Some days you should just start over-
Some days you should just go back to bed and start over. I'm in the process of trying to make Hamelman's cinnamon oatmeal raisin bread (modified with sourdough starter). While building the final dough I noted that the water on the scale seemed to be an enormous amount. So much so that I even grabbed another container, re-tared the scale and reweighed it. No, it seems to weigh out fine.
Final dough ends up looking like thin pancake batter. About 3kgs of it!! I'm not sure what I did wrong, not enough flour or too much water but I've been slowly adding more flour for that past hour. I'm wondering if my scale locked up or something? This is going to be one enormous batch of dough!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can work this out. Would have to happen on a recipe that is more complicated than flour, water and salt, wouldn't it? Now I'm wondering how much I should up the raisins and cinnamon, if I should add more oil/honey.
At least the fresh ground whole wheat flour (first time using the grinder) looks and smells wonderful. Can't wait to try it. Hope I haven't totally mucked it up.
Comments
I doubled checked the numbers and the water does add up to 62.5% hydration. Something went awry as it shouldn't be like pancake batter at that low hydration. Are you using high gluten flour?
I learned the hard way to always use mise en place with Bread, and to place a ruler beneath the measurement for each ingredient.
The one time I didn't, I ruined two pounds of Sir Lancelot flour by mixing up the salt and yeast measurements. I still kick myself over the waste of that flour.
Hope you post on the end result. It may not be pretty, but am sure it will be tasty!
Thanks for even checking behind me yourself. The high gluten flour is bulk from the health food store but I've used it frequently in JH's formulas and always had success, even in this recipe. This is usually such an easy recipe too, although I've never made all three loaves like this.
I agree, should mise en place. It's just that with my RV I have literally no counterspace so it's very hard to have a place for everything. I'm juggling to even get my book, bowl and scale in place, I have to balance my bowl on the stove where it wobbles on the grates.
I kept looking at that bowl of water and thinking, this is just not right. Went back to the book and double checked, poured into another bowl and reweighed. I should have powered the scale off and turned it back on. I kept telling myself it was just because I was making three loaves that it looked like a lot.
What I shouldn't have done is poured the whole bowl into my flours! Well, I strengthened it up quite a bit with the rest of my HGF, ground some more WWF and added some oatmeal to act as a sponge. Did a ton of folds and let it sit for awhile.
I finally got fed up with it and stuck it into the house fridge. (we still have one fridge running even though we can't use the house)
I'll look at it again tomorrow morning when I get off work.
At least my volkornbrot turned out!!
They are soaker uppers! I've got my rye arising with chopped pumpkin seeds.
Did you subtract the starter water from the recipe water?
Mini-we have such similar minds. Yes and yes. Did that and that. Thanks! And the volkornbrot turned out awesome. I had to eat some this morning. I love the additon of rye meal/chops and flaxseeds.
I couldn't find any orange zest so that will have to wait for next loaf. Pumpkin seeds sound good. I'm thinking millet too.
What fruits do you like in it?
You got the dry air... so it's easy to dry some diced fruit and let them firm up a bit before mixing them in. Apples, pears, shredded carrots, got anything local you could use? Jicama or something?
I could picture you out barefoot picking off your zest tree trying not to wake up the night.
Mini
Yes, but I'll probably be stepping in dog poo since they like to go on that side of the yard. Yuck. I do tend to traipse out with a flashlight to find lemons at night though. Or a habanero, lettuce, whatever is needed.
Hmm, I'll have to add dry raisins and use the soaked ones for something else. Good idea.
I'm hoping dry air and a little time in the fridge will dry it out. I'll look at it tomorrow morning after I'm less tired and hopefully less sick. Maybe it will look different by then.
Not thinking habanero would go good in rye or cinnamon raisin bread though. Although habanero gold jelly would be great on sourdough whole wheat. Hmm. Maybe basil? Oregano?
My fennel is gone for the season. Squash isn't ready yet and I think jicama is a winter crop but I havnen't tried it yet.
Speaking of which, do you grow borage and nastiturtiums? They're sort of Austrian, aren't they? I'm thinking of trying them this winter. I've seen some yummy salads and other recipes with them. Now, I'm waiting to get into the house to try violet jam. That will go good with my bread, me thinks!
I guess if all else fails I could use this as a giant starter to bake about 25 loaves tomorrow. Heck, I've got 50 lbs of wheat berries, minus what I ground to make this batch of dough. I've got about 20lbs of oat groats. I bet oat groats would soak up a lot of water too.
Maybe I'll just have to fill that freezer up with a whole bunch of CROB.
More to come in the saga of the dough mass. Will it be cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread? 3 loaves, 6 loaves, 25 loaves? Will it be compost, dog cookies? Will it be habanero/jicama bread? Will it take over Arizona? Will it take over the North American Continent?
Should she open the fridge in the morning? What will happen in the next episode of-
The CROB!!!!!!
LOAFZILLA!
I'd love to see the end of it.
MEbake
I was thinking about baking the whole think in the steel pot just to kill the beasties. I'm scared. I've seen that movie about the worms under the Arizona desert. I've also seen that move Evolution. There are weird things that live and mutate in Arizona.
Perhaps I should fold some cinnamon/raison and brown sugar right into the dough and throw that steel pot into the oven. But wait, I don't even know if it's still in it's pot. It could have gotten out. Could it have pushed the door of the fridge open? Dang, now I'm almost afraid to go in the house.
Good thing I can still hear the little chihuahua barking in the backyard. At least I know he hasn't been engulfed by dough yet. But, is he barking at the dough? Is that a normal "come get me, I hate being outside more than 1 minute to potty bark" or is it a "help, there's a giant blob eating the doberman and overtaking the tomatoe garden" frantic type of bark?
Maybe I should have the hubby open the front door to the house first and take a peek inside. But, he's weakened by recent surgery. That's it. I'M GOING IN. I'M TAKING THE GLOCK AND GOING IN TO GRAB THE CROB BEFORE IT TAKES ALL OF US!!
What kind of medicine you're on for your cold. Does it contain any warnings about operating dangerous bread baking equipment? Must be great stuff!
In reference to the picture, that can't be sourdough, it's doing nothing for our complexions! Although I do see some ears!
As long as we have dandruff shampoo, we can defend ourselves!
Mini