Homemade Bread Thread

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I had that happen to my first few sourdough loaves. Did you use a sourdough culture or bakers yeast?

It looks like there might have been two issues:

1. You didn't give it enough structure or develop the gluten well enough. This can be accomplished by giving the dough proper stretch + folds within the first 90 minutes of bulk fermentation.

2. You might have over fermented or over proofed it. There are many different variables that go into this, but the biggest ones are ambient temperature and how much yeast you used. The warmer the temp or the more yeast you use, the faster the dough will ferment and proof.

Thanks, I did the poke test and i got the correct rebound to know it was proofed. I used starter that was fed a few times to wake up. I believe it deflated as it was about 3/4 inch below tha basket rim and the bread is pretty dense along the bottom crust. Today’s loaf is really nice. I used AP flour, since that is all I could find right now, so less gluten developed undoubtedly.

I appreciate your taking the time to help out.

 

[deadwolfbones]

It also looks under-baked, to me. I mean, that's personal preference to a certain degree, but that loaf is VERY pale.

 

[deadwolfbones]

On the other end of the color spectrum: Baked a loaf with 100g mixed red & white miso, 100g cheddar, and 25g toasted sesame seeds today. It was a bit of a failure, though. The flavor combo is great and the crumb is perfect, but the cheese that peeked out the top bled oil all over the crust and it got pretty acrid. Gonna try it again later with less or no cheddar but keep the same amount of miso.

 

[Beernik]

I think I’ve figured out the right recipe modification when using a ≈ 2 cup levain in my bagel recipe. It’s 2 cups fewer flour and 1.25 fewer cups water. It’s the first time the dough came out of the mixer perfect.

However, I’m in a hurry and have to get these done tonight, so I supplemented it with 1 tsp of yeast (unmodified recipe uses 2 tsp) so I don’t risk ending up with rocks.

 

[Beernik]

This weekend’s bagels:

 

[beermanpete]

My first try at pretzles

 

[Seamonkey84]

My very first time making bread from scratch. As simple as it gets with a no knead bread, didn’t even have to touch the dough. Seeing as stores are out of bread yeast, I found two half packets of wine yeast in my fridge. I know both were opened roughly a year ago, so I combined and bloomed it for a couple hours first. Allowed to rise for 6 hours before punching and transferring to loaf pan. I just pulled it out of the over a few mins ago, can’t wait to try it in the morning.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Well, this is becoming a habit lol. I’ve made a loaf a day now. Loafs two and three,
I added som oil to this one to keep the crust softer

then this one I added a cup of mixed berries

 

[Seamonkey84]

Oh, for anyone else that can’t find yeast, I’m still using the same Yeast I started with several days ago! I pitched some of the hydrated yeast into a flour slurry (1:1 flour and water) and using it as a yeast starter. I’m not letting it sit out to become sourdough though. I just use 1/2 cup of it per loaf and add more slurry back in. Let it sit in a warm spot for over night to grow yeast, then stick it in the fridge. Small adjustment to the amount of water/flour needed for a recipe but it’s been working for the two batches so far.

 

[Beernik]

This weekend my stiff levain will be 7 weeks old and I think it is finally working more-or-less correctly. I took it out of the fridge this morning to get it warm for feeding tonight and starting new bagels tomorrow.

It ballooned up to 1.5 its size during the day.

 

[Seamonkey84]

It might be because it’s almost 1am (and I’m about to put a loaf in the oven), but I just realized I have a Lalvin levain and had a chuckle. It’s a mix of D47 and 71B. Who knows what’s actually growing now, but it’s working well and doesn’t have any sour notes.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Another sourdough loaf: This one is 25% whole wheat, 25% rye, 25% KA bread flour, and 25% Central Milling AP. 83% hydration, which made shaping really hard! Figured out a new technique, though, which is neat, and the bread is tasty as hell. The crumb shot is from a second loaf made with the same dough in a larger dutch oven, which came out a lot flatter (still tasted great and had awesome texture, though).

 

[beermanpete]

Happy yeast, sandwich loaf and a boule. Same dough.

 

[Beernik]

These are some of my best bagels ever - light, fluffy, & flavorful. The levain is working properly & I’ve figured out the recipe changes.

The pictures are: pre-boil, post-boil, post-bake, sliced, & crust layer closeup.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Just discovered this thread. Who knew? TLDR but is there a consensus on the best couple of beer yeasts to use for bread?

 

[michaeltrego]

Pumpernickel Bagels

 

[Robert65]

View attachment 678917

Ah, hell yeah!

 

[TandemTails]

I made this loaf using a "lazy" sourdough method. Thanks to @foodlifterek's post on Instagram for the inspiration to try the method. The lazy method skips making a levain, letting you use your unfed starter straight from the fridge. There's also no autolyse and proofing takes place in the fridge.

The rough method is to mix all your ingredients (flour, water, unfed starter, salt), give it 4 stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals, and let it bulk ferment at room temp for 8 hours. Next, shape and proof in your fridge for about 17 hours. Finally, bake in a preheated 450'F oven for 20 minutes covered and then 30-35 minutes uncovered.

I got my spent grain from the last time I brewed an Imperial Stout. I dried the grains in an oven at a low temp for about 4 hours then used a coffee grinder to grind them into a flour. I kept some unground to use for added texture in my breads.

Dough

* 475g bread flour
* 25g spent grain flour
* 375g water @ 90'F
* 100g unfed starter
* 11g sea salt
* 5g whole/dried spent grain

Even with such a small amount of spent grain flour, it really shines through in color, flavor and aroma. While the dough was fermenting, it smelled just like mashing grains when brewing. The finished loaf has the aroma and flavor of whole wheat, but super intensified.

My full recipe with photos and complete timetable are here: Lazy Sourdough w/ Spent Grain

Some bonus pics:

 

[rhys333]

Just discovered this thread. Who knew? TLDR but is there a consensus on the best couple of beer yeasts to use for bread?

I can't tell you which is best, but I used the Wyeast 1007 German Ale slurry I had in the fridge.

Worked well enough, though it can be slower to rise than bread yeast (so I'm told). I also propogate the yeast using the method shown in the Glen and Friends YouTube videos that are linked further up this page. Great channel, btw. It's true that the yeast performs better on subsequent batches. Myst like with beer, I guess.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Short hero rolls.

 

[Hanglow]

spelt and wheat sourdough+IDY with a wholemeal tangzhong. Cooling at the moment, no idea what it tastes like etc

 

[Yooper]

My 9-year-old grandson has been helping make rolls and biscuits in the past, but today he made the Italian bread for dinner:

 

[Robert65]

spelt and wheat sourdough+IDY with a wholemeal tangzhong. Cooling at the moment, no idea what it tastes like etcView attachment 679397

Tangzhong, what the... is tangzhong? I said to myself. Now I know. I had actually encountered essentially this same technique in connection with whole grain sourdough rye breads, but had almost about forgotten it. Now I think I'll have to explore it some more. Thanks!

 

[stickyfinger]

wow! some of these breads look amazing. i've gotten back into baking bread too during the coronapocalypse. i was making 100% WW sourdough using Peter Reinhart's whole grain breads book but i didn't have any commercial yeast for the final dough mixing (as his method calls for.) The bread was very good but was pretty dense. I finally got some dry yeast and the bread is now amazing! I love the taste of WW bread.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I made this loaf using a "lazy" sourdough method. Thanks to @foodlifterek's post on Instagram for the inspiration to try the method. The lazy method skips making a levain, letting you use your unfed starter straight from the fridge. There's also no autolyse and proofing takes place in the fridge.

The rough method is to mix all your ingredients (flour, water, unfed starter, salt), give it 4 stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals, and let it bulk ferment at room temp for 8 hours. Next, shape and proof in your fridge for about 17 hours. Finally, bake in a preheated 450'F oven for 20 minutes covered and then 30-35 minutes uncovered.

I got my spent grain from the last time I brewed an Imperial Stout. I dried the grains in an oven at a low temp for about 4 hours then used a coffee grinder to grind them into a flour. I kept some unground to use for added texture in my breads.

Dough

* 475g bread flour
* 25g spent grain flour
* 375g water @ 90'F
* 100g unfed starter
* 11g sea salt
* 5g whole/dried spent grain

Even with such a small amount of spent grain flour, it really shines through in color, flavor and aroma. While the dough was fermenting, it smelled just like mashing grains when brewing. The finished loaf has the aroma and flavor of whole wheat, but super intensified.

My full recipe with photos and complete timetable are here: Lazy Sourdough w/ Spent Grain

Those all look magnificent.

Here's a link to Jim Lahey and a 3 minute video that shows the above:

I just got my Friends of Carl in a few days ago, and it's already bubbling away and smells nice and sour. I used this before but it's been probably a decade since my copy of his starter died off.

I'm thinking of keeping Carl going, and trying some forked versions that include beer yeast. Furthermore, I will need to use Carl's yeast in an ale at some point.

 

[Hanglow]

Tangzhong, what the... is tangzhong? I said to myself. Now I know. I had actually encountered essentially this same technique in connection with whole grain sourdough rye breads, but had almost about forgotten it. Now I think I'll have to explore it some more. Thanks!

It's been used in lots of european breads too, like german spelt breads as spelt bread tends to dry out quickly. (Mehlkochstück ) Or I suppose it's just a water roux. I've only used it a few times but it seems to have worked well so far.

 

[stickyfinger]

Let's say I don't want to keep commercial bread yeast going by making a continuous starter (biga?) like in the example video on this page. Can I grow up bread yeast in wort like for beer and use that to have a liquid bread yeast culture available for bread? Maybe I could grow up a bunch of bread yeast and then store it as a slurry and scoop some out for each batch and then grow up more in a flask again?

EDIT: Or maybe that's stupid and I should just grow up the commercial yeast in dough and add a portion of the dough to the loaf to help with rising? The issue is that I need commercial yeast to give me more loft in my bread when following the recipes I have, but I don't have commercial yeast available. If made my usual recipe with a soaker and wild yeast starter and then added in a chunk of commercial yeast starter to the final dough it might rise the same as using instant yeast in the final dough?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Bread again. 5% spent grain and 10% rye.

 

[Seamonkey84]

@stickyfinger I use a 1:1 flour water mix to grow my yeast in, let it sit out for a day, then stick it in the fridge so it doesn’t get sour. I use what I need, usualy about half a cup per loaf, then add more slurry when needed. Use a bit less water or a bit more flour than your recipe calls for. I’ve been making no knead breads, so less yeast is needed to begin with. Also, I’m doing this with wine yeast since I couldn’t get bread yeast at the time.

 

[stickyfinger]

dude, that is awesome, ingenuity. maybe i'll try using up the last of my instant yeast to make a cultured yeast mother culture as you seem to have done and try adding some of that to every one of my batches. if i just keep my formula constant but then add in 1/2 cup of instant yeast culture it won't throw my bread off much. wetter is better for the hearth breads it seems anyway. thanks man! happy baking...and brewing!

@stickyfinger I use a 1:1 flour water mix to grow my yeast in, let it sit out for a day, then stick it in the fridge so it doesn’t get sour. I use what I need, usualy about half a cup per loaf, then add more slurry when needed. Use a bit less water or a bit more flour than your recipe calls for. I’ve been making no knead breads, so less yeast is needed to begin with. Also, I’m doing this with wine yeast since I couldn’t get bread yeast at the time.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Matcha Hokkaido milk bread w/ black sesame mascarpone swirl

 

[TandemTails]

I want to perfect a sourdough pretzel bun recipe and just tried iteration #1 the other day. The buns turned out alright but they were slightly flat. I think the main issue was how I shaped the buns. Next time I'll do a better job pinching the folds so the bun doesn't "open like a book" during the water bath.

Here's a link to the full recipe and method I used: Sourdough Pretzel Buns – Trial #1

Buns after shaping:

Buns after water bath, scoring and salting:

Finished buns:

Bun w/ maibock soaked brat, mustard and caramelized onions and bell peppers (plus home brewed maibock in background)

 

[deadwolfbones]

More of that matcha milk bread. It tastes really good, but I think next time I'd up the hydration a little or bake it a little less, and add a bit more sugar in the dough. For reference, I based it off of this recipe: Matcha + Azuki Hokkaido Milk Bread — Fix Feast Flair

 

[rhys333]

Third batch of bread on the way using Wyeast 1007 ale yeast. I added the yeast to the first one only and for the second and third I just carried over a small piece of dough from the previous batch and made a starter. It's been working really well. The yeast is performing better with every batch and the bread is very flavorful.

Btw, this is the 24 hour no-knead method.

 

[kmarkstevens]

When y'all say spent grain. Does this mean simply taking 25 grams of the mash grains after the boil is done and add that to your bread mix?

Is the rule of thumb only base malts? I can't imagine black patent malt would be good in small amounts in bread, but it might be?

(My spent grain gets fed to the chickens, who in turn make it into fertilizer for my hops, and thus the homebrewing cycle of life).

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

When y'all say spent grain. Does this mean simply taking 25 grams of the mash grains after the boil is done and add that to your bread mix?

Is the rule of thumb only base malts? I can't imagine black patent malt would be good in small amounts in bread, but it might be?

(My spent grain gets fed to the chickens, who in turn make it into fertilizer for my hops, and thus the homebrewing cycle of life).

I use the grains wet, some bakers dry them and put them through a mill (you can store a lot of it without crowding the freezer that way) and yes light colored grains taste better than dark in bread, but that is also a matter of taste. Dogs don’t seem to mind stout grist in treats.

 

[Beernik]

With this week’s, I went for a fruit medley of dates, cranberries, and black currants. Remind me to never use dates in bagels again. The dough gets sticky & slimy overnight.

 

[deadwolfbones]

When I make spent grain bread, I dry the grain on a cookie sheet on my oven's lowest temp (usually takes about 4-6 hours to fully dry, turning them occasionally), then run them through a bullet blender until they're basically dust. I dry out a pretty big batch, so I can keep extra on hand for future bakes.

 

[bleme]

When y'all say spent grain. Does this mean simply taking 25 grams of the mash grains after the boil is done and add that to your bread mix?

Is the rule of thumb only base malts? I can't imagine black patent malt would be good in small amounts in bread, but it might be?

(My spent grain gets fed to the chickens, who in turn make it into fertilizer for my hops, and thus the homebrewing cycle of life).

I have 8 x 1/3 cup tupperware dishes that I fill up on brewday and keep in the freezer. When I bake, I just add one to a 2-lb loaf. The other ~13lbs gets tossed to the chickens. I don't think I've ever saved stout grains from a partial mash, but love the flavor of an all-grain stout grainbill. My favorite is probably from crystal-based partial mashes though.

 

[Beernik]

When I’ve used spent grains in bread, I’ve taken the spent grains from the freezer, thawed it enough to break off a cup-sized chunk, and thawed the chunk enough to mix directly into the dough like I would if I was adding cranberries or sunflower seeds to two loafs of bread dough.

I’m not wild about spent grain in bread, though. To me, barley in bread tastes like cardboard.