long-time reader first-time bread-maker

Today - my first crack at baguettes, following King Arthur Flour recipe:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-baguettes-recipe
Going in the oven in about 30 minutes. Not feeling hugely confident here tbh, but wanted to start on some 55 flour I'd bought(*) and try something to challenge my (very poor) shaping.

(*)You'd think the 25kg would be enough, but it didn't get me free shipping so I bought several small bags of other flours alongside - 55, 00, ciabatta & soda bread flour.

Oh, and following previous chat on here my early-in-the-week loaf was old-ish starter, 2/3 white, 1/3 rye and wholemeal, long fridge proof with a lot of stretch and folds. Held its shape, rose well and was delicious.

YES!! god it's a good feeling when it works out eh?

tbf I think baguette shaping isn't easy! (not that i've tried it myself)

a friend on instagram did a video about making sourdough bread and it turns out he puts his dough in the fridge overnight before cooking it (which I do too) but, get this, he doesn't cover it up, so it develops a skin. And fuck me, it really improves the shape and structure of the bread. TRY IT!

i tried a multiple-day fridge ferment/proof for my most recent sourdough (36ish hours for the poolish, another 12ish hours for the dough) per the recipe for a san francisco-style sourdough i found online. the bread was very good but still not sour at all!

IME the age of the starter has more impact in flavor than the length of the ferment/rise.

Yes. You can also try overproofing it. Though it won't rise as high in the oven. You may not care. You could also overproof in a bread tin and then the shape'll be fine :P

NA, re: sourness, Sarah suggests letting the starter ferment longer in the beginning of the process, or adjusting the ratios in favor of starter (for example add 100g starter compared to what you normally use, and decrease the added flour & water by 100g).

Here are some examples she found :

Norwich Sourdough Bread Recipe – Wild Yeast
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/my-new-favorite-sourdough/

Norwich More-Sourdough – Wild Yeast
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/more-sour-sourdough/

And here's the latest loaf with a lot of flax seed, very hearty & moist:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DLGQnjSE5/

there is no way you don't get an a+ for that.

Oh I can't take credit, that's all my partner, I just did a little folding.

That is f'n amazing

wow. nice job!

Gorgeous!

I’ve been thinking about stevie’s tip to leave the dough UNCOVERED during proving and i almost did it last night..... and then i chickened out

you cover it bcz why science-wise?

ps i assume professional breadmakers have a thing they can do with the sad little leftover glass of yolk from a separate-the-eggwhite recipe but what abt the the unprofessional breadmaker (me)

gourgeres (eli's recipe) plus a nice glass of lemonade

https://files.slack.com/files-pri/TV20059EW-F012468M76X/2020-04-19_14.28.34.png

bases not really firmed up? what's the tip for this?

that’s okay. they should be pretty light and soft. leave em in a little longer if you want? or reheat for a couple minutes longer than you might otherwise when you next have them?

i popped them back in for a few mins just on that open tray with no baking tray to mask the base

yr family is insane by the way these are delicious, which element do they dislike?

i honestly don’t know. they start to answer and then trail off.

re: covering dough during fermentation/proving: if your dough dries out too much the crust can get too thick and chewy, plus the ratio of flour to water will actually change, meaning a less hydrated loaf, meaning not as tender inside... that said, the whole point of those cane proving baskets is to slightly wick away some of the water from the surface so that the dough doesn’t stick... so i imagine it could totally work as long as you weren’t leaving them uncovered for an ungodly amount of time. plus the fridge is usually pretty damp anyway!

in my E5 class, i remember the baker being extremely blasé about dough temperature during fermentation and whether the dough was covered or not..

lol "when you next have them" = they are nearly all gone!

(i did manage to put a tray of them in the freezer so there will be a next time)

Oh man, thanks everyone, I'll pass on the praise, but you should really see her other loaves!

Re: egg yolk, cook & eat, surely? On toast w/olive oil?

good idea if i had any toast

You're making bread!

so i'm learning the insides of my gougeres shd have been more like eclairs (it's choux pastry) than dense like scones?

anyway they weren't (they were tasty but no way could they be called "puffs") )

I’ve been thinking about stevie’s tip to leave the dough UNCOVERED during proving and i almost did it last night..... and then i chickened out

it worked good but ymmv!!

So, I figured out what to do with all the spent starter instead of throwing it away after feedings. Sourdough crackers.

That is an awesome idea.

They are really easy! I used vegetable shortening instead of butter since I didn't have a ton of the latter. They are great!

I made them! I didn't roll them thin enough but they're still great. So flavourful and tangy. Impossible to stop eating them, basically.

I spoke w/my bread sensei about making sourdough more sour and she says:

'To get a tangier loaf you need to use a more mature leaven and a more well fermented dough. Ferment your leaven until it tastes nice and sour. Also using dark rye in your dough can help it ferment more to get tangier flavours'

Nice, my partner made sourdough crackers with the discard too once. Lately she's only been feeding her starter when she's going to bake, and there hasn't been any discard.

Btw I was watching a Bon Appetit video that specifically mentioned covering the dough to prevent a skin forming + inhibiting gluten structure.

Yeah I don't usually have 250g of 'extra' starter. I actually made a kind of levain in order to have enough!!

Btw I was watching a Bon Appetit video that specifically mentioned covering the dough to prevent a skin forming + inhibiting gluten structure.

yeah a week on and tbh I have had good and bad results with the "uncovered in the fridge" technique

i just want to announce, slightly feebly but also very proudly, that i made two *very simple* but *fantastically successful* tinned yeasted loaves yesterday. that is all.

Awesome :)

I've been making more tinned loaves lately.

i have to decide what to make at the weekend after my mixed success with the gougeres (they tasted nice but they totally didn't rise properly, they were more like very excellent cheese scones)

Latest:

http://imgur.com/gallery/CBYFeEV

Majestic beast!

My wife made pancakes this morning from excess sourdough starter. They were so good: light, fluffy, lots of flavor.

Though maybe that should go in the cooking thread.

i reckon knowing what to do with spare starter is a useful thing to go here.

after my wild success with yeasted tinned wholemeal loaves, i thought i’d do a white bloomer. my shaking and handling was poor throughout and due to some contradictory info from my oven thermometer i think my oven temp was too hot. so it’s almost but not quite burned on the outside, and the base isn’t as solid as i’d like.

quite pleased to have some info to learn from though, and do better next time.

photo link here

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_cqPb7HXZh/?igshid=x1jbqgygei03

*shaping not shaking

That looks pretty good to me.

Me too! How does/did it taste?

Looking good!

Once I've got a jar of discard I use it for pancakes - add an egg, salt, bicarb then milk and flour until it looks like a batter.

Today - rushing a fairly standard boule. Using about 1/3 wholemeal so threw in a bit more water than usual. lol sticky.

oh it tastes great! v pleased.