Sourdough bread in the oven

[Gods do not bake pots, or bake with sourdough in the oven]

Gods do not bake pots, or bake with sourdough in the oven


I was prompted to open this topic by frequently asked questions on drugs. Unfortunately, each of the questions asked assumes a lengthy answer spanning several pages. Therefore, I decided to get off with "little blood" and schematically show the process of baking bread, which has become a daily routine in my family. I do not pretend to be the ultimate truth, I answer as best I can, but I will be glad if it helps you to bake delicious bread. When baking, I deliberately do not use special baking gadgets, not everyone has them, but there is a salad bowl and cauldron in any kitchen.

So, my homemade bread is now recognized only with sourdough and only from the oven, they eat with pleasure, so I have to bake it often: every other day, maximum after two. As you can imagine, lengthy and complex technologies had to be left for special occasions, and for everyday use something faster, not particularly time consuming and does not require too tedious body movements. So this version of bread was born, which pleased not only me, but also my homemade ones, and in addition, was a kind of matrix, on the basis of which you can vary the taste at your discretion. I think of him as Janus because of his many faces.

Let's start with the fact that leaven should live in your house. Which one? It does not matter at all, the main thing is healthy, strong and at the peak of growth. It is on such a leaven that you should put a dough. Of course, the dough will ripen even if the leaven is immature or peroxidized, BUT - this will immediately affect the quality of the crumb and the taste of the bread. 90% of the problems that arise when baking sourdough bread are rooted in sourdough quality, storage and feeding conditions. This is not a subject for dispute with those who keep their leaven in the refrigerator and feed it only in the face of the threat of a hungry swoon of the latter, but these are the conclusions that I drew for myself after a fairly long time with the leaven. Personally, I prefer sourdough bread, which is not stored in the refrigerator and which is not kept in a hungry body. The difference in the quality of bread is essential and obvious to me.

Now, finally, closer to the bread.

Dough: 100 g of whole grain flour, 100 g of 2nd grade flour, 200 g of water and 20-30 g of ripe sourdough (the options can be varied indefinitely - I did it completely with whole grain, and in combinations of wholemeal flour with germs and bran with flour 1 grade, etc. The main thing is that not emasculated pure white flour goes into the dough and its amount is equal to 200 g).
Beat the sourdough with water until fluffy, add flour and mix.
If I want to bake in the morning, I put the dough at night, if I plan to bake in the evening, then I start the dough in the morning, before leaving for work. Depending on the strength of the leaven, the room temperature and the grade of flour, the dough matures from 6 to 10 hours. At a temperature of 22 * ​​C, such a dough matures in about 9 hours. If I want to speed up the process, then I put it in the oven with the light on (30-32 * C).
Focus on increasing the volume by 2 times. For a start, it's best to use a measuring cup. As you saw that the dough has doubled, you can safely start kneading the dough.



Dough puffs, gurgles and bubbles, like porridge on low heat.

Let's start kneading the dough:
- 200 g of water,
- all the dough,
- 450 g of bakery flour,
- 0.5 tsp. dry yeast or 5 g pressed (in the case of this bread, I do not set myself the goal of completely avoiding the use of yeast, but speeding up and making the proving periods predictable in time. For those who want to get rid of the yeast completely, you can safely release this item, give the final proofing to a 2-fold increase),
- 2 tsp (measured from cotton) salts.

I'm doing the batch in Kenwood. The bread maker will do the job just fine, too.

First of all, I pour 200 g of water into a bowl, on top - all the dough, and mix until smooth.

The mixture of dough and water bubbles and sizzles


Sift 450 g of flour into the liquid, add yeast and make the first batch.

The dough is rather liquid, wrapped around the hook, but when the combine stops and the “trunk” is raised, it immediately floats down.

I usually knead for about 8 minutes. My bowl is closed with a plastic lid, so here I leave the dough for 50 minutes. for pre-fermentation. The dough swells and grows in size.
Then I add salt, knead for a couple of minutes until it dissolves in the dough, and only then add vegetable oil (1-2 tablespoons). I knead until the dough completely lags behind the sides and bottom of the bowl.


This is what the dough looks like at the end of the batch.

We leave him alone for another 20-30 minutes.

Then we dump it onto a surface dusted with flour and use a scraper to shape the bread.





For proofing, we use an ordinary salad bowl lined with baking paper.

We transplant the formed bread into a proofing dish and send it to a kind of proofing cabinet (any closed space with a cup of boiling water, for example a microwave oven) for about 50 minutes. or up to 2 times increase.
My oven is electric, it heats up predictably, so in 25 minutes. before the end of the proofing, I begin to heat it up to 260 * C together with the cauldron.


I sprinkle the surface of the spaced bread with flour, carefully spread it with a brush over the entire surface (it's easier to make cuts) and cut it as the soul asks for that day.

I transfer the finished dough piece on paper to a hot wok, sprinkle it several times from a spray bottle, close it with a lid and slide it into the oven. I lower the temperature to 220-230 * C and bake for about 15 minutes. under the lid.



After 15 minutes, remove the lid and bake until tender.

The bread is dry, with a pronounced wheat aroma and elastic crumb. As my son once put it: "It's a pity that you can't write the smell on your mobile phone to carry with you."

Depending on the cuts used for the flour dough and how the stars stand, we get the following appearance of bread and crumb:

[Zest]

Zest, the long silence on the air was not in vain!

The bread is wonderful! The photos are beautiful and everything is well described and shown!

Thank you very much, I really enjoyed watching it!

And I even made a copy as a souvenir, my sourdough is on its way, I will be engaged in rye bread and spy on the photo, especially since my wok is idle.

thanks for the information

it is, girls, the bread is really delicious. It is worth learning how to bake it.

my wok is idle.

But you don’t need to keep it idle. I didn’t calm down until I tried to bake it on a stone and raise the dough in special proofing baskets ... but in the end it turned out that all that inventory, which seemed to me to be a temporary substitute for "real baking accessories" , most often goes. I did not find such a vivid fateful difference between baking on a stone and baking in a wok that it made me preheat an electric oven for an hour. Wonderful bread and in a wok it turns out, we can say that it is absolutely equivalent. And it heats up in just 20-25 minutes. I also save myself the hassle of "creating steam in the oven." These jumping with a spray bottle or pouring hot water do not inspire me much, it's better to bake under the lid.
So, I use my stone on rare occasions when I don't want a round loaf, but a long bar.

[Raisin,]

Such a "benefit" is a sin not to use

Use it for health)) Just don't forget to share with us how delicious it was for you))

Raisin, what a wonderful bread!
How do you get such holes? I always have fine pore.
And another question: What is your Kenwood model?

The holes are 80% due to the correct sourdough culture. The other 20 are kneading, molding and baking.

I have Kenwood Chief 10.

And here is my raisin bread recipe:

In sourdough 100 gr. whole grain flour, ground from wheat (though peeled) and 100 gr. flour 1 s.
Proofing under the foil. Baked in WOK.
Here's what happened inside:

Thanks to the highlight!

Zest and Viki as always on top! Zest - at the expense of the stone, I understand, from your experience, that you can live without it? What about the vine proofing baskets? And yet, judging by your photo reports, you bake bread on parchment paper, but your bread evenly browns from all sides and from below, but for some reason it remains white and not crispy from below?

[klazy]

klazy
Well done, I'm glad for you that your husband finally appreciated all your efforts!

Sorry, of course, that I stared into the Kalashno-oven row with my pig-bakery snout

well, and laughed, almost to tears)) We all left people bread makers, children of a family of members of the forum The bread machine is not a diagnosis, but a creative tool and, if desired, an impetus to further daring. And you are a heroine, with a baby in your arms you also manage to tame the leaven

I'm very good. I liked to feed the leaven only once according to your method before adding it to the dough - it is not peroxidized, there is no beer smell, etc. ... I got 2 tbsp from yesterday's dough. l. separated, put on the hottest shelf in the refrigerator (10 degrees there), how long should she rest there?

you were overjoyed early - about one feeding. Everything is somewhat different. My sourdough is an independent unit that lives and feeds separately, and on a tablespoon of this sourdough I bring in dough, which I use completely in bread.

Now you and I have 2 tbsp. l. spoons of ripe dough in the refrigerator ... not scary, you can push off from this.
I would do this:
- pulled this mass out of the refrigerator and held it for at least an hour at room temperature to keep warm;
- would take from her no more than 1 tsp. (we consider the remainder as a residual waste product of the sourdough and throw it away mercilessly) and beat it until foam appears in 50 grams of water;
- added 50 g of flour there and mixed thoroughly.

Fffsø. This is your starter culture of 100% moisture. I keep exactly this ratio of flour to water, it's easier for me: I always know how much flour-water is in the sourdough.

Now hold it for about an hour - one and a half at room temperature, so that fermentation processes begin in it, and you can send it for storage for 2-3 days. But this is only if you are sure that there are 10 * in your refrigerator. I have not found a place in mine where the temperature would be higher than 4-5 *.

If the temperature is below 10 *, then all the sense of mixing with sourdough is lost: all bacteria "responsible for the leavening taste and aroma" will die in it, only wild yeast will survive.

P. S. as soon as you read this message, take out the remnants of your dough from the refrigerator and do all the above manipulations with it, otherwise she will not escape a hungry fainting, or even a fatal outcome

[kava]

Zest - at the expense of the stone, I understand, from your experience, that you can live without it? What about the vine proofing baskets? And yet, judging by your photo reports, you bake bread on parchment paper, but your bread evenly browns from all sides and from below, but for some reason it remains white and not crispy from below?

Quite right, there is life without a stone! I have the most real porous thick stone designed to absorb excess moisture at the beginning of baking and release it during baking, which promises a ruddy crispy thin crust.



Here's one for me.

However, in practice, I came across the fact that it is necessary to warm up the stone for at least an hour, so that the "sole" does not lag behind the top in tanning ... this action did not really inspire me. When baking in an electric oven, I didn't like the electricity bills at all.Moreover, in a wok, the bottom crust is not much worse - it is also tanned and ruddy.
Now there is bread in the oven, I will show its "sole" a little later.

kava
Tell us what and how you bake, then it will become clearer what the problems with the bottom crust are.

And about the proofing baskets ... I have THEM too. And not one. Of course, I really like the pattern, spiral or waffle, which they leave on the bread, but they do not have a fateful value for getting good bread. You can simply decorate the bread with nice cuts. In addition, they require a more serious and careful attitude to bread proofing. If you miss a little, it will settle down during a coup.

Zest, I put the bread on baking paper (sometimes in a microwave with hot water, sometimes in an electric oven at 30C). Then it also happens in different ways: either I heat the oven together with the baking sheet to the maximum (I have it at 240C) and quickly transfer the bread there from the microwave, or after proofing the bread in the oven I simply switch the temperature to maximum without taking out the bread. In both cases, I put a container with hot water down the oven. After about 20 minutes, I transfer the bread from the baking sheet to the wire rack and bake like this (but the crust from the bottom still does not work). Sometimes I switch the baking mode only to the lower one (again for browning). Can the container with water also be removed after 15-20 minutes?
I can't shell out for a wok. I want to try a cast-iron goose maker with a lid (but after my repair with repeated transportations I can not find it yet).

I will also insert my five cents, with your permission.
She specially baked bread on a stone and in a heated cast-iron duck. The taste is the same, but with the crust it is the exact opposite.
On the stone there is a fried top, an unfried bottom.
In the roaster, there is a less fried top and a well-fried bottom.
She baked at the same time: there was a duckling underneath, a stone on top of the grate.
Of course, if the stone is heated in the oven for an hour, then I think the bottom will fried well. This is possible if you use the oven before cooking other dishes, and the stone lies on the grate at the bottom of the oven.

[kava]

Here's the bread I just pulled out of the oven. It was baked in a wok.

Top:


And the bottom:



We can say that it blushes absolutely evenly. To obtain the same result with a stone, you have to heat up the oven to incredible temperatures for a long time, and then also play with the baking modes.

kava

I put the bread in the oven at 260 *, the wok heats up to the same temperature. It is under such conditions that the dough piece "explodes", that is, it grows in size in the oven and turns red evenly.

I don’t know, maybe there are such masters who can bake hearth-leavened bread on a baking sheet, but I certainly would not have succeeded. I calmly bake yeast loaves on a baking sheet, but for heavy starter cultures, the base will be so thin. I heard somewhere that you need to insert at least one baking sheet into another and bake it on two.

The holes are 80% due to the correct sourdough culture. The other 20 are kneading, molding and baking.

I have Kenwood Chief 10.

And what is the correct leaven ("full and lukewarm" that is, without a refrigerator)? I have Calvel, but very rarely get big holes. Poor molding?

I have Kenwood Prospero (also with a metal bowl, only with a plastic case), but the instructions say: knead the thick dough for no more than 8 minutes. So I'm afraid to strain him. You can write max. is your Kenwood kneading time?

I sprinkle the surface of the spaced bread with flour, carefully spread it with a brush over the entire surface (it's easier to make cuts) and cut it as the soul asks for that day.

Zest, I have a question about the scoring technique.
How do you make the incision: subcutaneously (almost parallel to the surface) or at 90 degrees?
I can't get such handsome cuts.

with your permission I will add,
I bake on paper on a heated wire rack (I put them in straw baskets).Blush from all sides. Unfortunately, I have a maximum t of 230, but nothing, the bubbles are fine, especially the bubbles on the surface take my breath away, such swells. So he pulls a finger to poke, shob the strength of the crunch to check
Regarding steam humidification, I read from Lyudmila and not only that moisture is needed for the first 3-5 minutes, so either I spray it from a spray bottle or pour 30-50 g of water onto the lower baking sheet. Very dangerous! The face must be kept away. But the "steam room" is provided with bread.

I don't know, maybe there are such masters who can bake hearth-leavened bread on a baking sheet

but still they are, they sat in the bushes and were modestly silent
I read that baking a hearth with sourdough on a baking sheet is a futile task, I took my word for it and did not even try to bake this way.

And what is the correct leaven ("full and lukewarm" that is, without a refrigerator)? I have Calvel, but very rarely get big holes. Poor molding?

I have Kenwood Prospero (also with a metal bowl, only with a plastic case), but the instructions say: knead the thick dough for no more than 8 minutes. So I'm afraid to strain him. You can write max. is your Kenwood kneading time?

Something like that)) The right sourdough is one that is well fed and not stored in the refrigerator. I was lucky in the sense that I live almost door to door with a big fan of ferments - Viki, we often call back and share our observations (two heads, as you know, are always better). In addition, Vicki has experience growing and feeding a wide variety of starter cultures, from grape to Calvel. They unanimously agreed that the least important thing is what kind of leaven you grew, the main thing is to soften it in very high proportions - 1: 10-20, that is, take from 10 to 20 parts of fresh dough for one part of the leaven. This happens when I rinse the remaining sourdough on the sides of the jar with water and add fresh flour. Then I can call myself a couple of times to feed 1 to 2, and then - all over again. Only in this way the leaven remains healthy, active and does not deplete. Thus, excess acidity disappears. I tried to grope for the boundaries of what was permitted and reduce the activity of feeding ... nope, I'd rather feed her well than get a thick crumb with a hint of looseness.
Storing in the refrigerator is death for lactic acid bacteria, which means you won't get any aroma.

I have Kenwood Prospero (also with a metal bowl, only with a plastic case), but the instructions say: knead the thick dough for no more than 8 minutes. So I'm afraid to strain him. You can write max. is your Kenwood kneading time?

My Kenwood is completely made of metal, there are no restrictions on the duration of the work.

Regarding steam humidification, I read from Lyudmila and not only that moisture is needed for the first 3-5 minutes, so either I spray it from a spray bottle or pour 30-50 g of water onto the lower baking sheet. Very dangerous! The face must be kept away. But the "steam room" is provided with bread.

I tried to pour water and spray from a spray bottle ... not for the faint of heart These jumping around the oven annoy me That is why I prefer baking under the lid.

I have an aluminum cauldron, I also bake in it, it turns out a thin, crispy crust, but sometimes I want baguettes, so I'm looking for something to replace the stone with.

Zest, I have a question about the scoring technique.
How do you make the incision: subcutaneously (almost parallel to the surface) or at 90 degrees?
I can't get such handsome cuts.

I make different incisions. At the last - at 90 degrees. This is if straight lines. And if I draw "squiggles", then "subcutaneously", but not in parallel, but rather at 45 degrees.
The bread should not be standing, and the surface should be well "stretched", then it is easy to cut.

Raisin, to what state to knead? How should gluten be developed in your bread?

only if you are sure that there are 10 * in your refrigerator.I have not found a place in mine where the temperature would be higher than 4-5 *.

If the temperature is below 10 *, then all the sense of mixing with sourdough is lost: all bacteria "responsible for the leavening taste and aroma" will die in it, only wild yeast will survive.
Zest, good evening.
Tell me, where do you store your leaven

Raisin, to what state to knead? How should gluten be developed in your bread?

Ohhh, we all have such different flours and measures of this very gluten that I don't even know how to answer more precisely. Rather, for this bread, I knead the dough until the gluten develops moderately. Something in between Simple and Italian, closer to Italian if you baked them.

Tell me, where do you store your leaven

At the moment - in the kitchen on the windowsill, where I have the coolest.

At the moment - in the kitchen on the windowsill, where I have the coolest.

Thank you for such a quick response. That is, the optimum temperature for storing the starter culture is + 10, and 2-3 days for subsequent use. Or can you keep it longer? I bake Ayn's rye sourdough bread once a week. And it turns out that I do not bake natural sourdough, but with wild yeast? since my starter culture is kept in the refrigerator at 8 degrees and five to six days without feeding? But the smell, when I bake, is awesome and the bread tastes good.

Tell me, where do you store your leaven

And I just keep starter cultures on the kitchen table:

When it's too hot, they "move" to the windowsill.
In the kitchen 25-27 * С. On the windowsill 17-20 * C (provided that the window is open). French (liquid) at 1: 1: 1 feeding is ready after 6 hours on the table or 8 hours on the windowsill. This is subject to the purity of the breed, it is worth adding at least a little flour 1c. or 2 sec. or whole grain and it becomes "reactive".

And I just keep starter cultures on the kitchen table:

When it's too hot, they "move" to the windowsill.
In the kitchen 25-27 * С. On the windowsill 17-20 * C (provided that the window is open). French (liquid) at 1: 1: 1 feeding is ready after 6 hours on the table or 8 hours on the windowsill. This is subject to the purity of the breed, it is worth adding at least a little flour 1c. or 2 sec. or whole grain and it becomes "reactive".

Wiki. And how long can it stand at this temperature without deteriorating if I use it once a week?

I looked into the jar, and there the leaven screams "Doctor, we are losing me !!!"

pulled out / held / picked up / whipped / added / mixed ...
"can be sent for storage for 2-3 days" - leave at 10 degrees and not touch? or how?

[Deva]

Deva

I'm not a Zest, I apologize for getting in. The starter culture is stored at a temperature not exactly 10 degrees, but at least 10 degrees. But. The higher the temperature (in the sense, the closer to room temperature), the faster the fermentation process. Therefore, in order not to engage in feedings often - approach these 10 degrees as close as possible.

Zest
I also live on the windowsill. Almost north.

And on the window sill it explodes much faster than after 6 parts. In general, in my apartment it turns out either very hot (on the table, on the windowsill) or cold (refrigerator, loggia).

Wiki. And how long can it stand at this temperature without deteriorating if I use it once a week?

No, this storage method is definitely not suitable for you. Let's look for other options. The minimum temperature is still not lower than 10 *, and in the refrigerator it is 8 *, perhaps there is nothing wrong, because the bread suits you. If you take her out of the refrigerator the day before baking, let her warm up and feed her a couple of times, I think she will only get better, but if there is no difference, then maybe she shouldn't worry.

leave at 10 degrees and do not touch? or how?

just touch very much even possible. 2-3 days is the maximum period when you can NOT touch. And if you are going to bake, you leave it at room temperature, feed it, ferment it and put it into action. Well.everything is as usual.

that is, if I want to bake, leave the leaven overnight in the kitchen and in the morning on it (1 tbsp. spoon) will it already be possible to put the leaven?

that is, if I want to bake, leave the leaven overnight in the kitchen and in the morning on it (on 1 tbsp. spoon) it will already be possible to put a dough on it?

If these 100 g of your sourdough all this time stood at room temperature, then they could easily ripen and at least double in size. First you need to look after your leaven, because we all have it differently. The duration of ripening very strongly depends on its natural strength and the temperature in the room.
If the leaven is already ripe by this moment, then you can put the dough now and bake bread in the morning.

Thank you for such a quick response. That is, the optimum temperature for storing the starter culture is + 10, and 2-3 days for subsequent use. Or can you keep it longer? I bake Ayn's rye sourdough bread once a week. And it turns out that I do not bake natural sourdough, but with wild yeast? since my starter culture is kept in the refrigerator at 8 degrees and five to six days without feeding? But the smell, when I bake, is awesome and the bread tastes good.

+10 - lower temperature limit for storage.

It is also possible to store for longer than 2-3 days if the curtain is in the form of a tough dough and even salted (up to 5-6 days).

If you store it for a longer time without additional fertilizing, and even at the wrong temperature, then the ferment acids and enzymes have time to "eat up" the protein of the flour, the sugar in it also disappears ... the yeast becomes completely depleted. Such a leaven must be rejuvenated for a long time and persistently in order to bring to life. And lactic acid bacteria do not revive at all if they die from the cold ... she died so she died.

Bread can smell good. Doesn't yeast bread have a flavor? But this is not a complete bouquet of sourdough bread. And I don't like the crumb at all.

Nobody calls on anyone to do this only and in no other way. Everything is yours. Such difference in taste and smell is not perceptible and significant for everyone. For me personally, it is essential. Therefore, I prefer to maintain the "purity of the breed"

If these 100 g of your sourdough all this time stood at room temperature, then they could easily ripen and at least double in size.
If the leaven is already ripe by this moment, then you can put the dough now and bake bread in the morning.

Clearly ... she stood at +10, never matured, so - it bubbled a little and rose by about 10% ... I put it in the kitchen - let it ripen ... But how it rises 2 times - so you can put it dough, huh?
And feed the remaining leaven? Give her another "50" flour and water, let it stand for an hour at room temperature, and then at + 10 for 2-3 days?

[Iziuminkin]

Well, here I am with my bread
cut hot - could not resist
The basic recipe is simple with sourdough; the changes are - leavens 200 gr. (instead of 340), water 140 gr. (instead of 200) and an additive in the form of Nordic buckwheat, oat, wheat flakes.
Tried very hard to follow Iziuminkin instructions. But... once again all the bread cracked, and it starts to crack even during the proofing. In fairness, it should be noted that I bake without a lid (well, I don't have a suitable vessel) and an oven - you can't look without tears ...
The first times the dough was thin (I was afraid to add a lot of flour, because I tried to strictly follow the recipe), now it's a classic bun ... Well, what's wrong again? Help me please!!!

[Rusya]

Rusya

I can say that for a beginner - you got a very good bread in the oven. However, it is easier to go from the opposite - in the beginning, strictly follow the recipes (then it will be easier to disassemble the errors), and then make your own changes to the recipe.
Rusya, you changed so much there that each component could make its own amendments to the structure of the crust and crumb.
I can advise you to do as I did at the very beginning of my baking practice - strictly follow the recipe, and make changes only at the "flour-water ratio" level. It is much easier to do "right" from the very beginning than to disassemble later on what was "wrong".
Let's start with the fact that you added 200 sourdoughs instead of 340. If you mean 100% sourdough, then the missing sourdough water had to add another 70 g.In addition, instead of 200 g of water for the recipe dough - you have only 140, in total - you did not give the bread 130 g of water.
It remains to be seen how many additional flakes were added, which are very water-absorbing in themselves.
If, in addition to all of the above, they baked without a lid, and without steam humidification in the oven, then the result is quite natural.

As for cracks during proofing - even with the absolutely correct flour-water ratio in the dough, it is necessary to arrange the dough piece either in a closed space with a cup of boiling water or under a film.
Try to strictly follow the recipe and you will definitely succeed))

[Zest]

Zest, sorry that I did not indicate this right away .... the thing is that this is not the first bread And the first ones were just 100% according to the recipe (and I used yours from the 1st page of the topic and simple), but cracks and now there.
Regarding the leaven, 340 gr. were replaced by 200 gr. starter cultures (100%), 70 gr. water and 70 gr. flour. And when I poured 200 gr. I had to add a lot of flour (according to the recipe), so (as it seems to me) it would be more logical to immediately reduce its amount. And the proofers were already in the oven with a mug of boiling water and just on the table under a towel (in a colander). The result is still one - cracks
But in any case - "through thorns to the stars" - no one said that it would be easy I will try again and again!

[Rusya]

Rusya

What is there to do? It happens that bread turns out with cracks, like this



I noticed that if bread cracks, all other things being equal, then most often this is due to:

- lack of water in the dough;
- insufficient steam humidification;
- using flour with low gluten;
- a large specific gravity of the whole grain flour of its own grinding in relation to baking (result in the photo);
- using unripe or overripe sourdough;
- improper molding (if I "stretch" the surface too much, sometimes there is not enough elasticity;
- insufficient proofing;
- oh, something else was spinning in my head, I forgot.

I would start with sourdough, check how you feed it properly, change the flour and add ascorbic acid when kneading.

As for Plain Bread, it is better not to touch the amount of leaven given in the recipe, but to reduce the amount of water itself. Lyudmila bakes with strong dry Canadian flour, so we often have to subtract water from the recipe. Add 340 g of sourdough, and reduce the amount of water empirically, depending on your flour. In any case, the dough should not be too dense.

Good day!
I would venture to post a photo of my two breads (yesterday and the day before yesterday). Hope you don't boo a newbie (I've only baked bread for three weeks). :) Thank you very much for your advice and for this forum, thanks to you, KM has grown a leaven and once every two days the smell of freshly baked bread sneaks into every corner of the house. All three of my goats (and even my youngest nine-month-old) and my husband eat bread with pleasure, not leaving a crumb! Thank you!

First Bread with Olives and Garlic (recipe from here

Products: 300 ml of warm purified mineral water (still), 420 g of flour, 1 sachet of yeast (7 g), 75 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice, 100 g of wholemeal flour, 10 g of salt, 75 ml of olive oil.
For the filling: 3 heads of garlic, 10 olives, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 sprigs of rosemary, a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, 2 tbsp. spoons of water.

Preheat the oven to 250 ° C.
Take a large bowl, fill with hot water, wipe the heated bowl dry, pour 300 ml of warm water (about 20 degrees) into it, add 210 g of flour and a bag of yeast, mix and put in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours.
Then add orange juice, another 210 g flour, salt, coarse flour, knead, pour in 25 ml of olive oil, knead again. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave for 45 minutes.
Add 25 ml of olive oil, knead and leave for another 30 minutes under plastic wrap.
Then add the remaining 25 ml of olive oil, knead well again and leave for 30 minutes.
Knead the dough every 30 minutes. In total, the dough should stand for 3 hours after the first addition of olive oil.

Filling: Peel and cut the garlic into wedges. Heat olive oil in a heavy frying pan and fry the garlic for one minute, then add water, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, rosemary leaves and olives (after removing the seeds). Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
Roll out the dough into a rectangular layer 1-2 cm thick. Put the filling on the dough, evenly distributing it. Fold the dough into an envelope, cover with a damp cloth and let stand for 30 minutes.
Place the bread on a floured baking sheet, brush with olive oil. Bake for 5 minutes at 250 ° C, then reduce to 180 ° C and bake for another 35-40 minutes, until crisp.
Cut the bread only when it has cooled.
Accordingly, KM replaced yeast with sourdough (on wheat flour). True, I did not quite guess with recalculation - the dough turned out to be thin. The filling is obtained with an interesting caramel flavor. Lovers of Italian cuisine should be delighted. As soon as the bread cooled down, the husband did not notice how he swallowed half of the loaf. So far, this is the tastiest and most delicate of all breads tested.

The second rye bread with sourdough (recipe from here 🔗)
Baked in a cauldron with a closed lid. Very fragrant with a crispy crust. I added caraway seeds and flaxseed, and due to lack of time, I replaced the apple juice with fresh orange juice in half with water.
Opara
* 1/2 cup cool water
* 1/2 tbsp barley malt or honey
* 9-oz / 255-gr rye sourdough
* 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 cup rye flour
Dough
* dough
* 1 cup of apple juice
* 1/2 cup rye flour
* 2 1 / 2-3 cups whole wheat flour
* 1-2 tablespoons of gluten (gluten)
* 2 tbsp wheat bran (optional)
* 1/2 tablespoon sea salt

[lfill]

lfill

it is simply incredible to achieve such impressive results in three weeks. Baking is clearly your path! It's always nice when the house smells of freshly baked bread.
Do not forget to share your future successes with us.

Oh, thank you very much, now I'll blush to the tips of my ears! For me, still most of your baking terminology is Chinese. But the husband and children eat delicious and HEALTHY bread every day, otherwise they kept their poor on starvation rations without a store ration - they were interrupted by Tatar flat cakes and Armenian lavash.

Thank you all for this forum and personally to Sveta Odessa for your help in growing sourdough and mastering the basics!

I often hear questions: "What is wrong with my bread? What's the problem?" I will not tire of repeating that the lion's share of all problems and shortcomings lies in the leaven on which you bake your bread, and in caring for it.

I involuntarily conducted such a comparative experiment on myself. Not intentionally, but because of my arrogance I absolutely knew that it was NOT possible to do this, but ... I urgently had to bake bread, and there was no time left to feed the sourdough. I decided that I would use it for dough as it is, that is, already fully ripe and almost degraded. Otherwise, I will act without the slightest flaws, which means that everything will work out. It would seem - what does 1 tbsp. l. leaven? All the same, she "eats" in the dough, and this neutralizes all its shortcomings. It wasn't like that. The bread was edible, but not at all what my family was used to. Today I baked EXACTLY THE SAME, with the only amendment - the leaven was AT THE PEAK OF GROWTH. As they say - the difference is on the face (i.e., on bread))

Today's bread:



Yesterday's bread next to today's:



The crumb of yesterday's bread:



Today's bread crumb:

[alone]

As you can see, if you follow exactly the same recipe, you can get two completely different breads. And the reason for the huge number of differences will be alone a tablespoon of sourdough.

It had a dramatic effect on the quality of the bread - the dough rose worse, poorly cut, the bread "did not explode" in the oven and the cuts did not even think to open. The crust remained whitish; when trying to brown it, it burned corny. Myakish came out knocked down, loose and completely uninteresting.

These are the only consequences of the leaven taken for the bread in the wrong state.