Positives and Negatives!

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trailrunner on 18 May 2025 at 17:01
Pullman

Well I’m impressed that it’s not a disaster and I learned a LOT along the way. 

Never change too many things with a bake at once. CHECK! ( ignored)

Never try to multitask to the point of complete forgetfulness. CHECK! ( ignored) 

Be grateful that even though everything went awry the bread is wonderful . CHECK!!!!

I prefermented 300g out of 700 g flour . Bennie’s posting made me do it. Wow… look at that open crumb! 

I made a Yudane… never ever again. It hates me and I hate it. Tiny lumps . The white streaks are because I did the whole grains first then added the Bread flour component . No idea why, let’s call it a swirl loaf! CHECK!

The temp for the oven was set by my husband , small misunderstanding… and I was making tortillas as well as gardening. Excuses!! 

It’s an amazing loaf. So wet impossible to deal with it except as a “ plop” into pan no bulk single rise . I’ve done this before , on purpose, so I at least knew the road I was heading down . 

It’s perfection! Flavor, crumb, and this crust!!! Ignore the white streaks. It tastes terrific. 

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. It’s truly a delicious loaf. Caramelized crust is delicious! 

I didn’t bother to post ingredients but it’s the usual Stardust, Danko rye, Spelt and Arrowhead BF, Trinity. That’s it. 

The method wins again! It's hard to go wrong, isn't it? Mix, stir or fold, plop.  Good looking loaf, Caroline. The yudane may (probably did) add to the flavor. How much water did you add to how much flour for it?

TomP

300g boiling water to 60g Arrowhead BP. I beat it like crazy and then used whisk more and more. The tiny tiny lumps disappeared, since I don’t see them. Of course there’s the creative “ swirl”. 😳

Reduce size of photo so loaf doesn’t appear to be on the ceiling (ignore:)

That’s the holiest loaf I have ever seen from you Caroline. The streaks look like puffy clouds.  I’m going to try the 40%PFF on my next bake and I hope it comes out with extra flavor and more holes like yours but sans lid of course because I’ve lost mine. 
D


it just turned the photo . Oh well .
Among several things lol. Puffy clouds… that’s nice. 

I’ve lost my “ lid” too haha. I’ll get my attention span back soon I hope! 

Tortillas were amazing! I used tap water! Forgot to use hot water. Best I’ve ever made!!! They puffed and made this fabulous pocket. 

Funny about mistakes

my share of mistakes lately and not as capable at multi tasking as I thought I was. Maybe it’s all the pollen everywhere right now. That’s why this simpler more flexible approach to bread making is so appealing right now.

I am mixing up a loaf with 40%PFF just now to see if it can work for me as well as it has for you and Benny. I  will post it when finished unless I forget something and botch it. 
The bread looks better on the wall than the ceiling by the way;)

onto the wall or ceiling! I am so glad I’ve experimented for so many years with bread dough. I’ve only discarded 2 batches since 1976! There’s almost always a way and this formula has to be the most ridiculously easy stir forget bake formula to date. 

I do mise en place so I don’t forget ingredients and find that saves me a lot of grief. 

I look forward to seeing your bake. 

Bread comedy 😂.

Thank you, You gave me a good laugh 😆.  I’ve had a few distracted bakes lately including forgetting to lower the oven temp for almost 30 minutes and burning the bread to taking the dough bucket out to do a S &F and forgetting to put it back in the proofer.

Your bread came out wonderful even with your slight mishaps.  
Happy baking!

Ian

I live to provide humor to all you serious bakers on TFL! 

The bread is indeed terrific! We’ve had sandwiches and toast. Can’t see the clouds when toasted . ( somewhere in that statement is a joke as well). 

I need to do a post on the Masienda Corn Masa Tortillas . I used room temperature water without thinking. I also increased weight to 60 g of dough for each. The dough felt wonderful as I was kneading it . Everything online stated they would be hard and dry if I didn’t use very hot / boiling water to bloom the flour. Not so in fact completely wrong. They were way better, softer and puffed more and actually made very definite layers/ a pocket on every one. The added benefit was the extras reheated beautifully the next day which the others never do. So there you go positives and negatives! 

🙏 c

My corn tortillas are never flexible enough.  I'll try going back to cold water.  Even though they don't fold over without cracking, fresh they are so much better than store-bought ones, even from latino markets, that I can't stand eating the ones from stores any more. And if they crack too much, they make fabulous enchiladas - I like New Mexico flat enchiladas, where you lay up the tortillas flat with the fillings as if you were making a lasagna.

I used room temp not cold . I usually use very hot. I’ve never had any not be soft. I use a packed measuring cup of Masienda brand masa and then the same measurement of water that the cup holds + a little more as needed not much though. It’s like a perfect playdo consistency and I knead about 5-10 min. Then I put it away in a covered container at room temperature til ready to press . I weigh out 60 g and I have the heavy metal press from Masienda which requires almost no pressing … one press and flip and light press should be 5-6” across  . The comal is pretty hot but not what they show online. That’s too hot as far as I am concerned. 60 seconds flip 60 seconds and press hard when flip 3rd time for about 30 seconds. Should easily puff . Mine never get browned if they do it’s too hot. Press between cut plastic bag . Hope this helps I can make and send a video!!!! 

I get the consistency and give it a rest.  Maybe mine are too thick.  I press them out by pushing down on a glass pie dish; I don't have an actual press. They seem thin enough but maybe they aren't quite. Mine come out soft but crack when folded too tightly.  Also they don't puff.

I used to use a scale but now mine are accurate as far as moisture and flexibility and so I just wing it. Try weighing and see if you can fine tune the hydration. Also getting them cooked through was an issue and I thought thinner was better but it was length of time so I really increased  from 30 to 40 to 60 seconds per side x 3 flips but not as hot so they don’t brown. Also  not sure what pan you use. I sprung for a black steel comal. They had very mixed reviews but it was completely because folks weren’t seasoning it the correct way. Cooking bacon, burgers fatty anything and leaving the fat on and setting it on the heat with the remaining fat on it for low heat long times then at room temp with the fat on for days then cleaning only with hot water like I do my cast iron. 

Anyway I did spend a lot of $ but after a lot of trial and error I’m so pleased. 

The Made In quit making the black steel comal due to so many complaints. But part of it is their fault trying to sell a product to coat it. You have to treat it like cast iron and use it a lot with oil . Anyway try changing the hydration a bit and the heat and length of time cooking . Remember to press really hard to get it to puff on 3rd flip

Recent reviews with pictures are terrible. De Buyer is now Chinese not made in Nova Scotia. Oh well.