Guitar Gear Forum

nightflameauto wrote:Mad sourdough buns. Essentially hamburger bun sized. Wanted to bring in cause the coworkers are irking me asking for bread samples. Wife tries one and says, "Don't take them to work. Keep them."

I had to promise to make another batch starting tonight. I did leave four of them at home, but she told me they may not survive the day. Apparently, "this is the best bread you've ever made."

I'm also getting money tossed at me by the coworkers to bake them full loaves after they sampled the little ones. If it wasn't a two day process to get a good loaf of sourdough, this could be a handy little side business. Granted, I can do multiple loaves at a time if I stagger the hours of the bulk ferments so the oven is free at appropriate times, but I'm not sure I'm up for assembly-line level bread making.

Thus far I've laid down a "one loaf per day, three days warning" line in the sand for the coworkers. I need a couple days to get the starter built up to appropriate size for a big loaf, a day for the mix, the folding of the dough, the bulk ferment/rise, then the next morning the final stretches, final rise, scoring and baking. It's a process. It's fun, but I got other things to do too.

I have to say that, I too have considered mass producing my Grandma's bread but, it's so labor intensive that I'd have to charge $30 or $40 a loaf!
I suppose, it could be done, with a dough mixer/kneader and a dough extruder (for making the braided loaves) and a conveyor belt oven. One person can produce about 60-70 loaves a day, maybe a bit more?

ajaxlepinski wrote:I have to say that, I too have considered mass producing my Grandma's bread but, it's so labor intensive that I'd have to charge $30 or $40 a loaf!
I suppose, it could be done, with a dough mixer/kneader and a dough extruder (for making the braided loaves) and a conveyor belt oven. One person can produce about 60-70 loaves a day, maybe a bit more?

Yikes, that's a lot of up front costs.

I'm sure somebody, somewhere makes a mass stretcher/puller for sourdough, but no way I'd toss the money at it. On my own, without new equipment, if I set up a staggered bulk ferment routine, I'd say I could max out around four loaves, maybe five a day. But that would be a full day's work for two days minimum. The up front is about a half hour putting ingredients together, a fifteen minute wait, a two to three minute stretch, then repeat fifteen minute wait/stretch routine five to six times. Then an 8 to 10 hour countertop rise. Then a lift and stretch, fold. Then turn a quarter turn, wait sixty seconds, then do it again. Wait fifteen minutes, then do it again. Wait fifteen minutes, then lift the whole thing into the dutch oven (which should have been warming up for an hour at this point), toss in the oven covered for twenty minutes, pull the cover, bake for another fifteen to twenty.

And that's the "simple" version of the sourdough I make. If I staggered them, say I mixed one and did the first hour's worth of stretches before setting up the next mix, sure, that'd work, but that'd be one HELL of a lot of work. And the baking would essentially turn into one comes out of the dutch oven, then next one goes in.

Pretty sure the physical limit would be five for a two day period. Possibly rotating so I could end up with five coming out each day. Though I'm putting my mental limit at two for a two day period if I get a good amount of warning. Too much other shit to do.

I've set a price of $15 for a full loaf, $20 if you want me to cut it into 8 mini-loaves/buns because that leaves me with another set of stretches and folds to get them shaped up into rounds after cutting.

On the bright side, I always enjoy bringing in samples of things and being able to say, "First hits are free. After that I gotta charge ya." We really need a crack smoking smiley.

Grandma's bread just has a 15 min rest after developing the dough, two kneads with a 30-40 min rise each, braid with a 15 min rise and 25 min bake. The bottleneck is the two 30-40 min rises. Could be done but, you'd need factory space, packaging and delivery, billing, collections, bookeeping, taxes... meh. Too old, lazy and irresponsible for that shit!

ajaxlepinski wrote:Grandma's bread just has a 15 min rest after developing the dough, two kneads with a 30-40 min rise each, braid with a 15 min rise and 25 min bake. The bottleneck is the two 30-40 min rises. Could be done but, you'd need factory space, packaging and delivery, billing, collections, bookeeping, taxes... meh. Too old, lazy and irresponsible for that shit!

Same.

I'm up for selling a loaf or two a week to the coworkers. That's about as much stamina as I've got.

i got this rum cake recipe off a Porsche 928 forum years ago, and made them the past two years for Christmas - they are fairly easy to make and taste pretty damn good. probably won't make some this year because i'm working on Christmas Eve and Christmas ... and i need to lose 15 lbs. LOL

"World Famous Cayman Island (Tortuga) Rum Cake

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, I substitute sliced almonds
1 (520g) package yellow cake mix. (Just use the cake mix as is, do not add other ingredients listed on cake box - they are included below)
1 (92 g) package vanilla instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup amber rum or Bacardi 1873 rum

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Sprinkle nuts over bottom of greased 10 inch tube pan or 12 inch bundt pan.
Stir together cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, oil and rum.
Pour batter over nuts.
Bake at 325 in oven for 1 hour. Check after 45 minutes with dry toothpick.
Cool 10 minutes in pan.

Using a bamboo spear or toothpick, make multiple holes in the bottom of the cake.
Evenly pour approximately 1/3 of the glaze mixture (recipe below) over the bottom of the cake. Let absorb a few minutes.

Invert onto serving plate and ***** top and sides of cake.
Brush glaze evenly over top and sides of cake.
Allow cake to absorb glaze.
Repeat until glaze is used up.


Glaze

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup amber rum or 1873 rum

Melt butter in saucepan.
Stir in water and sugar.
Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat.
Stir in rum.

Great all by itself, or can be served with a dollop of whipped creme or vanilla ice cream."

ok for xmas we are making stuffed peppers with fresh Garlic bread . Starting the day with home made pancakes w/ baked apple toppings . Desert will be homemade chocolate chip cookies & ice cream . Assuming I can see straight enough to read the directions . Whats on your menu ?

fretless wrote:ok for xmas we are making stuffed peppers with fresh Garlic bread . Starting the day with home made pancakes w/ baked apple toppings . Desert will be homemade chocolate chip cookies & ice cream . Assuming I can see straight enough to read the directions . Whats on your menu ?

The rustic bread NFA posted on the first page. Making a loaf now, and if it turns out decent another one on xmas eve.

Bunch of BAD ASS BAKIN' MOTHER FUCKERS ON GGF!!!!!


In case anyone want to try a batch of Finnish Coffee Bread... best thing I EVER dunked in coffee!!!
This is from my Mother's 1962 Finnish cookbook but, it's that same recipe as my Grandma's.
EDIT: My Grandma used 1 1/2 tsp of cardamom.

ajaxlepinski wrote:Bunch of BAD ASS BAKIN' MOTHER FUCKERS ON GGF!!!!!

Buncha bread bakin' crank yankin' muffin stuffers I tell ya!

Muffin stuffin is a year round celebration. The main reason we don’t even take the lights down

Dick Butter Nuts wrote:

fretless wrote:ok for xmas we are making stuffed peppers with fresh Garlic bread . Starting the day with home made pancakes w/ baked apple toppings . Desert will be homemade chocolate chip cookies & ice cream . Assuming I can see straight enough to read the directions . Whats on your menu ?

The rustic bread NFA posted on the first page. Making a loaf now, and if it turns out decent another one on xmas eve.

Nah, bro. First thing I posted here was sourdough, which is way more work than that rustic bread recipe I have made. They're both good, but the sourdough is less ingredients and a bit more work.

This morning was sourdough castoff butter biscuits:


Just a cup of flour, two teaspoons baking powder, a stick of butter and a cup of sourdough castoff that's aged in the fridge for a few days to develop extra sourdough tang. This pic is after I'd already used two of them for breakfast sammiches for the wife and me with egg, ham and cheese. Scarfed 'em before I could think to take pics.

These things are buttery, tangy heaven.

On the agenda for the coming days:
Tempura battered shrimp (sourdough castoff + baking powder, fried, then rolled in thickened sauce)
Bagels
Likely another batch of hamburger bun sized sourdough bread, or another big loaf. Haven't decided yet.

nom nom nom

MOAR!

Sourdough Bagels:


Fresh out of the oven. Four plain, two cinnamon sugar dipped, two garlic cheddar dipped.

And, since I had a sourdough starter castoff jar in the fridge, I put a little baking soda in and used it as tempura batter for shramps:


Some of the shrimps weren't dry enough for the batter to stick, but where it did stick it was divine. Just a touch of salt when the came out of the pot and nommed with some sweet chili sauce.

I can't be the only one still baking. Am I?

Sourdough Buns


Test sample split open




Last batch got used for sammiches and cheeseburgers, and some just ate 'cause they taste good. This one's bound to go the same way.

mmmmmm

Made a nice sourdough batard this weekend.

^^^ Looks fantastic!!!! ^^^

How'd you carve the design in? With the CNC machine?

Yummy!

Damn, ej, that's some precise work.

I had a near disaster with my attempt this weekend. It's a first time use banneton that, apparently, I didn't get enough flour worked into. So when I got to tip the loaf out after the final rise it stuck and clumped up. Which you can see in the final bake as massive cracks all over the place.



Only one of my cuts worked out as hoped, and it's near impossible to see it among all the carnage of the rest of the surface.



Apparently this is a common occurrence with bannetons on the first and second loaves. Takes a while to build up a good coating on the wood spiral I guess. So, next loaf may be better, may not. But the one after that should be great.

Got some whole grain rye (sometimes called pumpernickel) coming to do a pure rye sourdough and I'm hoping the banneton is in good shape by then. The spiral pattern should look awesome with the tiny cracking you get with pure rye.

They look really good, even with the massive cracks!

Did you grease the bannetons before putting the dough in?

ajaxlepinski wrote:They look really good, even with the massive cracks!

Did you grease the bannetons before putting the dough in?

I was told to never, EVER grease a banneton. Just flour. Mist with water if the flour doesn't stick. Seemed counterintuitive at first, but the parts that did come away clean make it clear it's just a matter of having a proper build-up on the rest of the surfaces. I'll get it eventually.

I wonder why they said not to grease a banneton?
Maybe, you need the dough to stick a bit to the banneton in order to properly emboss the ring pattern into the bread?

ajaxlepinski wrote:I wonder why they said not to grease a banneton?
Maybe, you need the dough to stick a bit to the banneton in order to properly emboss the ring pattern into the bread?

I think the fear is soaking stuff into the wood. It's unfinished wood, and I don't think you'd want long-term fats soaked into it.

The way it's supposed to work is whatever you want embossed in the ring pattern sits in the grooves, while the wood has enough flour on it to avoid holding the bread in place when you flip it. Hopefully one of my next loaves proves more cooperative on that front.

nightflameauto wrote:

ajaxlepinski wrote:I wonder why they said not to grease a banneton?
Maybe, you need the dough to stick a bit to the banneton in order to properly emboss the ring pattern into the bread?

I think the fear is soaking stuff into the wood. It's unfinished wood, and I don't think you'd want long-term fats soaked into it.

The way it's supposed to work is whatever you want embossed in the ring pattern sits in the grooves, while the wood has enough flour on it to avoid holding the bread in place when you flip it. Hopefully one of my next loaves proves more cooperative on that front.

Ahhhhh ha! I thought it was ceramic! Yup, you don't want fat going rancid in the wood.

nightflameauto wrote:

ajaxlepinski wrote:I wonder why they said not to grease a banneton?
Maybe, you need the dough to stick a bit to the banneton in order to properly emboss the ring pattern into the bread?

I think the fear is soaking stuff into the wood. It's unfinished wood, and I don't think you'd want long-term fats soaked into it.

The way it's supposed to work is whatever you want embossed in the ring pattern sits in the grooves, while the wood has enough flour on it to avoid holding the bread in place when you flip it. Hopefully one of my next loaves proves more cooperative on that front.

I use a little sock thing in the banneton which helps hold the flour in place. You lose the defined rings though.