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

      Today I followed a Sarah Owens (author of 'Sourdough - recipes for rustic fermented bread' '). She has a great 30 min video on YouTube.

      Recipe:
      60g starter
      300g water
      310g white bread fl
      80g wholewheat stoneground fl
      8g salt

      30 mins autolyse
      3 hr bulk ferment, folding every 30 mins

      All I was left with is the same sticky, wet, unshapeable mess that I had with a different recipe last week.

      My starter doubles in size after feeding, passes the float test, and smells great…this is the result. I can only put the issue now down to ambient temperature or type of flour.

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

        That baking with your own Levain is of course a cool hipster thing and sometimes I really had nice results mostly with wholemeal bread…. but I am with Giles and I don’t have the time and patience to cultivate the Levain permanently... I switched to prefermented doughs... more predictable results

        Another 80% Biga + Giles 8 Grain

        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:

          Ran out of time this weekend.  So I am making a Saturday loaf.  80% 8 grain and 20% dark rye.  The preferments taste so much better than a one-day bake, but I am hoping my mix of flours will help….

          "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:

            So a bit of success at last. Today's bake had a four hour bulk ferment and a seven hour fridge proof. A possibly meaningful factor was that my starter was made 11 hours before it went into the flour and was fermented in my warm cupboard. The routine for the last few bakes has been to make it late the night before and use it 18 hours later. It sat on the kitchen bench though where it is cooler. I suspect it was more burnt out than it should have been.

            The results in terms of crumb and taste were the same, the volume increase during the fridge proof were limited, but the oven spring and firmness of the dough between the fridge and the oven were much, much better. The final loaves were higher and ended in a better shape.

            At this point it's about aesthetics, but I'm pleased to have learnt a little more about the practical dynamics involved.





            «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
            • GCG
              GC
              Joined:

              Nailed @neph93 congrats they look, and I’m sure taste, awesome!

              Been so busy recently I’m yet to wander into the loaf lifestyle. When I enter, if I ever get close to this fella, I would be so chuffed.

              Insta @eaudepetroleum

              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • ROmanR
                ROman
                Haraki san Prodigy
                Joined:

                Looks great @neph93 ^^

                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DstaufferD
                  Dstauffer
                  啓蒙家
                  Joined:

                  Garlic cheese loaf today…

                  You won’t be satisfied until you wear Iron Heart.

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

                    @ROman  @GC Thanks gents. Now that I’ve got this under control I will be moving on to attempting to imitate @Giles 80% Biga soon.

                    @Dstauffer  that looks very tasty indeed.

                    «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
                      Joined:

                      With temperatures up to 25C it‘s getting a bit tricky to get the correct times for fermentation and proofing…
                      That Forkish Overnight Country Blond was a bit underproofed

                      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
                      • steelworkerS
                        steelworker
                        見習いボス
                        Joined:

                        I really wish you s.o.b.'s would stop posting photos of stuff I'm too lazy to bake myself.

                        Those are my principles, and if you don't like them…
                        Well, I have others.

                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • C
                          Chad
                          Joined:

                          First biga. Starting to smell the alcohol when I remove the lid. A couple hours to go!

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

                            Looking forward to seeing the results @Chad
                            Getting my Biga on soon. Picked up an 8 quart baking bowl with a lid today. Should be big enough, no? Forkish recommends 6 quarts….

                            «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
                            • C
                              Chad
                              Joined:

                              @neph93 I'd say that's more than enough. I couldn't tell you what size this is. I just use this bowl to mix my pre-ferments before adding to the final dough.

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

                                I have a five/six quart baking bowl I use for bulk fermenting my sourdoughs, but the Biga’s can grow I think. Better to be on the safe side.

                                «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:

                                  I typically only get 3x overnight and 2.5/3x at the end of 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

                                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • C
                                    Chad
                                    Joined:

                                    Yeah for sure. I believe Forkish says to expect this to triple in volume.

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

                                      A bit more success on Sunday, spelt, rye, and white. It was delicious. I didn't expect as much oven spring. @neph93 the slashes were made using my Spyderco UKPK, not a lame… Just to show how razor sharp they are

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

                                        That looks great…..

                                        "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:

                                          Well done @Stuart.T  that is coming along nicely. Exciting application of your pocket knife too [emoji1]

                                          I’m increasingly aware of the role the composition of levains play in oven spring and timing. Knowing your starter and the resulting levain seems important for predicting results.

                                          Breads made with my rye starter almost always do well, but my spelt starter acts in a very different way and the timings need to be different. Also the levain I make from my spelt starter gives different results depending on whether I use wholemeal spelt to feed it or finely milled spelt. The former takes more time to ripen and allows for longer fermenting and proofing, while the latter seems much more volatile and peaks earlier.

                                          «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
                                          • jordanscollectedJ
                                            jordanscollected
                                            啓蒙家
                                            Joined:

                                            I had my starter in the fridge for a week and almost forgot about it. However i fed it last night and this morning it was very lively.

                                            I've dabbled with full boules, dinner rolls, bagels, pizza crust, etc. all in the sourdough camp.

                                            this is a 950 gm batch that i added caraway seed and granulated garlic and salt, divided into 4 mini loaves and dusted the bottoms with toasted corn germ for texture.

                                            Bread

                                            world tours:
                                            888 Fat guy chocolate WT
                                            Mad Red x2
                                            Wabidashery

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