Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

[Tripps]

Not lost the touch

Indeed .

Good to see, and be reminded what's really important in life. Thanks for the photo.

[Stanley]

Good pic. Reminds me of how much I miss bread.... In the days when I was making my own bread I quite often had a small fresh baked loaf with butter and jam for tea. Nothing else, just a loaf.
Those days have gone unfortunately......
Nice to see you baking again Ian.

[PanBiker]

Knocking up a Sunflower seeded Bloomer. Guestimated the amounts somewhat but the dough feels right and is on it's first rise.

[Stanley]

I can almost smell it baking.......

[PanBiker]

I formed it as a bog standard bloomer with a couple of slashes in the top to open up the crust. I flipped it over in the oven for the last 5 minutes to crisp up the bottom, turned out OK. Will test it properly with soup for lunch.

[Gloria]

Oh Stanley, freshly baked loaf with jam and butter

[Stanley]

That's what comes to my mind Gloria every time Ian teases us. I have seen me bake a small loaf and then sit down with half a pound of best butter and some home-made strawberry jam and eat the lot....
Those day have gone!

[PanBiker]

Not baked any bread for ages and last night we used the last of what we had frozen. Mixed up the dough for these last night before I went to bed, left it to rise overnight and then divided it into four without knocking back to make mini baguettes. Two in each drawer of the Air Fryer for 15-18 mins at 200C. Flipped them over to crisp up the bottoms in the last few minutes. 250g of strong flour makes 4 x mini baguettes. Baked after the first rise which gives them the elasticity. Quick and easy, they look, smell and feel right so they probably are. One of these bad boys will be for lunch with bacon and tomato.



Sorry Stanley...

[Stanley]

You are forgiven Ian!
They do look good.

[PanBiker]

My baking friend gifted me a sour-dough starter and the benefit of her notes from the course she went on to gain a bit more knowledge, thanks Carolyn. I have tried a new regime as suggested by refrigerating the starter to send it to sleep between bakes. Done this twice now so it seems to be working. I picked up another tip online today after watching a short video which gave 7 myth buster explanations for maintaining sour-dough. One of which was to refrigerate a portion of discard which you would normally get rid of. Then continue using your active starter. If that one dies for any reason you can revive the previously saved discard to get going again. It may take a while to wake it up but with careful and regular feeding it can be done. I will put the next discard into hibernation the next time I get the starter out for a bake.

Might have to wait until the New Year before I make some sour-dough scones. We have enough baked stuff knocking around at this time of year so we definitely wont starve.

[Stanley]

Sourdough baking begins to sound like an alternative religion Ian...... But if I was still baking I would have a go!

[PanBiker]

It makes belting Pizza dough as well. You can also shove it into many different recipes that are not baked to add more flavour and depth.

[PanBiker]

My starter need waking up and either feeding and baking something or sending back to sleep. With Ruby being with us I might make Pizza Dough for Sunday. Its a 24 to 28 hour fermentation to do right. Can get all the other bits tomorrow.

[Stanley]

Sounds like a project!

[PanBiker]

With family plans changing this weekend I don't have time to do the pizza dough for tomorrow, (not enough prep time). Will probably do it on Tuesday now but just for Sally and myself.

[PanBiker]

I think I can say now that I have cracked the starter and the care and feeding of the same. Fridge was the game changer.

I took it out of the fridge yesterday to bring it back up from it's weekly hibernation. Gave a good stir and left it overnight, separated the discard and fed it this morning, by lunchtime it was going like a train. I needed 250g of starter so I fed it with 150g flour and 150ml of water. I have just mixed the loaf and it's on its first rise. Starter is still active so I don't think I will need to feed it again before I put it to bed.

I had also been having problems with my Banneton basket. I always had dificulty getting the proofed dough back out without it collapsing. My last loaf came out OK in this regard as I made the dough slightly stiffer and used copious quantities of flour and semolina on the basket and on the knocked back dough before I put it in the basket, turned out that time without problem. I am aiming to repeat that with this bake. I will know tomorrow morning as it will be a slow overnight second rise. Here is my last effort:

[Big Kev]

That looks good Ian. All ready for a scraping of roasted garlic and a board of cooked meats, cheese and olives

[Stanley]

Stop it Kev! That's cruel. I do miss my bread........

[PanBiker]

My weekly sourdough bake of one thing or another and I think I have finally found the recipe and method that works for me.



I have the care and the feeding of the starter off pat now using the fridge between feeding's and bakes. Getting the dough to rise correctly after final turning out has been the challenge. I have watched countless YouTube and TicToc videos with different methods and tips, this one came from TicToc and it diverges from the standard routine of bread making.

You start with your portion of starter and then add half of the water content to it and stir till fully dissolved. You then add all 500g of the flour, then the salt (10g) and then the rest of the water. Mix with a spoon until all combined. Cover for half an hour then do one set of stretch and folds to the dough, rotating the bowl 90 degrees as you go. Cover again and wait 30 minutes and repeat until you have done four folding sessions. Cover again an leave to rise for 8 hours (overnight in my case). Take the risen dough and put it straight in the well floured Banneton. Cover for an hour and then tip out score and bake, preferably in two stages in a Dutch Oven for the first 20 minutes in a really hot oven 475 then uncovered for a further 25 minutes at 415. We have a Dutch Oven but its a low one for meat roasting etc. So I tipped it onto a well floured flat tray and then put the stainless steel miXing bowl over it for the first session. It worked a treat and after the first session it had risen nearly to the full height of the upturned bowl. I took the lid off for the second session.

You normally rise the dough after kneading until doubled in size then knock back and set up in the Banneton or loaf tine for the main rise then bake. Doing the main rise in the bowl for however long you want then baking after a quick settle is a game changer.

[Stanley]

Looks like nice bread!

[PanBiker]

My best sourdough yet Stanley.

[PanBiker]

I am waking my starter "10" for my weekend bake. I have decided to use the normal discard to make some sourdough Naans rather than just get rid of it. I have saved 80g of discard and then fed "10" with 100g of flour and 100g of water for the main bake. Waiting for it to start roaring.



You can see the pre fed discard on the left for the Naan's and that the magic has started in 10 after feeding on the right. That should be ready for my bread mix in the early evening.

[PanBiker]

My sourdough starter is getting stronger every week. I woke it up yesterday from its weekly sleep in the fridge, fed it this morning and by lunchtime it was bubbling up to the top of the jar. I have mixed a loaf up as I am expecting delivery of a new oval bread proofing basket, it should come today. I have saved this weeks discard and will make some more flat breads. we have cleared what we had in the freezer. I will have a fresh one with my tea tonight and the rest will go in the freezer for handy stock. They are excellent accompaniment to stews and soup and can be defrosted, (about 90 seconds in the microwave) while your meal is heating. You then have a nice warm flat bread to go with whatever is your choice. I need to get some yoghurt for the flat bread recipe before tea time. I might put some garlic in this batch.

[PanBiker]

I didn't bother wit the garlic in the Naan's but the mix makes six. I had one as a tester for my tea and it's fine. I have done my strengthening folds on the sourdough mix for the loaf this afternoon. After a liberal dusting with semolina and flour, I have set it up in my new oval Banneton. It needs to rest for about 3 hours now and then it will be ready for tipping out and the oven. I have found that this new oval will fit nicely in our oval Dutch Oven dish with lid so it should be ideal for the loaves which need half an hour covered and then another ten to fifteen minutes uncovererd.



It's now nicely sitting in a plastic bag until around 9pm.

[PanBiker]

I baked it from 9.15 to 10pm, 30 minutes covered, 15 uncovered.