ifs201's blog

I decided to try and make sourdough bagels this week. I always thought bagels would be really hard to make and unnecessary since good bagels are easy to locate in NY. However, I decided to try making them at home after the last bagel I purchased had no flavor whatsoever. 

I mostly followed this recipe from Baked the Blog, but I followed more of the process of Hamelman's bagel recipe (except he uses pate fermentee). 

I didn't have diastatic malt or malt syrup, so I just used honey. 

Overall, happy with how these came out and pleasantly surprised that it really was quite easy. Next time I'd try to get my hands on some diastatic malt, malt syrup, and maybe make the bagels a bit bigger (these were 120g). I'd also try a longer cold ferment (this one was about 12 hours). 

Too hot and too pregnant to bake as much as I'd like and honestly I haven't been too proud of my bakes recently, but here it goes. 

Rolls from The Perfect Loaf (but subbed sweet potato for white) 

Focaccia from The Perfect Loaf, but added peaches for chix salad sandwiches 

50/50 white/wheat laminated sourdough with figs and walnuts - awesome combo! 

I have been baking at my parents' home where I have access to one Le Creuset DO and one vintage aluminum DO. Bake after bake, the loaf baked in the aluminum DO has inferior rise and oven spring. Heat retention really does make a difference (at least that's what I have been finding). Both of these loaves are 50% whole grain and followed the exact same fermentation process, but the loaf on the right has superior spring. 

Recipe from Artisan Bryan. Warning - this recipe makes an epic amount! I got 17 120-gram buns. 

I added orange zest to the dough and cinnamon to the topping. I would definitely recommend adding orange zest to the dough as it really added a nice element. 

The recipe is a bit strange in that it instructs you to just squeeze all of the main dough ingredients until they come together. I really feel I should have kneaded the dough very well as is usually instructed in brioche style doughs, but they taste very nice. 

I decided to make two loaves using my typical flour mix: 50% KABF, 25% whole wheat, and 25% freshly milled spelt.

One loaf used almond milk instead of water and I added cinnamon, chocolate chips, and pecans during the lamination stage.

The second loaf added roasted red peppers, capers, garlic, pesto, pepperoncini, and cheddar cheese cubes during lamination. 

I'm using a new fridge that seems to run warm so I need to work towards getting the dough in the fridge later in the evening. I think these loaves are getting over proofed during the overnight cold proof. 

Neither loaf is a lot to look at, but boy do they taste good! 

I'd tried Danny's Approachable Loaf community bake twice and my husband really liked it (I think I still prefer free-form), but I wasn't happy with my tin-baking experience. The loaves just wouldn't get crisp on the sides and the bottom and despite oiling of the tin I'd still need to cut the loaf out of it. I tried baking in a tin using parchment paper this time and the loaf came out with a much better crust on the sides and bottom! I'm pretty proud of this one since I didn't have a scale so I just estimated flour, water, and salt amounts by feel. I didn't measure, but it was some combination of freshly milled spelt and Redeemer wheat. 

Instead of letting the dough proof overnight in the fridge, I just did about 5 hours in the fridge and it resulted in a much prettier loaf. I didn't score it. 

I'm baking away from home with different flours, but I decided to just try and make something using 60% whole grains (a hodgepodge mix of rye, white whole wheat, and einkorn). I used 1000g of flour total and about 85% hydration, adding turmeric and sautéed onions. I made one loaf on the slightly smaller side and then the other loaf ended up weighing 1.3kg!! I didn't have a lame, or a sharp knife, so I tried to let the loaves open on their own. The smaller one opened nicely, but the "miche" rose but didn't crack. I think I overproofed these. 

The loaves are hideous, but it's a nice soft crumb and my first time baking with 60% whole grains. Still better than supermarket bread!

Across the board these have not been my most attractive bakes, but they've gotten the job done. It's also been interesting to try a lot of new recipes and to use some different flours as I'm now away from home and without my MockMill. I wanted to share the recipes I used in case anyone else is looking for some new recipes. 

• Sourdough whole wheat tortillas https://medium.com/@thebolditalic/recipe-sourdough-floor-tortilla-82b3aa0646bf
• Sourdough English muffins https://www.food.com/recipe/sourdough-english-muffins-160291
• Einkorn sourdough cardamom rolls https://food52.com/recipes/82367-cardamom-rolls-recipe-with-einkorn#recipeStart
• Sourdough whole wheat manoush https://www.artisanbryan.com/post/recipe-hominy-farm-sourdough-manoushe
• Sourdough chocolate chip cookies https://medium.com/@thebolditalic/sourdough-chocolate-chip-cookies-2b0c0bfec300
• Approachable Loaf using 60% KA white wheat, 5% einkorn, 5% rye, 30% KABF (one plain and one cinnamon swirl) 
• One plain and one fruit/nut loaf using my standard 25% spelt, 20% hard red winter wheat, 5% rye, 50% KABF 
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What a tasty bread! Not sure why, but this definitely has more of a sour tang than most of my breads and I'm loving it. Not the most open crumb, but I think it's solid given that the loaf if 50% whole grains. 

• 20% freshly milled hard red winter wheat
• 25% freshly milled spelt
• 5% rye
• 50% KABF
• 2% salt
• 85% hydration
• 10% starter
• 1 cup roasted carrots chopped
• sprinkling of black sesame seeds 
• 1 tsp turmeric powder 

I had made a tasty carrot bread with spices before and wanted to do the same, but this time I thought I'd make two separate doughs and laminate them together. I did one white dough autolysed with carrot juice and a mostly whole grain dough autolysed with water.  After autolyse, I added about 100g of shredded carrot to the carrot dough.

I added cumin/chipotle powder/coriander to one loaf during lamination and I added raisins and toasted walnuts to the other. 

These loaves didn't look like much after the bake and I was disappointed, but I'm very happy with the crumb and taste. I think this is one of the better breads I've made given that it's about 40% whole grain. The crumb is extremely soft!

20% starter (or 10% pre-fermented flour) 

Started hydration at 80% and added a bit of water along the way