Oldskewl
Well-Known Member
I really want to try this recipe for maple bacon donut foccacia.
Looks very good! I have yet to add spent grains to my bread. Thought of saving some grains when I brewed a stout a few weeks ago but I read that too much of the roasted grains would come through. Then I forgot to save some grains when I brewed an NEIPA 2 weeks ago. Someday!
Thank you, though I’m sure I’m not the best baker here on HBT, it’s nice though, to share our successes and even the not-so great bakes to inspire others to take the plunge.You know, I don't eat very much bread so sort of ignored this until lately.....
I LOVE to ferment things, and have been following @Hoppy2bmerry 's adventures. I am now 'famous' in my village for my sourdough breads, crackers, pancakes, etc. Monday night I served sourdough discard crackers (with Bob's smoked mullet dip) and now I am sending people home with crackers and dip! Last night I served sourdough bread at "soup night" in our community and it disappeared so fast (I wasn't expecting 50 people to want some!).
You've created a monster!
The instructions say to leave it out and keep feeding it every day for at least three more days being using it.
It looks fine. It smells like mature sourdough. Do I need to keep waiting?
Are you using bread flour? (Even with AP flour that level of hydration should perform better) perhaps take a look at some videos of working the dough to develop the gluten and shaping videos. Bread dough should not have the consistency of batter. Do you weigh your ingredients?My sourdough bread is getting better but still doesn't look very pretty. I made a loaf last night; it's mostly bread flour with just a little rye mixed in, about 15%. I don't know how anybody makes a shaped loaf. Mine is more like a thick batter by the time it's ready to go in the oven, even at 65% hydration. I'm going to try a black metal loaf pan next. This is 10 minutes out of the oven:
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What @ba-brewer said.View attachment 866890
My spouse gifted me a commercial sourdough starter. Here it is last night after a few days of feeding it and building it up. The instructions say to leave it out and keep feeding it every day for at least three more days being using it.
It looks fine. It smells like mature sourdough. Do I need to keep waiting?
I am assuming the picture was right after a feeding, if it was many hours after a feeding then it is not ready to use. It should have more bubbles and sort of airy when ready to use.
The main thing is that your starter doubles or triples in around 8hr or so. The amount of starter you leave behind will effect the timing. You want to use the starter when it is at it's max expansion before it starts collapsing.
Yes, I weigh the ingredients, and I'm mostly using high-protein bread flour with just a little whole wheat or stone-ground rye. The dough doesn't start out liquid, but the bacteria seem to eat all the gluten during the bulk ferment. Lately I've been using (by weight) 5 ounces of active starter, 10 ounces of water, and 16 ounces of flour. (and about 8 grams of salt) The starter is 100% hydration, so that's 12.5 ounces of water and 18.5 of flour. But I screwed up and added 2.5 ounces too much water. (the dogs interrupted me while I was measuring everything out and I thought I added the rye flour without counting it, but I hadn't, so I added more water) I realized it was way too thin and added another 4 ounces of flour and a pinch of salt. Overall the hydration ended up about 62.2% on this one.Are you using bread flour? (Even with AP flour that level of hydration should perform better) perhaps take a look at some videos of working the dough to develop the gluten and shaping videos. Bread dough should not have the consistency of batter. Do you weigh your ingredients?
Is the line the starting point or where the actual surface is behind the stuff stuck to the jar?Does that make any difference?
What are your ratio or amounts of starter and water, flour that you are using for feeding?
Are you discard enough starter to match the 4.5oz of flour/water?Now that I have a decent volume I'm adding 2.5oz flour & 2oz water when I feed it.
I like consistence and making measurements helps me do that. My normal sour dough loaf is based on a ratio of 1:2:3 starter:water:flour, if I wanted to scale up from 1 loaf and I had to do that by volumes it would be more thinking for me.Good grief, I'm glad I don't have to measure inputs and outputs with my kids, I hope I don't need to be so exact with this sourdough.
Thank you, though I’m sure I’m not the best baker here on HBT, it’s nice though, to share our successes and even the not-so great bakes to inspire others to take the plunge.
I’m sure your sourdough creations are very tasty, as you are the queen of fermentation! When it’s warm I sometimes make sourdough English muffins using the stove top. I’ve been told they are better than Thomas’s. I’m sure being fresh is the main reason they are more enjoyable.
Wow, sounds like you’ll kneadto double or triple the recipe for soup night.
We read our dough, humidity and warm temps (which may lead to a change in timing or future hydration) are an added factor, and even when that happens we can shape it for a loaf pan or into a shallow pan and treat it like focaccia (for the purists it is not real focaccia) some lucky bakers put into CR and have a successful bake anyway . I’ll see if I can find some short videos to share where flaccid dough is slapped and coiled to where the gluten tightens up yet it is workable for final shaping.… How do you shape a wet dough for open bake or a baguette? I don’t think I’ll have be able to create enough surface tension for the dough to hold shape and rise up, instead of out? Or am I tilting at windmills here?