Bread - What are you baking today…..

[neph93]

@jordanscollected ah yes… fresh bread and face masks… those were the days.

[goosehd]

@neph93 …in said pictures, will you be applying copious amounts of butter, jams, and cheeses to these buns?

[popvulture]

@neph93 hahahaha, always go for it

[Tago Mago]

@popvulture come on, you're making it too easy for him.

[neph93]

@goosehd generous amounts mate, lashed on with wild abandon.

[goosehd]

@neph93 sign me up and let me know where to subscribe! Miss you around here and glad to see you’re back to form

[Tago Mago]

@goosehd as long as @neph93 sticks to buns and stays away from spotted dick. Mmhhhhmmm, sticky buns

[neph93]

Soon! Soon a new era of sourdough goodness will begin and my funky levain will reign with grace and fermented benevolence

[Giles]

Hu-fucking-ra

[neph93]

Ummm… I think it may be ready

[goosehd]

@neph93 recipe please

Edit: I have Forkish’s bread book if it’s in there. Let me know if it is and what page. Many thanks!

[neph93]

@goosehd I missed this. Sorry mate. It's the standard Forkish levain with the amounts slightly tweaked downwards, to scale, to limit waste.

I'm currently trying to ween it over to a white starter but temps in my flat are a problem.

[neph93]

I'm going to make the classic mistake of announcing what I'm about to attempt for the first time, before attempting it, so my inevitable failure will be demonstrated either through honest documentation or the lack of any updates during the day.

I am trying to make pan de cristal for the first time. For those that don't know it is a 100% hydration Catalonian bread, similar to ciabatta, but mo' badass. Wish me luck.

[neph93]

The next statement likely fits perfectly on to the Dunning-Kruger scale…

After the autolyse and initial mix and fold, it appears to be going well, and is not as difficult as I imagined.

[neph93]

Final set of coil folds done… how this isn’t going to turn into an involuntary pizza base on the baking shower it 80min, I do not know.

[neph93]

[neph93]

The recipe called for allowing each bread to rest uncovered without support for 2 hours. That, frankly, has to be bollocks. I know what happens to 70% hydratiom dough if its left without support for two hours. Great for focaccia but not for this. So I legged it down the ironmongers…

[neph93]

They’ll be going from that onto a hot baking steel, and I’ll toss some ice cubes in a pre-warmed cast iron dish for steam.

[flannel slut]

@neph93 i not too long ago stirred up the motivation to start making my own bread. Reading over recipes and the fermentation/proofing process was intimidating but like most things, once you dive in, is incredibly self rewarding.
This Catalonian bread you’re making sounds next level… baking off w ice cubes for steam looking forward to seeing how it turns out ️

[neph93]

Well… this was a reminder to trust the process laid down by those who have gone before. Having seen how the finished results should look, I can now see how you can get away with two hours without support.

The oven spring gave a height three times that of the starting dough with the support of the tin. The tin also meant that the bread did not get the full effect of the heated baking steel. I can totally see how a flat soupy dough could end up the thickness of a ciabatta.

In the end I bottled it and the loaves spent the first 15 minutes of the bake in the cute flute tin pictured above. So what I got was NOT pan de cristal. If I was to claim that then I’d quite rightly have Catalans coming at me with murderous intent. The massively open crumb and thick charred crust that characterise the bread just didn’t happen. The large crust/crumb ratio requires a peel an uncrowded baking steel/stone, and sloppy dough delivered onto it like a pizza.

What I did get was four mini loaves of very tasty, moist bread with an open, even crumb and super hard, brittle tasty crust. Excellent for fat sandwiches or a bread to go with stews, sauces, cheese or charcuterie.

I also learnt that working with 100% hydration dough is something I can do. Coil folds really do the job of building strength in a dough that is more like a batter.