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Bart Tichelman's blog

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Bart Tichelman

My first blog entry!

 

I have been wanting to bake my version of dmsnyder's excellent bread.  I prepared and baked as below, and I am delighted with the result.

 

I started with my usual 2 loaf sourdough recipe, adjusted the flours and add-in to match dmsnyder's recipe.:

 

Day 1: 10:00 pm

Prepare levain:

  • 40 grams of active starter
  • 120 gr. water
  • 120 gr. of my starter flour mix (80% King Arthur AP, 20% King Arthur Whole Wheat)
  • Leave on counter loosely covered

Soak raisins:

  • 240 gr. raisins
  • 480 gr. hot tap water

Day 2: Prepare dough

8:30 Mix and autolyse

  • All of the levain from above
  • 628 gr. King Arthur All Purpose flour
  • 224 gr. King Arthur Whole Wheat flour
  • 108 gr. Organic Whole Rye flour
  • Water - drain raisins and use reserved water; add warm tap water to get 660 gr. total (temp. ~95F)

Walnuts: toast 192 gr. in a skillet on medium heat.  Stir frequently as they will quickly go from nicely fragrant to burnt!  Chop coarsely after they cool.

9:15: Add final ingredients:

  • 100 gr. water at 95F
  • 27 gr. salt (I use Kirklands sea salt)
  • Walnuts and raisins
  • Mix by hand (I prefer the Forkish "hand-pincer" method)

10:00: 1st stretch and fold

10:45 2nd stretch and fold

11:30 3rd stretch and fold

12:15 4th stretch and fold (optional, based upon the strength of your dough, etc.)

2:00: Preshape

  • Ease out of the container onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into two portions (you can eye-ball it, but as a chemistry grad I weigh the container and dough, then scale the divided dough into very equal portions...I drive my wife crazy).
  • Shape into a boule and cover (I use two large metal bowls, but you can use oiled plastic wrap or a bakers cloth).

2:30 Final shaping

  • Tighten up the boules
  • Place into bannetons. I used lightly floured kitchen linens to ensure the dough does not stick to the basket
  • Put baskets into plastic bags and put into the fridge

Day 3: Baking

  • Place Dutch ovens on oven.  I have one stainless steel, and one cast iron combo-cooker on the middle rack. On the bottom rack I place two cookie sheets to reduce the radiant heating on the bottom of the Dutch ovens.
  • Pre-heat oven to 475F.  .  It takes about an hour for my oven to reach operating temp.  If I have advanced the schedule, I'll delay start the oven so it is heated when I awake. This way I can pop the dough in the oven and take the bread to work!
  • Take the dough from the fridge and remove from bags. I have round pieces of parchment that I place on top of the dough (still in the basket).
  • Take the Dutch ovens out of the oven, and place over the baskets.Slide the Dutch oven to the edge of the counter (mine are marble), and hold the basket; lift the basket fully into the Dutch oven and invert.
  • Grab the corners of the cloth, and gently lift out the cloth and basket from the Dutch oven.
  • Score the loaves.
  • Cover and place into the oven.
  • Reduce heat to 450F.
  • Uncover after 20 minutes.
  • You can leave the loaves in the Dutch oven for the rest of the bake, but I prefer to remove the loaves after 10 minutes and place directly on the rack to expose the entire loaf.
  • 20 minutes after taking the lid off, test the loaves.  I test with an instant read thermometer inserted though the bottom of the loaf, and I target a minimum temperature of 205F.
  • Once done, place on cooling rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Enjoy!

 

 

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