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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:

      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

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      • 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
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        • 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

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          • ROmanR
            ROman
            Haraki san Prodigy
            Joined:

            Looks great @neph93 ^^

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            • DstaufferD
              Dstauffer
              啓蒙家
              Joined:

              Garlic cheese loaf today…

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

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              • 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
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                  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

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                  • 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.

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                    • C
                      Chad
                      Joined:

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

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                      • 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
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                        • 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.

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                          • 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
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                            • 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

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                              • C
                                Chad
                                Joined:

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

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                                • 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

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                                  • 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

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                                    • neph93N
                                      neph93
                                      見習いボス
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                                      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
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                                      • 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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                                        • neph93N
                                          neph93
                                          見習いボス
                                          Joined:

                                          They look lovely @jordanscollected. Did my last spelt sourdough before the coming Biga-geddon this weekend.

                                          This is the levain based on finely ground spelt just before it went in. 350g flour and 350g water. This is a 3 liter bowl:

                                          Mental.

                                          The bread came out well but I decided to do two doughs with different hydration to see what differenes occured.

                                          75%:

                                          85% (to the right):

                                          There was a lot more spread from the banneton to the oven plate with the higher hydration. The texture of the 85% bread was much more moist and light, despite the spread, and the crumb was still good:

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

                                          • Dame Vera Lynn
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                                          • jordanscollectedJ
                                            jordanscollected
                                            啓蒙家
                                            Joined:

                                            that bread was very happy, with a desirable variation in holes for some texture differentiation.

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

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