Bread - What are you baking today…..

[Giles]

It's now my favourite way of prepping the dough for the bake….

[Giles]

"Antique" (I don't actually know old it is, probably southern German wooden proofing bowl…..Found at a fair today....

[neph93]

Could easily have been Norwegian. They are very common here.

[Giles]

Today, I decided to make a Batard (for the first time ever) in my old proofing bowl and my new Dutch Oven.  I am more than pleased with the result.  If you have a pulse, swing by and I'll give you a high-five…...

Poolish - 80% white, 10% white and 10% dark rye....

[neph93]

Well that went well…

[Giles]

And the Boule from the other half of the dough…..

[neph93]

Lovely stuff. You’re nailing the rustic look.

[Giles]

Rustic (or twat), is my middle name…..

[neph93]

«Rustic Twat»? The brewery down the road needs to make that beer.

[Giles]

They've just released Miami Weiss - I love them…...

[neph93]

Forkish Country Blonde pure levain on a Sunday morning.

Still working out proofing time for this… I definitely don’t need the four hours he suggests, but I can probably stretch it longer than the one hour they get. The second (split) loaf had a little over two hours in the fridge. I’m looking forward to comparing the crumb to see if their is a major difference there.

[Giles]

Beauts

[neph93]

Thank you. I really love the incremental learning that goes on with this process. Small adjustments and experiments all the time. Lately I’ve been focusing on the shaping, using a dough scraper to tighten the boules before proofing. It gives pleasing results.

[Giles]

Forkish overnight 40% wholewheat, went a bit mental in the fridge overnight….....

[Seul]

You mean it went a bit overboard…

TAXI!..

[Giles]

Not a lot of oven spring, so I think overproofed.  Will reduce the amount of yeast next time I bake this…..

[Giles]

I am off to Cornwall for a few days fishing.  The day I get back, we have a few people coming to stay, all perfectly social distancing compliant (more on that later :-X), so I though I better get some bread baked as I won't have time to do it when I get home….

I also made about 5 kilos of pimped bolognaise, but that's in the freezer…....

[neph93]

Excellent work… all looking beautifully rustic too.

I’m under pressure to bake 6-8 loaves a week at the moment. The three increasingly large and hairy ones demand home baked bread as standard and have also learnt to distinguish pure levain bread from pre-ferments. They have a preference for sourdough but poolish is good for lunch box sandwiches. I’ve created some entitled monsters.

[Giles]

[neph93]

Today’s Country Blonde…