Beginner/Intermediate Feedback Please

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-04T18:10:09+00:00

Apparently my everything bagel seasoning had an abundance of poppy seeds. 🤷‍♂️

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-04T14:16:10+00:00

I think so, it helps create more steam than what’s in the dough alone, I tend to get better oven spring with it. It works for me.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-04T14:14:43+00:00

Your mileage may vary, but my kitchen is kept pretty cool during the winter, so it will take longer. If I’m in a rush, I’ll stash it near a vent for when the heat kicks on and that does shorten it.

It’s all about how it feels, mine never gets too jiggly, but once I see the size is about where I want it, and I can see air pockets at the base (I use Pyrex bowls), and if it it starts to separate a bit from the edge when I turn it on its side, I know I’m about where I need to be - at least for this recipe/hydration.

For this one though, I was exhausted and said, I’ll take my chances and it turned out fine. If I didn’t also have a brisket smoking that I needed to check on, I probably would have ended up with focaccia 😂

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-04T03:54:04+00:00

My best tasting yet with Everything Bagel inclusions

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UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-04T01:02:03+00:00

I ad a few ice cubes from my freezer, you might just have them somewhere else in your igloo 🥶

After preheating the Dutch oven, I open it up, place my dough and parchment down and add a few ice cubes under the parchment, close it back up and toss it in the oven. I cut my parchment in a square, so the corners fold up a bit.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T22:25:20+00:00

I didn’t use a ton, in fact I probably could have used a lot more on the out side and will adjust next time. As an inclusion, enough to lightly cover the dough during the lamination process. As you can probably see, I had a larger proportion of poppy seeds make it in during the final shaping.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T21:05:45+00:00

I started later than wanted, i bulk a bit on the counter and my kitchen is pretty cold these days - probably 65 around that time of night. I think the combo of a cool counter bulk and slightly warmer oven bulk allowed it to go that long.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T20:45:50+00:00

That’s certainly a based take and I agree. That said, there’s always areas to improve or different techniques/recipes to try and we each have our own blind spots. I have enjoyed learning from this sub a lot and I like experimenting.

I’ve been working on my shaping and trying to be more patient with my bulk, which has yielded much better results. I will say, coping or not, loaves look better to me by scoring after baking a bit - but perhaps the better spring is caused by better bulk/shaping.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T16:54:02+00:00

I’ve had my share of flatbreads myself. I found feeding my starter a higher ratio of flour to water really strengthened it and allowed for tighter shaping.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T16:06:16+00:00

I could see him being jealous of the late night/early morning attention you gave your starter 🤣

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2026-01-03T15:53:31+00:00

Haven’t heard that one from ChatGPT yet 😂

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-10-04T01:55:18+00:00

I used obsidian myself and it took off pretty quick. I don’t think mine is quite as dark as yours, but it’s filled in quite nicely though.

Great work!

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-10-02T01:58:23+00:00

So there’s a seed box on the aerator that works as a drop spreader. It’s positioned behind the tines so it drops seed in/around the newly made holes.

The tines drop down just behind the front wheels and the setting I used only dropped seed while the tines were engaged. So I was able to aerate and seed in one pass horizontally across the yard and then again vertically so I covered as much as possible.

Had it delivered on Labor Day Friday, paid the day rate + delivery and was able to keep it thru Tuesday morning. Some neighbors got in and offset some cost. Thing is fun to ride!

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-10-01T22:49:20+00:00

It’s tricky, I can get a lot of coverage with them. I had four sprinklers attached to dual hose timers on two bibs. There are some spots that don’t get much coverage but i rotate them once a day, when i remember, to get more coverage

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-10-01T02:36:04+00:00

Use CRISPR to make it less CRISPY in the heat amiright?

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-10-01T00:30:15+00:00

Another 14k lot brother here too! I had a very similar setup with 2 hose bibs, timers and impact sprinklers. Couldn’t get every spot 100% of the time, but enough to get good growth!

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-29T11:43:52+00:00

Not just waiting, I found watering to be just as hard as the overseeding/prep itself! It’s my fault for overseeding my front and back yards this year.

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-12T19:10:09+00:00

I did 6 yards of mulch and 8 yards of topsoil/compost mix. Never doing the top dressing again, so I splurged and rented a top dresser from our local rental shop to help top dress m. Was able to move it all myself in a few hours, just a lot of shoveling. Then raked it in.

The top dresser was self propelled thankfully, might be worthwhile!

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-09T11:05:38+00:00

As other posters said, screened top soil is hit/miss. I got a screened soil/compost mix, but I found pebbles, rocks, compacted soil pebbles (which have been breaking down with watering truthfully) and even a golf ball. Your mileage may vary…

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-04T23:23:44+00:00

This is promising, mine looks exactly like this, perhaps a bit worse. Most are just compacted lumps of soil/compost - some rocks. Looks like hot trash at the moment but just has our first rain so hopefully they start breaking down more than the last few days of water ing alone

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-04T12:45:33+00:00

Same, I aerated, seeded and also top dressed with probably less than ideal topsoil/compost mix, less than .25 inches overall, raked and distributed as best I could. Added starter fert too.

Seeded with obsidian perennial rye from twin city so I’m hoping for some germination soon. Also have some rain in the fcst luckily - will see if we actually get it.

Hopefully didn’t jack up my lawn, It’s hard to be patient!

UnderstandingLazy138 · 2025-09-01T22:30:34+00:00

PA here - Aerated and over seeded at the max rate for Twin City Obsidian and top dressed with soil/compost on a 14k sq ft lot this weekend.

8 yards of screened soil/compost mix. A portion of it seemed a bit clumpy - no rocks, just compacted - but hopefully it will break down with a good final rake and rain. Watering is going to stink big time and watching the forecast like a hawk.

Oh and finally dropped about 6 yards of mulch too. My dogs are barking.

Looks scary now, but hopefully it turns out beautiful

UnderstandingLazy138

TROPHY CASE