If you can find 5g of non-moldy starter, I'd just try feeding that 1:1:1 and then again 12 hours later and see what happens.

The cranberry bread looks delicious. Homemade butter makes me think of school field trips to the pioneer village where there was always someone hand-churning butter.

Made two rye breads today, one in my old pan, and one in my new pullman. Pullman turned out weird and there's a big bubble at the top. I didn't score it b/c none of the recipes for lid-on pullmans seem to have a score, but it looks like it needed somewhere for the air to escape, or maybe I need more dough.

Dutch letters.

There's a bakery in Ames that makes these as well as a huge assortment of pastries. There are some good bakeries here in KC, but none like that one in Ames. So I decided to make my own.



I made this "S" and a bunch of "I"s. This is my second attempt. I messed up the filling the first time. These are pretty good.

https://www.midwestliving.com/recipe...dutch-letters/

you guys are good, I'm awful at making bread for some reason.

Here's my attempt at making a Vietnamese baguette:



the pathetic looking flat thing is my attempt, the big fat and fluffy one is from a Vietnamese bakery which sells them for 5 bucks/dozen and they are beautifully crunchy on the outside and like air on the inside with huge air pockets which makes question why I would ever bother to figure out to make my own when they're so good and cheap at this bakery

mine was the density of a hockey puck

Why do I suck so bad at bread making?

First assumption there is dead yeast. I have lots of experience in that arena. Tried to make something before the plague and it didn't rise. Checked the date and it was out by like 5 years. I pretty much always feed it first to make sure it bubbles even if the recipe doesn't call for it

thx, I'll try that

Dead yeast definitely possible. What type of yeast are you using yim? If it's active dry, it should be activated in warm water. 95-110 F or so. Don't go over 114 or you will kill the yeast.

I used Fleischmann's RapidRise expires 06-16-22

I'll try to feed it next time I try

Trying to figure out how to use my pullman pan. It acts different from a pan with lower sides because so much more of the bread is always in contact with the pan, and it retains heat better, and I think it retains more moisture because it's harder for the steam to escape. This has a really deep score but it just seems to get close back up because it has no place to go. In a shallower pan the proofed dough starts out at the top of the pan and expands up and out as it bakes, but it the pullman it is trapped.

This is my caraway rye. First couple of loaves didn't turn out that great so I switched from yeast to sourdough starter and this looks the best so far. Will have to see how the inside turns out. The other loaves were pretty gummy in the middle.

Looks pretty awesome
10% more dough next time to get that perfect square sandwich bread?

I've only ever made enriched white bread in my Pullman. Love it.

Do you bake it with lid on? When I first got this pan I tried this loaf with the lid on (80 BF/20 rye. 20% starter, 68% hydration) and it was a mushy disaster inside. Now I only use the lid for one bread I make.

I tented with foil for first 20 minutes. Probably could use the lid and then remove it, but I'm not sure what happens if it rises to lid height and then I take lid off. Turned out nice, though I need to de-gas it more before shaping to get the crumb more even. Don't want those bigger holes in a sandwich bread.

I grease the pan and do lid on the whole way with the goal for it to spring pretty firmly again the top. A real guessing game of when it's done.
But I'm doing this with generic bread flour and instant yeast. Totally basic compared to your stuff. Doubt much of it translates.

Thanks. When I tried it there probably wasn't enough dough. It rose to the lid but there was a big air bubble between the crust and the rest of the dough that collapsed when I took it out so it had a sad, sunken look.

Ugh it was a little gummy around the edges in the middle of the loaf. How much hydration do you use for yours. All the Pullman recipes I find have some combination of milk, butter and sugar, which I don't want to add, so I'm just guessing at proportions.

Yeah my pullman loaves are really basic
Not more than 70% hydration and definitely have to have butter and egg. Also do milk instead of water sometimes.
I'm just making basic sandwich bread

For your rye you may have to follow the way of the eastern European addidas track suit wearing whatshisname and bake low temp for 96hrs or whatever he recommended.

Oh man I miss that guy, what was he calling everyone? Gopniks?

I will try making a more standard sourdough in the pullman next time with no rye and see how that goes

Silly gops!

I think the rye loaves need to sit for 24hrs to not be so gummy...but i dunno...i never really go above 15% rye in a loaf.

The pain de mie in a pullman is pretty dang tasty.

Went with 10% more flour this time, lid on, and kept it simple: 90%AP 10%WW 70%H20. Exterior turned out pretty good. Still waiting for internal results.



Got a couple of tears in the crust. Not sure if I can fix that by adding a little more dough so it has no place to expand, or if that happens right away as soon as it starts to rise.



Final weight is 950g which is about double the size I usually make. Gonna be eating a lot of bread, especially if this turns out badly on the inside and I have to keep trying.

Looks good but what do you have against egg and butter in your sandwich bread? Is that off limits in your normal diet?

Yeah, I don't eat eggs. I eat diary, but I can't remember the last time I had butter. I don't like the taste of this bread much. Whenever I've made a pan sourdough it hasn't tasted the same as my usual loaves. I don't know if it's the AP flour, denser crumb, 10 vs 20% whole grains, or lack of crispy crust, but it just doesn't taste right. Maybe there's a reason people use milk/butter/eggs/sugar in sandwich loaves.

Maybe try creole bread or another recipe using coconut milk and maybe a little oil as a fat component.
To me, bread coming out of a pullman should be soft sandwich bread but that could totally be something I just made up in my head.

Made it with milk instead of water and didn't put the lid on and it came out much better, but oven spring got out of control in the middle, I guess because the score can't go all the way to the ends inside a pan. Looked like it had a tumor.

Finally got a nice sourdough loaf out of my pullman (lid off). 500g flour (could probably go 550) 90:10 AP:WW, 70% hydration (was running low on milk so used water this time). Overnight in fridge without shaping, shaped in the morning, put in pan, then let it proof, instead of putting in pan overnight and baking from fridge. This was there wasn’t so much oven spring and it held its shape instead of bursting. Will see how it tastes tomorrow.

Well it looks great. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t the point of the Pullman tin to make perfect squares?

I have only dabbled in sandwich bread once and it was a disaster so hoping this one works out for you!

I’m sure you’re aware of him, but the perfect loaf guy has a Pullman recipe, and all of his recipes have been great for me.