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dosco

Another variation on Reinhart's Basic SD.

After reading some of dabrownmans comments in a recent SD starter thread, I decided to incorporate more whole grain and "hard bits" in the starter. I didn't keep track of the masses of flour and water, unfortunately, but here are the basics:

First build:

water

2 tablespoons of starter "mother"

1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Whole Grain Hot Cereal

1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Buckwheat Flour

1 tablespoon Gold Medal AP

1 tablespoon Hodgson Mill Rye Flour

Mixed until stiff, then let sit in a warm room for 24 hours

 

Second Build:

Did not discard any starter

water

1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Whole Grain Hot Cereal

1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Buckwheat Flour

1 tablespoon Gold Medal AP

1 tablespoon Hodgson Mill Rye Flour

1 tablespoon KAF White Whole Wheat Flour

1 tablespoon KAF Bread Flour

1 tablespoon KAF Organic Whole Wheat Flour

Mixed until stiff, then let sit in a warm room for 12 hours.

 

Main Dough:

12 oz KAF BF

6 oz KAF WWW

1.25 oz KAF WW

1 oz Rye Flour

15.95 oz water

Mix into a shaggy mass and autolyze for 25 minutes.

After autolyze, added:

10.5 oz starter

0.55 oz salt

Mixed with a Kitchen Aid mixer for a total of 15 minutes ... 5 minutes of kneading, 5 minute rest, until accruing a total of 15 minutes of kneading.

Allowed to ferment in our utility room (100dF ... near the central furnace) for 45 minutes, then into the refrigerator. Fermented in fridge for 12 hours (during the day), then gently shaped into a boule and placed in a banneton (in the evening). Back into the fridge for 9 hours (overnight), then into the utililty room (first thing in the morning) for about 2 hours to proof. Preheated oven to 550dF to preheat my Dutch Oven. Placed dough in the DO and scored, then baked at 550dF for 10 minutes, then 475dF for 25 minutes, then shut off oven and let bread sit there for 10 minutes.

No crumb shot yet, giving this one to a friend.

Cheers-

Dave

 

(EDIT: corrected an error, and made some additions for clarity)

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dosco

Second bake is for a weekend visit to some friends.

This is a sourdough loaf made using Reinhart's BBA recipe as the foundation, this time with KAF BF (15 oz), Gold Medal AP flour (4 oz), and a bit of rye flour (1.25 oz). I used 10 oz of firm starter ... I didn't measure the flour or water, but I'd estimate it was mixed to 70% hydration or so ... also I used the Gold Medal flour to build the starter.

I mixed 15.7 oz of water with the flour, and let it autolyze for about 30 minutes. I then added .50 oz of salt and the starter. I used my Kitchen Aid to knead the dough ... I did 3 intervals of 5 minutes of kneading with 5 min of rest between intervals. I could tell as soon as I started the mixer that the gluten development was good as a result of autolysis. It bulk fermented for 2 hours at room temp, then went into the fridge overnight. I shaped it in the morning, put it in the banneton, and let it proof at room temp for about 3 hours.

I baked it in my cast iron skillet+Dutch Oven, preheated to 550dF. I loaded the dough in my cast iron skillet with a small bit of baking parchment, slashed the top, put the DO over the skillet, anda put it in the oven. After 5 minutes at 550dF I reduced the oven temperature to 475dF and let it bake for 30 minutes. I then removed the DO from the skillet and let it bake until golden, about another 15 minutes.

No crumb shot as this is intended for our friends.

Oven spring is much better than the first bake of 2017, although I was mildly disappointed that the "ears" on the loaf were subdued.

Lesson for me on this one will be to always autolyze(!).

-Dave

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dosco

Happy New Year!

 

First bake of the year, Reinhart Basic SD, with KAF BF, Gold Medal AP, and a touch of rye flour. Starter was fed with only AP flour.

 

Oven spring wasn't what I'd hoped, I think the AP flour had something to do with it.

 

I immediately refed the starter and made another loaf (it's in the oven as I type this) ... I used similar flour amounts (quite a bit of AP) but this time I let it autolyze for 20 minutes and I immediately noticed a difference in gluten development when I started kneading it with my Kitchen Aid.

 

No crumb shots, this loaf is for a friend, and the next is for a weekend dinner thing with friends.

 

Here's to a great year for all of you bread bakers out there!

 

Cheers-

Dave

PS: For the no-oven challenge, can I use a gas grill??

 

 

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dosco

Made some waffles using this recipe.

I deviated from the recipe by using some starter instead of commercial yeast. I made a stiff preferment and after it doubled in bulk I scooped out a generous tablespoon full and went forward with the recipe. The bulk fermentation was about 8 hours in a very warm room, followed by the called-for retardation in the fridge.

I went wrong with the pearl sugar. I was able to knead it into the dough by hand, and I let it rest about 6 hours in the fridge (which was a mistake). When I removed it to divide into 5 pieces, there was a puddle of liquid at the bottom of the bowl - I tasted a bit and it was sweet, apparently the pearl sugar drew some moisture and dissolved. Ugh.

Well, might as well move forward so I divided it and let the smaller pieces rest in my laundry rooom which is quite cold this time of year (poorly designed/insulated 1960s era home).

I fired up my 20-year-old commercial "Belgian waffle iron" (not a sexy Krampouz) this morning, took one of the dough balls (that had risen ever so slightly overnight), pressed in a small spoonful of pearl sugar (to compensate for that which dissolved), and placed the ball in the iron.

The result was quite nice. Coming off the iron the waffle seemed to be limp/floppy but after it cooled for a minute or two the sugary outer crust hardened nicely and the waffle stiffened. The waffle was very tasty and I enjoyed one with a cup of coffee. In the pic the blackened parts weren't burnt, it was the pearl sugar that had caramelized and darkened.

My daughters also had some for breakfast and they both enjoyed them. My wife had a bite and said that she thought they were good (she has some gluten tolerance problems so all she could have was 1 bite).

The next time I make these I will only knead in the pearl sugar when I'm definitely ready to  cook within 1 or 2 hours afterwards.

Cheers-
Dave

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dosco

I cooked up some of the Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Wholegrain Cereal and used it in the preferment instead of the main dough.

Preferment 1st Build:

25g of ripe starter

50g of cooked cereal

50g of water

 

Preferment 2nd Build:

150g of cooked whole grain

50g of white whole wheat

200g of water

Life interfered a bit and the preferment sat for about 12 hours longer than I planned - everything looked fine until I went to use it and there was a thick layer of clear fluid on the surface of the preferment. I decided not to worry about it and simply added it to the main dough.

Main Dough:

16.25 oz KAF Bread Flour

2 oz KAF White Whole Wheat Flour

2 oz Arrowhead Mills Rye Flour

0.55 oz Himalayan Pink Salt

16.7 oz water

(you can see that this is close to/similar to Reinhart's BBA Basic Sourdough formulation)

The amount of "extra moisture" carried by the preferment was a bit much. I estimate the hydration of this dough to have been just under 88% ... I was shooting for 82% but I clearly made an error with the preferment. The dough reminded me of Jennifer Menke's "That's a Lot of Ciabatta" recipe ... very wet, a bit challenging to handle, etc. I mixed the flour and water and let the mass autolyse for 60 minutes. Kneading the dough with my Kitchen Aid also reminded me of Jennifer's recipe, I had to run it at very high speed for something like 15 minutes before the gluten developed enough for the dough to unstick from the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

I let it sit on the bench for about 2 hours before putting the dough in the fridge for 24 hours of cold fermenting. I then removed the dough from the fridge, preshaped into a ball, and put it back in the fridge for about 12 hours. I then final shaped it into a boule and then put the dough in a bortform floured with white rice flour. Back into the fridge for 6 hours and it was time to bake.

I put my DO in the oven and preheated it to 550dF. I put the dough on a piece of parchment, scored it, and loaded it into the DO. Into the oven for 20 minutes, after 10 minutes of baking I reduced the oven temperature to 525dF. I then removed the bread from the DO, reduced the oven temp to 475dF, and baked for about 18 more minutes (I had planned for 20). Internal temp at this point was 210dF and so I turned the oven off and let the bread sit for another 20 minutes.

I had a slice this morning - very nice aroma and flavor.

Cheers-
Dave

 

 

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dosco

I was intrigued by dabrownman's "more than 15 but less than 30 ingredient challenge" so I decided to give it a try by modifying Reinhart's BBA Basic Sourdough. I bought a package of Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain 10 Grain Hot Cereal, which appears to be coarsely milled whole grains, and chose to substitute 5 oz of starter with 5 oz of dry whole grain (Reinhart's recipe calls for 10.2 oz of preferment, in this bread I used about half as much). I made a bit of a mistake here as I added enough water to soak the grain overnight which totaled 7 oz of water ... my intention was an 82% hydration loaf using 100% hydration preferment and soaker but it's pretty obvious the soaker exceeded 100%.

100% hydration preferment (I did it in 2 builds, first build was 50 g water and 50g flours, second build was 100g water and 100g flours):

KAF Bread Flour

KAF White Whole Wheat

Arrowhead Mills Rye flour

Mature starter

Water

 

Main dough:

KAF Bread flour: 8 oz

KAF White Whole Wheat: 6.25 oz

KAF AP: 1 oz (I intended to use more but the bag ran dry)

Arrowhead Mills Sprouted Wheat Flour: 2.5 oz

Arrowhead Mills Rye Flour: 2.5 oz

Whole grain soaker: 12oz

(the whole grain cereal I used for the soaker is whole wheat, whole rye, corn grits, whole triticale, whole oats, soybeans, whole millet, whole barley, whole brown rice, oat bran, and flax meal ... it was 5 oz of the dry cereal and 7 oz water)

Salt: 0.6 oz Pink Himalayan

For the fluid I used Flying Dog "The Truth" Imperial IPA (12 oz) and 5.5 oz of additional water.

I autolysed the flour overnight for 12 hours, then added the salt, soaker, and preferment.

I mixed the mess with my Kitchen Aid using the dough hook ... then proceeded to knead in 5 minute intervals with 10 minute rests in between each interval. I let it sit out of 2 hours at room temp, then let it ferment in the coldest room in my house (about 55dF) for 5 hours, then into the refrigerator overnight. I preshaped it in the morning and then put it back int eh fridge ... it was very wet and sticky but I was able to stretch it and form a boule. Back into the refrigerator for 8 hours. Then for the final shaping I gently stretched it and formed into a boule, then into the brotform ... then into my utility closet (90dF) for 1.5 hours for final proofing.

I preheated my DO to 550dF and put the dough in and lightly scored it. After 5 minutes in the oven I reduced the temperature to 515dF and baked another 10 minutes. I then removed the bread from the DO and put it on the baking stone, and reduced the temperature again to 475dF. After 15 minutes I measured the internal temperature which read 195dF, so I left the bread in the oven for another 10 minutes ... at this point it was pretty dark so I removed it from the oven.

Crumb shots later, unless my wife decides to give the bread away, lol.

-Dave

 

EDIT: I couldn't wait so I lopped a slice off a few minutes ago. I'm pleased with the crumb. I think some of the hops came through, the outer crust is a touch on the bitter side. The crumb is moist, likely from the corn, and was delicious with butter. Will be interesting to observe the flavor as the loaf ages.

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dosco

So I found the bottom of a DO at the local antique shop ... $25.

I decided to use it immediately, so I made some dough. It's my usual, modified BBA SD recipe, this time to 82% hydration.

Preferment: 13 oz a 100% hydration (it may have been a bit more or less, my scale hiccuped)

 

Flour:

KAF BF: 4.25 oz

KAF White WW: 5 oz

KAF AP: 5 oz

Rye: 2 oz

Sprouted Wheat Flour: 3 oz

Corn meal: 1 oz

Water: 17.45 oz

Salt: 0.55 oz

I kneaded with my Kitchen Aid for a total of 20 minutes. Bulk ferment at RT for 2 hours, then 24 hours in the fridge. I split the dough in half and nitial shaped and returned to fridge for several hours. Final shaped and then into the fridge overnight, then proofed in a warm room for about an hour then into the DO with some parchment.

Preheated the DO saturday morning (24 Jan), and 10" skillet to 500dF, scored and loaded the bread into the skillet, and placed the DO on top.

I may have underproofed as the spring/blossom was pretty radical. But, with that said, I like it.

I had a piece, the crumb is moist and tender. It's also very tasty. I only regret not cooking the entire batch of dough in the DO! Next time!

-Dave

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dosco

On Saturday 1-17-2015 I baked this loaf. As I've mentioned previously I've been tinkering with Reinhart's BBA Basic Sourdough recipe. For this bake I aimed for 77% hydration:

 

10.2 oz preferment, 70% hydration

20.25 oz flour:

   1.5 oz Arrowhead Mills Rye flour

   1.5 oz Arrowhead Mills Sprouted Wheat flour

   5 oz KAF AP flour

   5 oz KAF White Whole Wheat flour

   7.25 oz KAF Bread flour

16 oz water

0.5 oz salt

I mixed the flour and water and autolysed overnight. I then mixed the preferment with the shaggy mass and added the salt. I kneaded with my Kitchen Aid for a total of 20 minutes using 5 minute kneading intervals with 5 to 10 minutes of rest between.

I let it ferment at room temperature (65dF in my house) for 2 hours, then put it in the refrigerator overnight and most of the next day; in the evening I stretched it out and formed it into a ball and put it back in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning I removed it from the fridge, did the final forming into a boule, and put it in a brotform dusted with white rice flour. It stayed in the kitchen for about6 or 7 hours to do the final rise (picture attached), then into the oven set at 550dF with ice cubes in a pan for steam. The boule was baked on a Pampered Chef pizza stone.

 

 

Side note: I have not independently verified the temperature of the oven.

The loaf baked for about 20 minutes at 550dF and then 475dF until finished.

Crumb shot also attached.

 

 

The loaf is delicious however I was not happy with the oven spring. I did some thinking.

1. I am not sure my steaming method is optimal for my oven (gas fired and vented).

2. As I've mentioned in several recent posts, I received a copy of Forkish's FWSY and I am considering using a DO.

3. My slashing technique for boules is not correct ... I was using the "angled lame" approach for batards which is not correct for boules.

 

I am now looking for an inexpensive cast iron DO ... I am looking to borrow someone's to try it out before I spend $50 on a new DO. I have several ceramic DOs, and I am considering using one as a "cloche" (I am concerned that if I preheat one of these to 500+dF and I drop in some dough that it will cause the DO to crack).

 

Next loaf will be 80% hydration.

 

Question: what are your thoughts on proofing? Does this loaf seem underproofed? I'm still getting used to the brotforms, which has been a significant change from the batards I was making using a jury-rigged couche system. I am a bit unhappy with the tight crumb ... I know it is mostly the result of my kneading process, but could the crumb be a bit more open if I let it proof more? Note the bottom of the loaf, the crumb is a bit dense. Opinions are welcome/encouraged.

 

Cheers-

Dave

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dosco

Howdy ... I haven't posted in awhile, although I've still been baking, focusing on using Reinhart's BBA basic sourdough recipe (20.25oz flour, 10.2 oz starter, .50 oz salt, and 15.2 oz water). For Christmas I received 2 cane brotforms and so I've moved from batards to boules (although I did also get a linen towel that I plan on using as a couche for batards in the future).

 

Attached are a few pics. The main blog pic is a bake from last week (crumb of that loaf is posted below). It uses the BBA basic SD recipe but has been modified to include several types of flour: KAF bread flour, KAF AP flour, KAF white whole wheat, sprouted wheat flour, and rye flour (the list is in order from most to least). Oven spring was so-so, crumb is OK. I've been working on getting good gluten development at 70%-plus hydration, which after experimentation (using my Kitchen Aid) is about 15 minutes for dough made mostly from KAF bread flour, and about 20 minutes if I use half KAF bread flour with whole wheat/rye. I knead for 5 minutes, then let the dough rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then knead again for 5 min, etc.

 

For Christmas I also got a copy of Forkish's FWSY, so I've been also experimenting with autolysing from 1 hour to 12 hours.

Shaping boules is a bit different than batards, which had been giving me some problems. Most recent bake (baked on the night of 1-14-2015) is also attached, on this version I modified the BBA recipe by upping the hydration to 76% and also did a pre-shape and a final shaping (previously I had only been pre-shaping). The oven spring is much better.

 

At the moment I have the next dough proofing after the pre-shape, it is a modified BBA recipe to 79% hydration.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Regards-

Dave

 

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dosco

I used Reinhart's recipe from BBA with some deviations ...

 

- I made a 1/2 batch

- I used sourdough levain with about 1g of commercial yeast as leavening

- 4 day fermentation in the refrigerator

- Slightly heavier bagels at 6.75 oz/bagel instead of 4 oz/bagel

 

Yesterday morning I cut the dough into 6.75 oz pieces and formed them into 5 small boules. Last night I pinched the middle, poked my finger through, and formed them into torus-shaped bagels. They went back into the fridge and this morning I setup the water+lye solution and heated the oven to 450dF. I boiled each bagel for about 70 seconds, and then baked until deep brown (I'm not certain of the time but would estimate it was about 20 minutes of baking).

Parchment is a necessity as I tried baking 2 directly on my stone and they stuck. I was able to "save" them without much damage.

As you can see by the pic I need to do a better job on shaping.

I just ate about 1/2 of one and it is tasty. It has the proper consistency, nice doughy and tight crumb with a firm, flexible, and crunchy crust. Nice.

I'll definitely be making these in the future. I think I'll incorporate some other flours as this batch was 100% KA bread flour. I'll also put some toppings on ...

Cheers-
Dave

 

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