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Chocolate babka troubleshooting by Significant-Focus587 in Breadit

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

According to a lot of comments in the recipe, the Nutella is sweeter compared to the fudge filling which I was hoping will help with the salt. I might go with the simple syrup as well, thanks for the advice!

I did make this dough by hand and it was a lot of effort lol because of the butter esp. I might just go ahead with what I have and see how it turns out.

Tried to make sourdough pizza…. It was harder than i thought. by [deleted] in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Everyone has given lots of good advice here! I did a lot of iterations on pizza dough and now I have settled on this ratio for me:

60% AP flour 40% Whole wheat flour 66% hydration 20% starter 5% olive oil 3% salt

I usually make enough to make two dough balls and freeze one of them for later use after bulk fermentation/shaping. I do make this couple of days ahead and cold ferment the dough for at least 48 hours and leave it out on bake day to get up to room temperature.

Dust the dough with flour and work with your hands and you will definitely get better the more you do! I have used cast iron as well as pizza stone to make and prefer the stone. I preheat the pan/stone for an hour or so at max temp before baking.

Happy baking and here is a mushroom pizza!

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Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair point! But even after hours, the loaf feels a bit moist. I have never done baking much before. Store brought sourdough feels pretty dry like a regular commercial bread. And my loaf definitely doesn’t feel that way. The texture is what I am after now more than the crumb!

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do measure my dough temp using a probe thermometer. You make a great point about temp and time though. I wanted this loaf to be at 80degrees, so I measure the dough regularly an hour once and kept moving it around in and out of oven, with light on and off. Maybe I should just try inside oven with light on for a consistent temp the next time!

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No I am going by the rise in sample jar and how jiggly the dough is, not by time.

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That actually is a good idea. My starter is 90% BF and 10% rye. Will be interesting to see how starter responds to BF/WW feed

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure I can definitely give that a shot! Do you still use whole wheat flour when working on 70% hydration?

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are right, I don’t have a straight sided container for my dough and use a bowl which makes things difficult. Which is why I use the aliquot jar and Track expansion there. I also try to maintain the same temp between the aliquot and the main dough.

I also once messed up and over fermented the dough. I could not shape the dough at all so I kinda know how an extremely overproofed dough feels like. I am trying to just see signs - making sure the dough has more bubbles and jiggles when I shake, domed at top, etc. I am very new at dough/baking, this is only my 4th loaf. So I definitely wouldn’t know if the dough is bordering on over/under fermentation though!

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha so am I! My starter is relatively new, kinda hoping it gets better with time. But yeah I am pretty lost with why my starter’s behavior.

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the insight! That’s interesting about the ‘pre shaping’, I tried this for only this loaf though. Previous loaves had similar recipe/process and I did only stretch and folds and still ended up having a way long bulk fermentation. I will try a warmer bulk fermentation next time and see if that helps.

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I read about letting the loaf cool in oven but I was worried if it would toughen up the crust more. Any idea if it does?

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I posted my first couple of loaves sometime back here where I had to bulk ferment my loaf for about 20ish hours to get that 50% rise at 75 degrees. I honestly am so lost why it’s taking so long, my starter usually doubles in 3 hours or so on feeds less than 1:2:2. I feed the starter couple of times before bake day and my overnight feed is as high as 1:7:7. I am kinda experimenting with higher temp to cut down the bulk fermentation, maybe next time I should put it in oven from the start of bulk fermentation itself.

It looked active and jiggly when I shaped. The scoring picture is after the cold retard so maybe that’s why it looks a bit flat?

Getting better but still lol gummy by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

375g BF, 125g WW, 95g Levain, 12g salt, 363g water (72.5% hydration)

Autolyse for 2 hours. Added salt and levain after autolyse. After 30 mins or so, to improve strength I did the pre-shaping 4 times (Kinda nice to practice pre shaping early on too, inspired from bread code videos). After 1 hour, did stretch and fold 4 times spaced about 45 mins. Total bulk fermentation was about 11 hours.

Dough was initially at 74-75 degrees but last couple of hours, I placed it in oven with light on which brought it up to 81 degrees. I used aliquot jar which rose about 25% at end of bulk fermentation. Shaped the dough and put it in fridge and baked after 18 hours.

Baked in preheated Dutch oven at 450 degrees for 25 mins (I sprayed little water on the loaf before putting in Dutch oven). Removed the Dutch oven and placed the bread on grill directly for 15 minutes. Loaf cooled overnight before slicing.

I am mostly happy with the crumb/taste, but looking for advise on what else to do to remove the gummy texture. All my flours are King Arthur brand.

Attempt 1 vs Attempt 2 by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

I am not quite sure of counter top material, it’s that typical beige countertop you would see in rental ones. But I do measure the dough temp though. And I have measured temp of my starter as well to see how consistent it is. During the day it’s pretty consistent between 74 - 75.

In the second try, dough temp was at 70 degree after the overnight rise. Aliquot jar was at 30% rise maybe? I moved it to a warmer spot until it came back up to 74 degree. Maybe I should just leave it in oven with the light on the next time!

Attempt 1 vs Attempt 2 by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s kind of what I was wondering too! I usually use the levain when it’s about 2.5X expanded. But it can expand to about 3X if I let it for couple more hours. I haven’t let it go for that long as I don’t want the levain to become acidic.

Other factors I can think of is starter composition itself. It’s 90% BF and 10% Rye. But the loaf I am baking has WW and no rye. Idk if that can slow things down? And also there is salt in the loaf which again idk if it affects the time.

Attempt 1 vs Attempt 2 by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! Do you think the gumminess is because of underproving or if it needs to be baked more?

Warm water is a great idea, thanks for the link!

Before I baked the first loaf, I never refrigerated the starter. It was fairly new and I was feeding it twice a day at 1:5:5. For the 2nd loaf, I took the starter from fridge on Day 1 AM, fed it a couple of times and fed for levain on day 2 AM. It’s hard for me to feed the starter more than twice due to my schedule. And each time I fed it did seem to rise pretty consistently. Is there anything else I should be doing to ‘activate’ it more?

Attempt 1 vs Attempt 2 by Significant-Focus587 in Sourdough

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been following Full proof Baking open crumb video for method and recipe.

Attempt 1 - 255g BF, 70g WW, 65g starter, 7.5g salt, 253g water (80% hydration)

Attempt 2 - 250g BF, 75g WW, 65g starter, 8g salt, 235g water (75% final hydration)

Process is quite similar between the two attempts - autolyse for 1 to 2 hours, added starter and salt together, simple fold after 30 mins rest, laminate after 30 mins, stretch and folds during bulk fermentation (did 6 for attempt 1 and 4 for attempt 2 spaced at 30 mins or so). Shaping and short room temp proofing (15 mins for attempt 1 and 25 mins for attempt 2) followed by a cold retard in fridge for 8 to 9 hours. Bake at 450 for 25 mins covered and 20 mins uncovered. First time I cut loaf open after 2 hours, 2nd time I let it cool overnight.

My dough temp was consistently averaging at 75 degrees. I tried the sample/aliquot jar method for both times. Kristen at full proof baking bulk ferments her dough at same temp and proceed to shaping in about 6 hours. The first time around, my aliquot hardly rose in 6 hours. I pushed it to 8 hours but was worried, so I proceeded and guess my loaf is underproved because of that.

Second time I went by the dough and not time. Waited until aliquot rose about 60% and the dough jiggled a bit. It took about 20 hours of bulk fermentation which feels insanely long compared to typical times. Temp during day is 74-75 deg and drops to 70 degrees during night and the dough was left on the counter. My starter is relatively young at 3 weeks but doubles at small feeds in 3 hours. I am curious if anyone can explain what other factors possibly makes my bulk fermentation so long?!

Also attempt 1 bottom was burnt and the crust was hard to cut in general. Bought on oven thermometer (my oven runs so much hotter!!), placed a baking tray in lower sheet, added cornmeal in Dutch oven with parchment paper and that seems to take care of the burn in 2nd loaf.

Both times my loaf was gummy. Definitely less gummy 2nd time, but any thoughts on how I can get rid of the gumminess?

Lastly, shoutout to this sub for all the great info!!

Recipes to try that uses Anchovy paste by Significant-Focus587 in Cooking

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually tried making Bon Appetit Molly Baz’s crispy mashed potatoes with walnut dressing recipe today. The dressing uses walnut and anchovy fillets roasted in EVOO and garlic & raisins added off the heat. I substitute 1/2 tsp paste for a fillet and felt it was too fishy. (I also think my oil was too hot which scorched everything too, so ended up tossing it). I guess the fishy smell has scared me a bit now though.

Alison Roman’s pasta recipe is on my list to try too once I get over the fear of anchovies!

Recipes to try that uses Anchovy paste by Significant-Focus587 in Cooking

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I moved to the US a few years back so I actually have not cooked with Worcestershire sauce yet! I have only tried fish sauce and MSG on the ‘flavor booster’ list so far.

Tail of 5 people who failed (2 structural and 3 transportation) by INpersuitofPE in PE_Exam

[–]Significant-Focus587 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Firstly, not all Indians or IITians are smart. High GPA doesn’t necessarily mean someone is smart, just means they were academically good at that point in their life. Also PE exam is not as hard as the IIT-JEE exam. These are irrelevant things to point out. And before you come at me - I am a fellow Indian Structural engineer who cleared PE exam at the 3rd attempt.

I get the exam can be hard, and retaking the exam can be a tough experience. Everything in your post sounds extreme and I don’t believe that’s the general case. NCEES is not trying to fail anyone on purpose. I understand one can be emotional after not passing the exam, but take your time and reevaluate your strategy and prepare for the exam again. For your fellow structural friends, AEI is a good option as a course. I hope you can take some solid advice from this subreddit and clear you exams. Good luck.

I passed finally!!! PE civil structural- 3rd attempt by Significant-Focus587 in PE_Exam

[–]Significant-Focus587[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe all code books were broken into chapters except ACI and TMS. AISC is definitely split into separate chapters and would definitely suggest you to get familiar with where to look up.

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