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Like everybody else in America, I've gone back to bread baking. I used to make a lot of bread, but the effort of kneading wore me out. I'm better now. Anyway, I picked up two new-to-me techniques that gave a gorgeous oven spring and crust. 1. Clay bread cloche. I lucked into a clay Romertopf at a thrift store, and I am treating it as if made of fairy wings. Soak just the top lid, and you get all the steam your crust could hope for. 2. Cold-oven baking. No, really. Do your second rising in the pot you usually use for Lahey's no-knead bread. Cold oven baking. When risen, slash, cover, and put into a cold oven. Set oven to 450/425 if you have a convection oven. The oven spring is amazing, and you don't lose any of the rise when transferring from bannetons/bowl to the final pot. I was skeptical, but I tried it and am sold.  The first time around I lined the pan with parchment; this time I In unrelated news, the three different "use up your sourdough discard" recipes I tried were disasters. (King Arthur flour blueberry muffins, somebody else's blueberry crumb cake, somebody else's sourdough tortillas.) I think I'm going to stick to waffles or pancake batter from here on. Awww. What a fine baby. When he gets older I am sure he'll want to help knead; we have a picture of my toddler being held in the air with her hands above the dough. e: Yeah, should have used the parchment. Melted a plastic spatula freeing the bread from the pot. Oops. Still pretty, though. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 22:45
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 10:24 |
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That is a fascinating kneading technique. Ten minutes of it would count as your aerobics for the day, too.
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Apr 4, 2020 06:52
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Oh niiiice. What's your recipe for pitas? My first few sourdough loaves have been tasty but too fine-textured: fine as sandwich bread. I tried leaving the dough more lax/sticky, and it opened the grain some but not a lot; none of those nice big eyes left by bubbles. This has been an issue both with cold-baked bread and with bread-stone bread with steam spritzing. Is it likely that I'm not letting the second rise run long enough? That I'm overhandling the bread in transferring it from peel to oven? Other?
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Apr 4, 2020 21:11
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I got my husband a propane-fired high-temperature pizza oven for Christmas. I was planning on naan, but pita sound fabulous, too.
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Apr 5, 2020 02:27
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I was making that very sticky, very gluten-developed sourdough donut recipe. While scraping and folding, I managed to cut my left forefinger. With the bench knife. Which is a hardware-store bench knife, at least 20 years old, and is fricking blunt. Hey, person who recommended the sourdough donut recipe, did you retard the first rise, the rise after shaping the donuts, or both?
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Apr 6, 2020 19:33
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I was going to suggest that, then it occurred to me that it might make the bottom crust not crispy enough. I've been using parchment in my cold-oven breads, and it works very well.
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Apr 6, 2020 19:56
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Holy poo poo, people are scalping yeast. One-pound block of Saf-Instant for $20 on Amazon. (King Arthur is sold out of all kinds of yeast.) My jar will run out and then it'll be sourdough-only instead of yeast-boosted. But my instant gratification! e: And it isn't at my local grocery stores.
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Apr 8, 2020 21:54
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No pictures, but I finally found a sourdough-discard recipe that came out perfect. Epicurious's Sourdough Biscuits. Reminds me of my childhood.
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Apr 11, 2020 18:58
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Mine currently lives on the table top because I am in the first passionate weeks of sourdough EVERYTHING EVERYDAY.
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Apr 11, 2020 22:32
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Thumposaurus posted:Brioche or challa I haven't made it at home yet, but commercial milk bread makes fantastic toast. (There isn't any milk in it; it starts with a kind of roux.)
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Apr 13, 2020 15:42
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https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe (You don't have to use (and probably can't find) their branded flour, but it's good stuff.)
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Apr 13, 2020 16:06
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Cyrano4747 posted:Speaking of which, any suggestions on what to do with discard? I'm really cringing throwing this much flour away right now, given that everyone's loving panic buying it everywhere and it's hard as gently caress to get and I don't want to go grocery store to grocery store looking for it. These biscuits are amazing.
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Apr 18, 2020 00:23
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I've been doing a cold-oven variant on Dutch oven baking. It works like a charm. Best crust I've ever had, great oven spring, and it means you can do the final rise in the Dutch oven, thus preserving as much loft as possible. I've done this two (three? Time has no meaning) weeks running and the results are wonderful. https://foodbodsourdough.com/cold-oven-baking/ quote:put the dough into the cold baking vessel and score; I have a question. The only flour I can find locally is whole wheat. How do I adjust the hydration in my sourdough loaves to compensate? I understand that bran tends to absorb water. For now I can do half and half bread flour and whole wheat, but my existing bag of bread flour won't last forever.
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Apr 21, 2020 19:03
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Parchment paper. Sorry, I forgot to mention that step. I don't cut it to shape, I just stuff it in, because I am lazy. Well, I just had my first full-on failure; had to happen eventually. I was making Crust and Crumb's San Francisco sourdough, and I (unknowingly) overrose it last night. Went to the back fridge and the loaves had fallen; if I baked them, I'd get bricks. Ah, well, live and learn.
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Apr 23, 2020 15:33
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The focaccia looks wonderful. A friend of mine asked what I'd like for my birthday present and said he'd even visit stores for me. I told him not go to to multiple stores, but I would really really like some white flour. He phoned around, including to a couple of bakeries, hit Costco at the geezer's hour, and dropped off a 25-lb bag of their generic. Best. friend. ever. Also he says he has a line on a local market that may be selling bulk bakery flour in a few weeks, and he'll let me know. So nice to be able to feed the sourdough or make multiple loaves without anxiously eyeing the remaining supply.
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Apr 23, 2020 23:56
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King Arthur Flour has what looks like a sensible one. I wish to complain. Last night I reached for a loaf of my bread to cut a slice, and I got a splinter in my finger that drew blood. I mean, really.
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Apr 24, 2020 17:07
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Liquid Communism posted:Protip: Use their shaping technique, but make challah instead. Braided hot dog buns? Interesting.
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Apr 25, 2020 02:24
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BizarroAzrael posted:Unique little snowflake that I am I've got a sourdough starter on the go. Started 50/50 bread flour and water, 100g each. Day two saw some bubbles, topped up about 50g each. Today I've seen the level go up maybe an inch over the morning, and fed with 25g each. I've not discarded any yet, definitely will but I'm aware of the quantity I'll need for loaves, and also that we've not seen flour in stores for a while. Is it okay to retain this much whilst feeding? Discarding is very important because otherwise the sourdough dies in its own waste products.
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Apr 26, 2020 18:59
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By the way, speaking of discard recipes, I found a sourdough pancake one that doesn't require an overnight rise, but still has a lovely sourdough flavor. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/my-top-3-leftover-sourdough-starter-recipes/ theperfectloaf.com is in general a pro click.
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Apr 26, 2020 19:17
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That is a beautiful loaf, Cyrano. I'm envious; I haven't gotten my technique right to get voids in the crumb yet.
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Apr 29, 2020 19:20
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large hands posted:Next time I'm going to put the loaf in the cold pot in the oven for the preheat and start the timer when it's up to temp. I'll put a tray on the lower rack, too.
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Apr 29, 2020 20:11
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Eeyo posted:A while back I got a big rectangular clay baker from the King Arthur store and I tried the cold baking thing. It worked relatively well, but the crust was always way too thick. The same would happen when I would put it in a pre-heated oven too. I was baking about 425 for either approach. What kind of crust texture would you get with your cold-baked loaves? I got one that I’d describe as “crunchy”, and there’d be at least a millimeter of coloration going into the loaf. Liberation! I had two quarts of sourdough starter going which is TOO MUCH and causes way too much discard. I was working from Crust and Crumb, which assumes you want to make four loaves at a time. I do not want to make four loaves at a time. So now my starter lives in a tidy little pickle jar, leading to a very manageable cup of discard a day, and can be temporarily sized up if I ever really do need two cups of fed starter in a day
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Apr 29, 2020 21:11
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My heavy-lidded Le Creuset is what I call a dutch oven? If the proportions are roughly what you'd use for a stew, it's a dutch oven. Hey, Cyrano, I'm following the recipe you recommended, and it made a very sticky dough that I kneaded a lot of flour into before I could shape it into a ball. I went in for the third set of folds and it had slumped down into a puddle in the bottom of the bowl. It doesn't stay stuck to my hands, but it's still very sticky and doesn't much want to hold a shape. Is it like that, or should I add in flour until it has more structure?
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Apr 30, 2020 01:16
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What's FWSY? Man, all my lifelong lessons and intuition about how slack and sticky bread dough should be have gone completely out the window with autolysed dough. This is gonna be a learning curve.
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Apr 30, 2020 19:54
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I got that for Christmas! I think I've done one recipe from it; should haul it out and try another.
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Apr 30, 2020 20:17
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Fascinating! Is the dough from this recipe supposed to have doubled overnight? If so, Imma let it come to room temp, then knead in a small amount of water/yeast. The last time I baked a flat-looking sourdough, I got flat bread. Still working on that final proof.  Save yourselves; it's too late for me.
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May 1, 2020 17:07
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If you want your bread to taste like beer, make beer bread. Seriously. Putting beer in your starter is just going to
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May 2, 2020 23:03
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I was going to recommend the one I bought and was pleased with, but Amazon is sold out with no restock date. I searched Ebay to see if they had the same brand (Bread Art). Although they don't, I did learn that there exist triangular bannetons. Huh. I was zonked last night, so that day's sourdough loaf was c/o the bread machine and this King Arthur recipe. Tasted like sourdough, yay. I skipped the sugar, and the lowest recommended amount of water turned out to be way too much. It's a straightforward easy sandwich loaf, though, so I'll put it into the rotation and stop buying commercial sandwich bread.
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May 3, 2020 20:55
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If you're interested in baking things other than French-style and artisanal breads, I highly recommend Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. (He covers the artisanal styles, too, but he goes wider than them.) Inter-library loan it and see if it's your thing. Clayton covers everything from biscuits to brioches to sandwich bread. Every recipe has instructions for making by hand, by mixer, and by food processor. (I've never made yeast dough in a food processor, but some do.) The New York Times has a lovely obit.
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May 4, 2020 23:39
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I just had a perfect moment. Went out into the backyard to grab rosemary so I could make crackers out of my way-too-big sourdough discard bowl. While fighting the bees for the rosemary tips, I saw a hummingbird feeding from the roses.
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May 5, 2020 20:58
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Man, you guys' lame work is next level. (The knife lame, not the pejorative lame.)
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May 6, 2020 16:46
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I have come to realize that the real purpose of my starter is to make King Arthur rosemary-sourdough crackers. Occasionally I make a loaf of bread, as a treat. Today I'm doing a Romano/smoked paprika variant of the crackers; will report back.
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May 21, 2020 20:39
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I invented these this afternoon, and they were good. Sourdough Romano Paprika Crackers This is a mash-up of the King Arthur Flour sourdough-rosemary crackers and a recipe for Asiago Bat Crackers from the Wisconsin Cheese marketing site. All portions approximate. My starter is at 75% hydration. Per 200 grams of starter: 100 grams flour, add more until it's stiff enough to roll out. I wound up adding a LOT of flour; next time I'll weigh it as I go along, so I know the total. I suspect it may have been close to equal weight with the starter. 200 grams (7 tablespoons) softened butter. I recommend whapping it with a rolling pin. So satisfying. 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 3/4 tsp Aleppo pepper 50 grams grated Romano (fluffy grated, not coarse shreds or sandy) 1/2 tsp salt; I used coarse sea salt, which has a nice crunch. Olive oil and more coarse salt for topping. Mix thoroughly. Pat into rectangles about 1/2 inch thick, dust each rectangle with flour to avoid sticking, pile rectangles on a dish, cover in plastic or foil, and chill for an hour, or until coherent enough to work. Overnight is fine. If you have one, drag out the pasta machine. Cut the rectangles of dough into pieces narrow enough to fit the opening of your pasta machine. Run through on the thickest setting, then lay out the strips on a piece of parchment paper. I usually have to run dough through the machine four or five times to get it to hold together and flow smoothly. Because of all the fat, this is a very friable dough, but if you work it enough, it will come together. Adding a little olive oil helps here, as I discovered when I rerolled some I'd already brushed with olive oil. If the dough sticks to itself while coming out of the pasta machine, brush oil inside the folds of the sheet of dough as it comes out of the machine and let it fold back and forth on itself. Lay strips of dough out on a piece of parchment paper in a sheet pan. As you lay down each strip, brush the top generously with olive oil to keep it from drying out. Once the pan is covered in strips, sprinkle coarse salt across the strips, then cut the strips widthwise into ~~ 1.5" pieces. Bake in 350 F degree oven. Start checking at 15 minutes; the crackers are done when they're slightly brown at the edges. Shake a little more paprika over crackers while still hot. Cool and keep in one of those annoying decorative tins people keep giving you at Christmas. Substitutions. * Any hard gratable cheese would do; I used Romano because (A) I had it and (B) it's softer than Parmesan. The recipe I stole the seasoning mix from used Asiago. * Plain paprika for smoked paprika. But buy smoked paprika next time you get a chance, because it is awesome. * Crushed red peppers for Aleppo. Aleppo pepper is a crushed pepper with a smoky taste, and a lot of heat in the aftertaste. It sneaks up on you. * If you don't have a pasta maker, grab the chilled dough and roll it out to 1/16th inch thick on a sheet of parchment paper. Good luck with that.
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May 23, 2020 01:40
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I just followed foodbod's basic sourdough recipe precisely and *wow* is it worth it. drat. It may be a two (three) day loaf of bread, but it's a magnificent loaf. I've realized from listening to y'all that I've been treating my starter like buttermilk: use it when you feel like using it. Working out that you use it when it's at peak usability is going to take some thought. I infinitely prefer stretch-and-fold to slap-and-fold. What's the thread's favorite sourdough cinnamon roll?
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May 24, 2020 17:09
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When my loaves fall, it is often because I let the last rise go on too long. One tell-tale sign, if you're slashing, is that the loaf falls a bit when you slash it.
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May 25, 2020 19:27
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Wah. I wanted to bake yesterday or today, and it's in the 90s (85 when I woke up, so baking in the morning doesn't make sense) and we don't have air conditioning. Usually I love that the sitting room and the kitchen are combined, but it does mean that baking heats up both of them.
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May 26, 2020 19:23
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pttttthbttt.
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May 26, 2020 19:25
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Very pretty! Yeah, the microwave makes a great proofing box.
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May 28, 2020 00:33
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I saw a food blogger recommending Lodge cast-iron loaf pans. Unsurprisingly, she has an affiliate link, so. Is there any advantage to heavy heat-retaining pans for sandwich loaves, or is the usual thin Teflon-lined kind better?
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May 28, 2020 18:41
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 10:24 |
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mediaphage posted:Imo, neither. You want something sturdy that won't easily deform, but light enough to not be a pain to use. I really like the USA Pans. Argh, I didn't say what I meant. "Thin" as compared to cast iron.
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May 28, 2020 19:02
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