Bread

Starter strength and use in LevainSubmitted by smint on May 25, 2013 - 2:40pm. I have been trying to make Tartine's basic country bread. My starter is about 3 weeks old and I had been feeding it regularly with a 1:5:5 ratio (starter:flour:water) with a 50/50 mix of organic whole wheat and bread flour. It had been rising and falling predictably 5 days prior to me using it to make bread. It would smell "sweet and milky" after feeding and progress to an "over ripe fruit" smell, then have some vinegary notes later in the day/before feeding. I feed it once every 24 hours. I followed the tartine instructions and used 1 Tblsp of starter (I fed it in the morning and used it in the evening when it had an over ripe fruit/vinegary smell) mixed with 200 grams of the 50/50 flour mix and 200 grams water (at 73 degrees F). I let it sit overnight kept at 68-72 degrees F) for 9.5 hours. In the morning I mixed 200 grams of the levain with 700 grams water, 100 grams whole wheat, and 900 grams bread flour and continued with his instructions. I kept the rest of the levain as my starter to continue to feed. During the bulk fermentation my dough had an off smell I didn't expect. I expected a yeasty/beer-y smell or something like over ripe fruit but the smell was slightly unpleasant. I did end up with some gas bubbles. However, the new starter taken from the levain was fed the next morning and it now has an unpleasant sour cream/putrid smell that I associate with some kind of unwanted bacteria (leuconostoc?). This smell was present with a failed starter I had made a while ago. Did I increase the pH too much with the addition of that much flour and allow the bacteria to grow? If so, how do I make the levain work for making bread? Was my starter too weak to use in bread? Also, should I give up feeding this starter and revert to my back up in the fridge? Any input would be great.

BreadheadsSubmitted by golgi70 on May 25, 2013 - 2:24pm. I love this place, this untangible sanctuary of breadheads.  Being a so called hippy that's been to way too many Phish shows (as if thats truly possible) this has become my new favorite tour to be on.  Bread Tour.  You are all wonderful people that share my obsession with new setlists (recipes) songs(flavors), and  venues (ovens?/kitchens).  Happy Baking to AllJosh

I won't be postingSubmitted by Wingnut on May 25, 2013 - 2:08pm. I won't be posting for a while, the Sainted Wife and I are moving to a different part of Kalifornistan. I fear I will lose my starter in the move, this too will pass. Patients and Calmness are the order of these days to come, moving is never fun.Cheers all,Wingnut

Indestructible one-third whole wheatSubmitted by 108 breads on May 25, 2013 - 12:43pm. Bread - Number 24: Indestructible and One-Third Whole Wheat. Always comes out delicious. A good bread and a meditation on my late arrival to slow food. http://ow.ly/loCwO Bread #25 is soon to follow.Now that my spreadsheet is done, and birthday present bread books to read, it might be some time before the next bread.

Bakery Ingredients in the Philippines MarketSubmitted by markvelacruz on May 25, 2013 - 3:35am. Some of the bakery Ingredients existing in the Philippines Market.:and many more i can supply from Flour, Fats Yeast.  sugar and everything you Need in Bread and Cake

Winter Warmer.....Toady!!Submitted by greedybread on May 25, 2013 - 2:27am. Toad in the hole!!Delish…so yummy and wonderful for winter.Perfect for the cold!!Veggies & gravy tooPeeking out!!Ok, not truly a yeasty but a battery type bready/dumpling concoction…Plus I am not really a savoury girl so you know for me to post it, it has to be good!!Bonus is that its easy, quick, and you could do a variety of things with this recipe actually..I used Lady Gouda’s recipe as a guide and tweaked it accordingly…The dry’sBit of this!Eggy mixbatter ready to rest…You can of course add onions, etc one of my greedyboys would not have a bar of onions….so no onions…But caramelised onions with rosemary in a gravy actually baked in the batter would be scrummy!!Mmmm nom nom nom..:)And and and if you don’t use gourmet sausages, a cheap wee tasty meal:)Browning…Some batter on…CoveredBit of me old mate, parmy!!So what do you need ?????For 6 people12 sausages, decent quality would be fab but mr cheepy is ok too….3 cups of flour2 tsp baking powderbig pinch salt1 tbsp mustard powdergood dash of ground pepper4 eggs2 cups of milkwee bit oil oil to start1/2 cup of grated parmesan.butter for greasing.For the GRAVY:Dash of soy sauceEnough flour to make a rouxsalt and pepperbeef stock 2 cupsFresh rosemary.Mmmmm GoldyLove bangers!I cooked this recipe in the roasting dish and I would recommend the same BUT any dish is ok.Heat saucepan/frypan, add in oil and then add in sausages and cook until 3/4 done and brown.While cooking add all dry ingredients into a bowl and combine well.Mix eggs and milk together and whisk well.TastyBattery…MmmmRemove sausages from frypan but keep the fat from bangers in the fry pan, you will use it for gravy roux starter.Grease roasting dish and place sausages in the dish.Add milky egg mix into dry ingredients and beat until smooth.Cover lightly and allow batter to rest for 30-60 minutes.A large slice?Pre heat oven to 220 celsius and pop roasting dish in the oven when temperature is reached, removing sausages first though:)After 5 minutes, place sausages into the roasting dish again and pour batter over them, covering them totally.Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of grated parmesan.Bake in the hot oven for 20-25 minutes and remove when golden brown and puffy.Lots of sauasgesWhilst baking, heat the sausage fat in the frypan and add in enough flour to make a dry paste.Cook out the roux and brown it a little.Remove from the heat and add in 1/2 cup of beef stock .Whisk till smooth and add in s & p and a dash of soy sauce.Add 1 cup of stock and whisk until smooth, return to the heat and allow to come to slow boil, whisking away.Where’s my sausage??Add in last stock amount and whisk in and turn down heat a little and bring to slow simmer.Season more if needed, slow simmer until Toady batter is cooked.Slice toad in the hole, pour on that gravy, have some veg or salad and you are away laughing!!ENJOY!Cause I did….Almost need a grappa afterwards as a digestive as I ate toooooo much!!Lovely…..http://greedybread.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/winter-warmer-toad-in-the-hole/#more-3382

brushing bread with egg washSubmitted by Delbadry on May 25, 2013 - 12:13am. Hey,I was wondering if anyone had tried brushing their sandwich loaves with egg wash during baking.. I've found that when I brush prior to baking and sprinkle with seeds, the loaf comes out uneven. During the oven spring, the seeds are left to one side of the loaf, and the other side expands to reveal a seed-free section. So I thought perhaps by brushing and sprinkling the seeds after this stage, perhaps halfway through baking, I might end up with a more symetrical-looking loaf..  Does this break any holy bread-baking rules? :) I also have a sneaky suspicion that the egg wash inhibits the rise in some way. Am I imagining this? Oh, and I should mention that I have tried brushing, sprinkling and then scoring - only to find that the same thing happens and I have a score that is also off center. And I prefer not to score sandwich loaves anyway. Sorry for being so picky; I like symetrical loaves, lol.Thanks :)

Farmer's Market Season BakingSubmitted by golgi70 on May 24, 2013 - 9:01pm. I've put myself to the test.  I plan to summon 10 loaves of my own at home, freshly baked, every Saturday Morning, to bring to my local farmer's market as trade. This is week one for me.  As some already know I am a full time professional baker and believe it or not the last thing I want to do on the weekend  is bake. Actually as I've aged I prefer to cook opposed to bake on my free time.  I used to bake at home endlessly but with a full time job doing such that teetered off.  I'm back.  I see all of the wonderful stuff created from home on this site, much of which blows away professionally made product.  I want in.  I'm gonna be a part-time home baker.  I bet I'll need some advice from those of you with more skills baking bread in rinky dink home ovens with pots and pans and the such.  I've done it and done it well but I'm only a novice.  Most of my breadwork is with commerical tools, and in some cases top notch.  Also my plan is to be spontaneous and just kinda wing a new loaf every week.  This week I've made up what I'll call the "Super Grain Sour Wheat"  I did some reading on super grains this week and thought well those should be a soaker for a loaf of bread.  So I made a levain of Central Milling High Mountain High Protein, Central Mill freshly ground whole wheat, Central Milling freshly ground whole rye, starter, and h20.  This was built off of a 100% cold living white starter and essentially a second build 8 hours after it was previously fed 1:2::2. Soaker:3 oz toasted millet 3 oz, toasted buckwheat (kashi), 3 oz toasted kamut, 3 oz toasted quinoaLevain3 oz Rye7 oz Wheat10 oz HP20 oz H2010 oz White Starter 100%--------------------------------------------------------------Rise 8 hours.   Final Dough85 oz HP20 oz Wheat70 oz H203 oz  Sea Salt4 oz  H20 #2----------------------------------------------------------------Autolyse 2 hours Add levain, salt, soaker and mix on speed one (uh oh super wet) 5 minutesTurn to speed 2 (medium)  5 minutes (looking better)Turn to speed 3 hi about 5 minutes (phew it came together)Bulk Ferment plan: 3 1/2 hours (3-4 s+f) at 20 minutes intervals but I'll let the dough leadShape/ partially proof (2-3 hours) Retard overnightWake up early set up my oven and bake in 3-4 waves.   cool down. make sure its not terrible and then head to marketI'll add some pics of dough and the such as I go.  I'm mostly sharing this to motivate me to do this and to document some of my findings.  Hey I bet I'll make a few good loaves before the markets over in November.   Happy BakingJosh

Metal Colander as Proofing Basket/BannetonSubmitted by volvik on May 24, 2013 - 8:21pm. I've been trying Jim Lahey's No-Knead recipe and am giving a sourdough version a whirl.  Rather than letting it do it's 2 hour second proofing in a floured/wheat bran dusted towel I'd like to use an old metal colander than has a ton of little holes.Do I still have to use a towel (cotton/linen etc) for it to sit in or can I just apply some olive oil to the colander and then liberally dust it with flour or wheat bran and then place the dough in that and cover with the towel?Thanks...Ron

Brewer's Yeast QuestionSubmitted by belfiore on May 24, 2013 - 6:50pm. Hi All,Can anyone here tell me the ratio of freshly pulled brewer's yeast from beer making to dry measurement in baking? I have the opportunity to get some from a local micro~craft brewery but don't even know where to start experimenting with it.Thanks,Toni