Anyone here baking bread?

Bread wasn't on my radar until this post by Seth Godin and now this thread on GRM.  I kinda want to buy this book.

From Seth; "Twenty years ago, I met the most famous baker in the world.

I was in Paris for a speech, and visited Poilane, a bakery much smaller than its reputation would lead you to believe. I was hoping to take home an unbaked kilo of dough, a sourdough, one that I could use to spawn hundreds of new loaves over the years.

Proud of my sneakiness, I began by ordering $30 worth of loaves and tarts. And then, offhandedly said, “and an unbaked loaf please.”

The clerks would have none of this. It was impossible, it wasn’t done, it wasn’t permitted.

Bluffing, I said, “I’m confident that M. Poilane would be okay with it.”

On cue, a door behind the counter opened and a handsome man, dressed in a smock, came out to introduce himself. Even before he spoke, I could see the sparkle in his smile, and I figured we would hit it off.

Instead of shooing me away, he invited me into his office. We spent two or three hours together that day, talking about his work. He showed me his huge library on the history of bread and we hung out in the basement, where it was over 100 degrees because of the wood-burning ovens. He sent me home with 2 kilos of unbaked dough. I kept that starter alive for years.

Lionel understood that bread shared wasn’t bread lost. That no one was going to be able to steal his sourdough, even if they grew their own version at home. Over several years, he and I got together for long lunches in Paris when I was in town for a speech. I taught him about the internet, and he taught me about the magical intersection between generosity and idiosyncracy.

Ideas, bread and books are all the same–they’re better when they’re shared. The posture of generosity and connection replaces a mindset of scarcity, and Lionel modeled this philosophy every day.

When he and his wife were killed in a tragic helicopter crash, he left behind friends all over the world as well as two teenaged daughters. I honored his memory in the best way I could think of–by dedicating a book to him. My challenge was that I didn’t have a book in the works, nor was I planning to write one.

The book I wrote, so that I could have a book to dedicate to Lionel, was Purple Cow. It captured his energy and his care and his impact on so many. And it changed the arc of my career as a writer as well.

Lionel’s eldest daughter, Apollonia, immediately stepped up and took over the bakery, a task that few outsiders felt she could handle. After all, she was only a kid. And the patriarchal mindset in her industry and city didn’t help.

Not only has the quality of the bakery been maintained, but its impact has only grown. Apollonia has modeled the clarity and contribution of her dad, and has shown us what it means to share ideas and to lead. From the first moment, she showed up in a way that honored the memory of her parents.

Generosity, abundance and idiosyncrasy in service of craft and community."

Sourdough loaf, fresh from the machine

I baked my first sour dough loaf today. I think I didn't add enough flour, so it looks bad, but tastes pretty good.

I bought the starter from King Arthur and have been feeding it exclusively flour from the gristmil at saint Vincent college. Went through almost 5 pounds getting to the first loaf through feedings and discard, but now that it lives in the fridge and gets feed once a week that should go down.

Mild sour dough flavor, but a great crunchy crusty. 

Didn't take pictures, but I used the machine to make a 2-lb loaf of buttermilk white to go with some crockpot beef burgundy. Yum. The bread lasted 3 days. 
 

I did it again. Another batch of sour dough following the recipe on the King Arthur book. I double checked all my measurements and used fresh ingredients, my starter is very happy and healthy.

During the first rise, it expanded greatly, but was still too lose and sticky to shape. Is raising now after trying to make ovals, well, it's more expanding than rising vertically. 

What am I doing wrong? Good yeast, right temperature of filtered water, fresh unbleached stone ground flour, healthy and ripe starter, I'm not sure what I'm missing. 

It's going in the oven in 20 minutes, so more to come. 

After an hour as "ovals".

Better than the last time, I guess, but why isn't it making pretty balles of sour dough?

I think next time I might put the whole batch of dough into my cast iron dutch oven so I can at least make sandwiches with it

Try less water or add flour?

King Arthur is suggesting I'm not working it enough. Instead of kneading I should be stretching and resting. Next time I guess. Other internet people suggest kneading in the kitchenaid or for 15 minutes by hand to get it a bit stiffer and more workable, so maybe I'll try a loaf each way. 

"wet" doughs are strange. 

Oh, I also had yeast dough, it lay a bit, it became sour and I decided to save it and as a result I got such small, not sweet buns, I sprinkled them with spices and it became really good. By the way, I cut one of them, dried it in the oven and I got excellent crackers, I recommend it!

It's what I do for a living these days...

Speaking of making bread...

Well it's getting slightly better. I made a bunch of changes this time.

To start, instead of using all flour from the gristmill like I had been, I mixed in some bread flour, in the final feeding of the starter and into the bread itself. 50/50. 

The "loaf" on the right went into the kitchen aide for 20 minutes after initial rise. It came out wet, loose, and not good looking. The one on the left was worked by hand for maybe 10 minutes. 

Overall the dough was easier to work with this time, and didn't stick to me nearly as much. It rose better, but not to where I've been hoping. 

I suspect the fine stone ground flour I've been using is partially to blame, because I made my standard recipe chocolate chip cookies that I've been making since I was 6, and they came out weird too. 

Power tools!

Making this.

I tweak the recipe a bit. Corn meal and whole wheat flour added, and the batch that's rising now got some sunflower seeds.

Edit: and I don't use raisins, I use dried dates.

And they're done. Sourdough doesn't brown well. The yeast eats up the sugar, so you don't get that wonderful malliard reaction. 

I compensated for that by brushing these with egg.

Ive got my bread recipe finally figured out. One of my problems was that the recipe said to let it rise 10 to 12 hours as it was an almost sour dough type bread but with no starter. Once I loosened the lengthy rise time requirement, I am now making more often and buying almost no bread.

6.7 oz of hot-ish water and 1 tsp of active dry yeast. Let bloom for 10 minutes.

10.0 oz of sifted king arthur bread flour. 

1 tsp of salt.

Mix the ingredients until incorporated. This a no knead recipe so I have let the dough rise for anywhere between 5 and 14 hours, in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.  It is done rising when it fills the bowl like a liquid (takes the shape of the vessel not turning into an actual liquid, lol.) 

Then I form it into a round loaf which isnt really kneading but just forming it. Line a dutch oven with parchment paper with a dusting of yellow corn meal to help keeping it sticking and I just like it. Lay the loaf on the parchment and use a razor to slice the skin in a pattern, down about 1/4".

Let it rise for about another 1/2 hour. Then toss the covered dutch oven (with the loaf in it) in the cold oven and turn it on to 450°F.  I have a convection oven and about 15 minutes after it gets up to temp, I pull the cover off. The loaf should be pretty much fully expanded and just barely have some browning. Then another 10 to 15 minutes and the top should look nice and brown.

Done!

In reply to RossD :

Beautiful! You're doing well by measuring by weight. Also, switching to King Arthur flour really made a big difference for me. It's all I use now.

Made a few french cloverleaf loaves to give away as Christmas gifts (baked in cast iron skillets). I also made some garlic & herbed butter to go with them.

and some yeast dinner rolls to have with dinner

I use my zojirushi machine on the dough setting, then form the rolls by hand and let them rise for about 45 minutes before baking. 

I'm still at it, here's the latest: 

Sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl, from the King Arthur flour Site.

I usually substitute some whole wheat flour, but I was out. This one is only all purpose flour.

The first few batches, I used chopped dates instead of raisins. That was really great too, I'll have to try that again.

I just ordered my first sourdough starter from King Arthur and plan to try their bread machine recicpe as soon as i get it fed and ready

Went through the King Arthur destructions on making starter.  I made this from this morning's "discard," a cup of flour, some salt, oil and a few tablespoons of water:

Its ON! 

First ever sourdough 

Nice!

I got my starter yesterday...can't wait

Im happy to share my starter if anyone wants some 

3rd loaf in and people are offering money for bread.

Homemade sourdough in my machine

What's your machine recipe?