Bread Baking Results - 2021
Listed below are the breads that I baked during the tenth year of my bread baking journey.
1/26/2021 Loaves #318, #319, & #320
Emmanuel's Sourdough
Needing some bread, I once again went with Emmanuel’s Sourdough and baked 3 loaves. I had received a nice Bread Sling from Lee & Dee Stout as a gift and tried it out for the first time. It worked great in lowering the dough into the hot cast iron pan without endangering my hands. Once the bread was baked (and the driveway cleared of ice), I took a loaf over to Lee & Dee. We cut into one of the other loaves and placed the third in the freezer for later.
1/26/2021 'Loaf' #321
Sourdough Discard Crackers
Since I was feeding my sourdough starter in preparation to bake some bread, I saved the ‘discard’ and made some of the burchacres sourdough crackers again. They turned out pretty good, but perhaps slightly overbaked. I seasoned them with Italian Seasoning, Everything Bagel topping, and special Seneca Lake salt. I overdid the salt, but still tasted fairly good.
1/26/2021 'Loaf' #322
Fried Sourdough Discard
Since I was feeding my sourdough starter in preparation to bake some bread, I saved the ‘discard’ and tried something new. I had watched a bread baking video created by Mike Greenfield and he happened to show what he often does with sourdough discard. He just fries it. It’s a very simple process: (1) heat up some oil in a fryer pan; (2) once warm, pour in some sourdough discard, spreading it out evenly and thinly; (3) top with herbs; (4) fry both sides; and (5) eat with some sort of topping. I used fermented hot sauce, but might try butter and maple syrup next time.
1/31/2021 Loaves #323 & #324
Semolina Bread
I saw that a friend, Russ Vaught, had recently baked this semolina bread and really enjoyed it. As a result, I decided to try it myself. I had some confusion on dough type - the recipe calls for Durum Flour. Durum Wheat is often milled into two different flours: (1) Semolina Flour & (2) Durum Flour. Unable to find any local durum flour, I went with semolina flour from Bob’s Red Mill (found at Nature’s Pantry). This procedure calls for what is referred to as a Flying Sponge, which essentially means that it is a quickly developed sponge.
Other than using Semolina Flour, I followed the Hamelman procedure. Right before final proofing, I did roll the dough on a wet towel and then on a plate covered with sesame seeds.
The sesame seeds added nice flavor. The procedure called for a 40 minute bake at 460*F. I only went about 35 minutes and clearly waited too long to extract the bread - both loaves had a slightly burned bottom and a few very dark spots on the crust. Next time, I think I’ll go with 430*F instead of reducing the bake time.
Other than using Semolina Flour, I followed the Hamelman procedure. Right before final proofing, I did roll the dough on a wet towel and then on a plate covered with sesame seeds.
The sesame seeds added nice flavor. The procedure called for a 40 minute bake at 460*F. I only went about 35 minutes and clearly waited too long to extract the bread - both loaves had a slightly burned bottom and a few very dark spots on the crust. Next time, I think I’ll go with 430*F instead of reducing the bake time.
2/4/2021 Loaves #325 & #326
Seeded Rye Bread
Early in the 2020 pandemic, Roxie took on the task of making masks for people. She provided some masks to a friend, Sue Trainor, to use at their medical practice. Sue thanked Roxie by giving her some seeded rye bread that she had baked. It was great! Inquiring about the bread, Sue indicated she didn’t really have a recipe, but did take the time to write something up for me and also gave me a starter kit of rye flour and a seed mix.
I was long overdue to bake my own seeded bread, so I pulled out Sue's notes and gave it a try. It was a fairly easy process and results in a very tasty bread.
Sue indicates that it is important to use a good quality rye flour (e.g., Hodgson's Mill Rye Flour, King Arthur Specialty Rye Flour) and a nice mix of seeds (e.g., unsalted sunflower seeds, millet, sesame seeds, light & dark flax seeds).
I was long overdue to bake my own seeded bread, so I pulled out Sue's notes and gave it a try. It was a fairly easy process and results in a very tasty bread.
Sue indicates that it is important to use a good quality rye flour (e.g., Hodgson's Mill Rye Flour, King Arthur Specialty Rye Flour) and a nice mix of seeds (e.g., unsalted sunflower seeds, millet, sesame seeds, light & dark flax seeds).
3/17/2021 Loaves #327, #328, & #329
Emmanuel's Sourdough
Needing some bread, I once again went with Emmanuel’s Sourdough and baked 3 loaves. One of the loaves ready for immediate use; one to the freezer; and one to a friend at CVIM (Katie). Katie is one of the many employees at CVIM who have worked extremely hard over the past few months doing their normal jobs while also coordinating a massive covid vaccine effort. Katie has 2 children at home and is balancing the heavy work load while helping to manage her children during the pandemic.
4/16/2021 Loaves #330, #331, & #332
Forkish 50% Whole Wheat Bread with Biga
We’re at the lake and just ran out of bread. Since I had some whole wheat flour that I wanted to use up, I decided to bake 2 loaves of 50% whole wheat bread to hold us over until we head back to PA. One loaf went in the freezer and the other loaf was available for dinner. When I placed the oblong piece of dough on the pizza peel, my fingers stuck to the dough and resulted in it being stretched out on the peel. I carefully tucked the dough under itself and tightened up the dough ball. Although not shaped like I would have liked, it did have reasonable oven spring. On the other hand, I didn’t achieve the oven spring I was hoping for on the boule - when I ‘dropped’ it into the dutch oven, it spread out - perhaps I should have taken a moment to tuck the dough under itself a bit while sitting in the dutch oven? In any event, we both really like the flavor of this particular bread.
4/27/2021 Loaves #333, #334, & #335
Emmanuel's Sourdough
We needed (kneaded) some bread, so I went with basic sourdough again. Once baked, one loaf was used immediately; one loaf went to Mike/Chris&Family; and the 3rd loaf went to Lee & Dee Stout, as part of a delivered meal following Lee's back surgery.
When I bake this bread, I end up baking 3 loaves - all 3 doughs get popped in the refrigerator a good 45 minutes before starting my first bake - I start baking 2 loaves (one in dutch oven and one on a baking stone) - once they are finished, I pull the 3rd dough and bake it in the dutch oven - typically, the 2nd dutch oven bake has less oven spring than the first - perhaps over-proofed and perhaps I should move one dough into the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to the other 2 so that fermentation is retarded earlier for the last loaf baked?
When I bake this bread, I end up baking 3 loaves - all 3 doughs get popped in the refrigerator a good 45 minutes before starting my first bake - I start baking 2 loaves (one in dutch oven and one on a baking stone) - once they are finished, I pull the 3rd dough and bake it in the dutch oven - typically, the 2nd dutch oven bake has less oven spring than the first - perhaps over-proofed and perhaps I should move one dough into the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to the other 2 so that fermentation is retarded earlier for the last loaf baked?
7/14/2021 Loaves #336, #337, & #338
Emmanuel's Sourdough
We had invited some lake neighbors in for dinner (Jim, Betsy, Nancy, & Rainer) and decided some fresh bread would go well with the planned eggplant parmesan. So, I revitalized the sourdough starter, which had been dormant for many weeks, and baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough. I sprayed the top of 2 of the loaves with water and then sprinkled sesame seeds on top before popping them in the oven.
When I bake at least one loaf outside of a dutch oven and directly on a stone, I tend to place a container of either ice or water in the base of the oven to get some initial steam on the loaf. This time, I just sprayed the loaf after launch and again after about 2 minutes. This procedure seemed to work well - just make sure you don’t let the sprayed water hit the door glass and risk cracking the glass.
We had one loaf for dinner and the other two went directly to the freezer for later.
When I bake at least one loaf outside of a dutch oven and directly on a stone, I tend to place a container of either ice or water in the base of the oven to get some initial steam on the loaf. This time, I just sprayed the loaf after launch and again after about 2 minutes. This procedure seemed to work well - just make sure you don’t let the sprayed water hit the door glass and risk cracking the glass.
We had one loaf for dinner and the other two went directly to the freezer for later.
7/23/2021 Loaves #339, #340, & #341
Emmanuel's Sourdough
This weekend is the beginning of the annual Smith Family Vacation. Since homemade bread is always popular with the grandkids, I baked 3 loaves of sourdough bread using Emmanuel’s technique. One loaf available immediately and the other 2 were popped in the freezer, but anticipate them to be thawed out before the end of the week.
7/25/2021 Loaf #342
Artichoke-Spinach Sourdough Braid
I had baked this filled braid last year and wanted to try it again sometime. We were beginning our annual Smith Family Vacation at Keuka Lake and, in addition to our family, the Reinharts were stopping over for the afternoon. This seemed like a good opportunity to give it a try as an afternoon snack. It came out nice, folks seemed to enjoy it, and it was good warmed up over the next few days.
8/21/2021 Loaf #343
Artichoke-Spinach Sourdough Braid
notIt’s mid-August at the lake and we have company: Mike, Deb, Carrie, & Dave. Thinking that they might enjoy this particular ‘stuffed bread’, I decided to bake it for lunch one day. I ‘refreshed’ the starter Thursday; made the dough & filling Friday; and baked it mid-morning on Saturday. It turned out really good again and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Although it’s not a really big issue, there were several areas of the braid where cheese oozed out and onto the baking sheet. The solution to a tighter braid will be to move slower with the braid and to make sure it is not stretched too far across, but instead has enough dough to stretch down to fill any voids.
11/14/2021 Loaves #344, #345, & #346
Emmanuel's Sourdough
It had been close to 3 months since I had done any bread baking and close to 3 months since I had given my sourdough starter any attention. When I extracted the sourdough starter from the refrigerator, it looked terrible (a rather sdignificant layer of black liquid on top and a very loose, runny structure). For the first time since I’ve had this starter (spanning over 9 years), I thought I might have rendered unusable. Although I have 3 backups (a container in the freezer, dried chips in a jar, & an extract I had given a friend last summer), I decided to try to revive this starter. I started by simply combining the layer of black liquid with the rest of the starter and then performed a feeding. I followed this with 2 more feedings the next day and voila, the sourodugh starter had come back to a robust starter, rising and falling like it should.
Once the starter was revived, the baked 3 loaves of straight sourdough bread. I had wanted to get a couple of containers of Staplehouse condiments over to Carrie & Dave, so took them one of the loaves also. The bread tasted good with no adverse impacts from my neglected sourdough starter.
Once the starter was revived, the baked 3 loaves of straight sourdough bread. I had wanted to get a couple of containers of Staplehouse condiments over to Carrie & Dave, so took them one of the loaves also. The bread tasted good with no adverse impacts from my neglected sourdough starter.