BREAD, post Photos and Recipes here.

[applestar]

Please keep in mind that Washing Soda is sold for cleaning and laundry purposes and may contain additives not regulated for eating. BUT Washing soda can be made by heating the Baking Soda in the oven. I had the instructions saved somewhere but can’t seem to find that snippet of info.

As for pH of Pickling Lime — it can get pretty caustic and you have to be careful —

Making Pickling Lime-Water of pH 12.5. Making Lime-Water takes about 5.5 hours, this can be done in advance of making hominy but make sure the clear liquid is labeled and stored so that it can't be ingested. Mrs.
https://www.howtomakehominyfromcorn.com › ...
4. Making Pickling Lime-Water of pH 12.5

Also — for good reference about pickling lime and how to handle — Can You Use Pickling Lime on Plants?


BTW, Your description reminded me of this saved recipe and detailed kitchen science, but it’s in Japanese — it’s a recipe for making “old fashioned” sweet buns using baking soda. I’ll paste it below in case you want to run it through an online translator.

The link title is Difference between Baking Powder and Baking Soda. ‘Molasses Sugar Sweet Bun’ is introduced along with a recipe | Recipe by Kumiko Yamadera

I’ll excerpt a couple of points

- baking soda - yellows [darkens] the color of crust and leaves a distinctive bitter flavor and odor
- baking powder - crust remains white [pale]. No bitterness or odor left behind.

And roughly paraphrasing (and remember, washing soda is made by heating baking soda) —

* The bitterness and odor comes from the chemical reaction of heating baking soda resulting in Na2CO3.
* Baking POWDER was invented to alleviate these problems by adding an acidic ingredient to neutralize and prevent formation of Na2CO3. A commonly added neutralizing agent contains aluminum, so using baking powder specifically made without aluminum is recommended [with a link]
* The recipe includes a technique to emulate baking powder by adding a small amount of vinegar with baking soda

…The excerpted section of the kitchen science mentions that the “distinct ‘odor’ and bitter flavor” contributes to the nostalgic memories associated with these old fashioned sweet buns. You might feel the same about those German rolls originally made with lye.


ベーキングパウダーと重曹の違い。「黒糖まんじゅう」のレシピも合わせてご紹介。 | やまでら くみこ のレシピ
https://kumiko-jp.com/archives/51970186.html

重曹とベーキングパウダー、それぞれを使った「まんじゅう」のできあ がりには、次のような違いが出ます。
まんじゅうの仕上がりの違い
重曹使用
皮の色が黄色っぽくなる。
独特の苦みやにおいが残る。
ベーキングパウダー使用
皮の色は白いまま仕上がる。
苦み・においは残らない。

ベーキングパウダーは、重曹の欠点を補うためにつくられた膨張剤で す。 でもベーキングパウダーは、あらゆる点で重曹よりも優れているとは言 えないと私は思っています。
重曹の欠点は上に記した通り、まんじゅうの仕上がりが黄色っぽくな ることと、独特の苦みやにおいが残ることです。 この短所の原因は、炭酸ナトリウムという物質にあるようです。炭酸ナ トリウムは、重曹が加熱された時に、化学反応によって生み出されま す。
一方、ベーキングパウダーには、重曹の欠点を補うべく、炭酸ナトリウ ムの残留を防ぐ酸性剤が添加されています。 重曹の欠陥を排除したベーキングパウダーは、確かにこうした面から判 断すると優れていると言えます。
ベーキングパウダーの欠点
しかし、ベーキングパウダーに添加された酸性剤には、少々気になる物 質が含まれています。
酸性剤の1つであるミョウバンは、アルミニウムを含有してます。 ご存じの方は多いと思いますが、アルミニウムは一時期、アルツハイ マーを引き起こす物質として注目されていました。

アルミニウムとアルツハイマーの関係は、今のところ否定されていま す。 でも私は、念のため気にしています。アルミニウムのように人体に必要 でないものは、極力取らないに超したことはありません。
そこでどうしてもベーキングパウダーを使いたい場合は、 ラムフォード ベーキングパウダー というアルミフリーの商品を購入するようにして います。
重曹を使ったまんじゅう
さてすでに書いたように、重曹を使ったまんじゅうは、皮の色が黄 色っぽくなり、独特の苦みやにおいが残ります。
でも重曹を必要以上にたくさん使わなければ、むしろこれらの欠点 は、懐かしい

[applestar]

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

I was personally very curious about the discrepancy between me parroting that baking soda heated in oven makes washing soda vs. WHY the baking soda “flavor” is gone after baking the bread … … and this may explain the difference —

What happens when you add water to sodium bicarbonate?

In water, sodium bicarbonate dissolves to form sodium and bicarbonate. This makes the solution alkaline, which means it can neutralise acid.
https://unacademy.com › chemistry
A General Study on the Chemical Reactivity of Sodium Bicarbonate ...

…when heating the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to make washing soda (sodium carbonate), you are DRYING it out to break the hydrogen bond, so an entirely different chemical reaction takes place?

[Gary350]

My pickle crisp bottle says, calcium chloride. I tried this in pickles, we notice no difference in crispness or flavor, $6 was wasted.

Online says, the pH of calcium chloride is 6.3 (5.5 to 7.5). May contain hydrochloric acid and/or sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment.

How to Make Washing Soda
Pour baking soda into a cookie sheet. Spread it out to form a layer.
Bake the soda at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The time isn't critical. ...
Remove the pan from heat, allow the washing soda to cool, and store it in a sealed container to keep it from picking up moisture from the air.

Next time I make bread I will make washing soda too.

[Gary350]

My grandmother showed me how to make Lye 60 years ago. Burn hardwood until all black charcoal has burned up. You don't want black color from charcoal in the Lye water. Next put 2 or 3 gallons of very warm water in a bucket then stir in wood ash. Allow ash to settle to the bottom then test the water to see if it will float an egg. Pour off the Lye water. If Lye water will not float an egg boil away enough water until it will float an egg. I use to make Lye soap, I like it better than factory soap.

This video say to float a potato.

In chemistry class we learned you can add 1 gallon of wood ash to 1 gallon of water and still have a 1 gallon mixture.

This is a good video they do it the hard way by adding water to ash instead of adding ash to water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJVA7X1WSR0

[applestar]

Same sourdough milk bread/loaf as before, but not buttered after baking… and baguettes made with dry yeast rather than the overnight sourdough starter.

I was enchanted by the way the dry yeast dough made blisters and bubbles

…as you can see, I’m a LOOONG way from making identical-looking loaves, even when I am meticulously measuring by almost exact weight when dividing the dough …

[Gary350]

I was enchanted by the way the dry yeast dough made blisters and bubbles

Check out this video for making blister crust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeEcgmGGbBs&t=1s

[Gary350]

Today I made German Blister crust bread.

I burned dead maple tree limbs in BBQ grill to get wood ash to make Lye. Pour ash and water into empty milk jug with a cap to prevent potassium hydroxide from evaporating away. Keep wood ash mixture at room temperature for 5 days while chemistry produces potassium hydroxide. Shake milk jug several times every day then 5 days later clear water looks like ice tea water. Let jug set over night so ash settles to the bottom then pour off the clean water. I boiled away about 90% of the water. There is not enough water to float an egg. Not enough water to float a small ping pong ball size potato. Lucky I have a marble size potato. Potato sinks to the bottom of lye water like a rock before water was boiled away. Potato floats like a boat after water was boiled away. Lye water is very slippery like dish soap. I tasted lye water it has no taste & no smell. Ph paper shows 11ph. As water on ph paper slowly evaporates away the ph changes from, 11, 12, 13, 14 ph. This is very interesting how 11 ph gets stronger as water evaporated away, it will do the same thing on bread dough in the oven. I could see ph paper was black color at 11 ph then purple black at 14 ph. Now that I know the correct name is, Blister Crust, I have no trouble finding good information online. You can make blister crust with or without lye. Use a paint brush or sprayer to put 6 or 7 coats of water on the bread dough. Place dough in a 450°f oven, water in the dough turns to steam and produces blisters. When crust is the color you like turn oven heat to a lower temperature then bake bread longer so total time in the oven is about 30 minutes. First 3 coats of lye water soaked into dough quick then after that I waited 5 minutes between coatings to get 7 coats of lye water on the dough. Dough now looks like it is covered with honey. I didn't have much lye water to start with and water I have left looks like enough to make 4 more loaves of bread. Wet dough stays very soft for a while in the hot oven this allows soft dough to blow up like a balloon, bread is 2" taller when it came out of the oven. After 18 minutes in the 450°f oven I lowed the temperature to 350°f. Total bake time 30 minutes. This blister crust does not look quite the same as online pictures, crust is hard and very good flavor. Baking Soda crust tastes different than Potassium Hydroxide lye crust.

Next experiment will be cook 2 T baking soda on cookie sheet 30 minutes in a 450°f oven to make washing soda.

[applestar]

Today’s yummies are

… now what did I sub…? Part of the flour with Whole Wheat… ran out of honey so dug up my jar of garden pear/apple/persimmon “butter” …Used fed whole grain rye starter…. oh and subbed about 2/3 of brown sugar with brown coconut sugar, and added walnuts + extra nuts including nuts from my roasted hazelnut extract syrup and peanuts… and a bit of chocolate and white chocolate chips that had been left over from making those cookies the other day.

The original recipe is for making a loaf, but my family prefers the convenience of mini muffins… but I did make some in fun silicone 1/2 full muffin molds. I’ve done this before so adjusting the baking time wasn’t too difficult.

Ref: Based on Sourdough Banana Bread Recipe | King Arthur Baking

[applestar]

I thought I’ll try some fun bread — making differently shaped rolls. I divided the dry yeast dough into 85g balls, then DD2 joined the fun and shaped half of them. She was tasked to make a cat and a mouse by her sister who declined to make them herself, but unfortunately the “mouse” looked more like an elephant even before baking, and then turned into something like a “sexy carrot” She is eager to try again, so maybe soon

…Three of the rolls have Hershey’s peanut dark chocolate inside

[applestar]

Filled sourdough sweet buns — dough was started yesterday, and then shaped, filled and baked this morning. 85g dough + 45g filling. Coconut flan custard and storebought anko (adzuki bean jam).

…There were 9 of these — 4 anko and 5 custard, but I didn’t go get my phone in time
…I also shaped the overnight proofed sour dough to put in the banneton loaf basket to cold proof in the fridge for the day. This one looks particularly good for this stage. (I subbed the water with enriched rice dream “milk”)

eta —
TL - Banneton before overnight fridge proof
TR - Banneton after ~15 hrs in fridge
MR - left in basket on table for about 15 min, then turned out on cornmeal dusted parchment, slashed, liberally water sprayed and sprinkled with white sesame seeds, then put in preheated cast alum pot and ”roasted” covered 30 minutes with skillet in 450°F

MC - Removed from pot and transferred to skillet and “roasted” for 15 more min.
ML - After 10 minutes rest in turned off oven
BL - This one had pretty good oven spring — filled entire skillet headroom, I think
BR - crumb seems to be finer than when made with just water

— Here are the reference recipes but I did make a bunch of substitutions

Ref for the buns recipe but not for the filling — Based on
Sourdough Custard Buns


Ref for the coconut flan custard —
Leche Flan (Dairy-free Filipino dessert) - Ai Made It For You


Ref for the sourdough loaf made with x1.5 recipe — Based on How to make sourdough bread in winter


https://youtube.com/shorts/y4RDRECwZzM?feature=share

P.S. Yay I’m buying a new electronic kitchen scale. Measures in increments of 0.1g, as well as other units, USB rechargeable, etc.

It also has a large platform. Not entirely sure if I’m going to like that. The one I have now is a clever folding design that saves space. But it got dropped from top of the fridge recently, and has not been the same. Also only measures in 1g increments which makes it difficult to be exact when aiming for 8g or 7g of salt — I’ve been using a separate digital stamp scale for those small amounts.

I finally made up my mind when I was trying to weigh out 30g of butter, and was using a veg peeler — The old one revealed just how unreliable it is when the displayed number didn’t budge until I added nearly 1/4 of the stick of butter.

[Gary350]

I made a loaf of bread instead of cow pile shape. 3 cups of flour and 2.4 cups of warm water for 80% hydration. It takes several hours for 80% hydration to stop being sticky. Stretch & fold several times until dough started looking smooth. Bake at 350°f in a cold oven so crust does not get hard so bread can't rise. It took 10 min for oven to get hot, bake for 30 min, turn oven off leave bread in oven 30 more minutes. Turned out good.

[imafan26]

It looks really good too.

[applestar]

Yes! Looks yummy

What kind of loaf pan do you use? (I’m lazy — I think you’ve shown a pic or two before…). I’m currently using my old meatloaf pan — rectangular, rounded corners, slanted sides (trapezoidal).

Trying to decide if I NEED a brick-shaped (straight sided/sharp cornered) pullman loaf, with or without slide-on lid), or a 2 pound bread pan (almost straight sides, sharp corners, no lid), or if I should just stick with the meatloaf pan….

[Gary350]

Yes! Looks yummy

What kind of loaf pan do you use? (I’m lazy — I think you’ve shown a pic or two before…). I’m currently using my old meatloaf pan — rectangular, rounded corners, slanted sides (trapezoidal).

Trying to decide if I NEED a brick-shaped (straight sided/sharp cornered) pullman loaf, with or without slide-on lid), or a 2 pound bread pan (almost straight sides, sharp corners, no lid), or if I should just stick with the meatloaf pan….

The older traditional bread pans my mother and grand mother had are 4" x 8½", they also used this pan for meat loaf.

A few years ago I bought a larger 5" x 9" pan at Walmart for $8. This new pan is also 1/2" taller than the older bread pan.

The bread recipe for the old pan is 2 cups of flour. The recipe for this new pan is 3 cups of flour. New pan has non stick surface but I grease it anyway. I should probably test the new pan to see if non stick really works but I worry I might end up digging bread out of the pan piece by piece. I read online grease on non stick pans makes them stick but so far that has not happened.

[applestar]

Thanks!

[applestar]

“ One of these things is not like the others…. ”

[applestar]

This didn’t turn out quite as I had envisioned. I think I was aiming for something closer to a filled babka (next time, I’ll study a few of those recipes first).

The bread dough is based on sourdough cinnamon roll and enriched sweet roll. I completely made up the 2 kinds of filling that were enrobed and booked several times like crescent roll and cinnamon roll layering techniques — filling were made using last fall’s dehydrated and frozen figs+butter and almond flour for one and my apple/pear/persimmon butter for the other.

In hindsight, the fillings were too wet, and I overstuffed it —so I struggled keeping the filling from bursting out. I think I ended up introducing too much liquid into the dough so that the layers didn’t remain as distinct as I had hoped, and too much gases escaped from the torn and leaky spots so the crumb ended up looking dense.

Actually this is a very light and soft, sweet bread. The flavors of the fillings came out really well. Going to try to make it again and practice this technique some more.

…I was inspired by this shaping technique:
Japanese favorite wool bread

[applestar]

It’s almost time to bake another bread — this one is from Wednesday — a 50% whole wheat sourdough made with instant coffee and pepitos. Tried direct on pizza stone without pans to mold/hold shape again.

There was significant “rise” and the slashes spread open quite a bit, but couldn’t get it to puff and rise high with same temperature settings as the others I’ve been using lately — it just spread out and flattened.

It’s actually airy and not dense, and is VERY tasty for eating as ham•pickles•cheese sandwich

[applestar]

I’m trying to make the sourdough challah again — dough is proofing overnight.

While waiting, I made sourdough-enhanced blueberry muffins baked in mini-muffins and madeleines pans (per request — “I got you the frozen blueberries … what are you going to do with them? Are you making blueberry muffins? (hint hint hint hint)” )

[applestar]

Finished Challah loaf

…after @Gary350 showed us the loaf pans he uses, I bought an inexpensive heavyweight Wilton pan with handle rims similar to his, and used my original loaf pan as a well-fitted “lid” to keep in the steam for this bake.

Since the combo barely fit, The loaf pan was placed “directly” on the preheated pizza stone, with a thin fish grilling mesh on the stone to create a bare minimum air-gap. (Preheated at 375°F, then 350°F for 35 minutes + 10 minutes without lid)

[applestar]

Yesterday’s Sourdough bread.

* This was proofed in the banneton basket for about 6 hours on the counter because the fridge was full.

* Baked in the preheated 3 qt All-clad with skillet lid.

(Preheat Roast setting 475°F for 20 min, then remove loaf from basket to prepped parchment and slash. Put in preheated pot at about 25~30min mark. Add water between parchment and pot and cover. Roast at 450°F for 30 minutes, Remove from pot with parchment, direct to stone and another 10~15 minutes at 425°F)

* I forgot to leave it in the turned off oven for 10 minutes after baking to crisp the crust, so it had a softer finish, but DD1 said she prefers it this way.

Since it’s getting warmer, I will need to start changing my techniques.

This will be my next. I’ve seen the method to take a proofing sample for an indicator (that doesn’t rely on specific proofing temperature) before, and this video illustrates it well:

Seeded Sourdough Bread (chia, sunflower, & sesame)

[pepperhead212]

That's a good method, apple! I'll have to try it sometime.

Today (and yesterday) I made some potato rye, using a biga, started early Friday, and today, after dinner, I finished the bread. It has almost 50% rye, plus about 1/3 c gluten, to make up for the high rye to WW ratio. A little to late to try it, but it smells fantastic baking (as always), and that biga smelled nice and sour, after fermenting half the day at room temperature, then in the fridge for another day plus a little.
Potato rye, ready for the oven. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Potato rye bread, just out of the oven. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Potato rye bread, cooling. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

…just a quick pic…

[applestar]

Done! 245°C oven today — pot and skillet…. Got my first tiny corner that really looks like an “ear” — so maybe I do need to increase temp like this.

Also almost definitely — I’m still being too timid when slashing. Aim for deeper and more consistent stroke, I think.

This is a very tasty bread

[pepperhead212]

Glad you're getting so much great baking done, apple! It's so easy to get hooked on !

I had to go shopping at BJ's today, because I was down to about 2 tb of yeast! The yeast was still good, but I could tell it was getting a little slow, right when I was almost out. And the label I put on, was that it was opened on 11-28-21, and what the bag lagel said - Best by 3-23, so I ran out at the right time.

This yeast is the Fleischman's instant, and the reason I had to go to BJ's was the price of the yeast - $5.29 for 2 lbs! No place has it that cheap, except maybe some of the other club stores. I got many other things today, that made it worth the trip. One bag I'll put in the freezer, and the first I'll keep in the jar in the fridge, as always.

Just to see, I went to look at the biga in the fridge, I started earlier, and it is a lot faster now! Maybe I should just stop using it after a year?

[Gary350]

Done! 245°C oven today — pot and skillet…. Got my first tiny corner that really looks like an “ear” — so maybe I do need to increase temp like this.

Also almost definitely — I’m still being too timid when slashing. Aim for deeper and more consistent stroke, I think.

This is a very tasty bread

Are all 9 photos the same loaf of bread. Picture bottom right corner looks exceptionally good. If I had the recipe I would probably make it.

[applestar]

Thanks @pepperhead . I just replaced my jar of yeast, too — blew right through a jar I had in the fridge for a couple of years

Amazed by the different ways yeast responds depending on small differences, including type of flour, sweetener, temperature…, etc. I do really like the sourdough process and my starter is regularly more than doubling when taken out of the fridge and activated now (using the “scrapings method”)

@Gary350, it’s the Seeded Sourdough video I mentioned in the previous post. He didn’t post the recipe in the comments so I wrote it out from what he said in the video :

Recipe paraphrased by applestar

- [x] Activate 50% rye 50% AP starter — will need 70g {100% hydration (1:1:1 ratio)[?]}
- [x] Start soaking 9 g chia seeds in 35g water
- [x] Weigh 320g bread flour + 10g spelt flour + 15g wholewheat flour and add 225g water
- [x] Roughly mix, cover, and leave for 1 hour
- [x] Sprinkle in 7g salt to one side
- [x] Add to opposite side and fold in 70g activated starter, then turn out and slap-and-fold knead for about 5 minutes. Scrape up dough from the surface, then cut off 22g dough sample for monitoring
- [x] Mix in 30g sunflower seeds and 14g sesame seeds to the soaked chia seeds
- [x] Stretch out the dough and work the seeds in by slap-and fold until fully incorporated and dough is elastic

- [x] push -and-pull into a round boule and place seam side-down in proofing container
- [x] After 30 minutes rest, stretch and fold and then begin bulk proofing
- [x] Start monitoring the dough sample

3/21
- [x] When bulk proofed (about 5 hours), pre-shape (no flour)
- [x] Then after about 15 minutes rest, dust surface WITH FLOUR and shape

- [ ] Put in (round) cloth-lined well dusted banneton, cover with dry cloth and rest on counter (not refrigerator) until monitoring dough sample reaches 120% mark (about 1 hour)
- [ ] Start preheating the oven and dutch oven (45 minutes) — 250°C=482°F

- [ ] Score and bake in the preheated HOT dutch oven (lots of steam) with lid on at 250°C (482°F) for 20 minutes, then lid off at 220°C for 20 minutes

…I adjusted down the temp a bit from the original. Those [x] are clicked “radio button” list in my Notes app I use to check off each step (last ones weren’t clicked when I copied it). Also I substituted pepitos (green naked pumpkin seeds) for sunflower seeds, but I think otherwise followed the recipe.

* I did take the loaf out of the pot and bake additional 10 minutes directly on the pizza stone at 375°F because my pot is too small and lower 2/3 (in direct contact with the parchment-lined pot) was too pale. Also followed my now regular practice to leave for 10 additional minutes after the oven turns off (my Toaster oven turns off at end of the set time) without opening — this is supposed to help crisp up the crust. Then take out and put on cooling rack for at least 1 hour.

* It was a pretty sticky dough but I managed to tame it without panicking or resorting to excessive amounts of water, oil, or flour which have ruined the texture in previous other attempts …My techniques might be improving

[applestar]

Today’s bread — Started out as a basic 3/5 white bread flour, 2/5 whole wheat with rye sourdough starter… but got left in the banetton basket for 2 days in the refrigerator.

Anticipating a bit of extra sourness, I decided to fold in cinnamon sugar and little slivers of butter, drizzles of date syrup, and then for the final stage when tucking into the loaf pan, pulled up one side into a flab and scissor cut strips to pull over and tack down. Then brushed with orange juice, sprinkled with white sesame seeds, and then rice flour left in the bottom of the basket.

…I’m thinking this might have worked out better without that tearing if I had used the blad to make deeper slashes between the ribbon flaps.

VERY yummy!

[applestar]

Today, as part of cleaning out the freezer to prep for the new season, I decided to use up roughly 1/2 of a quart freezer bag of semi soft dehydrated and frozen figs from last year’s harvest.

— I found a recipe for making pumpkin and chocolate chips muffins that used 1 cup pumpkin purée and adapted it by blending about 1 cup of the figs. Otherwise, it was pretty much a basic baking soda based quick bread recipe.

…My kids prefer mini muffins, and you can see 2 that are still in the tin — the rest were put away in a large glass pyrex bowl with tight fitting lid.

— For the other 1/2 of the bag, I blended the figs with what was left of the muffin batter in the bottom of the blender, and some softened butter. Then kind of went to town making up my own “little of this and little of that” sweet bread. I used both instant yeast and sour dough starter (not pre-activated). Essentially mixed up the bread dough and started proofing ON TOP OF the fig mixture in the bottom of the bowl, then folded them all together into a boule several times and then bulk proofed and shaped and baked in a loaf pan.

The dough did get much more wet and shaggy than I had expected after the bulk proof, so I compensated by adding about a cup of crumbled cinnamon shredded wheat cereal sifted out from the bottom of the bag… and topped the loaf with it as well.

Even though it’s made with probably 50% or so bread dough (after considering the addition of the cereal as well as the approx. 1/2 as much whole wheat flour), it turned out to be more like an yeasted cake in texture (crumbly) but is moist with crispy/crunchy crust and tastes wonderful.

[imafan26]

I've cut baking down a lot. The cost of flour, eggs, yeast, spices, sugar, butter, milk, and nuts have gone up a lot. Even salt has gone up. But at least salt lasts a long time. The cake mix has shrunk from what it used to be. It does not fill my pan anymore. I don't eat a lot of bread. I should not eat pastries. So, when I do bake it is usually for a special occasion. The last bread loaf I made came out well for a first try. It was the first one I made in years. I recently found out that I can keep yeast in the freezer and it will keep a long time. I used to buy yeast and throw away what expired at the end of the year. Now, I can keep it a little longer.

[applestar]

DD2’s first sourdough bread, with me mostly just supervising

Sourdough starter was WILDLY active, growing to almost 2.5x in the jar when 2 hours BEFORE we were going to begin — I put the jar in the fridge, and then DD2 couldn’t be ready for extra 3 hours so the jar was in the fridge for 5 hours. She took it out and let it return to room temp for about 30 min.

Then we used the basic sourdough recipe but only had time for three folds (1 hr then two 30 minutes apart) and then shape, proof at room temp in the banneton basket for an hour, and then in the loaf pan until ready to bake (about 30 minutes while oven preheated at 230°C on roast) — so no overnight cold proofing in fridge.

Turned out great! Love the “ear”. Very tasty and she is happy.

[pepperhead212]

This cooler weather is great for baking! I just made up a simple WW/rye dough, to make my usual bread sticks, in a couple of hours. I made up a simple biga last night with a small amount of yeast, and just a while ago made the dough in the FP. There is a little nigella added, plus the usual large amount of caraway seeds I put in these things. In another hour or so, they'll be baked.

[imafan26]

Applestar, I am glad you got some mother/daughter bonding time. My grandmother taught me how to make Portuguese sweet bread, and my other relatives too. It took a whole day.

My mom is strictly a bread machine baker. She doesn't bake much.

The first bread I made was under kneaded so it tasted a bit raw but was o.k. after toasting.

I found out the hard way not to make bread on a rainy day. It doesn't rise
I love quick breads, so fool proof and no kneading required.

No knead bread also a winner.

My last effort after learning from mistakes and using a mix master to do the hard work of kneading finally paid off.

[Gary350]

Today I decided to make bread but really did not want too but nothing else to do. YouTube video tells how much better home made bread is if you grind your own wheat gluten is higher. I have a 2 lb bag of wheat seeds I bought 2 years ago. I ground my own flour in my hand crank grinder today. Photo shows store bought wheat flour is brown color on the left and my hand ground wheat flour is white color flour on the right. 1 pic shows wheat seeds on the right. Dough seems extra sticky. I did a slow room temperature rise about 4 hours. Bread baked at 350°f but top was not brown so I increased oven temperature to 400°f then bread burned on top. I forgot our oven only has a broiler burner on top 4" from top of bread. I forgot to lower the rack. Bread is burned, wife said, take it outside in those cold 30 mph wind frost will freeze on it. LOL. Sliced bread looks gray color but it taste good. Slices will be good fried in the skillet for breakfast. When I sliced the bread all the burned top fell off.

Watch this mans videos. He has several video that are tests 4 ways to do something to see results. He told about grinding your own grain to make better bread, I have the stuff already and tried it today. He showed how to get very large air bubbles in bread. My hand crank grinder was $40 on Ebay 3 years ago. Turn adjustment I can make flour = to store bought flour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45EWNkIaKkg

[applestar]

I want to try grinding my own flour at some point….

I had a strange result today — I used same recipe as last time, except I used 250g unbleached bread flour and 200g whole spelt flour. Then decided I wanted softer sandwich bread this time, and worked in about 1/2 stick of room temp butter during last and final pre-shape folds.

I wanted to make this easy — no overnight proofing, maybe not even banneton! … but changed mind and proofed in the banneton … but then thought — hey, I won’t bother with the loaf pans … but quickly realized with the butter folded in, it was going to just keep slumping into a “pool of dough” — so as quickly as I could, I prepped the loaf pan, picked up the dough by the parchment corners, and plopped it in the pan.

500°F today — that might have made the difference, too.

The loaf burst open where the giant slit had slumped open and then got squished closed.

Will have a taste in the morning.

…I took too many pictures…

[pepperhead212]

Made another batch of Russian black bread today, this time starting the night before with a rye poolish. And this time I used WW flour, instead of bread, but added some gluten.
Russian black bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

I made apple cake. I haven't had them in years. I read up on the recipe and it said I could replace half the oil with sour cream to make the cake moister. Moisture is not a problem with this cake, If anything it can be too soft. So, I decided not to mess with a recipe that works. The only thing I have done different is that I baked the cake in 3 8x8 pans instead of 9x13 inch pan. When I first baked this cake years ago, the 9x13 inch cake was dense ( I probably did not whip the oil and eggs enough.) This time I used the mixer and whipped it till it got light and foamy. 1 large granny smith apple was 2 cups, so I used 2 apples. I have left over apples. I will have to make this cake again soon.

I was also going to make banana bread, but I ran out of time and energy. The Bananas were ripe and spotted, so I mashed them and froze them. The worms got the banana peels. That is on my to do list as well. I haven't baked for such a long time, I had to get more baking powder ans the one I had expired 2 years ago.

[pepperhead212]

Since it was cool today, I baked some bread! This time it is some WW English Muffin bread. It is a bread for toasting, but also great for grilled cheese sandwiches.
English muffin bread, just finished rising to the top of the pan. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

English muffin bread, cooling. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

With this weather as nice as it got lately, I started some rye bread a few days ago, much like that Old Milwaukee Rye, and after the 3 days, it really smelled like I was brewing something in the kitchen! I haven't tasted it yet, since I was making that pasta mix, but one goes in the freezer, and the other I'll start with tomorrow. I used 1 1/2 c buttermilk for the sponge, to use some up, and finished with water.
a rye sponge, fermented for 3 days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Everything except the last cup of flour, and the salt, mixed in for the 20 minute autolyse. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Kneading the rye dough in the KA. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Rye dough, ready to rise about 90 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Rye dough ready to rise about 70 min, longer than usual, due to the long fermentation. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished rye bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

It's bread baking time again! Something I just had to do, when it got so cool. When I set that buttermilk to cure (I always make my own BM, and yogurt) overnight, I had about 3/4 c milk, plus almost that much BM leftover, that didn't go into the container with the milk, and I used that for the liquid, and I made a sponge, with that and some rye flour, to ferment overnight. The buttermilk was thick by about 9 am, but I left the sponge until about 7 pm, to make the bread. It's mostly WW and rye, with a little white added at the end, only because I ran out of WW (not really ran out, but the rest is in the freezer). As soon as I start getting more dill weed outside, I'm going to have to make some of that Dilly Rye I haven't made for a long time, but is delicious.
A loaf of rye bread, I had to bake, since it got so cool here! by pepperhead212, on Flickr