The Fresh Loaf

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JessieRay26's picture
JessieRay26

Silly starter question

I started a 100% Rye starter almost three weeks ago and it has been acting beautifully! I feed it a couple times a day using a 1:1:1: ratio. It will double in size after about four hours consistently, usually tripling after about 8-12. It very slowly falls after that. I've used it to make bread twice so far and both times, I haven't been able to get my bread to rise very well. the first time did better than the second, I had a decent open crumb but the loafs were very flat. The second loaves had amazing oven spring  but were very dense. I let them all rise in my proofer set at 76 for the entire day and watched them carefully. They never overproofed or anything, they didn't even rise more than half an inch!

I hope this is okay, but this is the recipe I've used http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe

The only differences I made were to take out the yeast they used and added 3/4 cup rye. For this recipe I switched my starter to a 50/50 mix of unbleached all purpose and rye flour.

 

Does anyone know why my starter is just refusing to make my bread rise?

ANNA GIORDANI's picture
ANNA GIORDANI

La Bozza Pratese a Lievitazione Naturale

 

Cari Amici Buona Domenica,

voglio lasciarvi le immagini di ONU Pane Che e tipico della mia Toscana Ed u n Personale tributo alla mia Città ....... la mia Bozza Pratese una lievitazione Naturale.

 

A chi volesse interessare potete trovarmi anche su Facebook alle pagine following:

Anna Giordani

e

Il Chicco e la Spiga Blog

Un caro saluto a tutti e felice cottura.

Anna

Postal Grunt's picture
Postal Grunt

National Festival of Breads- Be There!

On 13 June 2015, the National Festival of Breads will be held at the Hilton Garden Hotel in Manhattan (the Little Apple), KS. Sponsors include the Kansas Wheat Commission, King Arthur Flour, and Red Star Yeast.

http://nationalfestivalofbreads.com/national-festival-of-breads

I've already committed to volunteer as a Kansas State Extension Service Master Food Volunteer during the day so if you're planning on being there, do leave a message for me here on TFL and I'll be sure to say hello when we meet.

Jim

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Yeast Water Hot Dog Buns

It had been forever since we had last used our yeast water – months in fact.  It had been hiding out in the fridge like a forgotten SD starter.  We wondered if it was still alive.  After building the 3 stage levain, and waiting for 16 hours for it to double we decided to feed the YW starter and let it hide out in the fridge some more.

 

We retarded the YW levain for 24 hours like we do most levains and hoped it would be a little better the next day but decided to add 1/8th tsp of instant yeast to the initial mix just in case.  Lucy whipped up a fast recipe that was sort of a weakly enriched dough with butter, egg and sugar using half AP and half bread flour from Winco and skim  milk for the dough liquid.

 

We also got to use our KA mixer for the first time in ages and really only use it for enriched dough now a days. We tossed everything in except the butter and beat the heck out of it for 4 minutes on speed 4 and then added the butter reducing the speed to 2 for another 4 minutes and back up to 4 for 2 more minutes.

 

We then let the dough rest for 30 minutes before doing 10 slap and folds followed by another 30 minute rest followed by 10 more slap and folds followed by an hour rest this time .  We did a stretch and fold to see how the dough was doing and decided to let it ferment for another hour before shaping.

 

After shaping the dough was left to proof for 2 ½ hours before brushing on the egg wash and firing up the oven to 375 F.  We baked then for 10 minutes before turning the pan around to get an even color on the buns.  Once they got good and brown we moved them to the cooling rack.

 

They sure looked good but will have to wait and see how they taste and look on the inside once dinner rolls around.  The buns were perfect.  Open soft and moist but sadly, no sourdough taste we love much.  Still these were fine hot dog buns and we are glad we keep YW around just for such things..

 

YW Levain Build

Build 1

Build 2

 Build 3

Total

%

Yeast Water

40

20

0

60

12.66%

AP

40

20

10

70

14.77%

Total

80

0

0

130

0.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Levain Totals

 

%

 

 

 

AP Flour

70

14.77%

 

 

 

Water

60

12.66%

 

 

 

Levain Hydration

85.71%

 

 

 

 

Levain % of Total Flour

14.77%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

 

Winco AP & Bread Flour 50/50

374

78.90%

 

 

 

1/8th tsp of Instant Yeast

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

9

1.90%

 

 

 

Milk

200

42.19%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Hydration

53.48%

 

 

 

 

Total Flour w/ Starter

474

 

 

 

 

Water and Milk 248

290

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration with Starter

61.18%

 

 

 

 

Total Weight

764

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butter

44

9.28%

 

 

 

Sugar

35

7.38%

 

 

 

Egg (1 large)

52

10.97%

 

 

 

Total Add Ins

131

27.64%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Hydration w/ Starter & Adds

70.72%

 

 

 

 

 

Ramses2's picture
Ramses2

New Orleans style Po Boy bread )French Bread)

Is there anyone who has a good formula for a REAL honest to goodness New Orleans style Po Boy bread.  This bread is the basis for the famous Po Boy sandwich.  P.S. I am not seeking a baguette recipe. Po Boy bread is long, like a baguette but thats where the similarities end. Po Boy bread is only made in and around New Orleans. Its crust is shatteringly crisp and paper thin. If I recall correctly it has a semi open crumb but no giant holes.  I also think it has  some ingredient that gives it a longer shelf life,  like maybe 8 hrs. Purchased locally, in New Orleans, it is about 20 24 inches long and is more puffy than a baguette. Also it has much less chew than a baguette. I have a number of different formulas but none of them are close to the real thing.  So, if you have a formula, recipe that you have made could you pls share it ?    Thank you.

Morgan le Fay's picture
Morgan le Fay

Danish Rye Tweaks?

Hey All,

Below is what I have been using for Danish Rye, I cut some of the mundane details.

I came across this post:

Serendipitous Danish-inspired Rye

and I had some ideas I'd like to run past anyone who would like to comment.

1. Given the length of time the dough retards in the fridge and thus soaks, would a boiling step make a difference?

2. He uses 17% beer. Any thoughts on 30-50% beer? The alkyhol would be a bit better than the same amount of water as far as gluten goes (if that is of any matter), but would the alkyhol interfere with the yeast and rise?

3. Salt: I was thinking instead of salt, using Marmite dissolved in the water, in an amount that would be the same as the total milligrams of salt. 

4. Umami: I've done this with other breads, added a drained can of anchovies per loaf. Think it would make a difference?

And finally, 5. Malt extract over the molasses?

Any ideas, theories, comments, et cetera, greatly appreciated!

 

 

Starter

Ingredients:

218g water

159g Dark Rye flour

 

Rugbrød 

Make on Thursday night, fridge until Saturday night, remove and let rise overnight, bake Sunday morning

Ingredients:

Dissolve the salt into the water, then                            4 loaves

200g of the sour dough starter                                     800g

193g Dark Rye flour                                                      772g

238g Cracked Rye                                                        952g

208g Whole Wheat flour                                               832g

47g Flaxseeds                                                              194g

476g cold water                                                            1904g

15g molasses                                                                30g

16g sea salt                                                                   48g

8 minutes in mixer. Pour into oiled pan and smooth top of dough. Cover pan with plastic wrap and allow rising for 10 to 12 hours. Before baking, pierce the dough with a skewer 20 times. Brush top of dough with an oil/water mixture and bake in a 400 degrees F preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. 

Abelbreadgallery's picture
Abelbreadgallery

Soft whole-wheat buns

Quick and easy formula.

40% whole wheat flour, 60% bread flour, 65% water, 2% salt, 2% sugar, 4% butter, malted flour (for colour, 1 tsp per kilo of flour) and 2% fresh yeast.

 

 

Anonymous baker's picture
Anonymous baker (not verified)

Help me understand proofing.

OK, so, this has been on my mind for awhile now, but I simply do not understand the process of bulk fermentation. I've been making the Norwich Sourdough for quite awhile now, and have followed the instructions blindly to what has been written down. However I would like to know why during the bulk fermentation process the folds are at 50 and 100 minutes. What sort of texture and consistency should I be looking for? I understand that bread will proof faster, or slower, depending on the temperature of the room and would like to learn how to adjust my bulk rising time for that.

I apologize if this seems like a silly question, but my rather excited sourdough filled brain really, really wants to understand the science of these things. As a side note, I have been Googling this question for the past few days and am not sure if I am looking at the answers that are correct or not. Some resources would be wonderful as well. Thank you in advance for everyone's help.

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

Hot cross bun help

Fresh loafers

Just need some help with my 100% sourdough hot cross buns. Particularly with regards to the crossing paste.

I do not score the buns because just priory to baking I add a sweet crossing paste. I let the buns proof longer (so the oven spring does not break the surface of the buns). Then i add the crossing paste, just before putting them in the oven (with steam), but they still seem to break through along the lines of the crossing paste. I have attached some pictures for a better idea of what i mean, as i think I am rambling at this point.

any helpful comments/suggestions/tips?

Thanks

MJ Sourdough

kringle's picture
kringle

Using Bread toppings

I have been baking bread now since Christmas using Ken Forkish’s book Flour,Water,Salt,Yeast.  I have had good success.  I also like to use banneton baskets.  Recently I have been trying to add King Arthur’s Artisan bread toppings.  When I sprinkle them into the floured banneton, the toppings simply slide to the bottom.  I then tried spritzing the top of the loaf with water after I removed it from the banneton so the seed would stick but it ruined my nice circles of flour.  This weekend I spritzed the banneton with water and sprinkled the topping in. It stuck well to the sides but my dough did not want to come out of the banneton.  How do I apply this topping without causing more problems?

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