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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:

      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.

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

          @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

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

              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
                見習いボス
                Joined:

                … 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

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                • 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

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

                    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

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • 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

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Stuart.TS
                        Stuart.T
                        Raw and Unwashed
                        Joined:

                        I've taken to looking at this thread instead of watching porn. It seems to fulfil a similar desire  😃

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                        • Stuart.TS
                          Stuart.T
                          Raw and Unwashed
                          Joined:

                          @Giles it's the Regular Chef recipe that I used for my 1st bake. I like his style, very easy going and simple to follow. I didn't get much oven spring, but I think I know where I went wrong thanks to Rueben's help.

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

                            Those who have tasted this bake, reckon it's one of my best….I've yet to try....

                            "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:

                              Problem? Moi?

                              "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:

                                😃 😃 😃 famous vienna restaurant Steirereck https://www.steirereck.at/en/restaurant/
                                has a bread sommelier… if you ever come back to vienna, you got an INVITATION (not only for the bread  ;))

                                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:

                                    Arrrrggghhhh.

                                    As noted yesterday I am trying to perfect my spelt loaf, and struggling to get the kind of oven spring I have had earlier with spelt, and regularly with wheat loaves.

                                    Initially I thought it was too much hydration causing the issue. I lowered this bake to 75%.

                                    After yesterday’s discussion I suspected the issue was the length of the bulk ferment. This dough had a three hour bulk ferment (down from four and a half), and a 10 hour fridge retardation (down from 14 hours).

                                    There is plenty of life in the dough. The over night fridge proofing saw a 40-50% increase in volume. Straight from the fridge:


                                    They came out of the banneton’s just fine, but deflated meaningfully after scoring:



                                    There is oven spring. The volume of the dough increases during the first 20min. Here they after 20min. They have been covered and the oven has steam. The problem is that the volume increase is much more lateral rather than vertical.




                                    Finished:




                                    The crumb is not the greatest I’ve had, but isn’t bad at all:

                                    So these loaves turned out more or less exactly the same as my last batch, which had a longer bulk ferment and fridge proof, and higher hydration. What the actual yeasty-fuck is next?!

                                    «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:

                                      You guys are killing it on the Bread Frontier.
                                      I would pay good money to have a sandwich with that bread.

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

                                        @dinobarnesberlin:

                                        You guys are killing it on the Bread Frontier.

                                        In all honesty, mine tastes great. My mother-in-law who has been baking all her life now weeps in envy when she tastes mine. Buy it doesn’t fekkin look like it should and it is a righteous pain in the ring.

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

                                        • Dame Vera Lynn
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                                        • GilesG
                                          Giles
                                          IHUK Crew
                                          Joined:

                                          I'm with you.  I think my bread tastes wonderful and loads of my friends are now using recipes that I have given them.  But I still can't get the oven spring that I would like….A work in progress.

                                          I've watched some tart on YouTube taking about 15 minutes to score the most amazing and intricate patterns into her proofed loaves.  If I a) took that long and b) scored it so much, my dough would be about the thickness of a Rizla paper....

                                          "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:

                                            But I still can't get the oven spring that I would like….A work in progress.

                                            The bastard thing is that if I put the dough into a tin it would be forced to rise upwards and look awesome. But I’ve now become a slightly obsessed, macho «free-baker» and the idea of using tins makes my teeth itch and arse clench.

                                            And the real kicker is that I’ve had good oven spring before, I’ve just lost it somewhere in the tweaking.

                                            «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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