I bake purely on vibes. I don't really like to measure anything. Usually I just add stuff until it looks/feels right
But generally the rules I follow are:
Water flour starter, milk and eggs are optional. I like the flavor my bread with honey personally.
Make sure it's been stretched and pulled for about 2 to 3 hours off and on. It should have a pretty good firmness to it, before I cold proof overnight. I form into a ball then cover with plastic wrap and chill til the morning.
In the morning I reshape it into a ball again.
Before I bake I let it sit at room temperature for about an hour.
I get my Dutch oven preheated to 500°
When it's baking time I place my dough into the Dutch oven and cover with a few ice cubes thrown in
Bake for 20 minutes
I then remove the lid, and bake for another 20ish minutes at 425°
Then I just take it out and let it rest on a cooling rack for about an hour.
It's really important to resist the urge to cut into it early because it's still self baking.
I've had breads come out gummy because I cut into it too soon.
This has been a winning formula for me for several bakes now.
by vincentninja68
9 Comments
Wowie. Was it good? Flavor- and texture-wise?
Vibes, eh?
Vibe ~~coding~~ baking.
People get really intense and precise about bread and baking but tbh a basic bread is simple. The most important part of learning to cook and bake is gaining technique and an intuitive understanding of how it works!
Doesn’t look that good my boy, but here’s a pat on the shoulder, seems like you need one 🙂
Dang, living on the edge
I’m with you. Get a feel when it’s risen enough. And then get the oven hot so the crust is tasty and inside is cooked and the variance in crumb is fun
One of the best bakers I knew as a youth was the mother of a friend and neighbor, she baked nearly every day of the week and sold the bread to help support her family.
I watched her make bread numerous times, never saw her measure anything. She’d pour most of a bag of flour into her big bowl, add a handful of salt, then add water in stages and mix until it felt and looked right to her. (I don’t honestly remember at this point what kind of yeast she was using, this was the late 50’s early 60’s so it could have been cake yeast or ADY, possibly even old dough.)
I have been watching many sourdough videos and threads, they get so uptight about measuring using scales and exact measurements. Literally what is sourdough starter? Flour and water. What is sourdough bread? More flour and water, maybe some salt. Environmental variables are humidity in your kitchen and altitude. Find a feel for what the dough should be and go for it. Bread has been baked 1000 years prior to standardized measures. It’s art not science