Bread - What are you baking today…..
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I'm going to make the classic mistake of announcing what I'm about to attempt for the first time, before attempting it, so my inevitable failure will be demonstrated either through honest documentation or the lack of any updates during the day.
I am trying to make pan de cristal for the first time. For those that don't know it is a 100% hydration Catalonian bread, similar to ciabatta, but mo' badass. Wish me luck.
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The next statement likely fits perfectly on to the Dunning-Kruger scale…
After the autolyse and initial mix and fold, it appears to be going well, and is not as difficult as I imagined.
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The recipe called for allowing each bread to rest uncovered without support for 2 hours. That, frankly, has to be bollocks. I know what happens to 70% hydratiom dough if its left without support for two hours. Great for focaccia but not for this. So I legged it down the ironmongers…
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@neph93 i not too long ago stirred up the motivation to start making my own bread. Reading over recipes and the fermentation/proofing process was intimidating but like most things, once you dive in, is incredibly self rewarding.
This Catalonian bread you’re making sounds next level… baking off w ice cubes for steam
looking forward to seeing how it turns out 
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Well… this was a reminder to trust the process laid down by those who have gone before. Having seen how the finished results should look, I can now see how you can get away with two hours without support.
The oven spring gave a height three times that of the starting dough with the support of the tin. The tin also meant that the bread did not get the full effect of the heated baking steel. I can totally see how a flat soupy dough could end up the thickness of a ciabatta.
In the end I bottled it and the loaves spent the first 15 minutes of the bake in the cute flute tin pictured above. So what I got was NOT pan de cristal. If I was to claim that then I’d quite rightly have Catalans coming at me with murderous intent. The massively open crumb and thick charred crust that characterise the bread just didn’t happen. The large crust/crumb ratio requires a peel an uncrowded baking steel/stone, and sloppy dough delivered onto it like a pizza.
What I did get was four mini loaves of very tasty, moist bread with an open, even crumb and super hard, brittle tasty crust. Excellent for fat sandwiches or a bread to go with stews, sauces, cheese or charcuterie.
I also learnt that working with 100% hydration dough is something I can do. Coil folds really do the job of building strength in a dough that is more like a batter.
“Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses”- Virginia Woolf
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Reading @neph93 ’s latest baking experiment reminds me I should get started dipping my toes in this dark art. I’ve already fallen waaaay behind you guys as I only understood a fraction of @neph93 ’s terminology. I’ll try to bring back a copy of the book most of you use, ???, on my upcoming trip to the US. I assume it is suitable for a bakery noob?
I hope I can fit a book amongst the goodies in 8 stacked IH orders, all in a suitcase.The journey is the objective.
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@motojobobo Here's the book and I find it fairly easy to follow. The book has been a great resource for me being new in this endeavour.
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@neph93 did you pick up this recipe from the YouTube channel called bread by joyride coffee? If not, check out his channel, he hasn't posted really since pandemic ended but he did a few pan de cristals and has a similar sounding methodology. Your breads still look delicious even if they aren't exactly what you were going for in the beginning.
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Thanks @goosehd ! I was having trouble remembering it.
