What are you Baking today?

Re: What are you baking today?

JoeV said:

They are all gone already, that's how good they are. We ate one, DW is taking one to work in the morning, and a friend took one for him and one for his mother. I mixed another poolish and I'll bake it in the morning.


I take 8oz. of vibrant, 100% starter and add 4oz of bread flour and 4oz of water. Mix together, cover and let ferment overnight or for at least until it doubles in size.

In your mixer bowl put all of the poolish and 12 oz of warm water. Mix together until dough is dissolved. In a separate bowl combine 1# 10 oz of bread flour with .65 oz of salt and .35 oz of Instant yeast. Blend together and pour all into the mixing bowl. Mix on #2 speed for 6 minutes, and adjust the flour if it's a little to sticky (this is a 58.8% hydration mix). Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let sit until doubled...about an hour. then just shape, raise and bake. They are not very sour at all, but they are packed with flavor. My starter is 100%, so it tends to be on the mild side. FWIW, I don't like strong sourdough breads. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out in your WFO.

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i have never made this kind of bread. it looks so darn gooooood!! do you make this or buy this - 8oz. of vibrant, 100% starter ?

Re: What are you baking today?

lilbopeep said:

i have never made this kind of bread. it looks so darn gooooood!! do you make this or buy this - 8oz. of vibrant, 100% starter ?

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Peeps, I created my starter June 12, 2008 and it's been going strong ever since. The 100% component means that it is 100% hydration, which is equal amounts (by weight) of flour and water. A 75% starter would be stiffer, and use only 75% of the weight of the flour in water. That would be like using 6 oz of flour and 4.5 oz of water. 100% starters make it easy to incorporate into a bread recipe without a lot of calculating.



I made it using the recipe found on Breadtopia.com, and have shared it with a number of people. It's pretty hearty and is difficult to kill unless you just flat out abuse it. I have left it in the fridge, unfed, for 5-6 weeks, and it comes back to life within 12-18 hours.

You can make your own from the recipe, or I can send you some of my dried starter with instructions for re-activation. Just PM me for my addy and then send me a SASE and I'll mail it back to you. The SASE only needs a single stamp because it weighs under 1 oz. Frankly, you can make it faster than the US Mail can turn it all around, but I'd be happy to send you some of mine if you would prefer that. Some folks like to say that their starter came from so-and-so, and I can appreciate that. I will do the same for anyone here on NCT with more than 100 posts. At that point I figure you are pretty serious about NCT. This makes fabulous breads and delicious pancakes (recipe included with starter instructions).

Regardless of which route you decide to take, go to Breadtopia.com and learn about the care and feeding of sourdough starter. It's pretty easy, but I recommend that folks learn about it so they can share that info with others. It is a living organism, and should be treated with respect.

Once a starter is alive and vibrant, you can use it to create additional starters like rye or wheat starters. I have made rye starters and was amazed at how quickly they grow. I don't keep all the varieties around, but can make them up within 48 hours for a special bake.

Re: What are you baking today?

JoeV said:

Peeps, I created my starter June 12, 2008 and it's been going strong ever since. The 100% component means that it is 100% hydration, which is equal amounts (by weight) of flour and water. A 75% starter would be stiffer, and use only 75% of the weight of the flour in water. That would be like using 6 oz of flour and 4.5 oz of water. 100% starters make it easy to incorporate into a bread recipe without a lot of calculating.

I made it using the recipe found on Breadtopia.com, and have shared it with a number of people. It's pretty hearty and is difficult to kill unless you just flat out abuse it. I have left it in the fridge, unfed, for 5-6 weeks, and it comes back to life within 12-18 hours.

You can make your own from the recipe, or I can send you some of my dried starter with instructions for re-activation. Just PM me for my addy and then send me a SASE and I'll mail it back to you. The SASE only needs a single stamp because it weighs under 1 oz. Frankly, you can make it faster than the US Mail can turn it all around, but I'd be happy to send you some of mine if you would prefer that. Some folks like to say that their starter came from so-and-so, and I can appreciate that. I will do the same for anyone here on NCT with more than 100 posts. At that point I figure you are pretty serious about NCT. This makes fabulous breads and delicious pancakes (recipe included with starter instructions).

Regardless of which route you decide to take, go to Breadtopia.com and learn about the care and feeding of sourdough starter. It's pretty easy, but I recommend that folks learn about it so they can share that info with others. It is a living organism, and should be treated with respect.

Once a starter is alive and vibrant, you can use it to create additional starters like rye or wheat starters. I have made rye starters and was amazed at how quickly they grow. I don't keep all the varieties around, but can make them up within 48 hours for a special bake.

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thank you joe!!

Re: What are you baking today?

I've always wanted to try this, but I was always afraid to do it, thinking that something might go awry and cause it to come out so terrible!

Re: What are you baking today?

This is bread (JoeV's No Knead) doesn't look great, but its by far the best tasting loaf I've made. The crumb was light and chewy and it almost tasted buttery. I would love to make bread bowls out of this, but I can't figure out how to do it with the containers I have. I think, this weekend, I'll try to make a lean loaf starting with a biga. --and I've got to remember to start scoring the loaves before they hit the oven.

Re: What are you baking today?

Sherman said:

I've always wanted to try this, but I was always afraid to do it, thinking that something might go awry and cause it to come out so terrible!

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.... you never know until you try.... best way to learn your way around any baking is to screw up royally......

Re: What are you baking today?

So they say, but I'm thinking about the time, money and ingredients that it would take to do it. I'm on a limited budget.

Re: What are you baking today?

It's raining hard here today, so I decided to whip up a batch of Chewy Brownies.

Re: What are you baking today?

Sherman said:

So they say, but I'm thinking about the time, money and ingredients that it would take to do it. I'm on a limited budget.

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so am i with 3 kids.... screw up...... its worth it, it will only happen once

Re: What are you baking today?

FryBoy said:

It's raining hard here today, so I decided to whip up a batch of Chewy Brownies.

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lol crap fryboy DD saw your brownies, guess what I have to do now....

Re: What are you baking today?

suziquzie said:

lol crap fryboy DD saw your brownies, guess what I have to do now....

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Ha ha! At least they're easy. Maybe she'll let you have one. If so, dump some vanilla ice cream on it.

Re: What are you baking today?

FryBoy said:

Ha ha! At least they're easy. Maybe she'll let you have one. If so, dump some vanilla ice cream on it.

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If only I could let my foods touch.....

Re: What are you baking today?

FryBoy said:

It's raining hard here today, so I decided to whip up a batch of Chewy Brownies.

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Boy do those look goooooooooooood!

Re: What are you baking today?

DW made some chocolate chip cookies!

Re: What are you baking today?

vyapti said:

This is bread (JoeV's No Knead) doesn't look great, but its by far the best tasting loaf I've made. The crumb was light and chewy and it almost tasted buttery. I would love to make bread bowls out of this, but I can't figure out how to do it with the containers I have. I think, this weekend, I'll try to make a lean loaf starting with a biga. --and I've got to remember to start scoring the loaves before they hit the oven.

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I know what you mean about the scoring. I often forget that as well.

Let's analyze this bread. No-Knead is nothing more than French bread with a 12-18 hour fermentation at room temperature. Flour, water, salt & yeast. Aside from the fermentation time and minuscule amount of yeast, the hydration is the hindrance in making boules for bread bowls, since French is at 59% and no-knead is at 81%. The flavor of the no-knead is what you are after, so teh crumb is not an issue since they will be cored out and filled with soup. I think I have a solution that just might work.

Make up the French bread recipe from my website and allow it to proof until doubled in size. Then make 3 boules to determine which size will work best for you. I suggest making a 12 oz, 10 oz and a 9 oz to come up with a size. That comes to 31 oz. of dough, so using the Baker's Percentage and working backwards you will need:

19.2 oz. Bread Flour
.4 oz. Salt
.15 oz. Instant yeast
11.25 oz. Water
31.0 oz. Total weight

After the boules are formed (make sure the bottoms are tightly pinched so they don't come apart while proofing) do an overnight cold proof to develop the flavor in the flour. This can be in the fridge or in a garage or outdoor space that does not freeze. I would oil some plastic wrap and cover each one individually, or if you have a large plastic tub you could cover them that way. You just don't want to dry out the surface. I have a large storage tub that I would use, and I would use my olive oil mister to spray the boules and wipe them with my hands so they are fully coated to retain their moisture on the surface. The dough can stay this way for 2-3 days with no worries, and the flavor will develop deeper each day.

Bring them out into the kitchen and allow them to get to room temperature. I would give them an egg wash with egg whites & water, then bake them in a preheated oven at 400F for 25-30 minutes on a stone if you have one, and introducing steam when they go in, then 3 times at 3 minute intervals using a spray bottle. This will toughen the outer crust and make it chewy and crispy.

I would check the largest boule with a temp probe at about 20 minutes to see how they are doing. Pull them out when the internal temp gets to 200F, and allow to cool for at least two hours before trying to core them out. This waiting step of a minimum of 1 hour is critical to allowing the bread to finish cooking inside and to evacuate excess moisture through the crust.

There are lots more words here than work, but you have a good grasp on the concept. This is all about flavor development. If it were me making bread bowls for a crowd, they would be made from the straight French formula using steam and baked on my stone. Most people are not going to tell the difference in flavor from the cold proofed or the same day doughs, as the soup will overwhelm the bread. Both recipes will give crusty bread bowls, and the guests will be so thrilled to have homemade bread bowls, that they will probably eat the whole thing along with the soup. You're a hero either way. Now, if Peter Reinhart or Rose Levy were your guests, I have another recipe and method for you to work on that takes 3 days to make the bread.

Joe

Re: What are you baking today?

Made a couple of loaves of honey whole wheat, per DW's request.

Re: What are you baking today?

I mkade some whole wheat bread yesterday.

Re: What are you baking today?

I started making some french bread (for bread bowls) on Saturday, letting them ferment in the garage overnight after an initial rise. They lost their shape and I had to reshape them and let them rise again. I made a 12 oz, a 10 oz and a 9 oz and I think the medium size will work best.

On the wheat, I washed it with soy milk, on the rolls, I forgot the wash altogether. One of these days, I'm going to remember every step. The wheat was better than the last loaf, but I need to be more patient while the bread rises.

Re: What are you baking today?

Oh those look wonderful vy!

I was going to bake bread, but remembered we'll be celebrating DS #2's 6th bday tonight.... a day early since I have to work tomorrow night..... SO..
I'll be baking a chocolate cake

Re: What are you baking today?

vyapti said:

I started making some french bread (for bread bowls) on Saturday, letting them ferment in the garage overnight after an initial rise. They lost their shape and I had to reshape them and let them rise again. I made a 12 oz, a 10 oz and a 9 oz and I think the medium size will work best.

On the wheat, I washed it with soy milk, on the rolls, I forgot the wash altogether. One of these days, I'm going to remember every step. The wheat was better than the last loaf, but I need to be more patient while the bread rises.

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Well done, Grasshopper! How did they taste? You can make them without the overnight proof as well, or you can proof the fresh dough overnight and shape them the following morning. There are more ways than one way to get the flavor. If you put 1T of sugar in the mix, it will caramelize at 350F and give you some color to the bread if you forget the egg wash again.

Another trick to keep the loaves from falling, is to let them rise about 1-1/2X size, then let the oven spring do the rest.

Re: What are you baking today?

beautiful bread vy!!

Re: What are you baking today?

JoeV said:

Well done, Grasshopper! How did they taste? You can make them without the overnight proof as well, or you can proof the fresh dough overnight and shape them the following morning. There are more ways than one way to get the flavor. If you put 1T of sugar in the mix, it will caramelize at 350F and give you some color to the bread if you forget the egg wash again.

Another trick to keep the loaves from falling, is to let them rise about 1-1/2X size, then let the oven spring do the rest.

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The crumb was a little tight (a reoccurring theme for me), but I scooped it out for soup anyway. The crust was great for a soup bowl, chewy and firm. I used one for soup today and loved it. I'll try next time with the sugar. Thanks for the advice. You help is greatly appreciated.

Re: What are you baking today?

Dag, that IS nice!

Re: What are you baking today?

vyapti said:

The crumb was a little tight (a reoccurring theme for me), but I scooped it out for soup anyway. The crust was great for a soup bowl, chewy and firm. I used one for soup today and loved it. I'll try next time with the sugar. Thanks for the advice. You help is greatly appreciated.

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Here is a good example of shaping a boule of high hydration dough, demonstrated by Peter Reinhart, in a way to retain the trapped gas and give you larger holes in the finished bread. This is a teaser from his new book.

http://www.howcast.com/videos/221133-How-To-Shape-a-Boule-With-Peter-Reinhart

Here is another example by Reinhart. The video starts out showing how to braid challah, but the first window on the left in the strip below the video is Reinhart shaping a boule with some relatively soft dough.

http://www.finecooking.com/videos/braiding-challah.aspx?ac=ts&ra=fp

I have been using these methods since learning them recently, and not "punching down" the dough for most of my breads, and have noticed a much better rise. I think you'll get some better results using this method.

I've come to realize that bread baking methods are constantly evolving, and people like Reinhart and his "disciples" are on the cutting edge of these new techniques. I'll be sharing these as I learn them and put them into practice.

Re: What are you baking today?

Nathan and his Chocolate Chocolate cake
must be good!

Re: What are you baking today?

That cake looks delicious Suzi!! Nathan looks like he really enjoyed it. LOL Happy Birthday to him!

Re: What are you baking today?

Dag, that DOES look good!! Looks like the boys devoured almost 1/2 of it!

Re: What are you baking today?

that cake looks sooooooooooooooooooo good!! i want a piecs!! YUMMY!!

Re: What are you baking today?

More "Everything" baguettes. These things are addicting. I just made a half recipe, and ate one whole one before remembering to take a picture. Urp!

Re: What are you baking today?

Made these yesterday:

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

DW declared them to be the best cookie she's ever eaten. Of course, she often says that about whatever cookie happens to be in her mouth at the moment.