live beer
So i've been experimenting with live beer for the past week and i've had some not so great results. But this is by far the best that i can come up with but I'm still having some issues. for this loaf i tried to increase the hydration but after i proofed over night and in my proofing box for 4 hours it was still small. i reshaped them as they flattened out. What could i have done better? Is there a way that i can increase the yeast without adding dried yeast? i had a little bit of an oven spring but not a whole lot.
The loaves do not look good at all.. but my husband say that they taste amazing. I want to increase the rise, make the loaves look better and have nice bread with holes...
Any advice or criticism welcome !
this is what the loaves look like (so ugly... )
and this is a crumb shot...
With the live beer and proceeding onto the dough when the poolish is bubbly and active?
i start with 116 grams of live beer and 90 grams of white flour. mix and let sit overnight at room temp. the next day i take the "starter and mix 80 grams live beer (trying to get more yeast) 247 grams flour and 93 grams water. Mix it and let sit overnight (it get bubbly and rises a bit). 3rd day i added 1 lbs. 2 oz of flour 9 grams of salt, 69 grams of live beer (again trying to get more yeast) and more than 188 grams of beer (i stopped measuring). mix together and kneed or stretch and fold. they let rise at room temp or in proofing box as long as i can then put it in the fridge overnight (as i work full time). take out of the fridge and warm up for an hour or so then shape and proof in box as long as i can then in fridge.
this time i had to reshape the bread and put it in the oven
i don't have a recipe I'm just flying by the seat of my pants and really want to make this work...
I think prefermenting about 30% of the flour in a 100% hydration poolish with the barm or live beer, and waiting till it's active and bubbly, should suffice. I think you're exhausting it.
Why don't you go for a very simple recipe and compare the outcome...
500g flour
325g water
8g salt
Now to rearrange this recipe for the barm bread...
Poolish:
150g bread flour
150g live beer (barm)
Mix and leave to mature. Depending on a few factors it can take 12-24 hours. So start early evening the day before baking.
Final recipe:
All of the poolish
350g bread flour
175g water (or beer)
8g salt
Form the dough and knead till full gluten formation.
Leave to rise till doubled.
Shape and final proof.
Bake in preheated oven.
I never thought about that.. i was thinking i need to "activate" the live beer before putting it the bread.
thank you! I will try that tonight!
Just for clarity sake.. the live beer is beer taken from a vat at my local brewery with all the yeast in it, not the foamy stuff that comes out of the top
Live beer is beer that hasn't been treated to stop the fermentation so there is live yeast in it. If you hold it up to the light there should be floating bits inside the beer. Bits of barm.
Making a poolish and waiting till it bubbles is like prepping a starter and 'activating' it. Just making sure it's strong and ready to go before making the dough.
It needs warmth and patience. I don't think you waited long enough for your preferments. You went by the clock and not the poolish.
so i tried it and used this flour. http://1847.ca/product/daily-bread-bread-flour-20kg/
husband said that he like the "white" one better ( white unbleached organic all purpose flour- no name brand) and it tasted not as much of beer.
here is what it looks like now
(yes my husband started eating it before i could take a picture).
and here is the crumb
.....what you are seeing is exactly what you should see using a whole wheat vs an all purpose white flour. Both of your loaves are beautiful and iconic for the flour. The WW loaf was shaped beautifully, just a tad underproofed and baked very nicely. You do have a touch!
All that being said, you now need to decide how you want to proceed. All white flour-tasty,holey loaf with a finer texture but white flour health implications (if these apply) or WW loveliness with better-than-white health implications (more micronutrients,more fiber,less blood sugar spiking). You can certainly do a percentage to achieve a hybrid loaf to get the loft and texture of white with benefits from WW. The thing to remember is that, at almost any percentage of WW in the dough, the whole dough must be treated like ALL WW so that the branny bits get plenty of time to absorb water or you will have a light-colored but crumbly loaf!
Carry on!
thank you for the comments :). Is it under proofed because of the bottom is a little compressed?
Certainly looks like a hearty loaf. Something I'd imagine the way how they'd make traditional barm bread. Glad the process worked out so well.
So your hubby likes barm bread which doesn't taste so much of beer. Well I'd imagine a barm bread and wholegrain to-boot would very much accentuate a beery taste.
So ditto to what Clazar has said. And perhaps use the barm just for the poolish and the rest use water for making up the final dough? You can also experiment with a wholegrain and white flour mix.
Did you follow the recipe exactly or did you take into account a higher hydration for the wholegrain?
I'm working on the shaping :). He wants the beer taste. I think ill try a darker beer with it. I followed the recipe that is written in the middle of the thread. I added a bit more liquid as it didn't feel right. Until this am i did not know it was a whole wheat flour (oups-- now i know and will adjust accordingly)
He wants the beer taste. Well that's alright then.
I thought as much. The hydration was far too low for a whole wheat recipe as I made it for a bread flour recipe. I think if you want to try this again but increase the hydration to 80% then you'll get a more open crumb.
This is the same recipe re-done for an all whole wheat barm bread...
500g flour
400g water
8g salt
Now to rearrange this recipe for the barm bread...
Poolish:
150g whole wheat flour
150g live beer (barm)
Mix and leave to mature. Depending on a few factors it can take 12-24 hours. So start early evening the day before baking.
Final recipe:
All of the poolish
350g whole wheat flour
250g water (or beer)
8g salt
thanks! ill do this next :)
ill try it this way ! Thanks
I think you have major shaping issues but the crust and crumb look pretty darn good. Take a look at shaping videos. I am a monkey see/monkey do learner and a video is a great learning tool.
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