I’ve been baking for 5 years and a lot of you are new to it so I wanted to show you my process in case it helps. I won’t cover starting and maintaining a starter since that’s its own thread, so I’ll assume you have one going, and you (still) have some flour, water, and salt.
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First, a bit of theory: When baking bread, things are measured relative to the amount of flour: 100% hydration = same weight of water as flour. 50% hydration = 50% weight of the flour. Another important prerequisite or big light bread: Your starter needs to be HELLA active.
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I’ll feed my starter twice a day for two days before using it to bake. You can make delicious bread successfully without it, but what I’m trying to describe is getting big airy bread that’ll make your IG friends jealous
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tidbit: Recipes will call for “young” or “mature” starter. When you first feed your starter, you start a cycle of growth and decline. At the start of growth, it’s “young”, at peak growth, it’s “mature”.
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As your starter ages, the yeast produces sour notes which are acidic. This acid will keep building, until it becomes overwhelming, and will actually affect the strength of your gluten network. However, if done right, it’ll also impart delicious sour notes. Navigate this by feel.
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You’ll typically take a small amount of mature starter, and feed it. When it is young, you add it to your bread. How do you know when it’s “young”? There’s a thing called the float test: Take a spoonful, plop it in water, if it floats, it indicates enough fermentation activity.
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One last thing before we start: You’ll see me here do something called “Autolyse”. It means mixing flour and water without adding yeast and salt. Hydrating flour starts a process that prepares the food for the yeast you’ll add later. It’ll mean a lot more vigorous activity early
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...and it means your dough will be more elastic. I don’t really understand this last part, but it’s real. And you do not want to skip this step. Alright, let’s start with the process:pic.twitter.com/0L2k6Vw0dy
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I’m gonna pause here and ask, do you want me to continue? There’s a lot more of this.
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I'm enjoying it and i haven't baked in 10-ish years.
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