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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Bread - What are you baking today…..

    Hobbies and Pastimes
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    • neph93N
      neph93
      見習いボス
      Joined:

      I had a failure today. My last bake has been hailed by all who tasted it as the best bread they’ve ever had and I wasn’t going to argue. So I took out some starter yesterday evening to make a new levain. Fast forward to this morning and I’m preparing the other ingredients. I take out the levain and there is a mass of brown, beer-like, stinky, liquid on top. It wasn’t like that last time. Can I assume something got in there that shouldn’t have?

      «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
      We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

      • Dame Vera Lynn
      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • GilesG
        Giles
        IHUK Crew
        Joined:

        Q. My sourdough starter has dark liquid on top. Did I damage it?
        A. The dark liquid is a form of naturally-occurring alcohol known as hooch, which indicates that your sourdough starter is hungry. Hooch is harmless but should be poured off and discarded prior to stirring and feeding your starter. If hooch is forming on your starter regularly, increase the feeding frequency and/or move the starter to a cooler spot (70-85ºF), to slow things down.

        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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        • neph93N
          neph93
          見習いボス
          Joined:

          Yeah… I was thinking I’d read that before or maybe you had told me. But it didn’t look or smell good. I think the temps and/or the age of the starter are the issue. At least I know now. Thank you G.

          «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
          We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

          • Dame Vera Lynn
          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • K
            kkibbey23
            Haraki san Prodigy
            Joined:

            @Chap:

            Did anyone here who has an Egg (the BBQ one!!!) tried to bake bread in it? We did Pizza several times on a pizza stone in ours with great results… tihinking about giving bread a try.

            I've got a BGE and I've been thinking about this. I feel like it may add some cool flavors to it. If you do it let me know how it goes

            Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • N
              neversummer
              Raw and Unwashed
              Joined:

              New starter in the works, 100% spelt. I’m essential so still working but why not experiment a bit? This is at day 5 I think?

              And this weeks bread, white sourdough with a touch of whole wheat. I’m working through a 50 lb bag of bread flour, so this will probably be the main recipe I make (or others that are predominately bread flour with some added specialty grains) until I can find ap at the stores.

              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ChrisC
                Chris
                Raw and Unwashed
                Joined:

                @Giles:

                @Chris:

                If holding your Dick makes your thumb bleed, you're doing it wrong.

                You did notice that it is a 10" dick, didn't you…..?

                No, didn't notice. Those small ones can be tricky, I guess.

                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • neph93N
                  neph93
                  見習いボス
                  Joined:

                  @neversummer that is all looking trés nice. I need to try some different starters I think. Spelt up next.

                  My levain for today’s bake is looking better this morning. Rye starter fed with bleached white flour. I’ll be using the same flour on a 10:1 ratio with some «dala» landshvete.

                  «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                  We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                  • Dame Vera Lynn
                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • GilesG
                    Giles
                    IHUK Crew
                    Joined:

                    Interestingly, my Forkish starter is a lot, lot dryer than many I see…..Two hours after its last feed....

                    "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • neph93N
                      neph93
                      見習いボス
                      Joined:

                      @Giles:

                      Interestingly, my Forkish starter is a lot, lot dryer than many I see…..

                      What is the ratio? 50/50? The type of flour has an enormous affect. 50/50 with organic dala wheat or rye, is gives a totally different consistency to 50/50 with finely ground, bleached white.

                      «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                      We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                      • Dame Vera Lynn
                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • GilesG
                        Giles
                        IHUK Crew
                        Joined:

                        50gm Levain
                        50gm Spelt
                        200gm White
                        200gm Water

                        I'm not complainin', just sayin'.  I obvs could add more water, but then I'd need to adjust the final dough ingredient quantities, and I am just not advanced enough yet, to go off piste….

                        For the moment, happily following recipes slavishly...

                        I got my missing sack of white flour (strong Canadian yesterday), so I now have 3 different types of white.  Soon I will do iterative bakes of the same recipe with the 3 kinds of flour and see if I can discern any differences in the end result.

                        That'll be a novelty for me, as I have not made the same bread more than once yet  😃 😃 😃

                        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • GilesG
                          Giles
                          IHUK Crew
                          Joined:

                          Today/tomorrow, I'm baking Pain Au Bacon…..

                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • ChapC
                            Chap
                            見習いボス
                            Joined:

                            @Giles:

                            50gm Levain
                            50gm Spelt
                            200gm White
                            200gm Water

                            I'm not complainin', just sayin'.  I obvs could add more water, but then I'd need to adjust the final dough ingredient quantities, and I am just not advanced enough yet, to go off piste….

                            For the moment, happily following recipes slavishly...

                            I got my missing sack of white flour (strong Canadian yesterday), so I now have 3 different types of white.  Soon I will do iterative bakes of the same recipe with the 3 kinds of flour and see if I can discern any differences in the end result.

                            That'll be a novelty for me, as I have not made the same bread more than once yet  😃 😃 😃

                            You should try. I did my wholemeal now the fifth time and it became better each time

                            God has blessed you richly, so get down on your knees and thank him. Don’t forget the less fortunate or God will personally kick your ass. I’d love to do it for him, but I can’t be everywhere. Willie Nelson

                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • GilesG
                              Giles
                              IHUK Crew
                              Joined:

                              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • neph93N
                                neph93
                                見習いボス
                                Joined:

                                Now that is some good looking bread…

                                «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                                We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                                • Dame Vera Lynn
                                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • dinobarnesberlinD
                                  dinobarnesberlin
                                  啓蒙家
                                  Joined:

                                  Perfect Crust

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                                  • GilesG
                                    Giles
                                    IHUK Crew
                                    Joined:

                                    There won't be any bloody bacon left to go in the bread at this rate.  A piece is nicked every time anyone (inc. me) goes past the plate…...

                                    "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                    • N
                                      neversummer
                                      Raw and Unwashed
                                      Joined:

                                      @neph93 looks fantastic and active! Can almost smell it from here…
                                      @giles it looks like Forkishs method ends up at 80% hydration. I used the method espoused by the perfect loaf, which is 100% hydration. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/
                                      I’ve used both to get a starter going and think Maurizio’s works better, and uses much less flour in the end(100 total g per feed vs at least 250 g, it hurt to toss that much and I can only make and eat so many sourdough pancakes!). The bread I baked with the Forkish method was definitely flatter. But could just be me. Keep with it and see what you get!
                                      My thought is that Forkish uses more material and less time to get things going, while Maurizio uses less material but more time to achieve the same. I don’t know if that is sound science, but just my idea.

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                                      • ChrisC
                                        Chris
                                        Raw and Unwashed
                                        Joined:

                                        You're up in Longmont, aren't you @neversummer?  How is the altitude affecting your baking?

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                                        • GilesG
                                          Giles
                                          IHUK Crew
                                          Joined:

                                          Ready for the bulk ferment…..

                                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                          • neph93N
                                            neph93
                                            見習いボス
                                            Joined:

                                            Is pan au bacon a thing? Or did you make it up? Either way, I’m excited by the idea [emoji1]

                                            «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                                            We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                                            • Dame Vera Lynn
                                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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