The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Afer 10 years

Pablo's picture
Pablo

Afer 10 years

Cell phones rock for casual photography!

 

Well, time flies.  It's interesting to read "where I was at" 10 years ago with bread and it reminds me of where I was at with life.  I was living in Canada and approaching bread baking as a hobby.  Things were very different.  Now I live in México and I regularly bake my house bread with no variations except that I occasionally bake a loaf of rye that lasts quite a while in the freezer.  Today I'm passing on my load of bread books (sans 3) to the local cooking club.  I am very comfortable with my starter, I always bake with it, I now know what "crumb" is, and I critically review every bake.  My main problem these days is shaping.  I often get loaves that are constricted in places and blown-out in other places.  My most recent bake went pretty well, shaping-wise.  We like a small, tall loaf, good for toasting.  My other difficulty is that no matter how I try it, when I slash the tops of loaves prior to baking the skin wrinkles.  It usually straightens-out when the loaves are baked and they bloom properly in the oven.  Proofing remains something of a mystery.  How does one judge when loaves have doubled or are at 90% or whatever?  Judging the dough in a container is easy as there are marks on the container, but once the loaves have gone through all their processes and are proofing in the couch... well it's a mystery to me.  In retrospect I'm so grateful that I found this website.  It's full of friendly, knowledgeable people.  Maybe some day I'll get back to breadsloration (bread exploration), but for now I'm sticking to the tried and true house bread.

 

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Welcome back. :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

when the dough is proofed the way it should be to get maximum spring and bloom nd done slowly enough to get great flavor.  I tell folks to get a small straight sided glass and when you are making the dough just make a bit extra and put that into the glass at the same time you start the proof for the dough.  When it gets to the proof you are looking for, take note of the loaf so you will know what it should look like when proofed correctly.  You should also poke it and see what it does so that you can use the poke poke test too!

Welcome back

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Mine is coming up soon.  So glad to see you again, Paul! Welcome back!

Yippee