Mind Your Timers

Bread Dot

Ciabatta or gtfo

The starter I've been working on passed the float test today, so I'm going to try to make a dough later today and bake a loaf tomorrow AM.

For anyone curious, I've been following the guides on theperfectloaf.com. @Maurizio outlines a pretty straightforward process, and his Instagram account is full of great visual cues.

I haven't been able to source the best flour right now, so hopefully this AP and bread flour blend works. He uses a bunch of different flours that I just don't have right now.

what kind of container are you using? i noticed that the ones on his site are all unavailable. i think that mason jars would be difficult because of the lip.

my wife's starter of over 7 or 8 years has always just been a mason jar

that's good to know. i was just telling reid the other day that i want to start a starter, but i'm a big baby. and i was using the fact that i only have mason jars as an excuse.

I'm actually just using old pickle jars. I bet he recommends Weck jars on the blog for a number of reasons. They're probably the most efficient, but Weck probably pays him to say so too.

Starter is fine, but somehow I totally screwed up my dough build before adding the starter. I followed the measurements exactly, yet I ended up with something closer to batter than dough. Bulk fermentation folding didn't happen, but I'm setting this weird rising batter in a warm place overnight just to see what happens. I don't have high hopes.

My only guess is that since I used nothing but AP flour, maurizio's flour and water ratios didn't work for me. The beginner recipe on his website calls for three different types of flour. Bah!

Starting again tomorrow. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Doug give me whiskey. Everything will be alright.

Getting the process down! I've made this recipe (halved for one loaf) twice now. Second time around, my bread bulked up so much more. I attribute that to a better understanding of exactly when to start building a levain.

First loaf.
I pulled from my starter arbitrarily for the levain, not paying attention to when it was mature. The loaf itself is a prettier shape, but that's because it didn't bulk as much as I wanted it to. The good thing about that is that I had some good practice shaping a boule.

Spoiler: show

Second loaf.
I watched my starter for a week and pulled to make a levain at a better time. Made the levain overnight and fed again in the AM to strengthen it. Started mixing into dough about six hours later. I also paid much more attention to room temp. The ol' let it rest in an oven with the light on trick works. This loaf was significantly bigger and I think more dome-y. It was a little unwieldy to shape because of that same reason.

Spoiler: show

Here's what's going on with my starter these days. I've got a second one going in the background to give to my sister.

Spoiler: show

A C K N O W L E D G E my bread, mosquitoes!!!

Pretty cool, wm.

I'll be pulling a loaf of banana bread out of the oven in about 10 minutes.

That IS a nice shaped boule, washing machine.

Loaf #2 looks like a chicken , but that is neat too!

Very cool starter also

Thanks guys. It means a lot.

Kaius, I've never tried banana bread. Is it difficult?

Every recipe I’ve seen shows it acts more like a no-knead cake or muffin batter than a bread dough.

Yes, more of loosely mixed batter. It is super easy.

I have a hard time getting into making dough breads because stuff made with a batter is so much easier. Even beer bread is so much easier than something you have to knead a lot. One of these days.

My starter shit the bed on day 5, and I have yet to begin again. Jealous of WM’s bread prowess.