Challenges
A forum for bread baking challenges.
Bread too difficult to cut
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I'm coming to realize that bread doesn't have to be as difficult to cut as mine is. The crust is just really hard for my knife to bite into. My bread knife is quite sharp, and in any event I've tried other bread knives and it's no different.
My baking routine is: Preheat oven with combo cooker to 500º; drop temp down to 425º and bake in combo cooker for 23 mins; bake uncovered for another 21 minutes.
I've tried to adjust times a few minutes on either side, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Any advice?
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Bread rising too much in fridge
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I retard my bread overnight in the fridge and it's just going nuts in there. See photo.
I actually tend to go on the longer side of retardation---probably fourteen to sixteen hours on average, sometimes a little less. But it's not the length of the final proof that's doing this; the bread is over the rim of the basket after like four or five hours in the fridge.
How to stop this? My recipe is as follows:
Overnight leaven: 119g water, 96g flour, 20g mature starter
Dough: Leaven + 447g APF, 142g whole wheat, 390g water, 2tsp salt
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Ciabatta with open crumb structure
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I have been trying forever to get really good Ciabatta with large open hole crumb.
I have see on the internet 120% hydration recipes. I did not have very good luck I even seen higher hydrations.
Is it all in the handling? Do not use the mixer and just do folds?
I don't consistently make it with open crumb structure
thanks
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Experiment with koji gone awry
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I made fresh barley koji. (It looks beautiful growing those spores).
I was excited about the possibilities of adding a little sweet chewiness from the barley koji as a mix-in during the 2nd stretch and fold.
I was so proud of the shaping job I did - it felt like the best one I've done yet. The dough was perfect. It shaped so well and held its shape on the bench as a big strong ball.
I put it in the fridge for a cold proofing.
I woke up and it had exploded over the sides of the banneton - oof.
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Need help
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Hello I am new to the forum. I am not an experienced baker but I have a lot of good cooking knowledge and equipment in my kitchen.
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Loafs not rising well
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Hello, I am trying to make a good sandwich loaf and it is not rising well. It tastes really good though...
I would really appreciate a good tip or trick for timing, or if anyone has a good recipe I can use with my sourdough starter, I would be happy to try it.
I attached a photo of my bread, it sounds like the recipe I have been using does not have enough salt in it. It sounds like if I continue to use this recipe i need to up the salt to 17-19 gm.
For two loaves it is
800 gm strong flour (i use King Arthur bread flour)
10 gm salt
460 water
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Help-having issues with my new dutch oven, the bread came out very chewy and thick bottom crust
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Hello, I am new to sourdough bread baking. I have had pretty good success with using a flat pan, and adding hot water to a pan underneath when baking my bread. I had read how great a Dutch oven can be for baking and made two loaves in the dutch oven the other day. They looked marvelous, nice rise, pretty crust.... But the crust was very tough and chewy, also difficult to cut on the bottom, the bread itself was extremely chewy, not pleasantly chewy. I was so disappointed to have two loaves ruined.
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Ken Forkish and severe hand problems
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Hello all - I am new here but not new to baking. I have been baking for 30 odd years and stumbled across Ken Forkish book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast about 3 months ago. Purchased the book and jumped right in. Love the recipes so far and all of them that I have tried came out wonderful.
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The 1.8 kilo boule. (First attempt was a catastrophe)
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Hi all,
I started baking with Forkish FWSY back in February. I've made most of his loaves, and also very many from the Tartine books (and am now obsessing over bagels).
On a family trip this week, I attempted the 1.8 kilo Forkish boule (from memory - I didn't have any books w/ me). The dough was great, but I absolutely failed getting it off the peel into the oven.
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