Wild Yeast

DoubleEgger

SciAggie said:

My bread improved with proofing baskets. I like the oval more than the round. I like the small ones personally and I think the cheap ones are just fine on Amazon. 

Thanks sir. 

SciAggie

@DoubleEgger Be sure to use a generous amount of rice flour in the baskets so the dough doesn’t stick. I started with linen lined baskets but now just use them nekkid with rice flour. 

DoubleEgger

SciAggie said:

@DoubleEgger Be sure to use a generous amount of rice flour in the baskets so the dough doesn’t stick. I started with linen lined baskets but now just use them nekkid with rice flour. 

Thanks for the tip. 

NPHuskerFL

Dang. Just got back on the grid from being at our friend's farm in GA. Sounds like sucked in a few more Sourdough bread heads. Good deal. 

SciAggie

I have my first 85% hydration loaves proofing in the fridge... We’ll see how it goes tomorrow...

SciAggie

Here’s a loaf made at 85% hydration. 

It looks about the same as what I make at 75% hydration. It’s interesting that they baked darker. Simce these loaves (I made two) baked the same as my other loaves then hydration is not what’s holding me back. I’m still looking for more bloom in the loaves. The shaping went well with these loaves. That leads me to think that I need to consider my proofing process. Incremental progress....

NPHuskerFL

@SciAggie Looks good Gary. Have you sliced it yet to see the crumb structure?  I've noticed with good stretch and folds and the preshaping and final shaping the added strength has helped my crumb. There's a guy on IG I follow that has a consistent open crumb. Some prefer open and some not so much. My experience has been a more open crumb with higher hydration but, the two don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Much lies in the total process...amount of levain, autolyse, bulk ferment, structure building stretch and folds, reshaping, final shaping, scoring, baking temperature etc. Literally everything we do makes a difference. The recipe plays a part but, a good recipe will only get you to the game. I love it!  

NPHuskerFL

Here's Trevor's IG 
https://www.instagram.com/trevorjaywilson/
He has a book that should be hitting shelves soon. "Open Crumb Mastery for the Intermediate Sourdough Baker"  
I'd still consider myself novice. 

I have a loaf I think will turn out quite nicely. If it does I'll share the "fly by the seat of my pants recipe".  I was on my way to Daytona to run a service call today... And as I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic from two jack-knifed semis on I-95 southbound I began to think of the next bread I wanted to try. And I began the process today. It is in the cooler for a long autolyse. Levain will get incorporated tomorrow and then into bulk fermentation and so on and....

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL I’ll slice it in the morning for toast We’ll see what the crumb looks like then. 
Thanks for the comments. I’m a big fan of Trevor Wilson. It may seem vain or silly, but I want to learn how to get that really open crumb - just to say I’ve gained the skill set. I actually think a really open crumb makes for bread that is difficult to enjoy. Everything leaks through it, lol. It is a quest to feel like I control the outcome. 
The bread I’m making is flavorful and I enjoy it. I just don’t feel like I’ve mastered the process yet. I think I’ll get Wilson’s book and see what he has to say. 

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL Stretch and folds have certainly helped my bread. I used to stretch and fold every thirty minutes for two hours and then let it rise undisturbed for the remainder of the bulk ferment. 
Now I stretch and fold every thirty minutes for the first two hours and then once every hour until the bread has risen sufficiently. This certainly has helped the strength for shaping. I was surprised to find that shaping my 85% hudration loaves were no more difficult to shape than the 75% loaves. 
I think I will try the long autolyse and long cold bulk rise next and see what result that brings. 

Clutch227

New egghead here.  I’m so glad this topic exists and is so active (just read through all 10 pages!)  Of all things to do with the egg, I think that I’m most intimidated and simultaneously most excited for making fresh bread.  I’ll be attempting to bring my first starter to life tomorrow.  I’ll keep reading and trying to learn - Hopefully many loaves to come!

caliking

SciAggie said:

@NPHuskerFL I’ll slice it in the morning for toast We’ll see what the crumb looks like then. 
Thanks for the comments. I’m a big fan of Trevor Wilson. It may seem vain or silly, but I want to learn how to get that really open crumb - just to say I’ve gained the skill set. I actually think a really open crumb makes for bread that is difficult to enjoy. Everything leaks through it, lol. It is a quest to feel like I control the outcome. 
The bread I’m making is flavorful and I enjoy it. I just don’t feel like I’ve mastered the process yet. I think I’ll get Wilson’s book and see what he has to say. 

You so nailed it right on the head.

 It bugs me a fair bit that no 2 loaves are quite the same. Damn snowflakes!  But it is what keeps the whole dynamic, organic process engaging. 

I’ve been underestimating the utility of preshaping, so I may work on that for the next few loaves. 

And welcome aboard @Clutch227 ! 

SciAggie

Here’s a crumb shot from the last loaf. 

To me this is a nice crumb and the taste was great. My only disappointment was that making a 10% increase in hydration didn’t result in any significant change to the bread. Bread is a journey for sure - but I get to eat along the way. 

NPHuskerFL

@SciAggie That's a solid looking crumb. And would appear you had good oven spring. What exactly are you aiming for.  If it's a more consistent and open crumb, higher hydration is your friend. 

A good read. 
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/high-hydration-sourdough-bread/

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL I downloaded Wilson’s book last night. I think it has the information I need to be absorbing. I am looking for more bloom in my loaves. I follow autumn.kitchen on IG. Her loaves always have beautiful bloom to them - I want to know HOW to do that. Here’s one of her loaves:

So, I don’t want to seem whiny about my bread. I just haven’t achieved my goal as yet. 

NPHuskerFL

@SciAggie I haven't downloaded Trevor's book yet but, I'm hardheaded and like learning. Plus I'm a novice not intermediate. Well at least that's where I'd put myself. And Autumn.Kitchen does have great "blooms".
Sourdough Maniac and countless others are good views also. 

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL I would certainly not put you as novice my friend. 

caliking

I prefer a somewhat more closed crumb too. Its more "functional " for sammiches, butter , etc. 

Other things I want to work on are a crispier crust, and adding seeds , etc. Tried soaking flax and chia  before adding, and it became a slimy mess. 

SciAggie

@caliking We’re just never satisfied are we, lol?

caliking

SciAggie said:

@caliking We’re just never satisfied are we, lol?

It’s the nature of humans

Clutch227

So it’s day 2 of my starter (one KA AP + water, one KA WW + pineapple juice) both looking good, thinking of names, Jacques Cousdough will be one.

In the meantime, I needed to do something with the Egg and bread so I decided to make pita bread to go with some gyro meat I also made.  I hope this is not too off topic for a wild yeast thread   :P

Not bad for a first try but I feel they they could be better, more fresh bread yeasty, a bit less chewy, these in the picture were done a little more than I would have liked but I did get two perfect golden puffs before this. 

NPHuskerFL

@Clutch227 That's a good way to utilize the "discarded".  I like using for waffles or pancakes. Not OT whatsoever. 
I have yet to name my starter. 

SciAggie

I’m pretty excited about this loaf. It has a much better bloom than I normally get. I refreshed my starter at a 1:2:2 ratio as opposed to my usual 1:1:1 ratio. I also made much stronger folds than I normally do trying to increase tension in the loaf. These were changes as a result of things I’ve read in Trevor J. Wilson’s book. 

NPHuskerFL

Something a bit different.  No books read. No research on the interwebs.  This is my own recipe. Fly by the seat of your pants citrus sourdough.
82% hydration 
48hr cold bulk fermentation
24hr cold banneton proof...+ additional 6hr at room temp and then back outside to recool the dough. Why?  It wasn't rising and I had almost given up on this loaf. Turned out to be one of the most explosive banneton rises I've had with very little levain. 
After multiple freezes our oranges are on point and oh so sweet. 

100% of the hydration was from our fresh squeezed oranges. Plus a little pulp & zest from three oranges. 



Always a clean release using 50/50 BF & BRF. 

Egg and DO preheated and ready to perform. 

Baked covered 25 minutes. I love the sweater our son's girlfriend gave me for Christmas. We don't get a whole lot of cold weather here. I'll take what I can get. 


Lid off and bake another 15-20 minutes. To be exact, I went 16 minutes uncovered.

Here are some better finished pics. No crumb shot yet as this quite literally just finished moments ago. 


Thanks for looking. 

EggDan

Just cooked another loaf! It turned out really well.

Friday Evening: Starter out of the Fridge and fed

Saturday Morning: Combined Starter with some of the Flour and all of the water... let it sit for 3 hours then into the Fridge

Saturday Evening: Add rest of the Flour and Salt. Stretch and Fold for 3 hours and then in to the basket overnight in the Fridge.  

Sunday Morning: Preheat oven to 500 with CI DO.  Reduce heat to 450 after the dough was placed in the DO.

Really good taste but I had some pretty big holes in the middle.  Thoughts on the cause?  I do not mind the big holes, but it does make it hard to have toast .  Thanks for all of the tips in this specific thread...my bread keeps improving because of the posts.  

     IMG_6268.jpeg

theyolksonyou

50/50 BF:WW

NPHuskerFL

@EggDan Looks great bud. Enjoy the eats.
As for an exact cause? Not 100%.  Your overall process is much different than mine. Every little tweak changes the end outcome. This isn't necessarily good nor bad. As you get deeper into the rabbit hole you will develop your own style and process. But, at the end of the day there is a "basic" process that works for many. Find your way and make it work for you. Do you man. 

NPHuskerFL

Getting better each run Jason @theyolksonyou

NPHuskerFL

From the above loaf...a partial crumb shot and a slice with nutella. The citrus notes and hazelnut cocoa is freaking amazing. There are ways to control (to a certain extent) your crumb. Meaning an open or closed crumb. I love both. This was my Wife's @HuskerMaMa 's favorite as well as our @huddlehousecook Son's. They prefer a closed crumb. 

caliking

@NPHuskerFL - showoff!

Seriously though, that's one of the best scored loaves I've seen. Beautiful.

And I would have thought the acidity of the OJ would have buggered the yeast, but it obviously didn't. Seems like they loved it!