The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

It’s Community Bake Time again...

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

It’s Community Bake Time again...

This CB promises to be a great one. Haven't they all? Kristen, with FullProofBaking will be our featured baker. She has rocketed to the ranks of the "Prestigious Bakers" in a very short time. Here are some images of her breads

The actual Community Bake is now posted.

Kristen is a sourdough bread baker from Chicago with a background in biology (she received her PhD from Northwestern University in 2014). She left the field to stay home with her now 6-year old son, doing some part-time work in science editing. She made her first Amish white bread (yeasted) in early 2016, and quickly was inspired by watching YouTube videos to start her own sourdough culture, which she has named Ozzy. Took a long time to get the basic conditions just right - but eventually her starter was becoming more active and her breads getting a better and better oven spring. Sourdough fermentation has completely transformed her life - in addition to providing healthy and nutritious bread to her family and friends, she loves the bread community she's found both online and around the city of Chicago. She now spends her days getting creative with different concoctions of grains, sprouts, veggies and fruits, as well as natural and colorful additions such as butterfly pea flower, turmeric, and matcha. She looks forward each morning to popping a new loaf into the oven! 

     Her breads are then photographed and uploaded to her Instagram page @ FullProofBaking. Her Instagram, which she initially began posting bread photos to in early 2018 (after her sister taught her how to use hashtags), documents her sourdough journey. She loves photographing her artisan breads in a way that brings out the very best in each loaf - whether a crackly bubbly crust, or proudly standing ear, or lacy crumb. She also uses the site to document her experimental results, which range from how to maintain a sourdough starter to varying bulk fermentation and proofing temperatures and durations, as well as scoring and baking methods.     The teaching aspect of sourdough has really kept her interest over the years - and though she continues to learn more about the ferment as she goes, she is happy to answer questions that she is able - or at least to help point other bakers in the right direction. She now has made a part-time career out of sourdough bread - offering workshops in Chicago as well as phone consultations to bakers around the world. Kristen also dabbles in video production, allowing her to offer a range of sourdough tutorials and recipe walkthroughs on her YouTube channel @ Full Proof Baking. She is excited to work on this upcoming Community Bake alongside the members of The Fresh Loaf! The main bread for this CB will be a very straightforward bread, with 20% whole grain. Since baking this bread, my results have taken a quantum leap! The oven spring possible is gigantic! See the video HERE. A complete spreadsheet with accompanying instructions will be posted next Thursday (10-24-2019) when the actual Community Bake is posted. For those that are looking to take a walk on the "wild side", the formula and instructions for her Cuttlefish Ink Swirl will also be posted to the CB. I baked this bread and not only does it look exotic, but the flavor is exceptional. You may need to get a few items that might need to be purchased. They are - Cuttlefish Ink, roasted garlic, and rosemary.

 I hope to see bakers of all skill levels join in of the fun. Novices are especially welcomed...

 For those that would like additional resources, here are a some links that may be of interest. Photos of 20% whole wheat breads using this method: Cuttlefish Squid Ink Swirl Bread: 
fullproofbaking's picture
fullproofbaking

Very excited for the upcoming community bake! I'll be around to help answer questions if they arise. Happy baking!

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Kristen and Danny for your time doing this community bake to help us grow in our baking.  I’m looking forward to trying lamination with this bake and seeing if I can do it and see what effect it has on my bread.

Benny

not.a.crumb.left's picture
not.a.crumb.left

Thank you Kristen and Dan!

There are many elements of the process outlined by Kristen that I use in my regular baking but Kristen amazes me with the consistency she achieves in her baking and how to get the 'fermentation' on point loaf after loaf with amazing beautiful results and oh that oven spring as well as being a great educator!

On a personal note, I have to say this CB also makes me quite nostalgic and reminds me of the very first community bake where we baked Trevor's Champlain loaf back in February 2018 again and again chasing 'open crumb' and this is where I caught the baking bug....and met many new friends here...I have to admit that my initial  'open crumb' obsession merged into a 'perfect fermentation' obsession and also wanting to make more 'healthy' bread (so love Kristen's WW version). 

I have a hunch where my lack in consistency might lie and it will be a great opportunity to bake with a bit more focus again  and learn....... Kat

 

MarieAnn's picture
MarieAnn

Thanks, Kristen and Danny, for this community event. I am a brand new sourdough bread baker. Like Kristin, I also started with an Amish White Bread which inspired my journey (for me this was about six weeks ago). After struggling with my own starter for several weeks, I found this forum and learned enough to get it back on track. From there, I found the link to Kristen's Open Crumb recipe which I have used to bake my first SD loaves.  In fact, I just took my third loaf (boule?) out of the oven 10 minutes ago - all three from Kristen's recipe. I consider them all successes! So much gratitude for clear and precise instructions. I look forward to reading the notes on this new community bake.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

If you are not aware of how our Community Bakes work, you are in for a treat. Please join us and send images of your breads. The CB will be posted next Thursday.

Here are links from our past CBs to give you an idea of what to expect. It is basically bakers learning from other bakers, from all over the world.

 

The following are links to our Community Bakes

MarieAnn's picture
MarieAnn

Oh my! All these links. This will keep me busy reading. :)  Yes, I do plan to join in this week. Just ordered the cuttlefish ink. Thanks, Danny!

vjcounsel's picture
vjcounsel

Looking forward to joining in this CB. My first time ever. Have seen Kristen's videos.  Very instructive.  I think it is the community part of the bake I am really looking forward to.  Have not found a sour dough group in my area. Thanks for doing this.

syros's picture
syros

Again, Dan, thank you so much for this. Kristen, thank you for being a part of TFL. This will be fun!

A little intimidating mind you but I’m sure we’ll learn a lot. 

Sharon

wvdthree's picture
wvdthree

Hey Danny,

                    Is it assumed we will have to cultivate and use Kirstens recipe for her starter or do we just use whatever SD starter we are currently maintaining?

Best,

       wvdthree

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

WVD3, your starter is fine.

Glad to see you will be joining us. Its going to be a blast!

Maverick's picture
Maverick

You might  note that  her starter is 100% hydration made from 90% bread flour and 10% rye. So the formula could adjust for the flour if you want to me more exact to her recipe (not that a few grams of rye is really going to make a  big difference). But I  agree that your starter is fine as long as you adjust it  to account for the 100% hydration starter she uses. That said, I have made this before and my whole wheat was not as thirsty as hers which I should have adjusted for when using  her technique.

PTBaker's picture
PTBaker

 How exciting! I'm a novice/beginner sourdough bread baker. This forum has help me a lot on making improvement on my sourdough baking journey. This will be my first Community Bake which I'm very happy to be apart of, and nervous since I don't know how it works. Unfortunately I'm not able to bake anything on the day the Community Bake is posted since it's on my workday, so I'll wait until it's the weekend. So excited! 

latanante's picture
latanante

Cant wait to join in.. Thanks for doing this..