Bread General

Professional baker here, 5 years of just bread baking, can take questions.

If it's smelling strongly of alcohol my first guess would be over proofing. What's your formula look like, and are you using commercial yeast or a wild starter?

If your proof for too long several shit things happen, one of which is that your gluten starts to degrade, which fucks the crumb to hell.

>>8940997
I want to learn how to bake bread. I'm also a programmer and I need to understand how something works so I guess my question is where do I go to understand bread and how baking works conceptually and all the parts that make it up?

>>8940997
Commercial yeast, by proofing do you mean the time it's rising?

Also when recipes say to punch down dough, how much am I supposed to press it?

>>8940975
I used to have a similar problem when I started. Eventually I figured out that the resting/proofing times were too long for my incredibly warm city.

>>8941004
Not a commercial baker but I think the best way to figure it out is to just do it.

Watch some videos on what type of goods you want to make. Then just try to do it yourself. Baking is very much a hard science but there are a lot of variables that a beginner will have trouble controlling for. You kinda just have to do it a bunch and slowly figure out what is going wrong/right and adjust your recipe according to your own experiences.

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Like my bread?

>>8941127
Sourdough?

Them big bubbles are QT. I wana smear avocado all over it~

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crumb rate please.

>>8941129
Sorry anon that was my first loaf. I'll repost it.

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>>8941132
reposting the first loaf with big hole for >>8941129

Yes it's sourdough. Is this normal? I couldn't butter it very well.

I am curious to baking bread, but don't take any pleasure in baking. What would be a good and lazy recipe to making bread?

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>>8941137
Never made sourdough before but I assume you could fold/kneed it more to remove the larger bubbles?
>>8941139
Pic related

>>8941142
Thanks!

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This may possibly be a math question I'm just too stupid to solve but here goes. There's a shokupan recipe for a 12cmx12cmx12cm mold, but I have 2 10cmx10cmx10cm molds instead. How do I adjust the original recipe to make the right amount of dough for my 2 molds? For example the original recipe is 196g flour. Pic related my tiny ass bread mold.

>>8941155
2000 / 1728 = 1.157
multiply all your ingredients by 1.157

>>8941155
Your recipe creates 12 x 12 x12 = 1728 cubic cm.

Your molds hold 1000 cubic cm. If you have two of them you need 2000 cubic cm.

Thus you need to increase your recipe by 232 cubic cm worth. That's so small I'd just ignore it; you'd simply have your molds filled slightly less than perfectly full.

>>8941139
Here's a simple recipe that makes a crusty loaf that's great for sandwiches. It doesn't have as open a crumb as sourdough but it's light and not cakey. I'll post pics when it's done.

4 cups AP flour
1 3/4 cup water @ 100F or room temp
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients. Add water mix until a ball forms. Cover and rest 20 minutes. Knead for 8 minutes. Cover and let rise 1 hour in room temperature. Press down, cover and rest 20 minutes. Shape by pressing into a rectangle and roll into a log. Seal seam by pinching together. Place on floured peal or back of cookie sheet. Cover and let rise 45 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 425F with a stone or iron on middle rack. After 45 minutes heat 1 cup water to boiling in oven safe pan and place in oven. Slide loaf onto stone and set timer for 35 minutes. Remove to rack and let cool.

>>8941168
>>8941179
Thanks lads

I'll try it both ways to see if it looks different at all

The one other issue I had was when I made the original recipe, the dough didn't seem to "catch" on the dough hook of my mixer, it sort of stayed stuck in the bottom well. Was my dough too wet or was the volume too small (it is a 7qt mixer so it was a comically small amount of dough).

Can I do sourdough by letting liquid dough ferment and then halfing it every day and making up the difference with flour and water?

>>8941004
Start with pizza dough or pick your favourite type of bread and research the best way to do it.

I got lucky in that I love bagels and was willing to put in the effort to get them perfect... they are hard to shape the proper way but easy to handle because they are a dense dry dough, ciabatta on the other hand is hard to fold and shape because its a wet dough but there are tools and techniques you can pick up for each and every bread that will make or break the final product so be really alert when learning.

>>8941192
There are tons of guides everywhere on the internet.

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>>8941185
Here's the loaf.

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>>8941645
Here's the crumb. For an easy beginner bread it's not bad at all. Beats supermarket bread for little effort.

>>8941185
Will I sound retarded if I ask for some nutritional information?

>>8942068
10,000% DRV B vitamins.
Yum, health and freedom!
USA is awesome!

>>8942068
>would I sound retarded

No, you'd sound like a /fit/fag. I don't rally worry about it because I don't have weight issues and also rarely eat or drink anything with HFCS or refined sugars. But I found the breakdown here for wheat flour which is all it is since I didn't add sugar. They have footnotes after the chart for qualifications depending on if it's AP. I use unenriched organic AP.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5745/2

>>8942077
Nah, I use unenriched organic AP flour.

Someone here in a flatbread thread gave me a recipe some time last year that I still use to this day. It creates a naan-pitta kind of thing, and I can refrigerate the dough for a day or so.

>2.75 tsp yeast
>1 cup warm water
>1 cup flour
>Pinch of sugar
Mix and Let it sit for 15 mins. Then:
>1.5tbsp olive oil (I used some lard as a substitute, and that was ok as well.)
>1.75tsp salt
>2 cups flour
>(Optional) Seasonings

-Mix the ingredients into a dough (I have breadhooks). It should be slightly sticky, but come free from the bowl.
-Let rise for 2 hour/double in size.
-Roll into a log, then cut into 8. Form balls.
-cover and let rise for 30 mins
-Roll out and let rise for 5 mins
-Cook in a pan with a bit of oil for about 3 mins each side.

Really nice stuff. If you refrigerate the dough for a day or so, it has a bit of a sourdough tang to it, if you fancy it.

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Rye and ale bread, will post slices in a second.

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tasty as fuck

What are some bread / baking cookbooks for beginners?

>>8941185
Followed your recipe the best I could my crumb was not anywhere near as open as yours. Tips?

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>>8940975
I made this tonight

>lean ground turkey
>tomatoes
>spinach
>rice
>tomato sauce
>black pepper for spice

All cooked together in one simmering amalgamation. Fucking good and decently healthy.

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>>8943498
For a side I lightly oiled and seasoned asparagus. Baked.

They don't match but fuck it

>>8943498
>>8943501
>wrong thread

I'll be going now

>>8943498
I'd dip my bread in that.

How long can a poolish be fermented for?
I usually just do it for 4 hours but i'm wondering whether I can start in the morning, let if ferment all day and then cook the next day after refrigerating it?

>>8940997
so im grinding hard red wheat.
how do i get it to rise the most without adding vital wheat gluten?
id prefer to only let it rise once then bake. i normally proof at 110f

>>8943480
I'm not sure. I use a stand mixer for the mixing and kneading, but that shouldn't really matter. I also use well water without chlorine or purifying chemicals. The only other thing I can think of could be the yeast wasn't as active. Was the loaf almost doubled in size at the end of the second rise? Also, one thing I forgot to mention was slashing the top of the loaf before putting in the oven. You can see the 4 diagonal cuts on top in my pic.

>>8943700
Forever? I mean, a sourdough starter is just a really long poolish.

>>8941004
Alton Brown has some fantastic bread recipes and the videos from Good eats of him making them might be exactly what you're looking for.

>>8941116
Hi anon, I like your bread.
>>8941132
Hi anon, your bread is wonderful.
>>8941137
Hello anon, this bread is divine.
>>8941155
Hi there anon, this looks like cake.
>>8941645
>>8941651
Hi anon, pretty nice bread.
>>8942801
>>8942807
Hey anon, lovely bread.

>>8941139
Make pita.

>>8941196
Do you care to share your bagel recipe?

>>8941139

Richard Bertinet's method for white bread.

How can make my bread without a lot of holes? I want it dense and soft.

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>>8941004
Get these books and learn them well
>Flour Water Salt Yeast: Ken Forkish
Teaches you a really simple method with lots of detailed instructions for baking simple rustic loaves.
>Bread Baker's Apprentice: Peter Reinhart
A more in depth method with a wider variety of breads to bake.
>Tartine
An advanced book for people with lots of time or experienced home bakers. All of the formulas in this book are natural yeast starters rather than dried yeast.

Here's some bread i baked this morning:

10% Whole wheat, 5% rye, 78% hydration
25 min autolyse before adding yeast
12 hrs bulk with folds every half hour for the first two hours or so then intermittently when i remembered
20 minute preshape bench rest
12 hrs proof
baked in dutch ovens at 475, 30 min lid on 10 min lid off

>>8945047
less water usually leads to denser breads

>>8943700
poolish can ferment until the yeast starts to degrade the gluten structure that forms...it'll look like it's collapsed in the middle if it's proofed too long.

For the poolish I do with 80F water. 500g of white flour, and .4 g yeast it usually takes about 12 hrs to reach peak ripeness

>>8945052
Will it make the bread more hard tho? I like soft wonder bread type of bread.

>>8942223
Here's the screencap if you or any other anons want it

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>>8945064

>>8945062
I see. Usually to get soft crumbs like that you need to add some dairy to the mixture. Butter and milk are your friends with these.

>>8941017
over proofed means over risen which usually happens during what is called the "second rise" which happens after you shape the doughs.

If you punch down dough you're basically just deflating it to make it easier to shape/stay in the container.

>>8941137
This is normal for sourdough made only with natural bread starter.

Don't toast and spread butter, fry in a pan with garlic and butter.

>>8943480
Maybe you shaped too aggressively.
Bread just before shaping is just a loose network of gluten and gas that is very easily collapsible. Be more gentle next time.

Lazyfag shit but

1 of this mini cartons of heavy whipping cream

Self raising flour

Pour entirety of carton into bowl and then mix in flour until dough form is achieved

This can be rolled out and cut, or you can just tear off chunks and shape them, or even just shove the whole lot of it into a pan

Bake at 500f until golden brown

No art to it at all, but fuck me if it isn't tasty

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2nd loaf.

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>>8945803

What's a good dough for olives?
I'm considering using them with a ciabatta dough but i'm not sure if there's a better option.

Also does everybody just use yeast from fruit, e.g not using a commercial product for making sourdough starter? I love sourdough bread but a lot of what I could find online seemed dubious at best.

>>8945869
This uses fruit juice and I made one from it 7 months ago that I'm still using. It works.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233/wild-yeast-sourdough-starter

>>8945869


>>8941132
and
>>8941137
Here. I made mine from a leaf of organic red cabbage from kroger supermarket. I got activity the second night. Braised the rest of the head with sausages.

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Fuck me just tried to mix a dough that i've made before and despite being super soft last time it became very hard within seconds of mixing.
Could it just be that I used a mixer machine?
idk where I went wrong.

anyone got a good recipe for Bannok? i want to make some for when i'm out having a camp fire.

>>8942223
>using volumetric measurements

get a scale anon, it's superior

>muh crumb

>>8945869
To make a sourdough starter you mix flour and water a little warmer than room temp in a bowl cover and wait a day or two for it to bubble. You're looking for a batter like consistency

Try a 50/50 blend of bread flour and whole wheat flour.

Every day for the next few days throw out 75% of the starter and refresh with equal weights flour and water. When your starter rises and falls predictably it's ready for use in bread.

>>8940975
>really cakey texture, and an alcoholy smell
I know what you mean...

Since i live in a shitty city where you can´t buy a single good hambugurer bun, and the ones that are almost decent are as expensive as the meat, i have been trying to bake my own latetly, but the result is always something that does not taste or feel like a bun.

>>8942077
O B S E S S E D

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Made this a while back, toasted well.

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Alright the whole splitting the original recipe for the 12x12 and putting it in the 2 pans did not work out as anticipated. Also somehow went too long on the crust.

Generally puzzled but I'm also fairly sure I did not do the dough right.

The inside tastes good tho

Requesting that webm of really really wobbly bread