After the past couple months of baking furiously, I can feel my interest waning, since I basically did what I set out to do.
Problem is, I was just given 50lbs of flour that I had previously asked for, so i gotta buckle down and keep at it. Oh, my partner has also been spreading the love around, and while people don’t EXPECT bread, they do very eagerly anticipate it.
As usual, recipe is the tartine country loaf, this was part of a 2× batch. Instead of 200g whole wheat I did 100g whole wheat and 100g wheat germ. Tastes quite mild, overall a good batch
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Lovely colour on that bread.
Of course, the summit of bread making is pannetone, if you want to know the direction for up that is up, But… staying in the land of mortal loaves:
For the last couple of years a major change in my baking has been much more about whole-wheat.
It used to be the case that a bag of WW flour would last for ages as I was only using 20% or less in my breads, but now they go as fast as the white bread flour bags.
The breads are more interesting, they’re not as bland. And they’re healthier too. Of course, you don’t have the open open crumb, but don’t have to always make them 100% whole grain and with the right tangzhong/scald can get more open than you might realise.
Do you eat it? Bread can become a whole weird hobby like coffee where you do all kinds of extra bullshit as part of the ritual because you’re chasing some kind of nebulous minor gains in taste or something.
Our bread recipes have become simplified over time to be useful in a busy home for making daily or every few days bread. We go through phases where we will make 2 loaves and it’ll all be gone in 2 days, and other times where we make a loaf that lasts a week.
But inevitably we eventually want bread again.
The ritualistic, nit-picky vibes were this last stretch. I wanted to open the crumb as much as possible, so i fed the starter every day and was super super focused on it
Looks good! I reckon you could push the bulk another ~30 mins next time.
I try to mix up my loaves when I start getting bored: soy & linseed, rye & guinness, gochujang & roasted garlic, etc. Find fun inclusions, mess around with different loaf types / shapes, make baguettes or focaccia. There is a whole world of amazing bread out there to be curious about!
Yeah, now that the base recipe is about as good as I’m gonna get it, inclusions would be good.
Admittedly, I’m a pretentious purist and have looked down my nose at anything but the simplest recipes, but I know the vast majority of people aren’t bread snobs and really like inclusions
Your freezer is your friend here. You can bake all day once, then freeze loaves and just pull one out before going somewhere and truly, no one will ever know the difference if you freeze them right. Stockpile for your sake.
Also, the holidays are coming up. Let the free flour earn you street cred.
Not op but any tips for freezing well?
Basically, fully cool and maybe even hours longer to ensure less moisture.
Thaw slowly, then 5 minutes in the oven to revive the crust.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/12/20/freeze-bread
Thanks! I was thinking to slightly underbake the bread so I could give it another 10’ or so when re-baking. But this already sounds very good.
Happy i just got a extra freezer. Next time tripple batch :)
Happy to help!
I’ve also read you can do a first rise with dough with twice the yeast, and I think freeze it then, and then do the second rise and and bake. But I’m not sure how that might work with sourdough.
If you want an interesting challenge within the sour dough category, how about injera? It’s an Ethiopian sourdough flatbread. Tasty as heck. Ever since I had some at a music festival I can’t get enough.
I just pulled my starter out of it’s exile to the fridge after my last disaster of apparently not knowing how my oven works. Maybe I’ll bake next weekend.
I believe in you
Lol thanks. I have no idea if it’s ADHD, I have ghosts or, I can’t read but twice now I’ve set my oven 100° lower than I’m supposed to and not noticed. Like I SWEAR it was correct and I go to check it a few minutes before it should be done and it’s just white as a ghost. Ugggghhh lol
Bread ghosts hovering inside your oven, smiling and saying, “Here comes another! Welcome.”
If you can lock it down, fresh bread is so good.
I’ve got a good challah going but sourdough and I are struggling. My starter looks amazing and I’ve had really no issues with that. It’s all the baking 😂
I’m all about high temps and a real real dark crust.
Mine all straddle the line between browned and charred (and a little charring isn’t unwelcome in my opinion)
Good-looking loaf! If you need diversions, sourdough pizza is a slightly different beast, and the wide world of bread has horizons to explore. Try a tanzhong-based milk bread, or a green onion focaccia. Some benefit from the slow ferment of sourdough, and it can be interesting to balance starter with bloomed yeast
Also, you can take a break! Flour keeps pretty well
I have made king Arthur’s Japanese milk bread, which has tanzhong in it and it’s heavenly
You were just given 50lbs of flour?
Parents, they’re got lots of Amish stores nearby
I am now expecting bread. However, I don’t know where you are, so I don’t expect any from you. But there’s an oven in my house, and bread supplies are easy to get…
