Here is a film I found about a Baker in the UK building up his 'bread business' with his bread and his baking knowledge and sharing it with the community he lives in.

https://vimeo.com/41644972

I had a really rough start trying to get wild yeast to colonize on everything from a bag of NoName All Purpose to grinding some wheat berries into a rough flour in a spice blender and I think I've tried every starter recipe out there including a few from books.  I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong so I sent off a SASE and cleaned the fridge when "Carl" arrived. Accidentally stuffed far in the back neither regions of my refrigerator was a ziplock of rye starter that was forgotten about, so I decided to try and revive that at the same time (I don't know what recipe I used, but its a very stiff starter, more like dough than batter) as Carl. I now have two starters and a kitchen that smells really nice on baking days. Flavour otoh still eludes me and will be working on how to bring out the tang.

I used the Alaskan sourdough recipe over on the Carl Griffith pages and divided the dough into three loaves (two boules and a loaf of cinnamon bread). I think I over proofed the loaves just a wee bit, but its a bit hard for me to tell because I normally jump the gun and under-proof. That day I dared to run an errand while the oven got hot, maybe I need to run errands more often? This time the loaves popped and crackled as they cooled on the rack.

The mouse holes are intentional. I haven't been deflating my dough after the initial mixing and have instead opted to use stretch and folds and a very gentle hand. I'm not sure what it is about this style of slowed down making/proofing/baking, but it makes for a wonderful grilled, or toasted, crumb.

I just wanted to thank everyone here who, without realizing it, has allowed me to pull loaves like these out of my oven. I've learnt a lot from this site.

And, if you think there's room for improvement let me know I'd appreciate the tips.

Today I baked the bread as described on this blog:

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/08/my-new-favorite-sourdough/

I fed my starter yesterday evening, and it had more than doubled in volume this morning. After a quick trip to the local reform store, or "Ekoplaza" as this store is called, for some whole rye flour, I started the dough following the instructions. Made half of the recipe, opting to bake two 500 gram breads. 

Kneading and then S&F during bulk ferment went fine, so I then set up a couche from parchment paper. Shaped into two small batards and proofed for 2.5 hours. I had never really transferred bread from a couche to a peel, but I assumed I had to flip them on something and then put them on the peel, because they were supposed to proof seam-side up. This proved to be a bit of a problem because the dough had sticked to the sides of the couche. Guess I'll be getting me some cloth to use next time, I'm sure that would work better. You simply can't put flour on parchment paper, fold it so the paper is perpendicular to the table and expect it to stick ;). 

Eventually it did work out great though :) :

Edit:

Here are two photo's of the crumb. Didn't make them yesterday because the bread was still cooling. Thanks for the compliments!

I've been wanting to try my hand at making Phil's 100% Whole Wheat Desem bread since it sounded so simple but yet so good.  I had started preparing the Desem starter a while ago but had to abandon it when I went away for business.  I was not thrilled with the way it was turning out anyway so it wasn't a great loss.

I decided to try a different approach for building the starter from my 100% AP White Starter by doing a 3 stage build.  For the first build I used 50 grams of seed starter, 125 grams Bread Flour (KAF), 75 grams Organic Whole Wheat Flour and 200 grams of water.  I mixed this up and left it out at room temperature overnight for around 10 hours.  I then put it in the refrigerator until that evening when I proceeded to stage 2.  I added 142 grams of Whole Wheat, and 85.4 grams of Water.  I left this out again overnight and put it in the refrigerator until the next evening.

For the third and final build I added another 142 grams of Whole Wheat and 85 grams of water.  I left this out for one more evening and refrigerated it until that evening when I prepared the final dough.

I ended up making a lot more starter than I needed, but it was worth building it up to around 61% hydration as the starter was nice and fruity and ready to go to work!

Please see Phil's original recipe for the formula and his original procedures here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27999/honest-bread-100-wholewheat-desem-bread-and-some-country-bread.  I decided to change his procedures by using my Bosche Mixer as follows:

After the flour autolyes for 1 hour I added the levain and mixed on speed #1 for 1 minute and #2 for 4 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  I then did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and put it in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours I formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

The dough lived up to all of its good press and had a nice slightly sour/sweet taste.  I have been eating it all week and it makes great toast!

For about two months, I had had my sourdough starter sitting on the kitchen counter covered with a kitchen towel. Last week, when I finally found time to look at it again, it looked like a dry cracker cookie. 

I had no idea if I could still restore the starter or not, but I decided to give it a try.

I added some water to dilute the dried starter. When most of the starter had turned into a milk-like fluid, I removed the remaining pieces of dry dough and added just enough flour to get it back to the normal consistency of my starter (at 100% hydration, 50/50 full grain and all purpose flour). I then left the starter on the kitchen counter and waited. The next morning, the starter was full of life!

Just look at this before and after photo:

After a couple of days of daily feeding cycles, I finally had the time to try to bake something with the starter.

--

About two weeks ago, I visited Viipurilainen kotileipomo, a family run bakery in Lahti, about 100 kilometers from Vantaa where I live to meet with the bakers and see how they work on their full-grain rye bread (among other things). The four baking brothers I met that night where some of the friendliest people I have ever met, and their rye "limppu" is delicious! So, inspired by seeing them at work, although I didn't ask for their recipe, I decided to try my luck with creating my own version of this Finnish tradition called "ruislimppu." 

At about the same time as I started reviving my old wheat starter, I created a 100% rye starter by mixing a handful of dark rye flour and some water. I didn't write down the exact measurements but it resulted in a rather wet and sticky dough to start with. I fed the starter daily, slowly increasing the mass of the dough, until it felt really sour and light. Ready for use. That was the night before the bake. Last week's Saturday. 

On that night, I made the rye "limppu" dough by mixing the starter with about 1.5 kilograms of rye flour and 1 kilograms of water. As I don't know the amount of flour and water in the starter, I can't give exact figures. I will try to be more exact the next time I make this bread... I didn't knead the dough at this point, just mixed the ingredients to a consistent mass. 

On Sunday morning, I mixed in the salt and did a very brief kneading for the dough. The dough was quite wet and it was practically impossible to knead, so I didn't spend much time on it. At the same time, I also prepared a batch of my favorite dough for two loaves of Basic Country Bread from Tartine Bread. 

I was baking for most of the day, and here are the results. I'm pretty happy with them: even the rye limppu tastes right. The rye loaves could be a bit lighter (it's definitely denser and flatter than the one from Viipurilainen kotileipomo), but that's not necessarily a requirement: most of the time they look just like this when you buy them from Finnish grocery stores: dense and dark, but full of flavor (especially with a thick layer of real, creamy butter on top!).

Basic Country Bread:

Rye Limppu:

I've never been good at math but decided to make a bakers formula spreadsheet based on the Bread Bakers Guild format. This in order to make it easier for me to work with bakers formulas. 

Now that I'm ready for baking with it, I'm just looking for a confirmation that what I'm doing is right. Below is the formula with which I want to bake this weekend. It's a basic 2-stage levain/sourdough formula using white wheat flour only. The goal is 1,5 kg of dough (1501 grams to be exact) with 25% levain/sourdough starter at 100% hydration.

The thing that still brings some doubt to my mind is wether or not it is correct to add 452 grams of levain/sourdough starter to my final dough (or should it only be 226 grams??).

Oh, and for those who want a copy of the Excel spreadsheet, just send me a message with your email adress and I will mail it to you.

Cheers,

Juergen

I've made similar bread with cheese and potatoes before, but this time I added  some Durum Semolina flour to the starter and I smoked a sweet Vidalia onion and some baby red potatoes as well.

I like to work with fairly high hydration doughs and this was no exception coming in at 75% hydration.

The resulting bread was an irresistible bread good enough to eat by itself.  I believe the corresponding photos speak for themselves.  If you like a nice moist bread oozing with a slightly spicy cheese and smoked onions then I highly recommend you give this one a try!

Starter

142 gms Bread Flour (KAF)

85 gms Durum Semolina (KAF)

71 gms Seed Starter (65% White Starter recently refreshed)

151.5 gms Water (90 degrees F.)

Final Dough Ingredients

425 gms Starter from above (Should be all of the starter)

113 gms Whole Wheat (I use King Arthur Flour)

226 gms Bread Flour from KAF

58 gms Organic Cracked Wheat

152 gms roasted or barbecued  Potatoes (I smashed them up and left the skin on for some added flavor)

80 gms Chipolte Cheddar Cheese (I cut the cheese into small cubes)

80 gms Smoked Sweet Style Onions (I smoked them on my barbecue, but feel free to roast them with some olive oil in a pan or your oven)

425 gms Luke warm water, 90 degrees Fahrenheit

18 gms Sea Salt

Directions

The night before, mix the starter ingredients together in a small bowl and let sit loosely covered for 9-10 hours at room temperature.  The starter should be nice and bubbly and should have at least doubled in volume.  Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to use for up to 2 days or use right away.

When ready for the main event, take the starter out of the refrigerator and let it rest for an hour to come up to room temperature.  In the bowl of your mixer break the starter up into 6-10 pieces and add the water.  Mix on low for a minute or less to break up the starter.  You may want to use your hand to make sure it is nice and foamy.  Next add the cracked wheat and then all of the flours.  Mix on low for 2 minutes and then let the dough rest for 15 to 25 minutes covered.

After the autolyse add the potatoes and salt mix on speed number 2 for 3 minutes.  Now add the onions which should be chopped up into small pieces and mix for 1 minute more until they are incorporated into the dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and do about 10 stretch and folds with a dough scraper or your hands but keep them oiled or wet.  Form the dough into a ball and let it rest uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.  Let it rest for another 10 - 15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  The dough should start to develop some gluten at this point.  Let it rest covered again.

Now flatten the dough out into a rough rectangle and add the cheese and form the dough into a ball.   Cover the dough ball again and let it rest.  After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Let the dough sit at room temperature for 2 hours and then put in your refrigerator  for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.  Now shape the dough as desired on a floured work surface being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.

Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes

.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of boiling water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.  Leave the loaves in your oven with the door cracked for 5 minutes longer with the oven off.  After 5

minutes remove them from the oven and place on  your cooling rack.  Try to resist the temptation to cut into the bread until they have cooled sufficiently.

I'm trying to bake a simple pan loaf of bread with 50% whole wheat flour, 25% whole white flour, and 25% rye flour.  I've tried various things to try to get a nice rise and open crumb but every time I bake it the loaf seems to deflate in the oven.  It loses height and pulls away from the side of the pan.  I've tried rising longer, rising less, adding gluten, increasing hydration, hand kneading, folding, machine kneading, rising in the oven with the light on, rising at room temp (~71*), etc.  Any thoughts on what could be going wrong? 

Here is what I'm doing that seemed to work the best:

250g whole white starter at 100% hydration Montana Prarie Gold

235g bottled spring water

250g whole wheat flour King Arthur

125g Rye Hodgson Mill

1 Tbs of vital wheat gluten

2 tsp salt

Mix together all ingredients except salt with a wooden spoon and let sit for 10 mins covered with plastic wrap.  Knead on 2-4 in a kitchenaid for 8-10 min.  Shape into a ball to rest for 15 min in a bowl sprayed with olive oil spray covered with plastic wrap.  Knead in salt to mix it into the dough.  Shape into a ball and rest 1.5 hrs in a bowl sprayed with olive oil spray and cover with plastic wrap.

Shape into a loaf and proof 2.5 hrs in a greased loaf pan in a shoe box.  The dough was about 1.5 inches above the 9x5 loaf pan.

Place in a preheated 375° oven for 45 mins.  Internal temp reached 207°.  The bread deflated to about the level of the pan....maybe a little above.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks.

I know Easter has passed but I needed yet another challenge...

Here I have made the richest Colomba Pasquale of all. One which comes from Italian master baker and Cresci co-author Achille Zoia.

This was even more challenging than the Iginio Massari Panettone I made recently as this has more fat, more sugar and less water!

I only just managed to pull this off! I had some technical problems along the way but it worked out in the end...

Original recipe calls for a pinch of added yeast but I left this out because my sourdough is so very powerful! As a result, the first dough rose bang on schedule at 12hrs. I also felt there wasn't enough salt, so I doubled it to 4grams instead of the 2grams originally called for.

First dough tripled:

Mixing the second dough was problematic. I think I developed too much strength too early which made incorporating all the butter very tricky and I ended up with a slightly greasy dough that lacked extensibility which made shaping a night-mare as you can see...

Shoddy shaping!

Glazed:
 

Inverted overnight:
 

Finished and ready for wrapping. This will mature for a few days to develop its flavours.
 

Adapted recipe:

First dough:

• 63g Lievito Naturale (Italian sourdough)
• 200g '00' Flour
• 80g Water
• 75g Sugar
• 50g Egg Yolks
• 75g Butter

Second dough:

• 50g '00' Flour
• 50g Egg Yolks
• 38g Sugar
• 25g Honey
• 75g Butter
• 5g Cocoa Butter
• 4g Salt
• Aroma Veneziana
• Seeds from half a Vanilla pod
• 125g Candied Orange Peel

Total Ingredients:

Flour 100.0% 292
Water 34.6% 101
Sugar 38.7% 113
Honey 8.6% 25
Yolks 34.2% 100
Fats 53.1% 155
Fruit 42.8% 125
Salt 1.4% 4

The link below is to an article in the UK's Independent newspaper talking about the increase in male home bakers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/dough-nuts-theres-a-new-breed-of-amateur-foodie--men-who-bake-their-own-bread-7707175.html