Bread ****

[trummy]

I do Sourdough no knead- just a stretch and fold and then a shape at 65% hydration - gives great results with little effort, just patience, using about a third wholemeal flour - its really tasty I would urge all to give it ago.

 

[moto748]

Agreed. Sourdough is my staple, and I don't knead as such, just stretch and fold.

 

[Kit-brewer]

I don't have the patience for a sourdough starter!! But I agree, the slower time for proving and no kneading provides a beautiful bread.
I was advised to use a poolish as a halfway house.

 

[BackToBasics]

Never spotted this thread before. I should have guessed that a bunch of homebrewers would also be into making bread.

I've been baking bread for years and have tried various methods & recipes over that time. Got into it with a basic white loaf recipe from a Jamie Oliver book (I know a lot of folk don't like him but his naked chef books are what got me cooking to a decent level). First time I tried I used a non-instant yeast, didn't realise you had to rehydrate it first and ended up with completely unleavened loaves. For some reason I persevered though (and bought some instant yeast) and never looked back.

Must get a sourdough starter going again but I'll have to wait until it warms up a bit - my kitchen is pretty cool unless it starts getting hot outside. I've got a proofing box for when I'm actually baking but it seems excessive to have it running all the time just to keep a starter going.

This weekend's loaf was 80% white, 20% spelt with 80% hydration, 2% salt and 0.5% yeast. No kneading, just 4/5 sets of stretch and folds over a couple of hours and then an overnight stay in the fridge. Shaped into a simple boule (love my bench scraper!) and then baked in a cast iron dutch oven. Got fantastic oven spring and a nice open crumb. I'll try to remember to take pictures next time I bake.

 

[Alastair70]

The new starter is good to go! I made a levain with it before heading out to work this morning and I’ll do the dough this evening. Looking forward to the end result tomorrow afternoon

 

[Robin54]

The new starter is good to go! I made a levain with it before heading out to work this morning and I’ll do the dough this evening. Looking forward to the end result tomorrow afternoon

View attachment 64845

Ive never mastered sour dough so cheat a little and make a starter overnight and then add that to the main ingredients and make as normal. Its called Italian peasants bread (in the book) - works really well

 

[Alastair70]

Ive never mastered sour dough so cheat a little and make a starter overnight and then add that to the main ingredients and make as normal. Its called Italian peasants bread (in the book) - works really well

I mostly do the Ken Forkish method from Flour Water Salt Yeast now, it’s pretty much foolproof. I’m going overnight country brown this time but swapping Doves’s Malthouse flour instead of whole meal. I’ll post a pic tomorrow.

 

[Robin54]

I mostly do the Ken Forkish method from Flour Water Salt Yeast now, it’s pretty much foolproof. I’m going overnight country brown this time but swapping Doves’s Malthouse flour instead of whole meal. I’ll post a pic tomorrow.

Many thanks- Ill look into Kens work! May I recommend the Dorling Kindersley book called "Bread". Its out of print but second hand copies are easily available and covers recipes of bread from all around the world - its what I use mainly (other books are available!)

 

[Alastair70]

Happy with that. Proofed well, nice oven spring and really smells the part.

 

[wildbrew]

12 wholemeal baps

 

[BackToBasics]

Tied something different but it didn't quite go to plan. I made a poolish on Friday and incorporated it into a 75% hydration white loaf yesterday. Not sure if it was the effect of the poolish or the flour I've got just can't handle 75% hydration but it never really developed and strength to the dough and I ended up with a bit of a frisbee. It tastes good but it really isn't what I was hoping for (and yes, I adjusted the recipe to account for the water in the poolish).

Going to try again today but I've gone 40% wholemeal and 70% hydration. It's in bulk fermentation at the moment and is looking much more promising after just 2 stretch and folds. Think one more stretch, fold and rest will do it (yesterday's had at least 5 rounds) before transferring to the proofing basket. Hopefully I'll have something worth taking a photo of this time!

I've also started a new sourdough starter. Just given it the first feed and there's already some signs of activity after less than 24 hours.

 

[SilverShadow]

Cheers for that, will take a gander at the Poolish method

I use the breadmaking as it's easy to just throw in the ingredients before starting work, & in a few hours get something tasty that's risen to the edge of the tin.

It's not as light & fluffy as I'd like, but still a great loaf. I was hoping maybe a good oil would achieve that - I've tried a little more water, but it's very easy to have the loaf collapse doing that

 

[Alastair70]

Tied something different but it didn't quite go to plan. I made a poolish on Friday and incorporated it into a 75% hydration white loaf yesterday. Not sure if it was the effect of the poolish or the flour I've got just can't handle 75% hydration but it never really developed and strength to the dough and I ended up with a bit of a frisbee. It tastes good but it really isn't what I was hoping for (and yes, I adjusted the recipe to account for the water in the poolish).

Going to try again today but I've gone 40% wholemeal and 70% hydration. It's in bulk fermentation at the moment and is looking much more promising after just 2 stretch and folds. Think one more stretch, fold and rest will do it (yesterday's had at least 5 rounds) before transferring to the proofing basket. Hopefully I'll have something worth taking a photo of this time!

I've also started a new sourdough starter. Just given it the first feed and there's already some signs of activity after less than 24 hours.

You do need an appropriately strong flour for either poolish or biga, 13% protein and up is ideal, if it's quoted on the bag. I've had many doughs either fail to form to being with, or fall apart during proofing due to using under strength flour. I've found M&S Canadian Very Strong Flour to work well for poolish and hand mixed sourdoughs.

 

[BackToBasics]

Cheers for that, will take a gander at the Poolish method

Hmm, there was more to your post earlier - I definitely mean poolish and not Polish. It's a pre-ferment made of 50:50 flour to water and a very small amount of yeast left to ferment for at least 12 hours before adding to the rest of the ingredients to make the dough. My understanding is that it adds some of the slow fermentation character you get from retarding the dough.

Poolish | Baking Processes | BAKERpedia

The second loaf turned out well but I can't get the pictures to upload from my phone.

You do need a very strong flour for either poolish or biga, 13% protein and up is ideal, if it's quoted on the bag. I've found M&S Canadian Very Strong Flour to work well for poolish and hand mixed sourdoughs.

This was using Tesco strong flour - just checked and it's 11.7% protein. I saw that Tesco has started stocking some fancy flour though, Matthews Cotswold flour. I've got a couple of bags of that coming with this weekend's shop as it's not much more expensive than the tesco own brand stuff. Their strong white is around the 13% mark so I'll have another go at the 75% hydration loaf.

My sourdough starter should be ready for its first loaf this weekend.

 

[Robin54]

Cheers for that, will take a gander at the Poolish method

I use the breadmaking as it's easy to just throw in the ingredients before starting work, & in a few hours get something tasty that's risen to the edge of the tin.

It's not as light & fluffy as I'd like, but still a great loaf. I was hoping maybe a good oil would achieve that - I've tried a little more water, but it's very easy to have the loaf collapse doing that

I only use the bread machine as a mixer and prover. So you could make a starter overnight in the machine, add the rest of the ingredients and make a dough.
Tip this out and put in a bread tin and let it rise, and then bake. The advantage to my mind, is you get a better loaf and it is the right shape, without a paddle stuck in it. What do you think? John Kirkwood on YouTube is also a good resource of uncomplicated information.

 

[BackToBasics]

I'm not confident that my sourdough starter is ready to go so I'm trying another poolish recipe - ciabatta this time. Traditionally made with a biga I believe but I had the poolish started before I decided what I was going to bake so I've adapted the recipe I have for the extra water in the poolish.

Hopefully, it'll turn out better than the last poolish recipe. It's even higher hydration (80% this time) and using the same flour as before but it does seem to be developing some strength after only a couple of stretch and folds so I'm hopeful that I'll end up with something that looks like a loaf rather than a frisbee this time.

 

[Alastair70]

Tartain is available as a free kindle online read if you have prime membership. Just tucked up the basic white loaf for the night in the fridge. Watching the dough come together today has been a joyous thing.

 

[Alastair70]

Well, that came out rather well. It’s a great dough, came together well and was really easy to handle. This was a try before you buy bake, the rest of the book looks good too. I’ve ordered a print copy from Amazon. I also have a recipe I can turn round in the same day now, the Ken Forkish one really works best with an overnight proof.

 

[Oneflewover]

Well, that came out rather well. It’s a great dough, came together well and was really easy to handle. This was a try before you buy bake, the rest of the book looks good too. I’ve ordered a print copy from Amazon. I also have a recipe I can turn round in the same day now, the Ken Forkish one really works best with an overnight proof.

View attachment 66260

That looks delicious

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Tartain is available as a free kindle online read if you have prime membership. Just tucked up the basic white loaf for the night in the fridge. Watching the dough come together today has been a joyous thing.

Did you mean 'Tartine' ? Gorgeous book.