The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Post-holiday baking

Gill63's picture
Gill63

Post-holiday baking

Recently we went on a ski holiday, which was great fun, but I managed to slip over on an icy pavement when walking back to the chalet in ski boots. (No falls on the piste!) Landed on my right side, and my elbow hasn’t quite settled down yet. It didn’t interfere with skiing, but now that I’m home it is a good excuse reason to get out of the hoovering!

Before the holiday I’d built my 50% hydration starter up as it was going to be sitting in the fridge for 3-4 weeks. So, on return I had plenty of starter to be going on with. As well as bread I made a batch of sourdough muffins and a double batch of parmesan and herb sourdough crackers. I usually use the Bertinet method of handling/developing my dough as I really enjoy it, but usually then do one or two extra stretch and folds, as I find that and a cold overnight proof in the fridge work well for me.

It was my first use of Shipton Mill cut malted rye grain, and I was pleased with the result.

400g starter/400 white bread flour,75g rye flour,325g wholemeal flour/650g water. 30g cut malted rye grain soaked in 50ml boiling water and 120g mixed seeds added with 3rd (final) stretch and fold.

The dough was soft, but handled well and I loved the flavour. But, although fine at the time, my elbow really ached the next day!

Time to bake again, and its not completely better, so I decided to combine my Bertinet starter and formula with a Dan Lepard type method, and to try and go with the feel of the dough to decide on how many stretch and folds to do.

250g starter/200g white bread flour, 300g Shipton Mill 3 malts and sunflower brown bread/650g water.

It took a long time to get any structure, so I did an extra round of minimal kneading and 5 sets of stretch and folds.

Still a bit sticky after pre-shaping, so I added seeds to one banneton as well as using brown rice flour/bread flour mix in both. I wanted to make sure at least one loaf released well! 3.5 hours rising at room temperature before going in fridge overnight.

No problem with release of either loaf - thanks to TFLers for the tip about using a rice flour mix. That’s the softest/wettest dough I’ve used it with. Whilst lining the banneton with oats or seeds works well it isn't always wanted.

Good oven spring, slashing could be better. Closer crumb than usual, but I’m not particularly bothered by that as it has a very nice flavour.

 

 

 

 

Comments

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I hope your elbow feels better soon. You really need to come up with a more exciting story on how you hurt your elbow. Crashing into a tree or something would definitely up the interest factor! ?

MonkeyDaddy's picture
MonkeyDaddy

pulling the starter cord on the lawn mower last summer (thankfully at the end of the season) and I'm still healing.  I recently started using Trevor's technique from his Champlain Sourdough video, and the kneading is made much more manageable by the long overnight autolyse he uses.  Just what the doctor ordered for bakers with extremity injuries.

     --Mike