mixed breads, no incineration!

[egalecki]

I made two different sourdoughs and two loaves of Frisian sugar loaf (from Bernard Clayton's book) today. I did the sugar loaf in the inside oven- it got ready really fast today.

My new starter worked pretty well- I did add some IDY to get it to proof a bit faster (I was worried about the oven and the bread being ready at the same time) but the starter was nice and bubbly this morning when I started, so I think it would have been ok on it's own if I were more patient.

I haven't cut into it yet, so I can't see the crumb at this point. I would have liked better color on the tops of the sourdoughs, but I checked the temp and they were ready after about 12 minutes. I'm pleased with the oven spring on the long loaves, less so with the round ones.

I am going to have to practice more, but at least I didn't blacken anything today.

[james]

Re: mixed breads, no incineration!

Way to go Elizabeth. I really like the slash pattern on the long loaves. Very nice.

Keep going!
James

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: mixed breads, no incineration!

Those look excellent. What was the internal temp when you pulled the sourdough?

[egalecki]

Re: mixed breads, no incineration!

Internal temp was 205. The long loaves are the basic sourdough from the Reinhart book, the round ones are a pugliese from the Bread Bible (Beranbaum). I did change them both and use the wet starter instead of the firm one, but all I did was use a little less water. The flavor is really nice in both, tangy but not sour. I got better holes with the Pugliese, but the texture is really good on both.

A few months ago I would have been completely freaked out by how wet both doughs are, but I've gotten to where I prefer working with a wet dough and doing less kneading by hand. It was a little strange making the sugar loaves, which are a standard white enriched dough and has a totally different texture. (really good though, toasted in the morning!)

I can see that I'm going to have to start giving away bread soon. I want to get baking in the oven down, but I can't eat all this or I'll be enormous! Where are all my kids when I need them to consume mass quantities?!?

[Frances]

Re: mixed breads, no incineration!

Those look so good! The big round ones look very cool.
How wet was your wet dough?

I think the two most heard complaints on this forum have to be "Help, my Vermcrete is all weird" and "How am I expected to eat all this bread?!". Nice problem to have...

[egalecki]

Re: mixed breads, no incineration!

It wasn't as wet as the no knead dough, but much softer and wetter than the standard white enriched dough. It would have been difficult to get it to rise well without a form. It would have just spread out. I used bowls with cloths for the round loaves and an old baguette pan (it's actually a little big for baguette, but I don't know the name of the next size!) for the long loaves.

I grew up making the plain white bread, hand kneading until it was like a baby's butt. I can make a great loaf of that stuff, and it has a place (like turkey sandwiches after Christmas and Thanksgiving!), but I much prefer the hearth style breads for everyday eating.

I gave away two loaves last night and there were people saying "hey, where's mine?".