makingandknowing - Eom - Bread Molding SP17

Bread Molding

2017.02.05, 08:45pm

2017.02.09, 07:45pm

2017.02.27, 01:30pm and 2017.03.01, 06:16pm

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.05, 08:45pm

Location: 431 Riverside Dr, Apt. 3K
Subject: Feeding Bread 1

First time feeding…oops (I had a busy week and this slipped my mind :/)
Doesn’t look like it’s alive, smells like ethanol too, which could not a good sign because the yeast is probably undergoing an anaerobic respiration process
Regardless split into two bags and used original container as “measuring cup” for equal parts flour and water to feed
- Protip: stirring together flour and water with spoon + chopsticks does wonders
Also when mixed, the supposed volume decreased, end result might be a bit too watery
NOTE FOR NEXT TIME: add less H2O to the next feeding, less overall; also consider making a new sourdough starter based on instructions in case results don’t look promising (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337)

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.09, 07:45pm

Location: 431 Riverside Dr, Apt. 3K
Subject: Feeding Bread 2

Tried ~3/4 flour, 1/4 water —> turned out really chunky
Added one of the two bags of last time to this dry mixture (the more watery one): put all in the yogurt container first, mixed, then put back again in plastic bag
^this is now 2* the original amount given at the start
Still bubbles when mixed —> it’s probably still alive
This mixture is probably too chunky, definitely some flour sitting at the bottom while I was mixing that didn’t get mixed in until I put it back in the plastic bag
NEXT TIME: try 5/8 flour, 3/8 water
I got concerned about how thick this was, so I ended up taking the residual water from the other allocated batch I had around and poured it into this batch (I may have also poured some of the liquidy product along)
Other half: intend to make bread tomorrow with it

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.12, 10:00pm

Location: 431 Riverside Dr, Apt. 3K
Subject: Making Bread 1 and Feeding Bread 3

Finally got the baking supplies I needed!
Pilot trial here: simply add dough to tray, put in oven set to default temp of my oven (350˚F), watch and learn
Dough: combine thrown out part of current dough that is going to be fed with watery one noted in last notes —> 1.5* the original amount given at the start
Previously fed batch: very putty like, i.e. sticky to itself, but not as much to the wooden spoon I was using to dispense it to the watery dough portion
Once mixed: interesting “in-between” consistency of putty like, but generally sticky too
Coated bread tray with olive oil, spread evenly
Start timing: 10:12:18
~8 mins in: not too much progress
~12 mins in: better, “bubbling” visible, kitchen finally smells like bread instead of a gas leak
~23 mins in: dough all looks “dry”
~25 mins in: took out to cool
The result: probably the saddest loaf of bread to grace the face of the planet: very flat, definitely not baked enough (inside was very sticky)
FOR FUTURE: bake longer; also see http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2015/02/early-english-bread-barm-or-sourdough.html for recipes, if all else fails, I can use this “modernized” recipe (http://www.elizabethskitchendiary.co.uk/2014/04/mediaeval-horsebread.html/)
For feeding: followed suggested proportions from last time, still looks a bit dry but better

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.18, 04:45pm

Location: 431 Riverside Dr, Apt. 3K
Subject: Making Bread 2

Received consultations from a bread making expert friend after a week of just trying to do research and realizing having a friend who knows help would make the process easier
Oiling of mixing bowl (pot) and pan, apply flour to pot (hopefully to prevent sticking with pot)
Added 1/3 of the sourdough starter to the pot (leaving the same amount of starter as initially given left), added flour in spoonfuls, stirred it all together until it started “doughing”
Quote from friend: “it’s starting to smell like bread, it’s doughing!”
Switching to “kneading” bread with hands rather than with spoons
Add flour to correct texture and “stickiness”, density is important
Based on viewing the previous notes, talking with the friend, and the purpose of this work: it is probably good to have it with few air pockets and dense composition so as to create nice molds, no rising possibly either so that it has these characteristics
My experience: should be able to pull in a doughy consistency but still sticky and falls apart when stretched within a foot or so
Preheated oven to 450˚F
start at 5:15:25
If I were to rise the bread: Apply oil to the thing holding dough so as to prevent sticking as it rises
Monitoring progress over time: rising slowly, rounder loaf each time
25 minutes in (according to “modernized” medieval horsebread recipe): both of us checked on it, we decided to leave it longer for about 3 minutes more
28 mins in: took out bread, very hard on outside
Objects of interest: binder clip and oyster shell half
Cooled ~25 mins (around when it’s cool to the touch), cut along a crack that formed already while baking, pressed objects into bread halves, let it sit in the off oven with door open (based on some previous notes and their methods)
When bread was firm, I took out the objects (which was sometimes a little difficult to do), but successfully did so and put the objects back in place for the time being
Lessons from working with someone who knows how to make bread:
- Dough consistency is important
- Kneading and allowing rising help to make different bread consistencies
- The hardening of bread after baking has a “timer,” as it hardens over time; this probably allows for the use of bread molding as a plastic material in the beginning ideal once it hardens to a specific geometry or shape
Question for myself: would it be possible to soak the bread in water (even briefly) and “remold” it? i.e. is it plastic even after it’s been molded once? Maybe soaking it and baking again could do something?
Next time: explore these questions, try a two-sided mold, connect my explorations today with my research from before

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.19, 10:15pm

Location: 431 Riverside Dr, Apt. 3K
Subject: Making Bread 3

As outlined yesterday: I will try to explore the possibility of “remolding,” try a two-sided mold, and bridge the ideas I researched before with what I learned from being with an “expert”
Connection of manuscript research with experience (includes quotations from the manuscript as well as my own commentary on my interpretation of their significance):
- Stucco for molding:
  - "...take rye flour, which is better than wheat [flour] because it is more humid and does not make the paste as rough:" this indicates to me that wheat or rye flour would have been available ingredients at the time. I couldn’t find rye flour at my local grocery store, hence why I started using whole wheat flour
  - "And knead as if you wanted to make bread, until you perceive that it has enough body and is as firm as bread dough that is ready for the oven. This is perceptible when it can stretch enough without breaking. And if it is not strong enough, it will not come off [the surface] properly.”: this segment of the manuscript indicates what sort of consistency I should expect with the dough. From my experience with my friend, we achieved more of less this level of consistency — I was able to stretch the dough up to a foot and though it was a sticky dough it was not overly noticeably so
- To cast in sulfur: ”To cast neatly in sulfur, arrange the pith of bread under the brazier, as you know. Mold whatever you want into it & let it dry & you will have very neat work.”: this line seemed like the “Sparknotes” version of our examination of bread molding — it provided a concise summary of what sort of expectation to have of the overall process
- Molding and shrinking a large shape:
  - "Mold it with the pith of bread just out of the oven, or like that aforementioned, & in drying out it will shrink & consequently so will the medal that you will cast.”: this alludes to the basal understanding of how bread can be used as a molding material. From my understanding, this is the only real indication in the manuscript for why bread is an ideal material for these purposes
  - "By these means - lengthening out or enlarging the imprinted bread - you can vary the shape & from one face make several different ones. The bread straight from the oven is best. And the one which has been heated twice contracts more. You can cast sulfur without letting the imprint on the bread dry, if you want to cast it as large as it is. But, if you want to let it shrink, let it dry to a greater or lesser extent.": I understood this paragraph of the manuscript as an elaboration of sorts of the kinds of modifications that can be explored within the scope of optimizing the molding capacities of the bread. Since I wanted to explore my own curiosities a little bit, I decided to forfeit confirming whether the author’s statements here are viable and see what more experience I could add to this general endeavor of bread molding
Also some comments on bread making based on this recipe from The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (18th century):
- "To make French Bread. TAKE three quarts of water, and one of milk; in winter scalding hot, in summer a little more than milk-warm. Season it well with salt, then take a pint and a half of good ale yeast not bitter, lay it in a gallon of water the night before, pour it off the water, stir in your yeast into the milk and water, then with your hand break in a little more than a quarter of a pound of butter, work it well till it is dissolved, then beat up two eggs in a basin, and stir them in, have about a peck and a half of flour, mix it with your liquor; in winter make your dough pretty stiff, in summer more flack; so that you may use a little more or less of flour, according to the stiffness of your dough; mix it well, but the less you work the better. Make it into rolls, and have a very quick oven. When they have lain about a quarter of an hour turn them on the other side, let them lie about a quarter longer, take them out and chip all your French bread with a knife, which is better than rasping it, and makes it look spongy and of a fine yellow, whereas the rasping takes off all that fine colour, and makes it look too smooth. You must stir your liquor into the flour as you do for pie-crust. After your dough is made cover it with a cloth, and let it lie to rise while the oven is heating."
- I looked at this recipe not for making bread for consumption, but rather the procedural components of bread making. I was unsure about how many of these ingredients were essential for the “basics” of bread mechanics, and how much are for the actual enjoyment and flavor of the bread as a food
- My biggest takeaway from this: this recipe elucidates and details some more subtle components of the recipe, but overall I didn’t see this as entirely useful in my reconstruction. The manuscript, though fragmented in its bread molding parts, offers much more detailed and purpose-driven descriptions of bread making and molding for our purposes.
Changes from yesterday’s “protocol”:
- I could afford to add more flour to my starter to make it even more stretchy and even less sticky than what I saw yesterday
- I still don’t see rising as necessary, as it is not alluded to in the manuscript and as my friend suggested, for molding purposes it could be counterproductive
- Based on the “molding and shrinking a large shape” segment of the manuscript where an exploration of moistness of the bread is delineated, I am more compelled to look into the “remolding plan” I had proposed
  - I will take a piece of bread and mold it as usual. I will then take out the objects of each half loaf and soak both halves in water until the original shape of the objects disappears (more or less)
  - One half I will immediately mold again and dry out to see if the mold can be made again
  - The other half I will put back in the oven and see if it is moldable after heating for a little while
- Exploring two-sided mold: use of my retainer! Something that was made of a mold of my teeth way back when
Used entire rest of starter kit (which would yield 2x more bread than yesterday)
Dough drier than yesterday
Pro tactic: “punch” the bread (sounds a lot weirder than in practice, it works really well)
Split into two: one for a two-sided mold, one for exploring “remolding” bit
As was done before: baked for 28 minutes, but it burned a little…will this affect the molding in a way that it’ll make it harder to mold?
Objects for “remolding” exploration: gummy bears (thanks roommate for the suggestion!) and carabiner
Two sided mold: pressed on one side only part of the way, pressed the top loaf of bread on top, put the other plate on top of all that to keep it in place
Gummy bears started melting in the bread…will this screw up the mold we see? Shape and also the texture of the molding spot where it sits? Also how difficult will it be to remove if it gets stuck?
B/c of melted gummy bears, I abandoned one of the “remold” tests, I will not do the test that involves putting it back in the oven since I postulate it’ll be less successful
Gummy bears were difficult to remove, but resulted in really clean molds lined with melted gummy bear juice —> this may affect the integrity of the molds
Retainer in two-sided mold: bottom more successful than top (not surprisingly)…question becomes whether in the context of a 3D mold whether it’ll be successful ultimately?
“Remolding” experiment: adding water softens the bread but doesn’t “undo” previous mold; tried “adding” another mold on top of what was previously molded, will let the water dry up overnight and see how successful a second mold will be
Final experimental protocol (steps in parentheses are not critical but made my process easier):
- Preheat oven to 450˚F
- (Oil the mixing bowl and baking pan, and apply flour to the mixing bowl to prevent sticking)
- Add sourdough starter to the mixing bowl and add flour in spoonfuls, mixing and kneading along the way, until the dough reaches a consistency that is not sticky and remains durable even when applying a stretching stress to the dough
- Place in oven for 25 minutes or until bread loaf is uniformly round and outside of loaf is hard
- Cool bread for about another 25 mins or until it is cool to the touch
- Slice bread down the middle and press objects into bread halves
- (Let objects sit in the oven turned off with its door open)
- Remove objects when bread becomes firm
Overall, I felt like my job through this reconstruction was to piece together the fragments of bread making and molding references throughout the manuscript into a “new” recipe. Ultimately, I did very little to change what already exists. The most changes I made if anything is to interpret the ordering and piecing of each of the steps. For the most part though, with the help of someone who knows the basics of bread making and some thorough analysis of the manuscript based on these “lessons," I was able to extrapolate the correct execution of the bread making reconstruction towards a molding objective
Lesson I learned today: this process is ACTIVE! Must always keep track of what you’re doing, why, and how things will change from one trial to the next

Name: Christopher Eom
Date and Time:

2017.02.20, 12:30pm

Location: 260 Chandler
Subject: Molding Bread

Choices of wax vs. sulfur
- Wax: sometimes shows more details, MP 62-65˚C; gummy, oyster, 2-sided
- Sulfur: MP ~115˚C; the rest
- Both dependent on bread + pattern ultimately
Inside of gummy is sticky —> affect sticking of material inside mold?
Release agents for easier release of wax/sulfur
- Try charcoal dust for oyster
- Adding charcoal: dip cloth in powder, tap it off like a cig, tap off remaining powder
- After pouring: cool marble-like pattern of powder + wax, as it drys looks like agate
- Does pouring pattern affect coloration/patterns of wax?
Sulfur molds: darker yellow, similar solidifying character to wax
Two sided
- Try pouring wax separately, combine (relatively) fast together
- Pour wax quickly, use towel to flip 2 halves together fast
- Semi-successful