/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>4093622
The freshly-fed starter will be allowed to mature overnight, then fed again in the morning to increase the quantity of starter.

It's a little cold, so the maturation may take a while. Probably good since I'm going to let it sit overnight.

how 'bout you don't use whole wheat flower you hippy.

Damn, I always love seeing your threads. Carry on, Sir!

>>4093630
I'm not using whole wheat flower.

>>4093633
Thanks!

>>4093625
Here it is this morning. Just about doubled, and you can see all the activity in the starter that is providing that leavening power.

I zapped a bowl of water in my microwave for a couple minutes to make it humid and warm in there, then placed my starter in it for an hour or so to try to bring it up to temp and get it super active.

Next step is another feeding to bring up the volume.

>>4094301
Fed in a 1:2:2 ratio with 1/2 dark rye flour and 1/2 white bread flour.

It's amazing how quickly you can get starter volume up. It smells pretty wonderful: very fruity and sour.

>>4094465
Just checking back in about 6 hours later. The starter is rising slowly in the cold environment of my kitchen (about 64 F, ambient).

At this rate, I'll have to mix the dough and let it bulk ferment over night in the cool kitchen.

>>4095253
I worked with the dough quite a bit yesterday, but then forgot to upload any of it, my apologies.

After the starter was ready, I threw a dough together using the following percentages: 100% flour, 80% starter, 65% water, 3% salt. I usually shoot for 90% starter, but I shorted it since the dough was going to sit and slow-ferment over night. All the flour was bread flour, since the starter had plenty of whole grain flour in it.

I mixed the dough in the mixer until windowpane (about 8 minutes), then added in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and walnuts. Then I folded it into a quick boule and placed it in to a greased container for its slow ferment.

>>4096460
I checked on the dough this morning (after about 12 hours of rest at ambient temp of 68F), and it has come a long way. It probably has another few hours to go before it's where I'd like it to be before shaping and proofing.

I want to get more into bread making. I've made plenty of french bread loaves at school and at home. Do you use a steam trick in any of your bread making?

>>4096528
I sure do! I use steam every time I bake an artisan loaf. I put a cast-iron pan in the bottom of my oven for the full duration of the preheat cycle, then drop boiling water into it when I put the loaves on the stone. It generates copious quantities of steam for about 20-30 seconds. You can see a more laborious overview of my bake process here:

http://youtu.be/MJGqSC2RpD8

You're a self-promoting faggot. Please go to reddit instead.

>>4096542
I really try not to be. I just find people ask me the same questions every time, so I made a video at the request of various anons. Don't watch it if you don't want to. Easy peasy.

>>4096552
What do you gain from posting?

>>4096542
He's contributing to the board. You're not.

>>4096555
What do you gain from complaining? What does anyone gain from being on 4chan?

Every time I see these threads I ignore the bread and fantasize about having a wooden counter top.

>>4096555
Nothing other than hoping that I stimulate a few other people into trying to bake bread, too. It's pretty simple.

>>4096562
It's a super cheap kitchen cart from Ikea! I wish I had wooden countertops, but this POS works in a pinch.

>>4096557
>He's contributing to the board. You're not.
You have no proof of that.

>>4096573
i....what

>>4096573
Except the post you just made perhaps you fucking assclown?

>>4096604
That means we're all guilty. Including you.

>>4096573
>>4096555
>>4096542

>>4096462
A quick preshape and rest. This dough is wet enough to be a pain in the ass to handle.

I'll bench the dough for 45 min to an hour (already about 20 minutes in) before doing a final shape and letting them proof in the banneton.

>>4096662

Shaped, dusted in 1:1 corn meal:bread flour, and then placed in bannetons that are coated in the same mix.

Oven is preheating at 550F with convection (575F effective temp) with a stone in the lowest rack position, and a cast-iron pan on the floor of the oven.

Bread will proof for a couple hours, then baked with steam.

you keep your starter in the fridge? If you leave it out and keep it sealed it will do better.

>>4096793
Thanks for the tip. I do actually know that. However, if you keep the starter out of the fridge, you should be feeding it twice daily to keep it alive and happy. I wish I had time for that, but I don't. So I keep it in the fridge between bakes. Then, a couple days before I'm ready to make bread, I pull it out of the fridge, let it come up to temp, give it a couple sequential feedings, and it's back to life as if it had never been in the fridge at all. It allows me to go up to a month between feedings.

>>4096828
Yeah, I'm constantly tending to mine. I believe we've conversed on here before. I'm the guy living on my farm in the Appalachian Mountains that makes a lot of my own stuff. I believe you complimented one of my breads as the perfect sandwich bread.

>>4096858
lmao
look at this faggot

>>4096766
Here we go. Slashes turned out a bit wonky, but that's pretty par for the course.

Crumb is very nice. Wound up being quite a bit more whole wheat than I expected, so it's a little dense, but very flavorful.

>>4097196
Closeup of one of the loaves.

>>4097198
And the obligatory crumb shot.

>>4097205
Man I wanna bake bread now. Good thing that trip just posted that bread maker's apprentice or whatever. I've only ever done pretty quick, basic bread recipes before.

>>4097205
>crumb shot
>mfw

>>4097218
Do it. The book has a ton of wonderful bread recipes.

But, in all honesty, basic breads are wonderful, too.

do you bake for a living or is this just a hobby

>>4097312
Just a hobby. Used to do some R&D consulting work for bakeries here and there, though.