DoughBoyFresh's blog

OK, so for all my dedicated fans, of which I'm sure are numerous, I apologize for my negligence in updates. You might have though I was outta the game forever, but you were so wrong. That is to say, I have recently concocted some delish-ass bread. The inspiration came from my long time friend and college Armun Liaghat, to whom this loaf is dedicated. Enough with the babble lets dabble.

This is a 25% Whole Dark Rye, 75% white loaf. I used some of that chronic Red's Mill Whole Dark as night Rye and some regular Trader Joe's AP. I also added about a cup of flax seeds. Usually, I DGAF about a bread flour, but this time it ended up biting me in the ass (more on that later). I made about a cup of preferment with rye flour, a little water, and finished up the hydration with my all time favorite beer.

Yes that's right. It's not from Michigan, it's not an IPA, it's California Ale. Side Note to all the beer snobs: check it out. At this point, my starter was looking like some chunky diarrhea. Let that sit for 24 hours feeding every 8. Then I mixed up my dough, autolyse, and blah blah blah. Bang! Super dank loaf.

Well, almost...

While the crumb is acceptable as a sandwich bread, it was not at all what I was aiming for. With the hearty pre-ferment, I was hoping for large gelatinous bubbles, but instead got what amounted to the crumb of under kneaded WW:

I will try the guy again, only with two differences. I will substitute in bread flour, and add a ~24 hour retarded fermentation in darkest corner of my fridge.

So I ask my devoted readers; Do you think this aught to help my crumb? And with that, I say goodbye from Doughboy Fresh and stay crispy.

Whole wheat flour sourdough power

     I just baked a new loaf with the help of my new oven thermometer. As it turns out, I've been baking at a seriously reduced temp up until now. This new loaf has all the toasty crust characteristics I was looking for for so long.  You could probably guess it's whole wheat. I do believe this added to the crust color and toasted tang. That whole wheat hullabaloo worried me wobbly, but I can say that it's a myth. What hullabaloo you ask? For some reason, people are always on about how the whole wheat bran will 'cut' up gluten and reduce dough development. Just like there is more than one way to skin a kitty, one doesn't need kneading to build gluten. I just retard the dough in the fridge for a proprietary amount of time. Only after this initial rest do I proceed to knead.

Welcome to Dough Boy Fresh's Fresh Bread Blog!

I've recently started baking bread, and I've got my fourth or fifth loaf in the oven as I write. The following are some of my bread's. I've included a pie because the crust turned out very well. If I don't say so myself.

This here is my first loaf ever. It had some problems needless to say. But hey, I'm gettin better.

This is my second loaf. I actually used some old wine yeast in this one. It wasn't as sour as I would have liked, but that starter has potential. I put some garlic in it. Look at that crumb, and tell me you don't like it. Only main flaw was underproofing.

This is that pie I promised. It was lemon meringue. I used all butta baby in the crust and it turned out great. The water in the meringue condensed a bit though.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post my newest loaves as I get around to it.