Small bug report, I'm seeing "Invalid date" here: https://imgur.com/rdcKJgw
I just set the start time to "right now". Safari Version 13.1 (15609.1.20.111.8)
A scheduling tool for bread baking
91–100 of 124 posts
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
We do rye and wheat sourdough at home, as well. Prior to the lockdowns I had no problem finding 5 pound bags of wheat flour and 3 pound bags of rye flour. Now, though... Can't even find it online.
Huh. I was just at the local Asian grocery. Piles of bags in the back.
I honestly hadn't thought to look for it at any of our nearby Asian grocery stores. We used to frequent our local H Mart, Zion Market, and 99 Ranch, but have been sticking to our more immediate grocery store for the past 4 weeks, or so. I'm due to restock kimchi soon anyway, thanks for the suggestion.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#93For those of us working in tech, it can be extremely satisfying to bake your own bread. I did that a few years ago, starting from scratch, making my own sourdough starter, and baking daily. It's rediscovering what a typical family did centuries ago. Your starter becomes a pet. I had to stop it due to a lot of travel, but I still have a packet of my starter vacuum sealed and frozen. Maybe I should try again. Travel ce…
You don't need to keep it in the freezer. Making a good started takes about a week. Then off to the races :-) Here's a good process: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredibl...
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#94I hope this works for somebody, but I'm going to have to critique the whole concept of "timing' when baking sourdough bread. After years of baking sourdough I find that I cannot predict precisely the timing. I have to judge the dough at each step and not proceed until it is ready. This is especially true in that I like trying new things, making tweaks, fermenting at different temperatures, and this alters the timing.…
One thing that really made a massive difference for me was making a proofing box. It's a large EPS container (similar to the ones that market sellers use) with a seedling heating mat inside. I control it with a cheap (like Temperature control makes an enormous difference. I live in a cold house, hence why I built this. To make things worse, my kitchen has marble worktops. So if you use cold or tepid water and then kn…
I have a Sous Vide rig. I put my dough in a one gallon plastic bucket and that floats inside a small beer cooler with some water in it that the circulator keeps at whatever temperature I want. A dish towel over top ensures the temperature is basically constant top to bottom. Proofing dough to within 0.1C accuracy is ridiculously overkill, but that accuracy comes for free. Works amazingly amazing.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#95Very well designed and implemented!
Would you mind adding a 12h/24h switcher? I’m in the EU and I can’t figure out what 12am means vs. 12pm even though I keep looking it up.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes! I think it's also important to remember that you're cultivating a living organism. It's an art, and you should adjust your schedule based on what the dough is doing.
That's the most difficult part for me. We need more than a schedule - we need instructions how to modify the schedule and perhaps ingredients based on what we get. The "Quarantine bread" receipt was wonderful last week. This week, for some reason it turns out terrible (dough very sticky, bread burnt on the outside, etc.) No idea what went wrong and what I should have done to fix this.
As someone who's been baking for a while (both sourdoughs and breads made with commercial yeast), there's a lot of learning to be done through trial and error, and it's difficult to communicate the nuances of how the dough feels or looks via instruction.
Temperature and humidity can change day-to-day (and certainly week-to-week) in a residence. Same with the temperature of "cold" water coming out of your tap. A thermometer and a kitchen scale go a long way towards consistently implementing recipes (and therefore getting consistent results).
Some general tips:
- If the dough is too sticky, add flour! Check the stickiness before bulk fermentation.
- Check the dough during the rise. If it has risen a lot and "domed" early, punch it down or give it a fold. If it's time for a fold but it hasn't risen much yet, let it rise longer!
- If you find your rise times are shorter than the recipe, use cooler water. If your rise times are too long, use warmer water.
- If you don't have a baking stone, baking steel, or dutch oven, you can use an inverted cast iron pan as a baking steel.
- Preheat your oven for an hour or more. Residential ovens often have substantial internal temperature variations. I use dutch ovens to bake bread, but also keep a baking stone on the lowest oven rack as a way to regulate the oven's temperature.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#97love the gantt charts
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#98Or you could also learn how to make mixed 4/3 rye/wheat sourdough with a natural starter, which requires no scheduling at all. Just mix it in the morning and put it in the oven some time in the late afternoon/evening. I've been doing it for years and it's the only kind of bread that I can make on a regular basis. It's something you can actually do daily, not an additional hobby. Ingredients: * 400g full-grain rye flo…
Rye flour is vastly under-appreciated in my opinion. Love that stuff.
For a lot of things you can't really get away with fully replacing wheat flour, but you can usually do half / half with good results.
I haven't made sourdough for a few years, but I think I was either doing 1 : 1 : 1 (white, wheat, rye) or 2 : 1 : 1.
Also, the easiest way to create a sourdough culture is literally just mix rye flour and water in roughly equal parts. Cover with a cloth to keep bugs out, and then dump out (our use) half each day and add in more flour and water to get back up to the original level.
It's basically the most idiot-proof process I can think of.
The main reason I keep getting out of the habit is that you need to monitor the thing basically daily. Otherwise you can put it in the fridge and take a bit less care of it, but then you need to build it back up for a few days before you can use it.
I've always wondered if I'm just being too cautious about the starter though. I know that people have said they thrive on neglect.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#99I have found that a minimal version of no-knead bread is already good: 700ml flour, 350ml water, 1 to 1.5 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp instant yeast. Mix in bowl, cover, let stand for 12-16 hours. Put dutch oven in oven, heat to 250C. Take out the hot dutch oven, sprinkle some bran or flour or cornmeal on the bottom, scrape dough from the bowl into the dutch oven, sprinkle some bran on top. Bake 30min with lid, remove lid, bake…
What are people want to avoid kneading so much? Most of the recipes are for no-knead bread. I find this process very relaxing and prefer this over a session of meditation.
I love to knead, but in my tiny apartment I have a hard time finding a place to knead without making a mess. It would be nice to have a no knead option for some bakes.
Re: A scheduling tool for bread baking
#100I have been baking sourdough for 2+ years and I don't think people should take the timing too seriously. Yes it's good to loosely follow a schedule but if you don't the bread will still turn out fine. I don't think I've ever followed the exact same schedule twice. A few times I flat out forgot about the dough and shaped it hours after I was supposed to, and it still came out amazing. Sourdough is very forgiving. The…
As a beginner, I find a tool like this useful for understanding the general schedule and a visual depiction of the steps required, without taking the precise timing too seriously
Definitely as a beginner it helps to follow a schedule and start to notice some patterns. As you make bread more and more you start to rely on more visual and tactile signals. For instance, I know that the levain is ready when it appears 'bubbly' enough, and the stretching and folding is done when the dough is 'tough' enough, and that the bulk fermentation is complete when the dough has approximately doubled in size.
This is a great beginner's guide that I have shared with many folks: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/. After some time I have settled on theperfectloaf's 'best sourdough' recipe, which has a higher hydration.