The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hi from Rosebud Australia

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Hi from Rosebud Australia

Hi,

My name is Gavin and I've been baking bread for a about 10 years off and on.  Over the last twelve months I've experimented with sourdough and have been rewarded with the best tasking bread I've ever had.

I am interested in a book of sourdough recipes that provide the bakers formulae with each recipe.  I've converted my regular recipes to give the ingredients in bakers formulae, but I want to be sure that I'm not losing the flavour and intent of the authors while trying new ones.

I built a brick oven in the backyard about 3 years ago and mostly use it when friends are around for pizza.  This initially drove my interest in bakers formulae as I need to scale the final dough weights depending on the number of visitors for whom we were catering.  I also used it last Christmas and baked the meats and veggies for 20 people with great success.  I love sourdough in the brick oven as it gives me plenty of time to bring the oven up to temperature and settle in before the bread is ready.  It was rather tricky when I used commercial yeast as the dough was often fully risen before my brick oven up to temperature; whereas the long proofing times of the sourdough gives me plenty of time.

I don't usually join forums, but I like the content and 'feel' that this sites gives, with the genuine interest and value adding that the members provide.  Thanks.

 

 

PaddyL's picture
PaddyL

Have you been to sourdough.com.au?  I joined that one and found myself talking to the head baker at a restaurant in Kingston, Ontario!  I think you're way more advanced than I am, but I too love the excitement of sourdough, the baking of bread without the use of any commercial yeast, and the taste, as long as it's not too, too sour.  You're bound to find others here who are in your league.

gavinc's picture
gavinc

I checked out sourdough.com.au at your suggestion.  It has content local to my location.  Thanks, very much, appreciated.

Although I've been baking for quite a while, I am still learning a lot and consider myself very new into this art.  One thing I learned early in my experience is that the term sourdough does not necessarily mean 'sour' in taste.  It refers to the method of fermentation.  Most of my sour doughs are deliberately light on sourness, although my wife prefers more sour.

 

holds99's picture
holds99

You have found the right place.  There are some incredibly good sourdough bakers on TFL.  I am just beginning to get a grasp of the sourdough process and find it very challenging.  Your brick oven sounds very interesting.  Maybe you could post some pictures in the future.  Glad to have you join us and look forward to your postings.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Thanks for the welcome.  I have some pictures, but I have to work out how to load them up.  It appears that I need a blog somewhere on the internet and insert the URL into this site.  Is that right?

I don't have many of my sourdoughs in the brick oven yet but hope to collect a few from now on.

My brick oven was build in my spare time over a few months using mostly second hand materials, so it looks a bit rustic.  I tried to tart it up a bit with some artwork on the front using pebbles stuck on with tile paste.  I'll work on getting some pictures loaded up.

Gavin. 

holds99's picture
holds99

Gavin,

Maybe Floyd or someone else can add something to this, but what it's worth here are some sites for photos;

photobucket
picasa.google.com
flikr

I don't use them and don't know much about them but these are ones I've seen that some other people use. 

EDIT: Here's a TFL link to posting photos

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2960/posting-photos-faq

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Thanks for the link to the faq. I'll experiment a little elsewhere on the site because the camera button on this reply doesn't do anytning, but I got it work in another thread when testing.

Cheers,

Gavin.

 

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Thanks for the tip Howard. I've created a flikr account. I put a few pics to start.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27771627@N07/2589096603/

Regards,

Gavin

holds99's picture
holds99

Gavin,

Your oven looks terrific.  Your photo sequence, from the beginning of construction to the end makes a very nice presentation, showing each of the steps involved.  When you said you had built it out of scrap material I really didn't know what to expect but you did an outstanding construction job.  It's really a great looking oven.  Glad Flikr worked out for you and thanks so much for sharing the pictures of your oven...and that delicious looking pizza on the peel.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

Extremely nice oven for being made of scrap material! I'd love to see what you could do if the sky was the limit for budget!

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Welcome Gavin,
I think you will enjoy this site for the friendly and helpful nature of the group. One of the active Sourdough experts is Mike Avery. He has a Sourdough based web site that has a depth of excellent recipes and suggestions on the topic, here.

http://www.sourdoughhome.com/

This site has a good search feature that helps find discussions on specific discussions and a good amount of solid recipes in the left column. Many of our group are at some stage of learning to make artisan sourdough or naturally leavened breads.

Thank you for posting the images of your brick oven. Very nice job and well documented. Do you have a door to help keep the heat in after firing? 

I would be interested in knowing how the dome gauge works.

 I'll look forward to seeing your posts and progress with sourdough.

Eric in Milwaukee 

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Thanks for the link, it looks like a good resource.

I need to improve on my oven door as it is only wood ply wrapped in silver-foil.  I've gone through a few now.  My plan is to have a metal one with a cavity filled with perlite for insulation.  My neighbour is a good welder, so it might cost a few beers!

I notice that the sourdoughhome site refers to Dr Ed Wood.  I have his book and like his method of culture preparation and recipe methods as they have worked well with my cultures.

The dome gauge was used during the construction.  It's the length of steel rod with the angle iron welded on the end in the pictures.  I used a metal washer glued onto the floor surface to keep it centred while I built the dome.  The thermocouples I embedded into the dome brick and floor paver are plugged into a K type temp device.  I use it to make sure the oven is building up temperature at a constant rate and to make sure it's not too hot for roasts and bread.

Cheers,

Gavin - Rosebud Australia.