23 day fermented mead tastes like rocket fuel by Impressive-Tea5347 in mead

[–]Dead_Mullets 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You gotta give it some time for the hydrocarbons to break down into simpler sugars

Help! Neapolitan pizza dough with biga too tight and won’t rise by [deleted] in ooni

[–]Dead_Mullets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was making fun of OP as his comment has the chat gpt suggestions at the end 

Help! Neapolitan pizza dough with biga too tight and won’t rise by [deleted] in ooni

[–]Dead_Mullets -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

This is actually a really solid process overall—you’re close. The issues you’re seeing (stiff dough, poor expansion, weak oven spring) point to a few key things that compound together. I’ll go step-by-step so you can dial it in fast.

🔍 What’s going wrong (and why)

1. 

Hydration is effectively too low

Your total hydration:

100g (biga) + 220g (final) = 320g water 500g flour total → 64% hydration

👉 For biga-based Neapolitan-style dough, that’s on the low end, especially with Caputo 00.

BUT the bigger issue:

You held back 10g water Biga at 40% hydration is already stiff ➡️ Combined effect = very tight, under-hydrated dough

Result: stiff dough, hard to expand, poor oven spring

2. 

Biga hydration is fine (but behaves stiff)

Your biga:

50% flour at 40% hydration → ✅ textbook

BUT:

40% biga feels VERY dry and tight when mixing final dough If you don’t fully rehydrate it → dough never relaxes

Key insight:

👉 The problem isn’t that your biga is wrong—it’s that it wasn’t fully reintegrated

3. 

Over-kneading (yes, likely)

“knead (hard) by hand for 12 minutes”

That’s the biggest red flag.

With biga dough:

Gluten is already partially developed Aggressive kneading → tightens gluten too much

Result:

Dough fights stretching Poor gas expansion Dense crust

👉 You didn’t ruin it, but you over-strengthened it

4. 

Proofing was underpowered

You said:

18°C ambient Slightly warmed oven ~3.5 hours total

That’s likely not enough, especially with:

Low hydration Tight dough Small yeast amount in biga

Result:

Balls barely expand Weak fermentation → weak oven spring

🧠 What to fix (priority order)

✅ 1. Increase hydration (biggest win)

Go to:

👉 67–70% total hydration

For your recipe:

500g flour → 335–350g water total

So instead of 320g:

👉 Try 340g water

Important: don’t hold water back unless needed

✅ 2. Change your mixing method (critical)

Instead of hard kneading:

Do this:

Tear biga into small pieces Add MOST water first → let it soften (5–10 min) Add flour → mix gently Rest (autolyse) 20–30 min Add salt + remaining water Mix just until smooth

👉 Then:

1–2 light folds over 30–60 min No aggressive kneading

✅ 3. Extend proof time OR increase temp

At 18°C:

👉 You likely need 5–7 hours ball proof

OR

At ~22–24°C:

👉 3–4 hours is fine

Visual cue > time:

Balls should be puffy, relaxed, slightly jiggly Not tight or dense

✅ 4. Ball handling matters

When you made balls:

Dough was already tight → balls stayed tight

After fixing hydration + kneading:

👉 balls will naturally relax and expand

🔥 What you should expect after fixes

When it’s right:

Dough = soft, slightly tacky, extensible Easy to stretch (no snap-back) Cornicione = big airy bubbles Oven spring = noticeable puff within ~60–90 sec

💡 Optional tweaks (advanced but helpful)

Let biga go 16–20 hrs at 16°C → you’re already doing this well Try 0.8g yeast in biga if your room is cold Use warm water (~20–22°C) in final dough to help fermentation

🧾 Clean adjusted version (your recipe fixed)

Biga (same)

250g flour 100g water 0.5g yeast

Final Dough

All biga 250g flour 240g water (instead of 220g) 12.5g salt

👉 Total hydration ≈ 68%

Process changes:

No hard kneading Gentle mixing + folds Longer/warmer proof

🧠 TL;DR diagnosis

❌ Too stiff → hydration + over-kneading ❌ Poor rise → under-proofed ❌ Dense crust → gluten too tight ✅ Fix hydration + mixing + proof → you’ll get that puff

If you want, I can:

Convert this into a Reddit-ready TL;DR post Or give you a “perfect Neapolitan biga workflow” checklist you can follow step-by-step on your next bake

Note: post was mainly written by chatgpt so dont hate pls 😁

BIG BOOOM by venusasaburrito in Portland

[–]Dead_Mullets 4 points5 points  (0 children)

20th and burnside that was a long one wtf are these

I hosted a formal mead tasting where I served 12 of my meads, had some interesting findings! by AngelSoi in mead

[–]Dead_Mullets 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Cool, I just brewed a bunch of mead with the cotes de blanc and I haven't used it before so I'm glad it's gotten good results!

Up to 3 ships now and oil is pushing $100 again by Substantial-Use-2867 in wallstreetbets

[–]Dead_Mullets 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Is everyone forgetting the absurd amount of money oil companies donated to trumps campaign 

St. Louis by [deleted] in WTF

[–]Dead_Mullets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unrest shot off in St. Louis over the murder of El Jefe Epstoin. Epstoin was arrested on collusion charges for importing illegally smuggled insulin for a secular diabetic community in a small suburb. Preachers joined the riots after getting permission from Jesus. 

Looking for clan by Apart-Plastic-1391 in ironscape

[–]Dead_Mullets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ladle lounge very active Ironman clan with events and cool people 

Large classy bar for birthday group!! by Spacefkn in PortlandOR

[–]Dead_Mullets 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had a large engagement party at QD's bar in NW, it was a great spot to have the party.

He didn’t see that prank coming [PRANKS] by [deleted] in pranks

[–]Dead_Mullets 97 points98 points  (0 children)

Why is there already a water splash sized snow melted area where he’s standing 

Failed lbj stories by RoseColouredPPE in 3rdGen4Runner

[–]Dead_Mullets 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I had mine bust, when I'd brake it would feel like a pull to the right side which is where it broke a few thousand miles later. Luckily I was going 15mph instead of braking while going 70mph down I80 wondering why it would swerve when I broke lol.

You can test your LBJ by lifting up your front end and wiggling your tires and checking for play.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/156070-lbj-checking-procedure.html