/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>5275466
Yeah, if you weren't involved with pounding every chemical you could find into your face, we probably didn't run in the same circles. In retrospect, it was a waste of an amazing education at Reed, but that's part of the reason I dropped out and shifted gears. No doubt we know some of the same people, though.

After leaving Reed, I went to culinary school and moved back to PDX to cook in the pearl (spent time in kitchens at Clyde Common and Pok Pok, and did a couple stages at places like Le Pigeon and Park Kitchen). Wound up getting back into academia for a degree in food chemistry, which lead me into doing R&D work for medium and large format bakeries. I've since done a total left turn into medicine, but bread is still my heart.

I drop by /ck/ from time to time to see if there are any bread threads around, to help where I can.

>>5079624
>>5079708
I have revived near-dead starters many times. Unless they're growing something terrifying, they're probably capable of being resuscitated with a handful of good feedings.

>>5081257
Good luck finding a bakery job that's not stressful. I'm sure you know the drill by now.

>>5081267
Just go work. Bakeries are like kitchens: cold call some chefs and offer to work as the low man, then climb the ladder.

>>5055982
What do you mean blown apart?

>>5056107
This and a Super Peel are non-negotiable baking items for me.

>>5020048
No, this. I've only ever had it in Recco, though. Your image also looks very delicious.

>>5020007
Persistence and patience is the most important component of working with a very wet dough. It can be infuriating, to be sure. Wet hands, a bench knife, and the slap and fold technique is key. You also just have to be willing to get covered in flour. Them's the breaks.

>>4917265
Sourdough starter generally takes between 2 and 4 weeks to fully mature. Using it before that time period will result in breads that are weak in flavor and leavening power. In general, once your starter is reliably doubling within 3 to 4 hours of feeding, it's close enough to mature that you can use it. You'll likely soon need to do twice daily feeds for the starter, assuming you leave it at room temp. Once it's mature, feed it in a 1:2:2 ratio (starter:flour:water) when you plan on baking bread. When it has doubled and looks alive and well, you can use it. You'll need to get a feel for your starter as you continue to work with it.

A good recipe to start with is 100% flour, 95% starter, 50% water, and 3.8% salt. In general, I follow the same basic steps when I'm making a lean artisan dough: mix ingredients together into a shaggy mass, let rest 30 minutes, knead till windowpane, bulk ferment till doubled (however long that takes), preshape, bench rest, shape, proof till 1.75x in size, slash, bake, rest. You can throw in a bulk retard in the fridge for up to 72 hours after kneading if you want a bread that is more sour, but be aware that it will very much change the texture of your loaf. Be aware that sourdough takes much longer than most other doughs. I always advise waiting till you've reached a volumetric end-point (doubled or just under doubled) during bulk ferment and proof, rather than a specific time period.

Pic related: it's sourdough.

>>4895593
Recipe looks fine, though I think it's a bit dry. Higher hydration doughs tend to produce pizza crusts with big air inclusions. Low hydration doughs like yours produce a bready crust that can be a little unpleasant (to my tastes). Good start, though. I generally don't advocate adding anything aside from the basic 4 ingredients to pizza doughs, but a lot of people like throwing in some olive oil to soften the crust. Not my thing.

>>4896381
Yeast produces alcohol, so a small quantity of vanilla extract is no big deal.

>>4860178
Wetter loaves often collapse after scoring and before oven spring. It's very hard to get a big bloom on a very wet dough. What sort of hydration are you talking about? I can get big open blooms on everything up to about 70%. Beyond that, it's hit or miss.

I wrap my bread in a linen towel and leave it in on the counter in my kitchen in an area where ambient temps are low. Lasts about 4-5 days. Diastatic malt stretches the lifespan a bit further.

What's bread?

Too much diastatic malt.