New baker- Any criticism?
Hello all,
I am fairly new to baking and have been baking extensively for about 2 months. I took a 3 day Parisian bread class at fci and have been practicing many of the recipes at home. My KA mixer only lasted 2 weeks before I fried the gear, was able to repair it, but no longer use it for dough mixing. I replaced it with a Centaur 110 mixer and have been very happy since.
Since I've been only baking for two months, I would really appreciate ti if any experience baker can peruse my pics and offer any advice on what I can improve on.
I have done French baguettes with Poolish, Brioche, Fougasse aux Olives, bordelais, NY bagels, soft pretzels, Bialy's, brioche donuts.
Video of the crust and crumb of my baguettes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slp8rLTGgkU
I hope to learn from all your criticism and advice. Thank You.
.
Overall, you've been baking up a storm and doing a wonderful job!
Details: the epis strike me as slightly overproofed, the pretzels need more color (could be the light) and the baguettes could use the youtube video posted yesterday about slashing. Those are all easily corrected minor things you can take care of in a jiffy. :)
Looks really tasty! Darn, I should have eaten first before popping in here, my stomach is rumbling intensively now! Lol
Thank you mini oven. great link on the slashing, I will do another batch and score them as shown on that link. Also the pretzels are not classic, they are more like auntie annie style soft and I used a baking soda bath. I have another recipe which is more of the classic German pretzels where I use lye for the bath. Will do those a batch of those and will post some pics.
Also, what is an epis? Yes, I have been baking up a storm, prior to those 50 lbs bags, I have use up 45 lbs.
Plural for epi.
Soda pretzels ... my tip... let the cold shaped dough rise in the slightly warm soda water for 20 minutes and then remove to a baking tray. World of difference! I like to saturate the soda water to the point of having some soda still on the bottom. Stir lightly to prevent sticking. But if you got lye... :)
I really enjoy the shamrock score on your boule! Or is that the Spanish Cross? Lovely!
Totally unintentional on the scoring of the brodelais, but am happy the way it came out. Spanish armada cross I guess lol.
As for lye, I seemed to have thought i would bake a gazillion pretzels and decided to order 2 lbs of it. I know, overkill.
Wow - where did you purchase the 50 lb bags of King Arthur?
I'm stunned at your output in just 2 months--do you ever sleep???? ;o)
You're doing a good job there--I hope you're having as much fun as it looks like.
Thank you. I seemed to have gotten the baking bug, and bake about 3-4 times a week. I love baking and tried to practice as much as I can each time, getting closer and closer to a better bread. Still need to work on the proofing stage of the bordelais so that the spring is not as much when baking causing those ugly rips. I guess it's not ugly, it's rustic. lol
Now, having seen the link on proper baguette scoring as per mini oven's link, I have the need to bake them again. by far the hardest of all the bread to master. I have tried several methods to try and recreate the crusty crunch produced by commercial steam injection at home, did the heavy stainless stell metal on cast iron sprinkled with a handful of ice, lava rocks on a pan sprinkled with ice, and finally, the one that works best for me is the steam tray cover using a steam cleaner. Which was selling for $150-200 bucks, so I made my own at a cost of $70, all of which was purchased on amazon.
As for fun, yes I am very much so. I lay awake at night thinking what bread am baking tomorrow, what time do I have to prepare the poolish in order to bake at what time. What would it taste like if a wrap a prosciutto on a bial stick, etc etc. I might need an intervention, but my friends are afraid to tell me for fear of being cut off from their weekly supply of bread. lol
Thank you all for the comments and advice. I wish to learn from all of you. Next step for me would be to tackle my mortal enemy, "croissants".
Nice work. Many experienced bakers would be happy with those loaves.
Glenn
How many people does that hamburger feed? Wow!
cheers,
gary
About 6 people with hawaiian appetite.