Greetings,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Although I haven't been active on the Fresh Loaf, I have spent a lot of time reading, learning from and enjoying the content posted by fellow bread enthusiasts. Now, I hope to become a more active member of this site, hence this blog entry which serves as a brief introduction of myself as well as some pictures of one of my recent bakes.

I've been baking on a regular basis for about three years now. I enjoy baking all sorts of bread, though I have to say I'm a sourdough junkie at heart. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, I've been living in Madrid, Spain for the past ten years.

The following photos are of a recent bake of the sourdough seed bread found in Hamelman's Bread (p. 176). This is a lovely bread and I find myself baking it time and time again.

Lastly, I'd like to thank all members of the Fresh Loaf for their time and dedication. Your knowledge and help have made me a better baker.

Nathan

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread - Crumb

Last week I baked one of my favorite recipes, Hamelman's Whole Wheat Levain from Bread. The bake turned out successful I would say, especially since I finally was able to use my two week old liquid levain starter and achieve a delightful tang when the bread was sliced and eaten. One thing though is my batard (and boule) seemed to explode in the oven! Was this because of an unsuccessful scoring? Or did I let it rise to long? Any help would be appreciated in this manner, though I do kind of like the looks of it.

And then the crumb...

And finally the boule, sorry no crumb shot, though I will say it turned out a bit tighter then I would have liked.

So what might I have done wrong in this bake? Any help would be appreciated since I am always open to advice and will always be baking weekly hoping to only improve my methods and results!

My next bake is going to be Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough with increased Whole Wheat. I will be attempting this tomorrow (hopefully) and pictures will follow soon!

It's been quite some time since I posted, but I wanted to share with you my new blog (about 6 weeks old only!) - I hope it is ok to post a link to it? If it is not, please let me know and I will remove this thread.

I started blogging because of he Bread Baker's Challenge that I joined in a moment of lunacy  :-)

Actually, I am loving it - and my baby blog will have a lot of bread in it, but not only bread. I just made a post on my favorite bread of all times, which is Hamelman's Vermont sourdough, we have it almost every weekend. I also have the breads from the challenge done so far, 10 of them, number 11 should come up on Wednesday or Thursday. Life is busy 

for those interested, stop by

http://bewitchingkitchen.wordpress.com

and the link to Hamelman's

http://bewitchingkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/the-bread-we-love/

This was the Hamelman Oatmeal Bread using KA Bread Flour and Gold Medal Whole Wheat.  I was suprised how much spring I got on the scalloping.

I made Hamelman's Vermont Rye again the other day and it didn't really come out right.  After letting the levain sit for 15 hours, I made the final dough and threw it in the fridge for bulk fermentation overnight.  The next morning it had grown in size somewhat but was so soupy (somewhere between batter and dough) I couldn't handle it.  Furthermore, I had to add a ton of flour just to get it to the point where I could feel comfortable transferring it to a banneton.  I then retarded it for another 12 hours and baked it..  It came out alright, if a bit spongy.

Thoughts?

is it a bad idea to retard bulk fermentation?  Does this get in the way of the autolyse?

Today I made Hamelman's Pain au Levain - recipe on page 158 of his book BREAD 

For months now I've been baking his Vermont Sourdough series every weekend, allowing the shaped boule to retard overnight.

This recipe is slightly different - a little rye flour is used in the starter, and also in the dough. He does not recommend retarding the bread, instead it should be baked after 2 - 2.5 hs final rise at room temperature.

IN a way, it is a pretty "quick" method for a sourdough, and I did not know how it would turn out.

Well, this was yet another excellent recipe! It seems that every one in the book is a winner.....

The crumb (sorry, no photos) - is a little more tight than the other sourdoughs I've made, but the flavor is spectacular.

if you want to see all the photos

they are here

http://tinyurl.com/qxqgfh

I baked the boule in my clay pot as usual, the final photos show the bread when you first remove the lid after 30 min baking and then the final boule, after 20 more minutes baking without the lid.

I include here just a photo of the bread cooling

Greetings, everyone.  I am new to the site and relatively new to baking.  I've been learning breadmaking by perusing a bunch of sourdough blogs and also reading Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" book.

Last weekened, I started a 66% Rye Sourdough that is listed in his Sourdough Rye chapter.  It's proofing in the fridge right now, and I was amazed at its transformation this morning from essentially a giant lump of paste to something that looks like bread.  I'm really hoping it turns out nicely when I bake it later today. (I had to stick it in the fridge because of that whole having to go to work thing, otherwise, it would have been done baking by now)

I am surprised that the recipe didn't call for any kneading at all.  I was figuring I'd at least have to do one stretch and fold or something.

Anyway, one thing that I wanted to ask is... What do I do with the 2 tablespoons of paste I was told to save from this recipe?  Do I feed it like a sourdough starter, with Rye flour?  Does it stay pasty like this?  Can I go from here and make some of his other breads that require a Rye sour as an ingredient?  Do I need to feed it first?

Also, since I have started baking sourdough bread, I find myself getting up at 3am to do something.  This morning it was to add the rest of the flour to the Rye starter I had going (the paste) so that 2 hours later, when I woke up, I could drop it into my Banneton for proofing.  Is this behavior normal?  :)

Happy Baking,

Steve

I don't have much experience with wet doughs, but I just pulled three loaves of Hamelman's Pain Rustique out of the oven and I'm fairly pleased with how they turned out. (Haven't done a taste-test yet ...)

You can check out a photo and see the recipe, if you like, over at Flour Girl.

Have a great weekend ... Happy baking,

Flour Girl

I am making this bread tonight to bake tomorrow - in his recipe, he says the bread profits from retarding the shaped loaves, which I will do

but it does not say if they can be baked straight from the fridge, or if they should stay at room temp for a few hours.

has anoone made this bread? I think I will remove it from the fridge and leave it for 3 hours over the counter, since I've been doing this for his Vermont sourdough and works fine, but if anyone has specific instructions, I am all ears!

Thanks!

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I just returned from the King Arthur Flour Co’s Baking Education Center and wanted to share my experience taking the 10hr, day and a half class:  “Naturally Leavened Breads” with Jeffrey Hamelman. Being greeted by sunny 70 degree weather in beautiful Vermont was a great way to start the day and the Education Center is a light and airy building with lots of well managed work space. 

We were set up two at a work bench and each of the 12 participants had their own set of tools:  a 6qt Kitchenaid or 7qt Viking mixer, a scale, metal and plastic dough scrapers, stainless steel bowls and of course access to lots and lots of Flour. We were also given a packet with formulas we would be using for our Breads along with others on Desired Dough Temperature, making Liquid and Stiff Levains, etc. The class room is in the same building as the K A Bakery and we would work in the commercial equipment area as needed during the day.

the breads

After a short introduction Jeffrey had us dig right in … within minutes of arrival we were Scaling materials and preparing in earnest for the 7-8 loaves of Bread we would each be bringing home  by the next day’s end of class. It became clear from the beginning that this was not going to be a walk in the park … not a lecture format about Bread … rather an intense, professional, emersion into natural levained Bread … real ‘on the job training’ under the hand of a Maestro.

The whole class, the flow and timing of everything we did, was built around the Bread.  When our dough was taking a breather then we had time for a demonstration, a talk from Jeffrey or questions and answers, otherwise we were attentive to our job ... making and baking Bread.

We worked with:  a Pain au Levain with All Purpose Flour (KA Sir Galahad) and Medium Rye, a Currant and Walnut Sourdough with Sir Galahad and Whole Wheat Flour, and a 5 Seed Sourdough with Sir Gal, High Gluten Flour (KA Sir Lancelot) and Whole Wheat Flour.

5 seed sourdough

We used both Liquid and Stiff Cultures and were shown, and then directly used, different techniques on each loaf: hand or machine mixing, autolyse, soakers, room temperature bulk fermentations with folding, and 40deg overnight retarding to name a few.  Forming options for different types of loaves and slashing styles were shown and then tried out. We received countless tips like: adding optional fresh yeast, using a lined benneton when retarding, how to convert a liquid levain to a firm one, and on and on. Luckily these many learnings were not isolated lectures but put to use right after the individual descriptions/examples were shown. This made everything Jeffrey taught easier to integrate.

This was set up to great advantage because it not only allowed us to learn the varied construction possibilities but also to be able to do comparisons. For example, a machine mixed Pain au Levain could be compared side by side with a hand mixed Pain and an overnight retarded Pain.  Or a Sourdough Bread made with Stiff Levain compared to one made with a 125% hydration Liquid Levain. So, ease/timing of production using different techniques at the bench was directly mated with actual taste tested results from the oven. I saw that everything we do in Bread making is more than just a method choice … it is a choice for a desired result.

currant and walnut sourdough

If there was an overriding theme to the class it would be this:  Once a ‘technique’ was completed he directed us to then look to the dough for confirmation/nonconfirmation of what we had done. I saw how measurement and clock work are very important parts in Jeffrey’s production. They are a foundation that helps bring consistency and a standard and honesty to our work. But, he stressed that only through direct connection with the dough itself can we see if what we are doing is really working well and will make the best Bread. 

At some point during the two days of class each participant called out ‘ Jeffrey!!! ‘   Is this Poolish ripe?   or    is the gluten developed enough?     am I too wet here?     Is this proofed enough?  

“ See with your fingers ”  he would reply,  and then he’d call us all over to give our opinion, each to look and touch … to know for ourselves. He would never tell us what his take on the matter was until we gave ours. That was a real gift.

I’ve attached a few photos of the Breads I made in class.  One of my Pain au Levain is missing from the group picture … I ate it on the drive home.

Thank you Mr. Hamelman

        and Susan and Crew at the KA Baking Education Center.

Dave

Pain au levain

miche style pain au levain approx 1.5 kilos