BREAD, post Photos and Recipes here.

[Gary350]

Thanks! I’m in my “basic research” phase of this “project” which means I want to get a feel for the various options and choices so they are all laid out like cards to choose from.

I know I’m trying to run by not sticking to a recipe and practicing to improve but — what can I say? — this is a lot like gardening

All those breads look yummy. Have you tried, Artisan no Kneed bread yet. I wish I could make bread more often, it takes me a long time to eat a loaf of bread by myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0t8ZAhb8lQ

[applestar]

I’ve seen this method mentioned, and this is a good tutorial video. I’ll try it. Thanks! Also liked her list of possible alternatives to Dutch Oven.

…I might add a dollop of sourdough starter in addition to the yeast (a hidden flavor enhancer tip from one of Jack’s Artisanal bread videos) — Forgot to mention but I did this with Mary’s soft white bread above, too

[applestar]

A couple of days ago, I made some soup with Vitamix-puréed kale leaf and broccoli stems AND (the last from the Summer’2022) peeled Chamoe melon, seeds and all (Vitamix is wonderful — COMPLETELY puréed with no noticeable mouthfeel) — the soup was thickened with butter roux and “creamed” with rice milk, and served with butter sautéed mochi enrobed in sautéed kale leaves and onions.

I had maybe a cup of the purée left that wouldn’t fit in the small pot I used, so I incorporated it as the liquid in the latest batch of sourdough bread dough.

This time, I tried making long and round rolls. The round rolls turned out well, made in the silicone hamburger form, but the long rolls didn’t spring as well. I might have to get a baguette pan….

(In the photo, I was baking the long rolls for extra 5 minutes minutes, 2 at a time, with the round rolls because I made a mistake and took them out too early.)

DD1 ate a roll still warm from the oven so she could eat it with melting butter, so I had a chance to take a crumb-shot . Her review is “Good ” for every category — she said she didn’t notice the sesame seeds….

[Gary350]

No Kneed Artisan Bread.

Artisan Bread never turns out like what I see in the grocery store. It never turns out like videos on YouTube. It never turns out like I think it should. I couldn't it golden brown on top either. But it tastes good. This new recipe is exceptionally good. This recipe is so good I ate 2 slices before dinner, 1 slice with dinner, 1 more slice after dinner. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, maybe its me, maybe its our oven with no bake burner, oven only has a broil burner in top. If I had kneeded the dough 10 minutes it would have raised more but then it would not be no kneed bread. No kneed is so easy. Nothing wrong with this bread it just doesn't look like grocery store Artisan Bread.

1 C of 110°f water in a bowl.
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast.
Mix well.

1/4 C whole wheat bread flour
1 T yellow corn meal
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C of All purpose flour.
Mix well then mix into the water yeast mixture.

Put dough on a well floured surface then push the sides down under the dough over & over rotating as you go until top of the dough becomes tight about 30 seconds work. Let rise until double in size.

Place dough on parchment paper in a Dutch oven until double in size then bake 30 min at 350°f. Remove lid return bread to 400°f oven to brown the top.

Slice after bread has cooled. I made 1" thick slices.



.

[applestar]

I think you do want the heat from the bottom. Broiler can heat the top too fast and too much, suppressing the rising potential (yeast dies off and top bakes too quickly — too hard for it to rise any further….

Are you preheating the oven AND the Dutch oven pot? — this is the part that gets me in trouble because I only have the (large 6 slice) toaster oven — mine won’t hold the heat when I’m opening and closing the door.

You could probably up the temp coming from below by preheating a pizza stone OR a cast iron griddle pan underneath the Dutch oven pot?

[applestar]

I’m trying to invigorate my sourdough starter — I fed the scrapings that had been in the fridge this morning, and made discard pancakes this evening, and then fed the remaining jar again to proof overnight, so I can make something else in the morning.

[imafan26]

I was thinking about dutch oven alternatives and I thought of the instant pot that is all the rage. I did not know if it was possible, but apparently somebody thought of that 7 years ago and posted a recipe on youtube.

I remember the reason why the covered dutch oven was used was because steam within the dutch oven was required to bake the bread. I was thinking a casserole with a cover would work, but most of those would be too shallow, except maybe a braising pan if you could do buns instead of a loaf. Braising pans are not heavy pans, so I don't know if that work either. Now, if I could get a wok with a dome cover and seal the lid with dough, that might work.

[applestar]

Today’s sourdough bread with new setup.

It didn’t “spring” as much as I hoped, but the “crumb” looks good with REALLY soft spongy inside, and the hard crusty/chewy crust — REALLY yummy

I was a bit surprised by this because I had the impression that insufficient “oven spring” was what makes them dense. This one was really spongy. It might have helped that I tried pouring about 2Tbs of water between the parchment and the pot on each side of the elongated loaf when I first put it in the oven, with the idea that this might create more steam in the preheated 450°F oven….

It DID take longer for the. first pre-slash bake — it’s supposed to be only 5 minutes, then take out and slash and decorate, but I had to put it back in for another 5 minutes because the surface was gooey and wouldn’t hold the slash….

— eta 1/27 —

You know, I was focused on the slash I made (blue arrow) but I was looking at the pics from yesterday and noticed a 2nd oven spring had developed (red arrow) where the dough had creased open when I was nudging it into the pot . So maybe together, they constitute at least as much “spring” as I’ve been achieving?

[applestar]

This time. I tried making sourdough challah bread. I had trouble incorporating the oil/butter into the dough, and the playdough-like result left me doubting it would rise at all (but it did) …and the braid strands didn’t remain distinct enough …. Haven’t tried cutting it open yet, but it smells like Croissants and I tasted a bit the stuck to the casserole and it tasted pretty good.

…DEFINITELY a work in progress but am satisfied with my first try.

(I also made sourdough starter discard crepes embellished with leftover fried plantains and jarred while sweet cherries (bourbon and plain) )

— This is a very soft bread — reminds me a lot of the potato rolls my family likes even though this doesn’t have any potato ingredients in it. Unfortunately the doughy white bread texture is not MY fave, but getting high marks from everyone else

[Gary350]

Pictures from a week ago that I was never able to upload.

[Gary350]

Today I made bread again, same recipe at last week. I kneaded this bread several times then did the tuck under method to tighten the dough. Dough raised and blew up large & round like a balloon. Bread was good with dinner. I sliced bread double thick. I made peanut butter cookies too. It is raining.

[applestar]

Looks great! At least 30% more loft if not more?

[imafan26]

Looks so goods, and I can't have any.

[Gary350]

Looks so goods, and I can't have any.

I could mail you a slice of bread but it would be green with mold and dehydrated before it arrived. I mailed someone a glaze donut once, that was winter 1974 we had 10" of snow in ILL. She said, the donut was so hard she couldn't break it in half. LOL. When I was in grade school mom use to give me 5 cents to ride my bicycle to the store to buy a loaf of bread, I was 6 years old. Bread use to turn Green in 3 days but now days 1 month old bread does not turn green. What kind of poison is in factory bread that prevents mold? No wonder so many people get cancer our food its full of some type poison that keeps it from going bad.

[imafan26]

They add enzymes to commercial bread to extend the life to about a week. It keeps the bread softer, but it has a different texture. Not nearly as good as home made. The largest local bakery was a victim of the pandemic and closed last year. Some of the smaller bakeries continue to make some of their products locally, but now the bulk of the regular bread is brought in frozen from the mainland. Safeway, had always brought in frozen bread and baked it in their store.

It is one of the many problems with living in an isolated community. Nearly everything needs to be shipped in, so it cost much more and there are many things we can't get shipped in easily because the companies are unwilling to ship to this small market. The places that do ship or local producers are usually few in number. Only one or two large suppliers like bakeries can survive here. The bakery and main dairies depended on sales to schools for the lunch program.
Now all that is left is a handful of local bakeries that specialize in certain pastries and they are struggling due to rising cost and eggs, wheat, and sugar. The main dairies closed down earlier, most milk is coming from the mainland as well.

I do prefer the freshly baked bread and I can get that at my local farmer's market. It does have the problem of not lasting very long because it does not have preservatives. I can't finish a whole loaf of bread or even a half loaf in a short time. I can freeze bread, but I don't eat a lot of bread or milk so, I have just gotten used to not having it around. I get the most bread when I go to McDonald's because it is about the only time I eat a sandwich. That is why I look for recipes to make mini loaves or brown and serve rolls I can freeze and make later. Spoon bread, banana, and zucchini bread are good because they stay moist a long time and are more idiot proof to make.

[pepperhead212]

They add chemicals to preserve bread much longer than a week! I know this from something I discovered after my Mom passed away, in late October, 2017. I had a severe knee injury shortly after this, and surgery in January of '18, and it wasn't until early March that I actually got in her house to help clean it out, and I found 3/4 of a loaf of some Italian variety of white bread in a cupboard, yet there was no mold whatsoever, and it was still moist! I would never have expected this, even with those chemical laden breads, but it happened.


This was actually for lunch - I baked some sourdough rye, to make some braunschweiger sandwiches with it. Starting with just one, but I'll have another one, before dinner, I'm sure.
Fresh baked rye bread, ready to make sandwich for lunch. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Gary350]

I wish I had seen this Japanese Bakery video before I made this bread, I see things I want to try. This man uses a lot of flour top and bottom and leaves, flour on the dough when it bakes in the oven. Bread far back in the oven cooks very dark brown.

This is the same recipe as before but I think I must have made a mistake judging my the color of the sliced bread, I must have forgotten to put in whole wheat flour. Oh well it still tastes good. I cut this loaf with a saw blade thinking it will cut straighter than our new knife that is sharpened only on 1 side that makes the blade try to cut in a curve direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOK3nS4t7_Y

[applestar]

Today’s bread was made with Whole Wheat sourdough starter (instead of Whole Rye) and Unbleached All-Purpose flour because I ran out of other flours. I did add twice as much sourdough starter and had to use additional flour, EVOO and butter because I couldn’t handle the slack dough that kept collapsing and sticking. Folded in Pepitos at the end (Don’t know why/how they all ended up to the side of the loaf….)

I cold proofed in banneton and used cornmeal in bottom of the parchment lined loaf pan, and put a broiler pan bottom on top as lid to keep in the steam while baking for a “sandwich loaf” shape.

…I have two “bread” knives. One is a walnut-handled Chicago Cutlery bread knife — pretty expensive when I bought it … but I had so much trouble trying to cut these sourdough breads I started baking — it couldn’t handle the bottom crust. (Bread loaf standing on one side in the proper manner) And in the process of pushing and trying to cut through, I kept on ripping off bits and pieces of the crust, or (when loaf was on its bottom) squashing the loaf while sawing away to try to get through the tough crust.

I was really frustrated until I saw a “Jack” video in which he pointed out the importance of the curved edge of HIS serrated bread knife for cutting through the crust all the way to the cutting board.

… And I said “Hey, I have a knife that shape!”. And it DOES work very well to cut the breads without squishing, and sharp enough to let me hand-cut thinner slices that are about the thickness of store bread slices.

This Cutco black plastic handled knife wasn’t all that expensive. Hubby bought it when he was marine fishing a lot and wanted a big/long knife — from son of a work colleague when he was in school and fund-raising (class graduation trip? band trip?) — but it turned out that the serrated blade wasn’t delicate enough and shredding the fish (he replaced it with a very sharp and easy to sharpen sushi knife).


…Don’t worry, we got our groceries today and restocked with more bread flour as well as whole wheat, and whole spelt, and have whole white wheat on order….

[applestar]

@Gary350, I finally got the chance to watch the video you linked, and you’re right! I need to watch this several times to understand what he’s doing.

A several of immediate take-aways—

* The inadequacy of my tiny 6-slice toaster oven!
* Very quick precise movements to handle the dough. I think he manages some textures that I get in trouble with simply because I’m being slow and letting the dough get away from me — I’ve had that impression watching other videos before
* Dipping hand in pitcher of water to handle the dough for the first fold (I’ve seen this method before using cup of water, but I ended up with dough stuck to me near heel and back of hands where the water hadn’t reached and were dry-ish… and adding too much water to the dough — but I was only making one or two loaves at a time)
* Also noted the use of much more flour while folding the CUT/DIVIDED dough (where cut surfaces are very sticky, I know) and when shaping.
* Seeing him “process” a bunch at a time as opposed to one or two loaves as in other videos presents a whole other perspective
* The very slack dough (milk and butter-layered dough?) that he simply cut out of the proofing tub and slapped into loaf pans, with hardly any manipulation! Interesting!

I wish I had seen this Japanese Bakery video before I made this bread, I see things I want to try. This man uses a lot of flour top and bottom and leaves, flour on the dough when it bakes in the oven. Bread far back in the oven cooks very dark brown.

[…]

[applestar]

Tomorrow’s bread is mostly strictly based on “Jack’s” wholemeal sourdough recipe. I only subbed 100g of the whole wheat flour with whole spelt flour.

So far so good — I did better with dough handling today… BUT! We’re stocked up in case of emergency and there’s no room in the fridge, so my “Snow White” in the linen napkin-lined round wooden bowl banneton, encased in the Bundt cake saver, will be rest-proofing in the garage overnight — even though the garage temp is likely to fall below freezing with expected outside low in the low teens.

I *may* bring it back inside and put in a cold corner somewhere after midnight to slowly come back to room temp.

The 16 hour timer/alarm for the cold-proofing is set for 8am tomorrow morning, and I know it takes at least solid 16 hours on the counter for the sourdough starter to fully double in volume….

[applestar]

Being in a cool room since about 4am might have over proofed it…?

This time, I tried to create as HOT an oven as I could get the little toaster oven to be, so used ROAST setting at 450°F to preheat the stone and the pot and pan for 45 minutes, with hot water-filled crumb tray underneath so the oven would already be steamy. Then put the slashed dough in the pot, misted and put on the lid/pan, refilled the tray and roasted at 425 for 20 minutes covered and then uncovered at 425 for 20 minutes.

Finished with 10 minutes in the turned off oven before removing (BUT forgot to remove from the pot first)

A problem was encountered when I tried cutting the parchment into a “sling” circle with handles (instead of leaving it while rectangle and scrunching up inside the pot, which does add a degree of difficulty n “slipping” the already slackening dough into the pot). One puffy side of the dough that didn’t quite make it past the side of the pot stuck to the preheated pot, and I had to grab a silicone spatula and work/push it in (but that might have added a slight tension and I might try doing this all around the side of the dough next time I make a boule)…. and then the baked loaf stuck to the pot everywhere there was no parchment and WOULD NOT COME OUT — not fun when the pot is 400°F!

I had to carefully and surgically separate the crust from the sides of the pot with a thin sharp filet knife

There’s the crumb shot — it tastes great and will be enjoyed with an inspired 5-layer lasagna hubby is currently making

[Gary350]

7 am and 18°f outside its a good day to make bread. Same recipe as last 2 times except I added and extra 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. I kneaded dough 2 times and let it rise 2 times. At the last minute I decided to slice top of the dough with a razor blade, all the air leaked out and the dough went flat as a pancake. I kneaded bread 2 more times then stretched dough into a tight ball and let it rise 1 last time. Bread baked in a 400°f oven like the Japanese bakery man did. I sprinkled a good layer of flour on top of the dough like the bakery man did then put dough into the oven. 20 minutes later I checked the bread and learned something interesting. Flour on top of dough acts like insulation it keeps dough soft, dough can not form a hard crust. Soft crust on top allowed dough to expand and rise larger. I brushed away the roasted flour then returned bread to oven for 5 more minutes to get a hard crust. It turns out a right hand bread knife works best to cut bread if your right handed. LOL.

[pepperhead212]

I just made some of my bread sticks, with WW and rye flours, plus a little gluten, since I had almost half rye flour. As usual, I put about a tb of caraway in, plus a scant half tsp of nigella and ajwain seeds, plus I put a generous tb of that sour cream onion powder, which I only use for things like this, not dip! This time I used about 12 oz of kefir - not as strong as the usual yogurt or buttermilk I use in it, to just under 32 oz of dough.
WW and rye bread sticks. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

Ooh, I just came across an interesting video about how rye flour affects the dough structure. That’s going to be another challenge soon.

Today, I’m making a soft milk bread with bread flour-fed starter … later after I run some errands.

[pepperhead212]

I remember reading about the unusual aspects of rye flour many years ago in one of Peter Reinhart's books (don't remember which one!), and, while I don't remember all of the chemistry he discussed with it, the thing I remember most about it is that he said to only knead the bread for 6 minutes, before rising. This is because when kneaded for long periods, which is what we were always told to do with rye breads, due to less gluten, it breaks down the gluten, due to the rye! And I have always loved rye breads, as you know, from the breads I post about here.

[applestar]

Yeah I’m surprised — I had the notion that rye (as well as whole wheat) should be kneaded more, not LESS!

I really want to explore this in depth later because I really prefer whole meal/grain. I did get some gluten for the extra assist.

But for now, I’m baking some that my family likes since we still have those denser sourdough breads (DDs were saying this morning that we need to get more lunch meat because they are great for sandwiches).

Here’s the finished milk bread/loaf. (I do want to get the straight-sided pullman loaf pan at some point — The loaf might have risen even more… but this one will do for now)

A bit bummed I forgot to take a pic when I first loaded the loaf pan — the three rolled up dough where no thicker than hot dog buns, with maybe 1 inch gap all around…. So you can see this mostly all unbleached bread flour bread, made with starter fed with mostly bread flour with a bit of whole wheat and whole spelt pouffed up quite bit:

…I haven’t tried it yet (except for that little bit that tore off), but DDs said this very soft and fine crumb bread is sweet despite the sourdough, almost like Polish babka, and they like it a lot.

(I’m currently giving a 2nd try with another recipe for sourdough baguettes — first batch was an abject failure — although I may run into problems again since I didn’t have the chance to get baguette forming/couche pan yet. 4 more folds, then divide and shape… then overnight cold proof…. Baking will be tomorrow.)

[applestar]

Well, I ran into a problem — I had accidentally doubled the recipe and they weren’t going to fit in the fridge for the overnight cold proofing.

I let them rise for about 6 hrs at room temp until finger dimple test looked like they were ready to bake.

Fist three seemed not quite done after all, so at the end of baking time for the other three, I put the first three back in and baked a bit longer, but standing them on their sides made them too tall and they got these scorched marks on them.

… I’m characterizing them as “rustic”

Ref:

Recipe based on —
Sourdough Baguettes | Feasting At Home
https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdoug ... e-recipe/
Techniques based on —
Easy Baguettes — Bake with Jack
https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/blog-1/2 ... -baguettes

[Gary350]

I let them rise for about 6 hrs at room temp until finger dimple test looked like they were ready to bake.

I don't know about finger dimple test?

I think my bread dough has been rising too large or too fast. Maybe I need to use less yeast? I have been making round loaves with no bread pan its hard to judge when dough has doubled in size. Dough is 4" tall when it goes into the oven then 3" tall when it comes out if the oven. I have been using all purpose flour not bread flour. I found a recipe that uses baking powder and yeast too, I have not tried it yet, maybe I should.

[applestar]

The “finger dimple test” as I understand it, is you press in a dimple with your finger (variously directed as thumb or forefinger) and see what the dimple does.

(The suggested depth is also variable — I’ve seen a video pushing forefinger to his 2nd knuckle as if he was checking for garden soil moisture level or sowing corn and bean seeds ) I push in as deep as thickness of my finger — like sowing small seeds.

— The shaped dough is
(1) NOT ready to go in the oven if the dimple pushes back right away and smoothes out completely
— The yeast is actively increasing and bubbling inside :
(2) READY to bake if the dimple visibly recovers but slowly and leaves a shallow indentation :
— Yeast activity has slowed but there is still enough vigor for that last burst when the loaf hits the hot air in the oven — important to create steam in the oven and mist the top and/or cover the baking vessel to help the top skin of the loaf supple and elastic for additional oven spring (I think what you said about “mulching” the top of the loaf with extra layer of flour was interesting too, and I’m going to try that.)
(3) OVERPROOFED if the dimple stays a dimple and does not heal :
— The yeast has completely spent themselves and cannot create any more gases — the loaf is not likely to rise any further and depending on structure of dough and use of supportive vessels, may flatten or collapse during baking


…All purpose vs. Bread flours — my understanding is protein content generally influences gluten formation. All purpose is like 11 or 12% at most (look at nutrition table for protein). Bread flour is more like 13%. A German baker video I’ve been watching said HIS flour is 14% protein and he can even get 15% but he doesn’t think that’s necessary— I haven’t seen anything like that. (Pastry flour is like 9% BTW)

[applestar]

BTW, that blue floral proofing bowl cover in the photo above is a beeswax wrap. I just bought a multi size set to try —

So far, they’ve worked great for covering the bowl between folds/proofing and wrapping a baked loaf as inner wrapper and then wrapping in a linen tea towel … as opposed to my previous method of wrapping in parchment paper then putting in gallon or 2 gal zip bag (though I’m still using this method for freezing).

[Gary350]

The man in this video has new information I have not seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI2-6Ps2Hcc

[Gary350]

How to make the perfect baguettes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRX3rulyXS8

[applestar]

Had a steak sandwich on one (actually about 1/3) of those “sourdough baguette rolls” today. It’s really good and hearty, and due probably to skipping the overnight (full 12~16 hr) cold proofing, its not really “sour”. Getting good reviews from the family and am putting this one on my list of keepers.


Yesterday and today, took a break from bread making and made an overnight cold proof sourdough chocolate chip cookies. These are soft puffy/chewy kind of cookies with thin candy-crisp crust. Too sweet for our taste, so will be reducing amount of sugar next time. Only modification I made to the original recipe was addition of 1/4 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut and about 1/2 cup total chopped macadamias and walnuts, using white instead of milk chocolate chips, and subbing in a very small portion of whole wheat flour….

Ref: Based on Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe | King Arthur Baking

[Gary350]

I made a sour dough starter yesterday morning then left it set on kitchen counter top until 10 pm, then it went into the refrigerator. 5 am dough was moved to counter top to warm up. About 8am I started stretching the dough, 3 times in 90 minutes it made a perfect tight ball. Dough was cooked in Dutch oven at 375°f for 20 min then removed to cover top with baking soda to make German style hard crust. Several years ago I saw this done on a cooking show but forgot the correct way to do German crust. After sprinkling baking soda on top of bread and cooking at 450°f nothing happened. After painting bread loaf with baking soda water and baking at 450 again it almost worked. Maybe bread rack needs to be moved up 2" from top burner. I don't remember, bread should look like the bowl of German rolls. I can't find German bread crust on YouTube. Bread turned out great and flavor is very good. Crust is a bit flakey.

[applestar]

This is fun!

OK my contribution today is sourdough discard pancakes/waffles mix —

I didn’t take pics of the pancakes but I added jarred peaches and cherries, and drizzled a bit of the syrup for each. Also added cocoa powder in the remaining 1-2 of the batter to make the rest chocolate pancakes.

Also, with the same batter, I made filled balls using this cast iron Takoyaki pan. Some with Chocolate and some with Anko (adzuki bean jam).

…I did pull out my old Rome cast iron waffle iron from the back of the cabinet, but it wasn’t well seasoned and the two waffles I made barely came away — not completely stuck but way too much trouble. I’ll have to thoroughly re-season it before trying again.

[imafan26]

I just watched a video where they made the no knead bread in a loaf pan instead of a dutch oven. They used a second loaf pan on top as a cover to provide the steam.

[Gary350]

10 minutes after putting bread into the 400°f oven I found the recipe I have been searching for a year. I pulled bread out of the hot oven then painted with baking soda wash then back in the oven it goes. It taste great, good with cheese and wine. Wow.

1½ C water
1/4 tsp yeast
1½ tsp salt
1 heaping T of Thai Basil
1/4 Cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon yellow corn meal
3 C bread flour

Stretch and fold dough every 10 minutes for 1 hour then rise until double in size.

Baking soda wash is, 1 T baking soda then add enough hot water to dissolve about 98% of the baking soda.

Paint top of uncooked bread loaf 5 or 6 times with baking soda wash. Lye works much better bread will blister and flavor is amazing.

Bake bread at 400°f about 30 minutes.

Hardware store sells Lye in small $6 bottles. YOU can make lye with fresh burned wood ash mixed with only enough water as needed. Pour water through cloth and save only the water. Boil away water to concentrate the Lye. When water will float and egg Lye is concentrated enough to make German bread of Lye soap.

Mother Earth News tells how to make lye from wood ash. Its probably on YouTube also.

[applestar]

Wow lye sounds less safe!

What about pickling lime? Would that be a safer alternative for achieving more alkaline / higher pH solution than baking soda?

[Gary350]

Wow lye sounds less safe!

What about pickling lime? Would that be a safer alternative for achieving more alkaline / higher pH solution than baking soda?

Baking soda flavor is gone after baking 30 minutes at 400°f.

Lime is 2.8 ph
Baking soda is 8.3 ph
Washing soda is 11 ph
Lye is 13 to 14 ph

Tomorrow I see how much washing soda costs. Can I buy 25 cents worth? LOL.

I use to make lye soap with lye. I have made lye from wood ash it never seems strong. Factories use lye to make pretzels and we eat them. Lye mixed in water will evaporate away in 24 hours with no lid. Lye in a hot 400°f oven is probably gone in 30 minutes. Lye use to cost $6 a bottle at the hardware store.

[Gary350]

Blister crust bread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeEcgmGGbBs