hmcinorganic's blog

I have been focusing on sourdough to the exclusion of all other breadmaking since May.  I finally decided to make Kaiser Rolls from "bread baker's apprentice." by Reinhart.  This is the first recipe I made when I started trying to become a better "artisan" baker.  We spent a month in Austria in 2006 and loved the bread over there so much that I got this cookbook.  I picked it because of the many good shaping pictures.  I knew I could make good tasting bread but I wanted to move on in my technique to well-shaped bread too.

no real issues today.  I started the pate fermente yesterday, and made the bread in the late morning.  I did a few stretch and folds but then had to leave for a few hours.  It blew the plate off my large  mixing bowl.  Degassed it and shaped it by tying knots as Reinhart shows.  Baked at 450 for 2-3 minutes and then 400 for about 30 more. No steam (but did spray the bread with water before baking) and no baking stone. Nice golden brown color.  I tried to get some sesame seeds to stick but they are really falling off.  I haven't really made much seeded bread;  any tips?  Egg-wash is too fussy for me.  But if thats what it takes, I can do that.

here's a picture.  We just ate one.  mmmmmmmmmmmmm.  very good.  Crisp crust and soft fluffy interior.  smells great.

uh oh!  this happened again!  As usual, my timing for baking was way off.  I tried to fit breadmaking into a very busy day.  Same batch as usual, 123 sourdough with 1/3 of the flour being whole wheat.  I took the dough from the fridge and divided it into 3 batards.  Let rest 20 minutes and shaped into 3 baguettes.  scored with slashes.  The "porcupine" loaf was cut by my 5-y-o daughter. and that one split up the side;  whoops.  I don't think I sealed them well enough, and the porcupine cuts aren't deep enough.  The other 2 are all my fault.  Not sure what happened;  lots of oven spring.  Is this due to underproofing? (note, I am quite pleased with the two loaves, they turned out great!)

the diagonal slashed loaf came out great.  The long lengthwise one less so;  I've seen examples of that on this site, but haven't tried it.  And the porcupine loaf exploded.  crumb shot when it cools if I can wait that long......

I haven't made bread in a while;  busy at work and home.  I've been keeping my starter going so yesterday I had some time and threw together my "9's" loaf based on the 123 recipe on this site.  9oz starter, 18 oz water, (9 whole wheat + 9 bread + 9 white flour) and 2 tst salt.  I haven't been getting great gluten development using stretch and fold, so I made this one in the mixer.  Mixed for 4 minutes, let it rest for 30-60 minutes, then four more.  I did 2 stretch and folds over the next 4-8 hours and then let it ferment overnight in the fridge.  I didn't give it long enough to rise this morning before work but threw it in the oven a bit early.  My scoring on the boule is a bit weird.... I was trying to do the tic-tac-toe pattern but cut too deeply I think.  On the batard, the points "melted" off it looks like (I used shears to cut the points).

smells great.  not my best shaping effort though.  rushing.

I again followed the 1-2-3 sourdough recipe but this time, I used 9 oz starter, 18 oz water, and 9 oz whole wheat flour, 9 oz bread flour and 9 oz all purpose flour (I ran out of bread flour).  I mixed until moist and let rest 1-2 hours.  did 3 stretch and folds over several hours and then put it in the fridge for an overnight retard (that ended up being almost 24 hours;  I punched it down after 12).  I shaped it, let it rise covered on the counter for 2 and a half hours or so.  Baked on a stone with steam, 500 °F for 2 minutes and then 450 for 38 more.  Looks good.  Tastes good, but still not what I would call "sour."  Very complex flavor.  Still not getting the big gaping artisan holes, but this loaf gets an A in my book.

I made the Apple cheese braid found in the comments below the blueberry cheese braid post.  I rolled it out and cut it square which made "braiding" it easier.  I made a little mini one withe leftovers and WOW it tastes good!  This is for tomorrow's breakfast.  I may have to hide it from my family, and myself!

picture isn't uploading now.  I'll post later.

I made the 123 sourdough from my starter the other day.  I was amazed and pleased at how this loaf came together.  I don't think I put enough salt in it though, and its not really "sour."  but the starter culture is really vigorous and active, and it is more sour than last time.  I started with 9 oz of starter, 18 of water and 27 of flour, and made two nice loaves.  The crust is thick and chewy, and the crumb is moist, but has small even holes.  No picture of crumb.

I made the dough and kneaded with my mixer for 4-5 minutes, then did a few stretch and folds (2 sets 45 minutes apart) and then let it ferment overnight.  The next morning it was overflowing the bowl!  I shaped it cold and let it rise;  it doubled in size, but that was mostly width, they were very flat. They had good surface tension though;  when I cut them, they split right open.  And, I was amazed at the oven spring;  it rose quite high on the stone.  I baked at 500 °F for 2-3 minutes with steam (3/4-1 cup hot water in a pan) and reduced temp to 450 for about 40 minutes.  The color is great!  I am very happy with this loaf.

This loaf had a lot of crackling, which I've never seen before.  Is this normal?  what causes it?

this is the Italian bread from Bread Bakers Apprentice, made with my Uncle's home grown olive oil.  These loaves were too long for my peel and I had a devil of a time getting them in the oven.  I had to cook them diagonally one at a time.  The 2nd one was dusted with flour before scoring because the first one almost completely deflated when scoring.  This dough was very hard to move around;  it may have over proofed but I had to run some errands.  I try to schedule bread in between all my other activities but sometimes it just doesn't work.  

They cooked up well, and I forgot to turn the oven down on the 2nd loaf from 500 to 450 (as usual) so it cooked in only 20 minutes.  The first took 25 or 30.  Not much oven spring (because of overproofing?)

my shaping is getting better, but I still can't reproduce my breads at all.  They all taste fine, but they are different every time (and no, not only when I make different kinds :) )

I started the rye starter last weekend and it came together quickly and was fermenting away so I decided to try to make a batch this evening.  I also made two boules of french bread, but the dough was not behaving well;  too wet, and they spread sideways.  However, these turned out great!  (I followed the recipe from Bread Bakers Apprentice, basic sourdough):

Nice golden crust.  I like the way these look.  They are a little flat, but not bad.  I meant to do more stretch and folds (I only did one after an initial short round of kneading) but the day got away from me.  I haven't tried the little pointy cuts before; they're fun.

I made the blueberry cheese braid (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/blueberrycreamcheesebraid) today.  Wow, was that good.  here's a pic:

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I also started the rye-starter (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorial) and it is doing very well.  So much bread to make!

here is today's loaf!  it turned out well.  I made the french loaf from "The bread breakers apprentice" but tried the stretch and fold technique instead of kneading.  It worked;  I was amazed.  I put the dough in the fridge overnight and shaped them cold on the counter.  I had a hard time getting them off the counter.  I cooked it at 500 (by accident, forgot to turn it down to 450 when I put the loaves in) with steam.  They didn't rise much after removing them from the fridge, and are a bit misshapen from uneven rising and manhandling them onto my stone. Good oven spring though, and the crust color is great.  I heard them crackling as they cooled, which I've never heard before!  I think I have undercooked them before.  I haven't cut into them yet, but will post a picture later today.