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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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    • steelworkerS
      steelworker
      見習いボス
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      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!

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        • neph93N
          neph93
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          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
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              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

                    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

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                      • neph93N
                        neph93
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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
                        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

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • neph93N
                            neph93
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                            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

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • neph93N
                                neph93
                                見習いボス
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                                Is autolyse not considered necessary with the Forkish Biga? I notice he doesn’t mention it in his recipe.

                                «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:

                                  No need

                                  "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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                                    @Giles:

                                    No need

                                    Thank you sir. On another note I find myself having to wrestle with a first world problem deluxe. Both your zoom meeting times are in conflict with my carefully planned first ever Biga schedule.

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

                                    • Dame Vera Lynn
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                                    • GilesG
                                      Giles
                                      IHUK Crew
                                      Joined:

                                      Shit happens

                                      "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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                                        It does. The Bigageddon will be delayed by 24hrs.

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

                                          @Giles those last 2 loves look great. 3rd time lucky for me today. I adjusted a bog standard Jamie Oliver recipe that required neading, so my 1st non non-nead (I hate a double negative). I used a stoneground wholewheat starter, rye and spelt, and white. It didn't last long when sliced over breakfast.

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                                          • neph93N
                                            neph93
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                                            Well done @Stuart.T . Looks great… plain sailing from now on 😉

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

                                            • Dame Vera Lynn
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