I've never pulled it off and looked at that angle. Why would it of bent? You must of been making a big batch??

 

My typical bread dough has roughly five and a half cups of flour and two and a half cups water; not sure if that constitutes a large batch or not. I first noticed the asymmetry of the dough hook after my fourth dark rye loaf (a wheat/rye mix ranging from 50/50 to 75/25); what I have noticed is the dark rye flour is V-E-R-Y sticky, not glutenous sticky, just viscous sticky. I wonder if that's what bent my hook.

 

I only make one dough ball at a time so not much work on the hook. My wife makes a few different breads but honestly haven't got too many miles on the KitchenAid

 

Haven't been updating. Awesome on the pizza dough, Maker. I really want an Ooni pizza oven.

I haven't baked in a few weeks. Decided to fix that yesterday. One of these loaf has a nice sweet red bean surprise inside.

 

Did another batch today. Got some nice oven spring.

 

I've been working on my sourdough Dark Rye and Einkorn, with caraway, bread lately; here is my latest effort:

 

Nice! I have backed off a bit. Doing doughs and bakes every 3 weeks or so. So, I haven't gotten into trying other flours.

 

I’ve turned this whole baking thing into a small side hustle. Not making real cash or anything but enough to cover expenses and a little extra. Had my first “stranger” of a client today. I have a loaf to an assistant from a small gig I was just on. He then bought 3 more to give to family. His dad posted it on instagram, and then I got message from a friend of the dad who found my bread Instagram and wanted bread and scones.

 

 

I'm curious @Sarlacc, how much are you getting for a loaf? I have had any number folks tell me I should sell bread at a Farmer's Market or some such. I always shoot that idea down because I'm having a very hard time figuring out how that could make any money. By that I mean, my organic sourdough Dark Rye and Einkorn loaf, with caraway, costs me nearly $8.00 per loaf, and my pumpernickel with rye berries is more like $11.00 per loaf; so even if I was to say, lose my job tomorrow and need to make money, I cannot imagine there are too many folks up here in New Hamster willing to pay upwards of ~$20.00 per loaf of bread.

 

I haven't work out the math...my organic bread flour is $50 for 50lbs. And Ive spent about $20 on organic hard red winter wheat berries. Plus all the tools, etc. I charge $10 for a country loaf and $12 if I do like a cherry or red bean filled loaf. The scones I said $3 each or 6 for $15, and she ordered 6. First time I've sold scones. But I've been selling loaves here and there to friends. I usually give the first one away. And then, if they come back and ask for another they generally offer to pay anyway. I kept pricing in line with what I see most bakeries asking locally.

 

I took a shot at a Pumpernickel with whole rye berries; given I do not have a classic brick oven to effect the long over-night bake the Germans use for a pumpernickel, I had to resort to the American way of making the bread dark, namely cocoa and molasses.

Is the bread as good as the stuff I was able to get my hands on when I worked in Stuttgart and Munich? Nope. Is it at least on par with the best pumpernickel I've ever had here in the States? Yeah, pretty darn close.



If you blow the shot up to full resolution, you can see the whole rye berries in the crumb.

 

After my Pumpernickel experiment last October I've tried, and mostly failed, to make a 100% Dark Rye / Pumpernickel bread (meaning no molasses and no cocoa powder) more along the lines of what I used to get in Germany and have tried several ways of mimicking the long slow brick oven cook used over on that side of the pond. In this recipe, the darkness of the loaf comes exclusively from the Maillard Reaction, which also makes the loaf somewhat sweet; my wife says it has such an intense flavor it isn't for the faint of heart.

To get this result, the bread stayed in the oven for 18 hours, starting at 300°F for an hour, then 250°F for two hours, and then 215°F for fourteen hours, and then shutting off the heat and leaving it in the cooling oven for a final hour. The next step is to remove it from the covered bread pan and wrap it in parchment paper and leave on the counter for an additional twenty-four hours. I finally cut in to the loaf an hour ago and BINGO! I have a winner!

 

That is quite the intense bread making rabbit hole!

I haven't done a bake since November. Not even sure if my starter is still alive in the fridge. I've had such a busy year (in a great way) that I havent had time to re-visit making anything.

 

Thanks @Sarlacc, I've had a crazy year (new big deal job and then time in a coma in the ICU from a dog attack) as well so I've reverted back to using either my cast iron Dutch Oven or my porcelain bread pan instead of mucking around with the Bannetons for baking. I just had a "jones" for some good pumpernickel and managed to squeeze in the extra time it took for this loaf because until I'm cleared by my doctors, I'm not currently running.

 

Woah woah woah.....COMA FROM A DOG ATTACK!!!!?????

 

Yeah, long story; short version, I was running by a house which neighbors the farm my wife and I rent a small caretaker apartment on. They were having a new pool put in and the construction company tore out their invisible fence which usually kept their 170 pound St. Bernard and their 150 pound Bernese Mountain Dog in check. I was 6.8 miles into a 7 mile run when they charged out into the street at me, I squared off against the bigger of the two and he stopped in his tracks, the Bernese looped around and bit me badly on the back of the right knee. I don't remember anything after that, but the owner of the dogs told me the Bernese knocked me so violently to the street when my head bounced off the pavement, the loud "thud" turned her stomach. Apparently I was unconscious in the middle of the road for many minutes before she managed to get me up.

I woke up in the ICU 30 hours later, fully restrained (apparently I'm not a model patient when I've lost my mind), with a series of superficial bites to my abdomen, lots of staples in the back of my right leg (with a deep infection already starting to form), and a monster frigging headache. So yeah, I've had a little extra spare time these days.

The good news is I've recovered much faster than any of the doctors predicted, and am already starting to go out on walks, hopefully I'll be cleared to start running the week after next.

 

Holy crap!!! Glad youre OK. Hopefully the neighbors insurance is paying for all this.

 

Hoping so too, I just got the 119 page medical report accompanied by a nearly $32,000 hospital bill.

 

Ugh