Bready

Recipe is 75% bread flour, 25% whole khorasan, 80% hydration.

Followup to temperature profile with a probe in the loaf. The temperature inside the dutch oven was lower and steadier than I expected.

King Arthur cinnamon star bread, very tasty not overly sweet.

Temperatures recorded in the oven during a dutch oven sourdough bake. 20 minutes at 500F with the dutch oven lid on, 20m at 400F with it open.

Green = oven temperature throughout. Blue = baseline kitchen temperature (thermocouple cold junction temp).

• Before 1st blue line: preheating. Yellow line = inside a cold cast iron dutch oven. Oven was already warm from baking something else.
• 1st blue line to 2nd: baking with lid on. Yellow = probe in the loaf here onward. I was surprised the internal temperature has pretty much maxed out by the end of the first 20 minutes.
• 2nd blue line + 20 minutes: baking with the lid off.
• After 20:27 / green line dropoff: oven open, loaf cooling. I know you're supposed to cool to "room temperature", but even at 150F the crumb was pretty stable when I cut the loaf, with no obvious tearing or sticking to the knife.

Compare to the previous bake where I forgot to reduce the oven temperature after the first 20 minutes. The crust was black/inedible, but the interior was still totally fine.

Recipe is The Country Blonde from Flour Water Salt Yeast.

I wanted to demonstrate a harder bake and go full Maillard on this wheat. 77% hydration, 550 degrees in Emile Henry baker then immediately dropped to 450 for 45 minutes, lid off baker for another 17, with me intently focused for the last 5 minutes.

Didn't have time to do a full 24 hour cold ferment (damn winter temps slowing my starter) so I compensated by putting the 5 hour bulk ferment on turbo with a warm water bath before 8 hours in the fridge. Overall it’s 7 hours shorter cold ferment than I usually do for something I’d pass as sourdough but it was really going before I retarded it, and it has a hint of that acid scent which is a good sign. Love how flexible making bread is when you use a starter.

400g Manitoba 600g type 1 75% hydratation

I made 3 different breads for Thanksgiving this year; a Guinness oat and molasses loaf, a soda bread, and some biscuits. The first two were made with whole wheat flour from a local mill, and the last were made with a gluten free 1 to 1 flour replacement. All 3 were pretty successful, but the soda bread needed a deeper score across it, as the middle ended up a bit doughy.

My oven has a steam function, I can heat and steam the oven on high before putting the loaf in.

Do I still need a dutch oven?

This is one I make often since it usually gives me good results.

I've only recently got into baking these last few months after losing my job and having the time to really try and learn. Most have come out pretty good so far.

I'd like to try to make everyone on my list (not many, like 10 or so people) some tasty bread for Christmas as a gift, I plan to aslo make apple butter and maybe something else to go along.

I'm just looking for ideas and tips as a beginner cooking several loaves for the first time. I don't have a dutch oven, it's been on my list for several Christmas' but they're just so expensive. So I would be using a good old oven for baking them.

I saw that putting a pan of water in the oven helps make it crispy. Anything else I can do to help with the process?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Bonus crumb shot:

75% bread flour

15% whole khorasan

10% scalded whole khorasan

77.5% hydration

Baked with ice in a dutch oven.

Just some banana nut bread.

I've been experimenting on babys lately, so here is tonight's samhain version:

Preheat oven and pan to 220c

Ingredients:

4 eggs. 2 cups ap flour. 200ml milk. 200ml water. Salt. Pepper. Nutmeg.

Make baby batter:

Add all to blender, blend at low speed until smooth. Or just whisk it in a bowl. Let rest 30 mins

Cook the baby:

Add butter to hot pan, then all the baby batter. Immediately throw the baby in the oven.

After about 10 minutes turn the oven down to 420 so you don't burn the baby.

The baby should be GBD about 20 minutes after that, it's better to be a little over than under, no one wants a soggy bottomed baby!

Happy Halloween!

Crumb Shot

Ingredients: 70% Bread Flour. 20% Whole Wheat flour. 10% Buckwheat Flour.

20% chopped dates soaked in earl grey tea, drained well reserving liquid. 15% chopped pecans, lightly toasted. 2.5% NaCl. 0.7% instant yeast.

80% H2O, use the soaking liquid from the dates as half the water.

Method: Mix all the flours and water, cover let rest/autolyze for 30 minutes.

Fold/pincer in the yeast and salt. Cover and Rest 10-15 minutes.

Fold in the dates and nuts. Cover Rest another 10-15 minutes, until the dough relaxes a bit.

Fold one more time, then cold bulk for 8 hours.

Shape and room temperature proof 1 hour.

Preheat oven and Dutch oven 450f at least 30 minutes.

Cook in Dutch oven 30 minutes covered.

Uncover and turn oven down to 420f for 25-30 minutes.

Let cool if you can.

En Guete!

Such a great taste. Oven spring a touch light, needed another 3 minutes, but I forgot to time it, doh!

Great way to start the day

20 % whole wheat, chia and sunflower seeds

The last 20 minutes of baking is done with the lid off to encourage browning the crust.

Thanks to Martin Phillip's videos.

Update: Crumb shot. More open than I usually get. I might have let the poolish sit too long.

Hi! I’ve started to bake Spelt bread.

I’ve tried with dried Yeast, fresh Yeast and sourdough.

My wife doesn’t like the acidity of the ones I made with sourdough so I’ve baking mainly with dried yeast.

What’s the real difference besides the acidity? which one is better?

Here are some of the results :)