Bread Porn

[Red Baron]

Made Blueberry bagels for breakfast. It's handy when the fermenting fridge does double duty overnight as a proving area too!

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Oh yum! I need to start making bread more.. This bagels look/sound delicious!

 

[siege]

Just baked my first loaf with no bakers yeast




1kg flour, 1 pint bottle conditioned double IPA, a bit of salt, sugar and butter

It was a 24 hour ferment with no knocking back, now I'm wondering if I should have knocked it and given it another day?
But then I wouldn't be eating it for lunch now. And it's deliciously malty.

 

[Engibeer]

Just baked my first loaf with no bakers yeast

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1kg flour, 1 pint bottle conditioned double IPA, a bit of salt, sugar and butter

It was a 24 hour ferment with no knocking back, now I'm wondering if I should have knocked it and given it another day?
But then I wouldn't be eating it for lunch now. And it's deliciously malty.

From everything I've read, "knocking back" is a really important part of flavour development.

That looks like it has risen quite a lot; I think if you knocked it back and gave it another 24 it would have over proved and the glutens would have collapsed.

With that small quantity of yeast I imagine it would have taken quite a while to get going.

Personally (and it's hard to know without seeing how quick it's rising) I reccon it would have been best to knock it back, shape it and give it another 1-2hrs rise; I would say at full yeast activity that would be enough.

 

[Airgead]

Knocking back has nothing to do with flavour (directly) but much to do with texture. Its the fermentation that develops flavour so a long, slow rise will be more flavourful than a arm, quick one. Up to a point, if you let it over rise, it will collapse as the glutens aren't strong enough. With a really long rise, the top can dry out a bit. When that happens, it stops expanding and gas bubbles form underneath which separates the crust from the load while baking. I think that's what happened with the loaf above.

Knocking back collapses the first batch of gas bubbles that form and fives a closer textured loaf. It also means it needs to rise again which leads to more flavour development due to the extended rise.

I prefer an open textured loaf so I don't knock back. I develop flavour by doing a cool rise (in winter, overnight).

Cheers
Dave

 

[Engibeer]

I just purchased the LaRousse "Book of Bread"

Some great recipes, techniques and rules to follow. It goes into great detail to discuss flour quality, temperatures etc.

I've never been able to make Ciabatta before, but as a result of this book I can now quite successfully make an awesome ciabatta.

Looking forward to baking some more recipes from this book.

Results attached.

 

[drsmurto]

Bread machine sourdough.

Decided to have another go at using the bread machine to bake a loaf of sourdough. 50/50 white/wholemeal with most of my sourdough culture. 500g of flour total.

Setup a custom method for the kneading and first proof. 20 mins of kneading followed by 2 x 90 minute rising cycles. After that, took the basket out and put it in the fridge for 24 hours. Took it out of the fridge and left it on the kitchen bench for 24 hours. Back in the bread machine on a bake only setting @140C for 60 minutes.

Success! Minimal effort, maximum result.

 

[Dave70]

Is there a trick to getting wholemeal wheat to rise like the store bought stuff?
The last few I've done have been good on flavor, but somewhat brick-like. Using about 450g flour to 400ml water, 2 teaspoons of yeast and a handful of stuff like flax, wheat berries and oats.

 

[Mardoo]

Not easy, but it's totally possible. Those light wholemeal loaves are usually also technological triumphs.

You'll need to get hard winter wheat because you want a higher protein (aka gluten) percentage. The fresher it's ground the better off you'll be. Find the hippy store in your area and you may find a good one that grinds flour fresh from good bread wheat.

The easiest way to raise gluten percentage is to add gluten flour, sometimes called vital wheat gluten here. Too much and the bread will become very tough. Either that or go with 50/50 white/wholemeal or thereabouts. Then it's not wholemeal though

You can often get a better rise on wholemeal flours if you are using sourdough to rise. If you can hand knead you may find you get better results.

Also, extra additives like oats and seeds will often drag it down. Get the basic bread right first, then begin adding adjuncts until you get a result you're happy with.

 

[chrisso81]

First loaf of bread ever, following Richard Bertinet's method from the book 'Dough', bit dense but there really is something awesome about hot bread straight from the oven slathered in butter!

 

[chrisso81]

Hmmm, maybe that Epic Lupulingus has something to do with the loaf being upside down!

 

[Airgead]

So light you need to catch it on a cooling rack to stop it floating away...

 

[MelbPhil]

I've decided to give sourdough a go. Never made bread before so jumping right into the deep end.

I've been using the Bread and Butter project book.

First loaf had lots of flavour but had no rise in it what so ever. I reckon my starter had over ripened and had nothing left in it. I used a sachet kit for the second loaf: the dough came up well which was a good reference point, and it rose too which was also another good learning experience.

I made a white sourdough loaf this week using only my starter and it came up trumps. Got plenty of air into this time and tasty as. I think my problem was using my starter to long after its last feed. I reckon if I can replicate this form two more times then I might try something harder than a white sourdough. I'll have to get some pictures up.

 

[Hpal]

I've been making sourdough for about 2 weeks now, happy with the results

 

[Fylp]

I've been making sourdough for about a year. Just started using about 1/4 wholemeal spelt.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I am not that keen on a sourdough bread but I have a recipe which calls for vinegar if a sourdough starter isn't available for making a rye loaf, why is this?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Vinegar makes it taste sour

 

[mr_wibble]

Is there a trick to getting wholemeal wheat to rise like the store bought stuff?
The last few I've done have been good on flavor, but somewhat brick-like. Using about 450g flour to 400ml water, 2 teaspoons of yeast and a handful of stuff like flax, wheat berries and oats.

Store-bought bread is (probably) made using the "Chorleywood" process.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process

The dough mechanically beaten under varying air-pressures.

The amount of yeast really make a difference in the rise, but 2 teaspoons in a 450g loaf sounds like a lot.
I typically use 1.5 teaspoons in a 600 gram loaf - but that's not wholemeal.

You could try chucking in a bit of bread improver, it really makes a difference.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Our family are all agreed that we like the Rye the best, I am not to keen on the sugar content and I have noticed that additives do impede the rise of the loaf, also wholemeal bought in a supermarket may not really be wholemeal.
I will try the vinegar in the Rye bread, the recipes I have tried have had to much sugar. I think that is why the kids like the Rye, it is the sugar content.

 

[indica86]

some commercial rye is good.
my old man used to have one which is still in woolies, can't find the brand right now,,,