gsquared

Shaped dough in couche. I'll post a 3-hour pic from the same angle later.

Great! I do not want to go too deeply into the evening - the innkeeper needs his rest. More follows.

The Artist chided me for not following my teacher's suggestions. She was, of course, correct. As usual (damn irritating habit some women have). So, Jack, I will make the dough, prove for 3 hours and then bake. The preferment has been sitting for 10 hours now. This is what it looks like: Do you think I can start the dough or should I wait 2 more hours?

The garbage bag proving enclosure was close at hand......

Commiseration appreciated, Lori. The Artists is far too savvy to fall for that - she has been following all this attentively (and supportively!) edited to fix accidental click

I suppose the teacher should teach by demonstrating, but this is cruel, Jack!

Thanks for the good wishes, Anna, TP and Russell. I am motivated by the fact that it is not my reputation as a bread baker at stake here. That is pretty much non-existant. I cannot allow Jack to fail as a teacher.

Thanks, Jack. Of course I will persevere. Yes, I used bottled water for both the preferment and the dough. I am suspicious of the amount of water/flour. The preferment I mixed this morning with 100g flour and 100g water seems stiffer than the one in the EGCI thread. So, I think that I will change only one variable, and that is the quantity of water as you suggest. I will make the dough early eveing, allow 2 hours proving, overnight in the fridge and then bake off. D'accord? O yes, I fixed the oven light and will use the oven for proving and for keeping the preferment at 30C.

No Lagavulin for me this morning, I fear. No oven spring at all, in fact no spring of any nature. Oy Vey! I shall start a new preferment and wait for Jack.

I think that I am a cautious man. The Artist maintains that I am a pessimist. Be that as it may, I baked off two trays of muffins first this morning. At least the guests will have something should all go awry with the bread. I turned the shaped loaves onto two small, floured pans to use as peels, and slashed. Maybe I was not firm enough with the slashing........ The loaves immediately flattened out, sort of subsided into flatter shapes when I removed them from the couche. Oven preheated to 240C with cast iron pan for steam. The peels did not work well. I had to nudge and prod to get them onto the baking plate. I will definitely get myself a strip of wood to use as a peel. In any event, they are in the oven. And I wait. Too early for a small libation, but should this come out even halfway decent, by gad, I shall have a glass of Lagavulin. Peering outside, I see the seagulls gathering......

Thanks K! I am trying to curtail my optimism, but confess that I am looking forward to tomorrow. What if Jack has actually pulled me through? The Artist is apprehensive. She fears that if, no, when this works out, I'll go into a frenzy of baking. She's right, of course. I have a lot of leeway to make up.

Great - that's what I'll do. Into the fridge until the morning. The dough can go cold into the ove, right? No need to get it to room temp first? I have to confess to a moment of alarm when there was no sign of a rise.......

Almost forgot - here is a peek into the bag at 2 hours.

Theoretically, which option would be prefereable? I was leaning toward leaving it in the fridge until tomorrow.

As per Jack's instructions, I put the ingredients into a food processor and whizzed for 2 minutes. Looked good. This is what it looked like after removing it from the Magimix. The glint is due to the oil on my hands. Folded as per instructions. I had a baguette pan around and used that as the couche - made getting it into the bag easier. I am not so sure that the shapes are good, but the wet dough is not all that easy to shape. Into the bin liner. Actually a garbage bag - I do hope that is not an omen. Note the printout of Jack's instructions lying on the scale. Two questions, Jack: I left the preferment overnight and removed it from the 30C environment early this morning. When I got around to mixing the dough, the preferment had only a few small bubbles - it seemed pretty dormant. I assume that the additional food and 2 hours at 30C will revive it? Should I see a doubling in size during the 2 hours proving? Will insufficient increase in size be a harbinger of doom? I think I will post a pic after two hours before putting it in the fridge.

Great! I shall wait until the morning then. Not so sure about the bread virgin. Maybe closer to erectile dysfunction?

Thanks. It is now 15:30 here. I'll leave it until the morning, I think. At what point does the food source provided by the 100g flour get exhausted? Also, if I prefer to bake late tomorrow afternoon, will an 8 hour retarding in the fridge be sufficient? Should I rather make the dough in the morning, allow the rise and then leave in the fridge, probably for about 24 hours to account for my breakfast activities the day after? Here are Jack's instructions: The thought of actually having something to cool before eating leaves me somewhat breathless. Like when you went on your first date.

The preferment has been going for 8 hours now. I am cautiously optimistic. Ready to rumble or should I give it a few hours more?

Ok. I'll let you know what the preferment looks like later this afternoon.

I do not know much about patents and even less about US law, but could it not be possible to register a recipe as a business method patent? It appears that this has mostly been used for protecting e-commerce ideas, but it does not seem to be limited in principle to software. Click

Pretty authentic, except for the octopus potjie. Perhaps a nod to local preferences but all self-respecting S.A. potjiemakers will shudder at the thought.

The preferment is dead and discarded. The mother look more promising. Jack:- leave it for longer or start the preferment again?

Thanks, TP! I am somewhat amazed that there is an S.A. restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. "Kudu bar" though? Taking the concept of "watering hole" to the extreme?

Thanks. The light in my oven is a teeny one, but I'll switch it on and take the temp.

Ok. Room temp is a chilly 18C today, so I'll try to keep both at around 28C. I'll report back tomorrow morning.