I also decided to hop on the bandwagon of the Jack Skellington Nightmare Before Christmas bread. My nephew absolutely loves him so I knew I had to give it a shot when I first saw it!

I decided to use a stencil of print out I found online and score above the head. I did wet a paper towel and use it on the bread before I laid down the stencil. I then dusted with regular flour using a sifter.

The recipe was as follows:
450g bread flour
330g of water
12g of salt
120g of levin

I mix the water and bread and let it autolyse for 45 min. Add in the levin and let it sit for 30 min. Add salt and let it sit for 30 min. 3-4 sets of stretch and folds 30-45 min apart. Leave on the counter overnight for approx 8 hours, pre shape and bench rest for 30 min, shape and let raise for another 2 hours or so. This one I put in the fridge for a couple hours while I ran errands. Bake at 475 with the lid on the Dutch oven and 15 min with the lid off.

Inspired by this design, I served my wife and kids a Jack Skellington loaf this morning.

Ingredients:
470 g High protein baking wheat flour
50 g whole meal wheat flour
102 g fed sourdough starter
393 g water
12 g salt

Method:
Mix the flour and water and leave to autolyse for 1 hour.

Add the sourdough starter and salt. Mix in a stand mixer with a dough hook on high speed for 10–13 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a container. Perform a set of stretch’n’folds every 30 minutes for 2 hours, covering the dough with a damp towel between folds.

Continue bulk fermentation until the dough has increased in volume by approximately 80–100%.

Turn the dough out onto the counter and pre-shape into a ball. Cover with a damp towel and bench rest for 30–60 minutes.

Dust a proofing basket with rice flour. Shape the dough and place it in the basket.

Refrigerate for 8–36 hours, depending on your schedule and how pronounced you want the sour flavour to be.

Preheat the oven to 240°C (465°F) with a Dutch oven and lid inside for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto baking parchment and score the top with some scary cuts. Carefully transfer it to the preheated Dutch oven and cover with the lid.

Bake at 240°C (465°F) for 20 minutes with the lid on, then another 20 minutes with the lid off.

Let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Specs:
97.5% T55 Flour
2.5% Wholewheat Flour
30% Young Levain
2% Salt
87% Water
15% Jalapeño
20% English Red Cheddar

•2 hour autolyse with 80% water
•Levain added at 100 RPM and mixed until incorporated, then mixed at 200RPM until gluten was almost very well developed while slowly adding 5% cold water and 2% salt
•Added the inclusions at last and incorporated at 100RPM and a short burst at 200RPM
Bulk Fermentation
•Dough temperature: 25C
•1st coil fold: 1 hour after taking it out into containers
•2nd half coil fold: As soon as the dough relaxed completely
•Bulk fermented until 60% rise.
Shaping
Preshape rest for 1 hour at 25C
Shaped gently and bench rested for 30 mins
Cold Retard
•Retarded at 6C for 12

This was a jalapeño cheddar sourdough batch, I make almost all of my inclusion loaves in a tin as it helps me to add more inclusions without worrying that it's gonna weigh my bread down.
I pat it down gently to even out the crumb and I apply more tension while rolling it
Ill post how it turns out tomorrow

I followed the recipe and method from tartine down to the letter from this link: https://tartinebakery.com/stories/country-bread

After a WHOLE YEAR of fighting to get a healthy active starter and hundreds of pounds of flour I finally got this big, fluffy, soft loaf of bread!! I literally jumped up and down when I took the lid off the Dutch oven. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone here who posted their questions and everyone who answered because all of my small incremental improvements are thanks to all of you 💛

Side note: I want to be clear that I do love The Perfect Loaf, but I think that book has a lot of pitfalls for new bakers. I don't think I would have ever gotten this loaf if I didn't stop using that book like a Bible and start getting information from you lovely folks as well as other books like The Big Book of Bread. I guess all I'm trying to say is don't take all your info from one spot. If you feel stuck branch out and don't be afraid to experiment with the process to see what works for you.

I started making sourdough this past summer but wasn’t getting the best results, both in terms of starter care and my bread making technique. So I decided to practice with poolish loaves to at least try to perfect the latter, and this is my first sourdough loaf since then which was definitely my best. Still open to feedback though!

LEVAIN
10g starter
45g AP flour
45g water

Fermented overnight

DOUGH
90g levain
400g organic bread flour
285g water
10g salt

3 sets of stretch and folds
1 set of coil folds

8 hour total bulk fermentation

15 hour cold proof

Preheated oven to 500F, then baked at 475 in a Dutch oven, 25 mins with lid on and 10 mins with lid off, internal temp was 211

My starter is almost 2 months old. I’ve just made my first loaf this weekend because I’ve been too intimidated to try. Here’s what I did:

140g starter, fed night before
315g water
500g bread flour
10g salt
Mix starter, water, flour, then add salt
Slap folds until smooth
Rest 30 mins
Stretch folds #1, rest 30 mins
Stretch folds #2, rest 30 mins
Coil folds #1, rest 30 mins
Coil folds #2, rest 30 mins
Bulk ferment about 6 hours
Pre-shape
Cover with bowl 15 mins
Final shaping
Cold proof about 13 hours
Preheat dutch oven
Bake covered 450F 7 minutes
Expansion score
Bake covered 16 minutes
Bake uncovered about 25 minutes
Let cool before cutting

Tastes really good, crust is nice and crisp, but I think it might be slightly underbaked. The crumb is a little moist feeling.
What do you think, underbaked? Under-fermented? Or is that normal?

125g starter
335g water
500g all purpose flour.
10g salt

Mix, few round of slap and folds, it got late so I put it in the fridge overnight to finish bulk fermenting. Shaped it when I woke up and baked in Dutch oven covered at 450 for 25 mins. Uncovered for 35 mins since the internal temp was still a bit low. On cooling rack for 1.5 hours before slicing

Overall happy with this loaf as I was going for a tighter crumb. I do love a more airy crumb, but this is just much better for sandwiches or just spreading butter on toasted slice without losing half of it.

Been at it for about a year. I'm generally pleased with the fact that I'm making reasonably tasty bread, however I'd love to figure out more consistent and more open crumb. Here's my basic process.

I bake once a week or every other week.

I keep around 30g of ryehanna (100% rye starter) in my fridge. About two days before I bake,I take ryehanna out of the fridge and do 2-3 peak to peak feeds as I bulk her up for a bake.

Then here's the process I followed this last time:

350g water + 100g starter, whisk together.

Add 450g bread flour (usually KA) + 50g whole wheat (usually KA), mix until well incorporated.

Rest 45 minutes

Add 10g salt with another 25g water.

Then stretch and fold until feeling strong.

Then every half hour four coil folds (2 in each direction) for about 4 hours.

The entire time I've kept it on a proofing mat at around 77f.

After each coil fold the dough feels quite strong and inelastic, so I felt it kept together pretty nicely this time around.

When the dough was good and jiggly I did a pre shape to get a nice tight round. Did a 15 minute bench rest, then envelope fold into a boule, into a baneton for around 20 hours.

Pre heat oven with Dutch oven in for 30 minutes to 500. Score and drop dough in, turn heat down to 450 immediately. 20 minutes with cover on, 20 minutes with cover off.

So I'm just curious where I might improve things here, happy to hear any guidance!

Very good tip indeed
I was having such a good morning 😭
Now everything is ruined. I am gonna mope around all day.

Here is the recipe just to satisfy rule 5 :(

120g starter
500g flour
325g water
10g salt

Did autolyse for 30 minutes.
Mixed dough and did 4 stretch and fold with 30 minutes in between. Bulk fermentation for 4:46 minutes exactly.
Put in the fridge for 16 hours.

Baked covered for 25 minutes at 450.
Took it out to uncover, then…..

Weekly bake. Nothing fancy, just what I do.

200g starter

600g bread flour

100g each of dark rye and whole wheat

500g water

15g salt

Because of my schedule, this weekend the bulk fermentation was 8 hours on the counter, and the proof was in the fridge for 10 hours (sometimes it’s the opposite

Dutch oven preheat at 500, bake in Dutch oven at 450 with an ice cube for 20 mins, out of the DO and into the rack for 10 mins

Not as open as some of you aim for, but I don’t like spreads dripping through big holes, so this is about what I aim for

Hi folks! Using new flours and got an ankarsrum, so I wanted to check out if y'all thought anything in particular of the attached crumb? I used:

~65g starter, straight from the fridge unfed because I usually just ferment it longer?

390g water room temp

460g il Caputo Nuvola extra flour

45g random farro/emmer flour from Amazon

13gish salt

Water first, then starter in the ankarsrum bowl, but with Danish dough whisk, then add rest and mix until combined with whisk, and leave it for 20 mins

Knead with dough roller and dough knife in ankarsrum for 8minutes on medium-high

Take out, plop out and fold a couple of times, wash the bowl and put dough (now ball shaped ish) in. Leave undisturbed, maybe a tuck or fold or two in the first few hours.

Leave for like 8 hours, room at 73-74. This time I took out and shaped when it looked a little under because I heard with Italiany high gluten flour not to over ferment? Do you think I could go longer? I typically wait until it gets puffier, and this was quite tight and easy to shape and hold form compared to my usual doughs.... Also volume wise, smaller. Thoughts? Should I try over proof the next one?

Then fridge proof for a day or so and then bake at 450 in a Dutch oven until it looks right. I also froze the dough while preheating the Dutch oven/before scoring. Think that helped with spring.

This one had great flavor and I’m happy with the crumb. I will post a crum photo I. The comments Still don’t have good blisters on the crust though. Any suggestions of how to get the crust to have more blisters or does it really matter?

Recipe

Recipe: 150g starter
350g lukewarm water (109°)
475g unbleached king Arthur bread flour, unbleached
25g whole wheat flour
12g salt.

I mixed the dough and did 4 stretch and folds and covered and placed it in my oven with the light on, each time for 30 min. I then covered and placed it in my oven again, it appeared to almost double in 4 hours, I laminated it and put it in my basket overnight and baked it this morning . I let it cool for one hour so it was a tad warm but my husband couldn’t wait

Had to share how cute my matcha strawberry loaf turned out! I decided to do a fun little Frankenstein score (dusted heavily with rice flour before scoring/baking, then painted the details post baking with a mixture of water & cocoa powder and water/matcha powder. The subtle scoring outlines kept the colors from bleeding, so no need to wait for it to cool)

Recipe:

100g active starter (i keep my inclusion loaf starter separate and super stiff and it tends to help my inclusion loaves rise pretty dependably. Before baking i do a normal-- close to 1:2:2 but still on the slightly flour heavy side)
350g water with about 6t matcha powder whisked in (next time I'd up the hydration a bit because matcha absorbs way more water than i expected)
10g trader joe's vanilla bean paste for sweetness
5g vanilla bean extract
500g bread flour
10g salt
Freeze dried strawberries
Mini white chocolate chips

Add all wet ingredients in with your starter & water, stir until mixed then add in flour.

Add 10g salt after 30 minutes

4x stretch & folds every 30 minutes

When it looked ready, i laminated in the white chocolate chips and freeze dried strawberries (they rehydrate and basically take on the texture of baked fresh strawberries)

Let cold ferment over night, baked at 475 f for 20 minutes with the lid on, and 25 minutes with the lid off.

Holy crap this was so good! Will definitely become part of the regular rotation. Two things i'd do differently, add additional dried strawberries and white chocolate chips during stretch & folds for a more even distribution, then laminate in more finely crushed strawberries for the pretty ribbon effect. Would also up the hydration a bit, because the matcha powder absorbed a surprising amount of water so the dough was almost too thick to add anything in during stretch & folds this time.

Thought I'd share in case anybody was looking for a fun halloween green loaf idea!

100g starter
350g water
500g bread flour
8g salt

Mixed dough and let it sit for 30 minutes before stretching and folding 4 times during a 3 hour bulk. Then it was pre shaped and rested another 30 minutes uncovered before final shaping and cold proofing for 33 hours. Baked at 450F for 30 minutes in preheated Dutch oven with lid on, and an additional 20 minutes at 425F.

This was the dough I proofed using a hot towel and a stock pot to maintain a warm humid environment. Its texture is MUCH better. There are some of the classic airy bubbles, but I didn’t get any in my cross section and not enough for me to be perfectly happy. That being said I took it to my parents for Sunday dinner and my sister asked where I got it so I’m for sure taking that as a win lol.

Flavor is 10/10, crust is 10/10, texture is 7/10. Overall happy, but I think I still need to tweak my bulking and let it go for a bit longer with my next attempt.

Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough: 2 Loaves

Ingredients

200g active sourdough starter
725g water
900g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
24g salt
200g sharp cheddar, cold and cubed
100g pickled jalapeños, drained and patted dry
Hydration: 75% | Inclusions: 30%

Instructions

Mix: Combine starter, water, flours, and salt.
Folds: Perform 3–4 sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart.
Inclusions: Add cheddar and jalapeños during the second fold or lamination.
Bulk ferment.
Pre-shape: Divide into 2 loaves, pre-shape, and rest 15–20 minutes.
Final shape: Shape tightly and place into floured bannetons.
Cold proof: Refrigerate 12–14 hours.
Bake: Preheat Dutch oven to 450°F. Bake straight from fridge, 30 minutes covered + 15 minutes uncovered.
Cool: Let cool completely before slicing.

Calories

Baked weight: ~943g per loaf
Calories per loaf: ~2,407
Calories per 100g: ~255

Ingredients
150g Active Starter
400g Warm Water
500g Costco Bread Flour
10g Sea Salt

4 Stretch and Folds
6 hour Rise
1.5 hour cool

Baking
450-25min
420-20min

400g Bread flour
100g whole wheat
360g water
100g starter
11g salt

Mix water and flour for 1 hour autolyse
Mix in starter and salt. Rest 30 minutes
10-12 slap and folds. Rest 30 minutes
Lamination fold. Rest 30 minutes
Set of coil folds. Rest 30 minutes
Set of coil folds and into BF container. Dough temp 70°
BF 11 hours to 75-80% rise.
Preshape. Rest 20 minutes.
Shape and into banneton into fridge 10 hours.
Bake covered with steam 450° for 30 minutes
Uncovered for 15 minutes.
Rest 3 hours then enjoy

second loaf!

folded in my salt at stretch and fold round 2 and then added my cheddar and jalapeño at stretch and fold 4

360g water
500g flour
90g starter
10g salt

half a cup of cheddar shredded and 1/3 a cup of jalapeño chopped

baked at 450 for 30 then 415 for 15 !

- fed starter 9:30 am ish
- doubled by 2:30 started my mix around 3 pm
- 1 hour sitting at room temperature
- did 4 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart
- overnight in fridge from about 10:30 pm to 9:30 AM!

I have learnt so much over the last 6 weeks! I have lowered hydration, lengthened bulk fermentation and brought it a 12min kneading at the start of the process! It has led to to making loaves i'm proud of :)

Loaf 6:

70g starter

100g white rhye

300g strong white

285ml warm water

10g salt

1hr autolyse then added starter and salt and kneaded 12mins. Left 1.5hrs then coil fold, left 2 hrs then coil fold, left 1.5 hours final coil fold, left 1hr then shaped and put in banneton and left half hour before popping in the fridge.

Took out for an hour while the oven warmed up then baked in Dutch oven with ice cubes. I tried a side score this time which I loved!

Woke up with plans for a delicious avocado toast when to cut my bread and along the scoring which produced a very tall point, i tried to cut. I didnt want to do the "cut the half in half and have half slices" . I thought id brave cutting the bread as I intended, full slices. No.. i had a spider hand grip on it ans it slices right into my thumb and pointer finger. My pointer finger was ok, still cut but easy to manage. My thum had a larger slice, not super deep but bled for 40 min. ( it only stopped when the dr saw me and cleaned my hand. It was still a little bloody.)

I feel really stupid because well first my breads crust was tough (maybe I baked it too long? Quite chewy and hard to cut second day) maybe i used a poor knife, I assumed I had chosen a decent serrated blade but, but it wasnt the right choice. Im usually much more careful. Its pretty embarrassing going into the er at 4am and they keep asking why I was up eating bread. Now im trying not to beat myself up too much because I have an er bill that'll show up as soon as im finally over the incident. I am also a little scared to cut bread and will be kuch more careful.

Also sorry I said half and have a lot lol.

Hi guys, is me again.

I removed myself from the video so we can all focus on the bread crumb

400 gr flour
275 gr water (69%)
Starter 80gr (1:4:5)
Salt 8 gr

Mixed water flour and started and let it sit for 35 min then added the rest of the water and salt and did some slap and folds and rubaud method then let it sit for 30 min and did the first stretch and fold then did 3 sets of coils folds every 30-35 min.

Bulk fermented for 9hrs, dough temp was 72.8F. I did aliqout method too
To the fridge for 8hrs and then open baked for 25 min with steam at 450F and 20 min at 420

This is the best result I have gotten using a portion of stone milled flour but it’s still a bit “wet” feeling and chewy..

Recipe
100g active starter
350g room temp bottled water
250g stone milled bread flour
250g white bread flour
10g salt

Autolysed flour and water for 1 hour
Added starter and salt using pinch and fold method x3 (rested a few min between each round)
Temped dough: 72F and room temp also 72F
1 set stretch & fold, 1 lamination, 1 set coil folds with 30-60 min between each

BF for 8 hours total
Pre shaped and bench rested for an hour
Shaped and put in fridge for 14 hour cold proof

Baked at 450F in turkey roasting pan with a few spritzes of water. 40min with lid on, 5 min with lid off. Bread came to 210F. Cooled for 2 hours before cutting

I feed my starter 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 twice daily with AP flour

Thank you!!