First Timers - There is Hope.
Hi all,
Recently joined TFL to learn from the Learned as I venture into the bread making world.
After living in Europe and being exposed to what bread should be, I find myself back in NA in a bread wasteland, and I am forced to take matters into my own hands. After a few VERY unsuccessful attempts at bread making with a great sourdough starter (made myself and kept going because it alone smells so good), I switched to the Dutch Oven cooking method last night.
The results were very inspiring.
Wanted to share to let other Newbies such as myself know that "the Loaf is with Us" !
Recipe :
Sponge : (made night before) 150mL starter, 250g Robin Hood bread flour, 275g water.
Bread : mixed 1T EVOO into all of the starter (it was very active) and mixed in 300g bread flour, kneaded few times and rested 20min.
Knead / Primary : added 8g fine sea salt, hand kneaded 10 minutes, and placed in oiled bowl, covered by oiled cling film for 4 hrs in cool kitchen (18C). Dough more than doubled after 4 hours.
Shaped : dusted top with a mix of 50/50 WW and Rice flour, flipped out and dusted a little, formed into round (with no real method), and placed seam side up on a floured linen and put into 8" bowl. Rested 2.5 hrs. Rise was about 50%.
Bake : Preheat DO in 450F oven, flipped dough onto 7" round of parchment paper, and dropped into DO. 30 minutes lid on and 15 min lid off, internal bread temp was 205F. Rest 20 min on rack and take a picture like a proud Papa !
Super crusty and VERY tasty with a little pasta topped with seafood and garlic wine sauce....
Next experiment will be with 25% WW flour in the sponge and 10% WW flour in the bread to try to increase sourness and add little more flavor and body.
Thank you for all the tips,
SF
Looks very tasty, for sure! And I can almost smell it. :) Next time, maybe also try a little less starter (what you called a sponge) and a little more flour and water in the dough, and see what difference that makes. Then try retarding the finished dough for longer in the fridge. All kinds of factors to change around, and it's nice to try them with essentially the same bread so you can see, smell and taste the differences.
LL
It's said that where there's a will... You made a fine loaf of bread with your own hands. Great job! We'll look forward to hearing more from you.
Adding whole grains will bring flavor and texture, but they tend to be thirstier than ordinary flours, so as you begin to mix and work your dough, if it feels as though it could use more water, add more. And sourness is a product of the bacterial members of your starter's culture and will be enhanced by long, cool fermentation, even a refrigerated rise overnight.
Glad to have you with us,
Cathy
You might want to try to refrain from changing more than one or two things at a time. I went through a brief phase where I didn't. Fortunately, the results were all edible. However, it was hard to assess the effect of, for example, raising hydration when I also substituted part of the flour, changed the add-ins, used a somewhat different method, retarded vs. not, etc.
And not just for when making bread.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I made a second loaf with just over 15% whole wheat (50% WW flour in the Sponge or Leaven, and 10% WW in the bread mix) and it was indeed better tasting. WAY better than anything I can buy locally and Oh-So-Good-N-Crunchy fresh from the oven !!
Only complaints : would still like more sour flavor (so I'll try the fridge rise), and the bread wasn't dense, but I'd like more and bigger voids in the loaf. Any suggestions on making a more "bubbly" airy loaf ?
Thank you all again.