How to make sourdough bread...

[RonB]

A loaf of Challah my wife asked me to bake.

[MBMorgan]

Nice!

[scottranda]

Gee wiz that looks good 😍

[JCGrill]

That looks really good. I love bread, but I have mostly cut it from my diet. I get plenty of carbs from other sources.

[Pequod]

I have been experimenting with fresh milled flour. Here I am milling organic Hard Red Spring Wheat.



I turned that into a loaf of 50% fresh milled whole wheat sourdough at 84% hydration.


The crumb!


Fantastic flavor. Just spent my lunchtime eating that with a cherry tomato bruschetta.

[Pequod]

Willy - I believe it was around $250. A bit cheaper than a Komo Classic, but with comparable performance.

[Santamarina]

That is a stunning loaf of bread. Pretty sure that’s the first time in my life I’ve described bread as "stunning," but there is no better word!

I want this bread in my life.

[EdF]

Call me Ishmael!

[scottranda]

https://www.italianbarber.com/collections/razor-blades

This made me laugh. We can all repurpose our bread lame razors and just shave! I had no idea!

[MBMorgan]

Clearly, you're too young to remember that those double-edged razor blades were about the only option other than a straight razor

[scottranda]

Willy Yeah, we are good. Flooding in some places in charlotte, but our house was fine. It gets worse the farther east you go.

[scottranda]

MBMorgan I’m a 34 year old spring chicken!

[Pequod]

VFresh milled spelt sourdough bread. This is 30% fresh milled spelt, 30% fresh milled high extraction hard red wheat, and 40% Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour. High extraction (85%) was achieved using a #40 Mesh sifter. 85% hydration.

[Pequod]

100% extraction means the entire milled grain - endosperm, bran, and germ - is kept. High extraction is around 85%, meaning the larger bits of bran are sifted out using a sieve (I use a 40 mesh sieve), resulting in about 85% of the grain weight being in the flour, with the other 15% being bran. It still has endosperm, bran, and germ, but only the finer bits...

[Pequod]

White flour contains only the endosperm, with the bran and germ being sifted out with even a finer sieve. It is about 70% extraction. If you don’t have a mill, you can approximate high extraction flour with a 50-50 blend of whole wheat and white flour.

[Thunder77]

Thanks for the explanation!

[Pequod]

This week’s loaf is Trevor J. Wilson’s Champlain Sourdough, which is mostly white bread flour (I used Giusto’s Artisan) with a touch of fresh milled spelt and fresh milled rye. Trevor has an ebook called "Open Crumb Mastery" in which he contends that open crumb is 80% fermentation and dough handling and 20% other factors. Whilst most amateurs are fixated on hydration, Trevor says they’re looking in the wrong place. This loaf was only 70% hydration. I think I believe Trevor.

[MBMorgan]

Another winner!

[Thunder77]

Awesome!!!

[Potkettleblack]

I believe that the fermentation is where it happens as well. The hydration produces a moister crumb, I think, but that open is more about fermentation and proofing.

[Thunder77]

I’d have watched several of his videos, and he looks like he knows what he is doing. I believe it’s about flour quality and dough handling. I find that most doughs above 70 % hydration are a right pain in the rear to handle, and I don’t have the patience for them.

[Pequod]

It’s autumn, so where there is bread there must be apple butter.


Picked up a new toy. A Brod and Taylor foldup proofer. Maintains a humid environment at a precise temp. Here it is proofing the dough for some English Muffins.

And today I used it to proof a loaf of sourdough with a bit o’ freshly milled whole spelt and rye. Read em and weep.

[RonB]

Lookin' great.

[Henrik]

Very nice indeed!

[Thunder77]

Man! yer killing me here!!

[Skip]

I tried some new dough today--"Crazy Dough" off the internet. It has Plain Yogurt, Eggs, Baking Powder, and Milk. Made with AP Flour and Whole Wheat. It appears to be a good multipurpose dough. We'll have to see.

[Thunder77]

Looks awesome Skip!

[Potkettleblack]

Forkish Overnight Country Brown with my new starter and a few tweaks to process. Single loaf, I believe this has tripled in volume, more or less.

[Pequod]

Sweet!

[Skip]

Looks Good! AND Fun!

[Potkettleblack]

The bread practically exploded at the folding seams. So much loose flour from the brotform, and the seeds did not adhere all that well. But high hopes for the bread itself.

[Craigar]

It looks gorgeous!

[Potkettleblack]

Bit of excess flour on the outside but it was an amazing bread. I love Overnight Country Brown.

[Pequod]

Today’s loaf was a combo of wheat, spelt and rye.

And a closeup of the ear...just because.

[Pequod]

scottranda - Ha! Literally!

[scottranda]

Unintended pun! Subconscious puns are sublime-inal!

[RonB]

You are pumping out some great bread!

[Potkettleblack]

Loaves of Field Blend 2 out of Forkish for my MIL and a friend from another forum. Trying to keep my bread game going while keeping my bread intake low.

Next weekend, doing a walnut or maybe a walnut raisin for my brother and my parents. Then doing a couple loaves of warm spot white mixed with the bacon bread for X-mas.

Have to ask recipients for pictures of crumb, tho.

[fzxdoc]

Gosh, that's beautiful. I never met a bread I didn't like.

Kathryn

[Santamarina]

I’ve been using AR for 5+ years, and joined the Pit this summer. I never though I’d be geeking out about bread here, but...I AM!!!

As a teen my family had a bread machine, but that’s the closest I’ve ever been to making bread at home.

What I see here is amazing. I’m honestly not a big bread eater, but this thread makes me want to start a regular baking regime.

[Potkettleblack]

Also, I cut my bread eating WAY back this year, which cut my bread making way back, but I'm sending out a lot of loaves as gifts this holiday season. Keeping me fresh, and only consuming breads for Thanksgiving, Crassmas and New Years.

[Santamarina]

Potkettleblack I’m going to dig through this whole thread when I have a little extra time. No doubt there is a ton of wisdom here!

RonB I’m a homebrewer, so I’ve got the scales ready to go. Between measuring grain to a fraction of a pound, and hops to a fraction of an ounce, I’ve been training for this!

[RonB]

Santamarina - switch to grams - it's more precise. (28.35 g per oz)

[bwurts]

You guys have inspired me to learn this - here is my second weekend of trying this thing you call sourdough out
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[Potkettleblack]

How long was the proof?

[bwurts]

Final proof was about 2-1/2 hours

[Potkettleblack]

Maybe shorter next time for smaller holes.

[Potkettleblack]

My bread got to it’s recipient today and she sent a picture of the sliced bread. I think I got exactly what I wanted from it. yhis is Forkish Field Blend 2.

[MBMorgan]

Nice!