Bread ****

[Edison]

First attempt trying to use spent grain in bread. 500g strong bread flour, 120g spelt flour, 80g spent grain (1 breakfast bowl of wet grain, dried @ 80C in fan oven for 90 mins and 'milled' for 2 mins in my Ninja food processor).

Used my usual sourdough recipe and it came out very well. Subtle but nice malty 'brewday' aroma, crispy crust, lovely fluffy crumb.

Nom nom!

 

[Session]

First attempt trying to use spent grain in bread. 500g strong bread flour, 120g spelt flour, 80g spent grain (1 breakfast bowl of wet grain, dried @ 80C in fan oven for 90 mins and 'milled' for 2 mins in my Ninja food processor).

Used my usual sourdough recipe and it came out very well. Subtle but nice malty 'brewday' aroma, crispy crust, lovely fluffy crumb.

Nom nom!
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Wow that looks great! Nice ears and a lovely spring. I always struggle with spelt. I love the flavour but any time I add more than about 10% I find it difficult to maintain that nice open crumb. Yours looks brilliant!

 

[Edison]

Wow that looks great! Nice ears and a lovely spring. I always struggle with spelt. I love the flavour but any time I add more than about 10% I find it difficult to maintain that nice open crumb. Yours looks brilliant!

Thanks Session! I usually use 75% hydration and found when I started adding 200g of spelt (to 500g strong white) the crumb improved and it smelt and tasted lovely, but the dough was harder to work with, it felt wetter and sagged/flowed a bit more. I found out the hard way to go easy on the shaping too, the gluten breaks much easier.

When I first started making sourdough in April I struggled with massive holes inside the loaf but either my technique has improved or my starter was a bit young and has matured now.

I do the final prove in the fridge overnight straight in the basket (rice flour works wonders for preventing sticking) with a damp teatowel on top. The ears have come good now I have a proper (but inexpensive) razor lame.

Spring would have been higher but I bake in a large pot as I don't have a Dutch oven and use a baking tray as a lid (hence to 80's Flat Top)!

 

[Edison]

Does banana bread count? Out of the Bosh book.

 

[cerbera84]

Anyone for a cinnamon swirl? My first attempt at baking anything bread related - had to break out the vintage Kenwood Chef! Batters the dough with the dough hook!

 

[Wilfy]

That is a cake. If it makes bacon taste weird: cake.

Try a bacon sandwich using a toasted hot cross bun. Don’t know why but it works.

 

[Edison]

Not a particularly exotic recipe, but, mmm... dough balls!

 

[Edison]

Sourdough bagels, three ways, fresh from the oven.

 

[TheOsprey]

I've also been trying my hand at sourdough. I'm on my 3rd 12.5kg bag since lockdown began (been baking for friends and family too) and the bread it produces is so tasty now. I had a piece of white sandwich bread the other day and I'm not sure I can ever go back.

It's almost embarrassingly easy to make, too.

 

[Edison]

I've also been trying my hand at sourdough. I'm on my 3rd 12.5kg bag since lockdown began (been baking for friends and family too) and the bread it produces is so tasty now. I had a piece of white sandwich bread the other day and I'm not sure I can ever go back.

It's almost embarrassingly easy to make, too.

Looking awesome, great crust and designs. I need to up my lame game!

 

[TheOsprey]

Looking awesome, great crust and designs. I need to up my lame game!

Thanks!

It's something of a cheat recipe really. No kneeding at all, just pulling over every so often for 4 hours and in the fridge overnight.

I bought a packet of Wilkinson sword razor blades on Amazon, no need for a baker's lame.

There's an Instagram account called Brooklyn Sourdough who do all sorts of designs, shown before and after baking.

 

[Edison]

I'll have to take a look at that site. Sounds a similar recipe to what I use. I've been getting through the flour too, think another 16kg sack is on the cards!

 

[Mrhandsome]

Just got this out of the oven. Made with a sourdough culture I've had for ages, and a little Belgian yeast slurry as it was taking forever to rise for some reason, spent grains mostly blitzed in the food processor with a few whole bits chucked in.

 

[Drunkula]

Crust!

My bread is pretty good now but sometimes I think I'd like a real super cruncher of a crust. I found out that bicarb reduces gelatinisation temperatures so I made up a solution of water and a tiny bit of bicarb and rolled the boule of dough in it after I'd done the tensioning before the second rise. It absolutely works and you get a darker and crunchier crust that lasts longer, and nope, you can't taste it.

I guess you could put some in a spray bottle, too.

I've never heard of anyone doing it but can imagine it's a thing.

Don't just add it to the dough - the whole thing turns a mucky colour.

I've also been rolling in white poppy seeds before the second rise and it gives an amazing flavour alongside the effect of the bicarb.

Let me know if you give it a go.

 

[foxy]

Made some Pide a few months ago really liked it but doesn't last long, tried to use similar ingredients and make a loaf, though nice and soft doesn't quite cut it as Pide.

 

[grooves]

Sourdough bagels, three ways, fresh from the oven.
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Tasty! Did you find a premixed "everything" topping or did you roll your own?

 

[Edison]

Tasty! Did you find a premixed "everything" topping or did you roll your own?

I made the ‘everything’ topping myself, it’s just poppy and sesame seeds, onion and garlic powder and sea salt. When you take the bagels out of the simmer water they’re quite sticky so just dabbing them in the seeds gets them to stick really easily.

I’ve since found a recipe that works better for me. The starter is 3-4 days of sourdough discard (~90g a day) and makes 8 better sized bagels. I still simmer them in water for 3 minutes rather than steaming them though.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chewy-bagels-recipe
@Drunkula I‘ve heard sometimes bagels are simmered in lye water to give them their dark colour. You can get hold of food-grade sodium hydroxide, but the thought freaks me out! Might try bicarb for the bagels instead of malt in the water next time.

BTW, for crispy chips I blanche the cut potatoes in water with 1/2 tsp bicarb for 5 minutes. The surface begins to break down, then into the fridge to dry out before a double fry (130c/180c). Still perfecting it but they're getting there!

 

[Drunkula]

I‘ve heard sometimes bagels are simmered in lye water to give them their dark colour. You can get hold of food-grade sodium hydroxide, but the thought freaks me out!

Yeah, I heard of that and then saw it happening on Hairy Bikers. I also read about heating bicarb to make it more powerful, looked it up and basically what happens is that it gets reduced to sodium carbonate which is..... washing soda. Some ramen is made with that and it gives it its texture. Soooo - am I going to try the washing soda? Hell yeah. I'll make up a solution and have a little taste to make sure it's ok first. Got a massive bag of the stuff from Wilkos.

I've known about the gelatinisation thing for years and just forget. I used to do the same as you do with chips for roast potatoes then stopped at some point and 'lost the technology'.

I was even wondering if I could make a stencil and put patterns on a crust by painting or spraying. I'll let you know.

 

[Edison]

 

[foxy]

A couple of loaves made today same as last time, added milk and butter to make a soft white, next lot will be adding malt extract and some oats for fibre, even though these are the favoured ones.