Sourdough Bread

The caraway seeds add so much flavor. Heavenly yummy. As a side note, the cuts I get from my new Shun 9" bread knife is mind blowing.

82% Hydration+ Organic Bread Flour+ Organic Whole Wheat Flour+ Organic Dark Rye Flour+ Sesame Seeds

The Bread tastes delicious, and the texture is very nice as well. This is my greatest hydration percentage to date, I’m still trying to work up to 85%. I’m having some difficulty getting a nice looking Loaf, mine always seem to be somewhat ‘flat’ instead of a nice half circle. I’m going to see if I can do some more research and see if I can come up with a solution. Possibly something to do with how I’m proofing the loaves? Max, I’m lusting after that Shun, very nice!

It's a lot of trial and errors. That's why it's important to log everything you did during a bread session. It all boils down to finding that sweet spot for the flour you are using. Dough temperature, bulk fermentation, overnight retard, stretch and fold,...  You screw up one variable and it won't be perfect. In order to get that perfect round and proud shape with the curly lip cut everything needs to be perfectly done. That's why you write down everything so when see improvement you can look back and see exactly what you did and for how long. Now go to Amazon and order that Shun knife. Resistance is futile. :-)

I am sure that most of you if not all know about what I am going to indicate.  However, while I have been cooking for decades I am new to bread making. But I found something that I want to relay to you bread makers.  When cooking I rarely measure any ingredient.  Baking is a whole new world especially when using yeast; I use active dry yeast not instant yeast.  The first two times I made the bread it was OK but not great.  Then, I got my hands on the same recipe that   not only listed the ingredients in measurements such as 2-1/4 teaspoons of yeast (which is one packet of active yeast) and  one teaspoon of sugar, etc.  But this recipe gave the weight of each ingredient in grams and that made a significant change to the final product.  As an example, a packet of yeast which is 2-1/4 teaspoons weighs 7 grams 1 teaspoon of sugar weighs 3 grams.  But the second recipe not only indicates 2-1/4 teaspoons of yeast it also indicates 9 grams which is 2 grams more, a teaspoon of sugar weighs 3 grams but the recipe calls for 4 grams.  This does not sound like a huge difference but when working with yeast it is and when I used this one the bread was great.  It would be a significant help to get the ingredients in weight as well. Keep in mind I did not use a sour dough starter.

My wife and I have lived in Los Angeles since 1982.  I am from Brooklyn N.Y. and there is no good pizza in L.A. PERIOD.  I have been working on a pizza recipe for a year as well as baking it (most home ovens on go up to 500º).  I am almost there.
               

I find that cooking is art
but baking is science
weigh everything and it took about a year to get very good pizza still trying for great

I find that cooking is art
but baking is science
weigh everything and it took about a year to get very good pizza still trying for great

Weigh everything for the best results.
I'm using an adaptation of the authentic Neapolitan pizza dough recipe. If you don't have a proper pizza oven you need to reduce the amount of 00 flour as it is not designed to be cooked for a long time.

To reduce the cooking time, I cook the dough in an incredibly hot dry pan for a few minutes (until the base starts to blacken) and then chuck in the oven for as short a time a possible (and as hot as I can get it).

Don't cook the tomato sauce before adding it to the pan either. Just combine ingredients and spoon onto the hot dough in the pan.

Use a baking stone or a pizza steel if you have one.

I am sure that most of you if not all know about what I am going to indicate.  However, while I have been cooking for decades I am new to bread making. But I found something that I want to relay to you bread makers.  When cooking I rarely measure any ingredient.  Baking is a whole new world especially when using yeast; I use active dry yeast not instant yeast.  The first two times I made the bread it was OK but not great.  Then, I got my hands on the same recipe that   not only listed the ingredients in measurements such as 2-1/4 teaspoons of yeast (which is one packet of active yeast) and  one teaspoon of sugar, etc.  But this recipe gave the weight of each ingredient in grams and that made a significant change to the final product.  As an example, a packet of yeast which is 2-1/4 teaspoons weighs 7 grams 1 teaspoon of sugar weighs 3 grams.  But the second recipe not only indicates 2-1/4 teaspoons of yeast it also indicates 9 grams which is 2 grams more, a teaspoon of sugar weighs 3 grams but the recipe calls for 4 grams.  This does not sound like a huge difference but when working with yeast it is and when I used this one the bread was great.  It would be a significant help to get the ingredients in weight as well.  Keep in mind I did not use a sour dough starter.

My wife and I have lived in Los Angeles since 1982.  I am from Brooklyn N.Y. and there is no good pizza in L.A. PERIOD.  I have been working on a pizza recipe for a year as well as baking it (most home ovens on go up to 500º).  I am almost there.
               

Great post - I love recipes that provide details like weights as well as volumes and I also like to know why to do or not do things that aren't obvious*.  I want to understand not just follow by rote.  I've been using a scale for a lot of cooking and baking for a long time and not all scales are the same.  For baking you want precision.  I have a couple of scales, one just gives you either grams or ounces to the whole unit, the other gives me measurement to the tenth of a unit like 5.9 grams instead of just 5 or 6.  That extra up to .9 of a unit can make a difference in baking.  I also use the more precise scale when measuring my coffee beans for the morning brew and I like precision.  

*An example of a bare instruction causing problems was with my Webber Smokey Mountain Cooker water smoker - instructions said "don't line the water bowl with foil". I thought, why not, it gets all greasy and messy and foil lining would help in cleanup.  Well, it turns out the reason is that unless you have a giant piece of foil and can get a single impervious layer on the bowl water will get in behind the foil and in that spot it gets heated more than the rest of the water and gets forced up and over the edge of the bowl onto your fire below.  Not Good.  I learned this on my first brisket smoke which took 19 hours - I couldn't understand why I was having so much trouble maintaining heat.  Then I figured it out.  All the instructions would have needed to do is tell me why not to line the water bowl with foil.  The brisket was excellent despite the problems.

I find that cooking is art
but baking is science
weigh everything and it took about a year to get very good pizza still trying for great

Weigh everything for the best results.
I'm using an adaptation of the authentic Neapolitan pizza dough recipe. If you don't have a proper pizza oven you need to reduce the amount of 00 flour as it is not designed to be cooked for a long time.

To reduce the cooking time, I cook the dough in an incredibly hot dry pan for a few minutes (until the base starts to blacken) and then chuck in the oven for as short a time a possible (and as hot as I can get it).

Don't cook the tomato sauce before adding it to the pan either. Just combine ingredients and spoon onto the hot dough in the pan.

Use a baking stone or a pizza steel if you have one.

When I started to refine a pizza dough there were however, two other areas that were equally important.  Sauce, I agree never cook it but also how do I cook/bake the pizza.  Kitchen ovens can only reach 500º.  After a lot of thought I came up with the following.  First of all I have a barbecue that half of it is for charcoal half for gas (three large burners) and place for pots.  It also has a domed lid.  

I went to a home building store (not a Lowes or Home Depot) that sell bricks, slate, gravel, etc.  I purchased six fire bricks.  These are the ones that are used to build fire places and can withstand thousands of degrees.  I took a very stiff brush (not metal) and cleaned them.  I then put them in my kitchen oven which can only go up to 500º and they stayed in there for about 50 minutes.  They got hot.  I then put them in the gas side on my barbecue while all three burners were on high.  Within minutes I got up to 700º ambient and I am sure the bricks were hotter.  However 700º is the highest the BBQ thermometer can record.  I slid the pizza of of my peal and with in minutes I had a good pizza.  But you will only get cardboard crust in a kitchen oven.  If you are interested I will share with you my sauce recipe.

85% sourdough infused with Turmeric, dried garlic, dried onions, sesame, poppy and cumin seed. 

Covered with everything bagel mix.

I find that cooking is art
but baking is science
weigh everything and it took about a year to get very good pizza still trying for great

Weigh everything for the best results.
I'm using an adaptation of the authentic Neapolitan pizza dough recipe. If you don't have a proper pizza oven you need to reduce the amount of 00 flour as it is not designed to be cooked for a long time.

To reduce the cooking time, I cook the dough in an incredibly hot dry pan for a few minutes (until the base starts to blacken) and then chuck in the oven for as short a time a possible (and as hot as I can get it).

Don't cook the tomato sauce before adding it to the pan either. Just combine ingredients and spoon onto the hot dough in the pan.

Use a baking stone or a pizza steel if you have one.

When I started to refine a pizza dough there were however, two other areas that were equally important.  Sauce, I agree never cook it but also how do I cook/bake the pizza.  Kitchen ovens can only reach 500º.  After a lot of thought I came up with the following.  First of all I have a barbecue that half of it is for charcoal half for gas (three large burners) and place for pots.  It also has a domed lid.  

I went to a home building store (not a Lowes or Home Depot) that sell bricks, slate, gravel, etc.  I purchased six fire bricks.  These are the ones that are used to build fire places and can withstand thousands of degrees.  I took a very stiff brush (not metal) and cleaned them.  I then put them in my kitchen oven which can only go up to 500º and they stayed in there for about 50 minutes.  They got hot.  I then put them in the gas side on my barbecue while all three burners were on high.  Within minutes I got up to 700º ambient and I am sure the bricks were hotter.  However 700º is the highest the BBQ thermometer can record.  I slid the pizza of of my peal and with in minutes I had a good pizza.  But you will only get cardboard crust in a kitchen oven.  If you are interested I will share with you my sauce recipe.

Please share your sauce recipe