long-time reader first-time bread-maker

https://i.imgur.com/GEhXikf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0pOxM0X.jpg

they look great! almost burnt on top is very on-trend.

what were they baking ON? a metal tray?

yes, cheap flat metal tray, very slight raised lip

possible it was up too close to the roof of the oven?

or maybe you accidentally had the grill on or something?

oops lol, yes i think i did :D

ffs

i think it looks v good tbh.

i made a second bloomer this week, which i think must have been slightly underproved or poorly shaped because it burst out at the side, and a stone baked “artisan” loaf today which i think may have been underproved because it didn’t burst out at all.

Oh hi there, loving all this bread baking deliciousness.

Today I made cheese and chive bread, and discovered the wonder of using sourdough discard in crackers (similar to the one posted above but more freeform and crazy flavors)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5SKB6HYxe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_4y9gDnRuw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

(hello to those I know, came back for the Outbreak! thread, staying for the bread)

crackers look great. i’m still at novice yeast stage but was so pleased with this loaf and bread. tbh it’s perfect and toasted v well too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5cbsaH3WN/?igshid=yjerih01jdsv

i can't see the pic fizzles

let’s try again. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5dI_AHU7c/?igshid=o1hzwtrasz51

need to do the split with a razor blade rather than a stanley knife tho, as it’s ragged and too deep. v pleased otherwise.

woah that ear is awesome!

ran out of doves farm brown bread flour last week and picked up a 5kg sack of italian wholemeal from the poncy Haringay Local Shop place on Green Lanes out of desperation. Making my first loaf with it today, and it is incredibly fine, and has none of the pleasing lumps of wheatgerm in it the usual flour has. Preparing to be disappointed...

looking good fizz!!

: )

am interesting to see how stevie's fine italian wholemeal works out.

also interested.

it itersting!

just shaped the loaves and dumped them in the bannetons. First thoughts - dough is still v elastic, moreso than usual. Has been easier to shape the loaves, but will they hold those shapes when time to cook comes? Am using 10% wholemeal flour to 90% white Caputo red 00 (which quickly replaced white bread flour for me when I stopped being able to buy that a month or so ago) so it is very different from how I used to make bread before lockdown (and before I was having to make four or so loaves a week to keep up with family demand).

made sourdough bread for the first time last week and it turned out great. i've just taken my second try out of the oven an hour ago and it looks spectacular. i did not think i could derive this much joy from such a simple thing. my wife is making fun of me cause i just keep going back to the kitchen to stare at it.

ONE OF US

lol just wait til you start taking pictures of your BRED and sending them to you friends

haha i have definitely already done that

Yeah, I derive a unique satisfaction from baking compared to cooking, though I do A LOT of cooking and not as much baking (until recently). I think one factor is the mysteriousness of baking - unlike cooking where you can taste along the way and get a sense of where things are going, you never know how baking will turn out until the moment of truth - the dough/batter/whatever goes into the oven as one thing and comes out suddenly and utterly transformed.

after feeding my sourdough starter each day for a week and making the dough yesterday, I just finished baking my first loaf of bread. I'm letting it cool now. It looks amazing. If this tastes as good as it looks, I'm never bothering to buy bread again

my cousin is a genius, he taught me how to bake a perfect loaf of bread the first time!! I wrote it all down so I can reproduce it. I just sliced into my first loaf to taste it, it is amazing, maybe the Tartine breads are better, but not to me right now

STRAIGHT INTO MY YEASTY VEINS

after doing hearted bread v satisfactorily for ages, inability to find fresh yeast meant i started doing sourdough.

the first loaf was like a massive biscuit basically because i rushed it as i had a booked slot at an exhibition and hadn’t got my timings right.

the second was better but stuck badly when i turned it out to be baked, so it lost all its structure and air.

third time lucky tho - made a large loaf for me, and a smaller one for my mum who i was visiting for the first time in five or so months. the first could have done with a *bit* of a hotter-for-longer oven, the second i overdid it and it burned a bit. (the tart is a provençal pissaladière btw). anyway, i was VERY PLEASED with these. posting photos to everyone obv.

https://i.imgur.com/K2ChDqq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6RU0H8n.jpg

nice. second loaf not burnt imo.

Agree, i like a dark crust on bread. Both look amazing.

excellent. today is another sourdough day, so will update on “crust developments” later. uh also “hearted bread” should obv be “yeasted”.

All fresh bread is hearted by me tbh

Great loaves, Fizzles, esp that darker second one. I'm a big proponent of pushing the bark of the loaf till the last moment. The flavor's just better.

those loaves look amazing!

i'm making another bread attempt, the first loaf in flour water salt yeast

i salute you!

this was fun and it appears to have worked except the bottom looks a bit too black. we'll see!
https://i.imgur.com/dq3UUBV.jpg

ooooh O_O looks good!!

damn, nice crumb!
https://i.imgur.com/tZqL0qS.jpg
i ate some and it was good, maybe will try to move it higher in the oven next time if it'll fit. i will do one of the pre-ferments next bc i like a more yeasty taste, this was sort of basic.

tremendous!!

i still can't believe i did it. i've had such a bad time with bread. it's because of kneading, i can't knead properly so i have to stick to stretch and fold for now. the only bread i've made that i've been happy with is cinnamon raisin bread from the bread baker's apprentice (will make again) and that was still too dense!

i haven’t kneaded in years. with sourdough it’s all stretch n fold.

i am on day 2 of the flour water salt yeast (i keep wanting to say salt fat acid heat) levain process. it uses SO much flour. but it's working. it has more than doubled in size in 10 hours after i re-fed it for the first time. it's alive! weird how every book uses a totally different process though.

yeah i pretty much abandoned flour water salt yeast because you either end up wasting a bunch of ingredients or have to plan ahead to make more things with the leftover levain.

sourdough waffles are an EXCELLENT use of leftover starter/levain

we’ve been making sourdough basically since right after lockdown began and have yet to run into this “leftover starter” problem

for this one i haven't yet reached the stage where i have starter. each day you have to throw away 75% of what you have and add 500 grams (2 cups) of flour. i'm on day 3 of 5 (?). you can then keep a smaller amount of starter. i don't eat enough bread to make more than a loaf a week so i will be refrigerating but i plan to make pretzels and pancakes soon.

Yeah having a growing kid who loves sourdough requires two medium-ish loaves a week so that’s driving us

successful pain de campagne, ignore all the crumbs on my stovetop. i avoided burning the bottom this time, maybe helped by parchment paper and/or a little less time in the oven.
https://i.imgur.com/8qgx8zv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NBrXMBr.jpg

wow that looks like the fucking business