Bread baking

[graysalchemy]

Great looking loaf I hope it was as tasty as it looks. One thing you could have done was slash it before baking they you would have had such a rustic looking loaf :whistle: . I use an old fashioned rasor blade, cutting about 1cm deep and at a 45 deg angle.
:thumb:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Nice texture......... :thumb: :thumb:

BB

 

[calumscott]

Thanks guys! Yup, it was seriously tasty. Could easily have polished off the lot in one sitting!!!

 

[graysalchemy]

Well as promised my oatmeal bread

Nice bubbling Starter

After a 12 hr ferment

The finished article

All that was left after 8 hrs :whistle: :whistle:

 

[joe1002]

I baked a stout soda bread yesterday

Some small baguettes that went too well with the wife's potato & watercress soup

Some wraps for work (usually half whole grain but I got trigger happy with the white flour)

And some curried naan bread to go with chickpea curry. The naan breads were epic.

 

[graysalchemy]

Nice Baguette and wraps Joe :thumb: :thumb:

 

[joe1002]

Thanks. I often make wraps but use the breadmaker to make the dough :shock:

All this lot was made without a machine in sight (other than the cooker) for my first time. I'm happy with the results.

Next stop it so nick some of my mum's sour dough culture :whistle:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Some wraps for work (usually half whole grain but I got trigger happy with the white flour)

And some curried naan bread to go with chickpea curry. The naan breads were epic.

Are wraps and nans difficult to make, have you a tried and tested recipe that you don't mind sharing?

BB

 

[joe1002]

No they are dead easy to make. I cook them in a heavy cast iron pan which I think disburses the heat a lot more evenly.

I have a Paul Hollywood book with the recipes. I'm not sure I should post the recipes on here but if the mods think it is ok to do so then I will :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

I make wraps and pitta's from the same recipe just make pitta's thicker and cook in the oven. Personally my recipe is pretty similar to my pizza dough recipe and I think I have in the past made wraps from leftover pizza dough. No point in posting mine as it is sourdough.

Well done joe for stepping away from the bread maker :lol: .

I actually do very little kneading. With wet sourdough sponges you can get away with stretch and fold techniques. In fact that oatmeal was the first one I had just used stretch and fold, they don't usually rise that high with overnight ferment, so I think it must have worked and a lot less hassle. :grin:

 

[calumscott]

I actually do very little kneading. With wet sourdough sponges you can get away with stretch and fold techniques.

:lol: That'll work with wheat...

...rye is just like really sticky plasticine. The best you'll manage is just shoving it into roughly the right shape!

 

[graysalchemy]

even more of a reason to do stretch and fold C. Did you add your salt at the same time as the other ingredients or did you allow for an autolysis rest? If you didn't then you should mix everything and leave it for 30 mins (i sometimes leave mine 12 hrs to hydrate the flour before adding sourdough and salt). This will make a big difference. Then mix it again with the salt leave for 30 minutes then just do stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for 2-3 hrs. Then shape (really important stage to keep tension on the dough) put in tin or basket for a long ferment.

Rye and wholemeal do need a good time to hydrate the dough. If you add salt to early then it doesn't get chance to hydrate (osmosis and all that).

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Thanks for the extra tips A.

I went just as the recipe said (on account of it billing itself as a beginners one!) which was basically "chuck everything in, mix it and let it prove".

So should I try this for the next one?

1) Mix flour and water.
2) Stand for 30 mins.
3) Mix in levain and salt.
4) Attempt a few stretch and folds over a couple of hours.
5) Shape and pop in basket for fermentation.
6) Bake.

Actually I could do (1) in morning day 1, (2) while I'm at work, (3), (4) and (5) in the evening day 1 and ferment cool for the best part of 20 hours... and bake when I get home day 2...?

 

[graysalchemy]

Thats exactly what I do with my dough. I also weigh everything out the night before so literally it takes me 2-3 minutes to mix by hand. If however you are going for only a 30 min hydration I would mix the levain in as well at the start. The only reason I don't with the longer autolysis is so that I don't have a 36 hr ferment (though I have done this with baguettes but left them in a cold fridge for the whole process). :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Take 2: An 800g loaf

The dough, very well risen by comparison to the first one.

Stone is heating up now...

 

[graysalchemy]

You have got the bug now Calum. Looking forward to seeing the finished article. :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Job done. :)

 

[joe1002]

It looks great Calum :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

Come on C the money shot lets see the crumb (the inside)

well done by the way nice looking loaf :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

It's on the rack and cooling a little for now. Maybe a wee supper slice might happen...