I don't understand why more people don't bake bread. Five days ago I'd never baked bread in my life: I decided to try, so I put some flour and water in a jar.Today, I baked these:They're spelt loaves. Technically they're spelt and rye, as there'd still be a little bit of rye left in the starter, but they're almost entirely spelt.How did I get this old without ever having baked bread before? Why did everyone tell me it was difficult??
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Way to go! It's true over here too....not many people bake...too many excuses. They don't know what they're missing, eh?cAt, you're a living proof that spelt can be taken by someone who's gluten-intolerant.
Ah, no. I don't have a problem with gluten as such - I can quite happily eat gluten bearing grains like rye and barley, and I've been tested for coeliac disease and it came back negative. I wouldn't recommend that anyone gluten-intolerant eat spelt. Wheat intolerant, though - for sure. I don't know why I can eat spelt without incident, but wheat is dreadful - I assume it's just that spelt proteins are much easier to digest. Maybe it's a mild gluten intolerance - if the gluten in other grains is weaker than in wheat, maybe it's just that the gluten in wheat is too hard compared to other sources of gluten? Dunno.But yes: they don't know what they're missing! I am totally telling everyone I know, and I've already got a handful of other people with jars of flour and water in their kitchens... :D
Thanks. I'm learning something.
cAtdraco that is an absolutely amazing result for a spelt/rye/sourdough combination. I take it that these are sifted or white versions of rye and spelt (?). What can you tell us about your technique?
Is it? Noone told me spelt would be difficult, so I just leapt in! :D Thank you!It is white spelt (Bio-Oz) - the rye flour is quite pale too, so I assume it's a white rye? We bought it from a bulk foods place where they package their own stuff, it just says "rye flour" on the label. My husband is going to pick up more for me today, so I might be able to tell you more then.I'm not sure there's much to tell - I don't know anything much about bread making, so I've really just been winging it. I started my starter with rye flour, but it's now almost completely spelt. I get up in the morning, drink my coffee, then mix my starter with 2-3 cups of spelt flour and the same of water and let it sit - two days ago it took four hours to become a workable sponge, yesterday it took about 2 hours, so I assume my yeast colony is doing well. (It's warm and rainy here in Brisbane, maybe that's helping me out?) I take out a cup and put it back in the jar, then to the remainder I add 4-5 cups of spelt flour, a couple of teaspoons of raw sugar, and a teaspoon of salt - mix, and knead. I shape it and let it prove - I really don't understand whether I'm supposed to knead it a second time or not, I don't know much about bread at all. So I haven't been - once it's proved, which seems to take a couple of hours, I bung it in the oven. (As you can see my slashing technique needs a bit of work! I'll have another go today).Yesterday I did the 'icecubes in the bottom of the oven' trick, which seemed to greatly improve the rise in the oven. So my bread gets about five minutes at as hot as my oven gets, then I've been baking at 200 degrees C (according to the dial: I have no idea if that's really the temperature - it's a dodgy old electric oven in a rented flat).Is there anything there which leaps out at you? It all seems fairly basic to me - I read through some of the other posts here and have no idea what all the technical stuff means! But I'll answer any questions I can. :)
What leaps out at me is that you are baking intuitively and without fear. You have a good knowledge to sense of adventure ratio. I live about 1.5 hours drive to the north and understand the warm and showery weather you are talking about (I imagine this is regular weather for Teckpoh?). cAtdraco how particular are you about the final proving environment? I do not want to second-guess your response when the humid weather changes. No doubt your solution will come as fluidly as the rest of your process.
[quote=Graham]What leaps out at me is that you are baking intuitively and without fear. You have a good knowledge to sense of adventure ratio. [/quote]I take the Dalai Lama's advice very much to heart: "Approach love and cookery with reckless abandon." :) Like anything else, if you do something to artisan level then there's a
certain amount of skill, knowledge, technique, whatever that's required
to make art. But my aim is just to
make good bread for my family to eat, and I figure illiterate peasants
have been doing that for centuries. ;)To be honest I haven't thought very much about the proving environment. I have moved my dough around the kitchen a bit to places I think are a better temperature, but I the weather's been so variable lately I really haven't done anything consistently. On hotter days I've been a little more careful to seal the cling wrap around the edge of the tray, but that's all. We'll see how I go. I shall continue to update, and hopefully people who know a bit more process than me can identify anything nifty that I come up with. :)
Great to see you here cAt! Your bread is looking great, I'm so excited to see how much you're enjoying baking. Your enthusiasm is inspiring me to bake more. Yay!
[quote=cAtdraco]We'll see how I go. I shall continue to update, and hopefully people who know a bit more process than me can identify anything nifty that I come up with. :)
[/quote]Our current approach to bread making originated from a dough watcher who was either celebrated or persecuted for revealing a radical new bread religion. But bread is flat I tells ya! Bread is flat! (with apologies to the Dalai Lama). By the middle of last century, the dough watcher had evolved into a 'dough puncher' (a term from my grandfather's generation...he meant it affectionately). Bakers were living the industrialised dream and were built like two-arm mixers.Now we have a chance to look back/forward and observe at our own pace and with reference to the needs of those around us. There is no single way...though perhaps a number of preferred options....except for those who believe that the outcome must be the same every time. cAtdaco and companions it is a pleasure to be watching the dough watchers.