Bread ****

[Gerryjo]

This is my 12 years old sons Home economics homework for today with loads of input from his mum.Delish...

 

[Alastair70]

First go at focaccia, and really impressed. Need to get a suitably sized oven tray, the two baking sheets lead to lots of overbaked bits round the outside. At least chickens are in for a treat in the morning. Handling 86% hydration dough was an interesting experience.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

This is my 12 years old sons Home economics homework for today with loads of input from his mum.Delish...

Flipping brilliant

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Check out this 1.5kg sourdough bad boy...

 

[Alastair70]

Check out this 1.5kg sourdough bad boy...

View attachment 41102

Wow! I’ve always struggled to get an even bake on bigger loaves. Looks magnificent

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Wow! I’ve always struggled to get an even bake on bigger loaves. Looks magnificent

thanks! 25 mins at 220 fan, then 20 mins at 200 fan is what works for me.... this is a good one though - last week‘s came out a bit flat!

 

[foxy]

The best bread I have ever had was in Prague, a really malty loaf which I have been searching for a recipe for.
Have ordered some of this to give it a go.
https://snk.com.au/product/malt-flour/#:~:text=Malt Flour.,texture, and lovely brown crust.

 

[Dutto]

The best bread I have ever had was in Prague, a really malty loaf which I have been searching for a recipe for.
Have ordered some of this to give it a go.
https://snk.com.au/product/malt-flour/#:~:text=Malt Flour.,texture, and lovely brown crust.

AAaargh!!!

Come on @foxy you already have loads of malted grain available so why, oh why, are you spending good money to buy malted flour?

Just turn your own Mill up a few notches and you can mill your own flour at half the price! Here's a photograph of what was available from my "El Cheapo" mill. The flour (bottom of photo) made a great Malt Loaf!

 

[foxy]

Agree with you Dutto my initial thought was to mill some crystal malt I have a mill on a low setting for rye malt. The problem is crystal malt is none diastatic, I need diastatic malt to make the bread. In saying that I will try some ground crystal, I doubt I will get away with much more than 150g and let the strong bread flour do the heavy lifting. Any Czechs on here, or German, could just give me a name for a malty tasting loaf of bread. Different to Malt Loaf which my sister is accompished at making using Ovaltine.

 

[Dutto]

@foxy Ouch! to the Ovaltine!

I've used Tesco Strong Plain Flour with two desert spoonful of Malt Extract, 3 teaspoonful of All Spice, chopped up dates and whole sultanas to make a "traditional" Malt Loaf. Toasted with butter it tastes magical.

With regard to grinding my own flour, I used a Maris Otter/Caramel mix and found that it helped if I sieved the flour to remove the husks. (*) This made the flour a lot smoother. I also doubled up the Allinsons Dried Yeast and the sugar to two teaspoonful of each to get the 450g of flour to rise.

Enjoy.

(*)
I've been wary of anything that can stick in my gullet since 1967 when I finished up in Oulu hospital in Finland after biting my fingernails and trying to eat one. Doh!

 

[foxy]

Ovaltine or no, she makes a wicked malt loaf, and Bakewell tart. When she did domestic science at school, I was the taste tester, my mother used to claim she was good at baking because she had cold hands. I believe she was good at baking because if a recipe asked for two eggs that is what she used, not like my frugal Yorkshire mother who thought one egg would suffice.

 

[AdeDunn]

We used to add a couple of tablespoons of malt extract (the sort that comes into a jar) for a maltier loaf years ago. However, been using Marriage's organic stoneground wholemeal bread flour recently, and it makes a delicious loaf! Had to increase the water in the recipe by about 10mls (for the white loaves too) from the ones in the book that came with our machine (they were coming out a bit heavy), but seriously I have never tasted such a delicious wholemeal bread! I usually hate wholemeal bread toast, love toast made with this bread though.... Delicious. I use Fermipan Red yeast (an instant one) which comes in 500g packs, and buy flour in 16 kilo sacks which we store in UN type barrels, same as with my brewing malt. lol

I don't make bread for a bit of a hobby, we only buy a commercial loaf every now and then as a top up (3 daughters still at home, it's hard to keep up... lol), the rest I make in our machine. Nothing beats fresh bread.

 

[Dutto]

....... not like my frugal Yorkshire mother who thought one egg would suffice.

That brought back memories!

SWMBO and I travelled all the way from Aberdeenshire to Skegness on the promise that my Mum was making "Duck á l'Orange" for supper. Mum served it with great élan and explained that the butcher didn't have any duck so she was using chicken and ... "When I got home I discovered that I didn't have any oranges so I've used lemons instead."

Mum was not in the least bit amused when I pointed out that it was actually called "Lemon Chicken"!

Another memory is of a gentleman complaining the lack of "Soul Food" when I was on a job in Saudi Arabia. I asked him what it was and his reply was "Usually the stuff off a hog or a cow that white-folks won't eat."

I explained what Mum used to serve and expect me to eat (e.g. cow's udder, sheeps brain, pigs head, pigs trotters, tripe etc etc). He started to look ill and said "My Gawd! I wouldn't even give most of that to ma dawg!"

Happy Days!

I've attached todays efforts at cooking on the basis that both will be eaten with crusty bread when I get round to baking tomorrow.

First up is a "slow roast" of beef which sat in the fridge for ten days to turn into Corned Beef. The slices will be used for sandwiches with some mustard and the chunks used as beef with gravy and mashed tatties. It beats the hell out of the corned beef you buy in a shop!

The second is a turkey steaks and chorizo slices, spiced with Harissa and sat in a tomato, garlic and créme fráis sauce. A bit nippy on the mouth but delicious!

Enjoy!

 

[Hanglow]

Some of todays pizza and bread. WFO was still a bit too hot for the loaf I cooked in it, still next time should know better. It was supposed to be a tin loaf like the other one (cooked in kitchen), but was informed I had better rethink putting the tin in the WFO so just tipped it out and scored it badly

 

[Dutto]

Just as a matter of interest, does anyone use one of these "Stones" that is preheated in an oven or on a BBQ in order to cook pizza and bread?

I can see the logic of using something that is hot underneath in an ordinary oven and imparts an "oven floor" effect on a BBQ grill but I wondered how effective they were?

It's my birthday in a few weeks and I may treat myself to one if they are useful additions to a kitchen, so any recommendations?

BTW, today I began my first ever "Sourdough Starter" so here's hoping that by next weekend I have a couple of Sourdough Loaves to brag about ...

... but "Live more in hope than expectation." is almost a family motto!

 

[foxy]

I have a stone Dutto, not that keen on a pizza but Hanglows looked delicious.
I did think of using a large glazed floor tile but there is a reason to use the proper stone. I think it was something to do with being absorbent.
Was about 12 GBP in your money, just have to remember to put them in before turning on the oven.

 

[Dutto]

Many thanks @foxy. Looks like I know what my Birthday Present will be this year! (I don't know how SWMBO will react to me wanting to get stoned though!)

Now, another question for everyone!

Yesterday, as I was feeding my Sourdough Starter on Day Two (see photo it's going like a train) I had a real "Doh!" moment!

According to all that I've read, I have to feed my starter a bit at a time over a period of 5 to 6 days and "leave it in a warm place" somewhere in the house.

The "Doh!" moment came when I was feeding the Starter yesterday and saw that it was doing fine I thought ...

... "Hold on a minute! You have a temperature controller up in the shed that can control a brew to within 0.1*C so why are you feeding it every day and worrying about the temperature?"

So, is there any reason why I can't place five days worth of water and flour (250g of each) into the bowl I will be using to mix the Sourdough and then place the bowl in the fridge (under temperature control at 25*C) for five days?

The bowl will be big enough to prevent any overflow of foam (I would probably sit it in a 25 litre Fermenting Vessel) so I wouldn't even have to open the door.

I await the reasons why I can't do it with some anticipation. In the meantime I will carry on feeding the Starter on the kitchen table.

 

[foxy]

Many thanks @foxy. Looks like I know what my Birthday Present will be this year! (I don't know how SWMBO will react to me wanting to get stoned though!)

Now, another question for everyone!

Yesterday, as I was feeding my Sourdough Starter on Day Two (see photo it's going like a train) I had a real "Doh!" moment!

According to all that I've read, I have to feed my starter a bit at a time over a period of 5 to 6 days and "leave it in a warm place" somewhere in the house.

The "Doh!" moment came when I was feeding the Starter yesterday and saw that it was doing fine I thought ...

... "Hold on a minute! You have a temperature controller up in the shed that can control a brew to within 0.1*C so why are you feeding it every day and worrying about the temperature?"

So, is there any reason why I can't place five days worth of water and flour (250g of each) into the bowl I will be using to mix the Sourdough and then place the bowl in the fridge (under temperature control at 25*C) for five days?

The bowl will be big enough to prevent any overflow of foam (I would probably sit it in a 25 litre Fermenting Vessel) so I wouldn't even have to open the door.

I await the reasons why I can't do it with some anticipation. In the meantime I will carry on feeding the Starter on the kitchen table.

View attachment 41606

You have to feed it like you are feeding your wife, keep it lean, mean and alive and raring to go, take some out put some in, don't waste your take out make a pizza or naan bread. I have never thought about leaving it for a few days. You may be onto something there Dutto.

 

[Alastair70]

Just as a matter of interest, does anyone use one of these "Stones" that is preheated in an oven or on a BBQ in order to cook pizza and bread?

I can see the logic of using something that is hot underneath in an ordinary oven and imparts an "oven floor" effect on a BBQ grill but I wondered how effective they were?

It's my birthday in a few weeks and I may treat myself to one if they are useful additions to a kitchen, so any recommendations?

BTW, today I began my first ever "Sourdough Starter" so here's hoping that by next weekend I have a couple of Sourdough Loaves to brag about ...

... but "Live more in hope than expectation." is almost a family motto!

I do my 'big' sourdoughs on a stone (the Weber pizza one) in the oven because they don't fit in my oval casserole. Once ive figured out cooking temps I'm going to do one on the BBQ. I don't use the big banneton that much because it takes 1.5kg of dough to fill it properly and the first couple of runouts were burnt on the outside and raw in the middle.
I've done quite a few pizzas on the stone on the BBQ, but struggled to get the temp over 400C consistently for a big pizza cook. I'm sure I could have got there in the end, but used the excuse to buy a wood fired over instead. Now, I've got my 13 yr old daughter making the pizza dough every week and my 17 year old son doing fire management, it's been worth every penny.

 

[Dutto]

WOW! That was a "learning curve"!!

1. After being warned NOT to use "bleached" flour I discovered that the UK had abandoned the practice way back in 1990! Apparently, like "chlorinated chicken", it's an American thing that we can ignore in the UK!
2. Having messed about with the "starter" (adding more, feeding twice a day, worrying that it wasn't working etc) I tested it by tossing a teaspoonful into warm water - and it floated! (Apparently, this is a "good sign".)
3. On the basis that the "starter" was ready I mixed it with the flour and tepid water and left it to itself for three hours before taking the sourdough out of the bowl. It looked fine, but it was wet, lumps stuck to the sides of the bowl and it made an absolute meal out of sticking to the kitchen work-surface; no matter how much flour I added. In the end I gave up any thoughts of making a loaf and greased up a tray instead. (Photo 1.)
4. I left the sourdough on the tray for two hours (it could have been left overnight - mea culpa) and heated up a fan oven to 220*C. When it reached temperature, I added some cold water in a bowl at the bottom of the oven (to generate some steam) and put the tray on the shelf above the water.
5. I decided that the sourdough was adequately baked after 40 minutes, removed it and allowed it to cool on a wire tray. (Photo 2.)
6. When it had cooled, SWMBO and I tasted it as a sandwich with butter and apricot jam. The crust was crunchy, the "sourness" was just perfect and it received a resounding "The next one will be a loaf." from both of us.

All in all a successful first time so "onwards and upwards" as the saying goes!

Thanks for all the help on this Thread. For the next attempt I will be following the advice on this Thread; and hopefully stick to the recommendations a lot closer than with the first attempt!

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/sourdough-bread-for-beginners/
Sourdough Starting to Rise

The finished article!