PatrickT

Far too kind - but thank you @Ann_T. You seem to bake (and cook!) everything to perfection. That’s a high bar! 😃

When I grow up, I want to bake just like you. 🤣

Completely agree! 👍

That crumb looks so soft and delicious! 😍

Sounds like fun! 😃 When I use my mixer like this, I always pull a windowpane at the end of mixing. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it should be reasonably good (the dough will continue to develop in BF). 4hrs in the B&T at 26C seems reasonable, but if it were me, I would watch for an increase of 50-75% and use that as my cutoff point for BF. A sourdough loaf I just did this way (all starter - no added yeast) increased to 75% in 14hrs at 17C. I bake straight from the fridge, though, so you might do better with @Ann_T’s process if you’re going to do a room temp proof after your CR.

@heidih Great and interesting article - thanks for sharing!

I’ll offer you my thoughts, for what they’re worth. I am definitely no expert - I am a lowly home baker and have only been baking sourdough for a little over a year, so take all of that under advisement. 😃 Sourdough bakers seem to heavily prize a number of aesthetic qualities in their bakes, including prominent ears, blistered crusts, crunchy crusts, dark mahogany crust colors, visible gluten strands in the crust, tall loaf profiles (high shoulders), pronounced oven spring, an open/irregular crumb (small, medium and large holes across the full width and height of the baked loaf) and a pronounced “tang” that characterizes a sourdough loaf. A few of these things I can reproduce fairly consistently - and I’m glad I can because I enjoy them (ears, crunchy crusts, tall loaf profiles). Some I cannot reproduce at all - and I really wish I could (an open/irregular crumb). Others I don’t even like, so I never bother trying to achieve them (the dark mahogany color, the strong “tang”). At the end of the day, while all of these elements can add to the beauty of the final loaf, they don’t significantly alter the taste - and that is what’s most important to me. I think an ear makes a loaf more beautiful to look at - but I’ve baked a lot of “earless” loaves that have tasted divine. And that suits me just fine. Pantry Mama has a good article about sourdough ears and how to achieve them, which also might interest you. Hope those thoughts are helpful!

Happy New Year, everyone. Wishing all of you health, happiness and great bakes in 2023. 🍞 First bake of the New Year, which I made to bring to lunch today with friends. This is Trevor Wilson's Champlain Sourdough. I followed Tom Cucuzza's new process for this bake, which he recently shared on Instagram (he is creating a YouTube video of it later this month): Mixed all of the ingredients together and immediately put them into a BF container. Not a single stretch, fold or lamination of any kind. Allowed the dough to proof on the counter for 24hrs (avg temp 60F; dough had just about doubled). Turned the dough out, pre-shaped it, final shaped it and placed it into a floured banneton. Sealed the banneton in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge. CR turned out to be a total of 83.5hrs. Removed the loaf from the banneton, scored it, and baked it in a DO at 450F for 25 min covered and 15 min uncovered. Will share a pic of the crumb later today when I cut it at our friends' house. EDIT: Crumb shot added below.

Holy wow! Gorgeous! 😍

Anxious to see the pics! @Ann_T is a baguette master. I’m sure she will happily assist you. 😃 Happy to try to help you with that, if you like. I haven’t built one from scratch in over a year and would be happy to do it along with you. We could compare the process, time frames, temps and how they appear along the way. Might be a fun and interesting experiment! 🧐

Thanks! I agree with you - definitely hard to come by, but thankfully, she absolutely loved it. She shared the cookbook with me when we last visited their house, so I knew that I wanted to try a recipe from there. There's also one for sourdough boules using a sourdough starter and sponge that I'm going to try next time we get together with them. Your scoring and crust color on that loaf of yours is next level! Love it.

The gluten-free Quick Crusty Boule recipe from Aran Goyoaga Bakes Simple. Made from ingredients many of which I have never even heard of. 😂 I made this for some guests we’re having for dinner tonight. She is gluten-free and he is vegetarian. The main dish is a delicious artichoke Parmesan lasagna with olives and sun-dried tomatoes (made with gluten-free lasagna noodles, of course). Very anxious to sample this bread. EDIT: This was really delicious, I must say. Very dense, but the crumb was so wonderfully soft and the crust was amazingly crunchy. Total bake time was 1.5 hrs at 450F, which seemed insanely long to me at that temp - but I trusted her recipe and it was indeed spot on. Amazing. I would make this again anytime! Crumb shot added below.

Lovely crumb - and the height of that is splendid!

Gorgeous looking loaf @Ann_T

Ditto! 😃

OK - I keep wanting to see what the upper break point is for @Ann_T’s process. This one is close but honestly, it still turned out pretty respectably- all things considered. Here are the details: - This is the Rustico recipe from Maurizio Leo’s new cookbook, The Perfect Loaf. - Dough was mixed, followed by 4 S&Fs, then refrigerated for 112.5hrs. While in the fridge at 36F, the dough rose nearly 50%. - Removed dough from fridge and allowed it to come to room temperature- about 1 hr. During that time, the dough rose to just over 50%. - Dough was shaped, placed in a banneton and refrigerated for 3hrs, then baked straight from the fridge. It’s clearly over-proofed, but honestly, I’m rather flabbergasted that the loaf and crumb look as good as they do. Wow.

Thank you! I’ll give it a try with one of my next loaves and report back. Appreciate your thoughts!

Just had a thought and wanted to see what others think. I know you should not store bread in the refrigerator, as it stales about 6x faster. What I did wonder, however, is whether or not it might be beneficial to use the refrigerator to quickly cool and dehumidify the bread immediately after baking - say, for 1 hour. After that, remove it and store it as you normally would. Thoughts? Has anyone tried this?

That crumb is perfection! 😍

Definitely! 😂

Crumb is good - but not great. Crust is thin and crunchy. Taste and smell both offer a mild tang. Very tasty overall! Decent effort, here - but that open crumb continues to elude! 🤔

Thank you for those incredible words! Really means a lot. 💛 And I would happily join you in that taste test challenge! 😂 Happy Holidays!

@Ann_T Thank you so much! Still in search of your elusive crumb, but the pizza crust puffed up nicely - and hopefully today’s boule will be more open. Happy Holidays to you and yours. 😃

Merry Christmas everyone. 🎄 Bought a bag of cheap bread/pizza flour at our local Sam’s Club warehouse. Made two pizzas last night (first time trying that) and a boule this morning with that flour. Good results for both using @Ann_T’s process.

This morning’s sourdough bake. 70% Central Milling Organic Old World Bread Flour, 15% King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat, and 15% Flourist Organic Whole Rye. The dough was 70% hydration, 10% inoculation and 3% salt. Followed @Ann_T’s process. This loaf had 44 hrs of initial CR, a total of 11 hrs on the counter, another overnight CR for 7 hrs, then baked straight from the fridge. EDIT: Crumb shots added. This is a wonderfully chewy, substantial, flavorful loaf - with a bit more tang than my usual sourdough loaves. I’m assuming part of that is attributable to the 30% whole grain flours?