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January 25, 2023 - 5:02pm

alfanso

Is Bouabsa dough the Swiss Army knife of baking?

Clearly several non-truisms here. No corkscrew, no scissors, no actual knife. But the reason that I labeled the post as such - I've used the Bouabsa formula to make:

Pullman loaves

Focaccia

Pizza

Ciabatta

Batard

Of course Baguettes

And yesterday's beastly 80% AP, 10%WW and 10% Rye Baguettes/ Long Batards - my first deviation from the standard formula.

I'm neither implying that there aren't other formulas out there every bit as versatile. Nor even that this dough rivals other doughs specifically created for the other types of breads. However, this easy as pie IDY dough has become a trusted partner in my kitchen crime wave.

Vito Scoreleone

January 23, 2023 - 12:31pm

Robby

Why does my sourdough taste less acidic when baked?

Whenever I taste test the dough before baking it’s always noticeably sour. Ive tried slow fermentation, high inoculation and I’ve even started adding 1% lactic acid powder per weight of flour to make it even more noticeable.

I bake for 40mins total but the bread seems to lose like 80 percent of its sour flavor. It almost tastes bland. And yes I’ve been adding salt. Am I crazy or what is happening?

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January 22, 2023 - 12:02pm

Lmw4

Tips for crispy bagel crusts

Hello,

I have been making bagels for a few years. I've researched and read lots of blogs, recipes and google searches along the way and have gotten close to what I hope to achieve.

I use a combo of KAF bread flour and high gluten flour and add diastatic malt to the recipe. I mix, bulk ferment for a few hours, shape and over night ferment in the fridge. In the morning, they go into boiling water if/when they pass the float test. I use malt syrup and baking soda in the water bath and boil for about 30 sec/side.

They go into a 500 degree F oven on a preheated stone.

They rise beautifully, the crumb is perfect, they taste great, and although the crust has blisters is a bit too chewy and not crispy.

Any suggestions to lessen the chew and increase the crisp??

Thank

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January 22, 2023 - 10:40am

Yippee

20230119+0205 100% whole-spelt egg noodles with CLAS

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS).

This whole-spelt noodle requires a little more work than soba, but not too bad.

Ingredients

13% whole spelt flour from whole spelt CLAS

81% fresh whole spelt flour

19% water from whole spelt CLAS

33% whole egg (1)

season the dough to taste

6% extra whole spelt flour

Dough consistency when done mixing. Total dough weight ~250g. Rest 1-2 hours

divide into 5 x 50g dough balls

pasta roller#1 x 1, fold; repeat 3-4 times until the dough is smooth.

pasta roller#2 x 2-3

pasta roller#3 x 2

pasta roller#4 x 1

place the dough sheets between parchment paper

fettuccine cutter x 1

What a scene (to a newbie)!

See my soba noodle post for cooking setup.

Thinner noodles have a more delicate texture.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

P.S. 20230205 whole-spelt noodles with homemade cracklins

Use a much stiffer dough so that I don't have to hang the noodles.

Trying a new technique

A whole-grain version of an old-time Hong Kong street food - noodles with cracklins,（🐷)油渣麵 but I forgot to add the cracklins to the broth!

January 21, 2023 - 11:08am

Yippee

20230119 100% whole buckwheat (soba) noodles with CLAS

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS).

Inspired by Jo_en's post, I've started making 100% wholegrain noodles with CLAS and various grains. Buckwheat (soba) noodles are the easiest to make - the dough has no gluten, so running it back and forth in the pasta maker is unnecessary. The key is to make it fast - the longer it takes to run the dough through the pasta maker, the more likely it is to crack.

My noodle-making experience is limited to making spaghetti twice. If I can make 100% whole buckwheat noodles with CLAS in less than 30 minutes, so can you. The entire process is indeed as simple as 1-2-3! Let me show you the magic of CLAS again!

I've made buckwheat noodles with water or a whole egg as the liquid. Both work just as well with CLAS, but more flour is usually needed when using whole eggs because it determines how much flour I must add to mix the dough to the right consistency. If I don't use egg as the liquid, I can use less flour and add water accordingly.

Ideally, I would substitute hulled buckwheat groats for a smoother texture, but the whole buckwheat is all I have.

Soba noodles with water

Ingredients

13% whole buckwheat flour from whole buckwheat CLAS

25% water from whole buckwheat CLAS

87% fresh whole buckwheat flour, ground by Vitamix

season the dough to taste

I use

3% shaved bonito, ground with the whole buckwheat

2% Kirkland no-salt spice mix, ground with the whole buckwheat

24% water

Mix

This is probably the easiest dough I've ever mixed! As you drizzle the water into the dough, keep feeling the dough and imagining how well it will pass through the pasta maker.

dough texture when done mixing

not sticky at all

Total dough weight ~ 200g

Divide into 4 x 50g dough balls

No rest; start rolling immediately after mixing.

pasta roller #1 x 1

halve the dough

pasta roller #2 x 2

pasta roller #3 x 1

fettuccine cutter x 1

You see, all done within 30 minutes by a newbie! It certainly doesn't take ten years of training to master making 100% soba noodles as some people have claimed!

Place the noodles between parchment paper before boiling them.

CookHave three pots ready: #1. with water, oil, and seasoning (to taste) to boil the noodles for 2 minutes

#2. place a strainer inside and pour the contents of pot #1 here. Use this pot alternately with pot #1 to cook the noodles.

#3. with ice water. Take the strainer out of pot #2 and put it here to cool the noodles.

soba noodles made with flour and water

soba noodles made with flour and egg

Soba noodles with bonito kombu broth

A simple dinner.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to make whole-buckwheat CLAS

ground barley malt: 25g

Whole grain buckwheat flour: 75g

Water T. 45°C: 180 ml

Vinegar (5% acidity): 10 ml

Fermentation temperature: 40°C±2°C

Fermentation time: 24-36h

Hydration: 190%

End pH: around 4

To refresh buckwheat CLAS

1:9 (buckwheat flour in CLAS: new buckwheat flour), no vinegar needed

190% hydration @ 40°C±2°C x 12 hours

I set up a water bath (~low 40s C) in the Instant Pot, support the container with a trivet, and use the Instant Pot's yogurt feature to make CLAS:

Then cover it with the lid.

Bye-bye, pH meter!

January 19, 2023 - 2:09pm

albacore

Quarter Sponge Revisited

The quarter sponge system was a method of professional breadmaking developed in Scotland and was designed to produce tall, airy tin loaves with the minimum amount of yeast possible. The quarter refers to the fact that a quarter of the total recipe water is used in the first sponge.

I've tried it a few times before, but the loaves were never as tall as they should be and lacked oven spring.

Not liking to give up on my breadmaking missions, I decided to have another go.

I have two recipes, one from Manna, by Walter Banfield (1946), and the other from The Modern Baker from John Kirkland (1911). Both recipes are pretty similar and this time I went with the Manna recipe. I upped the hydration from the original 55% to 61%. These old recipes always have low hydration - I guess it was because of the wheats used in those days.

Previously I think I've followed the recipe times too closely and not fully taken account of what was actually going on with the dough.

The recipe starts with the Quarter Sponge (a stiff sponge):

229g Canadian bread flour

134g water

1.8g salt

1.35g fresh yeast

DDT 24.5C

Made in the Kenwood with the dough hook with some gluten development and stored for 14 hours at 25C

After 14 hours this was well risen and starting to drop. Time for the next stage, which is the batter sponge:

Batter Sponge

All the stiff sponge, chopped up

357g BF

5g malt

393g water

6.3g salt

DDT 28C

Made in the Kenwood with K beater

Well mixed at moderate speed to give good aeration

Stored at 28C

This is allowed to rise fully and is then ready for use when it starts to drop. This should take an hour, but actually took 2hrs 40mins!

Batter songe dropping:

Main dough

All the batter sponge

314g BF

100g white wholemeal, coarse bran sifted out

83g water

11.5g salt

10g glucose

Mixed in the Famag with 5 minutes high speed

DDT 28C

Punchdown and knead when well risen - 1hr 20mins, then fermented for another 1hr before turning out. (The recipe time for bulk is just 1 hour.)

Scale and bench rest 20 mins

Dough degassed by pinning out into squares and then shaping and placing into tins.

Final proof lasted 1hr 40mins, until dough had reached the shoulder of the tins

Ideally the loaves should be baked in wooden frames, (the loaves are then called Scottish plain loaves), but my wooden frame experiments are over, as I don't think they are suitable for a home oven. So I baked in tins. I do have one big tin that approximates pre-war tins in size and shape so I used that. It has tapered sides which I believe give better rise than straight sided tins.

Masterclass large bread tin used:

The result

Much improved compared to my previous efforts! Good oven spring and a soft fluffy crumb. And very tasty, helped by the 22 hour fermentation. It's incredible to think that the yeast rate was only 0.135% fresh yeast!

Lance

January 19, 2023 - 2:03pm

GaryBishop

Five starters compared (not very scientifically)

I went crazy back in fall and bought 4 starters from Sourdough International on a buy 3 get 1 free deal. I chose the Finnish, Russian, San Francisco and Tasmanian. The 5th starter in this comparison is the one from King Arthur (KA below).

I activated them according to the instructions and they all work wonderfully. Activation took 6 to 8 days for me rather than the 3 to 5 they suggest but otherwise worked very well. I have maintained them using Doc.Dough's system and I've been baking small loaves using Mariana's suggestions.

Baking and eating them one at a time I couldn't really tell much difference so I decided to do a side-by-side comparison. Over a couple of weeks I baked and immediately froze 5 loaves. I made my daily bread which is 70% WW 30% BF with 10% sunflower seeds, 20% oat soaker and a little honey and olive oil.

The loaves were virtually identical in appearance. I used the same process on each only varying by a few minutes when I got distracted.

While my daughter was visiting from Oregon we did a taste comparison. I thawed the loaves and cut one slice from each into 16 small 1x1 inch squares about 1/2 inch thick and placed them in 2 piles of 8 each. So we had 10 piles (2 for each starter * 5 starters) of bread squares in 2 rows.

My wife, daughter and I tried to match the pairs; that is identify squares that tasted/smelled the same. My daughter (38 years old) got 2 correct matches (Russian and KA). My wife and I (both > 65) completely struck out.

I have noted two differences.

The Finnish starter is a strong riser and keeps going for several days in the refrigerator. It will blow the top off my small container if I don't burp it.
The Russian and KA starters produce slightly sourer loaves.

Of course this experiment has many limitations.

The differences might have been clearer with a simple white bread but I mostly don't eat white bread.
Longer fermentation might have allowed more differences to develop.
Freezing might have changed the smell/flavor.
It is common for the sense of smell to fade with age especially over 60.
[EDIT] Cross contamination is a very real possibility.

I had fun doing the comparison and learned that, for me, there is no good reason to maintain all 5 of them. I'll give away 3 or 4 to someone nearby.

Gary

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January 18, 2023 - 11:24pm

r0bz

starter feeding before using to make bread

I maintain a 50% hydration stiff sourdough starter and keep 100grams of it in the fridge before I want to make bread I feed it let it ferment outside of the refrigerator for 4 hours and I save 100g in the fridge

now what I want to ask is because it takes a lot of time for the bulk sometimes it gets very late. I have to cut the bulk ferment a little bit short because I had to feed the starter the same day in the morning and wait 4 hours for it to do its thing, I want to know if I can feed the starter a day before and put it in the fridge and use it the next day and have the same good leavening or the starter will perform worse?

also if possible I will autolyze the dough overnight in the fridge also

thank you for your answers

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January 16, 2023 - 4:03pm

clazar123

Gluten development in Irish Soda Bread

I've been working on perfecting my ratios and handling technique in my Irish Soda Bread recipe and have come up with a question I cannot find the answer to. I know that Irish Soda Bread is supposed to be a quick bread but it's texture does not depend on being a tender,flaky biscuit that requires gentle handling for a successful rise. So why isn't the gluten network more developed for a better texture?

Here's the question:

Why isn't a baking soda leavened bread kneaded to develop gluten formation? The slices would be more flexible, I believe. Bubble formation to trap gas is important whether the gas comes from yeast or chemical and a gluten network helps form bubbles.

Here is my recipe-such as it is at this stage. It makes a very finely crumbed sandwich loaf consistency.

IRISH SODA BREAD

3 c (436g) AP FLOUR

1 c (153g) rye or other FLOUR (I used rye flour for this recipe)

1 tsp (5g) BAKING SODA

2 tsp (8 g) BAKING POWDER

1 tsp (8g) SALT (1 ½ tsp-13g)(needs a little more if no vegemite)

2 c(490g) BUTTERMILK/SOURED MILK (NOTE:TOO MUCH-REDUCE TO 1 ½ C)

(1 TBSP LEMON JUICE/VINEGAR TO 1 CUP MILK)

1 c milk=230g, 1tbsp lemon juice = 30g

2 TBSP(34g)HONEY

2 tbsp (24g) BUTTER/OIL

1 tbsp (13g)VEGEMITE (OPTIONAL-FOR FLAVOR BUT ADJUST SALT IF NECESSARY-mix in well)

Mix dry ingredients well

Mix vegemite so fully dissolved in liquid (NO LUMPS!)

Mix liquids and add into dry ingredients.Mix with fingers ONLY until dough comes together. It should be barely kneadable. Messy.

Knead just a few times to shape into large boule.

Place on baking sheet-Cut a deep cross on top-bake til brown/hollow sounding.

Enjoy while warm.

Wrap well if keeping for the next day. Tastes better when made daily.

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January 14, 2023 - 1:32pm

Isand66

Durum Big Country Whole Wheat Egg Sourdough Bread

This is a pretty simple durum semolina style sourdough bread made with high extraction home milled durum and Big Country whole wheat from Barton Spring Mills. The added egg yolks add a nice extra kick of moisture and flavor.

I milled and sifted the durum berries and whole wheat berries twice with a # 30 and #40 drum sieve. I really like the flavor of the Big Country whole wheat and paired with the fresh durum this was an excellent bread, perfect for mopping up sauce or grilled or toasted. The addition of the black and white sesame seeds were a welcome addition.

Formula

Levain Directions

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flour and water (leave about 50 -70 grams to add after the first mix), together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute. Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 20-30 minutes. After 30 minutes or so add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces), egg yolks and remaining water as needed and mix on low for 5 minutes. Note: If you are using the Ankarsrum mixer like I do, add your water to the bowl first then add in the flours. After your autolyse add in the starter, salt, remaining water and mix on low to medium low for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds. Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold. Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold. After a total of 1.5 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours or if using a proofer set at 80 degrees for one hour. Remove the dough and shape as desired and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 – 2 hours. (I use my proofer set at 80 F and it takes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours).

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. and prepare it for steam. I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf. I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees. Bake for around 35 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature around 200-210 F.

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist.

The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Most bookmarked

Is Bouabsa dough the Swiss Army knife of baking?

Why does my sourdough taste less acidic when baked?

Tips for crispy bagel crusts

20230119+0205 100% whole-spelt egg noodles with CLAS

20230119 100% whole buckwheat (soba) noodles with CLAS

Quarter Sponge Revisited

Five starters compared (not very scientifically)

starter feeding before using to make bread

Gluten development in Irish Soda Bread

Durum Big Country Whole Wheat Egg Sourdough Bread

Pages

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Most bookmarked

Is Bouabsa dough the Swiss Army knife of baking?

Why does my sourdough taste less acidic when baked?

Tips for crispy bagel crusts

20230119+0205 100% whole-spelt egg noodles with CLAS

20230119 100% whole buckwheat (soba) noodles with CLAS

Quarter Sponge Revisited

Five starters compared (not very scientifically)

starter feeding before using to make bread

Gluten development in Irish Soda Bread

Durum Big Country Whole Wheat Egg Sourdough Bread

Pages