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Adelina Roberts

@breadstalker_

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Teaching intermediate level one-on-one open crumb sourdough bread baking online. Best tips for starter care. “Secrets of Open Crumb” book.

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It’s official, my starter is for sale! It took me 3 years to arrive here, you’ve been kindly asking me, actually the most asked question I get every day. Second one is “can I have the recipe for the bread”, that one I’m still working on, my book is being written. My starter is produced in small batches and receives the most care possible. It is offered only when it’s in top shape. That means I “eat” plenty of starter daily to determine that😄, it must smell right, it must taste right, it must look right, texture must be right…it must rise optimally and at the right pace. All of these things are carefully considered. I also did a lot of testing, a lot. Tried many flours to find the one that was constantly consistent. Of course considering that whoever purchase it might use different flour, which means my entire focus is on keeping the yeast healthy on a cellular level(I’m not gonna bore you with that) I still do regular testing to make sure that it’s easily revived following the instructions precisely. I do everything myself. So, here it is, for anyone who struggles to make a starter, for anyone who wants to begin a sourdough journey, for anyone! I’m very proud to offer quality vs quantity. Maintaining only small batches that fit in a proofer with constant temperature. No fridge, no freezer, no heat. by @breadstalker_

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6 months ago

The Parmesan core-shaker sourdough is indeed shaking you to the core 😀 It never disappoints in flavor and creaminess. 262.5g bread flour and 87.5g durum mixed with 297.5g water(85% hydration) Two-hour long autolyse. Added 70g levain, followed up with 7g salt. Then lamination is when I added the grated Parmesan. Followed up with 3 coil folds separated by 45min. Total bulk fermentation was 8h at 74-75F. After bulk, I shaped and retarded in the fridge for 8h at 38-40F. Baked straight from the fridge in the Challenger bread pan. by @breadstalker_

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3 years ago

A personal story. Back in 2021, a publisher reached out to me with an offer to write a book about open crumb sourdough. I thought I was dreaming, it was too good to be true. We worked together for 4 months. I expressed from the start that I wanted to create something with an edge. I kept delivering pages at due dates. And then one day, I was asked if it would be ok with me for them to hire a professional food writer, one who would know sourdough to confirm the things I’m saying, one who would re-write me but I’d still have my voice. That came with something else, they told me that I had to pay for the professional writer, I had to pay his/hers fee($4000) from the advance that was going to be given to me. I didn’t know what to think, this was unexpected. Then I began to feel embarrassed. How bad could my writing be that not only did they need to hire a professional food writer but I had to pay for it?! Friends and family said that sometimes a book is written with the help of a professional writer, and even I knew that. But nobody had ever heard of such a thing where the publisher won’t take responsibility to pay for the professional writer. An influencer reached out to me and confirmed that, yes, this is a regular practice in the publishing world. And not only that, but many publishers work with the same photographers for different cook/bread books. To me this sounds like robbing the creators of their authenticity and making cook/bread books look and sound the same. I guess my book had to fit that mold too. I refused their offer and here I am today, self published. This experience made me realize that I don’t belong to a publisher, I belong to you, the people who support me daily, the people who are interested in what I have to say about sourdough my way. Thank you forever! ❤️ The book is available on Amazon USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nederland, Poland, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Australia. by @breadstalker_

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10 months ago

Black garlic crumb from my previous post as promised. This loaf was so huge after proofing, I had to grab it with my hands so you could see😄 Recipe is written in the previous post. by @breadstalker_

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6 days ago

Black garlic sourdough is a real treat to make and eat. It’s very easy to make black garlic at home but you can buy it as well. It’s a great snack too. For the dough I mixed 332.5gbread flour and 17.5g whole wheat with 308g water(88% hydration) I did three-hour autolyse. Then added 70g levain which was 6h old, kept at 82F, mixed with 1:1:1 ratio(25:25:25) Thirty minutes later, added 7g salt. Then I added two heads of black garlic. Please feel free to add less if you wish, I just couldn't help myself. I like to add the black garlic mashed as a paste. Performed 4 coil folds separated by 45min. No lamination for this dough. Total bulk fermentation was 7.5h at 72-75F. Shaped and proofed in the fridge for 12h at 40F. Baked straight from the fridge in The Challenger bread. Crumb video coming next. by @breadstalker_

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7 days ago

The blueberry-muffin sourdough🙂 l've always wanted to add fresh blueberries to my dough without crushing them to create a paste, and to let them pop during baking. The only disappointment was that the flour was not performing as expected, as it usually does. I did open a new bag and it was acting very differently, it felt more like 00 type than bread flour. This happened to me once before with this flour. Anyway, I hope next bag is normal, because I love that bread flour. For the dough I mixed 350g bread flour with 308g water(88% hydration) I did 1.5h autolyse. Then added 70g starter. Followed with 7g salt thirty minutes later. I added the blueberries right before I performed the first coil fold(125g fresh blueberries) I also sprinkled a little bit of lavender which I thought it was a good match with the blueberries. And it really was! Bulk fermentation was 8.5h during which I did 5 coil folds(and the dough still kept relaxing) Shaped and placed in the fridge for 11h proof at 40F.Baked straight from the fridge. Pairs like no other with cream cheese, and you feel like you truly enjoy blueberry-muffin bread😄I will be making it again with a different flour. And it’s just too good! by @breadstalker_

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9 days ago

These are the long pieces of dough you saw me cut out in my previous post 😁 A short cut to a baguette. And it makes the best sandwiches! by @breadstalker_

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11 days ago

Part two of Pan de Cristal, shaping, as promised. Please check out part one in my previous post if you’ve missed it yesterday. It’s not really much of a shaping this type of bread, just cutting the dough gently. After bulk fermentation, flour your counter very well! Flour is your best friend here! You want to prevent the dough sticking or pulling during cutting it and transferring it to the parchment paper. I prefer cutting out smaller pieces of dough but because it was late and I didn't want to spent a lot of time baking them, although I still baked until 5am, so l cut them a little bigger. I even cut out long pieces which OMG turned out so beautiful, I'll share them in a separate post because they deserve the attention. After you transfer the pieces of dough, cover them with a towel and let them proof for 1.5-2h. You must let them proof well! I baked mine one at a time in the Challenger bread pan. This time I placed the Challenger on the very bottom rack of the oven and baked them at 485F for 15-17min entirely with lid on. This way I prevented too much heat getting on top at once that creates theses gaps of air that makes the bread look like over proofed. With this setting, this time I didn't have that problem.The result always fascinate me, it's always so beautiful and interesting, and soft, with thin crust, transparent crumb...I hope you make it and see for yourself that you can enjoy it in many ways. It keeps soft for days but who really would let it sit for days. Recipe and details are in the previous post. by @breadstalker_

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12 days ago

100% hydration sourdough mixed by hand, and this is how I did it. It's also part one of Pan de Cristal making. I couldn't fit it all in one video, and I thought it's important to make a video of the dough developing in more detail. I've recorded only the first and second coil folds, as I showed the first fold in its entirety without cutting it out. During the first and second fold the dough is the most extensible and you must go with it, stretching it as the dough allows it. This dough received a total of seven coil folds every 20min. So, let's begin: Measure out 500g bread flour(12-13% is a must, you can't make this type of bread with weak flour at this high hydration) and 440g water (this is 88% of the water) and do 30-60min autolyse. Divide the rest of the water, 60g, in three separate portions 20g each. After the autolyse, add 200g active starter(40%). Your starter must be in top shape to carry good fermentation! Along with the starter, add 20g water, incorporate well. Let the dough rest for 30min. Then add 10g salt and 20g water, mix well to incorporate. Let the dough rest 30min. Then add the last portion of the water, 20g, in 4-5 times, very small amounts. After each addition, make sure the water is well absorbed before you add more. Leave the dough rest 5-7min after each water addition. Then let the dough rest 20min and do the first coil fold. Follow up with six more folds, or until the dough structure is strong, separated by 20min. Let the dough untouched until it finishes bulk fermenting. My total bulk was 7.5h at 72-75F. In part two, I'll share what to do next with this gorgeous and full of life dough. By the way you can mix this dough with a mixer. I've been following this goal of making 100% sourdough Pan de Cristal since I've heard of this beautiful bread four years ago from my friend @claudio.perrando to whom I'm so grateful for introducing it to us. I think I'm finally happy with the results I'm getting being 100% naturally levained. Part two is coming next, which will cover shaping🙌🏻🙌🏻 by @breadstalker_

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13 days ago

To make this kind of Fougasse, you need very well fermented and strong dough. I made three different doughs, one all white, one with 30% Tipo 2 flour, one with 10% whole meal. I loved the results from all of them. All three doughs bulk fermented for 16-17h at66-70F on my kitchen counter. Dough temperature was 69-70F while working the doughs, coil folds and all. After the last fold I just left the doughs to ferment and get gorgeous. I used a little less starter for them, instead of 70g, I added 50g. All doughs were mixed with 350g flour. For the two of them, I added only 1% salt. The white dough was with 75% hydration, and the others with 80 and 83%, and these two were with less salt. I made sure I build strong dough structure because they were going to spend a long time untouched. One dough received 5 coil folds and the others 4. Because of the low temperature, the doughs were pretty tight and easy to handle.When I was ready to bake, I simply turned the doughs over and made the cuts as you see shown in the video. I baked them one at a time in the Challenger bread pan @challengerbreadware at 500F with the lid on. Please feel free to mix any dough you desire to make Fougasse, the point is it must ferment very well. by @breadstalker_

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22 days ago

Saffron-barberry sourdough! The barberries are a tart little treat. Next I'll add them to saffron rice just as some of you suggested. For the dough I mixed 350g bread flour with 304.5g water in which I steeped the saffron(the water was warm and I let it cool completely) (87% hydration). I did one hour autolyse. Then added 70g starter. Followed up with 7g salt, thirty minutes later. Right before I did the first coil fold, I added the barberries, around 20-25g, they are super light and this amount is still plenty. Total bulk fermentation was 8h at 75-76F. I did 5 coil folds every 45min. Proof time in the fridge was 9h at 40F. Baked straight from the fridge. Delicious and beautiful result! by @breadstalker_

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a month ago

This kind of crumb always makes my heart skip a beat. Dough was mixed with a stiff sweet starter. 245g bread flour @bobsredmill and 105g Molino Pasini Tipo2 @molino_pasini with 290.5g water (83% hydration). 1h autolyse. Then I added the sweet starter(65g), which was 15h old (50% hydration) I used a mixer to incorporate it since it was a low hydration to make sure that it's well mixed in the dough. I ran the mixer for only a minute. Thirty minutes later I added 3.5g salt(1% only) I did one lamination and performed 5 coil folds(45:45:45:45:60). Now, because it was very late, I decided to leave the dough on the counter overnight, so to give it extra strength, I did an additional fold to make sure I build stronger structure since the dough wasn't going to be touched in a long time. I went to bed with a song in my heart expecting a gift from my dough. And oh, was it a beautiful gift! My dough was so big, so boisterous. It had spent 16h bulking at 68F. There's no way I was going to shape it. Just flipped it over on a well floured counter, divided it in three pieces, placed them on parchment paper and let them rest until my oven was preheating, which was 1h. I baked each piece individually in the Challenger bread pan with the lid on only for 17-20min at 500F. So, many things were applied here. low hydration starter, which means it will take longer for the dough to ferment. And not just low hydration but also a sweet starter which for sure means longer bulk. Also 1% salt only, which means faster fermentation BUT that was balanced with the sweet low hydration starter. Another thing is the flour, it must be the kind that can handle long bulk fermentation very well and Tipo2 Primitiva is just that flour. I'm in love with it.Here I used 30%. The crumb of this bread is sooo delicate and lacy, coming from only 1% salt and fermentation pushed far and long. To be enjoyed with warm soups, dips, or just on its own with a handful of olives. by @breadstalker_

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a month ago