How to make sourdough bread...

[Steve Vojtek]

Wow this has become huge. One day I'll have to catch up on reading all this - there must be a lot of info here that I've missed out on during my break.
I've had to take a break cause lack of sleep and my gruelling work schedule was messing me up (AR is addictive!). I'm back but with some restraint. Instead of a quick sprint I want to be here for a marathon if you know what I mean. I don't bake as often as I would like to but I still do.....
I started with Chef Jacob's 70% hydration boule and that's what I stuck with. I figured to learn how to do a recipe I have to stick to a ' proven' recipe and not change things. Even though it all seemed overwhelming at first - and frustrating because of repetition it is much easier now. I'm still not an expert but I've baked some really great bread. My latest one is from a week ago and not the best I can do but I will still share it.
The bulk ferment and final proofing was done in the fridge because of my work schedule.. The problem with this boule was that I got caught up reading on AR and it was sitting on my kitchen bench ( it is summer and quite hot here ) for 2 hours before I realized I forgot to preheat the DO and oven!
Damn I thought I didn't want to mess up the first boule I wanted to share with you guys. So I quickly put the DO into the oven and turned it on. The boule passed the poke test and I was really worried about over proofing it so after 10 mins or so preheating I put it in. I left the lid on longer thinking it may help. Well the result is that I didn't get the usual oven spring but it was still a good boule. Not a total disaster.
I have to add that I used 00 flour with 12.5% protein cause I bought a 10 kg bag not knowing what it was - now I have to use it and have about a quarter of it left. I've been using it for bread, pizza and foccacias.

I started slicing and then " hold your horses I have to take pics!" LOL





Good luck with your journey ( quitting smoking and drinking and loosing weight ) and I hope you'll be back to baking and barbecuing soon. Breadhead

[Steve Vojtek]

Thank you both I appreciate the comments..
Earlier in this thread ( when I bought my new oven ) I mentioned that my breadbaking oven resides in my garage... Too big and troublesome to build into my kitchen.... It makes things easier in summer...
Thunder77 ..

[Breadhead]

You still got it Steve... that's a nice looking loaf of sourdough bread! Now on to 75% hydration bread. I can't wait to see your attempt at that. Google Ken Forkish on YouTube. He has lots of great videos about his techniques.

[Steve Vojtek]

I like a challenge Breadhead. I will review the vids from your other post and give it a go. Nothing ventured nothing gained they say... I'm excited and I'll give it my best go...thank you..

[Thunder77]

MBMorgan My Saturday bread baking effort: the sandwich loaves are pilgrim bread. The boule is a regular 70% hydration dough. Many thanks to Mr Morgan for the idea of baking in the upside down Dutch oven! I love it! The batard is the weirdest thing ever. I think I got more moisture at the one end, and it made more steam. Looks kind of cool though.

[Thunder77]

Doctor Breadhead, I have been around a while. I used to be jgjeske1. Just changed my user name. You and Chef Jacob taught me all I know about sourdough.

[Breadhead]

I must have missed the memo on the name change Thunder77 ...🙈

[Thunder77]

I'm firing that messenger! :-)

[MBMorgan]

Nothing remarkable to show this time. I just realized that, because Spring seems to have sprung early this year (and with it the chores that I've been avoiding), I've neglected both BBQ and baking. Since my Poolish recently went to the Big Container In The Sky, I decided to (again!) bake a Forkish 75% hydration White Bread with Poolish.

Sitting comfortably in the lid of my inverted 5-qt combo DO:



Cooling on the rack:



Sliced and ready to accompany a bit of hard salami, Jarlsberg cheese, and a Zinfandel good enough for an afternoon snack:



I'm happy ...

[Breadhead]

That's a beautiful loaf of bread that you can't buy anywhere. Only an Artisan bread maker can produce that loaf of bread. Ain't it great recreating an old almost forgotten craft. 100 years ago every household could make that bread... then they invented dryed commercial yeast.😡

[RonB]

Very well done!

[Steve Vojtek]

Wow awesome looking bread.. Jarlsberg is one my favorites.

[Thunder77]

I decided to go higher hydration today, and went for a 75% hydration boule. Overall, everyone is happy. Great crust, and very moist, open crumb. I just didn't get the oven spring I was hoping for. It is almost gone, so I guess it wasn't too bad!

[MBMorgan]

I'd say "wasn't too bad" is a major understatement...

[Breadhead]

Nice... the crumb is great. Final shaping on a 75% hydration dough is a challenge. Personally I'm more aggressive with that step than Ken Forkish is. I really concentrate on the final tension tugs to get them very tight. The poke test is important to know when to bake it too.

[Steve Vojtek]

The crumb looks amazing. I've made high hydration foccacia and love the crumb. I really need to do this...

[Ptrbve]

I just made my first loaf. I did most of the work last night and put it in the fridge. I took it out this morning and let it warm up. I forgot to score the top before putting it in the oven, so I did it about ten minutes into it. It was already crusting, so my cuts were not too smooth. I was worried about it, but I am pretty happy with the taste.

[Ptrbve]

Thanks, guys! And special thanks to Breadhead. I learned it from you!

[Breadhead]

Thank you Ptrbve I appreciate your nice comment. However even though I started this thread about 20 months ago it has morphed into an open bread thread with many highly informed bread makers contributing important info and many studying the craft. Nothing could be better than that!

[MBMorgan]

Very nice job!

[Thunder77]

My second try at a 75% hydration boule. Just a simple formula, nothing fancy. I was much happier with this one. I gave it a few extra folds during bulk fermentation. I got it in the D.O. base just at the right time. And I added an extra step: I took a wet silicone spatula, and did an extra tucking under all the way around the boule just before I put it in the oven. This tightened up the top, and helped with the oven spring. I left the lid on longer as well, to get as much spring as possible. Breadhead, you were right about the extra moist crumb. I couldn't believe the difference between 70 and 75% hydration! And ken Forkish has made it soooo easy to do high hydration dough.

[Breadhead]

Thunder77 ... you can do 80% hydration sourdough bread using the Forkish folds or you can do it using a Stand mixer. You start the mixing process with the paddle. When the dough climbs the paddle you switch to the dough hook. When the dough climbs the dough hook you're done mixing.

[Breadhead]

80% hydration sourdough bread moves it into the sourdough Ciabatta bread category. I've made lots of that bread. You will love it.👍

[Thunder77]

How do you shape the ciabatta style loaves? won't they be too loos for free-form?

[Breadhead]

Thunder77 ... the cool part of Ciabatta bread is there's no final shaping required. Ciabatta translates to slipper. Traditionally the loaf is long and thin but not as thin as focaccia bread because you don't deflate it with your finger tips.

You just cut the dough with your bench scrapper and place it on your couche to let it final proof for 30 to 40 minutes. You need to buy a couche and a transfer board if you're going to make Ciabatta bread. You don't absolutely need a couche but it is easier if you have one. Your dough will rise instead of flattening out. Your loaves will rise very quickly in the oven. Ciabatta makes excellent sandwich bread.😜

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d4NfYiVN_N0

Other uses for the couche and transfer board... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OI-WstoakmQ

[Thunder77]

Okay! I will be trying that. I just need the transfer board.

[Thunder77]

Forkish's Field Blend #2. So lately I have been determined to master higher hydration bread. I guess I just needed another challenge. Today was the Forkish bread. I think I have got this!😎👍
Yep! I got this.

[Breadhead]

You nailed it!👍 Learning to make bread comes in small increments. When you try new stuff and everything works out it's an emotional happening.🙀 Opening your oven and finding a great loaf like that is not something your friends and family will ever understand what it took to make that happen.

[Pequod]

Beautiful loaves! Love Field Blend #2. Just wish it had a catchier name.

[RonB]

Absolutely gorgeous!

[scottranda]

I just received a 5qt split dutch oven (like you all have recommended)... skillet and pot... I did my first loaf, and it deflated a little during baking (not as great oven spring). I feel like it could have been the semi-rough transfer process from my banneton to the skillet.

How are you all transferring from your banneton to the mega-hot dutch oven (obviously, the skillet-side is down which makes it easier than plopping it down into the bigger pot)? Do you plop it into the skillet? Or do you lower it using parchment paper? Or what?

[Breadhead]

Try this... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rtoMhY...ature=youtu.be

[Thunder77]

This last time I used parchment paper to lower the dough into the skillet. I placed parchment paper on a baking sheet, placed on top of banneton, and quickly inverted it. Scored it quickly and transferred to skillet.

[Thunder77]

Then, after steam phase of baking, I yanked the parchment paper so the bottom got good and brown.

[MBMorgan]

I just received a 5qt split dutch oven (like you all have recommended)... skillet and pot... I did my first loaf, and it deflated a little during baking (not as great oven spring). I feel like it could have been the semi-rough transfer process from my banneton to the skillet.

How are you all transferring from your banneton to the mega-hot dutch oven (obviously, the skillet-side is down which makes it easier than plopping it down into the bigger pot)? Do you plop it into the skillet? Or do you lower it using parchment paper? Or what?

I remove the inverted lid (skillet) of the Combo DO from the oven and make sure it's no more than a step or two away from my work surface. I then turn the dough out of the banneton onto the work surface and quickly use well-floured hands to pick it up and lower it as gently as possible (without incinerating any knuckles) into the lid. I try to make sure the dough is in my hands for no more than 3-4 seconds because the higher hydration dough likes to start oozing out of shape if I take much longer.

[scottranda]

I remove the inverted lid (skillet) of the Combo DO from the oven and make sure it's no more than a step or two away from my work surface. I then turn the dough out of the banneton onto the work surface and quickly use well-floured hands to pick it up and lower it as gently as possible (without incinerating any knuckles) into the lid. I try to make sure the dough is in my hands for no more than 3-4 seconds because the higher hydration dough likes to start oozing out of shape if I take much longer.

Why not from banneton to hands? Skip step from banneton to surface?

[MBMorgan]

Why not from banneton to hands? Skip step from banneton to surface?

You could try it ... but you'll be catching the dough in one hand while holding the banneton with the other. You'll then need to shift your grip somehow ... which will probably take enough time that the dough will start oozing out of shape. Then there's the potential problem of dough sticking to the banneton ... pretty hard to deal with if you're balancing an oozing boule on one hand while juggling the banneton with the other.

On the other hand (yep, pun intended), I guess you could also try going from banneton directly into the shallow inverted lid ...

[scottranda]

Some ideas to try! Thanks!

[RonB]

Thunder77 - I wanted a transfer board, but I needed one for french bread that I was making at the time. I took two pieces of cardboard about 6" wide and about 16" long and taped them together slightly offset so the edge would be thinner. I then covered the whole thing with wide, clear shipping tape. It worked so well that I never bought a transfer board. Still using it after several years.

[Thunder77]

Sounds good. And very practical!

[Breadhead]

For those of you that are baking your bread outdoors in your Kamado I like this method too.

1. Preheat your Kamado cooker with your Daisy Wheel/Top Cap completely removed. Preheat your pizza stone and stainless steel mixing bowl too, to 500°, using your IFR thermometer to determine when you're ready to bake. This should happen a little while before your dough passes the poke test.
2. Place your parchment paper or Silicon baking mat on your pizza peel. No flour required.
3. Dump your dough out of your banneton onto your silicon mat.
4. Score your dough.
5. Spray your dough with your misting bottle to increase the steam under your SS mixing bowl for the first half of the baking process. This will give you better ovenspring because the skin of your dough will stay moist longer.
6. Open your your dome, remove the SS bowl, slide your silicon mat & dough off of your pizza peel onto your pizza stone.
7. Mount your SS bowl over your dough and close your dome. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. After 20 minutes... open the dome, remove the SS bowl, close your dome, and turn your heat down to 450°.
9. Watch your dough brown through the top vent.
10. If your loaf is browning unevenly, open the dome and pinch the silicon mat with your finger tips and rotate it 180°.
11. Continue watching your loaf brown through the top vent and when you have the color you want open the dome and remove your loaf by pulling it off onto your pizza peel by pinching your silicon mat by your finger tips. Cook to color not to temperature.👍

This method is easier for sure. The cast iron method is an absolute no brainer for beginners. The most trust worthy? Cast Iron! Reliable and easier? SS mixing bowl. I recommend learning both.👍

[Ptrbve]

Yes. Mine takes forever to come down. The bread would be cooked before the temperature dropped 5 degrees (for me, anyways). Do you take the bread out until the temperature drops or just close all the holes and let it go?

[Breadhead]

When I Preheat the cooker, pizza stone and SS mixing bowl... I start slowing down it's increase of heat at 450°. I want the temperature to creep up slowly from 450° to 500°. I don't allow the cooking temperature to go past 500/510°. I've done it so many times I never have a problem.

[Steve Vojtek]

Just a question:
Couldn't the two techniques be combined?
Upside down DO ( no lid ) preheated on top of pizza stone. Oven knits to move it....
OK instead of asking I will try it.. But have to wait till I get a ceramic.....Soon..

[Thunder77]

Question for those who have made Forkish's Field Blend #2. What to do with extra levain? His recipe calls for a whole lot to be mixed, but you only use 360 grams in the recipe. What to do with the rest??

[Potkettleblack]

I only mix out what I will need, and what will remain to be fed up to a maintenance level. I find Forkish makes way too much levain for the occasional baker. If you're baking every day, you just take what you need, feed, and assemble the next dough tomorrow.

[Thunder77]

I can do that now that I know the levain is approximately 82% hydration. I had never figured out the hydration percentage of his levain before. I don't bake every day, so I will just make smaller quantities.