Ilya Flyamer's blog

I wanted to repeat the same bake, but adjust after seeing the results. I reduced the yeast to slow down the fermentation, and reduced the hydration. Unfortunately, I accidentally overshot the temperature A LOT (I wanted around 25, but got over 30), so the fermentation was very fast even with just 1g IDY, and I only extended bulk by about 30 min. Despite lower hydration, the dough was still surprisingly slack. I wonder if it's just because it started out very warm, or CLAS doesn't strengthen the gluten like regular sourdough does, for some reason. Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1oou

I avoided problems with loading in the oven this time (I actually inverted the loaf directly onto the preheated lid of the Pyrex dish that I use instead of a DO), and it baked up very nicely, with an excellent crumb. Not much difference in flavour I'd say, except I baked it a bit darker, so the crust was more robust.

I wonder why getting such nice even and moderately open crumb is so much easier with CY + CLAS vs SD. I have so little experience using CY, and yet the crumb is basically perfect. While with SD it was always more wild, uneven, and not so reproducible.

Decided to try to make "traditional sourdough" style bread using CLAS and CY. Mostly standard formula, 25% whole wheat, 75% hydration: https://fgbc.dk/1oiv

I used a week-old CLAS from the fridge, and I pre-warmed it before mixing, like recommended for wheat doughs. It contained 5% of all flour for the bread, like recommended for 1st grade or high gluten flour. I reduced the yeast from recommended just a touch, since I didn't want to open a new packet, so 2.4g instead of 3 g IDY.

The dough felt just a little overhydrated, which surprised me, normally the bread flour I have can take up to 80% hydration, although the whole wheat flour I used is much more sensitive to water content. I wonder if the recent rainy weather here increased the humidity... Anyway, fermented it at 25°C, and after three sets of folds within the first 2 hours it had good strength, and was already quite active. I left it for 1 more hour where it increased in size a lot and had a lot gas trapped inside. I shaped it very gently, and probably too gently - I should have made the structure a little more robust, since after proofing the dough flattened out a bit more than I would have liked when turned out on the peel. Oven spring would have saved that though - if a little spot on the loaf didn't get stuck to the peel and got folded under the rest of the loaf! As we say in Russian, "never happened before, but here we go again". Anyway, it still rose nicely in the oven and the bread looks not too shabby. Would have been great if not for this stupid mistake.

The crumb is fantastic, relatively open, yet mostly even. Getting close to the "lacy" territory, not quite there yet. However, there are clear differences from what I would expect from a similar bread using regular sourdough (which might be explained by too much hydration?..). The crust is thinner, and almost completely lost the crispness more quickly. And I don't really detect any sourness in the taste. The crumb is also softer than I am used to. So I wonder if I would prefer higher % of CLAS in this style of bread, perhaps 8% PFF like recommended for whole grain wheat? Or maybe my young CLAS needed a refreshment (which I did this night after baking). Or should I just reduce the yeast and give LABs more time? What I think too though is that the smell is nicely more "bready"!

And now I wish I had a pH meter to compare acidity objectively from the two different methods...

PS

Just checked on my refreshed CLAS and it exploded during the night spilling out of the container! The temperature was right as far as I can tell (I didn't get up and check during the night, but it started right, and was right now - and smells right too), so must be bacterial CO2 production. Need to find a bigger container... I wonder what this change in behavior means, if anything.

Wanted to try something enriched with CLAS, and followed Rus Brot's interpretation of a 1940 Russian recipe for schneiken, meaning "snails" aka rolls - originally German in origin, as you might have guessed. Here is the formula with minimal instructions, since the video is only in Russian: https://fgbc.dk/1ofj

It's a very fast dough since it's based on CY, and yet CLAS adds the touch of acidity and complexity. Can't really say how it compares to traditional SD or just CY, but they are good like this, despite my rolling them out too thinly which caused a slightly towering look instead of more flat and thick rolls.

Here they are just out of the oven:

And this is one of them after covering with some sugar glaze:

The bottoms burnt a little bit, probably because I have a steel instead of a stone, even though I used 10°C lower baking temp than in the recipe. And they bake super quickly, in around 10 min!

Continuing my CLAS experiments, made a whole spelt bread with seeds, following Rus Brot's recipe again, with a large/long pre-ferment, and very quick and warm bulk and final proof. Only uses a tiny amount of yeast (0.15% IDY of total flour). Recipe here. Here is my formula https://fgbc.dk/1ode (I used linseeds in place of sunflower seeds, that's what I had; also wanted to finish the last few grams from the bag of spelt flour, so added just a little more in the final dough).

I think I could have final proofed for just a few more minutes, the loaf got a little tear on top. Very tasty bread though! No hint of apple flavour from a little pureed apple. Almost moist crumb, and very soft. Nutty flavour, both from the seeds and the whole spelt. And I don't know if it's because I'm expecting this from CLAS, but again I feel like the aroma is also just a little more "bready" than normally! But I am not really used to whole spelt bread, so not the best bread to judge probably...

And I probably should have baked a little longer for a more caramelized crust, not sure why I didn't just leave it in longer.

As I mentioned in comments over the last few days a couple of times, I was making a CLAS starter. In case some people missed Yippee's posts about it, CLAS stands for "concentrated lactic acid sourdough", and it's just like a regular starter - except it doesn't have yeast, only LABs. I made it using whole rye flour, diastatic malt powder, a little vinegar, water by inubating at ~40°C, where LABs are happy, but yeast are suppressed. Vinegar creates a low pH to prevent growth of unwanted bacteria. Access to oxygen is also restricted with the same purpose. While CLAS has been around for a while, the easy application of this type of sourdough has been extensively covered and popularized by Rus Brot, and he even has a web page about it in English: http://brotgost.blogspot.com/p/clas.html

The advantage is separation of souring and lifting powers (lift is provided by commercial yeast, and  souring, critical in particular to rye bread, is provided by CLAS). In addition, while I didn't use it this time, overnight refreshment of CLAS and simultaneous scalding really simplifies scheduling for scalded dough, which otherwise takes basically the whole day.

My CLAS didn't smell quite right after building (I only had diastatic barley malt, not diastatic rye malt, could be because of that): it had very prominent fruity notes which it shouldn't have. So I refreshed it once, and then the fruity aromas were gone and it was ready to use. I followed this recipe for all whole grain rye bread with a scald and including raisins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpAfPmKkn_Q&list=PLrSg5cYpPtU96v2LWR9rETxWDEHe3iIcj&index=36

Since I was testing my new CLAS, I decided to halve the recipe just in case something goes wrong. I also forgot to add caraway seeds :( Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1o2h Normally it would include 2g caraway seeds in the scald (this is for my half-sized recipe). I also used mostly new flour that I haven't used before (Polish whole rye), and I think it was much more thirsty than what I am used to, and what Rus used, and I slightly underhydrated it in the end: when shaping the dough was stiffer than I expected and what I see in the video, and the final bread seems a little less soft than Rus shows. Half of the recipe made a little neat loaf, I shaped it quite long and thin.

The flavour is really-really nice. I don't know if it's the new flour or the CLAS, but I think the flavour of the bread itself is a little fuller and more complex than I previously experienced (different recipe too, of course), and addition of raisins makes it an almost dessert bread. Delicious. The bottom crust is deeply caramelized from baking on the steel (but not burnt), which actually adds nice flavour and texture contrast.

Finally decided to take the plunge and make a 100% whole wheat bread. I used the Balcaskie landrace flour from Scotland the Bread. Here is the formula I used, with 81% hydration and a little honey: https://fgbc.dk/1nmi

I thought 81% hydration was low for purely whole grain dough, and was ready to add more water, but it turned out if anything, it was too much! The dough at first felt almost like rye, or like porridge - no structure at all. With a bit of time and a few gentle folds it got a little strength, but it was barely enough to even shape as a pan loaf. When in the pan, I let it almost double, at which point placed in the fridge since I had to go out for some time. I was actually worried I had overproofed it, since with such weak dough doubling might be a bit ambitious, and the dough had a few pinholes on top - like rye does when it's ready to bake. After a couple hours in the fridge I preheated the oven and baked with steam.

Essentially had no oven spring, just enough to smooth out the top. The result was surprisingly good! Very tasty, and a nice crumb structure. No bitterness like one can get with whole wheat dough. The only thing is deeper into the loaf it has a bit of a tunnel on top, I am not sure what could have caused that:

Regardless, the flavour is really nice and I am happy with my first 100% whole wheat bread :)

I've made pitas a few times, but never posted here. Freshly baked pitas are absolutely delicious, I never knew they could be so tasty when I used to have them from the supermarket.

Basically, I make them using sourdough, with 20% whole grain (and I think I've only used spelt in this case), and 65% hydration, some olive oil and a bit of sugar. Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1m2j

I mix all ingredients except for oil and develop a little strength, and then knead in the oil. I doubt it's really necessary and the oil can probably be kneaded from the beginning with no problems. I then let it rise until nicely puffy, and due to the nature of this bread there is no specific volume increase or any other target - just until looks and feels good. Then, since I mostly use them for breakfast with hummus, I just put the dough in the fridge until morning. In the morning I start by turning on the oven with the baking steel in and preheat on the highest temperature for about 30 min. While it's preheating, I scale and ball up the needed amount of pitas (the formula above makes about 8 generously sized 115 g pitas). If I feel like it and have enough space in the container, I might ball up all of the dough and put extra balls back in the fridge to save time next day. The dough keeps in the fridge exceptionally well, I've certainly kept it for 3 days with no issues.

After 15-20 min of preheating, I roll out the pitas into thin rounds (or whatever shape I manage). From reading some old discussions here and from my experience, nice balling up like for pizza, and careful rolling out is very important for good inflation. Letting the dough rest at either the ball or the flat stage also helps a lot, and for me roughly 30 min total time works well. When ready to eat, I just place one or two pitas on the steel at a time and switch on the grill. Then hopefully the pitas puff up like balloons, and the top gets a little nice browning from the grill (but it is easy to overcook them and make the top too dry). Here is a video of the cooking in real time: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dPH1Mn74NrhHwUSq7 (I started it a few seconds after placing the dough on the steel, and the time needed to turn on the camera already was enough for a lot of bubbling!). (The picture on top is from a different batch a while ago.) The flavour is fantastic.

The only minor issue is that I get a much thinner and less fluffy inside top relative to the bottom of the pita, like so:

I wonder what I could do to make them more even? I am really happy with the results every time nevertheless.

As a bonus, it seems cooking them on the grates instead of the steel produces Greek-style pitas, which are more fluffy and don't have a pocket. But that needs more experimentation, I've only done this once when I brought this dough to a barbecue hoping to cook on the grill, but due to weather it was moved indoors and I cooked on the grates in a gas grill oven.

Combined the Swiss Farmhouse recipe with ideas from https://www.baked-theblog.com/cinnamon-raisin-sourdough-bread/ and some of my own inspiration, to get to this formula with about 40% whole grain, including mostly wheat and also a little rye and barley (beremeal), with 75% hydration: https://fgbc.dk/1n44

Mixed everything except inclusions , left for a few minutes, and then kneaded until somewhat smoothed out. Left for about 45 min, and then "laminated" and included raisins (pre-soaked, and I used the soaking liquid as part of the water in the recipe) and walnuts. Then left to bulk at 28-30C in a straight sided container. Then I had a long work meeting, and by the end of it the dough at least doubled in volume, maybe even a little more! Don't believe when people say cinnamon slows fermentation. Anyway, I preshaped, and then shaped it, and retarded overnight, then baked in the morning. I got barely any oven spring, but with the amount of inclusions and appreciable amount of whole grain it might be not surprising.

The bread is really tasty. Nice sweetness from raisins complemented by cinnamon and walnuts, and very good flavour form whole grains. The crumb is moist and surprisingly soft. Great with butter, or with some sharp cheese. Very pleased with the result, just what I wanted.

Wanted to make a mostly white sourdough with just around 11% whole grain flour (mostly wheat and a tiny bit of rye from the starter) and bread flour for the most part (mix about half-half of 12.3% and 13% protein) for a barbecue/picnic today. Wanted to try for a more open crumb with 80% hydration. Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1mrr

Build levain at 9 am, mixed the dough at ~7 pm (it had risen and then fallen), developed gluten to medium development, did a couple of folds, and left to ferment at about 28°C for about 4 hours. Dough was super light, airy and strong, very pleasant. Gently preshaped, left to relax and then shaped. Coated with sesame seeds (less successfully than usual, maybe used a little to much flour on the outside? - but also the dough felt less sticky than it usually does for me) and retarded overnight. Had a small issue with the boule when loading into the oven - one spot got stuck to the peel and it deformed and deflated a little - but somehow miraculously recovered its shape perfectly during bake. Because of the flattening of the boule on particular they touched in the oven :( But I separated them easily after removing the steam setup. Baked up very nicely, with good oven spring, but not explosive, so I'm hoping they were fermented well and the crumb will be nice and on the open side. Will cut later today at the bbq, and hopefully will manage to take a picture.

Here is the crumb shot from the picnic

It was really delicious, very soft, sort of creamy, almost moist crumb. Crust lost the crispness while I transported it, but softer crust maybe worked even better for the setting.

To continue the story of milk/sandwich bread, I decided to change it all up, and tried using semolina in the dough, to finally add an egg, increase the hydration (~70%), and do a double rise. Also made two loaves, but each was much smaller. Due to scheduling, I had to do a long retard too. Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1moj

I made the dough late afternoon, left for a few minutes to hydrate, kneaded with slap and folds and thenand let it rise about 40% (in a straight sided container) at 28°C. Then it was late, and I shaped it and retarded until next evening, when I took them out of the fridge and proofed at 28°C again until about double in size. Brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds on top. Baked at 180°C on the lowest rack with top and bottom heat. Barely any oven spring, essentially just enough to smooth out any irregularities in the shape of the loaves.

I love their look and the colour from semolina, and the crumb is just a little more open due to higher hydration. Not sure the higher hydration is worth it for this style of bread (tbh I just wanted to finish the bottle of milk we had and decided to try and see what happens if I don't adjust the flour, not specifically planned this), but I'd say the crumb is still sufficiently tight for PB&Js, for example. And the flavour is great. The semolina adds a little bit of that nuttiness, which is nice, although it somewhat disappears into background when using strong flavours for toppings. And a little sprinkle of sesame seeds is a nice addition!