PatrickT

Still working on the apple sourdough, but here is a buttermilk sourdough loaf I made today - just out of the oven. Looking forward to tasting this one later today.

Recipe request! My wife and I are headed to the farmer’s market this afternoon and plan to pick up some apples from one of our local growers. Which made me wonder… does anyone have a favorite recipe for a sourdough (or yeasted) bread with apples (and any other yummy ingredients)?

As always, you are quite the ready reference! Thank you!

That is quite the compliment, coming from you and your always-perfect bakes! Thank you so much! These loaves of yours are simply gorgeous. Question for you about your scoring techniques - particularly those little leaf shapes. Do you just make two narrow, curved lines facing each other? I'm assuming they just expand along those lines when the loaf is baked, correct? Thanks for always being an inspiration to my bread making! 😃

Today's loaf and crumb, after 48 hrs in the fridge. Not quite as much oven spring as yesterday's bake. Might be a tad over-proofed - or possibly the result of the new Lodge Combo Cooker I used for this loaf. Interestingly, it did seem to produce a bit more color. My normal DO is just a large Le Creuset pot, which is much deeper than the Lodge. Perhaps the shallower top reflects more heat back to the loaf while it's covered? Either way, the crumb looks good to me and it was absolutely delicious! Had it with stuffed red and yellow sweet peppers from our garden allotment. 😋

Made a couple of loaves of my go-to sourdough recipe (80/15/5 of BF, WW and RF) using a new process. This is 70% hydration and 20% inoculation. Autolysis for 1 hr, 3 sets of stretches and folds with a 30-minute rest after each set, bulk fermentation limited to a 25% increase, then shaped, placed in bannetons and into the fridge. This one was after 24 hrs., baked in the DO at 450F for 20 min covered, 20 min uncovered. I'll do the second loaf tomorrow afternoon to see what 48 hrs looks like. Won't be able to post a crumb shot of this loaf, as it's a gift for some friends - but will post my full results tomorrow with the 48-hr loaf.

Attempting a challah is definitely on my list - but I haven't gotten to it, yet. I've seen a couple of beauties this past week on Reddit, though.

Bernard Clayton's Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf - an Irish soda bread. So different but absolutely delicious! Just mix the ingredients together, form the dough into a ball, score an X on top, and bake it on a baking sheet for 45 minutes. Couldn't be simpler - even for me! 😃

Thank you very much, Ann! That loaf - and that pizza! - look amazing.

@Ann_T Quick question for you. When Matt makes his pizza crusts, how much of your dough does he use - and roughly what size of a pizza does that yield? Would like to try this sometime this week or weekend. TIA! 😃

Or, even better, smoked salmon cream cheese. 😍 Had that on your baguettes I made last week. Mmmm… delicioso!

Those are every bit as gorgeous as your regular loaves! Wow. How’s the flavor by comparison (I recall you saying you’re not a fan)?

Baguette crumb - happy with that. I must say the very mild sourdough flavor, crunchy crust and chewy crumb make this a real winner, @Ann_T. 👍

@Ann_T Here is the other 250g half loaf of the yeasted dough I made on Sunday. Baked mine in the DO, as well.

@Ann_T Sourdough discard baguettes. This dough sat in the fridge for about 48 hrs. I am utterly shocked these turned out. LOL When I took the dough out of the fridge, it was flat as a pancake (see pics below) and didn't seem to really rise all that much, even after 6 hrs on the counter. I figured the discard just didn't have enough leavening power and nearly tossed it in the bin. Nevertheless, I could tell the dough was good and gassy when I did the pre-shaping and shaping, so I was hopeful - but wow. This is totally beyond my expectations. Now let's hope the crumb is equally good! 😃

@Ann_T Definitely not your envious crumb, but nevertheless delicious! 😉

250g mini boulle just out of the oven. Smells divine! Crumb shot to follow.

It’s always a hard stop for me when the waitress gets to “sourdough” as one of the toast choices. 🤣

Looks great @Ann_T! I try feeding and baking with my sourdough starter every week or so. I’ve settled on 70% bread flour and 30% organic dark rye for mine. I’m with Matt - love a good sourdough pizza crust (or sourdough anything else, for that matter). FoodGeek just posted a vid for sourdough chocolate chip cookies, which actually sounds very interesting.

How did you like your sandwiches? Stumbled across this recipe yesterday, which you also might like to try. It’s supposed to be the closest thing to the Amoroso rolls of Philly Cheese Steak fame. Definitely want to try these, too!

Mixed up a batch with 50g of discard this morning. One more set of stretches and folds before going in the fridge. I’m also baking half of yesterday’s yeasted dough later today as a small boulle and will do the same tomorrow with the sourdough batch to compare the two.

That will be my next attempt with your dough recipe. 😉 When you do that, how much starter to you use for your 500g batches? I would typically use about 10% (50g) but wondered if you might use less with your extended process. Thanks again @Ann_T!

Perfect! Thanks a million for these details. I’ll post my results tomorrow. I appreciate you! 😃🙏

@Ann_T Making up a batch of your dough today. 😃 Couple of quick clarifying questions for you on your new process. Do you still do your 5-6 sets of stretches and folds and allow the dough to almost triple in volume before your extended cold fermentation? Or does it go straight into the fridge after your last set? When the dough comes out of the fridge, do you allow it to come to room temp before shaping and final proof? Anything else I’m missing? Thank you!

The Cuban is one of my favorite sandwiches. We have a local restaurant that makes them - richly smoked, pulled pork, sweet and smokey grilled ham, provolone, pickles sliced lengthwise, and sassy yellow mustard. SO delicious!