Crumb pic if anyone is interested.

I usually don't like typing the whole thing out because of the imagery it creates in my head but, the username SatansMaggotyCumFart.

Smcf?

Nice bread, also this is the first time I click a bread post and it's not SMCF.

Looks beautiful, well done for persevering.

I've tried pannetone once, went in overconfident and vastly underestimated how finicky it is, failed miserably

Lovely colour on that bread.

Of course, the summit of bread making is pannetone, if you want to know the direction for up that is up, But... staying in the land of mortal loaves:

For the last couple of years a major change in my baking has been much more about whole-wheat.

It used to be the case that a bag of WW flour would last for ages as I was only using 20% or less in my breads, but now they go as fast as the white bread flour bags.

The breads are more interesting, they're not as bland. And they're healthier too. Of course, you don't have the open open crumb, but don't have to always make them 100% whole grain and with the right tangzhong/scald can get more open than you might realise.

Happy to help!

I've also read you can do a first rise with dough with twice the yeast, and I think freeze it then, and then do the second rise and and bake. But I'm not sure how that might work with sourdough.

Innards were pillowy soft. Not sure why, usually more moisture makes it come out dense, but it was incredibly light and fluffy. If there are any sourdough wizards with more insight I'd love to hear it.

Thanks! I was thinking to slightly underbake the bread so I could give it another 10’ or so when re-baking. But this already sounds very good.

Happy i just got a extra freezer. Next time tripple batch :)

How is the consistency when you bite into it? It looks good.

Sort of? I yoinked it before it could start to burn because we don't like it too crusty.

That's fair. Even without inclusions there are lots of other ways to play with different recipes though: different grain/flour blends at varying levels of hydration, different mixing and shaping methods, milling your own flour, cold bulking/multi-day fermentations. The more you experiment the more you'll learn about breadmaking in a wholistic way. Speaking from experience, it's easy to get sucked into making one recipe which works well over and over and get bored/think you've mastered it, but really there's always so much to learn if you choose to!

Mixing the dough. Mixing 2kg of clingy, sticky dough by hand is no fun to me.

I use a bowl to ferment it. And a spoon to mix - what's the role of your kitchen machine?

How's the toasting look? Does the cheese form a nice crust?

You'll have to adjust the amount of water for the different flour. That's the tricky part.

mixed flour, hmm? I always do 100% wholemeal rye.

Once when I ran out of rye, I used 50% fermented/leavened rye, 50% wheat (I don't remember the kind), and the result was of "edible" category. Dry and weird.

What's your trick to make it good?

Basically, fully cool and maybe even hours longer to ensure less moisture.

Thaw slowly, then 5 minutes in the oven to revive the crust.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/12/20/freeze-bread

Thanks! I love 100% rye sourdough breads, but I hate making them. I'm not sure I get the hydration right. My dough always ends up very sticky and just an utter pain to get out of the kitchen machine and into the loaf pan.

For wheat dough that may be true. This is just easy enough for me to handle that I do it at all.
I love rye bread. I started with 100% rye sourdough, which is incredibly sticky, especially if it's even slightly over hydrated, and has virtually no gluten, so you can only bake it in a loaf pan. 40% spelt or wheat makes it just a little more well behaved.

The texture looks really good.

Have you ever tried 100% rye? If you get the amount of salt just right, nothing can beat it.

Not op but any tips for freezing well?

I love massive loaves, I don't know what it is, but it's just so much fun

I'm all about high temps and a real real dark crust.

Mine all straddle the line between browned and charred (and a little charring isn't unwelcome in my opinion)