Bread roll tales - the sequel

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2023-09-02

Last week I held about 25g of dough over. I fed it yesterday morning with 50g each of flour and water. In the evening it had started to bubble.

All 125g of it and some dry yeast went into the bread roll dough.

This time I’m going for bigger rolls, (4 * 150) / 1.67 = 360 g of flour, 67% hydration, 2% salt and 34% starter.

Yeah, I know, forgot about the 5% idea from last week.

4 oblong and 1 round bread roll on baking parchment on a holed baking sheet

5 bread rolls fresh from the oven, fairly blond

b/w picture, 5 rolls on the cooling rack, small bread knife to the right of the rack

our holed baking sheet

pizza/baking steel cooling in the oven

I need to work on my forming and cutting, otherwise quite stoked.

2023-08-27

My dough was getting softer and softer. I dropped hydration to 60%, still soft.

So I searched the internet, as you do. This time specifically German sourdough baking.

I had been holding back a bit of the dough from a bake and stored it in the fridge between bakes. As anticipated this turned into sourdough, with a really nice smell, turning my bread rolls even better tasting.

Than, after a few bakes, we entered soft dough territory.

My “research” suggested that keeping the old dough in the fridge, adding all of it to the new dough, and then fermenting the dough in the fridge over night led to too much lacto bacillus. This leads to enzymatic action that weakens/destroys the starch structure.

So, change of method:

  • still keep the old dough in the fridge
  • take 10g of the old dough and mix with 50g each of flour and water and keep on the counter until well bubbly
  • add 5% (of flour weight) refreshed starter to the bread roll recipe

Continue with normal method.

4 dough balls raising on baking parchment paper, bread rolls in waiting

4 bread rolls on the cooling rack

Much improved, need to up the size though

They keep rolling

Leaving aside my forgetting for the second week in a row to put steam into the oven, the #BreadRolls keep getting better.

Hydration reduced to 65%, 28% old dough (sourdough), 2% salt, 1% dry yeast.

Fermented overnight in the fridge.

Oven heated to 250C + and held there for 30 minutes to heat through the pizza steel. Put rolls into the oven, directly above the steel, reduced temperature to 220C and baked for 30 minutes.

6 dough balls proofing on a rack, raising to the occasion

6 nice bread rolls, lightly floured

2 bread rolls, cut open, to reveal their holey crumb

I reduced the weight per roll to 80g, will go to 100g next time, too much crust for too little crumb.

#baking #sourdough #recipe

Still the easiest way to get to sourdough. Make your preferred bread (or in this case bread roll dough) and hold some back.

Mine goes into the fridge in a jam jar. One week later your nose will confirm, sourdough.

I feed once and then incorporate into my dough. When I start shaping one undersized bread roll goes into the jam jar.

Old dough, from last weeks bake, in the jam jar it survived in the fridge in

#sourdough

Bread Rolls

Todays #BreadRolls are coming along. 8 rolls (100g) this time. Previously I made 6 larger ones (130g) which seemed perfect for three people. But appetites differ.

Ready for shaping, dough still in a lidded bowl, work surface liberally floured, rack with baking paper waiting for the rolls in the background

8 rolls sitting on the rack to prove, flour on the work surface scraped into a heap, to go back into flour pot

8 rolls fresh from the oven, still on rack

still too hot

I’m willing them to cool down faster. Am curious what the addition of some of last weeks dough and a long (36h) fermentation in the fridge have done to the taste.

The rise is very good.

The crust is crusty, maybe a bit dark, the crumb is fine, the taste great, jay for old dough.

#bread #baking #BreadRolls

Bread rolls & baguette

Tomorrow I’m planning on making, or rather try to make, baguette. As the dough is basically the same as my #BreadRoll #recipe yesterday I made a bigger batch of the dough.

Though the hydration at 70% is the same as my normal recipe, the dough was almost unshapable and could definitely not be cut.

6 well risen bread rolls

So they’ve burst at odd places.

Will report on the baguettes tomorrow.

#baguette #baking

Quite happy with the look of my first baguette. At 70% hydration portioning and shaping were not easy. As with the bread rolls from yesterday, making cuts was difficult

3 homemade baguettes on cooling rack

Recipe

1000 g flour (550)
700 g water
20 g salt
14 g dry yeast

Mixed, fermented in the fridge

Took 780 g of the dough for the bread rolls after a day in the fridge. Gave it an hour on the counter before shaping, then another 30 mins on the baking sheet

The dough for the baguettes got another day in the fridge plus three stretch & folds

Then an hour on the counter, pre shaping, and after the final shaping onto a couche made from baking parchment for another 30 mins

For both rolls and baguettes I put a pizza steel and an empty tray into the oven, heated to 240° C, put some water into the tray and baked the rolls and baguettes for 20 - 30 minutes

Baguette cut open with a nice open crust

2023-06-10

Next batch. Dropped hydration to 68%, still too wet for my skills. Oven to maximum, ca 260° C, 20 mins

2 baguettes on cooling rack

Couldn’t even cut the loaves this time. Crust could have been a bit stronger and darker.

Sliced baguettes, nice open crumb

2023-06-17

4 short baguettes on cooling rack

This time I used a 65% hydration and kept the dough cold longer. I think it was less the reduction in hydration than the temperature that made forming much easier this time.

Also this time I used some of the dough I kept back last week and stored in a jam jar in the fridge since then. I am very curious to taste this batch.

2023-06-24

www.zahr.koeln/2023/06/2…

2023-07-02 baguettes

3 shaped baguettes resting between folds of baking parchment

Went back to 70% hydration, shaped right after coming out of the fridge. Again I held some dough ca 40 g back for rolls/baguette next week. It’s now hibernating in a jam jar in the fridge.

Freshly baked baguettes on cooling rack

2023-07-16

Today is K2s birthday. And she has invited more or less the whole family to barbecue at home. So this time I had to use double of the bread, roll recipe and forward measure do another focaccia.

To make it all a little more exciting this time I am mostly used the held back dough from the last baking plus enough instant yeast for 500 g of flour.

The focaccia is 750 g 00 and 250 g semola. The bread rolls 1000 g type 550 (bread flour).

When the door went into the fridge, after sitting out on the counter for about two hours, I started to get worried that I had put too little yeast into the dough. I’ve put it into the fridge anyway.

This morning, it was nicely bubbly as usual.

6 roughly shaped bread roll on baking parchment

another 6 roughly shaped bread roll on baking parchment

Pan filled with my tomato focaccia ready for baking

2023-07-30

Smaller batch for this Sunday, again with some old dough from the last baking.

4 crusty bread rolls on the cooling rack. Fairly irregular.

Bread Rolls

Ingredients

340 g water (lukewarm) 15 g fresh yeast (or 5 g dry yeast) 10 g salt 455 g wheat flour (type 550)

Method

Mix all the ingredients and leave covered to prove for two hours. Continue proving over night in the refrigerator.

Next morgen shape into 6 rolls and let prove on the baking sheet for an additional 30 minutes before placing in the oven, heated to 230° C.

Pour halve a cup of water on the bottom of the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

6 bread rolls on a cooling rack

Update 2023-05-17

Reduced water to 315 g

Will report how it goes

Update 2023-05-18

At 70% hydration the rise was basically the same. Shaping was easier and the dough slightly less sticky.

Crumb as nice as before.

Will Go with 70% hydration for the next bakes.

#recipe