The Bread Topic (2016–)

[heidih]

@Ann_T In awe of your bread as always. I don't comment cuz I would just be repeating myself. Wondering with the long cold ferments do you get a sourdoughish tang at all?

I should get my kitchen back when the shrew returns home next month so will be baking bread again.

[Ann_T]

8 hours ago, heidih said:

@Ann_T In awe of your bread as always. I don't comment cuz I would just be repeating myself. Wondering with the long cold ferments do you get a sourdoughish tang at all?

I should get my kitchen back when the shrew returns home next month so will be baking bread again.

@heidih, I wouldn't call it exactly sourdoughish  (I love that word), but the flavour really is more complex than a same day dough.  And so is the crumb.  

 

[Ann_T]

@PatrickT  The final bake from the third batch of dough made last Sunday morning. So this batch was in the fridge for 120 hours. 

 

Matt took the dough out of the fridge yesterday morning and put his pizza in the oven at 5:00 PM last night.

He used half the dough and saved the other dough for me to deal with when I got in from work.  

 

I decided that rather than make a boule or a baguette I would just roughly shape into a ciabatta style loaf.

 

Ciabatta doughs are usually very high hydration, up to 100%.   This dough was like the others, just 63%.

Baked last night.

Sliced this morning.  

 

 

Destined for a sandwich. 

 

Going to start a couple of more batches this morning for the fridge.

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Ann_T (log)

[PatrickT]

12 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Destined for a sandwich.

Not doing so with that perfect shape and pockety crumb would be a travesty indeed. 🤣

 

Thanks for sharing this!

[Ann_T]

Today's bake. Out of the oven before 7:00 AM.

Three regular size baguettes and two "Claude" size breads, one baguette and one boule.

 

 

Claude is a little four year old who loves my bread.

[Smithy]

6 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Today's bake. Out of the oven before 7:00 AM.

Three regular size baguettes and two "Claude" size breads, one baguette and one boule.

 

"

 

Claude is a little four year old who loves my bread.

 

*swoon* 

 

I am continually amazed by (a) the hours you keep (I operate at the other end of the day) and (b) your organization and timing (which points to your starting your day so much earlier than mine, and running by start-time rather than finish-time) and (c) the beauty of your breads. I wish I were there to experience them.

 

What size are the "Claude-sized" breads, please?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

*swoon* 

 

I am continually amazed by (a) the hours you keep (I operate at the other end of the day) and (b) your organization and timing (which points to your starting your day so much earlier than mine, and running by start-time rather than finish-time) and (c) the beauty of your breads. I wish I were there to experience them.

 

What size are the "Claude-sized" breads, please?

 

Read to the end!

 

Edit:  never mind.  I misunderstood the question.

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

21 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Claude is a little four year old who loves my bread.

 

When I was four, or maybe five or maybe six, my school class visited the Acme bread bakery in Philadelphia.  Only time I have been on television.  (Evening news was different back in the early 1950's.)  Would that I had been exposed to Ann's bread at that early age.

 

I fondly remember the pleasantly overwhelming alcoholic scent of thousands of fermenting loaves.  Possibly illegal under current OSHA regulations.

 

[Ann_T]

32 minutes ago, Smithy said:

*swoon* 

 

I am continually amazed by (a) the hours you keep (I operate at the other end of the day) and (b) your organization and timing (which points to your starting your day so much earlier than mine, and running by start-time rather than finish-time) and (c) the beauty of your breads. I wish I were there to experience them.

 

What size are the "Claude-sized" breads, please?

Thanks @Smithy.  I'm not sure if it is a curse or a blessing to be an earlier riser.   But it works for me.  And Moe is always awake around the same time.

I'm now making a point to have one to three batches of the same dough in the fridge so I can bake when I feel like it.   

And figured out that if I use very little yeast, just 1 gram that I can leave a batch out overnight and

it will be ready to use between 3:00 and 4:00 AM.   Or leave it up to 5 days in the fridge with no downside.   And when I bake in the morning I can take

some to work to share with Claude's dad and two co workers.  No one ever turns down homemade bread. 

 

The full size baguettes, are 16" (just measured) and Claude's baguette would have been about 7 or 8" and the little boule was probably a 4 to 5" round.   

 

 

 

 

[Ann_T]

Moe requested burgers for dinner.

My favourite burger bun is a Kaiser.

So I started a batch this afternoon and they were ready in time for dinner. 

[Matthew.Taylor]

I’ve been looking for a way to upgrade my sandwich’s. So I found a recipe for Cuban bread in a recent issue of Bake from Scratch. Here’s what I got.

[PatrickT]

3 hours ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

I’ve been looking for a way to upgrade my sandwich’s. So I found a recipe for Cuban bread in a recent issue of Bake from Scratch. Here’s what I got.

Looks good! Are you happy with it?

[PatrickT]

3 hours ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

I found a recipe for Cuban bread in a recent issue of Bake from Scratch.

Assume this is the recipe?

[Matthew.Taylor]

57 minutes ago, PatrickT said:

Assume this is the recipe?

Yep! That’s it! I love how they look, though I had to make some subs for things I was lacking (butter flavored shortening for lard, and steel cut oats for cornmeal). As for how it tastes, I tasted a bit and I liked it, but the real test will be tomorrow’s lunch. I hope to get a good four lunches out of these. I’ll let you know.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Cuban bread from the NY Times Cookbook was the first bread I ever tried to make.  It was a decade or two before I attempted bread again.

 

[PatrickT]

1 hour ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

I love how they look

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!

[PatrickT]

@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! 

[Ann_T]

@PatrickT Yes, I do the stretch and folds with the autolyze rests between each.  But if doing a cold fermentation the dough goes immediately into the fridge. 

It doesn't rise first. 

And the only time I leave the dough out to triple in volume is if I plan to bake the same day.   

I will often make a batch at night and leave it out on the counter until 3 or 4 AM and then do a bake. Because I'm, using just a gram of yeast, it is a slow rise. 

 

Otherwise, if I don't want to use the dough for a few days, it goes immediately into the fridge after the last stretch and fold and remains there until

about 8 hours prior to when I want to bake. 

It needs that time to warm up and rise until almost triple. 

 

Then the dough is divided, preshaped, covered and left to rest for 20 to 30  minutes and then finished shaping, covered and left to proof.

 

Pictorial

 

[PatrickT]

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

I appreciate you! 😃🙏

[Ann_T]

2 minutes ago, PatrickT said:

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

I appreciate you! 😃🙏

Thanks @PatrickT, look forward to seeing your next bake. 

 

I started two batches this morning, that will go into the fridge today and probably not get used until

Tuesday or Wednesday.  I also fed my neglected sourdough starters this morning and tonight will feed again, and use some of the

discard in another batch of dough to go into the fridge.  

[PatrickT]

33 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

and use some of the discard in another batch of dough to go into the fridge.

 

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!

[Ann_T]

@PatrickT, my intention is to use 50g of the discard.

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Ann_T (log)

[PatrickT]

23 hours ago, Ann_T said:

my intention is to use 50g of the discard.

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. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by PatrickT (log)

[Ann_T]

I'm so bad when it comes to looking after my sourdough starters.

 

I let them go for months without feeding.  Matt asked me to make a batch because he likes a sourdough pizza crust.

I didn't realize it had been more than three months since I fed them last.

 

Thankfully they are very forgiving.

 

My current starters were born February 6th, 2019.

Both my starters were "started" with organic rye and once established, I spun off one that gets fed with white flour and 

I continue to feed the original with organic rye. 

 

I fed both yesterday morning before work and by the time I got home from work they had both more than doubled. 

Last night I fed the rye one again, and used 50gs of the discard in a 500g batch .  After the last stretch and fold the dough

went into the fridge and Matt will use it tomorrow for pizza.

I left the newly fed starter on the counter overnight and it had tripled by 3:00 AM this morning.   

I'm going to try and be more attentive to my babies.  

[PatrickT]

On 9/7/2022 at 7:34 PM, Matthew.Taylor said:

As for how it tastes, I tasted a bit and I liked it, but the real test will be tomorrow’s lunch. I hope to get a good four lunches out of these. I’ll let you know.

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!