2023, new year new start....... sourdough start 😉

[Pawsfodocaws]

Thanks bud! We had the perfect rise on it before we fiddled with it and deflated it . Well see how the next time comes out, also will try what you have recommended. Thank you @HeadyBearAdventures

[CWF]

Don’t forget about lactobacillus - this is also in the culture, and the lactic acid it produces is what makes the bread “sour”, not the alcohol - the yeast produces the CO2 and alcohol. My starter makes bread that is only very faintly “sour”. Commercial bakeries use a flavoring in their “sourdough”, which is bogus, and not the artisan way IMO (my opinion only).

Today as an experiment I made biscuits with some discard. They came out GREAT, but it took the whole 6 hours after mixing for it to get gassy. So, not really a breakfast item, unless the dough is made the night before - have not tried this yet. I am hooked on the sourdough biscuits, and will continue down that rabbit hole. Right now I’m roasting a chicken to make dripping gravy to eat them with, so these are dinner biscuits! Sorry no pic - next time.

[HeadyBearAdventures]

Indeed. Learning new things over here
My favorite is waffles using the discard. Yum.

[webeblzr]

My first loaf, is a fail, with decent taste. Stayed flat, I did slice a section of the dough, put that into a small jar, rubber banded the level, then watched it rise, but IMHO, the starter is not active enough yet.
I mixed 75 grams of rye flour, with 375 of hard winter wheat I had milled the other day.
To 340 grams of water, 8 grams of salt, 70 grams starter discard, it was the best bubbles, but lacking, .
The rye smell came through, the sour came through sort a good.
The fluffy interior, not so much, but it was not stodgy, or unbaked, decent texture, if you will.
So I’ll keep building my 3 starters, an the discard jar.
The sprouted wheat is very bubbly, and it’s smell now, is very delicious, to my unexperienced nose.
Time to feed some birds, LOL!

[Pawsfodocaws]

Here I done it again! It’s cooling, taste test to come with a pic of the inside to follow. To show the air pockets in from the rise.

[Pawsfodocaws]

[Pawsfodocaws]

Tasted perfect. We’ve eaten half the loaf. Sooooo good. I’m loving this.

[webeblzr]

looks delicious!!

[Pawsfodocaws]

It’s really good thank you!

[HeadyBearAdventures]

For those who don’t have a starter, and aren’t interested in the maintenance, I thought I’d post up a bread recipe I use when I want next day bread.
I just started it, so I’ll update with pictures of the process as it happens!
This recipe uses a “pre-ferment”, so you get a lot of the depth of flavor you would from a sourdough.

Pre-ferment:
800 g All Purpose -or- Bread Flour (6.25 C)
544 g Water @ 80°F/27°C (2.33 C)
A little less than 1/4 tsp instant yeast (a single packet is 2.25 tsp)

The night before you want to bake, measure out your ingredients, and put a few tablespoons of the water (note: this is from the 544 grams, do not add additional water) in a separate dish.
Sprinkle the yeast on top of that water.
In a large tub or bowl, mix the rest of the water with the 800 g of flour, by hand (no mixer, but a spoon or spatula is helpful) and when the dough starts turning into a shaggy mess, dump the yeast water in there as well.
If there’s yeast residue in the dish, just snag a clump of dough and use it to wipe out the dish, then toss it back in the pre-ferment. Stir everything until there’s no more loose flour.

–At this point you’re gonna get dirty. –

Using clean DAMP hands, reach in, lift up the back end of the dough, and stretch it over the top all the way to the front. From there, stretch the right edge up and over the left, the front over the back, and then the left over the right. Now pinch and squeeze all over the dough to make sure there are no dry pockets or soggy parts. You should be squeezing hard enough that your fingers come all the way together through the dough. Repeat stretching and pinching until everything is homogenous.
Now cover the bowl or bucket with a wet towel and stick it someplace safe like inside the oven with the light on, or on top of the fridge… basically anywhere you would germinate seeds😉
Leave it alone for about 14 hours.

Here’s mine before it went in the “OFF” oven, at 6:15. I’ll be back with another post tomorrow morning!

Okay! After 14 hours, here’s the biga:

It’s bubbly, wobbly, and it smells like beer.

Now we mix the
Final Dough
200 g AP -or- bread flour (heaping 1.5 C)
206 g Water @ 105°F/41°C
2 g instant yeast (1/2 tsp)
22 g fine sea salt (1 heaping tbsp)

Combine these ingredients the same way you did the pre-ferment, and when the dough is consistent again, mix the preferment and the fresh dough together, using the fold and pinch method.

Here’s the fresh dough

This is an example of “folding” or “stretching” the dough.

Bread fold

You can see me rewet my hands… they have to be damp all the way up the wrist, or the dough sticks to you.

Alternate pinching and folding until the dough is homogenous in appearance, texture, and temperature.

Cover and put it back in the oven. I placed a piece of tape to indicate where the dough starts, and I’m looking for triple that by around 11 (3 hours).
Every 20 minutes, for the first hour, apply another set of four folds like in the video. So you should do 3 total folds in the first hour. No kneading!

See you in a couple hours! (BTW the “no” sticker on the oven is to keep my roommate from accidentally turning it on while my bread is in there…it’s happened.)

10:55 OH HO! Troubleshooting
It’s cooler than average in my kitchen, so the dough has not tripled in volume by the time I expected.
That’s gonna throw things off pretty significantly, but it gives me the opportunity to show how resilient bread can be. Like waiting for trichomes to change, I’m just gonna watch this until it triples… I’m on the yeasts’ timeline.
I have a client to see at 1, so there’s no way I can have this shaped, proofed, and baked before I need to leave. I’m going to do something called “ritarding” the dough (yes that’s spelled right). Basically, when I feel the bulk fermentation is finished, I’m going to shape my loaves, and put them in the fridge. This will extend the proof time by 2-2.5 times, allowing me space to go see my client and come home, at which time I’ll bake.

Not enough time for a shaping video, I
so here’s a link to a great article about shaping. He proofs with the seam side up, but I do not. Here’s my shaped loaves in the proofing baskets. They go in with the “seam” side down:

Now, in a perfect world, one the loaves are shaped, they would proof on the counter at room temp for about 1 hour, instead of in the fridge.
After that, invert the loaf into a Dutch oven that has been preheated to 500°, put the lid on, and bake at 500 for 25 minutes. Then take the lid off, and bake for 15-20 more, until you have a rich mahogany crust. Cool the loaf on its side, or on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Proofed loaf:

Et voila!

This loaf produces a pretty dense crumb, and silky soft bread, so it’s awesome for sandwiches!
The extra space around the edges could be an issue with proofing, dough tension, or potentially the outside of the loaf got a little dry during the rise. Not perfect, but damn good.

[CrunchBerries]

Bake day. Didn’t quite get the spring that I had hoped for, but a fun first attempt. Don’t know where I went wrong. Also, I think I cut into the first loaf too early before it cooled properly. Happy Sunday y’all!

[HeadyBearAdventures]

Gorgeous exterior brother!
The huge bubble gaps, with a really dense structure like you see at the bottom, usually indicates there wasn’t enough dough tension.
Applying 2 folds in the first hour of proofing will give you more tension, and the final loaf shaping should make a nice taught surface to trap steam inside so the loaf doesn’t collapse.
Alternately, if that is a kneaded loaf, it’s down to underworking the dough, or the way its shaped.
20 minutes cooling is usually the minimum.
Folds are in my video above, and I’ll be showing how I shape loaves, in just a couple hours

[ramblinrose]

Heres my goto loaves - 20% whole wheat and rest all purpose - ran out of bread flour.

[HeadyBearAdventures]

Turorial completed up above

2023, new year new start....... sourdough start

For those who don’t have a starter, and aren’t interested in the maintenance, I thought I’d post up a bread recipe I use when I want next day bread. I just started it, so I’ll update with pictures of the process as it happens! This recipe uses a “pre-ferment”, so you get a lot of the depth of flavor you would from a sourdough. Pre-ferment: 800 g All Purpose -or- Bread Flour (6.25 C) 544 g Water @ 80°F/27°C (2.33 C) A little less than 1/4 tsp instant yeast (a single packet is 2.25 tsp) The…

@Pawsfodocaws if that isn’t what you intended on this thread, I’ll move it to is own place. Just let me know.

[Pawsfodocaws]

Sourdough calzone…

[Pawsfodocaws]

No problem. Just mainly a thread specific to sourdough. Some deviation is not a problem. I just started it out as new year new start. I’d like to keep it oriented to sourdough and anything everything sourdough.

[webeblzr]

Well I’m back for round 2, in my starter journey.
Sprouted Wheat Flour, is very active! And it is what I used to make this next batch.
Rye is coming along, not as active, but is getting better each day I fed it.
Hard Winter Wheat I had milled, is also very active, and soon will get it’s last fed, then into refrigerator, to slow it down some. We can only eat some much bread!!

I know I have added in to much water this run, made notes so next one will reduce it.

One more coil, shape it, bake it!!
All the best to your bakes!!

[webeblzr]

Ok bread heads, first loaf, squatting squash looking thing. Taste was ok, bit hard, made lots of mistakes.
Today, fewer mistakes, to much water, I’m keeping notes each time, and making adjustments.
300g hard wheat flour,
100g white flour,
8g’s salt,
325 g’s water, (will try 300g’s next go)
80 g’s sprouted wheat starter, bubbly, sour, tangy taste.
465F for 15minutes with steam, 17 minutes after removing steam.
Don’t have a dutch oven, so just baked it.

Maybe next time!!

[ramblinrose]

Looks good man id eat it! Nice crumb imo. Could have maybe done a little longer in oven just from looking at the color. Im not picky though ha! If it eats well im happy.

[HeadyBearAdventures]

Getting there!
That’s a killer looking shape!

@webeblzr

465F for 15minutes with steam, 17 minutes after removing steam.

@ramblinrose

Could have maybe done a little longer in oven

I agree probably 10 more minutes w/ steam, and same dry bake, or maybe 5 more minutes (I like to let the crust go pretty dark… my pastry chef ex calls it “French brown”).