sourdough the magnificent

Is this not a beautiful one?

One of my finest sourdough ever 🙂

Spring and sourdough

The warm weather absolutely makes a difference in the sourdough starter and the loaf.

Here is one of my finest loaves 🙂

 

my bread babies

It has been two years that I started to bake bread. I have not bought store-sold breads since then.

First many trials were not so good (except the first oe below, which was amazing to me!), but it eventually came around.

Then I got into sourdough and boy, what a magnificent experience it has been: every weekend with great excitement I baked a loaf or two, shared it with my neighbors, and friends, and I even shared my starter with someone interested in. It sure makes me happy and joyful.

Happy baking! 🙂

My first ever bread! (with commercial yeast and whole wheat flour – two years ago today:)))))

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crowned queen – sourdough with oat 🙂

Spiderman sourdough :)

Spiderman is here!!!! 🙂

Does it not look like the face of Spiderman – one of my favorite characters? 🙂

This loaf was the last and the best one I baked with multigrain bread flour.

FYI – I cannot recommend the multigrain bread flour – it does not rise much. If you are looking for better crumb, either have a warmer place to proof the dough (my kitchen is around 17C during winter and I am not patient enough to wait too long), or use the old, good plain bread flour.

This loaf contains:

• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat starter/levain
• 2.5 cups of water
• 4 cups of multi-grain bread flour and 2 cups of all purpose flour (i had run out of bread and multi-grain flour)
• 2.5 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs salt

Everything is mixed and I stretched and folded it 4-5 times before I left it to rise overnight at room temperature; these happened yesterday evening

This morning I shaped it and placed in a mixing bowl upside down and left for proofing in the oven for 5.5 hours

Baked at 350F oven (non-prehetaed) for an hour

Delicious!

Spiderman is here!!!! 🙂

this is how it looked right before I left it to rise over night

and this is how it saied good morning to me in the morning – it has risen 🙂

shaped – you may notice that I did not do a good job making it a smooth round dough. It is difficult to “bind” and “smooth” dough prepared with the multi-grain flour. It may be me, it may be the flour – I leave it to you to decide

5.5 hours later it had risen and got fluffy, which is always a pleasure to see 🙂

the dough keeps its shape well, which tells me that gluten is formed.. let’s cross the finger 🙂

my favorite score 🙂

the crumb was soft and with little but mighty air packets – I could not be happier 🙂 the air packets were little but at least existed – cannot wait to get plain bread flour now 🙂

Sunday sourdough

rolled oat makes perfect crown for sourdough 🙂

am I happy or what?

crowned queen – sourdough with oat 🙂

 

Sunday sourdough

I was trying to find the ways to reduce the proofing time lately: one thing I have tried in the last two weeks is proofing the dough in an oven (not turned or warmed up; no lights , either) to see whether this relatively temperature-wise stable environment would help reduce it. 

This dough was only proved for 3 hours (in contrast to my usual 4-6 hours proofing). It was almost flat when I placed it on the parchment paper and scored. But there was a great oven spring (just like last week), so it turned out to be just lovely.

I think the in-oven proofing helped. I also think that maybe in the past I was over-proofing my dough..

Of course, the hydration levels of the dough makes a difference in terms of the yeast activity – this was a slightly sticky dough. This may be another reason for the short proof time working with this loaf.

In any way, I am just happy to have this loaf 🙂

 

mighty starter/levain 🙂 it is 100% whole wheat starter

iitial dough: it has 1 cup of levain; 1.5 cups of water, 1.5 tbs of salt and sugar, and 3.5 cups of bread flour – I stretched and folded it 4-5 times, and left at room temp over night for the rise

the next morning, this is what I have said hello 🙂

shaped and left for proofing for 3 hours

at the end of 3 hours-proofing time; not so much of a rise but it is puffy and I took my chances 🙂

on the parchment paper prior to scoring

tried this style for the first time – let’s see it 🙂

looook at these air pockets 🙂 so impressive considering that it was a short proofing this time – bon appetite me! 🙂

happy sourdough – III

 

Isn’t it beautiful 🙂

This was the first time that I tried 3 hours of proofing. When I took it out of the shaping bowl and scored, the dough was almost flat. But in the oven it showed a great oven spring and one of the largest air pockets I have ever seen. It even cracked itself on top even though I had slashed it, which tells me that yeast really worked hard this time.

Will continue like this – it has been a great experiment.

butternut squash dessert and weekly sourdough bread

Butternut squash dessert

I found a nice butternut squash the week before. My original aim was to make a hearty soup, but I decided in the last moment to make a dessert with it.

here is the recipe:

• peel the coating and cut in pieces (mine were around 1-5 cm width and 7 cm length)
• add 2 cups of sugar, mix
• add 1.5 tsp salt and 6 cups of water
• bring to a rolling boil and simmer at medium heat for 40 min
• add 1.5 tbs lemon juice and boil for another 5 min
• take the squash bits on an oven pot, add 2 cups of the liquid*, sprinkle with chopped nuts (I have used hazelnut) (optional)
• bake at 350F pre-heated oven for 20 min**
• enjoy! (top with a scoop of ice cream if you wish and tell me this was not a good idea 🙂 )

*I have had around 1 liters of the liquid, which is yummy. Drink it as it is, or use less water 

**You can bake longer to thicken the liquid

chop in size and shape as you like

put squash bits in a pot, add sugar, slat and water; boil and simmer until the desired softness is reached

take the cooked squash bits in an oven pot,, pour over 2 cups of liquid, and bake at 350F for 20 min or loner (depending on your preference)

enjoy 🙂

Sourdough

My sourdough today was kind of sticky dough and as a result did not keep it shape well. But there was oven spring and it looks great 🙂

after stretching and folding 4-5 times and right before letting to rest overnight at room temp

good morning! 🙂

shaped and placed in a proofing bowl

4 hours of proofing at room temp – kind of sticky and not standing tall, but that is okay (I have seen worse! 🙂 )

baked at 350F (non-pre-heated oven) for n hour) – looking good to me!

the wild yeast made its work just right 🙂

sourdough loaf with oats and black olives

Here is a fantastic sourdough with a hint of trolled oats and black olives 🙂

This loaf was my first trial of a rectangular shape 🙂 I learnt a while ago that sticky dough do not keep its shape well if does not have enough support. So I used one of my oven pots to prove and bake this loaf.

I would do this loaf again; the crust was thin and soft (the way I love it) and it tasted amazing!

The recipe is similar to others:

• 1 1/3 cup 100% whole wheat starter (fed Friday night and then on Saturday morning prior to saving half in the fridge; used to make the dough in the afternoon)
• 2 cups water; mixed the starter and water well with the help of a fork until it became kind of frothy
• 2.5 tbs sugar; mixed well into the starter/water mix
• 4.5 cups of bread flour, 1.5 tbs salt, and 200 grms of pitted black olive-halved: (approximately 1.5 cups). Formed a shaggy dough, closed the lid, kneaded every 30 min or so three times until dough looked like forming. At the end of folding stage dough was too sticky (must be the olives’ juice), so I added 1/3 cup of rolled oats to help with the moisture
• let rest at room temperature over might
• since it was a kind of sticky dough, I decided to place it in a large rectangular oven pot lined with parchment paper
• sprinkled top with more oats, placed in a nylon bag, tied the ends, and proved for 4.5 hours at room temperature
• baked in non-pre-heated oven at 350 F for one hour

after the stretch and fold and prior to over night rise at room temp

this is how it said hi to me 🙂 what a lovely rise 🙂

placed in the oven pot without trying to shape; I just helped it to the corners and that was it

and it looks awesome inside – as expected from a sticky dough it has nice air pockets

closer look – black olives are my favorites, so I could not be happier 🙂

happy sourdough loaf – II

Today’s sourdough loaf has turned out to be another happy one with a great oven spring and happy smile 🙂

my monster starter 🙂 always dependable 🙂 this is a 100% whole wheat starter, which shows itself on the loaf

this dough has had; 1 cup of levain, 2 cups of water, 4 cups of bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1.5 tbs of salt; mixed, formed a shaggy dough, stretched and folded 3-4 times and left at room temp overnight (covered) for around 16 hours

and this is how it turned out to be this morning 🙂 a well risen dough is always a delight to look at

shaped and placed in a mixing bowl with a clean cloth sprinkled with flour

after 5 hours of proofing at room temp in a nylon bag (creating green house effect, it did proof well)

turns out I should have used more flour on the proofing bowl; this dough somehow stuck to the cloth, which caused the dough to deflect a little bit

my favorite scoring pattern 🙂 baked the loaf at 350 F (non pre-heated oven) for 1 hour 5 min

crunch outside and soft inside, this loaf is delightful 🙂

my love affair with self-sufficiency

Life is interesting.

I have never been interested in cooking or being self-sufficient.

In the last two years, however, this has change. I still do not like cooking but baking, pickling, and jamming have been awesome. I could not be more excited 🙂

Fermented food

Sourdough: I first became interested in baking bread and I now even have a sourdough starter that makes wonders every week 🙂 I have not purchased any store-made bread since May 2016. I also shared my sourdough and commercial yeast loaves with my fiends. What a joy 🙂

Kefir: I then was gifted by kefir grains within 2017 and i not only fell in love with kefir itself, but I made cheese/spread from it and even used it in baking bread 🙂 Drinking kefir makes me feel good and I know that it gives me the calcium that I need at my age in addition to many nutrients. I am very happy with it 🙂

Pickles: I did pickles before thanks to my mother, but I have never been this interested in it until recently – I love the beet and cabbage pickles I make! I think it is the benefit of living in a cold climate that the pickle lasts long without going bad and this way I always have a jar or two in my kitchen. I made three batches of beet pickles this fall enjoyed by myself and my friends 🙂

Sauerkraut: And tomorrow I will try my first ever sauerkraut! 

How about this? 

I think I am moving in the right direction 🙂

 

Jam/marmalade:

And just within the last 5-6 weeks, I started experimenting with making jam; dried fig jam first, then orange and tangerine, and today the raspberry jam/marmalade 🙂

I feel like I am doing such a great job refraining from additives and chemicals in store-bought jams/bread/pickles. I must be rightfully proud of myself and I am!

 

Sewing

Okay.. I have not been as productive as I wished, but since I purchased my lovely sewing machine last year, I have done small stuff, including lots of covers for jars and discloth/cloth for the counter and window sills. I am yet to undertake a serious project, like a blouse or a quilt, but I know when the time comes, that will happen too 🙂

 

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These are newfound interests for me and they have been enriching my life, providing me healthy and affordable food/items, and I feel increasingly “able”.

I really am excited about this change in me.

 

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gif by:https://giphy.com/gifs/XSKhFtfGr1HYA

 

 

corn flour bread

I literally craved for this since yesterday 🙂

I followed the recipe here with the exception of baking at 350F for 40 min, adding 2 jalapeno peppers (de-seeded and cut), and using corn flour (fine).

My verdict is that it is an easy and delicious bread that can be readied in an hour.

It was a little bit sweet for a bread, but it was not annoying. I would maybe add some more sugar next time to make it like a cake 🙂

Jalapenos could have been lightly cooked prior to adding to the mix, but overall that was one great bake today! 🙂

corn flour and milk mix – rested for 5 min

the rest of the ingredients in another bowl – mixed

add all ingredients together and mix – do not mix too much

pour into an oven pot sprinkled with vegetable oil

40 min after at 350F – looking great 🙂

enjoy!

 

 

Sunday Sourdough (belated post)

Here is the sourdough loaf I baked yesterday – is it not a beauty? 🙂

As soon as I put it in the oven, I knew it was gonna be an awesome loaf, so I invited a friend over to enjoy it together with meal.

It was delicious, hearty, and very much loved 🙂

Happy sourdough bread!

Here is today’s sourdough bread with a happy, happy, happy face! 🙂

It will be gifted to a colleague of mine, who gave me a ride this weekend – hope they will like it 🙂

this is the dough prior to overnight rise at room temp; it contains 1 cup of levain, 1 1/3 cup of water, 3.5 cups of bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1.5 tbs of salt; stretched and folded 4-5 times. You may notice it is in a mixing bowl , which is in a pot. I wanted to try whether rising in a bowl would help with the development of the dough better than a large pot, like I always do. I also needed the pot because it has a lid – we do not want any pet lurking around, do we? I do not…..:)

in the morning; it was a great dough

this is right after it has been shaped and placed in a mixing bowl with a clean kitchen towel sprinkled with flour

5.5 hours of rising at room temperature in a plastic bag, which creates a green house effect I believe

I was kind of worried about its shape, but it turned out to be great at the end

scoring; my favorite one!

Sunday sourdough with sesame seeds

Yet another lovely sourdough to complement this beautiful Sunday 🙂 

today’s sourdough loaves

Because of my trips lately I had depleted my frozen bread stock. I feel a lot better when I have extra loaves at the freezer. Thus, I baked two sourdough today using the same recipe 🙂

They both turned out to be lovely! Thin crust and soft crumb, with a kick of salt and feeling very homey 🙂 The oven spring was way more powerful that I would imagine, as both loaves had sides cracked despite the fact that I had scored their surface 🙂 Something worked really well 🙂

The catch is that I had run out of bread flour, so I had to prepare the dough with all purpose flour. Now, I  never have had a good rise with all purpose flour, even though I am in Canada (people says that Canadian all purpose flour is as good as the bread flour with high protein content…). That is why I thought I would add some oat or rye flakes to dough – my previous experience with these additions is that they make the yeast somehow happier and dough better and airy.

Recipe:

• I used 1 cup of rolled rye flakes soaked for 2 hours in 1 cup of water, which was then topped with 5 cups of all purpose flour, 2tbs of sugar, 1.5 tbs of salt, 1 1/3 cups of starter, and I believe 2.5 cups of water.
• I used the stretch and fold technique to form the dough and left it at room temperature over night to rise.
• In the morning, I was looking at a puffy and healthy dough 🙂 I cut it into two, one smaller than the other, shaped, rested for 10 min, and then placed them in proving containers. The small one was proven in an oven pot and the other one was formed into a long loaf and placed on a cookie sheet surrounded with items to keep it in shape. I left them at room temperature for 4.5 hours to prove.
• I scored them and then baked at non-pre-heated oven at 350F for 55 min.

Voila 🙂

initial dough

the next morning, it looks fluffy and happy 🙂

this is the long loaf, squeezed between kitchen items to help keep its shape

small loaf; nicely tucked in an oven pot

after 4.5 hours at room temp, the dough has risen nice and eay

ready to score and bake 🙂

score

score

t

the crumb of the small loaf – not bad, eh?

the crumb of the long/big loaf

baked two sourdough loaves today :)

I baked two loaves today – my freezer stock has been depleted. One always need a decent home-made sourdough bread 🙂

Both loaves have been sightly sticky, risen at room temp for about 18 hours (at round 17 C). For the baton loaf, I used a pot to rise, whereas the other one was risen in a mixing bowl. The latter was slightly more sticky in the next morning and required quite a bit of flour to handle. I also needed to use a lot of flour to keep it from sticking to baking clothe while proving. This inevitably resulted in a pale looking loaf. I have risen the baton loaf on parchment paper between a couple of stuff to help keep its shape. 

The prove time was 4 hours for the round loaf and around 5 hours for the other. I baked them at 350F for around 55-65 minutes.

The end results are good with lots of air pockets. The big pockets in the round loaf are worrisome, telling me that I did not do a good job deflating the dough in the morning. The baton loaf had a much better crumb, which was very pleasing.

Bon appetite! 🙂

levain 🙂 happy and healthy

initial shaggy dough – I added 2 cups of levain. 9 cups of bread flour, 4 cups of water, 3 tbs of sugar, and 2 tbs of salt

after 5 stretching and folding, I have cut the dough into two – this is the slightly smaller half risen at room temp overnight

the bigger half: risen in the pot over night at room temp

the big half in the morning – risen well

the small half; nicely risen

the big dough formed into baton shape on parchment paper and supported by some handy kitchen items 🙂

the small dough right before the start of the proving step

small dough after 4 hours of proving

this is how it looked; note the flour on the surface – I had to use A LOT of it to prevent it from sticking to baking clothe

scoring was not successful this time, but good enough

the baton loaf after proving; nice and plumpy 🙂

scored; I was not very good at scoring this time, but that is okay

aaand the small loaf after 55 min at 350F – during the bake I sweeped the extra flour from the surface, but flour still stuck to the dough. as a results I ended up with a pale looking bread. oven spring is pretty good

this turned out to be a big loaf – I cut it into three pieces for freezer 🙂

the small/round loaf – not bad but not great either. nevertheless it will be greatly enjoyed 🙂

on the sides of the round loaf there have been many large air packets

this is the baton and my verdict is that its crumb has been way better than the round loaf 🙂

 

 

 

sometimes trying something hopeless pays off

Yesterday I have prepared two sourdough; one can be found here; it was prepared by a starter that was rigorous and with a long rise (around 16 hours at room temp) with 4 hours of proving, following my regular recipe. It turned out to be a lovely loaf with a great oven spring.

That loaf will be given to my friends that I have seen yesterday night. So upon returning home at around 11 pm, I decided I needed a loaf for myself so I prepared a small dough using the left overs from my starter that I resurrected this past week. These left overs are those that needed to be removed and replaced with fresh flour and water while feeding the starter. I did not want to put it in garbage, so I thought I could find a use for them (like tortilla), so had kept around 3/4 cups of them in my fridge. They were not necessarily the best starter, but I took my chances with my second loaf.

The second loaf had 9 hours of first rise with limited stretch and fold (1 only) at room temperature and 5 hours of proofing. Honestly it did not look good when I put it on parchment paper (it did not keep its shape). Anyways, in the oven there was some kind of spring. So I was still not very hopeful. But when I cut it, I was very surprised; it has the largest air pockets I have seen in my sourdough! It is soft and the sesame seeds give it an incredibly nutty flavor 🙂 Although its rise was short, I think dough being slightly sticky helped it to turn into this beautiful loaf.

I think sometimes keeping the faith and trying something that does not look much hopeful pays off 🙂

right before placing on parchment paper prior to baking; it was sticky so I applied a lot of sesame seeds to the sides

on the parchment paper: deflated dough never gives you hope about its future. BUT I was proven wrong this time 🙂

after 33 min of baking at 375F oven (oven was pre-heated). there is some oven spring, but nothing impressive

voila! wow! never expected this 🙂 beautiful, is it not? very impressive indeed!

 

 

Sourdough

I resurrected my sourdough starter for the second time from previously dried starter flakes 🙂

This time, it is really strong and robust. Look at this oven spring – I could not be more excited 🙂

Rate this:

today’s sourdough was a failure

I thought I could make it, but I was wrong.

Using all purpose flour in this sourdough loaf was a disaster. They say the Canadian all purpose and bread flours have similar protein content and many bakers are successful in getting decent loaves with all purpose flour, but today I proved myself that was not the case for me. Bread flour it is!

Dough was fantastic, but as soon as I took it from the proofing basket, it spread and leveled. I was hoping maybe once it is in the oven things would get better. But the loaf did not rise, usual oven spring was not existing, and it took longer (1 hour 15 min at 350F) to get a browned crust (I suspect because it was such a shallow loaf that its crust was further away from the top of the oven, which made it longer to brown), and as a result is as dry and hard as brick.

I will eat it, but honestly use the bread flour if it works better for your loaves.

 

starter was one of the best I have seen lately; I was hopeful about this loaf. Alas…..

initial shaggy dough with 3 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup+1tbs of starter, 1 1/3 cup water, 2 tbs sugar, and 1.5 tbs salt. it was dry and did not form well at the beginning, which was somehow alarming

after 4-5 stretch and fold; it turned out to be working; dough was in a much better shape and moist

after 18 hours rise at room temperature dough has risen quite well and I was very pleased with this 🙂

quickly shaped and placed in a bowl lined up with a clean cloth and sprinkled with generous amount of flour

after 6 hours of proof at room temperature in a plastic bag (makes the green house effect)

when taken out of the bowl; it does not look bad but it started to spread after that

my signature (aka favorite scoring)

final product baked at 350F non-pre-heated oven for 1 hour 15 min

there are some air pockets, but it is a good example of a brick loaf 😦

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Added after the post: On a second thought, this loaf may as well be just over-proved. The first rise was quite long (around 18 hours) and I wonder if this has something to do with this leveled loaf (aka less gluten structure)… if you have any opinion, please do comment.

Truth about sourdough

I see a number of blogs/recipes using commercial yeast in the dough and calling it sourdough.

Sorry to break the news to some of us, but if you use commercial yeast, it is not sourdough. I guess someone started this and it kind of stuck with some other people.

Sourdough is made from levain/starter that is a totally natural culture of yeast (and bacteria). If you do not believe me, please check internet and see for yourself.

It somehow hurts me to hear that sourdough culture and commercial baking yeast are equalized. They both are fantastic, yet different. So let’s give them the place they deserve.

this is my sourdough culture that I created a year ago from water and whole wheat flour; it is love.

 

 

Sunday is the day of sourdough

Here is my sourdough loaf for today 🙂

this is my sourdough culture that I created a year ago from water and whole wheat flour; it is love.

this is how the dough initially looked; it consists of 1 cup of stiff levain, 1 1/3 cup of water, 3 cups of bread flour, 2 tbs sugar, and 1.5 tbs salt. I do not know why I use sugar, but I baked once without it and it was not a great rise, so I keep adding sugar to my sourdough

after 4-5 stretch and fold – ready to rest over night

after the over night rest at room temperature

shaped and directly placed into proofing basket aka mixing bowl lined with a clean cloth and sprinkled with flour; close those seams 🙂

after 5 hours of proofing in a nylon bag (green house effect; recommended)

perfect shape 🙂

my signature aka most favorite scoring

and after 55 min (45 min with oven on at 375F and 10 min off); baking at non-pre-heated oven

lovely, is it not?

resurrected sourdough starter

I managed to revive my sourdough starter from dried flakes! 🙂

The new one is very similar to previous one (that I accidentally used all in a loaf) and has had a great oven spring. Since it will be served to my guests tomorrow, I did not cut it up to see the crumb, but I am sure it is good.

I could not ask for a better one 🙂

bread with sun flower seeds

While trying to revive my dried sourdough starter, here is the bread I have baked using the commercial yeast.

yeast is activated and frothy; ready to use 🙂

this is the initial dough, prior to the stretches and folds

after streches and folds and 3 hours at room temp; it is risen and formed a little bit 🙂

this is how it looked in the morning after an over night rest at the fridge

right before shaping; the dough has relaxed at room temp

start of the 4 hour proving

at the end of the proving step; there is a nice, satisfactory rise

I was amazed how well the dough has kept its round shape when I moved it from the shaping bowl on to the baking sheet. excellent sign 🙂

scored: this is turning into my favorite scoring model 🙂

 

 

Recipe:

1/2 tbs yeast, 1 cup 2% milk, 1 cup water (warm milk and water together first), 2 tbs sugar; mix well and activate the yeast for 10 min (cover the bowl)

add 3 tbs salt, 9 cups of bread flour, mix and form a dough

cover and stretch and fold 3-4 times (around 20-30 min rest in between)

rest at fridge over night

in the morning. take the dough out and bring to room temp ~3 hours

shape the dough and rest 5 min

work on the shape of the dough, and place it in a bowl with clean cloth and sprinkled with generous amount of sun flower seeds

put in a large plastic bag and prove at room temp for 4 hours (in the last 30 min I put it in an oven warmed to 100F)

score and bake at a non-pre-heated oven at 375F for 45 min (oven on) and an additional 15 min (oven off)

take out, sprinkle some water over the loaf, and let cool down

Bon appetite!

 

PS: since  this loaf is going to a friend of mine, I did not cut it out and hence I have no idea how the crumb is. But the oven spring was amazing and the fact that the loaf kept its round shape, I am hopeful that the crumb too is good 🙂

Day of the sourdough

I have baked two sourdough loaves today: one plain, and one with tomato, bell pepper, and garlic shoots.

Next time I can leave the garlic out, but this sourdough was interesting to bake and eat. I would recommend for those who like a taste of sunny and healthy Mediterranean food 🙂

Mediterranean loaf:

starter was on fire today – must be the hot weather 🙂

4 tomatoes and 1 bell pepper; grated

these are the garlic shoots from my own garden 🙂

mix everything: 1 cup starter, 7 cups bread flour, grated bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic shoots, 2 tbs sugar, 1 tbs salt

… and form an initial, shaggy dough – do not worry. It will look a lot better after one or two stretch and fold

stretched and folded 🙂 since starter was too active today, I decided to keep the dough in the fridge over night

and this is how much it had risen in the fridge 🙂

proofing time 🙂

~4 hours later, what a rise 🙂

this is how it looked right before putting in to a non-pre-heated oven (375F, 50 min bake). Since it was such a sticky dough, I am not surprised that it rather leveled down

looking good 🙂

OMG – inside is awesome! see the air packets? Yummy bread

 

Plain loaf:

the initial, shaggy dough

after one or two stretching and folding – coming along nice and easy

after the first rise at room temperature overnight – almost escaping 🙂

shaped and let prove

that is how it looked after 4 hours of proofing

lovely crust 🙂

not bad; could have been proofing longer I guess – oh well, next time 🙂

 

 

sourdough loaf with black olive, parsley, and kefir

I wanted to bake a sourdough that was not tried before and I think I managed to do so.

I present you the sourdough loaf with kefir, parsley, and black olive 🙂

Smells like sea! Enjoy!

 

kefir, coarsely chopped italian parsley (my favorite), and cut black olives – yummy 🙂

starter-levain 🙂

kefir, sugar, and starter mixed well – they are happy 🙂

add the rest and the flour

what a messy dough – at first I thought it would not form anything, but I was wrong-it just needed some time to form… I gotta give it its credit – it is pretty crowded in that dough

a few streching and folding and now it is time to rest over night

aaaaandd the morning – it escaped! what a great rise it has had – admiring it pretty much 😦

proving – start

at the end of 5.5 hours proving – quite a rise it has had

right befor scoring – it is such a healthy dough 🙂 smells like sea!

boy, I guess I messed with scoring this time – it was a nice try though 🙂

hmmmm… oven spring is not the best, but its crunchy outside and soft inside – so all is well 🙂

such a nice structure – I keep getting not huge air pockets, but consistently formed/air-pocketed crumb. I am happy with that 🙂

 

The Queen of all bread; sourdough with kefir

but…but… but… can you see what I see? Is that not GORGEOUS!? 🙂 🙂

I am hooked to this combination and I suspect that I will always bake sourdough with kefir from now on.

I have not tasted anything quite like this, nor eaten a softer sourdough that I have baked. The slight salty taste, the crumb (the best so far), and the smell of this sourdough will fill my dreams – I can tell you that with confidence.

The recipe is quite basic like any other sourdough I have baked;

1. I added to 1 cup of whole wheat starter fed twice (Friday night and Saturday morning), 2tbs of sugar and 1 cup of kefir – mixed well with a spoon until it become somehow frothy (it does become frothy quite easily). Then added 2 cups of bread flour and 1.5 tbs of salt. Mixed and formed a shaggy dough.

This dough formed quite fast without needing to mix too much – I give it to kefir.       Somehow it helped bond the dough and voila! I had that healthy looking and soft             dough. As it was my practice the last few weeks, I made sure the dough was slightly           sticky while adding the flour.

2. I then left it at room temperature covered with a clean towel and stretched and folded 4-5 times time to time. The next day, I shaped it, and left for proving in a bowl covered with a clean cloth and sprinkled with generous amount of sesame and poppy seeds. It proved for 6.5 hours at room temperature in a plastic bag.

3. I baked it in non-preheated oven; 375 F for 15 min first, then 25 min at 350 F (the seeds burn pretty quick if the temperature is high), and then left in a turned off oven for an additional 5 min.

Give it a try and let me know whether you also agree that this is the best sourdough ever! 🙂

 

mother of sourdough – the happy and active starter

kefir – I am hesitant to add it but I read that others tried baking bread with kefir, so here comes a fresh batch of kefir

the initial shaggy dough – do not worry – it will form just fine

at the end of stretch and folds; ready to rest overnight

and the next morning it has risen all nice and fluffy 🙂

shaped and left for proving

6.5 hours later, it seems to have proven quite a bit – exciting 🙂

the seeds look great! sadly I also deflated it a little bit while taking it from the bowl onto the parchment paper.. feeling nervous….

i deflated the dough a little bit more while scoring…. not my best day – next time I will have to handle this dough with a little bit more care

but…but… but… can you see what I see? Is that not GORGEOUS!? 🙂 🙂

and the crumb is my finest so far – kefir and sourdough have formed a great collaboration. This bread will be a classic at my house from now on

sourdough bread with beet

Here we go – the most interesting sourdough loaf I have ever baked!

What do you think?

I had seen a recipe here at wordpress once upon a time using beet (thanks whoever had posted it at that time). It always intrigued me and finally this weekend it was the time to give it a try.

My verdict; this is a very easy loaf to work with because wild yeast loves the beet (or anything else like carrots that provide some kind of nutrients and moisture to the dough/bread) and the colour is just amazing! It was a fluffy dough that rose pretty well. The proving step was also short (~5 hours at room temperature in my cool Canadian kitchen) – partly because of the hydration by the beet and partly because I tried to make it kind of sticky with less flour than usual. The crumb is open (one of the best, if not the best crumb I have seen lately) and it is soft and palatable. The only thing was that the smell of raw/baked beet somehow threw me away at the beginning. But the remedy is easy and available – butter, as usual, makes it perfect! 🙂

This being said, I think next time I will try it with raspberry and some more sugar!

 

Recipe

Friday night: took the starter off the fridge and fed with whole wheat flour and water, wrapped in a towel and left at room temperature overnight

Saturday morning: fed the starter again and one hour later divided it into two portion: one portion went to fridge (starter) and the second portion left at room temp for 3 hours to flourish (to be used in the dough)

Saturday afternoon: added to 1 cup of starter, 2 tbs of sugar, and 1 cup of water. Grated 1 medium sized beet and added to the mixture. Then, added 2.5 cups of bread flour and 1.5 tbs of salt and mixed with a spoon. It formed a shaggy dough. After that I left for shopping, so only 5 hours later or so, I stretched and folded it once or twice before leaving it to rise at room temperature overnight (closed lid and covered with a towel)

Sunday morning: shaped on a generously floured work surface, let rest for 10 min and shaped again. I decided it was better if I proved it in an oven dish and directly baked it after proving. Hence, I placed the dough in the dish covered with parchment paper and put it in a nylon bag – that, I found a while ago, creates a green house effect and help dough prove faster

Sunday afternoon: After 5 hours of proving, turned the oven on (375F) and placed the dough in it. Baked for 45 min with oven on and then an additional 15 min with oven turned off.

Do not forget to cool down, admire, and enjoy it with butter and loved ones!  

Bon appetite 🙂

 

what da ya think about this crumb? wonderful, is it not? 🙂

to beet or not to beet? 🙂

grated beet – this colur is the best red shade ever!

starter, water, sugar, and beet mixed up

this is the initial dough – right before the rise

the next morning – wow! what a great rise it had had 🙂

since it is quite softy and sticky, shaping it required gentle handling and lots of flour

here it is at the end of the proving step – all fluffy and lovely looking

final loaf – I decided no to score this time as it already had some kind of surface breakage prior to proving

 

 

sourdough with rolled rye

Here is another Sunday sourdough with a touch of rolled rye – a slice of it and butter  – yummy!

The recipe is very similar to an earlier loaf with slight changes: I did not wait 30 min after adding water to rolled rye (rather mixed it with the rest of the ingredients right away – I have got lazy here 🙂 ), used one cup starter, 1 cup water, 2 tbs of sugar, 1.5 tbs of salt and 3.5 cup of bread flour. Since the bread flour is a little bit less than the previous recipe, this was a slightly sticky dough, which I prefer the last few weeks. I also did not pre-heat the oven; just put it inside and let it oven spring 🙂

In my experience rolled oat, rolled rye, or semolina flour in small amounts (like 1 cup in addition to 3-4 cups bread flour) help with proofing and oven rise – these kind of loaves never disappointed me in terms crumb.

Here is a pictorial recipe for this hearty and tasty loaf:

 

 

 

 

 

today’s sourdough

Not the best shape, but delicious 🙂

 

wet sourdough loaf

This sourdough was wet; way stickier than my previous ones.

As expected, it turned out to be just great in terms of the air packets. It is not the best looking loaf, but it is expected from such a wet dough (which is hard to shape). 

I could not help and enjoy a big slice with butter when it was still warm  🙂

I am very happy with this starter; it does not yield big air packets, but it is consistent and crumb is always well structured. See the little air packets all around? 🙂

Mother of All Bread

is sourdough 🙂

today’s sourdough and the creamy wild rice soup

Here is my baby today 🙂

This loaf is similar to others in making, only with an additional 2 tbs water to make it slightly sticky. During stretching and folding, the dough formed well and the stickiness has almost disappeared. I also did not add sugar to dough for the first time.

proofing 🙂

after the proofing step

this scoring worked well 🙂

and the end product 🙂 what a beauty! I am very pleased with the oven spring.

 

———————————

And, finally I am consuming the wild rice that I have had for some years!!!

I totally improvised this soup:

• Add in a pot 1 cup wild rice, 1 cup red lentil, 1 small potato, 100 grms of butter, and 3 cups water
• Boil and then simmer for 1 hour, or until rice softens

This is a very creamy and hearty soup because of the lentil and potato, and has a mixture of both soft and somewhat crunchy texture (the wild rice has a tough outer membrane)

Bon appetite! 🙂

 

 

 

sourdough and I :)

Here is my 50% whole wheat, 50% bread flour sourdough with flax seed 🙂

And here is yours truly having some fun after baking this beautiful loaf  (I could not upload the video; apparently I must be paying for a plan to do so. Hence, rather here is a snap shot from the video 🙂

 

 

The 1st anniversary of my bread-making adventure :)

Today is the 1st anniversary of my bread-making adventure!

And what an adventure it has been 🙂

I first got enticed by commercial yeast by chance, and tried my first loaf without knowing what I was doing 🙂 It was a very tasty, very hearty bread though – I enjoyed it 🙂 

With the confidence coming out of that experience, the week after that I tried baguettes and this time I was very badly defeated 🙂 I have had very serious concerns about whether I would ever be able to bake a decent loaf. This lasted some time, while I read, read, and read about how to best bake a bread. 

It was my mom who encouraged me to get hopeful and try again. And again I tried. It was not an easy period I would say; I often failed and only every once a while I could get a decent loaf. I experimented a lot with autolysing, kneading, stretching and folding, over-night dough risen at room temperature or in the fridge, using a roaster as a substitute for a dutch oven, using milk or water in dough, using pre-heated and non-preheated oven, misting the oven versus not doing it while baking, adding rolled oats or seeds like flax seed to dough, and different types of flour (all purpose flour and bread flour).

I got intrigued by wild yeast and sourdough, hence I also experimented with it 🙂 I attempted four times to get a decent starter and eventually got one with a whole wheat flour. It is my Monster starter that has been working just great since last August-September. I almost every single weekend bake a loaf or two using this starter, and I must say every week I notice a subtle progress and development in it. It is a living organism alright 🙂

So I found that while I am still far away from the “perfect loaf”, stretching and folding really works and develops the dough, over night dough is the best, there is no need for pre-heating or misting the oven, or using a dutch oven/roaster to bake a good loaf. All you need is love, patience, and paying attention to dough. If you do this, you will get a great loaf each time after a while. Guaranteed.

Today, on this very special anniversary, I tried sourdough with rolled oat with a recipe similar to this (and without the flax seed). What a beauty 🙂

my sourdough loaf is “crowned” with rolled oat today to celebrate this important anniversary 🙂

Here are select loaves I have baked within the last year, starting with the first ever loaf I baked. Looking at them literally makes me happy.

If you are intrigued or interested at all, I would say go for it and try a loaf or two. Baking your own bread is very healthy, satisfying, and most importantly, an exciting hobby 🙂

Happy baking!  🙂

The first loaf  🙂

with commercial yeast and water

today’s sourdough

the end products! look at these beauties! The scoring on boule makes an impression of a face, do you not think? 🙂

I baked two sourdough today; one boule and the other baton-shaped.

The recipe is quite similar to previous ones with:

• 4/3 cup of whole wheat flour starter fed Friday evening and Saturday morning,        1 1/4 cup water, 3-4 cups bread flour, 2 tbs of sugar, and 2 tbs of salt. It should be slightly sticky
• mix, rest at room temperature, and stretch and fold 4-5 times with 20-60 min in between (it is quite forgiving; you do not need to time everything. what is important is to fold and strech so that the dough and gluten form)
• rise at room temperature over night in a mixing bowl with lid and wrap with a towel
• the next morning (aka today), shape and rest for 10 min. Re-shape if required, cover the loaf with a towel, and place in a plastic bag for a green house effect (I think that works really well) for 4 hours or longer (this week at the end of 4 hours, the loaves had almost doubled)
• bake at 375 min for 50-55 min (until it becomes golden crisp. I no longer pre-heat the oven or use a roaster/dutch oven to bake. Eventually if the dough is good, the bread comes out wonderful)
• cool down and make sure to take your time to enjoy 🙂

this is how it rises at the end of the over night rise; does it not look exciting? i am so happy to see dough risen in Sunday mornings 🙂

the boule right before proofing, seam up in a shaping bowl with a clean cloth sprinkled with flour

I am not great at shaping baton, but this will do it 🙂

after 4 hours, the boule has almost doubled in size – this is always a good sign

score

score

aaaand the end products! look at these beauties! The scoring on boule made an impression of a face, do you not think? 🙂

and the crumb of the baton – what a great development. I am very happy with the loaves today 🙂

crumb of the boule – I find that baton loaves give more open crumbs than boules (based on last week’s and this week’s experience. I wonder whether it has something to do with the height – shorter is better to get air pockets somehow? Maybe it is easier to lift up the dough if the height is not high like in my boules… something to think about)

 

sourdough, what else?

Two sourdough loaves with flax seed, rolled oat, and whole wheat starter – could not ask for a better crumb 🙂

sourdough bread

Made similar to previous ones, this loaf was fun to bake and eat with butter 🙂

Today’s loaves

Sourdough loaves are for myself (of course! – since I started baking sourdough in August-September last year, there has not been a week that I have not eaten it 🙂 ) while the bread loaves with commercial yeast will be given to my colleague who gave me a ride last week.

Sourdough loaves were done very similar to previous ones with flax seed and rolled oat.

The loaves with the commercial yeast were prepared similar to this one, only without the milk. I am aware that the shapes are not the best, but we will hope at least  the taste, crumb, and crust are superb 🙂

 

 

sourdough with a touch of rolled rye

What is a Sunday without a home-baked loaf of sourdough?

You got it right – it is almost impossible!!!!! :))))

Since I started sourdoughing last August, except one weekend and when I was away for vacation/business trip, I baked a loaf or two every…single…Sunday! 🙂

I keep experimenting with the rolled cereals/grains in my sourdough loaves. My recent a couple trials including the soaked rolled oat and flax seed in sourdough (for example, here and here) have been quite successful. I think they help with  the moisture even though they lack the gluten so they take up only a small part of the total dough (other wise the loaf does not rise – I know by experience – unless you want a flat and stiff loaf, do not try to have a loaf with only rolled oat).

Anyways, I saw and purchased the rolled rye a couple of weeks ago. Honestly I have no idea what it could be used for, but I thought it would be a nice addition to my baking adventures and a nice ornament for the crust. I was not wrong.

This is the biggest loaf I have ever baked so far; thus rather than a boule I opted out for a baton loaf (I thought it would bake more evenly). Also, I proved the dough in a large plastic bag that kept it somewhat warm (something like a greenhouse effect). I am glad I remembered to do this as I think it reduced the proving time.

Recipe:

• tend to the starter and prepare the levain as explained here
• mix 1 cup of rolled rye with 1 cup of water, soak for 30 min
• add the rye mixture,  1 1/4 cups of starter, 1 cup water, and 2 tbs sugar together and mix well
• add 4 cups of bread flour and 2 tbs of salt. Mix and form a shaggy dough. It will be a little bit sticky dough
• stretch and fold 4-5 times at 30-60 min intervals
• cover, wrap with a thick towel, and rise at room temp over night. My kitchen is around 17 C
• the next morning, take the dough on a floured surface, expand and form a rectangular dough, and then fold over itself to form a baton shape
• cover and rest for 10-15 min at room temp
• re-shape if required and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet
• cover with a thick towel and place in a large plastic bag; tie the ends of the bag and rest for 5 hours at room temp
• pre-heat the oven at 375 F
• wet the surface of the loaf with your hands and sprinkle with rolled rye. Gently press to make sure the flakes will stick. Score the loaf as you please
• bake for 55 min
• cool down and enjoy!

Happy baking!

my beautiful starter has been very happy today 🙂

this is the rolled rye and water mix… I know… I know… it does not look great, but trust me, it does the dough really good 🙂

this is the dough right before I left it for the overnight rise

and, in the morning I was met with my dough 🙂 it has risen so much! this is always delightful to see 🙂

the shaping did well, but the loaf is really huge.. the biggest I have ever baked 🙂

and 5 hours later, it has risen well – time to score 🙂

I like this pattern of scoring – very practical and looks great. I also love coating the surface with seeds or flakes – this time rye flakes 🙂

this loaf has been great. I mean, look at these air packets… hmmm. I am al most sure this is one the best loaves of mine ever 🙂

another look at the crumb

The day of sourdough – Sunday

You know I bake sourdough bread every Sunday. Since each dough, each loaf is different, Sundays are usually very exciting times for me 🙂

This baby is part semolina sourdough – my second take on semolina.

My experience with semolina flour has been consistently good really, but it is true that it does not rise, so I used only a cup in this loaf. There is something nice about it that helps yield a great dough, even though I cannot put my finger on it. Let me know if you have any idea 🙂

Recipe:

Like other times, I fed the starter on Friday, and then again on Saturday morning.

On Saturday afternoon, I added 3/2 cup starter, 1 cup water, and 2 tbs sugar and mixed it well with a fork. Then I added 1 cup semolina flour, 3/2 cup bread flour, and 1.5 tbs salt and mixed everything well using my hand. 

The rest is very similar to other times (check this) except that I proved the loaf at room temperature for 8 hours today – only because I stepped out for a quick shopping trip, bumped into friends, and spent (lovely) time with them, so when I returned back home it was already 8 hours of proofing 🙂 

I was scared that it would be over-proved, but it was not – the loaf turned out to be great; I think if it was sticky, it would not shape this well and would possibly end up being over-proven. So I feel lucky this time 🙂 

Happy baking! 🙂

 

 

the initial dough – may not look great but overtime stretch and fold technique does the wonder 🙂

the next morning – isn’t this a beauty?

at the end of the 8 hour-long proofing – ready to bake

I was surprised how well it kept its shape after i removed it from the bowl I used to proof it – it is mostly because it was not a sticky dough to start with

scoring – my favorite part 🙂

not bad, is it? my air packets are usually not large, but i still get softy loaf. this loaf has a consistent crumb that I really like

another look at the crumb

 

oat and flax seed sourdough

I surprised myself with this loaf; if you are looking for a change in the taste of your sourdough loaf, I would highly recommend you to give this one a try. This loaf tastes very realistically “nutty” because of the oat. I plan to bake a loaf only with oat and levain next time – let’s see how that will turn out.

I think it is true when they say that salt brings in the flavor. Salt level in the recipe may be too much for many, so feel free to use less, but for me it was great. 

 

levain – am I the only one who loves seeing those bubbles? tiny yet so powerful – I love the wild yeast 🙂

levain – view from the top

mix the oat and flax seed – feel free to use others

wet the flax seed and oat – it forms a gel-like liquid, which I think is good for the dough

shaggy dough at the end of mixing – do not worry; it will be just fine after a few stretch and fold

after stretch and fold and ready to rest over night

and this is what says “good morning” to you the next morning 🙂 is that not beautiful?

shape into a round liaf – this dough was pretty strong – exciting 🙂

scoring right before going into the oven – make me proud loaf! 😉

aha! now, is that not nice? wow 🙂