I’m confused about how the water temp affects the yeast. I thought if yeast was exposed to high temps, it dies. For example, if you’re using active dry yeast, and you have to bloom it in warm water, you have to be careful not to go too hot or it will die... I thought that temp was around 120 or 140 degrees (can’t remember exactly). So how do you heat the milk so high in this recipe and not have it kill the yeast when they mix together? I know that everything mixed together will adjust down to the desired temp of 78, but when the yeast and milk go in at the same time, wouldn’t the heat kill the yeast?... I guess in this recipe it doesn’t matter cause you’re using discard and not active starter, so there is no active yeast to kill. And I suppose if you’re making a bread with starter and not discard, that would probably be room temp and wouldn’t require the liquid to be heated so high to get the DDT. Would there ever be a situation where this could be an issue? Maybe using refreshed starter that’s been in the fridge for a day? In that situation, would you wait for the starter to come back up to room temp before proceeding with the recipe?
This was OUTSTANDING!! Wow. Thank you!! I heated the milk and added to refrigerated discard and it worked out great. I had impatient kids so I think mine could have proofed a bit longer - but was still delish.
This was AMAZING! I received the newsletter while still in bed and reading it motivated me to get up early so I could start making it! My wife said she might even *prefer* it to my (your) regular Sourdough (I have been regularly making The Loaf). I still have enough discard for many more loaves of this, and I'll definitely do so- the only discard recipe I'd preciously tried and liked was crackers. And it really does toast beautifully!!
One question: my batter wasn't nearly as wet as yours- and my loaf didn't rise as much as yours.
I used AP instead of bread flour. Also, my discard was old enough that some water was sitting on the top, and while I gave it a brief stir, I wasn't thorough. As I said, the bread was still spectacular, but for educational purposes: would it be wetter/rise more if a) I used bread flour, b) the discard were younger or c) I'd stirred the discard more before pulling out my 400g? (Or perhaps d) all of the above?)
Thank you so much for the combination of education and recipes. I'm loving it!
Well it turned out ok for me but was rather flat. Maybe I didn’t allow long enough for the first rise. I think if I’d baked it in my 8x4ish loaf pan it would’ve been ok. Flavor and texture are good but not enough height. I had over 600g of discard so this was a great recipe for me!
Delicious!! And so easy, too. I heated the milk to ~150 degrees F and ended up with a dough temperature of slightly over 80 degrees F, but the bread is super tasty. I was worried it would be flat-topped but it developed a nice dome as it baked (although it took ~47 min to achieve internal temp of 200 degrees F, and there are rather odd brown spots in the crumb-looks a bit like a light brown Holstein cow. Peculiar look, but super tasty.). Will definitely try it again. Small recipe presentation suggestion: mention the need to heat the milk in the listed ingredients section since people who don't read the story at the top of the post might not notice need to heat the milk.
I was very excited for this recipe to use up my accumulated discard but am now troubleshooting to find out where I went wrong. I ended up like a couple others with a very squat loaf, only coming to just over half way up my stone loaf pan. The taste was good but crumb a bit dense. I did have the DDT of 78 so I’m wondering if I didn’t let it rise long enough. I used a large bowl that made it difficult to mark its progress but it was over 60 min. I am curious about the stirring before pouring into the loaf pan. What is the reason for this step? I’ll def make another attempt at this and thank you for your explanations and detailed recipes.
I barely had enough discard to make the levain so I did that. When I got ready to mix the dough, I took the temperature of everything and the levain was already at 78. So I'm terrible with math formulas, but figured that that cancelled the levain out of the calculation. Needing to bring up the flour temp. from 72, and noting the room temp was 73, I just decided to aim for about 93 with the milk. This got my final dough temp to 79, so that was pretty close.
I found it really difficult to stir this dough together because it was so sticky, and probably didn't stir it enough at the beginning because I noticed some lumps still present when checked on it during bulk. I probably just need to find one of those dough whisks.
This bread is sooooo good! I made a levain so it was already at room temp when I mixed everything together. I heated my milk a couple of minutes in the microwave, let it cool a bit, and guesstimated when to mix everything together. My guess was fairly accurate, with the dough temp being at 79F. The only issue I had was a very funny looking loaf, with one side rising higher than the other. I even tried to smooth out the dough with wet fingers after transferring it to the loaf pan. I have a picture, but I don't know how to post it. No matter, it still tastes good! And I used my Danish dough whisk for the first time. Loved it!
Didn't seem to rise as much as anticipated in 90 minutes despite 77F starting dough temp and ~75F 'proof box' (actually the microwave I heated the milk in). Took on a domed shape while baking, but flattened out while cooling. Pretty dense crumb, and would not be a favorite just sliced off the loaf, but was very english muffin-like when toasted. Thought all the discard would be too sour (was in biscuits), but the flavor was good.
We really enjoyed this loaf tonight, especially toasted. My kitchen was uncharacteristically warm today, so I did the rise on the counter in the sun. Also, let it sit on counter in pan for about 45 min until I baked it. Turned out like your picture! It did seem to lose the dome as it cooled. I baked it until about 210 & golden brown. My kitchen is usually 68 degrees. What is a good way to create a 78 degree environment for rising? Thank you!
By, “a ton of discard” I didn’t think you meant a TON of discard... Guess I need to make some bigger donations to my discard jar.
I’m confused about how the water temp affects the yeast. I thought if yeast was exposed to high temps, it dies. For example, if you’re using active dry yeast, and you have to bloom it in warm water, you have to be careful not to go too hot or it will die... I thought that temp was around 120 or 140 degrees (can’t remember exactly). So how do you heat the milk so high in this recipe and not have it kill the yeast when they mix together? I know that everything mixed together will adjust down to the desired temp of 78, but when the yeast and milk go in at the same time, wouldn’t the heat kill the yeast?... I guess in this recipe it doesn’t matter cause you’re using discard and not active starter, so there is no active yeast to kill. And I suppose if you’re making a bread with starter and not discard, that would probably be room temp and wouldn’t require the liquid to be heated so high to get the DDT. Would there ever be a situation where this could be an issue? Maybe using refreshed starter that’s been in the fridge for a day? In that situation, would you wait for the starter to come back up to room temp before proceeding with the recipe?
So, just checking, there isn't really a second proof, the pan just goes in the oven after about the 10 minutes it takes to heat the oven?
Can we mix discard and levain to reach the desired amount?
This was OUTSTANDING!! Wow. Thank you!! I heated the milk and added to refrigerated discard and it worked out great. I had impatient kids so I think mine could have proofed a bit longer - but was still delish.
This was AMAZING! I received the newsletter while still in bed and reading it motivated me to get up early so I could start making it! My wife said she might even *prefer* it to my (your) regular Sourdough (I have been regularly making The Loaf). I still have enough discard for many more loaves of this, and I'll definitely do so- the only discard recipe I'd preciously tried and liked was crackers. And it really does toast beautifully!!
One question: my batter wasn't nearly as wet as yours- and my loaf didn't rise as much as yours.
I used AP instead of bread flour. Also, my discard was old enough that some water was sitting on the top, and while I gave it a brief stir, I wasn't thorough. As I said, the bread was still spectacular, but for educational purposes: would it be wetter/rise more if a) I used bread flour, b) the discard were younger or c) I'd stirred the discard more before pulling out my 400g? (Or perhaps d) all of the above?)
Thank you so much for the combination of education and recipes. I'm loving it!
Well it turned out ok for me but was rather flat. Maybe I didn’t allow long enough for the first rise. I think if I’d baked it in my 8x4ish loaf pan it would’ve been ok. Flavor and texture are good but not enough height. I had over 600g of discard so this was a great recipe for me!
Delicious!! And so easy, too. I heated the milk to ~150 degrees F and ended up with a dough temperature of slightly over 80 degrees F, but the bread is super tasty. I was worried it would be flat-topped but it developed a nice dome as it baked (although it took ~47 min to achieve internal temp of 200 degrees F, and there are rather odd brown spots in the crumb-looks a bit like a light brown Holstein cow. Peculiar look, but super tasty.). Will definitely try it again. Small recipe presentation suggestion: mention the need to heat the milk in the listed ingredients section since people who don't read the story at the top of the post might not notice need to heat the milk.
I was very excited for this recipe to use up my accumulated discard but am now troubleshooting to find out where I went wrong. I ended up like a couple others with a very squat loaf, only coming to just over half way up my stone loaf pan. The taste was good but crumb a bit dense. I did have the DDT of 78 so I’m wondering if I didn’t let it rise long enough. I used a large bowl that made it difficult to mark its progress but it was over 60 min. I am curious about the stirring before pouring into the loaf pan. What is the reason for this step? I’ll def make another attempt at this and thank you for your explanations and detailed recipes.
I barely had enough discard to make the levain so I did that. When I got ready to mix the dough, I took the temperature of everything and the levain was already at 78. So I'm terrible with math formulas, but figured that that cancelled the levain out of the calculation. Needing to bring up the flour temp. from 72, and noting the room temp was 73, I just decided to aim for about 93 with the milk. This got my final dough temp to 79, so that was pretty close.
I found it really difficult to stir this dough together because it was so sticky, and probably didn't stir it enough at the beginning because I noticed some lumps still present when checked on it during bulk. I probably just need to find one of those dough whisks.
Hi Andrew -- when you say milk - do you mean whole milk? will non-fat or low fat work? I only have 2% milk on hand. Does it matter? thanks
Um...why not simply dissolve the baking soda in the milk? Also, why not mix the batter and put in the pan to do the step 3 rise? Thank you.
This bread is sooooo good! I made a levain so it was already at room temp when I mixed everything together. I heated my milk a couple of minutes in the microwave, let it cool a bit, and guesstimated when to mix everything together. My guess was fairly accurate, with the dough temp being at 79F. The only issue I had was a very funny looking loaf, with one side rising higher than the other. I even tried to smooth out the dough with wet fingers after transferring it to the loaf pan. I have a picture, but I don't know how to post it. No matter, it still tastes good! And I used my Danish dough whisk for the first time. Loved it!
Didn't seem to rise as much as anticipated in 90 minutes despite 77F starting dough temp and ~75F 'proof box' (actually the microwave I heated the milk in). Took on a domed shape while baking, but flattened out while cooling. Pretty dense crumb, and would not be a favorite just sliced off the loaf, but was very english muffin-like when toasted. Thought all the discard would be too sour (was in biscuits), but the flavor was good.
We really enjoyed this loaf tonight, especially toasted. My kitchen was uncharacteristically warm today, so I did the rise on the counter in the sun. Also, let it sit on counter in pan for about 45 min until I baked it. Turned out like your picture! It did seem to lose the dome as it cooled. I baked it until about 210 & golden brown. My kitchen is usually 68 degrees. What is a good way to create a 78 degree environment for rising? Thank you!