Jim Hayden

Trying a new method… (Part 2)

It’s Alive! (In my best Gene Wilder voice imitation from Young Frankenstein) The dough has more than doubled overnight. Last night it was at roughly 2 quarts. Now it is just over the 5 quart mark. I figure the dough weighed just over 3 kilograms based on my ingredient weight. I can as pretty closeContinue reading “Trying a new method… (Part 2)”

Trying a new method… (Part 1)

I’m trying a new method to increase the volume of dough mixed at the same time. I started with 1500g of strong bread flour (King Arthur Sir Lancelot) and 1275g water (85% hydration). I mixed it up with my Swedish Dough hook and left it to autolyse for 2 hours. Normally I mix with myContinue reading “Trying a new method… (Part 1)”

Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread

I’m always on the prowl for ways to use my sourdough starter discard. I saw a recipe from http://shebakesourdough that had some wonderful looking sandwich bread. Thought I’d give it a go! RECIPE 200g Bread Flour 50g Whole Wheat Flour 200g Sourdough Starter Discard (2-3 days old) 100g Milk 20g Heavy Cream 30g Sugar 7gContinue reading “Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread”

Sourdough Croissant Observations

This morning I cut into a croissant that I baked yesterday afternoon (and ate it soon afterwards!) I’ve been trying my best to see what I can do to affect the cross-section crumb to get the “honeycomb” I see mores skilled bakers attain. On this last bake I had played with my lock-in technique. AndContinue reading “Sourdough Croissant Observations”

Technique Tweak Wasn’t a Fluke!

I was able to recreate similar oven bloom results applying the tweaks to my feeding and autolyse methods. The results from my experiment were NOT a fluke! Yay!! I’m pleased with these results and will continue to use them going forward as my “standard method”. Always learning…

Sourdough Experiment (Part 2)

Whoa! Nice oven spring!! I am VERY pleased with these results! I took the dough out of fridge at 8am, divided it and pre-shaped into rounds. Bench-rested for an hour covered with a towel before final shaping and then placing into bannetons. I then put the loaves into my proving box for another 1.5 hoursContinue reading “Sourdough Experiment (Part 2)”

Sourdough Experiment (Part 1)

I’m continuing to experiment and tweak my technique. Lately I’ve been wondering about the oven spring and how my technique early on in my bakes are affecting my end results. Tweak #1: Starter Feeding I typically bake sourdough bread once a week. Pre-COVID-19 I traveled for work Monday – Thursday. I would store my starterContinue reading “Sourdough Experiment (Part 1)”

Turmeric-Cinnamon Sourdough (Part 2)

Today is bake day for my Turmeric-Cinnamon loaf experiment. I’ve baked my normal loaves first. A chia-covered Boule and a regular Batard. They came out nicely. As the loaves above were baking I pulled out the banneton with the Turmeric-cinnamon dough. As expected it wasn’t filling the banneton as full as the other loaves. IContinue reading “Turmeric-Cinnamon Sourdough (Part 2)”

Turmeric-Cinnamon Sourdough (Part 1)

Thought I’d try my hand at a laminated sourdough leveraging some different techniques than I usually employ. These techniques involve adding Spelt flour, dividing the dough into two parts adding Turmeric to the second. I started by mixing the flour with water and letting it autolyse for 2 hours. I added sourdough levain and saltContinue reading “Turmeric-Cinnamon Sourdough (Part 1)”

Sourdough Croissants – Pushing the Envelope

Today I “pushed the envelope” on my final proof. To be honest, this whole batch is going to be suspect. My head wasn’t in the game due to work commitments et al. Had a really difficult time focusing. As a result I was impatient in my butter lock-in and shattered the butter. My folding/lamination wasContinue reading “Sourdough Croissants – Pushing the Envelope”