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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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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      Joined:

      80% Biga 8 grain flour, nearing the end of bulk ferment.  With me in the office so that I don't have to keep popping home to check on progress…  🙂

      "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
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        I love it when my ferments bubble like that.

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

        • Dame Vera Lynn
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        • ChapC
          Chap
          見習いボス
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          @neph93:

          I love it when my ferments bubble like that.

          Yep

          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

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          • neph93N
            neph93
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            I have a levain sat on the kitchen bench at home that I fully expect to have bubbled over by the time I get back to it… baking is fun.

            That looks like spelt @Chap?

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

            • Dame Vera Lynn
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            • neph93N
              neph93
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              Joined:

              On another note… when you guys autolyse your flour, do you ever find that the amount of water in a recipe doesn’t get all the flour wet?

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

              • Dame Vera Lynn
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              • ChapC
                Chap
                見習いボス
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                @neph93:

                I have a levain sat on the kitchen bench at home that I fully expect to have bubbled over by the time I get back to it… baking is fun.

                That looks like spelt @Chap?

                No, wheat only. That was a Forkish 80% Biga. Atm I have a Forkish 50% whole wheat biga proofing in their baskets…

                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

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                • ChapC
                  Chap
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                  @neph93:

                  On another note… when you guys autolyse your flour, do you ever find that the amount of water in a recipe doesn’t get all the flour wet?

                  Yes… I mix by hand then... pincer method. Do you sometimes reduce water? It looks like flour in the US for example seems to have more capacitiy to absorb water then European flour. With Forkish Levain only recipes I usually to reduce the amount of water... minus 5-10 grams.

                  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

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                  • GilesG
                    Giles
                    IHUK Crew
                    Joined:

                    @neph93:

                    On another note… when you guys autolyse your flour, do you ever find that the amount of water in a recipe doesn’t get all the flour wet?

                    Yep, but I don't worry about it.

                    "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
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                      I don’t reduce water. Unlike @Giles I took autolyse instructions too seriously. I’ve found a locally available source of spelt and wheat that has quite a high protein content and the spelt especially seems to suck the water in.

                      Both the recipes I’ve been tweaking these last few weeks have 70% hydration (plus the water in the levain so more like 73%), but the 700g of water isn’t enough to wet all the flour so I’ve added more, around 800g. The result (discussed a few posts back), has been a high hydration dough, that is fun to work with, a lovely moist crumb, but flatter loaves, as the dough spreads on the baking sheet meaningfully.

                      I’m prepping for a new bake and I’m working out what to do about it.

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

                      • Dame Vera Lynn
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                      • 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

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                        • neph93N
                          neph93
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          Having watched that, my steam, scoring and the starter are all good. Shaping is possibly something I can improve, but I’m thinking it is the length of the bulk ferment that may be the major issue.

                          There is definitely oven spring happening but the loaves spread so much between the banneton and the baking sheet that the starting point is more diminished than it should be.

                          Nice video! Thank you.

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

                          • Dame Vera Lynn
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                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            What I picked up from that vid, was that I am definitely leaving my bulk fermentation to go on way too long….I had been beginning to suspect that because I get bollock-all rise during the proof....

                            "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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                            • C
                              Chad
                              Joined:

                              Made my first loaves from pre-ferments this past weekend. Went with the white bread with poolish. I definitely prefer it to the Saturday white from the book.

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                              • neph93N
                                neph93
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                                @Giles same here. My starter is ridiculous and it seems to burn through the flour very quickly. Regardless, I’ve held on to a four hour bulk ferment. I will avoid that today.

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

                                • Dame Vera Lynn
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                                • GilesG
                                  Giles
                                  IHUK Crew
                                  Joined:

                                  Yeah, IMO the Poolish and the Biga are way more tasty….

                                  "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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                                  • ChapC
                                    Chap
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                                    50% whole wheat biga

                                    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

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                                    • ChapC
                                      Chap
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                                      … and the 80% Biga

                                      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:

                                        80% Biga with 8 seed flour….(all my loaves tend to look the same 🙂 )

                                        "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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                                        • ChapC
                                          Chap
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                                          What really improved my breads was the use of a cast iron pot

                                          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

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                                          • GilesG
                                            Giles
                                            IHUK Crew
                                            Joined:

                                            I'll give that a go next bake.  I used one for a while, but I have a steam oven and I've been determined to make it work  😃 😃 😃

                                            "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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