He made a lot of OOT posts about baking, mostly brownies and cookies eventually, but at first he came in hot and heavy with some Bread Knowledge that was just laughably bad. Like, “Here’s my challah recipe, but it also makes a great pizza crust and kaiser rolls and pretzels and scones too. 150% hydration totally works in my kitchen, but yours may be different because humidity!”
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Reading a bit from theperfectloaf.com and they use a lot bigger portions for the starter than the serious eats article. I’m still getting bubbles but think I may have also been storing it at too hot of a temperature so it was eating through the food too fast. I had it in a closet with my hot water heater lol and saw a little hooch on it I think last night. I’m going to use more flour and water starting tonight. I may be going camping a few days this week so will have to refrigerate it for a bit.
That sounds like it would be too hot. I think 76-80 is ideal.
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Yeah, the rest of my house is typically as cold as I can get it in the summer so I tossed it in that closet but I’m pretty sure it’s 80+ in there.
I’ve made two loaves lifetime so I am a pro now. Lol
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My bulb is out and I’ve been too lazy to figure out what kind to order for it. I did read about putting it in the oven though. I’ll maybe try the microwave.
33g starter 66g flour 66g water already has bubbles and the perfect loaf site says 50g/100g/100g but I just used all the starter I had. 5g/15g/15g seems so weird compared to other sites I checked tonight. This might be the first time Serious Eats has failed me.
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Big difference today already. Sweet.
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Awesome.
Pour into a frying pan add lots of green onion, salt pepper and any other spice. Cook as a pancake. Cut and dip in any Asian sauce with soy sauce. So good. I eat this all the time.
I’m baking my third loaf tomorrow morning. Trying a few tweaks.
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Me too!
The baking seems to be screwing up my Dutch Oven. I wonder if it’s because it’s a cheap amazon one. Anyone else have this?
Today’s loaf. A tiny ear finally but I was too light on the rest of the decoration. Still not seeing oven spring like I see online but I wonder if that is partly 75% hydration.
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If I’m out of town for a few days I can just toss the starter in the fridge? Do I need to add more feed to it or anything?
thx
Looks tasty.
The lower hydration could be part for sure as much of the rise comes from water vapour. I’ve read lower hydration doughs can be helped by spraying some water into the Dutch oven right before baking to create more steam.
Today’s loaf. I think it might be a bit of a fail. Tried a batton. Guess we will see when I cut and taste it.
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It tastes pretty good and crumb is not bad. Not a fail in the end other than it’s a bit of a batton boule hybrid.
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The consistency looks very similar to mine. The last loaf I posted was 78%. I don’t use the technique you are using to mix. Instead I pull, slap it against the bowl and fold it over and over.
I have always added all water at autolyse.
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