/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>4271559
>>4271559
Define experience... I had a Pentax about 6 years ago, then had an entry-level Canon for a while. I haven't, however, done any shooting for about 3 years, so it's like relearning all over again. I'm also determined to be more technical about photography, this time, so I'm working my way through a seriously dense book on the 5d2 so I can learn my way around the platform.

With your starter, once it's fully mature and reliably doubling in 2-3 hours, try the following: 100% flour (your choice on blending here, if you want), 90% starter, 60% water, and 3% salt.

>>4270016
5d mark II with a 16-35/2.8 II lens.

There are a lot of great breads being posted in this thread. Keep it up, guys.

>>4271134
That's very kind of you. Bread is a beautiful thing: even when it's not perfect, it's usually pretty delicious. I've made tons of ugly bread that still killed the shit out of its supermarket counterpart.

>>4269849
Thanks for the tips!

Definitely needed to stop it down, but didn't have much time to play around with the shot. I was at f/2.8, which clearly doesn't have enough depth of field. I think I'll try f/5.6 next.

I'll give the tripod a shot next time.

>>4269406
I'm not sure what kind of bread you're going for. What isn't working for you? Some doughs never really "come together", in the strict sense. I make some very wet doughs that are almost batters when I bake them.

>>4269568
I've found that using less starter and bulk retarding in the fridge makes my sourdough loaves considerably sourer. If you want to go really wild, try adding some potato to your dough, and check out how mouth-puckering it can get. The simple starches in the potato are so easily fermentable that the starter goes wild.

>>4269343
>>4269346
>>4269351
Looks great. I've been back on a baguette kick. I'm still trying to find the balance between moist and airy crumb, and overhydrated and impossible to shape.

Thanks guys. I'm still learning my way around the camera, as it is way, way above my skillset.

>>4269245
They look awesome. I love freshly baked pretzels. I've considered investing in some food grade lye just to make proper German pretzels.

>>4269251
I pretty much exclusively made sourdough for the last couple years. Recently, I've shelved the starter (dried it), and moved back to commercial yeast. I'm in an exploratory mode with my baking right now, and commercial yeast is consistent enough that I can remove at least one variable from my experiments.

New camera, new bread.

Whole wheat with walnuts and flax seed.

>>4249072
Are you using instant yeast? The recipe calls for approximately 0.1% yeast, which is a very low number. Active dry may just be too slow to meet the timing suggested by the recipe. Try bumping up to 0.5%, and you'll probably get more positive results.

>>4246671
The wife doesn't have an issue with swallowing, so I can't say tricking her into eaten my seed is that attractive to me.

>>4246631
And a closer shot of the crust.

Baguettes are a bitch.

>>4246623
Here's another one. This one was mozz, goat cheese, and sausage.

>>4246629
And here's a quick baguette I made with some of the leftover dough.

The wife demanded pizza for dinner, so I threw together a super quick dough.

This pizza is mozz, goat cheese, and pine nuts.

>>4245600
Depends on the kind of yeast you're using. If it's active dry, you want to let it bloom in warm water first. If it's instant, you can just put it all together.

>>4245103
5x10"

>>4245120
I pour 1-2 cups boiling water into a cast iron pan that is on the floor of the oven and has been preheating the entire time.

Proofing temp is usually low 80s, with lots of humidity. The problem with proofing in the oven is that it cannot be preheated while you're doing that.

>>4245049
Those look great to me for being rice-flour based. I wonder what the flavor and crumb are like.

>>4245081
Your oven can handle steam. If you can braise things in the oven, you can use steam during the bake process. Of course, you need to be careful not to drop water on to any glass that you have in your oven door, so please use some caution, and, of course, it's all at your own risk.

That's cool that your oven has a proofing function. Before using it, I would just use an oven therm to check the temp and make sure it's not too hot. I actually prefer to bulk ferment and proof at a lower temp to slow things down and allow the enzymes in the dough sufficient time to do their work.

>>4244953
I wish I liked sweet things more, since they're a lot of fun to make. About once per year I go crazy and make 200-300 filled chocolates. Then I give them all away.

>>4244962
There's nothing wrong with pizza. I make more pizza than I do bread.

>>4244979
>>4244991
Looking good.

>>4244547
I am not a gluten-free expert. I have, however, seen what looks to be like some semi-successful attempts at making gluten-free bread. I know the folks over at Ideas in Food were working on a gluten-free flour base that they called the Iif Flour. I don't know whatever came of that. You might also try perusing your local book retailer for some well-reviewed gluten-free cookbooks. I'm sure they'll have something that is far more successful than whatever I can throw together in my head.

>>4244565
I make bread impulse buys all the time when I go to the local pretentious dickbag markets here in Los Angeles. The bulk whole grain sections always stimulate my thinking, and I end up walking away with a bunch of weird stuff. I have some quinoa flakes and quinoa flour to try using at some point in the next couple weeks.

>>4244379
If the video doesn't help, let me know and I'll give you a quick rundown here.

>>4244420
It's a process, to be sure. I've made (and continue to make) many bad loaves in the pursuit of what's good and what works. My suggestions would be pick a really basic formulation, like 100% flour, 62% water, 0.8% yeast, and 3.0% salt. You can alter the flour makeup by adding different whole wheats or whole grain flours to the bread flour. You can also alter the hydration. Start by making only those alterations while keeping everything else constant, and see how things change. It will give you a better idea of how different things work.

Sometimes baking bread can be like chasing a moving target, because variables like original flour hydration and ambient humidity and temperature can make a big difference. Baking, as whole, is more scientific than cooking, but I think learning to bake by feel is infinitely more flexible than baking by formula. Start looking for signs that the dough is doing what it's supposed to do at each step.

>>4244329
I generally find my bread to be too stale for enjoyment by the 4th day after I bake it. The wife will continue to eat it for a day or so after that.

I sell a lot of the bread I make.

>>4244251
Thanks for the kind words. My loaves get even color all the way around because I use an oven with convection, because I rotate them halfway through the baking process, and because I ensure sufficient spacing between the loaves when they are baking. Now, to address your other concerns:

1. Anything is okay. Give it a try. If you don't like it, don't do it again. I've made plenty of strange breads. So long as the predominant fraction is wheat flour with water, yeast, and salt, you can get away with a lot of wild shit.
2. Kneading to windowpane is a common stopping point with artisan loaves. If you aren't going for the artisan loaf thing, then you'll have to adjust your kneading to suit the application. For example, i wouldn't knead a brioche to death because I don't want a chewy crust.
3. I have both.
4. Yes, just flour.
5. There's a forum called thefreshloaf that has a TON of great information on it. There are also plenty of great YouTube videos available. Just be wary of all the silly shit people do with bread. Making it should be, for the most part, remarkably simple. There are variations to the theme, but it should really revolve around the same core steps: mix, ferment, shape, proof, bake.

>>4244084
Looks killer to me, as always. Sticky buns almost never turn out poorly, and bergamot is a pretty wonderful flavor. I have a friend who's father is a master chocolatier who makes some absolutely stunning earl grey chocolates.

>>4242791
>>4242799
Yeah, it happens to all of us the first time we use a banneton. Lining a banneton with flour is really not enough to prevent sticking. Try a 50/50 mix of rice flour and wheat flour, or corn meal and wheat flour. That might work better for you. Works like a charm for me.

>>4242988
Can't say that sounds particularly attractive to me, but different strokes for different folks. If you don't like the cake-like texture, back off on the flour and don't work the dough as much, or add more egg.

>>4242420
I do have a lame. The wife gave it to me as a gift a number of years back. It's a wood handle with a flat metal rod sticking out of the end of it. I just slap on a DE razor blade (which I use to shave, anyway), and I get about 8-10 bake cycles out of it before I have to replace it.