The Bread Topic (2016–)

[PatrickT]

1 hour ago, Ann_T said:

thank you for sharing the buttermilk recipe.  Your bread turned out great.  Nice crumb.

 

Thank you, Ann! Another one of my fellow bread bakers made that recipe for her family and it became an instant favorite. It's really delicious and I'm beyond pleased with the way mine turned out. 

 

YOUR loaves, as always, are next level. And you have my mouth watering at the thought of those baguettes supporting slabs of leftover pot roast! Wowza! Thanks for sharing.

[PatrickT]

And PS, @Ann_T - I baked a sourdough version of your recipe this morning and it came out beautifully. This was 20% inoculation, 63% hydration, 4.75 hrs bulk fermentation at 79 F, followed by a 14.5 hr cold retard. Baked it at 450 in the DO, 20 min covered and 20 min uncovered. And ignore the cryptic code you see - it was part of a test I did for a fellow baker.

 

 

 

 

[Ann_T]

7 hours ago, PatrickT said:

And PS, @Ann_T - I baked a sourdough version of your recipe this morning and it came out beautifully. This was 20% inoculation, 63% hydration, 4.75 hrs bulk fermentation at 79 F, followed by a 14.5 hr cold retard. Baked it at 450 in the DO, 20 min covered and 20 min uncovered. And ignore the cryptic code you see - it was part of a test I did for a fellow baker.

 

 

 

 

That is one beautiful loaf.    Did you find it mildly sour or very sour?

 

[PatrickT]

10 hours ago, Ann_T said:

That is one beautiful loaf.    Did you find it mildly sour or very sour?

 

Thank you! 😃 In terms of the sourness, I would say it's a nice middle ground. I've definitely made sourdough loaves that have been on both the milder and tangier sides. When you eat this one, you know it's a sourdough but it's not over the top.

[Ann_T]

2 hours ago, PatrickT said:

 

Thank you! 😃 In terms of the sourness, I would say it's a nice middle ground. I've definitely made sourdough loaves that have been on both the milder and tangier sides. When you eat this one, you know it's a sourdough but it's not over the top.

I do prefer a milder sourdough flavour. 

 

Pulled the other dough out of the fridge that had been in there since Tuesday morning.

Baked this morning.  One boule and one baguette.

 

Baguette baked in the CSO from start to finish and the Boule on a stone in the oven covered by a big roasting pan lid, rather than in a DO.   

 

 

[PatrickT]

Amazing oven spring on that boule @Ann_T!

[Ann_T]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:49 AM, PatrickT said:

Amazing oven spring on that boule @Ann_T!

 Thanks @PatrickT.

 

Today's bake.

 

Put three batches of dough in the fridge yesterday morning. Initial mix done in the new Breville FP. Followed by a number of stretch and folds. 

 Pulled one out last night and left on the counter to rise.

Baked six baguettes, four regular size and two smaller ones for a little four year old that loves my baguettes. I call them "Claude" size.

This was a 700g batch size at 63% hydration.

 

I made these baguettes a little skinnier because Matt likes this size for sandwiches. 

[PatrickT]

36 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

two smaller ones for a little four year old that loves my baguettes. I call them "Claude" size.

 

That is so adorable! 😃 Sounds like Claude is a future baker in training.

[Ann_T]

Pulled another batch of dough out of the fridge last night.  Had been in the fridge since Sunday morning.

 

Baked six smaller baguettes.

Sliced this morning.

[Ann_T]

Pulled the last batch of dough that had been in the fridge since Sunday morning.

This was the small batch of just under 400g of flour.

It came out of the fridge this morning around 9:00AM  and was ready to shape when I got home from work at 5:30.

 

Baked on a stone covered for 20 minutes with the lid of a large roasting pan. 

I love this crust with the network of gluten strands. 

[PatrickT]

8 hours ago, Ann_T said:

I love this crust with the network of gluten strands. 

 

That loaf puts to shame many "artisan loaves" I've seen in bread shops and farmers markets in our area! Truly superb. You should be really proud of that one, @Ann_T.

[PatrickT]

8 hours ago, Ann_T said:

Pulled the last batch of dough that had been in the fridge since Sunday morning.

 

And again, to clarify - because this just warps my brain - this dough sat in your fridge for essentially 96 hours, followed by another 8.5 hours on the counter before you shaped and baked it, right? And prior to all of that, it was just your regular recipe and method? 

 

I just love the rule breaking insanity of it all. LOL

[Ann_T]

2 hours ago, PatrickT said:

 

And again, to clarify - because this just warps my brain - this dough sat in your fridge for essentially 96 hours, followed by another 8.5 hours on the counter before you shaped and baked it, right? And prior to all of that, it was just your regular recipe and method? 

 

I just love the rule breaking insanity of it all. LOL

@PatrickT, yes that is exactly what I did.   And I have done it often. 

 

 I think, and I could be very wrong, but I think the fact that I use so little yeast in my bread, just one to two grams depending on the size of the batch,

that it allows for the longer fermentation.   

 

I had initially taken it out of the fridge because I thought that Matt was going to make a pizza for dinner.  But he changed his mind so I

just baked a loaf.  Would have made an amazing pizza crust. 

 

 

Sliced the boule this morning for Moe's breakfast.

 

 

[PatrickT]

@Ann_T Amazing - and I believe you are right about the yeast. I think you should be able to do the same thing with an equivalent baker’s percentage of sourdough starter. Maybe I’ll try that.

 

And that is a gorgeous crumb! 😍

[Ann_T]

@PatrickT, you can.  I've done it with just 50g of starter tossed into a batch of dough.  

I need to feed my starters one of these days and will make a batch or two with the discard.  Matt

loves the sourdough for pizza crust. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Tonight's boule.  This was a departure and an experiment.  Rather than mixing on low speed and then on higher speed, I mixed half an hour on low speed only.  As expected the resulting dough was not very well developed.  It required four hours of bulk fermentation to gain strength.

 

Furthermore during proofing the dough did not rise to the extent expected.  Proof seemed to be right on however.  I'm waiting (late dinner even for me) for the loaf to fully cool so I can cut into it.

 

[PatrickT]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Rather than mixing on low speed and then on higher speed, I mixed half an hour on low speed only.  As expected the resulting dough was not very well developed.

Looks lovely. 😃 Couple of questions for you:

 

What did the windowpane test show after you were done mixing?

What volume increase did you see after your 4-hour BF?

 

How was the crumb and flavor?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

45 minutes ago, PatrickT said:

Looks lovely. 😃 Couple of questions for you:

 

What did the windowpane test show after you were done mixing?

What volume increase did you see after your 4-hour BF?

 

How was the crumb and flavor?

 

Thanks.

 

Not much.  Very little strength after mixing.

 

Difficult for me to quantify volume increase.  I'd say not as much volume increase as usual after bulk fermentation.  I might have left the bulk fermentation go even longer but the bread might have been ready in time for breakfast.  As it was, after 4 hours there was enough strength for shaping.

 

Crumb is open and flavor is pronounced.  If you have access to Ramond Calvel's The Taste of Bread, the crumb looks similar to what is called "Traditional Mixing" (Color Plate 1).

 

I should add that while I was playing I also added a bit more salt and a bit less yeast than usual.  Did not weigh.

 

 

[PatrickT]

Very helpful - thank you. 
 

What recipe is this?

 

I’ll watch for that book. Looks like a good one (but pricey!) 😉

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 hours ago, PatrickT said:

Very helpful - thank you. 
 

What recipe is this?

 

I’ll watch for that book. Looks like a good one (but pricey!) 😉

 

The basic recipe I work with is French Lean Bread from Modernist Bread.  This time I mixed on low speed, as mentioned, and then more or less followed the instructions for hand mixing with the extended bulk ferment.

 

 

 

I am about to cut that slice in half and go make a tuna salad sandwich.

 

[PatrickT]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I am about to cut that slice in half and go make a tuna salad sandwich.

That looks SO delicious! 😍

[PatrickT]

This video from Tom Cucuzza, 50 Ways to Kill Your Starter, is not only fascinating and educational - it is hilarious. Check it out during your next BF or proofing wait time. Those little microbes are a lot more resilient than we we give them credit! 🦠 
 

And don’t miss his demo of the Five Feedings Rule.

[Ann_T]

@JoNorvelleWalker, it is a beautiful loaf.  And the crumb is perfect for a tuna sandwich.

 

Just out of the oven.

 

2.5 lb loaf.

Dough had been in the fridge since Saturday morning. Taken out last night just before 8:00 and shaped and baked early this morning.

 

Waiting for it to cool. Moe requested French Toast for breakfast.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to take for lunch today, but now I have a craving for a tuna sandwich. 

[PatrickT]

@Ann_T - you might find this interesting. As mentioned above, I've been watching the Tom Cucuzza videos on sourdough bread making, which are all really excellent. In the one I watched today, The Long, Cold Proof, he conducts a very interesting experiment. Using the same single batch of sourdough (the Tartine Country Loaf recipe), he compares 6 loaves of increasingly longer periods of cold fermentation: 24, 36, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, across the dimensions of taste, crust/crumb, structure and appearance. He expected to see pronounced increases in tanginess and a gradual degradation in structure across the longer cold fermentation periods. The former assumption was generally true, with some significant caveats; the latter assumption was essentially completely disproven. I've included a screen shot of his overall summary below, but I couldn't help think of the way this all resonates with your own "long, cold proofs." It's a lengthy video but well worth watching in its entirety. Let me know what you think.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, Ann_T said:

@JoNorvelleWalker, it is a beautiful loaf.  And the crumb is perfect for a tuna sandwich.

 

Just out of the oven.

 

2.5 lb loaf.

Dough had been in the fridge since Saturday morning. Taken out last night just before 8:00 and shaped and baked early this morning.

 

Waiting for it to cool. Moe requested French Toast for breakfast.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to take for lunch today, but now I have a craving for a tuna sandwich. 

 

Actually the slice was a bit too thick.  Made the tuna sandwich but couldn't fit it in my maw.  In the end I ate it with a knife and fork.