Filthy Good Vino

10 months ago addiction struck in the form of baking sourdough bread. There is something therapeutic about handling dough, forming loaves, baking and devouring them.

Ever since I baked that very first loaf I’ve been receiving more and more request to share the Breadgasmic Experience of making Filthy Good Bread.

So, today, I’m launching the Bread Files where I’ll share everything I know about Filthy Good Bread!

I’m no profession, but, I’m happy to help anyone by sharing the tips and tricks of baking quality artisan sourdough bread at home. Sometimes, the best way to share is by baking together, I’ve been running the occasional workshops to get people started. If you’re interested get in touch and I’ll let you know when I’m planning to run the next one.

It’s a small step from making wine to making bread! Just like wine, it’s all about quality ingredients and fermentation. The learning curve is steep. The satisfaction from baking your own loaf, breaking bread with friends and family is one of life’s simple pleasures.

I’ve been hooked on making my own bread since my first, kinda average, loaf made it out of the oven back in October 2013. Hopefully, I can help you avoid the “experiments” that didn’t go so well and start baking yummy Filthy Good Bread sooner!

Stay up to date with all things Filthy Good Bread by subscribing. You can check out my Bread Making field notes thus far here.

The Bread Maker’s learning curve is steep! The loaf on the left is one of my first rock hard attempts. The beauties on the right were made just 10 months (& 100kg of flour) later. I’m proud to say I’ve bought just two loaves of bread in all that time!

I keep a Photo Diary of my Filthy Good Experiments you can view it here! There’s often tips & tricks in the comments. You can follow me on Instagram @paolovino or on Twitter Follow @PaulKaan

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Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of my Bread Baking experiment! Here's a few highlights! It took 4 months for me to bake a loaf I was truly happy with, since then it's been a relentless pursuit of more Yumminess! Kilo after kilo of flour has passed through my hands to be mixed, slapped, folded, stretched, shaped, baked, watched, cut & devoured! The tactile experience has been both therapy & sensory pleasure! It's distracted my hyperactive brain for a moment of mindfulness & calm. I've discovered an amazing community of Real Bread Lovers & shared a Doughmance with all of them! The #BreadEd2014 crew are a generous, human bunch! There is an amazing community of skilled & dedicated home & commercial bakers in Australia who are prepared to share their knowledge with any who ask it of them. One of the greatest pleasure has been sharing a loaf of freshly baked bread with a neighbour, colleague, friend or family. The look of delight on people's faces when you pass them a loaf of bread still warm from the oven is incredibly satisfying. The other pleasure has been sharing my limited knowledge to help others kickstart their bread making experience over a ball of dough & glass of wine! Bread is truly the staff of life, good for the body, mind & heart! #RealBread #52LoavesProject #Sourdough

A video posted by Paul Kaan (@paolovino) on Oct 13, 2014 at 5:05pm PDT

If there is anything in this world that I’m jealous of, it’s bakers’, their commercial ovens, costing as much as a small car, and, the perfect control over the baking environment they achieve. Steam, stone, heat from top and bottom, quick open and close doors, loaf loaders! They are one of the keys to achieving Sourdough Bread perfection.

Replicating this with a domestic oven worth a few hundred dollars is a challenge for one loaf & an even bigger challenge when you try to cram four loaves in. After a many trials and tribulation, including a few exploding tiles, here’s my latest setup.

From bottom up:

1. Roasting tray for steam generation.
2. Pizza stone to add heat holding capacity & shield the terracotta tiles resting on it.  Stops thermal shock from steam cracking tile. I got a rectangular oven sized one from the “Big Green Shed” Matador brand with a peel for about $45.
3. Terracotta tile cut to size. Extra stone helps keep heat and brown base of loaves. Requires two pieces cut to size using diamond cutting disc on an angle grinder. Terracotta tile is almost twice the weight of pizza stone by area & another two of the finest! Terracotta tiles were $3 each 30 x 30cm from a brick supplier. These need to be cured before they are used.*
4. A couple of loaves of the finest.
5. More terracotta tile. two pieces cut to size using diamond cutting disc on an angle grinder, terracotta tile is almost twice the weight of pizza stone by area.
6. Another two of the finest!

BOOM! 4 x 800g loaves squished in! Occasionally the loaves hit the rack above, but, I can usually wriggle them out OK. There’s always a nervy few seconds moving fast when loading them. It’s not too bad. Two at a time. Having more stone & pre-heating the oven for an extra 10 mins to 260C helps with heat retention to get that initial oven spring.

*How to Cure your Terracotta Tiles: Submerge them in tap water for 24 hours and then drying them in a slow oven < 100ºC for a few hours. DISCLAIMER: Do this at your own risk! My uncured ones exploded. My cured ones placed immediately above the steam tray cracked when I added water to the baking tray, hence, the addition of the Pizza stone.

Hope you enjoyed the first post under the Bread Files. If you have any tips or questions please leave a comment. Subscribe to stay up to date with the latest Filthy Good Bread adventures.