jamesjr54's blog

My 100% Hydration starter has been realy active lately, so I've made a few loaves using just it, no commercial yeast. Thanks to all the help available here, and practice, they're getting better and better. Here are today's loaves. Unfortunately, I got distracted, and forgot to turn the oven down after 20 mins. SO they're a tad underdone inside. But delicious.

Made a liquid levain the morning before. Fermented it all day. Made the dough that night. Room temp ferment for 3 hours at about 67. (Temp outside here near Boston was 17 last night.) Overnight retard in the fridge. 1 hour room temp this morning. The shaped and proofed for 1.5 hours. baked in cast iron for 20 w/lid, 20 w/o. All at 500 F...ahem. 

Made this today in anticipation of turkey sandwiches over the next few days. From Breadtopia http://www.breadtopia.com/whole-grain-sourdough/

White whole wheat, rye, spelt, KA AP. 

I did a 3-day process: 12 hour overnight first proof, 24-hour cold retard, and 4.5 hour final proof. Baked in my combo cooker, 20 mins covered, 25 uncovered @485F with a preheat.

Have to wait to open it. But it smells incredible! 

Next up: Pumpkin bread pudding, dinner rolls, and cornbread-apple sausage stuffing. 


Sent from my iPad  

Knowing I'd work at home today (Wednesday) I made a preferment Tuesday morning: 

100 G KA Bread flour

100 G 100% hydration starter

60 g water

Tuesday night I made the dough:

All of the preferment

400 g KA all purpose

35 g rye

35 g oat flour

15 g salt

44o g water

30 min autolyse

Was really wet, so added flour until I could get some development. (Think I need to learn how to calculate the starter into the final %s. Was aiming for 68-70% hydration)

15 minutes kneading

1.5 hour proof, with S&F at 30 and 60

Pre-shape, rest and shape, and into the fridge overnight.

1.5 hours at room temp this morning

Baked w/preheat at 475 for 15 with steam, 30 without (for the badly-shaped batard) and in the combo cooker for the boule.

Pretty standard, delicious sourdough. My shaping skills have plateaued at a very low level, so need to work on those. 

Baked these today from Bread Cetera. Very nice taste, and fun to make. Overnight levain, 20 min autolyse, 1 hr bulk ferment, 30 min rest, fold, slurry, cut, stack, 1.5 hr proof. Baked on its side 15 minutes @ 450F w/steam; bake w/o steam 25 min. 

Our friends from Israel (wife) and Idaho (husband) joined us for a bike ride today as temperatures in New England hit 80F! 

So challah was on the menu. I used the Honey Whole Wheat from the front page. Came out wonderful. Perfect compliment to grilled salmon with garlic chive butter; steak tips with Santa Maria Seasoning; tomato, cucumber feta salad; and grilled eggplant from the garden. We ate the sesame seed version and sent the poppy seeded one home with our friends.  She said it looked like the challah you get in Jerusalem from the home-style bakeries. She's being nice, I know, but I took it as a compliment!

Baked a version of Lumos' Swiss/Bernese Oberland today. I think hydration was a little too high, and gluten not developed enough. Still happy with my progress. And tastes great!

2.5 hrs w/ 2 S&F bulk ferment

14 hr cold retard

3 hr final proof

20 minutes in combo cooker in non-preheated 550F oven. Uncovered and cooked 35 minutes at 475F.

And it's already gone for lunch! 

Made Syd's multiple-grain boule this weekend. Very happy with the results. Followed the formula, with agave nectar subbing for the malt.

Bulk ferment 2 hrs with 2 S&F. Pre-shape, shape, then retard in the fridge 14 hours (overnight). 1 hr. At room temp, score, and baked with no pre-heat in combo cooker 30 min covered, 25 min uncovered. (heated gas oven to 550, cooked at 550 for 10' then lowered to 475 for duration.

A week of triumphs and face-plants! The good: a really nice version of Lumos' Swiss/Bernese Oberland-style Sourdough Loaf, http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24996/xv-–-heinz’s-swss-artisan-bread-made-sourdough, awesome Honey Wheat from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes, and some nice versions of Anis Bouabsa's baguettes.

The bad: 10-grain whole wheat from HBI5 that I put in a loaf pan and undercooked even after 65 min@ 400F.

The ugly: whole wheat bagels: in my haste I misread the recipe and use 3 stead of 2 C water. (recipe said 3 quarts, hence the "3") Added lots of flour but ignored my misgivings and now have a dozen ugly - but tasty - bagels.

Lessons - gotta figure out how to balance - and schedule- life and baking! And mistakes at least taste good.

I modified Mike Avery's San Francisco sourdough recipe by adding 3 stretch and folds over 2 hours.  I like this recipe for its nice sour flavor. Used my 100% hydration whole wheat starter. Proofed 11 hours overnight at room temperature, @ 75F here in sunny coastal New England, after shaping. Baked @ 400F for 20 minutes w/steam, then 35 more @ 375, with 10 minute, oven-off drying. I think it's a bit overproofed. I did not get the oven spring I expected, but very happy with the flavor and crumb. The slump on the left happened when it kind of slid off the stone on its way in. It's very moist as well. Each bake is such a learning experience! We're having friends over tonight for BBQ ribs, pulled pork, beans, salad from the garden, and not cornbread, but sourdough. I think the boule will be a parting gift for one of our pals.

So I wanted to make a batch of Black Canyon sourdough last night, to repay my neighbor for the 2 lbs of fresh-caught cod he gave us. No mise en place. Pretty distracted after work etc. But in I plunged, only to come up about 1.5 C short of All-Purpose flour. Doh! So I used a combo of spelt, oat and White Whole Wheat bread flour from Whole Foods. It took about 45-50 minutes of vigorous kneading by hand to get any structure and windowpane. Roughly, in baker's math, it's about 66% hydration. Used my starter, which has been pretty reliable. Now, it's been proofing for 12 hours, and looks ok. I'll give it another hour or so before I bake. This should be interesting.