It's a little nerdy, but I thought this was brilliant and deserved a spot in this thread:

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sourdough_starter.png

My own Tony Montana moment! Divvying up 100 pounds of King Arthur Special Patent Flour . . .


Weighing Station
As Joe Garagiola would say, "the tools of ignorance"


Kitchen Table Flour Bag Pinwheel
(yeah, that's not all of it)

=R=

A local bread chain is selling flour and yeast, as well as a selection of their more popular breads, rolls, etc. for curbside pickup. So, for those who can't find flour or yeast, you might want to see if that is happening in your town.

Received a LOVELY gift challah, baked by irisarbor. Just spectacular . . .


Challah - 2/3 Bread Flour, 1/3 Whole Wheat Flour


Gorgeous and delicious!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Gorgeous and delicious!

Beautiful!

Pictured loaf is saved and filed away with my favorite pictures. Three of my wife, three of Sun Wah crispy chow fun and an even dozen of Carol Channing's ghost.

One may ask "how do you take a picture of a ghost?"
Carefully, very carefully.

Elaine,

How many strands were in this bread?

I have made three, but that is four or five?

Inspiring!

Regards,
CAthy2

irisarbor wrote:I'm sending you my recipe Cathy

. Cathy, thanks for reviving this thread. I have recently (as part of my pandemic quarantine distractions) gone down the sour dough starter rabbit hole. I’m such a novice but am loving the process. And IrisArbor, could you please share your Challah recipe with me as well? ~ KalamazooGal (Celia)

kalamazoogal wrote:I have recently (as part of my pandemic quarantine distractions) gone down the sour dough starter rabbit hole. I’m such a novice but am loving the process.

Novice? I don't think so. The English Muffins you baked were awesome. I and my family thank you profusely for them. Here's one I toasted up this morning . . .


kalamazoogal's English Muffin, toasted, buttered and lightly salted

Also, since I can't think of a better place to post it, I'll post it here: the (rhubarb?) pie you made us was outstanding . . .


Truly A Thing Of Beauty


One Slice Out
I was just going to eat the whole thing (maybe with a fork) but Julie convinced me that slicing it up and sharing it was the right approach!

Thank you Celia, for your generosity!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

kalamazoogal wrote:I have recently (as part of my pandemic quarantine distractions) gone down the sour dough starter rabbit hole. I’m such a novice but am loving the process.

Novice? I don't think so. The English Muffins you baked were awesome. I and my family thank you profusely for them. Here's one I toasted up this morning . . .


kalamazoogal's English Muffin, toasted, buttered and lightly salted

Also, since I can't think of a better place to post it, I'll post it here: the (rhubarb?) pie you made us was outstanding . . .


Truly A Thing Of Beauty


One Slice Out
I was just going to eat the whole thing (maybe with a fork) but Julie convinced me that slicing it up and sharing it was the right approach!

Thank you Celia, for your generosity!

=R=

You are too kind!
They say that ‘man cannot live by bread alone’, but if it’s made into English muffins or pie pastry, it can surely help! I’m glad you enjoyed them.
Thanks for the ‘flour fix’! ~ Celia

The challah is a 4 strand braid but I still am using a youtube tutorial to braid...

The recipe is pretty easy and works great:
For 1 ½ pound loaf

3/4 cup milk – warmed (105-115)
2 eggs – room temperature
3 -1/4 cups bread flour (I have been using about 1/3 whole wheat)
3 TBSP butter, margarine, or oil -- room temperature (I prefer oil)
1- 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 ½ to 2 tsp yeast (1 packet)

1. Mix sugar and milk in large glass mixing cup and microwave about 1min. Stir and Check that temp does not exceed 120F.
2. Add yeast and stir, let sit for 10 min , should be foamy at end of 10 min “proof”
3. During this time, beat 2 eggs well, and add oil
4. Put flour and salt in food processor and pulse once or twice
5. After proof is done, stir yeast and stir in egg mixture.
6. With processor running, slowly add liquids through feed tube into dry and process until it is kneaded, probably no more than 90 sec.
7. Knead by hand a few times, place in oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled about 1 hour
8. Punch down, knead a little and shape.
9. Let rise another hour, after 50 min paint with beaten egg that has been mixed with 1 tsp of sugar
10. Bake for 35-40 min in 360F oven. When done, if you tap on the bottom it sounds hollow, and a skewer inserted lengthwise will be dry.
11. Cool on a rack at least 1 hour before serving.

This can also be made in a bread machine- The recipe is from my friend Susan W. of HP (a Rabbi), the method is mine, since she does the bread machine.
There is also a modification for a 1 lb loaf, but if you're going to the trouble...

Enjoy!

3 TBSP butter, margarine, or oil -- room temperature (I prefer oil)

So great to read your recipe and that you prefer the oil in your Challah. I've been avoiding eating Challah because it usually contains butter, same with brioche. But I've had really good luck subbing Earth Balance Vegan "butter" in my baking.

Iris Arbor also inspired me to make my own starter. I made scones this afternoon using my discarded starter. They've got currents and Apple Pie Spice in them and I sprinkled the tops with Cinnamon Hibiscus Sugar. They were more bread-like than scones, but tasty.

I did a search and can't find any posts about it, so has anyone here made Yohan Ferrant's "Do Nothing" Sourdough Bread?
King Arthur's version of Yohan Ferrant's "Do Nothing" Sourdough Bread
A couple of videos on it Video 1 & Video 2

I did a little experiment recently. I've been working on how to getter better oven spring with my sourdough loaves. My current method for baking/steam is that I have a rack in the lowest position of the oven with a baking steel. On the oven floor below the steel (and to the right of it), I have a roasting pan with lava stones. After I load a loaf onto the steel, I add 2 cups of boiling water to the lava rocks pan to generate steam. This has worked pretty well but the last 2 weekends, I tried adding an inverted, tall roasting pan to cover both the loaf and the steam pan to see if this would hold in more steam and increase the height of the loaves. On both trials, the effect was actually the opposite. I also did a comparison using a cast iron dutch oven vs. the lava steam method and the loaf with the steam rose higher.

Here's a picture (there is a half loaf in the background, making the loaf on the right look a little funny).

Used some leftover sourdough pancake batter, let it sit till it really foamed up, added flour, salt, strech and fold, refridged over night, let finish rising, shaped, final rise, baked.

Xexo wrote:

breadsd1.jpg

Used some leftover sourdough pancake batter, let it sit till it really foamed up, added flour, salt, strech and fold, refridged over night, let finish rising, shaped, final rise, baked.

how does it taste? i'm having trouble imagining pancake batter in bread, but kudos to you if you made it work!!

justjoan wrote:how does it taste? i'm having trouble imagining pancake batter in bread, but kudos to you if you made it work!!

hey, thanks for asking and for the kudos. My mom was always using up leftovers to bake something else. Oatmeal in cake, French toast egg stuff in cookies, etc. Thought I'd try it.

It's not terrible or bad. Just nothing I'd do again. Crumb is good on it, not super sour, but the sourdough taste is there. It's more like an unexpected dryness to the crust; a wrong texture kinda. Wrong mouth feel I guess.

Guess next time I'll just use the batter up making pancakes.

Tonight I'll start another whole wheat loaf of sourdough for a friend.

Had a baking day today to use up two cups of sourdough starter discard. Used two recipes from King Arthur's website. The first was cinnamon raisin bread. Made two loaves, one with raisins, one without. My daughter couldn't wait for them to cool, so sliced the plain loaf. Good sour taste with a hint of cinnamon sugar; could have used more. My starter is pretty sour, but not ready to make a boule.

My second bread was the recipe for pretzels. The recipe doesn't use a boiling water and baking soda bath, so you don't get the dark color. I made them into buns to use with grilled Portobello mushrooms for tonight's dinner.

My sourdough starter was finally ready to make bread. I did a 12 hour first rise and about 2 hour second rise. Should have let it go longer; I will next time. Baked it in a Dutch oven. Didn't get very tall, but it is very tasty with a nice crust. Good chew and nice tang.

Ms. Ingie wrote:My sourdough starter was finally ready to make bread. I did a 12 hour first rise and about 2 hour second rise. Should have let it go longer; I will next time. Baked it in a Dutch oven. Didn't get very tall, but it is very tasty with a nice crust. Good chew and nice tang.

Looks great - good job!

Cool trick I learned from Full Proof Baking: using tea made from pea flowers in place of the water for a half-batch of dough and folding it with the 'normal' dough for a swirl effect.

I just started reading Full Proof Baking last week! I haven't gotten into fancy aesthetics yet. Does the infused portion of the dough taste any different? Or is this just for color?

gastro gnome wrote:I just started reading Full Proof Baking last week! I haven't gotten into fancy aesthetics yet. Does the infused portion of the dough taste any different? Or is this just for color?

I'm at total FPB groupie. Her bread is unbelievable and I love the 'oven spring' videos.

The tea has a subtle flavor but I don't think it comes through in the bread. So, just for color. I also really like her turmeric and caramelized onion bread recipe.

gastro gnome wrote:I just started reading Full Proof Baking last week! I haven't gotten into fancy aesthetics yet. Does the infused portion of the dough taste any different? Or is this just for color?

Kristen is active in the Chicago Bread Club and... Instagram.

I'm not sure if flour is hard to find anymore.

Today, Sunset Highland Park had lots of KA flour and several other brands of flour in good supply.

lougord99 wrote:I'm not sure if flour is hard to find anymore.

Today, Sunset Highland Park had lots of KA flour and several other brands of flour in good supply.

All purpose flour has been available for a while, what is not yet seen is bread flour. Did you see any bread flour?

Thanks!

Regards,
Cathy2

pairs4life wrote:

gastro gnome wrote:I just started reading Full Proof Baking last week! I haven't gotten into fancy aesthetics yet. Does the infused portion of the dough taste any different? Or is this just for color?

Kristen is active in the Chicago Bread Club and... Instagram.

Yes, I ran across her Instagram after Tim Chin (formerly of Cook's Illustrated) name dropped her in his piece on Serious Eats about how to start a starter.

As you have pointed out elsewhere, I can explore her content despite my unwillingness to join that platform.

lougord99 wrote:I'm not sure if flour is hard to find anymore.

Today, Sunset Highland Park had lots of KA flour and several other brands of flour in good supply.

Are you seeing standard 5 lb bags? On their own website they still only have the 3 lb bags of AP flour available.

Also, it's still basically out of all the local Targets so I wouldn't say it is widely available. When I have seen it on the shelf at other places, it is the smaller 2 or 3 lb packages. I think the availability of this particular flour is still highly variable.

Yeast is still hard to find in the grocery stores. Yes I know you can find it on Amazon from an alternate seller. I have only seen KA AP flour once at Jewel a few weeks ago. I never see bread flour, and I have only seen whole wheat flour in 2 pound bags.

I was in Aldi's last week, and they had lots of flour, but it was all their generic flour that most people here would not use to make bread. I did see somebody buying some though.

gastro gnome wrote:

lougord99 wrote:I'm not sure if flour is hard to find anymore.

Today, Sunset Highland Park had lots of KA flour and several other brands of flour in good supply.

Are you seeing standard 5 lb bags? On their own website they still only have the 3 lb bags of AP flour available.

Also, it's still basically out of all the local Targets so I wouldn't say it is widely available. When I have seen it on the shelf at other places, it is the smaller 2 or 3 lb packages. I think the availability of this particular flour is still highly variable.

I bought one and there were several left - all 5 lb. bags

Cathy2 wrote:All purpose flour has been available for a while, what is not yet seen is bread flour. Did you see any bread flour?

Not sure. I make all my bread from all purpose and so I am not particularly looking for bread flour.

NFriday wrote:Yeast is still hard to find in the grocery stores....

Great Zeus, if people here need some yeast to tide them over, PM me and I'll mail you some. I've found yeast pretty regularly here the last few weeks. I have a 2 lb. bag of Red Star Active dry yeast opened in the freezer, and an unopened one in a tin in the basement. Both bought in the last few months. Also, some from a couple other brands I can't think of off the top of my head. I can spare an ounce or two of yeast, per person.

Flour, well I've been seeing more KA flour (AP and WW) in 5 lb bags lately here in Oregon. Gold Medal bread flour in 10 lb bags shows up every few weeks. My mom found a 25 lb bag of bread flour at a Costco in Tucson AZ. a few weeks ago.