Wild Yeast

SciAggie

Whoop! I finally got a good ear on a loaf of bread. I’m very excited. It’s the little things, right?

caliking

Nice, Gary!

And I agree it is the little things. Baking bread is a very organic process with so many little variables. Makes it a fun challenge indeed. And so rewarding when the GREAT loaves happen

NPHuskerFL

Does anybody use the rectangular banneton? And if you have what hydration percentage have you had the best luck with? Most recently, over the weekend, I did a 93% hydration and as soon as I turned it out it quickly loses its shape. This was after a long cold ferment and I took it directly from the cooler to the peel to place onto the stone. Just curious if anyone else uses this style. I have no issues when doing a boule. 

SciAggie

I can't speak to the rectangular bannetons directly. For the sake of conversation I'll say that I've had dough lose shape quickly before. In those cases I either overproofed the dough or did not have good tension from shaping. 
I think a third possibility is the "strength" of the dough in general. If the dough ferments long enough it essentially can become just a large mass of starter. In this case the dough structure would change. Is that a possibility?

NPHuskerFL

@SciAggie Maybe. 

reinhart36

Great thread.  @NPHuskerFL - you have some fantastic looking bread cooks.

I've been working on bread lately, experimenting with milling whole wheat flours in my kitchen.  I've become a total bread novice again, just trying to get a decent crumb in a basic loaf of country wheat bread..

Making progress, but this thread definitely elevates my motivation level!  Thanks!

NPHuskerFL

@reinhart36 Thank you.  If you're milling your own whole wheat flour in your kitchen you're no longer a novice.

SciAggie

Loaves from this morning. I can see a direct correlation between my bench/ shaping skills and the quality of my loaves in terms of bloom and oven spring. I'd still like a bit more bloom though - I'm sure proof time and temp are a factor. Incremental steps forward... I may attempt a slightly higher hydration since my skills are improving. This is 75% hydration. 

I did  not spritz either of these loaves with water. I need to try that next time. 

theyolksonyou

First ever attempt at bread. Free form sour dough. WW starter. A little dense, but it holds butter well and tastes good. 

SciAggie

That looks good to me my friend. I'm sure it tasted wonderful. The thing is, you can invest a lot of time (like I do) trying to make incremental improvements, but the bread really doesn't taste that much better. Welcome to the club of bread makers - sourdough is a lot of fun. 

NPHuskerFL

Good first sourdough shot Jason @theyolksonyou

Ozzie_Isaac

@theyolksonyou nicely done!

20stone

Incremental Improvements
Baking bread in a live fire at brisket camp



Everything I read said to put the DO on a bed of coals, and put some on top. 

Loaf 1



Loaf 2


Same method, shorter time.  Still way, way to much heat. Maybe the coals on the top and bottom thing is BS

Loaf 3



Baked on the "front porch" on sand, with no embers on top....until I decided to give it one last blast buck under, which promptly burned the bottom (sorry, @caliking)

Loaf 4 - Forkish Pain au Bacon



Not as brown as it might have been, but, given out prior results, we were quitting while we were ahead. I tasted awesome, BTW, and recommended the recipe 

SciAggie

@20stone  Very nice. Looks like y’all had a fun time. 

DoubleEgger

@20stone that's way too many coals on the lid  of that Dutch oven. You only need maybe 1/4 - 1/3 that amount. 

Also, can't tell if that DO has legs. 

NPHuskerFL

@20stone Awesome man! Assuming the DO went into the bed of coals prior to preheating. I would imagine good spring and crumb. It would be difficult to judge when to remove the loaf. Maybe go 15 covered and 20 uncovered. Learning curve for sure. Nice work man. 

20stone

DoubleEgger said:

@20stone that's way too many coals on the lid  of that Dutch oven. You only need maybe 1/4 - 1/3 that amount. 

Also, can't tell if that DO has legs. 

a) No s$&@. We figured that out. 

b) The DO does have legs, but with the depth of the embers, I expect there was direct contact on the bottom. 

I suspect the "cover it in coals" crowd doesn't built blast furnace fires like we did at BC4. 

For this fire, at least, we had plenty of heat in front of the fire, with a mound of embers on the other side. 

20stone

NPHuskerFL said:

Assuming the DO went into the bed of coals prior to preheating.

I would imagine good spring and crumb. It would be difficult to judge when to remove the loaf. Maybe go 15 covered and 20 uncovered. Learning curve for sure. Nice work man. 

We did preheat in the fire, which worked great, spring wise. 

Given the dropping embers, we opted to keep the lid on throughout, and pull it every 10 min or so to check and rotate. It ended up taking about 30 min on the front porch

caliking

Those loaves look terrific @SciAggie!

@theyolksonyou I don't get the obsession with an open crumb, because bread has one purpose... To hold the butter. You're ahead of the curve.

caliking

Luckily, we had 4 loaves to bake, and quickly learned what not to do when baking with an open pit. 

That bacon loaf turned out very tasty. I would have been bummed if we had screwed it up. 

NPHuskerFL

@caliking right on man!  Failures only make us better. And the birds and wildlife don't complain.

20stone

caliking said:

Luckily, we had 4 loaves to bake, and quickly learned what not to do when baking with an open pit. 

That bacon loaf turned out very tasty. I would have been bummed if we had screwed it up. 

I love the goat leg photobomb in this pic. 

SciAggie

That bacon loaf looks really good. @caliking My quest for really open crumb is just to build the skill set to be able to produce that type of bread - then be able to choose not to make it. That may seem strange, but - oh well.

Ozzie_Isaac

Made four loaves of french bread yesterday.  They looked like 90 year old deflated appendages and could have been used to club someone to death.  I didn't bother insulting the birds with the travesty and tossed them direct in the trash.

theyolksonyou

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Made four loaves of french bread yesterday.  They looked like 90 year old deflated appendages and could have been used to club someone to death.  I didn't bother insulting the birds with the travesty and tossed them direct in the trash.

Sorry, but this made me chuckle. 

Ozzie_Isaac

theyolksonyou said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Made four loaves of french bread yesterday.  They looked like 90 year old deflated appendages and could have been used to club someone to death.  I didn't bother insulting the birds with the travesty and tossed them direct in the trash.

Sorry, but this made me chuckle. 

I guess I will own my shame.  Yes, the nail was hammered in with the bread.  Notice my "handle" cracked.

caliking

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Made four loaves of french bread yesterday.  They looked like 90 year old deflated appendages and could have been used to club someone to death.  I didn't bother insulting the birds with the travesty and tossed them direct in the trash.

Oz, been there and done that. Soldier on. It really is a fun journey.

And you will be making great bread waaaaay before I have a rice cooker...

caliking

SciAggie said:

That bacon loaf looks really good. @caliking My quest for really open crumb is just to build the skill set to be able to produce that type of bread - then be able to choose not to make it. That may seem strange, but - oh well.

Likewise. I meant to make a somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment but it may not have come across as I'll intended.

I prefer to bake loaves with less of an open crumb, but every now and then I bake one with a more open crumb. Just to see if I can, so I absolutely get what you're saying. 

Why does a dog lick it's b@lls? Because it can!

SciAggie

@caliking It's all good - I took it as you intended. 

20stone

Nice pic.  Now you can have a laugh when you pull out a beauty next time.