First levain from the starter. Looks nice and active after 8 hours. Another hour and it goes into the final dough.

Looks like I have good starter!

#bread

Looking pretty good if I do say so myself. And I do! 😂

Three hours after mixing the final dough. Four folds, three in the first hour, one just a couple of minutes ago.

Then it's back in the proofing cupboard overnight with dividing and shaping between 8 and 9 tomorrow morning.

It's supposed to triple the original size of the dough and it's already about 1½ times. This may be a very big dough ball despite scaling it down by 20%.

I may be looking at three loaves here.

I remember this dough recipe. 🤦♂️

For some unknown reason it makes something like four times the amount of levain than is needed for the final dough.

I just tossed three quarters of the levain because it's useless.
😡😤

Good thing I'm taking notes this time around.

I'm going to divide and shape at 8am rather than 9am even though my kitchen in the winter generally tends to the high end of FWSY time estimates.

Time to get everything ready.

Blort!

Sweet Petunias! That looks like a *lot* of dough! 👀

Two weeks ago.

I was really proud of these at the time! They are 800g rather than my current 600g loaf.

And about half the size with a crust an armadillo would be envious of!

It's been a long trip in a short period of time!

Second loaf is even better! 626g vs 616g for the first loaf but a little larger as the lame cuts allowed the dough to expand even more.

I also think it's safe to drop the oven temp to 425°. There's some very light charring on the sides (tasty stuff that, actually) and the bottom is just a little blackened.

Eagerly awaiting the conclusion from the crumb! 🤪

#bread

I think there's a remote chance that I'm actually starting to understand what I'm doing now! Rather than just blindly following the recipe.
👍👍

<pats self on back>

[immediately starts writhing in agony cuz I'm too old to do things like that without consequences]

🤪

Huh. Much ado about nuthin'

A little tricky to get out of the banetton (stuck a bit, especially at the top).

Glad I'm doing the open bake, this would have been a real trick to get into the dutch oven safely. Just having to move it to the pre-heated cast iron griddle was much easier!

Healthy baby sized!
😂

It is very likely that only one would get the chance to do that.

The immediate oven tossing would prevent trying to bake the second one!

This is the dough from hell!!

I may be on track for my first full-fledged baking disaster.

Or another small child sized run of loaves. They better not end up conforming to the inner dimensions of the oven! 😂

Well.

Paint me in mineral oil and cover me in goose feathers!

That's not looking too shabby after all. Some shaping issues (venting on the bottom of the loaf) which may be alleviated by using the lame to provide an alternate escape path. But I think what I really need is another fold in the dough to get more stretch for the fold over in the shaping step.

It's also the largest loaf I've baked. But still just around 600g. 👍

#bread

Wow! Does it ever really smell good in here! 👃

I can distinctly smell the difference between this starter based bread and the other yeast-based poolish loaves.

@dgar

@Nichelle trust me, the flour in the hair is nowhere near as bad as the time I cleverly dropped a bag of extra dark cocoa powder on my head!

THAT was a mess!

Can I call a Mulligan on today?

I just managed to launch 425g of flour, salt and dry yeast in a beautiful parabolic arc across the kitchen by stepping on my own damn pant leg. And of course it tumbled in midair ensuring maximum dispersal.

Where did it land you ask? Glad you asked. Right at the top of the basement stairs which it proceeded to further tumble down ensuring the front half of the basement is well covered too!
🤬🤬🤬

I'm an idiot!

#baking

#SilentSunday

Welcome to the garden new #zucchini plant!

Seeds planted just over a week ago.
#gardening

@MaJ1 @SteveClough @dgar I don't have a clue.

And there's plenty of evidence of that!
😜

@TimWardCam @BlippyTheWonderSlug @GreenSkyOverMe @ACAElliott a 'release' meant an elastic band around the deck.

A diagonal line across the spine of the deck marked with thick magic marker allowed for crude initial visual sorting of cards when the inevitable disaster occurred.

Fun times! 😃