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I was so excited--I got a new oven, because my last one held a temperature so poorly that everything got messed up. I spent a couple hours making some challah, braiding it, caring for it. I set the timer on the oven for an hour for the final rise. It beeps, I stop it, I put the bread in, and I set it for 20 mins to go check it. I get there, the bread is huge. Like way more than normal oven spring. Nothing smells like bread, and there's no color on it. I check the thermometer I have in there, and it's like 100*. I somehow managed to stop the bake process when I set the timer. I put two beautiful loaves of bread into a lukewarm oven, and they've just been sitting there raising or some poo poo. I turned the heat back on, because that'll make it way easier to get off the pan. But I know I'm not going to enjoy it. 
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Dec 12, 2012 01:52
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 06:34 |
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I need to scale a couple recipes so they'll work in a 9x5 inch loaf pan instead of an 8.5x4.5. Based on the two sizes in the recipe on the back of the King Arthur Flour bag, it looks like I can just multiply everything by like 1.5? Does that sound right?
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May 11, 2016 00:16
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I'm looking for some thoughts on bagels. I've been experimenting with making my own, and while I'm much closer to what I'm picturing, I still feel like the insides are much too soft. When I cut open a bagel from one of the local bagel shops, the interior has a fairly tight crumb, is doughy, and is nice and firm. If I press on it, it resists nicely. When I cut open one of mine, the inside has a lovely open crumb that I'd like in my regular bread, and it's quite soft. While this is nice, I'm not sure if this is what I'm really going for in bagels. I'm following Peter Reinhart's recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I'm using KA bread flour, and I've experimented with bumping the gluten content to around 17% with vital wheat gluten, which I thought came out much more nicely. I also notice that mine are swelling much more than I would expect during the boil phase and again during the oven spring. I'm shaping them with the stretch and wrap method, and I'm borrowing a trick from Cooks Illustrated where you twist the log of dough to increase the exterior tension. So what I have are a few questions: - Are mine too soft, or do I just not know what a 'true' bagel is like inside? - Has anyone had experience with off flavors caused by boiling with baking soda? I can't tell where a slight off note is coming from. - Any good shaping tips or pitfalls I might be running into? - What's your favorite unusual bagel topping? I'm looking for new things to try.
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May 25, 2018 12:59
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:I'd point to your fermentation time if you're getting open crumb at ~55% hydration. How's your color post bake and for the overnight are you using DMP? I'm not super happy with the color, to be honest. I feel like it takes them longer to pick up a nice brown than I would like, and they generally end up paler overall. There's also a slight yellow tinge, which I attribute to the boiling - the water is a dark yellow/brown color after boiling a dozen. DMP = diastatic malt powder? I somehow misordered from King Arthur and got malt syrup instead and have been using that. To the fermentation time, the recipe has a 2 hour sponge, a 20ish minute rest before forming, and then another rest before putting them in the fridge overnight. He calls for a float test before fridging them which I have been skipping as my bagels typically float immediately. I'm honestly not sure what purpose this is serving - if they're proofing overnight anyway, I'm not clear on what I'm going for before putting them in. I have been machine kneading for ~6 minutes and then by hand as needed, usually a minute or two. I'm in the DC area, and have tried most (all?) of the local bagel shops at one time or another. I'll eat an Einsteins bagel, but they're so different from everything else I can get down here that I would prefer to get something else.
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May 25, 2018 23:48
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Anyone having luck getting flour at the store? I'm in the DC area and can't find anything anywhere. I'm a loaf of bread and a batch of bagels from running out completely, which means I won't get any use out of this sourdough starter I'm starting. I know I can get a 50lb bag from Baldor, but my SO isn't thrilled about storing that and the $250 minimum order fee makes it difficult. Also, if anyone is having issues getting their starter started, one place to look at is your water. Mine spent two weeks being a puddle - not wrong, but not right, basically no growth, just kind of sitting there. I suspected our tap water and switched to bottled and now I'm getting a ton of activity. Makes me start thinking about buying a water filter, though. Finally, any thoughts on putting the bread on a hot stone and setting the preheated dutch oven over top of it, instead of dropping it down inside? Or am I overthinking how likely I am to deflate the bread or burn myself while dropping it into the pot?
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Apr 21, 2020 23:11
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Thanks, Costco is a great idea that I hadn't considered. I live very close to one, and I'm not opposed to getting a membership just for this.
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Apr 22, 2020 00:56
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I put an upside down dutch oven on my baking stone and it worked pretty well. Put the bread on the stone, set the dutch oven down around it. Significant chance of dropping a blazing hot piece of cast iron on your also blazing hot delicate stone, though, so I might not do it again.
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May 2, 2020 20:13
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We eat a lot of bagels, and our usual shops are pretty well shut down right now, so I've been making a lot of bagels recently. I screwed up the hydration this time somehow, so they came out a little runty. I think I mismeasured the water and am closer to 51% than 56%? Typically they're about 1/3 larger than these. Also, I made an obligatory sourdough the other day. This was definitely too high a hydration, since I got that shiny, rubbery crumb, and it's not sour at all, but I'm pretty pleased with it. 
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May 3, 2020 20:51
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King Arthur has bread and whole wheat flour available on their website today for the first time in a while, in case that's helpful to anyone. I already ordered a couple bags of bread flour, which means more bagels and another run at sourdough next weekend for me.
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May 11, 2020 23:57
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Gazpacho posted:I'm trying to get on the breadwagon but my starter just will not rise no matter what. It blooms on the second and third day, but after that it's just I had a very similar issue with mine, and let it go several weeks of being just a smelly turd in a jar but didn't get any change. As an experiment, I switched from tap water to bottled and it picked up immediately. My tap water has a smell to it, but I didn't think it was bad enough to impede yeast growth. If you don't get any improvement in another week of regular feeding, maybe try that?
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Jun 24, 2020 15:40
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no matter how I feed it.
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Rescue Toaster posted:
This one is probably a hydration issue, I think. I had this problem with a couple of my first attempts at sourdough, and it came with some other symptoms that I connect with high hydration dough - difficult to handle, doesn't keep a good shape regardless of how much tension you get on the outside, that sort of thing. I cut the water a little and had much better results the next time.
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Aug 2, 2020 16:26
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I didn't realize that it's a desirable texture, but maybe I've just never had nice enough bread anywhere to encounter it. Do you actually enjoy it? I find it unpleasantly rubbery, and figured it was wrong. Maybe I'm just not a refined enough person to know what's good.
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Aug 3, 2020 04:41
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I fake it by putting the bread on the stone that I keep in the oven then setting a heated dutch oven down over top of it. It's a little awkward handling it, but it works pretty well for my purposes.
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Feb 10, 2022 20:20
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I decided to try to get back into sourdough, and I'm having issues getting a starter going. I've been feeding it daily for a few weeks to try to get it to even out, and some days I get a good rise and some days I get a few bubbles and that's it. I got a decent rise two days ago and decided to try a loaf of bread last night. I fed the starter in the morning, had a minimal rise by evening, and tried making bread anyway. Now, I have a jar of starter with a few bubbles on top and a bowl of unrisen dough. When feeding, I generally do 50-100g starter and the same amount each of AP flour and tap water. Any ideas what could be causing such inconsistent results? I thought it might be chloramine in the tap water, but internet opinion on that ranges from "murders your yeast" to "no effect". Is water the most likely cause? Am I feeding it wrong?
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Oct 17, 2022 19:47
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effika posted:It took like a month for my starter to get strong enough to raise dough on its own. Do you have a set of instructions you're following? I was following the King Arthur article, but I've done this a couple times before so I'm also sort of winging it. I had been mixing some rye in initially, but mostly stopped after the first few days. I'll start that again and see if it helps.
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Oct 17, 2022 21:07
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Thanks for all the advice. I switched to bottled water and mixed up the flours I was feeding with and got better growth immediately. I tried making another loaf yesterday and it worked pretty well. Submarine Sandpaper posted:A 1:1:1 is a pretty wasteful feeding imo. After it starts to act healthy I'd knock that down. I do a 1:5:5. Sorry if this is dumb, but I'm reading this as 1 part starter, 5 parts each water and flour. Won't that really increase the amount of discard from each feeding?
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Oct 22, 2022 19:33
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BizarroAzrael posted:Anyone got a good technique for bagels? I think I have a good recipe but I think my end results are denser/smaller than they need to be. Currently I mix the dough, give it a few stretches the previous evening, then in the morning part it out into rings, let them proof for 30 minutes to an hour, then boil and bake. I just cut the advised boil from 60 seconds a side to 30 and think it's an improvement, but I think there needs to be more and earlier proofing after shaping. I think some people shape quite soon after mixing and refrigerate the shaped bagels for up to a couple of days before boiling and baking. Does anyone have direct experience to recommend from? I make bagels every month or so, and I use the Peter Reinhart method that Submarine Sandpaper mentioned. I don't have it handy, but it's a 2 hour preferment, then mix in the rest of the ingredients, divide, short rest, shape, short rest, then fridge until the next day. I can post quantities when I get home Sunday if you want. It makes the best bagels I've ever made. Shaping also contributes to how dense they seem. Do you do the poke-a-hole-in-a-ball method, or the snake-and-loop? I find that I get much better results from the latter, and I include a trick from Cook's Illustrated where you add a twist to increase the tension on the outside. I usually boil a minute per side.
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Nov 25, 2022 23:58
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Can anyone recommend a good resource for real dumb guys like me to learn how to handle high hydration doughs? I've read some stuff online, try to keep my hands wet, etc, but I still end up frustrated and covered in goo. After some resting and stretch and folds it becomes manageable, so it's the initial phases that I want to improve. I'm more used to bagel and sandwich loaf doughs and don't have much trouble with them.
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Dec 4, 2022 16:07
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Thanks all, it's helpful to know that everyone gets the goo and I'm not just doing it wrong. I've been using a plastic scraper, but I'll switch to metal since it looks like it will work better. I should schedule it differently so I'm not doing the worst part early in the morning before breakfast or coffee. On the plus side, despite the frustration the loaf turned out pretty well. A little underproved, and I got some tearing, but overall better than previous attempts. Now I need to figure out how to get more sour flavor into it, since it really just tastes like good bread and not so much sourdough.
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Dec 6, 2022 02:57
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https://pastrychef.com has some larger banneton options, if they're the shape you're looking for. I've ordered from them before and had a good experience. You could also try https://bakedeco.com, though I've never ordered from them so can't vouch for them specifically.
you ate my cat fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Dec 9, 2022 |
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Dec 9, 2022 18:48
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:But wait . . . why not just flip a dutch oven over? I've done this, sans lid, on top of a pizza stone and had good results. The downside is the terror of relying on the friction grip of your ove gloves to keep from dropping the 450 degree Dutch oven onto your stone, since the handles usually don't work well upside down. I don't think it would work with cloth mitts that don't have silicone or other material for grip.
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Dec 24, 2022 02:10
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 06:34 |
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I find that I have much more trouble with gluten formation with King Arthur bread flour that's past it's expiration date. It wants much more water and doesn't ever get 'right'. I'm usually making bagels, and I think the already low hydration dough makes that much more obvious.
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Apr 25, 2023 03:07
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