Bread Thread

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
Forum Supporter
From what I've seen of your batards, I did it hard to believe you're having issues with boules. I've found in my case that the overnight ferment in the fridge maximizes my vertical oven spring.
The funny thing is, when I first started my boules were better than my batards, then I got better at batards. Maybe I'm over fermenting a bit because I'm not factoring in how larger, round loaves cool more slowly. Maybe I'm not getting as much tension during shaping.
 

mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
How do you bake it when in a tin? Time/temp/cover

Sammie bread gets a bit more complicated. Heat up oven as high as you can for 20-30 then put an old cast iron filled with lava rocks on the bottom rack and an old bread pan filled with two rags and boiling water. Heat for another 20. Pull bread out of fridge (overnight proof). Put bread in oven. Pour 12-15 oz of water on the lava rocks in the cast iron. BE CAREFUL it will instantaneously boil and splatter. If you wear glasses take them off before they WILL fog. And I put a towel on my oven glass for fear of it breaking (totally irrational). Close the door to trap the steam quickly. I rotate the pans every 15. And bake for about an hour. I hope this helps, here for anymore questions.
 

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
Forum Supporter
Sammie bread gets a bit more complicated. Heat up oven as high as you can for 20-30 then put an old cast iron filled with lava rocks on the bottom rack and an old bread pan filled with two rags and boiling water. Heat for another 20. Pull bread out of fridge (overnight proof). Put bread in oven. Pour 12-15 oz of water on the lava rocks in the cast iron. BE CAREFUL it will instantaneously boil and splatter. If you wear glasses take them off before they WILL fog. And I put a towel on my oven glass for fear of it breaking (totally irrational). Close the door to trap the steam quickly. I rotate the pans every 15. And bake for about an hour. I hope this helps, here for anymore questions.
Not gonna lie, I'm probably too lazy to do that lol

I wonder if it would fit in the Challenger 🤔
 

O' Clarkii Stomias

Landlocked Atlantic Salmon
Forum Supporter
Just the standard weekly loaf.
8 ounces starter
8 ounces water
15 ounces Central Milling ABC plus
2 tsp sea salt
Mix and autolyse for 20 minutes
Mixer knead for 10 minutes
Coil fold at 30 minutes 3 times
Overnight bulk proof at ambient temperature
Pre-shape and 30- minutes bench proof
Shape and 8 hours ferment in the fridge.
500 degree oven pre heat with bread pan
Score and into the bread pan with 4- ice cubes
Set oven to 425
Bake covered for 20 minutes
Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes
Oven off, door cracked, rest for 20 minutes
Enjoy!
IMG_20230129_085547417.jpg
 

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
Forum Supporter
I ordered a few flours from Cairnspring and I've been playing around with them over a few bakes. My goals have been: 1) see what the hype is about 2) get a feel for their performance 3) figure out which ones I like so I can place a 50 lb bag order for local pickup.
Screenshot_2023-01-14-08-42-13-44_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
I've made 6 loaves with the flours so far and still have some work to do to get them dialed in.

The first couple of loaves were made with single flours.
Trailblazer on the left and expresso on the right
IMG20230122093614.jpg
IMG20230122093620.jpg
The trailblazer over proofed. I use a lot of visual and tactile cues for fermentation and my cues were a little off for this new flour. It tasted really good, but felt a little flat. It was our least favorite.
IMG20230122103032.jpg
Expresso turned out really good! It a very robust and earthy wheat, perfect for what we like in a country loaf.
IMG20230122103142.jpg
The next 4 loaves were blends
Trailblazer and whole grain expresso (80:20) on the right
Expression and Skagit 1109 (80:20) on left
IMG20230122102659.jpg
IMG20230122102705.jpg
Trailblazer: expresso
IMG20230122114158.jpg
Expresso:Skagit 1109
IMG20230122114512.jpg

All of the flours are great, super high quality, build strength readily while having good extensibility. I need to work on the proof details to find tune but would be happy with any. That said, we liked the expresso: Skagit 1109 blend the most followed by pure expresso. It's a bold flavor profile without being too bitter. The crumb has a slight bounciness to it without being rubbery or tough, which we prefer to the softer crumb. The expresso also took on more fruity sourness than the trailblazer which was a lot creamier/nuttier in flavor. I need to test the expresso in like a white sandwich loaf to see if 8t can be my sole flour or if I'll need to add something like glacier peak to my flours on hand
 
Last edited:

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
Forum Supporter
Another expresso and Skagit 1109 loaf with better fermentation control (80% hydration)
IMG20230129100422.jpgIMG20230129100431.jpgIMG20230129111346.jpg

A trailblazer and white rye (85:15) loaf (78% hydration)
IMG20230129102836.jpg

IMG20230129113603.jpg

Once again we loved the expresso 1109 loaf.
The trailblazer really came to life with the addition of rye. The results are really similar to the ABC+/white rye/whole white wheat loaves I've made a lot over the last year.
 

mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
I ordered a few flours from Cairnspring and I've been playing around with them over a few bakes. My goals have been: 1) see what the hype is about 2) get a feel for their performance 3) figure out which ones I like so I can place a 50 lb bag order for local pickup.
View attachment 51881
I've made 6 loaves with the flours so far and still have some work to do to get them dialed in.

The first couple of loaves were made with single flours.
Trailblazer on the left and expresso on the right
View attachment 51882
View attachment 51883
The trailblazer over proofed. I use a lot of visual and tactile cues for fermentation and my cues were a little off for this new flour. It tasted really good, but felt a little flat. It was our least favorite.
View attachment 51884
Expresso turned out really good! It a very robust and earthy wheat, perfect for what we like in a country loaf.
View attachment 51885
The next 4 loaves were blends
Trailblazer and whole grain expresso (80:20) on the right
Expression and Skagit 1109 (80:20) on left
View attachment 51886
View attachment 51887
Trailblazer: expresso
View attachment 51888
Expresso:Skagit 1109
View attachment 51889

All of the flours are great, super high quality, build strength readily while having good extensibility. I need to work on the proof details to find tune but would be happy with any. That said, we liked the expresso: Skagit 1109 blend the most followed by pure expresso. It's a bold flavor profile without being too bitter. The crumb has a slight bounciness to it without being rubbery or tough, which we prefer to the softer crumb. The expresso also took on more fruity sourness than the trailblazer which was a lot creamier/nuttier in flavor. I need to test the expresso in like a white sandwich loaf to see if 8t can be my sole flour or if I'll need to add something like glacier peak to my flours on hand

How did I miss this?!

Looks like I should try the espresso before I get another 50lb bag of the Glacier Peak. All our t85s right (I cant remember off the top of my head).
 

cdnred

Life of the Party
Qwik question that may sound a bit weird but would anyone recommend using a toaster oven for bread baking or would a regular oven be the best choice..? I'm thinking that a toaster oven would be more cost efficient but may not be the best choice, thoughts..?
 

Zak

Legend
Forum Supporter
Qwik question that may sound a bit weird but would anyone recommend using a toaster oven for bread baking or would a regular oven be the best choice..? I'm thinking that a toaster oven would be more cost efficient but may not be the best choice, thoughts..?
I haven't had a toaster oven for many years, but the last one I had was pretty flimsy. I bake bread in large, heavy cast iron pans and appreciate the heavy duty full size grates in my oven.
 

mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
Qwik question that may sound a bit weird but would anyone recommend using a toaster oven for bread baking or would a regular oven be the best choice..? I'm thinking that a toaster oven would be more cost efficient but may not be the best choice, thoughts..?

This may sound entitled, but I've never factored cost into turning on my oven :unsure:
 

cdnred

Life of the Party
This may sound entitled, but I've never factored cost into turning on my oven :unsure:
I haven't had a toaster oven for many years, but the last one I had was pretty flimsy. I bake bread in large, heavy cast iron pans and appreciate the heavy duty full size grates in my oven.
Just wanted to get a better idea of what to use before going down the wrong path. Regular ovens are definitely the best choice..
 

TicTokCroc

Sunkist and Sudafed
Forum Supporter
Qwik question that may sound a bit weird but would anyone recommend using a toaster oven for bread baking or would a regular oven be the best choice..? I'm thinking that a toaster oven would be more cost efficient but may not be the best choice, thoughts..?
I dunno about a toaster oven but I recently looked this up because we bought one of these countertop aroma roaster ovens because we don't have an oven, looks like with a few extra steps you can bake bread in it.
 
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