#feeling better today 👍 where's that post that's like wait a couple of hours

[oceanmoss]

okokkk need to lock in today and work on that essay fr. idky I chose such a hard topic it was just the most interesting one ........

[quahogchowda-blog]

This was an experiment... "I didn't measure a single thing..." sourdough bread... 🤣 Even though I can't attach all of the images from the 4 days I wanted to save these posts from Facebook... because it was definitely a learning experience... And was very popular with my readers. Everyone seemed to enjoy it allot.

DAY 1...

So today when I got home from work... I realized I better feed my starters because it's been awhile and one of them had a really thick layer of hooch on top... After feeding the two of them (The only reason I have these two +1 more is because they're actually two different kinds)... Anyway... I had so much extra... but have ABSOLUTELY noooooo desire to actually bake anything with it today... Too tired from work... and I didn't want to throw it away... So what I did was... Literally started another experiment that I can bake in a couple days... I'm calling it my "I didn't measure a single thing loaf" 🤣🤣🤣 I didn't measure the starter... I didn't measure the water... and I have no clue how much flour I added I just kept adding flour till I thought it was good... I'll add a little more water and some salt in about an hour... But then throw it in the fridge... There's an enormous amount of starter in here so we shall see... Maybe it'll create a monster. And I'm quite certain this is the ONLY group I can post this in without getting completely razzed. I'll check back in a couple days with the results. 😛

DAY 1... Post 2...

Okay.... since I'm one of the most impatient persons in the world I know that I would be going crazy waiting for results... And since I wasn't quite ready for bed yet... I decided to do my stretch and folds tonight... which actually it turns out needed to be coil folds due to the hydration level. This has got to be the most hydrated dough I've ever made... But as you all know... we're never going to know exactly what the hydration level is... 😜😝🤪 I'm posting these current results... I'm actually quite pleased so far.... But now it's waaaay past my bedtime at 6:30 p.m. 🤣 So the rest is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I'm hoping it can go about 2 days before I have to cook it. Because I know I'm going to be just as tired tomorrow when I get home from work. But we shall see how it looks tomorrow. #IDidntMeasureAnythingLoaf

Day 2...

UPDATE on the "I didn't measure a single thing" loaf dough... 🤣 Day 2... The plan is to leave it in the fridge until tomorrow when I get home from work at about 3 P.M. Then I'm going to take it out... let it warm up a little bit... form it and put it in the banneton... Leave overnight on the table to rise and then bake it first thing Friday morning. I think it's looking pretty good though... 😍 It definitely did a little something something in the fridge overnight and all day. 😊👍

DAY 3.... Post 1...

UPDATE... Day 3... On the "I didn't measure a single thing" loaf... 😂 Getting closer to "D" day... I'm not quite sure I'm going to be able to wait till the morning to bake it though. I hope so cuz I really don't want to stay up late or get up in the middle of the night. Not feeling the greatest today... But I don't think it's gonna make it much longer without running out of steam...

So today... When I got home from work I took it out of the refrigerator where it's been since day one... Left it on the counter for an hour and a half and I could already see... even though it was so cold from being in the fridge... it was rising some more... Gently plopped it out on the counter... sprinkled a tiny bit of flour just to make it easier to form... I'm not one of those bakers who likes to manhandle my dough so I try not to push too much of the gasses out... GENTLY formed it up... I folded two sides... One at a time to the middle... Well a little more than the middle... Then I folded the other two sides to the middle... And twisted it around a little bit to get the tension going. Talk about bubbles... there was a lot of fat bubbles poking out the sides... 😍 Maybe too many bubbles... Not sure... I popped them... 🤣🤪🤣Maybe in this case I should have been a little more aggressive with the forming... But I really didn't want to change anything more that I normally do except for the I didn't measure anything part. Now it's just waiting in the cool dark oven... out of the way... to rise enough to be baked... I was hoping to wait till the morning but I really don't want to put it back in the refrigerator.

I can honestly say this is been pretty kool so far. 😊🧊🥶❄️😃

DAY 3... Post 2...

It's finally baked...

Woohoo... UPDATE... 🍿🍿🍿 On the "I didn't measure a single thing loaf..." Lucky day for y'all waiting in the wings... Bread is finished baking... 😍 I definitely could not have waited till the morning... It would have most definitely been over proofed...

Almost final reveal... 😍 I'm going to have to call this a success though. Even though we won't see crumb shots till tomorrow... That will be the FINAL FINAL look at the actual success... This loaf was baked starting in a COLD cast iron Dutch Oven with the lid on... starting with a COLD oven and a temperature set at 455° for the first 55 minutes... Then I take the lid off and bake for another 10 minutes still at 455°. Final temperature of the bread 208.6°...

What do you all think of that???

I'm actually really very excited that this came out soooo well.

Once I plopped it into the Dutch oven and scored the top I started having doubts because it looked like the top was sinking in a little bit in spots and it was possibly overproofed... But looking at this now... even if the texture inside isn't all 100% sourdough perfection perfect with numerous holes and all that... I don't care. 🤣 Because it looks and smells amazing.

I would say this is absolute 100% proof that making sourdough bread... Does not at all have to be so scientific and exact... One should not stress out... One should have fun and break as many rules as possible... I do. 🤣🤣🤣

Day 4... FINAL CRUMB shots...

Crumb shot... "I didn't measure a single thing" loaf... I didn't measure the starter, I didn't measure the flour, I didn't measure the water, and I didn't even really measure the amount of salt I guesstimated by pouring it in my hand... And I literally fed the starter immediately before making the dough... That was after 2 weeks in the fridge without feeding... I let the loaf sit out overnight before cutting... I'm not 100% positive... but pretty sure this is the best crumb I've achieved so far... In all my years of making sourdough. I'm definitely quite pleased with this experiment and how it came out... Thank you all for the support it was fun. 😊😍👍

Also again...

Here's the links to the original few posts for those that want the whole story... 😍👍

Day 1 Post 1... https://m.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/644412197756594/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Day 1 Post 2... https://www.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/644463387751475/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Day 2...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/644966004367880/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Day 3... Post 1...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/645507320980415/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Day 3... post 2...

https://m.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/645569687640845/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Day 4... Crumb shots here... 😍 https://m.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughrebelbaking/permalink/645819577615856/?mibextid=Nif5oz

NOTE: The first image is after 3.5 hours final rise after shaping... Sitting on the countertop... The second and third images is after the first 55 minutes of baking with the lid on... The remaining pictures are after it was completely finished baking...

Note for Tumblr... The images in this post are not exactly as they were in the Facebook posts... Since I'm only able to put 10 images here.