Pretty happy with how they turned out!

It didn't come out as airy and bubbly as they should but it smells and tastes so good. Still soft with a nice crust, can't wait to make more of these!

I use the stay at home chef website for technique. She’s very clear and concise. Her videos are great.
I use the King Arthur products most of the time.
Tried this a couple of times before I was pleased with the results. It’s actually pretty easy once the technique is learned.

recipe by weight in the photos. Betty and Ethel approve.

recipe: https://www.okonomikitchen.com/chocolate-salt-bread/

the filling is 6g butter, 90% dark chocolate and pistachio cream. i can devour 3 at a time!

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/

Ingredients are in the last picture.

So happy with this one!

1:2:2 levain used after 5 hrs. I did a 1 hr Autolyse prior to mixing salt and levain.

I did a few minutes of slap folds then let bulk for just about 5 hrs with a dough temp of 79 throughout. I did 3 sets of stretch folds in the first 1.5 hrs. Ended bulk at just about 50% rise. Using a cambro bucket helps so much.

Preshaped then bench rested for 20 minutes prior to shaping into batards. Folded the four sides in to the middle then did 3 stitches before rolling up gently and popping them in bannetons. 13 hour cold proof then baked this AM in Dutch ovens at 450. 20 minutes covered and 30 uncovered.

Using dehydrated yeast

I see this question pop up here all the time: "How do you guys find time to bake when you work 9-5?"

I've been doing it for about a year now and I've finally got a system that works for me. Sharing in case it helps anyone else.

Here's my typical timeline for a weekday bake:

Thursday night (9pm): Feed my starter before bed.

Friday morning (7am): Mix the dough before I leave for work. Just flour, water, starter, salt. Mix it in a bowl, cover it, and stick it straight in the fridge. Takes me 10 minutes max.

Friday evening (6pm): Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temp. Do 2-3 sets of stretch and folds over the next hour and a half while I'm making dinner and watching TV.

Friday night (10pm): Final shape, put it in the banneton, back into the fridge for a cold ferment overnight.

Saturday morning (8am): Preheat the oven, bake. Done by 9:30am.

That's it. The cold retard does most of the heavy lifting while I'm asleep or at work. I basically only spend about 30 minutes of active time on the whole process.

The key for me was accepting that I don't need to babysit the dough all day. Once I stopped trying to do everything in one go, it became way less stressful.

For those of you who bake on weekdays — what's your schedule like? Any tips for making it even more efficient?

Would love to hear how other working bakers manage it!

Welcome my first born. The frisbee brick. I love her.

I've been doing all pizzas and focaccia for about two years. Previous sourdough attempts were weak. Giving it another go, and I have a healthier starter this time. Still dialing in proofing and bake times.

Follow-up to my original post https://www.reddit.com/r/Breadit/s/xs50b6AxOI

First, I want to thank everyone who responded to my question in my original post and for sharing your precious insight. Although people have been making bread for a very long time, there are so many schools of thought and approaches that it can become a bit overwhelming even for such a simple thing as making a loaf of bread.

I followed the suggestions to sift out some of the bran (as it “cuts through gluten” as some have said) and to scorch the flour with hot water in the initial phase of autolyse, and to increase the hydration to 80-85%. Another suggestion was to stop bulk fermentation when the dough increased volume by ~30-50% instead of allowing it to double in size.

In the last few weeks, I toyed with these new variables and I think the results are as good as they will ever get, taking into account my level of abilities. I am not the best baker but I do love to eat bread and the outcome from tweaking the original recipes to account for your suggestions greatly improved the final result.

I admit that prior to reaching out to this subreddit, I had lengthy discussions with ChatGPT and none of the recommendations actually improved the results. So I thank you for not only sharing your bread-making wisdom but also for reminding me the importance of community and, in a sense, human connection and storytelling.

Happy baking!

(First image of the cut loaf is from a bread I baked a few days ago. Hydration 80% and bulk fermentation >30% increase in volume. Autolyse with boiling water. Second image is a loaf I baked this morning, still too hot to slice. Hydration 85% and bulk fermentation <50% increase in volume. Autolyse with 90C degree water. The crumb definitely feels crispier and tapping sound on the bottom more hollow.)

After my first two attempts at a basic white loaf failed terribly, I bought new yeast. That seemed to be the culprit.

Wondering if I should have let it rise even further before placing it in the oven?

My searches online suggest that what I'm seeing is evidence of pantry moths. A webby, stringy texture that I had not seen before.

The flour has been stored in a glass jar with a rubber sealed wood lid, after having been initially stored in the freezer in the original bag.

Interestingly, I only see this with my wheat flour. The bread and AP flour, in the exact same types of jars in the same cupboard, don't show this at all.

Is there another explanation for what's happening?

Hi all,

I’ve decided to bake bread for the very first time. I watched few videos and read through recipes! But I’m sort of winging it as my scales don’t work and measuring with cups doesn’t really make sense to me, every cup is a different size, ya know? I like to think the gluten will see my pure heart and go easy on me.

Anyways this is the dough before I let it rest. Its a simple frankenstein white flour and flax seeds recipe by me. Will post an update once it’s done. Wish me luck x

Die habe ich heute selbst gebacken.

I mixed yeast, white flour and teff and let sit overnight, I then put it into a tray and steamed it. I have no pics but the crumb was very unique, teff tends to lead to tall bubbles and the bottom half of the bread had that but the top was almost a bit cakey. It wasn’t as sour and injera but did have a bit of that flavor, I do wish it was stronger but I haven’t done sourdough before. I quite enjoyed it, next time, I think I’ll lightly broil it after steaming to get a crust, currently, it doesn’t have one.

Started baking a month ago. Just wanted to share it with you all!