[aaronatthedoublef]

400 g of BA's crackers yesterday morning at 8:00 am.

As of 6:30 am today - two crackers...

Plus 600 g of the 800+ g loaf of challah I baked.

And they are both skinny! It's just not fair. 🙂

[aaronatthedoublef]

One more thing - webstaurantstore.com has 55 lbs. of Caputo 00 flour for $35+$12 shipping (to Hartford). YMMV.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I do not know what we will do for Thanksgiving yet. I am hoping that the schools go full time online at Thanksgiving so we can quarantine for a couple weeks and see my in-laws at Christmas.

I've made four loaves of sourdough sandwich loaf this week - two using a pan as a convection shield and two without. The panless loaves have higher oven spring and a big blowout. The blocked loaves have are shorter and have smaller blowout.

I just took a braided pan loaf of challah out of the oven. I want to experiment with it some more. It looks like some of the braids aren't sticking in loaf form.

And before that I made a batch of BA's crackers.

And this is with one oven down!

[aaronatthedoublef]

We have 00 flour at Whole Foods and Big Y. Haven't priced it at Big Y but it's $5 for a two pound bag at WF. Online I've found a 55 lb bag for as low as $30. Shipping is about $15.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Don't take this the wrong way but, you don't really have a rapid consumption problem. My last batch lasted 48 hours because I baked them when the boys were at school and cooled them enough to put them away before they came home.

I just made some this morning and they will not last through Saturday. They were taking them off the pan as I was pulling the pan from the oven!

BA you are VERY popular in our house!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA and Mike.

Mike, the reason I think it's the fan and not over or under proofing is I can make two or three loaves from the same batch. If they are directly in front of the fan the side in front of the fan pops. Never the other side and never a loaf not directly inside of the fan.

I will try to prop something up to block the fan during my next bake.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The Pullman loaf is neat. I like sandwich loafs that are loaf shaped or at least batards. Guess it's my lack of imagination.

How are the Montreal bagels in size? There is a place in Brooklyn that makes them and they are considerably smaller than traditional New York bagels.

BA, those crackers are a huge problem in my house. They do not even have a chance to cool. Maybe if I make them on a week when the kids are in school and the temp is lower some will be left.

I finally figured out what is blowing out my sourdough bread! My oven is always part convection. Whenever the temp falls and needs to be raised the convection fan at the back kicks on to circulate air. The part of the loaf closest to the fan blows out. Maybe it's the increased heat. Now I need to experiment with how to shield it.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Years ago I met a couple from Modena whose family had been making vinegar for hundreds of years. They had barrels of the stuff that had been passed down from generation to generation and aged and aged and aged. They could be HUGELY expensive. Her parents had given her and her husband a small bottle of several ounces as a wedding present. Very different from even the expensive stuff we can buy in the grocery stores here.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Baking, even simple baking can be a little complex and takes patience. And just because someone is stuck in the house doesn't mean more time. I stopped traveling each week but I'm spending more time working and that does not include the extra time my kids required before school started back up.

And think about how much BA and I have conferred on her relatively simple, relatively straight forward cracker recipe - and yes, I am giving BA credit because it's more hers than KAF's now.

FB and Instagram and the like are more about showing off what you've done and gaining likes and followers. There is a community element to it but it's not the cooperative, collaborative place we have here.

BTW, thanks Mike for creating this and thank each and everyone who has contributed and helped me be better.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've made a couple of batches this week using your suggestions, BA. They've been very helpful.

I've noticed too, that I am not making my crackers thickness even. The middles are thicker than the edges but now even the middles are crisping up. The other thing I tried this morning is starting with a smaller amount of dough. I dropped down from 200 to 150 g. This allowed for a thinner sheet and a more even one.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Years ago a Welsh friend was asking what she was doing wrong as none of her recipes were working. I gave her a bag of KAF self-rising and things started to work.

I made my own once, years ago using bread flour, baking powder, and salt. This was early days of the web and there was not much online. It worked for my purposes.

Self-rising flour seems to be making a comeback because people want simplicity. I've seen a spate of two-or-three ingredient recipes where one of them is self-rising flour. What is the shelf life of baking powder in a bag of flour?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Is KABC even a miller anymore? They've outsourced that to various mills around the country rather than build the capacity they needed to grow. It's faster and cheaper. It would be interesting to buy bags from the same store and see how consistent they are over time. It would also be interesting to compare bags from different regions to see the same thing.

Bob's is where KABC was about 15-20 years ago. They are trying to figure out how to grow and not sell their souls. I will try their product because if I order from them they are less expensive than the King.

But to quote the article:
Real whole wheat would have to become more accessible to everyone, not just sold for more than a
buck a pound to devotees with money.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I did a shift at a new, local shop that a friend of mine and his partners started. They have an Albanian master baker who was skeptical of me. I gained a little cred because 1) I listened (the other baker besides me did not) 2) I make my own sourdough with my own starter and 3) I have a stone and not a steel in my oven.

It was a hard, long fun shift but it was fun and the head baker can teach me a lot. He also wants me to bring in some of my starter which is making me kind of nervous.

Interestingly he said American yeast is much stronger than the yeast he is used to.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I understand the sentiment but I started looking at some of the local small mills here and the least expensive one sells whole wheat bread flour for $20 exclusive of shipping. My sourdough bread is lean and I've had my starter for about six months and I use it exclusively for most breads now (except pizza dough).

But even with my cost being just flour and water that will bring my bread costs up to about $7 a loaf. One of my reasons for making my own bread was because I didn't want to pay the $6 for an artisan loaf. Not saying they are not worth it just saying I don't want to pay it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. I did turn on the convection and I also pull them off the parchment and separated them on the pan. Definitely helped. I'll raise them higher next time to see.

The next problem is, I need to put them away before they are fully cooled otherwise they are all consumed. This may change a little now that the kids are at school for the morning.

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