Food Lockdown Loaves

The weekend's effort - rye/wheat starter, the remainder Canadian Strong white and Canadian Strong wholemeal from Shipton Mill. Not the cleanest slicing...
 

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And this is today's, from the "low gluten" starter: Dark rye and wholegrain spelt starter (180g, 100% hydration), then 600g of flour (blend of light rye, white spelt, wholemeal einkorn). Total hydration approx 73%. Started last night with the 6-year old having a go at the stretches and folds, overnight in the garage fridge, shape and a 2-hour second prove. Baked in the creuset-equivalent (Sainsburys) - 30 mins lid on at 200ish, then 30 with lid off. More rise than I typically get with this blend (it doesn't usually crack the top)... pleasingly rustic (second prove in a colander)...
 

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Here's a weird one!

I am trying to work out what went wrong. Perhaps too long on preferment coupled with slight overzealousness pinching the dough to 'anchor' the tension in it when shaping?

20210203_091334.jpg
 
And this is today's, from the "low gluten" starter: Dark rye and wholegrain spelt starter (180g, 100% hydration), then 600g of flour (blend of light rye, white spelt, wholemeal einkorn). Total hydration approx 73%. Started last night with the 6-year old having a go at the stretches and folds, overnight in the garage fridge, shape and a 2-hour second prove. Baked in the creuset-equivalent (Sainsburys) - 30 mins lid on at 200ish, then 30 with lid off. More rise than I typically get with this blend (it doesn't usually crack the top)... pleasingly rustic (second prove in a colander)...
Have you tried slashing the loaf just prior to putting it in the oven? If you want a little extra rise this might help. If your oven is slightly dry the crust will set before the loaf has fully expanded. If you slash the forces of expansion have somewhere to go and the loaf will rise a little more before the crust sets. The ruptures in your pictures suggest that there is scope for further expansion if you wanted it.

I’d also suggest putting the six year old to work more often if the scope for rise is not there when you do it. Maybe they have “The Force”...
 
Ironically enough, that IS with slash, but obviously not clean enough... the dough caught significantly as I cut, with a lame... the bread is good, strong rye flavour, closely packed but actually light. Half the loaf gone already...

Ps the 6 year old is 7 today, so a proportionate increase in folding strength..20210203_085613.jpg
 
I’ve been following Thom’s formula roughly although I make smaller quantities with just 400g of flour, in this case it was 65% T65 four and the balance canadian crack with a white levain
Food - Lockdown Loaves
i give the flour, levain and water 1 hour to autolyse before I add the salt
this batch had around 56hrs bulk ferment in the cellar at around 14 degrees
steam created by pouring water into a tin on the base of the oven, plus a fine spray of water on top and vented after about 25mins, it probably needed a further 10mins to crisp up, but got 20 as I was distracted for a while
 
Back to the dark side today, 60% white, 30% whole meal and 10% Einkorn with a rye/white starter and 80% hydration. Pretty good for a lunchtime cheese sandwich but prefer the white. I’ll see how it toasts tomorrow.View attachment 17260
Thread resurrection in memory of Jim Agar.

On re reading I was reminded that Jim could hardly ever wait for his loaves to cool. The ear was his to break off as bakers reward whilst that cooling thing went on, and that the purpose of the loaf was to enjoy a cheese, sausage or cold Sirloin sarnie!
RIP Jim.
 
I've been using varying proportions of semolina flour lately. Adding about 15% semolina to a predominantly white wheat mix results in a lovely crust. I did make a 100% semolina loaf too, which had an appealing colour and flavour and rose surprisingly well; it had a lovely crust for about 36 hours after baking, after which it became quite hard on the gnashers. For some reason, bread with a high proportion of semolina does not seem to brown well in a toaster or pan - some 100% semolina croutons (after giving up risking dental work) would not brown at all in the frying pan.

Until recently I was mostly using a completely non-kneading-based approach with a long rise. It works well, but I have now started kneading a little a the outset (well, stretching by long-extended stirring, really) and then leaving it to rise all day. The results are much better.
 
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Same here Simon only bought commercial bread once in a year(pissed after the pub desperate for sausage sandwiches).

this years challenge for me is perfect pasta. Striving to recreate the Gordon Ramsay Raviolo !
actually making butternut squash ravioli today. Probably not enough people to start a pasta thread !?
 
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