Bread ****

[Tim F]

Time for more bread ****... I just made a few loaves of 50/50 wholemeal & white flour sourdough. Does anyone have their own signature slash? I'm trying to figure out a good one, its tricky cos it has to let the bread expand evenly but not let it sag, and it has to look good. I quite like the approach of having the ears down each side but think I might prefer it with just one row down the middle/top.



I tried another experiment with lots of little ones but that doesn't work too well - you can see they stick together and it's hard to make them look even enough.



And a bit of a messy boule



Still I got a nice light crumb given it was sourdough, wholemeal and low knead!

 

[drsmurto]

That bread was low knead and wholemeal?

It had a superb crumb and crust.

My latest in my new proving basket

 

[Tim F]

Yeah I think it's the overnight rise with wetter sourdough that helps with the gluten development so much - I probably only kneaded that a dozen times if that.

Nice loaf there - I need to get me one of those proving baskets some time. Taste good?

 

[Airgead]

That bread was low knead and wholemeal?

It had a superb crumb and crust.

My latest in my new proving basket

View attachment 46403

Is that one of those plastic baskets? I have a couple of those but found that no matter how much I floured them the dough stuck really badly. I suspect its because of the long 12+ hour rises needed for sourdough.

What's your secret for getting the bread out of them? I current line them with floured cloth and that works pretty well.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Katherine]

That bread was low knead and wholemeal?

It had a superb crumb and crust.

My latest in my new proving basket

View attachment 46403

I love the proving basket marks... YUMMMMM

 

[drsmurto]

Long proving?

I prove the starter for 24 hours before adding it to the main loaf but the rest is relatively short.

I do the first proving step in the stainless steel bowl i 'knead' in. I let the machine do all the kneading, 10-15 mins is about right.

1-2 hours it has doubled in size and is no longer sticky so i take it out, fold it a few times a la Crust/Dough and then put it into the plastic basket which i first spray with oil then dust with flour.

3-4 hours later the dough goes in the oven after slashing via a peel onto a pre-heated pizza stone.

Taste wise mine is similar to TimFs, plenty of sourdough flavour and the crust and crumb is lovely. I need to work on smaller loaves and better slashing but i am very happy with how they are coming out now on a regular basis.

The plastic prooving basket (and lame, couche and dough scraper) comes from Home Bread

 

[Tim F]

Cheers for the link, I've been looking for a dough scraper for a while!

One thing I do that I think makes a big difference to my bread is bake it in an old metal roasting dish with a lid. I preheat a pizza stone first, put the loaf in the dish, slash it, then put the dish in the oven on the pizza stone. I usually cook with the lid on for 30 minutes then with the lid off for another 15 or until it's done. Heaps easier than using a steam pan or spraying water in the oven and you get that really nice shiny look on the crust and better expansion.

I've been planning on making a better version of this though. You can get big sandstone tiles from Bunnings for a few bucks that are fine for baking on. I was going to get one of them and make up a sheet metal open bottomed box that fits on top of it, so I could slide the loaf onto the preheated stone and just drop the box over the whole thing.

 

[Airgead]

Long proving?

I prove the starter for 24 hours before adding it to the main loaf but the rest is relatively short.

I do the first proving step in the stainless steel bowl i 'knead' in. I let the machine do all the kneading, 10-15 mins is about right.

1-2 hours it has doubled in size and is no longer sticky so i take it out, fold it a few times a la Crust/Dough and then put it into the plastic basket which i first spray with oil then dust with flour.

3-4 hours later the dough goes in the oven after slashing via a peel onto a pre-heated pizza stone.

Taste wise mine is similar to TimFs, plenty of sourdough flavour and the crust and crumb is lovely. I need to work on smaller loaves and better slashing but i am very happy with how they are coming out now on a regular basis.

The plastic prooving basket (and lame, couche and dough scraper) comes from Home Bread

Wow. You must have a more active starter than I do. Mine needs a good 12-18 hours to get a good rise. Mind you I do keep it in the fridge until I am ready to bake so its not in a really active state when I use it.

I might see if I can adjust things a little.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Tim F]

Yeah same here, I use half a cup of starter per loaf and it usually takes a full day or overnight to rise properly.

 

[drsmurto]

I use 375g of starter that has been actively bubbling away at room temperature for 24h. To this is added 500g flour, 250mL water and 8g of salt.

When it is mixed with more flour its raring to go, much like yeast starters for beer. 1-2 hours later the dough has doubled in size.

Slow rising gives different results which i may now have to resort too since my 'free time' for brewing and baking is now approx. 5% of what it used to be.

I like slow rising of pizza dough in the fridge for 24h prior to use so maybe i need to try that for sourdough. I doubt after 24h in the fridge it would be easy to pull the dough out of the proving basket though.

 

[Tim F]

That's amazing, you must have some kick *** wild yeast floating around Mt Torrens! Even using a really active starter I don't see any action at all for a few hours.

 

[drsmurto]

That's amazing, you must have some kick *** wild yeast floating around Mt Torrens! Even using a really active starter I don't see any action at all for a few hours.

Didn't make the mother myself.

The mother came from a lady at work who is considered the sourdough queen.

She happily shares it with anyone who wants it. Earlier this year she shipped some of it down to Tassie!

Plus, if i do manage to neglect it i can always get some of the original.

Happy to pass some on to you Tim if you want to do a comparison.

 

[drsmurto]

Had more time to think about this and made another few sourdough loaves on the weekend and have come to the conclusion i am actually prooving the dough too fast.

My culture is obviously very healthy but the sour tang seems to be decreasing each time i use it.

I'll slow down the first proof to an overnight in the fridge to try and get more of the flavour i am after.

Crust and crumb are great, just need some more of the strong sourdough flavour.

 

[Tim F]

I'd be keen to try some of your starter some time. You might get a slower rise by just using less starter too?

 

[drsmurto]

Had some bread made by the lady who gave me the starter and it has a great sour taste/smell. She slow rises overnight in the fridge as many of you do.

So... i have my starter bubbling away at home and will make up the dough tonight and allow it to slow rise overnight.

Also made some pizza dough which is slowly rising in the fridge ready for tonight.

 

[Phoney]

Do you guys use breadmakers? If so, any recommended brands/models?

I've heard the Panasonic SD-257 is the ducks nuts..

 

[drsmurto]

Do you guys use breadmakers? If so, any recommended brands/models?

I've heard the Panasonic SD-257 is the ducks nuts..

No. I use a mixer to knead my dough but the bread is baked in an oven on a pizza stone.

I do have a breadmaker for baking sandwich bread - wouldn't have bought one personally but the MIL thought i wanted one so i have a breville IKON which is very nice and i do use it for making pizza dough but i wouldn't have spent the coin. It does have a manual function which might be useful for lengthy sourdough prooving.

If you don't have a beater/mixer I'd spend the money on that (unless you subscribe to the no knead crew). It gets far more of a workout at my place for kneading/mixing/beating/whipping (all the good things ) I have this one - Link. It's basic but does the job nicely.

 

[Airgead]

Do you guys use breadmakers? If so, any recommended brands/models?

I've heard the Panasonic SD-257 is the ducks nuts..

All mixed and kneaded by hand here. Baked on an oven on granite slabs.

Cheers
Dave

 

[bonj]

I mix and knead by hand and bake in the oven on pizza stones.

 

[Margrethe]

So where does one get a good sourdough starter? I've had two before, and both weren't real flash.

I'd love some help on getting my sourdough better! Mine doesn't look anywhere near as flash as the ones you've posted! I'm super jealous!