Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Index for my blog entries: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24437/blog-index-will-keep-updating-and-linking-it

First the bread, then we'll talk about cakes, sinful delicious cakes...

I love hummus, delicious, healthy and so easy to make. I don't really follow any specific recipes, but there are many good ones online - just trust me, go heavy on garlic, very heavy!

This last batch was really tasty, so I decided to make a rye sourdough with it. I want the hummus flavor to shine through, so there is a lot in the dough, along with some roasted sesame seeds to complement the flavor. The shaping method is again from this video site: http://techno.boulangerie.free.fr/09-ReussirLeCAP/03-lesFormesEnVideo/17.LeCharleston.html

Hummus Rye

- levain

whole rye, 57g

water, 45g

rye starter (100%), 6g

1. Mix and let rise 12-16hours.

- final dough

bread flour, 340g

salt, 8g

hummus, 264

water, 152g

roasted sesame, 40g

all levain

2. Mix everything except for salt & sesame seeds, autolyse for 20 to 60min, add salt, mix @ medium speed for 3-4 min until gluten starts to develope. Add sesame, mix @ slow speed until evenly distributed.

3. Bulk rise at room temp (~75F) for about 2.5hrs. S&F at 30, 60, 90min.

4. Shape as following: http://techno.boulangerie.free.fr/09-ReussirLeCAP/03-lesFormesEnVideo/17.LeCharleston.html

5. Proof bottom up in basket, put in fridge overnight right away. Take out from fridge next morning to keep proofing until it springs back slowly when pressed, about 30min for me and my July TX kitchen.

6. Bake at 450F with steam for the first 15min, lower the temperature to 430F, keep baking for 30 to 35min.

To my satisfaction, hummus flavor is very obvious, and sesame seeds make the loaf so fragrant. Oh yeah, crumb is very open for a rye bread loaded with stuff.

Didn't last long...

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This past Sat (7/30) was my birthday, and 6th anniversary. It's the year of "iron", I got cast iron pots as gifts, aren't they pretty?

Made a white chocolate opera cake as our celebration cake, the "chain" decoration on top was my desperate attempt to relate to the "iron" theme. :P

My recipe is loosely based on this one here: http://andreasrecipes.com/2008/05/28/the-daring-bakers-make-opera-cake/

It takes quite a few steps and components to finish, but if you divide the work into a few days, it's not so bad.

Since about a year ago I joined the Daring Bakers challenge, it's been a great journey to broaden my baking horizon. This beautiful Frasier was done in July.

Finally, some creamy desserts in case there isn't enough sugar, butter, and cream in our system.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Pumpkin Flan

Two months ago, after enjoying Phillipe Gosselin's “baguettes tradition” in Paris, I attempted to replicate this delicious bread in a sourdough version. (Baguette Tradition after Phillip Gosselin) My wife and I actually preferred my version to the original. In fact, I felt they were the best tasting sourdough baguettes I'd ever made.

 Yesterday, I made them again. This time, I omitted the little bit of instant yeast I had used with the first bake. Interestingly enough, my fermentation time was just about the same as with the added yeast.

The other difference was I used a new (to me) flour from Central Milling. According to brother Glenn, Nicky Giusto told him this is the flour Acme uses for their much-admired baguettes. I hesitate to generalize from a single bake with it, but it made a very chewy baguette crumb with good flavor. I'm looking forward to using it on some other breads with which I am more experienced.

Note: Accounting for the flour and water in the levain, the total flour is 500 g and the total water is 375 g, making the actual dough hydration 75%. The actual salt percentage is 1.75%.

Method

1. The night before baking, mix the flour and levain with 225 g of ice water and immediately refrigerate.

2. The next morning, add the salt and 50 g of ice water to the dough and mix thoroughly. (I did this by hand by squishing the dough between my fingers until the water was fully incorporated.)

3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl with a tight cover.

4. Ferment at room temperature until the dough has about doubled in volume. (3 hours for me) Do stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for the first two hours.

5. An hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF, with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.

6. Divide the dough into 4 more or less equal pieces and stretch each into a 12-14 inch long “baguette.”

7. Score and bake immediately at 460ºF, with steam for 10 minutes, and for about 20 minutes total.

8. Cool on a rack before eating.

David

Continuing toward my goal of baking a non-brick-like Altamura type loaf with 100% Atta whole durum flour, today I increased durum flour percentage to 60%.   My formula is exactly the same as my last attempt which used 40% durum flour  with the exception of the difference in flour, but I changed process and technique a bit.   Last time I did an overnight retard.   This was mainly a scheduling issue but of course had an impact on the bread.   This time, I did not retard overnight, but the dough did have a 1.5 hour refrigerator sojourn in the middle of bulk ferment again due to scheduling.   The technique change was that rather than doing 4 in the bowl stretch and folds, I did 4 in the bowl scoop and pats.   This means I rotated around the bowl several times using three fingers to gently scoop the dough on the edge of the bowl into the middle and then pat the dough twice (that is scoop, pat, pat, scoop, pat, pat, etc.)    Franko said in comments to his post  "From what I've learned so far, this flour needs to be coaxed into forming a good structure for trapping CO2" and by patting I was hoping to encourage such a structure without tearing the gluten strands.   This patting idea came from Akiko in her last baguette post.   I didn't understand it when I read about it in her post, and I still don't understand it, but I found this dough even more manageable and well behaved than the 40% version that I posted about a few days ago.

I am encouraged by the results and plan to continue on to 80% on my next attempt.