Bread - What are you baking today…..

[Giles]

Amazon Basics does some reasonably priced cast iron pots….

[neph93]

@Giles:

IMO, you just need something that is relatively airtight.  Le Creuset is overkill, I just happen to have one….

That’s what I was thinking.

[jordanscollected]

agreed that Le Creuset is not worth the $$. I got mine at Homegoods (a discount home store) for around $70 for an 8-quart and its lasted years and years.

I baked up some sourdough burger buns. I kept them soft by substituting Whole milk for water, and then brushing them with butter when they came out of the oven to cool.
Farmers market pickles, colby jack cheese and heirloom tomatoes from our deck garden along with the Grass fed beef patty and we have dinner. We did a side salad instead of fries and we tried to have some restraint.

[neph93]

@Giles:

Amazon Basics does some reasonably priced cast iron pots….

Amazon is slowly moving into Scandinavia, but currently it isn’t the quick, cheap, one-stop solution it is in the UK and USA. Shipping is costly, import duty is high and things take weeks to arrive.

[neph93]

Looks absolutely delightful @jordanscllected. The only way I’d show restraint is if you only made one each. Even then I’d be trying to nick yours…

[neph93]

We all know social media advertising algorithms are a pain in the butt and deeply irritating but now and again they do throw up something that is appropriate… I’d have this on a t-shirt.

[Giles]

Same range, different ovens, same temperature on the dial…..Got a feeling the left hand oven runs a little hotter than the right 

[neph93]

Bake them dark as Forkish says. Be interesting to hear how it affects taste.

I’m going for an ambitious bake this weekend. Tonight I will be prepping a poolish (I’m a poolish virgin) and biga, to bake tomorrow and a levain to bake on Sunday. Wish me luck.

[Giles]

Poolish is like a Biga, no biggie

[Chap]

I use this „Made in Germany“ oven thermometer… my „Made in UK“ oven usually indicates 20 Celsius plus...

[neph93]

@Giles:

Poolish is like a Biga, no biggie

So like Biga that I decided to do it alone and move the Biga to a Sunday bake, after the Country Blonde. Makes more sense in terms of scheduling.

I’m also going to move away from The Forkish method of an overnight bulk ferment with the country blonde, and instead do an evening bulk ferment and an overnight proof in the fridge.

The only question now is whether one, two or all three of the bakes are going to go tits up.

[neph93]

Good morning poolish…

[neph93]

Mmm…. that is damn tasty bread. There are subtle differences to the biga which is surprising given the similarities in ingredients and process.

I’m going to go again tomorrow as they were verging on over proofed again. I’ve bought a simple room thermometer and it turns out the average air temp in my kitchen is 24C which explains why things go so much quicker than they should do. It will be cooler in the winter.

[neph93]

My levain for tomorrows country blonde just peaked

[Stuart.T]

@neph93 I just use a roasting tin, always get good results as long as the oven spring doesn't go crazy. This was last weekend

[neph93]

Missing the point of macho baking there old boy… tins are for cheaters [emoji1] I jest. But at the same time I don’t. Every time I get perfect oven spring from a flat baking tray it’s like mainlining adrenechrome. And timing is everything.

[neph93]

@Stuart.T my problem is that I’ve gone full nerd and I’m in constant competition with myself.

This is what I mean. My first country blonde tasted great but ran hot from the start and came pretty flat. This time I prepped.  I’ve explored room temps, made a revised time schedule and tried to control the environment as best I could.

The result was that the proofed dough released from the bannetons and more than doubled in the oven. Very pleased with the boules. Looking forward to seeing the crumb.

Your loaf looks brilliant btw. Glad you stuck it out after the early trials. I remember mine fondly.

[Giles]

Poolish….

[Chap]

They look tasty… will do a Poolish tomorrow too

[neph93]

Looking lovely. I really like the shape of them @Giles

Currently doing poolish with different flour blends two days a week, and a full levain bake on weekends. Feel like I have finally hit my stride to the point where I am getting consistently acceptable results.