THEN proofed? The air in the center makes me think the gluten was just not done making a complex, strong webbing. If the recipe calls for one "proof", then simply doing that for longer may not solve your problem. Looking at your second post, I'm going to suggest buying the Ken Forkish book ("Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast"), which is very intuitive, IMHO.
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Today was my second time making bread. Used the same recipe as last time - rustic Italian loaf with four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and active dry yeast.
As I was measuring out ingredients I came up short on flour by 3/4 cup. I did some very crude math to get approximate amounts of the other ingredients. I may have not been super accurate, as I had an issue which I’ll get to shortly.
As I mixed everything together it looked just like last time, albeit a slightly smaller ball of dough. Attempting to improve the density I let this one rise 4.5 hours vs the 2.5 from my first loaf. It had more than doubled in size. All seemed good.
As I got ready to form my loaf I noticed the dough was a bit more thin than expected. My guess is that my rough calculations resulted in too much water. It looked like this after letting it proof for almost another hour on my counter…
Not much I could do at this point, so I tossed it in the oven anyway hoping it would come to life a bit. It did rise a bit while cooking, but I still ended up with this oddly shaped loaf.
It looked decent, and tasted great.
Density was more consistent this time, but a little heavy.
What do you fine bakers think was my issue? Too much water? Something else? Thanks in advance for your input!Comment
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What the others said, and if you don't have a scale to measure your ingredients, I would recommend one. I use this one for small batches and it works well... https://www.oxo.com/5-lb-food-scale-...t-display.html -
Bakers percentage….boom! Had I known this I would’ve ended up with a different product for sure. Just did the *right* math and I def added too much water.
Also, I’m ditching the volume measurements and switching to weight. I have a digital scale I use for brewing beer (measuring hops) that’s accurate to 0.1g - I also use it to weigh coffee and water when I make a pour over cup. Perfect for my new bread adventure!
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So hard to capture oven spring in a photo, but I can tell you this is the best I've ever gotten in a sourdough bake. I proofed this on the counter instead of in the fridge and did a finger poke test. I think that had a bunch to do with it. I have not cracked the code on the scoring, yet. But I'm really hoping that will happen soon. I want that ear!
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Go to post # 50 in the link below. It shows how he scores his batards.
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Looks to me like you got two nice ears there... good job! I agree it is difficult to get good pics of oven spring. Richard Chrz seems to have mastered the ear, and the photography as well!
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Second loaf from the same dough as the previous post, only this one went in the fridge about an hour and a half after shaping and was baked about 6-7 hours later. Still didn't pull off the ear, even with the guide of RC's scoring, RonB. I'm challenged in that dept. But look at the difference in blistering with just 6 hours of refrigeration! Pretty close on the oven spring, but the first one seemed a bit better.
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Great loaf! Nice blisters indeed. What method do you use for steam, and do you mist your loaf when it goes in the oven? I'm ear challenged as well - it is hit and miss for me. I have two loaves in the fridge for baking tomorrow, so we'll see! I'm trying bread flour mixed with about 15% durum (Caputo Antimo Di Grano Duro Rimacinata Semolina). Will be interesting. -
RonB that's funny
treesmacker I put some ice cubes around the batard on the baking stone and then cover it with a large metal bowl for the first 20 minutes of the bake. At that point I slide the end of a butter knife beneath the rim of the bowl to lift it from the stone and remove it. Other methods of creating steam have not worked in my gas oven at all, and I've tried them all. -
The diagram I was looking for is post 132 in this link:
And he explains how he scores a few posts down in the first link.
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I finally cut the second loaf open to show the crumb. Gotta check out the proofing link that RonB posted here a few posts up to see where it lands.
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Oh I think I'm improving. Finally two loaves that really please me. These are 700G Dakota Maid bread flour, 100G Caputo Durum flour, 200G levain, 530G water, and 16G salt.
I started feeding my starter the night before 1:5:5 ratio, and it watching it till prime - usually by 10-noon the next day.
I'm using from Richard Chrz 1 hour autolyze, add levain and mix, five minutes later add salt and mix, rest in mixer for 1 hour, coil fold 3 times at 1 hour intervals, place in container and bulk rise at room temp - almost doubled, pre shape, and then final shaping, into banneton and fridge overnight. Score, mist, and then bake at 465F under hood for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 435F, remove hood, and bake another 10-15 minutes to desired brown.
Last edited by treesmacker; January 27, 2025, 11:22 PM. Reason: Added pic of crumb... the durum flour gave it a nice light golden color. And I tasted it - yummmm!Comment
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Loaf #3…now we’re getting somewhere!
After the great advice from my last two cooks I made a few changes:
• Converted the recipe to weight. None of the online calculators game me numbers I trusted, so I measured with cups/tsp and weighed everything. Surprisingly, the heavy stuff (flour and water) was within a gram or two of nice even numbers, so I added a dash to end up with 500g flour and 350g water, which thanks to the bakers percentage tips I now know is 70% hydration.
• Let the dough rise longer. The recipe I started with said to let it rise for 2-3 hours, while reiterating 2 hours many times throughout the write up. Today I let it go for 4+ hours.
• Proofed for another hour after forming the loaf while the oven and stone heated up.
Came out with a crisp, golden crust.
I had scored the top at the beginning of that last hour proof. When it was time to pop it in the oven it had flattened out a bit, so I reshaped it as it went into the oven. Little did I realize the scores were now on the side…so it came out looking a bit like the back end of a baboon.
Joking aside…I sliced it open and was very please with the results! Much more even crumb.
The family proclaimed it my “best loaf yet” and proceeded to devour the entire thing. I had to fight for a few slices myself.
Planning to double the recipe next time so I have a bigger loaf that lasts longer. Any advice for making a bigger loaf? Anything to watch out for? I’d also like to make it more oblong and not just round. Is this still something I can accomplish cooking on the pizza stone, or will I need to use some sort of dish to hold a shape?
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The crumb on this one shows a tremendous improvement - well done! For a more oblong shape you can shape a batard. But you may consider using a loaf pan as well. I like doing that very much, but just lost my loaf pans to scratches that rusted. I've never made a bigger loaf and have always made two at a time. Now it's time to consider adding steam to your bake to get the crust to blister.
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Santamarina - I'm glad you are improving and that crumb looks very nice.
Where did you read to score an hour before baking? I've never heard that. I always score just before placing the bread in the oven.
As long as you maintain the same bakers percentage, you should be good to go.
A Dutch oven works well for baking your bread, and here's a link to some oval cookers, but you can use your pizza stone. If you do that, you will either have to add a container with some hot water below the stone, or cover the dough in the oven with something. A large disposable aluminum baking pan will work.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=oblong+baker&crid=2GFO6LJW3BXLQ&sprefix=obllon g+baker%2Caps%2C78&ref=nb_sb_ss_mvt-t9-ranker_2_13
You will need to shape a bit differently to make a batard, and here's a link to several videos. And I'd look at a number of them. One may make more sense that the others.
I had to edit to add that an oblong banneton will help keep the batard properly shaped while it does it's final rise.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=banaton&crid=1BJI141ETN47O&sprefix=banat%2Caps %2C82&ref=nb_sb_ss_mvt-t9-ranker_3_5Last edited by RonB; February 1, 2025, 10:24 PM.Comment
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RE: scoring an hour before.
The recipe I’m using says after letting it rise 2-3 hours shape the loaf and score it, then preheat your oven with pizza stone for 45 mins.
So that’s where I got that process from. Next time I’ll wait to score until it’s time to toss it in the oven.
Thanks for the tips. I’ll be posting again here soon, I’m sure.
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