Bread - What are you baking today…..

[neph93]

Still… looks boss. I have not been able to improve on my first efforts and while that is mildly annoying, the bread always tastes good and the process is a lot of fun.

[goosehd]

Deep down, the process is what I enjoy (besides eating it). I like the mistakes so that it pushes me to figure out where it went wrong and hopefully do better next time.

Up to the third fold everything felt the same as my first attempt. The fourth didn’t feel right and after my 80 minute rest I could tell something wasn’t right.

I can’t put my finger on what that was, but that for me is the enjoyment. Replaying the steps in my head to get a little better each time.

[Tago Mago]

@goosehd after three folds I’m not surprised you needed an 80 minute rest. Sounds exhausting

[goosehd]

Giles sent me a video the other day concerning salt's role in bread which made me wonder if that was one of the issues I had with my last batch of bread. This morning, I pulled out the scale to see how much salt I was actually using in my recipe by measuring it volumetrically and by weight. Since I have been using sea salt flakes there was a discrepancy of anywhere between 2 and 3 grams between the two measurements.

One error caught in the process and working on another batch to test my findings.

[goosehd]

So far, so good…

[goosehd]

[goosehd]

So much better this time:

[goosehd]

Got it:

[goosehd]

[goosehd]

Learned a couple of things this go around: one of them being that the pizza stone needs to be hot (full temperature). The two loaves were the last made and the rise is quite a bit more than the first two.

[goosehd]

The last two loaves definitely did better with the stone fully at temperature:

[neph93]

I tried my fourth batch today and it was a slight improvement thinner, crisper crust and more structure to the crumb. I feel sure it is a fermentation issue with me. Not enough gas being produced. So next time I’ll keep the dough somewhere warmer well making it, possibly had half an hour to the bulk ferment.

[goosehd]

@neph93 I tried the trick today of preheating the oven with the pizza stone in it so that it reached 100f and killed the temperature. Then I set the dough in the oven on a separate rack away from the stone to rest for the 80 minutes.

My house isn’t warm enough right now to let it ferment on the counters.

[neph93]

My room temp is 20C but the outside is 7-9C. I feel like it may not be enough and probably need the oven light trick. Will try this weekend.

[Giles]

My latest attempt. Still not a patch on @goosehd , but I will give it to friends (it tastes great), and tell them that is how it is supposed to look....

[neph93]

^ that is almost exactly how my last batch came out.

[goosehd]

What pan or dish are you doing your 80 minute rest in? High walled or low walled dish/pan?

[neph93]

Low, I guess. About 5cm.

[Giles]

Low-walled cast iron roasting pan about 7"x11".....

[goosehd]

2 1/4" high 9x14 or (5.7 mm high x 22x35). Was wondering if confining the dough would give more height.

My dish is larger than the recipe calls for and am why I am asking.