This is my first attempt at ciabatta, and it looks OK, but I would like to see some bigger holes in the crumb. I used the King Arthur flower recipe. The only changes that I made is that I called fermented overnight before baking, and I feel like I could’ve cooked it a little longer. Honestly, these changes could probably be responsible for this, but would love some advice from more experienced people than I.

Edit:

Crust is also much more delicate than I would like, could be related to cooking time.

Always been scared to bake bread but I found an easy focaccia recipe and decided to try. So happy with it!

Hello all,

I am looking at making my own sandwitch bread and wanted to know what is the best pan to use. I read metals pan are good. I was looking at stanless steel, as I am concerned about alumnium leeching into my food. I also looked at cast iron, but do not have a lot of experience with it. I recently tried glass, and my bread was moist in the middle. I am staying clear of products with teflon.

Anyways what has your experience what has worked for you and any recomendations? Thanks

A recipe of my own design, derived from the detmolder process and king Arthur’s recipe.

The below recipe is completed in duplicate to form the pumpernickel half and the rye half of the marble rye.

Each half total:
95g rye flour (medium/light rye or pumpernickel, depending on the half)
135g wheat flour
20g vital wheat flour
20g potato flour
10g dry milk
6.5g salt
1.5g onion powder
7g caroway seeds, roughly ground in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder
(For pumpernickel half, 16g cocoa powder)

Ferment 1:
2g rye flour
3g water
1g yeast

Ferment 2:
25g rye flour
19g water

Ferment 3:
68g rye flour
68g water

Each half of final dough:
135g wheat flour
20g vital wheat gluten
20g Potato flour
10g Dry milk
100g water, mixed with entirety of respective pre-ferment
6.5g salt
1.5g Onion powder
7g Caraway
(For pumpernickel half: 16g unsweetened black cocoa)

Process:

It is recommended to begin in the mid or early morning the day before you intend to bake. It is also reccomend to use a pair of Tupperware for the pre-ferment, but do not close them completely to prevent the buildup of pressure.

Mix the water and yeast for the first ferment before adding the rye flour for this step. Allow to ferment for 4hrs.
Mix the water for the second ferment and the product of the first ferment to form a slurry. Add the rye flour for this step and mix. Allow to ferment for 16 hours.
Mix the water for the third ferment and the product of the second ferment to form a slurry. Add the rye flour for this step and mix. Allow to ferment for 4 hours.

Mix the wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, potato flour, milk powder, salt, onion powder, and caroway. (As well as the cocoa powder, for the pumpernickel half.)
Mix the water into both of the rye pre-ferments, forming a slurry. Add the rye and pumpernickel slurry into their respective portions of flour and mix. Knead each half until it forms an easily workable dough. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and allow to rise for ~40 minutes.
Roll both halves out to slightly less than the thickness of a pinky finger, while keeping both halves approximately the same size. Mist one side of each half with water and lay them on top of each other, wet halves together. Roll lightly to remove any air pockets and stick the dough together.
Mist the top of the dough and begin to roll it like a scroll, maintaining tension and misting the other side as you roll.

Ensure the roll is sealed and will not unravel, then place it in a banneton or other container for it to proof until doubled. When it is close to being ready, preheat the oven to 200c with a Dutch oven or oven pan.
Brush with egg wash and score the dough thrice before placing into the Dutch and covering with the lid or onto the pan and tenting with foil. Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce to 175c and bake for 20 minutes.
Uncover and bake for 5 more minutes, ensure center reads 200f before removing the loaf. Let the loaf rest lightly covered overnight.

It's my first time making a sourdough starter and by day 3 when I was mixing in the hooch I think I saw some pink part in between mixes (like a drop of strawbeery yogurt). I tried digging through the starter with the spoon but I never saw it again and thought that maybe I was mistaken.

I'm now at day 7 and was already done with the 'dead' phase but I read somewhere that pink coloration on a starter means I should throw it away and start a new one. Since I'm not sure if my starter is really contaminated I would want to wait to see if it would reappear. For how long should I wait before I can definitely confirm that my starter is still safe?

Thank you very much!

First time focaccia!

Cinnamon and brown sugar swirl because we felt like something sweet. I think we may have went off course with the proofing and since I’ve never made this type of bread before, was curious for feedback.

Did bulk fermentation and folds at room temp. Skipped the cold proof until after the second proof.
Cold proof overnight, about 10 or so hours, let it warm for 30 min before baking.

It tastes good IMO, but since we’ve never made this type of bread before, does this seem too dense?

Thanks in advance.

Hi! I’m currently testing a large-format pan de muerto and would really appreciate some advice.
Each loaf is made with approximately 600 g of dough, plus 60 g for the decorative “bones.” We proof the shaped loaves for around 1 hour and 50 minutes at room temperature, followed by about 40 minutes in a proofer. They are then baked at 140°C / 284°F for approximately 30 minutes.
The issue is that the sides seem properly proofed when I do the finger-poke test, but the top still springs back fairly quickly. Once baked, some loaves crack on top and the crumb comes out slightly dense.
I’m also wondering whether the surface might be drying out during proofing, since the covered loaves seem to develop better.
Does this sound more like underproofing, insufficient humidity, dough temperature, or an issue related to the large size of the loaf?
I’d really appreciate any advice!

I used to think the recipe was the problem but it turned out to be my technique. Once I slowed down and paid more attention to fermentation my bread improved a lot.
What’s one mistake that made the biggest difference when you finally fixed it?

I have had good luck with this recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/281201/crusty-dutch-oven-bread/

I would like to make a loaf for my friend and add in a crap ton of cheese and jalapeño. Can someone please recommend changes to bake time/temperature based on the cheese and peppers?

Getting the yeast to activate is always hit or miss for me. I'm seeing these coffee warmers repackaged as sourdough mix starters but it has a temperature control and the AI says it can be used for activating yeast. Is this product a good idea for this? https://www.amazon.com/Sourdough-Temperature-70%C2%B0F-110%C2%B0F-Accurate-Function/dp/B0F9TNK4S2

First time making bread and I'm so happy with the result! They both came out super soft and yummy. The first pic is sandwich white bread, the third is a cheesy garlic parsley swirl bread :)

Sudden realization I didn't save the photo I used for the first post and it was the only photo before it was cut 😭

65% French T65 and 30% king arthur gloden wheat, 76% hydration

I'm doing research for several different kinds of loaves for my work. And a few of the recipes say that I shouldn't mix it past the shaggy dough stage. In other words, don't mix it to full gluten, just do a bunch of stretch and folds throughout the bulk ferment. Is there a good reason to do it like this instead of just mixing it to full gluten? What are the downsides to mixing it all the way and still doing all the stretch and folds? Cuz normally I do both.

So, I have been experimenting with high hydration, lean doughs recently. Normally I have great success with enriched doughs but want to master lean doughs.

The thing I notice with almost all my bakes north of 72% is that the crumb is often quite shiny or waxy, and quite chewy, or even gummy.

Here's the recipe for this 72% hydration Batard.

500g bread flour

50g wholewheat flour

11g salt

3g instant dry yeast

396g water

I mixed flours, water, and yeast together, then autolize for 30mins, then mix salt and rest for 30mins.

Then followed with 4 coil folds every 30mins, followed by an hour untouched fermentation all at room temp.

Then I preshaped, rested for 30mins, shaped and proofed for 45mins, then baked at 235°C for 15mins with steam and 20mins without steam, reaching an internal temp of 97°C.

The bread was rested overnight before cutting the next morning.

The crumb looks way waxier than my usual sandwich loafs which have a higher yeast content and less bulk and proof time.

Anyways, let me know what you think and if this might be just normal for this type of bread.

Am I doing something wrong that could be improved here

Thanks 🙏

My first attempt at making focaccia because the bakery I get it from is too far away.
I followed this recipe: https://www.emmafontanella.com/no-knead-focaccia

My modifications:
- I used dry yeast
- I cold fermented 18 hours after the 2 hours of stretching dough every 30 mins
- after taking dough out of the fridge, I let it rest for 2 hours, put it in the pan with oil, and let it rest for another hour before putting it in the oven.

Reflection:
I think my oven does not work... baked for 30 minutes at 450 and crust is barely brown. It's about 1 to 1.25 inches thick. It looks good but it tastes a bit like how it smelt when it was still just dough. There is an aftertaste like its bitter/alcoholic-y and not very flavorful outside of the salt and rosemary I added on top. I think I didn't add enough salt to the dough. It might also be because I used dry yeast instead of instant and so I added 2 tsp of brown sugar to the yeast+water mixture.

Goals for next time:
- more bubbles/airy
- more volume
- taste less like dough
- crustier outside

Considerations:
- use instant yeast
- use autolyse?
- cold ferment for 3 days
- add more salt
- longer in oven/higher temp

Anything else I am missing before I remake focaccia in the future? Last photo is for reference and not my bread.

Take care of your bread and it will take care of you :)

When the loaf is completely cool, I wrap it in a linen bread bag. Some sourdough pros vouch for the beeswax bag but I have yet to try it.

You can slice it up on the first day (ideal) but I thought I’d devour bread on a weekend. Instead, life happened and I ended up eating leftovers. I sliced this sourdough loaf 3 days later then stored in the freezer.

Still amazing weeks later 🤩