November 28, 2015 - 4:05am
Some animated images of the first phase of the process of making bread
Good morning The Fresh Loaf! Some animated images of my last batch: the moment I enjoy being in : mixing flour, water, yeast and salt. It's here on my Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/147044026
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just to watch. Sorry. I don't want to upset but the dough looks rather dry half way through the 3 minutes. Too much fussing around the edges of the dough instead of working the dough itself. How long does it take to mix the dough, to get all the dry flour moistened? It didn't look completely moistened at the end of the video. Nice sharp scraper, how about a few chops into the flour to help mix?
Instead of just chucking the yeasted water onto all of the flour... what about making a well in the middle for the water and then work in the flour starting from the middle. Try it. By the time you get to the outside flour, the bin will also look rather clean and no time is wasted scraping down the outside walls of the container. :)
On the contrary, even if it doesn't seem to be the case, the dough was moistened, not dry. But it's the first phase of the process and I didn't put a lot of water into the flour: the proportions were (in french) about 320 ml of water for 500 g of flour instead of 330 ml of water. Thanks for your suggestions!
... and in my experience, it's not about working the dough by beating it, but folding it several times, once an hour, slowly and smoothly, which is not very to do with a high hydration dough.
Read: "... which is not very EASY..."
Hello! I enjoyed watching your video as it is always interesting to see everyone's different techniques. I have to admit that the dough did appear rather dry at first, but by the end it did seem to be consistent for your dough hydration which I calculate to be 64% which is not particularly high. I would be very interested in seeing pictures of the final loaves!
The fact is that I don't work with a high hydration dough. Those are some pictures I took recently and post on my blog : http://www.dominiquerenauld.net/journal-1/18/10/2015/tqqrifn28on2cpw07yyt1iz4pzlmgw
and hot pictures too! :)
I work with an assortment of dough hydrations. Are you saying that you don't knead the dough at all with your hands, which is in essence a lot of folding in a shorter period of time? Is this minimal handling for hydrating flour? If so, what can be achieved by minimal handling? Is the salt in the water or the flour? I would think with this method, it is dispersed in the water like the yeast.
I beg your pardon, but... what is a WFO? I learnt (and go on learning) how to bake and make bread without kneading it... too much. It means indeed that I just fold it several times once an hour during about 6 or 7 hours. It depends on the beginning of my batch, if I begin in the morning or in the evening. In this way, I obtain a consistent but very airy dough without too many holes. I put the salt in the flour and mix it in. I try to obtain something which is close to that kind of folding : https://youtu.be/8B_7AFYmkYo
a WFO is a Wood Fired Oven. Lovely video. Unfortunately, French is not one of my languages so I am wondering what, other than temperature is going on with the large glass bottles of water?
Was glad to see the sieve after seeing the sea salt, to remove rocks and sand. I do enjoy watching dough being made in a large trough. Flour in the trough (fun!) salt water in the middle, then part of the flour is hydrated, then the sourdough gets added while dough is a heavy batter, then the rest of the flour.
The height of the oven is interesting to me as I am working on plans for an oven elevation. The height of the door seems to be the height of the baker's nose. :) I am sure the oven is much older than the baker but an interesting height. What do you think the perfect height should be for a healthy baker's back and posture?
I think that the method of folding is more to fit the size of the batch, so it is less strain on the baker. For smaller batches, like for one or two loaves, doesn't stirring hydrate better? The large folding relies on the weight of the dough to press moisture into the flour. Smaller doughs don't have the same dynamics. or do they?
He says that although he would like to use spring water, he can't because of various contaminants (nitrates, etc.), so he filters it before use. However, he feels the filtration process leaves the water lifeless, so he's trying to bring back some life and movement to it.
Interesting to see he doesn't autolyse at all - there are so many ways to make good bread!!
Your bread looks absolutely lovely! I actually prefer to work with a lower hydration dough, so I am very interested to see what others achieve doing the same. Thank you for sharing!
Nice work on your bread and fishes. Liseyp is right about so many ways to make good bread….about as many ways to make good bread as there are bakers baking it. That is the beauty of it. I have worked with several people who wanted to learn bread making. After making a few loaves with me and reading a few books from the bread baking library here, I watch them take the process in new directions and make their own bread. That's what changes bread making from a household chore to a craft.
Thanks for your kind words! I've been learning to bake for years now, and I'm always amazed too by the great diversity of ways of baking. We learn from each other. If you're interested in discovering how french people use to bake, just take a look at that forum, where I began in bakery and wood fired oven: http://www.auxfoursapain.com