Reply With Quote
Boom
Dutch oven in the oven for the full time it is heating up. You want it screaming hot. Make sure you are scoring the dough enough too. These two elements will see the dough jump.Originally Posted by subseastu
Had another go (mix of white and rye flour) this time using the Dutch oven method. Still not happy though. The taste is good and the base cooked better but I'm not getting any oven spring and it's still a little doughy. I preheated the oven (gas mark 9 for an hour) but not the pot as it was my first go with this method and wasn't sure about lifting the dough in. Pot lined with parchment paper and a sprinkle of semolina flour, dough in, slashed, lid on and in the oven for 25 min at gas mark 9. Lid off and another 25 min at gas mark 6.
I suppose the only other thing left to try is preheat the Dutch oven as well next time to hopefully get more steam created from the dough initially.
Fot those using this method what are you times and temperatures?
Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Boom
Effe?
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Nope Neff buddy. I need to research that more re top and bottom temps.
Pizza in the Effe tonight
Pitch
I have also gone back to baking bread in the household oven.
Pizza, on the other hand, ....
Used the cloche method today
Last edited by ernestrome; 7th March 2021 at 13:58.
Used my new cloche today for first time too. Very pleased with result, probably bit longer in oven next time.
Easier to use cloche than Dutch oven IMO.
Last edited by Kingstepper; 13th March 2021 at 20:16.
Superb chaps
Pitch
Very nice.
Once you have reached that kind of level, it's impossible to go back.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Thats looks astounding, well done.
Looking at that & wishing I had some for breakfast tomorrow.
Blowout
[QUOTE=Pitch3110;5721898]Blowout
Nice
Look good enough to eat.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I have just discovered this thread. I got into sourdough bread making a few years ago after attending the excellent Hobbs House sourdough course. I make a loaf about three times a week, and today I am making sourdough hot cross buns, but without the crosses - just too fiddly and unnecessary. I may post a picture later - this is my second batch, and the first batch went down a treat.
I don't always follow the "received" wisdom, so we will see how this goes. Here is a loaf I made recently:
Here are the hot no-cross buns I made today; they have a lot of dried fruit and fresh apple in them, and are delicious:
Last edited by Tatters; 11th April 2021 at 18:11.
Yes, I agree with the screaming hot, but I never bother scoring the dough; I like the way the loaf naturally splits anyway - it adds a bit of random "rustic" ness.
One thing I discovered (after about a year of baking sourdough!) was I was actually overproving the dough in my banneton; I found that if I proved it a bit less (don't let it rise quite so much in the banneton), then it would:
a: Transfer much better into the Dutch oven - it would keep its shape much better, and not be so much of a cow splat.
b: Rise a lot more in the oven.
So, I suggest experimenting with slightly reducing the proving.
Some more tips:
- I use Hobbs House starter, which I got when I attended their sourdough baking course a few years ago. You can buy it online: https://www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk/c...rdough-starter. This starter is very active, and I can thoroughly recommend it.
- I feed the starter with rye flour and water (equal amounts). Rye flour gives a nice thick consistency, which makes it much easier to spoon out the starter. I never bother discarding any of the starter. It is fed several times a week, every time I use some to make bread.
- For the bread flour itself I like Bacheldre Organic Stoneground White; I am currently trying Sharpham Park Organic White Spelt, mixed 50/50 with ordinary strong white. Sometimes I will mix in some wholemeal (wheat, rye or spelt), but I prefer white generally, as it gives a nice chewy texture. Organic white flours generally have a better flavour.
- For beginners I recommend using strong white flour as this is more likely to give a better result.
Last edited by Tatters; 11th April 2021 at 10:27.
Purchased a couple of 8 poofing baskets for some smaller loaves.
Working nicely
Pitch
Look great.Purchased a couple of 8 poofing baskets for some smaller loaves.
Working nicely
Pitch
What do the poofing baskets do differently?
I just have to dance around the kitchen whilst using them whilst listening to Bronski Beat LOLLook great.
What do the poofing baskets do differently?
Well spotted buddy heheheheheheh
Pitch
Nice big stone for the oven now so two small and one large loaf in one hit.
The big flour shortage and food inflation will be here in the Autumn chaps so get them skills honed.
Pitch
Morning all,
Trying (again) wholemeal sourdough which has never been a great success. I have upped the hydration in an attempt to lighten it but still getting no spring in the oven.
I would of course welcome thoughts.
Cheers
Pitch
Reminds me, my starter is buried in the back of the fridge somewhere. Where it has been for about 4 months unfed.
Which is what I managed to do it about 6 months prior to that before bringing it back to life.
Any long term storage hints? I seem to forget weekly feeds these days!
No idea on the whole meal side, my friend. Every one I tried gave me grave concern for my knives or my floor should I drop one.
Exact same thing happened to me.
I was about to bin mine a couple of weeks ago until the baker that gave me it during lockdown said not to it will come back.
I took the worst of the minging mould off, transfered to a clean jar and fed/discard daily for about 10 days and it came back better than ever! There was a couple of days in the balance where it was pretty smelly but nature took care of it.
Out of the oven this morning.....
Looking good. Makes me wonder why I stopped making it ah yes, being at home all week and the amount of bread and quality butter I would consume.
Yes, each time Ive thought I killed it, Ive just poured the fermented alcohol off the top and gone to daily feeds. Never had any other growths though inside the jar.
I suggest trying a 50/50 mix of white and wholemeal flour first, using your normal recipe. Also some brands of white flour seem to have more gluten in it, which you will need to counteract the lack of gluten in wholemeal. I like Bacheldre flour if you can get it - my local Natural Grocery Store sells it. Waitrose also stock the brand, but only rye and wholemeal flours, not white.
Once you have nailed the 50/50 mix, you can up the amount of wholemeal.
You may need a lower hydration not higher. I use a starter of 50/50 rye flour and water. Rye gives a relatively stiff batter which is easy to spoon out. Dough is 500g flour, 300g starter, 300g water, and a heaped teaspoon of salt.
Don’t overprove. You can often get a better spring with less proving, but this definitely needs some experimentation and experience.
Make sure your oven is really hot to get the spring, and turn it down about 15 minutes after putting the bread in.
I also recommend trying white spelt flour, if you fancy a change from bog standard white wheat.
Why not try a recipe that has been tested rather than just changing ingredients and hoping it works out? The internet is full of tried and tested recipes, just pick one and try it out.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
I assume most people are using a tried and tested recipe, but I have found that with sourdough, there is so much variability in the input that the outcome is not guaranteed. The starter for example, has a massive influence on the result, and no two starters are the same. The recipe may call for strong white flour, but different brands of white will behave differently - they will have different levels of gluten and proteins etc. Even the same brand may vary over time, depending on the growing conditions of the wheat.
Do you knead by hand, or use a machine? How long do you prove, and what is the ambient temperature? Do you use a proving basket? What do you bake in? How hot is your oven, really?
This is the fun of baking sourdough for me - experimenting with the recipe to try and improve on the resulting loaf.
This is the brown loaf I made yesterday, using 250g Shipton Mill Organic Three Malts and Sunflower Brown Flour, and 250g Bacheldre Strong White Flour, 300g starter, 300g water, 1 heaped teaspoon of salt.
I am happy with the rise - not as high as a pure white loaf, but good enough for brown flour. I prefer the taste of this to 100% brown or wholemeal, which does not rise as well, and can have a more bitter flavour.
I have had the starter many years now, it originally came from Hobbs House Bakery, and I thoroughly recommend it. I feed it with Bacheldre Rye Flour. The starter normally lives in the fridge, but it is out today as I will be making pizza later (with white flour). I will feed it a bit at lunch time, and it should rise some more this afternoon, before I use it for the pizza dough.
I don't use baker's yeast anymore - this starter copes with anything: bread, hot cross buns, pizza etc. I think it made a huge difference to the success of my sourdough - previously I had a lot of sad, flattened loafs.
Last edited by Tatters; 7th August 2022 at 10:13.
Great stuff chaps and many thanks, 50/50 is a great idea.
All in all this weekends experiment with upping the hydration worked well, but not the spring with extra strong white bread flour.
Many thanks and some great pics up there, top work fellas
Pitch
PS: Pizzas were faultless
instagram image url download
^ superb looking stuff. Yummy.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Cheers buddy
Pitch
Ok so last week I tried my hand at sourdough in a loaf tin to make more uniformed slice sizes. Was unsure how much it would expand, so used 2/3 of the recipe. Came out pretty good.
Made another this afternoon as seeing my parents tomorrow and they like a nice slice of sourdough. Not entirely sure why I got a daft growth spurt in the centre of this one, very annoying.
Any ideas from those in the know?
My guess would be too much "oven spring", which can be due to not proving long enough.
Folks, you do realise you can buy sourdough loaves in the shops?
It had a few stretch & folds over the course of 8 hours yesterday, then in the fridge for 24hrs. Exactly the same process as the prior loaf.
Aside from doing a full batch this time, nothing else changed, hence my confusion. Well aside from a new lame.
Yep, but have you seen the price.
Waitrose do Gails sourdough which I really like but it is £4 for 650g loaf, the equivalent of £5 for a standard 800g loaf. It is the only shop bought sourdough that is worth buying.
All other supermarket and shop offerings I have tried are rank.
Also my local Waitrose discounts them by 70% in the last half hour of trading. So, the last couple of Sundays I have nipped in at 4.30pm and relieved them of 6 loaves which I slice at home and in the freezer they go.
I am too tight to spend a fiver on a loaf of bread.
Right, one there to block from this thread
Yes, but bloody expensive and not matched by what we turn out.
Better get my arse into gear Matt, in fact now digging my starter out of the fridge.
Good effort mate
Pitch
+1
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
I bought the Gails sourdough the other day and those pictures look 10x better than the £4 loaf tasted.
Thanks gents.
Crust is a little softer on this one - or has softened since removing from the over, so may not be fully baked (!), won't know until they cut into it.
It sounds fine, just a softer crust which to be fair might not be a bad thing given they 'snap' the crust all around before toasting as my Mum doesn't like it too hard.
Have to say I am impressed with the steam setting on the Neff oven for baking, much easier than faffing with a kettle.
Been ages since I did my own bread, and now wondering why I ever stopped as the results are well worth what little effort it takes.
Will be trying some with pizza dough at some point, need to research some recipes though.
HAGWE all.
Our sour dough starter is still playing up. Last couple of loaves have been flat as a pancake. Missus has been feeding it, but if that doesn't work we are going to have to reach out to a friend for some fresh starter.
I cycled into town since it was such a lovely day. Not long after 4pm as a tight pikey I poked my head in the Gails sourdough display in Waitrose. Damn, the bed was not reduced.
As I turned a walked down the aisle the lady who runs the bakery section chases after me and ask me if I was looking if the Gail's has been reduced. Give me two minutes sir and I'll reduce them for you. How's that for service!
Had a nice chat with her after that as she is now my bessie. I'll slice it, and in the freezer it goes. But keeping a good few slices back as we are having medium rare sirlion steak and aioli on sour dough sandwich with chips for tonight for dinner.
The only shop bought sour dough I will eat. Not perfect, but a good substitution while we repair/replace our starter.
That looks decent. Enjoy.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
They look great loafs and we will let you off and not block you but no more shop purchased loafs.
Ta
Pitch
Thanks for not being black-balled. I will post another nice photo of a home made loaf when the starter is back on track or replaced.
Sent from my SM-X200 using Tapatalk
I recommend Hobbs House starter https://www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk/p...dough-starter; well worth £16. Feed it with equal quantities of rye flour and water.
The starter has been re-fed and revived. This came out this morning.
That looks amazing! I can almost smell it.
As convenient as a loaf tin is, I miss the markings of a banneton so will ordering an oval one.
Very nice. Starters don't die so easily, as you have just proven. You can even get them going again after months in the fridge.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
All credit to my Missus as she puts in the hard work.
She bakes it in a Le Creuset which she preheats beforehand.
The Le Creuset then goes back in the gas oven. Our oven only goes to Gas Mark 9, but she just turns the knob all the way around and off the scale so who knows what temperature it is.
30 mins with the lid on and 20 mins with the lid off.
I think the secret is the Le Creuset and the off-the-scale heat.
Yes, it was relative straight forward to revive. We followed the guidance in this book.
That does look good.The starter has been re-fed and revived. This came out this morning.
Looks fab! Enjoy!The starter has been re-fed and revived. This came out this morning.
Posting Permissions
