The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.
Lap's picture

Best Home Oven

November 28, 2023 - 4:31am -- Lap

I have been a home sourdough bread baker for years. My current Capital Cooking Propane range cooling fan went on me after 8 years. Trying to work with company and parts supplier for replace with new fan. A newer version of the fan doesn't work with my oven. Anyone have suggestions for a middle of the road oven with either burners or induction cooktop that will bake decent breads.

alcophile's picture

Substitute for Altbrot?

November 27, 2023 - 7:54pm -- alcophile
Forums: 

Many German and Austrian rye bread recipes specify the use of Altbrot ("old bread") in a hot soaker. The Altbrot adds a creaminess and a better shelf-life (anti-staling) to the bread.

My problem is that I rarely have any leftover rye bread or it's a bread that may not be the best choice as an Altbrot (e.g., Ginsberg's Sauerkrautbrot from The Rye Baker).

I have seen store-bought bread crumbs suggested and I do have some of those I can use, but I'm looking for other suggestions for substitutes in those instances I don't have any Altbrot.

Thanks!

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

While I did achieve the marbling effect, I was hoping for a more vivid color. Additionally, I want to say the Bread is on the under fermented side. Still a worthy endeeavor.

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

These were the other batch of rolls I made to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. You can’t go wrong combining cranberries with pecans, walnuts and potatoes.  Well at least in my opinion :).

I soaked the dried cranberries in water for several hours and after draining the cranberries I used the remaining water as indicated in the main dough.  I also added some cherry juice to the levain but if you have cranberry juice you can use that instead or just omit it and use all water.

The butter and purple roasted and mashed sweet potatoes added some nice softness to the rolls.  These came out really nice and tasted amazing.  If you don’t like nuts you can easily leave them out and just use cranberries and maybe even some orange zest.

The freshly milled durum and whole wheat were both milled and sifted with a #30 drum sieve, re-milled at the finest setting on my Mockmill 200 and sifted with a #40 sieve.

Formula

Levain Directions

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 5-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.  I usually do this the night before.

Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the starter with about 90% of the water holding some back for after the autolyze.  Next add the flour, and mix for a minute until roughly incorporated.  Let the dough autolyze for an hour.  After an hour add the salt, purple sweet potato and softened butter and additional water as needed.  If using an Ankarsrum mix on medium low for 15 – 20 minutes until you have a well developed dough.  If using another mixer you can mix as needed until you have a well developed dough.  Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then laminate the dough and add in the nuts (chopped into small pieces) and cranberries.  After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours. (Note: I use my proofer set at 80 F, so if you are leaving the dough out at room temperature you may want to let it proof for longer.  The goal is not to have the dough double but maybe rise about 1/3 at most and it will do the rest in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1 hour.  Remove the dough and shape into rolls around 100 grams each for dinner rolls.  Cover the rolls with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 at around 80 degrees.  The rolls should be nice and puffy and increase in size about 30-40%

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right  you are ready to put them in the oven, apply an egg wash if desired. Next add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 425 degrees.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the rolls are nice and brown.

Take the rolls out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist.

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

  I had made a version of these rolls a few years ago and decided to update it slightly and make them to bring to my relatives house for Thanksgiving along with another style of roll I will post later.

The main change was to use Caputo 00 flour instead of bread flour and to use a Cocoa bean infused maple syrup.  This created a softer roll.  I’m not sure you really taste the cocoa bean maple syrup to be honest so using regular flavored maple syrup would probably not make much of a difference.

The Greek Yogurt along with the rolled oats made these rolls nice and moist and tasty.  They seemed to be a big hit with the Thanksgiving dinner.

For toppings I used a beaten egg with a little water and salt to brush the rolls and sprinkled on some “everything bagel” topping on some, dried onions and grated some Vermont cheddar on some others.

I added the water content of the maple syrup to the overall dough hydration but forgot to add it to the hydration with add ins so that’s off a little.  This was a sticky dough and I used some baking oil spray to make it easier to form the rolls.  You want to avoid adding too much if any flour if possible.

Formula

louiscohen's picture

This Week in 100% Whole Wheat

November 26, 2023 - 10:12am -- louiscohen
Forums: 

This week's Workday 100% Whole Wheat from "Bread", 3rd edition was so happy with the new steaming arrangement (baking stones above and below, a steam pan, and a spritz before and 5 minutes into the bake) that it positively grinned (or maybe grigned) at me:

Workday 100% WW Photos

Workday 100% WW Formula, "Bread", 3rd ed.  (I don't use the honey)

squattercity's picture
squattercity

Over the past year, I've made lots of versions of Ilya's easy deli rye. This weekend, with only whole rye flour and bread flour on hand, I made a 45% rye version. It turned out lofty with a thin crispy crust and soft, lightly tangy interior and I wanted to share it and pay homage to a great, flexible formula.

Rob

Pages

Subscribe to The Fresh Loaf RSS