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Kingudaroad

After reading this article by Dmsnyder, I decided to give Pat(proth5)'s formula a go. This formula bases the opening of the crumb solely on technique, instead of higher hydration. By the way, I would love to read the initial post by Proth5, if anyone can find it and share the link. I was not able to find it via search. 

 

Here is the suggested formula...

 

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This is for two loaves at a finished weight of 10.5 oz each

.75 oz starter

1.12 oz flour

1.12 oz water 

Mix and let ripen (8-10 hours) 

Bread

All of the levain build

10.95 oz all purpose flour

.25 oz salt

6.6 oz water 

Dough temperature 76F 

Mix to shaggy mass (Yes! Put the preferment in the autolyse!) – let rest 30 mins

Fold with plastic scraper  (30 strokes) – repeat 3 more times at 30 min intervals 

Bulk ferment at 76F for 1.5 hours – fold

Bulk ferment at 76F 2 hours

Preshape lightly but firmly, rest 15 mins

Shape.  Proof 1 hour or so

Slash

Bake with steam at 500F for about 20 mins

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My starter was very ripe with a big pile of soapy looking bubbles on top and a wonderful smell. That really adds to the flavor of this bread. 

I only did 20 bowl scraper folds on the second to last folds and 15 on the very last one.  I also differed slightly on the final proof. I preshaped and rested 30 minutes then shaped and proofed for only 30 minutes.

The loaves sprang to life in the oven with really nice grigne and certainly acceptable open crumb. I think I can improve the results on another attempt.

Sorry for the poor quality pic...

Thanks to Dmsnyder and proth5 for the formula and technique.

Keith  

 

 

Kingudaroad's picture
Kingudaroad

I'm excited to have this book. I see so many on TFL using it. This seems to be a popular bread so I thought I would give it a go.

Used the book instructions to the letter except I mixed by hand, which I will say, was quite the task with this dough.

I'm happy with the bread out of the oven and it smells as good or better than any bread I have baked. Be back with a crumb and taste update after a bit.

Wow! this bread is amazing. So many subtle flavors all in one place. A very hearty bread but hard to stop eating.

Here's the crumb.

Kingudaroad's picture
Kingudaroad

I needed cracked rye berries to do my first bake from "Bread" by Jeffrey Hammelmann. All I could find were whole berries so here's what I did. First I froze the berries for about an hour, then a bit at a time, pulsed them in a coffee grinder, ran them through a strainer and kept saving the big pieces.

Made a big mess also. Got my version of cracked rye berry.

 

Happy Baking, Keith

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Kingudaroad

Flour, water, salt and yeast. How can this simple recipe be so hard to perfect. I have been seriously baking bread for about 8 months now and have attempted baguettes with poolish a dozen or more times. The shaping and scoring videos make it look so easy and many on this forum have absolutely mastered the art. 

Usually my loaves are very tasty and I can consistently get a very open crumb, yet the visual appeal, with the beautiful grigne and the perfect bloom from precise scoring, has certainly eluded me.

In my latest attempt, I decided to shape a bit more aggressively and make as long of a loaf as my stone would allow. I got a bit over aggressive and the actually hung off the edge of my baking stone about an inch on each side. It didn't hurt them too much besides having little legs on each side. All in all, the shaping went well. Now see if I can proof and score correctly.

I have been using a home made lame with a double edge razor blade to score, but wanted to try something new. I have a slicing knife with about a 14" blade, made for thin slicing roasts or turkey or whatever. I sharpened it with my steel and used the long blade to have a sweeping cut that hopefully would not snag. I would have to say it was my best baguette scoring yet.

This was just a basic 68% hydration recipe with a third of the flour used for the poolish. It is beginning to get easier and I am very pleased with the results.

Thanks for reading my blog.

 

Keith

 

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Kingudaroad

I do not yet own the book, so this bread is based on xaipete(pamela)'s blog with comments from Mr DiMuzio.

 

The thing that got me thinking was the attention Mr DiMuzio puts on preparing his levain. My starter had gone about 10 days or so without a feeding. I keep a white liquid starter at 100% hydration. 

Preparing for a Friday bake, I fed my starter Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning, still keeping it 100%. It was gobbling up the flour at a fast pace. On Wednesday night, I made it into a 60% firm starter and put it in my wine fridge at 62 degrees. I was hoping, as Mr DiMuzio commented, that this lower temperature fermentation would enhance the tang of the sourdough. The firm levain was refreshed twice more at 12 hour intervals, tripling the amount of firm starter at each refreshing.(taking 480 grams of firm starter, discarding 320 grams, and adding 200 grams of flour and 120 gr of water). The starter was doubling in size and peaking at almost exactly 12 hours. 

 

The formula for 2 loaves:

700 gr KA all purpose flour

500 gr water

21 gr sea salt

480 gr firm levain 60% hydration(the levain was made and refreshed with KA bread flour)

I mixed the all the ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon until well mixed and let it all rest for 30 minutes. I then did about 2 minutes of french folds(Bertinet style), and about ten more french folds 20 minute later. And finally 2 more stretch and folds at 20 minute intervals. I bulk fermented for another 1 1/2 hours, then divided and shaped into boules, proofed for another 1hour and 15 minutes and baked in a 480 degree oven, dropping the temp to 430 degrees for 33 minutes with steam applied for the first 10 minutes.

There was substantial oven spring and they smelled great!

I was really expecting a more open crumb than I got. I'm not really sure where I went wrong. I shaped them very carefully trying to keep all the gas in there while getting a good surface tension. Maybe I'll try a bit more water next time.

The flavor was spot on with the perfect subtle tang I was looking for. The crumb was soft and moist,but had a real good tug and chew. Overall I liked it, but think I can improve it. (Like every other bread I have made. lol)

Thanks for reading about my San Francisco Sourdough adventures!

 

 

 

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Kingudaroad

   I have recently become a big fan of the high hydration doughs with an overnight cold fermentation. The morning I took this dough out of the fridge, I cut it with my bench knife and flipped the smooth side down on my well floured couche. The knife left a scar on the edges of the bread which left an opening for the bread to bloom without the need for scoring. This may have been my best crust yet. It carmelized very dark and crackly and the taste was fabulous.

 

 

I baked four loaves, two at a time, and the only one I cut was the worst one. The two that got baked second had a much bigger bloom, and probably a bit more of an open crumb. Those were given away. I think I needed to either let the dough warm up before shaping. or just proofed a while longer than the one shown below. I did have fun with these and look forward to more experimentation.

 

Keith

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Kingudaroad

I had some apprehension after seeing that this is almost an 80 % hydration dough and being somewhat of a rookie, and not owning a mixer. I made the women and children leave, just in case, and went for it.

   I used the recipe and technique exactly as in BBA with the exeption of mixing by hand, which I accomplished by mixing in the bowl with a big wooden spoon and a plastic bowl scraper. I mixed it for about 20 minutes adjusting the water until it felt like it was barely coming off the sides of the bowl.

   The shaping was actually very easy using Reinharts great instruction and pictures, but the scoring was another story. I guess I'll get it down someday. I got some great color and oven spring, the holes were nice and big. The crust was hard and crunchy like I like it, and the taste was outstanding. Really a real easy dough to make. I can't wait to use it for pizza.

 

A nice baguette with a real

nice Beefmaster fresh from the garden. 



 


Keith

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Kingudaroad

After getting my first bread book for Fathers Day and after reading it cover to cover, I was inspired to try this recipe. The book is very insightful and really is a great book for basic fundamentals.

   I used high gluten flour, bought in bulk from Sun Harvest for the final dough and the firm starter. My mother starter behaved admirably, especially since it was used right out of the fridge and several days since its last feeding. I toasted the walnuts for 10 minutes at 350. I used 25% of the flour weight in walnuts and 15% blue cheese. If you don't like blue cheese do not make this bread. The entire house was overcome with the smell of baking blue cheese. I got a bit of purple tint from the walnuts.

 

   This is an amazing tasting combo for you blue cheese fans.

 

 

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