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La masa's blog

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La masa

Hello all.
I have written a dough calculator, in the hope to create a useful tool, but also to get some practice with javascript/HTML. It is a table-based calculator, but includes a feature I have not found in other calculators: a graphical interface for calculating starter feedings.

 

You can find it here.

I spent a good bunch of time writing it so I hope someone will find it useful :)

La masa's picture
La masa

This all started as a joke in the Spanish forum http://www.elforodelpan.com

I commented on my way of kneading, which is basically the slap & fold method using just one hand. It's a very convenient method for the amount of dough I use to make, about 1.2 Kg or 2.65 lb, but I've used it with up to 2.5 Kg of dough.

Good-humoured discussiong followed, with some forum members ironically questioning the possibility of such a thing as one-hand slap & fold, so I decided to make a little video and this is the result.

 

La masa's picture
La masa

Bread can be so beautiful...

I know this is not the perfect bread, and quoting Hamelman, "If the holes are big enough to hide a mouse, your shaping skills need some attention", but I love my bread anyway.

La masa's picture
La masa

So, I happen to have a lot of rye flour, because of a communication problem when placing my order :-/

I usually add a small percentage of rye to my flour mix, but now I'm forced to try 100% rye loaves in every bake.

This week rye loaf was loosely based on Dan Lepard's 100% rye bread from "The Art Of Handmade Bread",

I soaked 50 gr of wheat berries in a bottle (330 ml) of Guinness Special Export overnight, and then boiled them for 45' on a very low heat, till the berries were tender.

Beat in 65 gr of rye flour and let it cool.

Then I weighted the thing to calculate how much liquid had been lost 'cause of the simmering, which happened to be 120 gr   8-o

I intended to make a 100% hydration dough, so added 170 gr water, 200 gr rye sourdough starter and 300 gr rye flour.

Mixed the whole sticky thing, shaped a (more or less) batard, put it on a baneton end let it rise overnight.

I think it overproofed since we reached 19ºC tonight, quite surprising in this season, but I have little experience with 100% rye doughs, so I can't really know.

It stuck to the baneton as you can see, but the loaf turned out beatiful enough for me.

 

 

A very easy, great tasting bread. Great with butter and smoked salmon, btw.

La masa's picture
La masa

The Roscón de Reyes is the traditional breakfast in Spain for the Epiphany day. It's also found in many Latin American countries and it's very similar to the Gâteau des Rois from the Provence.

I don't have a mixer, and don't really miss it... except when I make this bread. Kneading this dough is hard work, by far the hardest of all the doughs I make.

Fortunately, it's the traditional breakfast for the Epiphany day, and not the traditional breakfast for Saturdays :-)

For this dough, you need a flour with a pretty high protein content.

Make a preferment with:

  • 50 gr flour
  • 40 gr milk
  • 10 gr fresh yeast

While it's rising mix in a bowl:

  • 200 gr flour
  • 100 gr milk
  • 55 gr sugar
  • 3 gr salt
  • 1 egg
  • Grated lemon zest
  • Grated orange zest

You'll get a very wet and sticky dough, almost a batter:

 

Now, you'll have to work out some way of kneading this thing. Well, you cannot really knead it. I did a kind of light French fold.

Pour the dough onto the counter, pick it with one hand and stretch it upwards, repeat for ten minutes, wait ten minutes (keep an eye on it, it could fall from your counter!), knead again for ten minutes. At first you'll think that you will never get a workable dough, but eventually things change. You'll still have a very wet dough, but now you can see a good amount of gluten strands and it looks like a dough more than a batter now.

Knead in 50 gr of soft butter, and knead again, and again, and again. The gluten develops more and more, and you'll begin to feel more confident.

Knead in the preferment, wich at this stage should have doubled, and knead again till you have a proper dough. Now you should be able to do a proper French fold.

Shape in a ball (if you can). Cover and let rest in a greased bowl until doubled.

Punch down the dough, make a few stretch and fold and let it double again.

Transfer the dough to a slightly floured surface (I like wood), poke a hole right in the centre with your finger and gently ease the dough outwards (as shown in BBA for the couronne):

In a perfect world, the crown would be the same width all around. But this is not a perfect world.

Let it proof. You'll have to trust your experience now. If in doubt, bake it. If it's overproofed, when you take it out of the oven, it will colapse.

Paint with egg and spread a fair amount of moist sugar over the top:

Preheat the oven to 200C or 400F. Place your dough into the oven and lower the temp to 160C or 320 F. Bake for 35 min.

The smell while it's baking is awesome.

It should be reddish brown, tender, slightly moist in the inside. The crumb is light, soft, fluffy. This size is plenty enough for four persons.

¡Buen provecho!

 

La masa's picture
La masa

I thought these ciabattas would make a nice first entry for my brand new blog .

  • 200 gr of  a 100% hydration whole rye poolish (sourdough, of course)
  • 500 gr bread flour (with a pretty high gluten content)
  • 380 gr water
  • 9 gr salt

3 hour bulk fermentation, retarded overnight in the fridge, 1 hour out of the fridge, shape (kind of) and 2 hour proof.

25 minutes in a very hot oven, 10 more with the oven turned off.

 

 

 

It's a great bread for the kind of sandwiches we like in Spain. I'm sure you have seen that chorizo in the background :-)

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