breadsong's blog

Hello everyone,
Farine featured Luminita Cirstea in a 'Meet the Baker' post on her website.
Ms. Cirstea's courage, hard work, commitment and talent are so inspiring!
I so wanted to try making Ms. Cirstea's delicious-looking (and prize-winning!) Raisin-Rye bread.
With thanks to Farine for writing about Ms. Cirstea, and thanks to Ms. Cirstea for her efforts to develop this formula!

(Rye bread is new territory for me - I found lots of helpful information here on TFL posted by Andy, breadbakingbassplayer, dmsnyder, Elagins & Mini (thanks! to all)).

Here's a picture of the raisins (so pretty!):


After baking, my bread resembles a Mexican Chocolate Crackle cookie I recently baked: 

                               Raisin-rye bread                             ... or...                               Cookie?  :^)    
  

Crumb shot (I love the flavor, and the golden raisins that light up the crumb; a lovely reminder of Luminita and her beautiful first name!):



 

For one 1000g loaf (my interpretation of Ms. Cirstea's formula):

 

	Liquid Levain	Levain	Dough	Total	Baker's %
Bread flour	59			59	16%
Rye flour, whole	3	149	150	302	84%
Rye meal, coarse			50	50	14%
Water	62	100	179	341	83%
Salt		2	7.3	9.3	2.3%
Starter	25			25
Liquid Levain		149
Levain			400
Dark Raisins			107	107
Golden Raisins			107	107
Total	149	400	1000	1000

 

(1) Raise Liquid Levain, 12 hours at room temperature.

Cover raisins with cold water, soak 10 minutes, drain, keep overnight in covered container.

(2) Mix Levain, speed 1 for 4 minutes. Bulk Ferment 90 minutes.

(3) Add all dough ingredients. Mix 5 minutes medium speed.

Add soaked raisins, mix low speed just until incorporated.

Bulk ferment 90 minutes.

Dust baskets heavily with rye flour.

Scale by dipping your hands in warm water. This dough is very wet.

Allow to proof, room temperature, 30-40 minutes.

No scoring.

Steam heavily; vent after 5 minutes.

Bake 480F for 45 minutes.

I'm including some pictures taken during fermentation (not sure if I did a proper job or not!).

The second Levain was to bulk ferment for 90 minutes.
Here is what it looked like at that point (I was unsure if it showed evidence of enough fermentation):
 

I proceeded with mixing by hand after the 90-minute bulk ferment, substituting an equal weight of whole-rye flour for the rye meal.
After the mix, the dough temperature was 73F:
 


I thought the dough was on the cool side heading into bulk fermentation (Mr. Hamelman recommends in the low 80's for a dough of this type).
The dough was to bulk ferment for 90 minutes but I let it go two hours, and tried to warm the dough by raising the temperature in the proof box.
After 1 hour of bulk fermentation, the dough's temperature had increased to 78F; after the second hour of bulk fermentation, the dough's temperature had increased to 88F).
Through the plastic container, I could see little air bubbles forming. The appearance of the dough after bulk fermentation:
 

The dough was quite sticky, so I didn't take a picture of the shaped loaf (my hands at that point were absolutely covered in rye paste!).
The dough after 40 minutes of proofing (some cracks starting to appear):
  


I baked at 480F for the full 45 minutes and left the loaf in for 10 more minutes with the oven off and door ajar. 

The loaf sat for 16 hours before slicing. It's a really crusty loaf but the crumb is moist and tender.
We enjoyed a beautiful breakfast this morning, thanks to this bread - the flavor is wonderful!

Happy Baking everyone! from breadsong

        

 

Hello, I was poking around the pastryna.com website, where they make available back issues of their magazine.
I was delighted to find an article written by my SFBI Weekend Baguette class instructor, Frank Sally, on baking with Teff (in a WFO):
http://www.pastryna.com/DigitalEdition/Digital_NA_10_1.html (The SFBI Teff Miche article starts on page 26).
(David, if you're out there, this one's for you!)

I wrote Frank and asked permission to post the formula here, and he agreed and kindly offered a modified version which I tried baking this weekend.
With so many thanks to Frank Sally and SFBI!!!

I used Bob's Red Mill Whole-Grain Teff flour; that website notes "Whole Grain Teff (Tef, T'ef) an ancient North African cereal grass, is a nutritional powerhouse. It is the smallest grain in the world (about 100 grains are the size of a kernel of wheat!). The germ and bran, where the nutrients are concentrated, account for a larger volume of the seed compared to more familiar grains."

I tried to create "cereal grass" with the scoring:


 

*Added to post: As a result of Larry's question below, I went back to the pastryna.com article to re-check the baker's percentages.
In the article, in the formula for the Teff levain, the baker's percentages for Starter and Teff flour were switched.
I am embarassed to say I failed to notice this as I blithely went along, entering the information for calculation in my spreadsheet.
Here is the bread as I made it (and the formula restated below, as it was intended to be made!):

SFBI Teff Miche				1500	Desired Dough Weight in grams       <----
	From pastryna.com 2010.1
	Baker's Percentages			Weights				Baker's
Ingredients	Dough	Starter	Teff Levain	Dough	Starter	Teff Levain	Total	%
Bread flour	1	1		688	76		764	98%
Teff flour			0.1			18	18	2%
Water, boiling (65%)			0.52			94	94
Water, 70F (35%)	0.65	1	0.28	448	76	51	575	85.55%
Salt	0.027			18.6			18.6	2.38%
Sourdough Starter		0.4			30		30	3.84%
Starter			1			182
Teff Levain	0.5			345
Total	2.177	2.4	1.9	1500	182	345	1500
		(1)	(2)

Restated formula (1500g loaf):
 

	Starter	Teff Levain	Dough	Total
Bread flour	7.5		688	696
Teff flour		182		182
Water, boiling		94		94
Water	7.5	51	488	507
Salt			18.6	18.6
Sourdough Starter	3	18		21
Starter
Teff Levain			345
Total	18	345	1500	1500

 

(1) Starter: Mix to 70F, ferment 12 hours.

(2) Teff Levain: Pour 65% of water, as boiling water, over teff flour & mix to make mash. Cool to 70F. Add remaining 35% 70F water.

When mixture is at 70F, mix in Starter. Ferment at 65-70F for 12 hours. (My Teff levain was starting to recede after 7.5 hours; I carried on with the mix at that point).

 

(3) Dough: Place flour, water, salt in bowl. Mix to very strong improved mix, medium soft consistency.

Mix in teff levain until incorporated.

Bulk ferment 1.5 hours with 2 evenly-spaced SF's. (I let the dough ferment for an extra ½ hour).

At end of BF, dough will be very sticky and full of gas.

Divide into 1.5kg pieces. Bench rest 20-30 minutes. The dough will become loose and flat.

Flour proofing basket with rice flour. Shape and retard 12-15 hours.

Brush off rice flour, score for even expansion, bake with steam 500F 25 minutes, then additional 35 min. (I found in my oven, that I had to bake in a reducing oven to so the loaf wouldn't get too dark. After 20 minutes, I reduced to 460F, then to 440F after another 20 minutes for the remainder of the bake).

This was a very wet, sticky dough and the stretch and folds did wonders (dough just after mixing, then just after the final shape):


The scored loaf, then the result in the oven:



The loaf is cooling now, and crackles are starting to appear. The most wonderful aroma has filled the kitchen. I want to let the loaf cool a good long while, but I can't wait to taste it & see how the crumb turned out!!!
from breadsong

Submitted to Yeastspotting!

Hello,  I wanted to try making Apple Bread again, after seeing Larry's recent Odds and Ends post (thank you Larry) (and because I was able to find Honeycrisp apples at the market!).



I made this bread combining elements of Mr. Hamelman's Normandy Apple Bread, and Mr. Kastel's Apple Bread. With many thanks to Mr. Hamelman and Mr. Kastel!
I wanted to try mixing the final dough without water, to try and get as much apple flavor as possible in the bread
(apple cider, applesauce, and sour cream stand in for the water).

Apple Bread			2000	Desired Dough Weight in grams       <----
	Baker's Percentages		Weights			Baker's
Ingredients	Dough	Stiff Levain	Dough	Stiff Levain	Total	%
Bread flour	0.9	1	738	159	897	92%
Red Fife 75% whole-wheat	0.1		82		82	8%
Water		0.6		96	96	9.8%
Apple cider (60g+80g+270g)	0.50		410		410	41.9%
Applesauce (Transparent apples)	0.17		137		137	7.0%	est 50% water
Sour cream 14%BF	0.19		158		158	11.5%	est 71.5% water
Osmotolerant instant yeast	0.01		4.00		4	0.4%
Salt	0.023		18.79		19	1.9%
Sourdough Starter		0.20		32	32
Stiff Levain	0.35		287
Dried apples (Honeycrisp)	0.2		165		165
Total	2.438	1.8	2000	287	2000

Mix levain, ferment 12 hours at room temperature (70-72F,until doubled).

Pour a couple of Tablespoons of liquid (more cider, or a liqueur, brandy, or?) over dried apples to rehydrate them a bit. Set aside.

Hold back 60g apple cider.

Blend sour cream and 80g apple cider. Gradually warm in microwave.

If applesauce is really chunky, break it up a bit (I used a pastry blender to do this).

Blend applesauce and 270g apple cider. Gradually warm in microwave.

Blend sour cream and applesauce mixtures. Test temperature (95F).

Blend in stiff levain, whisk until smooth.

In separate bowl, combine flours and yeast. Add liquids to flours and yeast. Mix to combine, then mix in salt.

Work dough to improved mix.

Warm remaining cider to 90F, add to dough and mix in.

Warm dried apples if they are cool; I gently warmed them 15 seconds in microwave.

Spread dough out on counter, sprinkle dried apples over, jelly roll and knead until dried apple is well distributed.

Bulk Ferment, 80F, for 3 to 3.5 hours; stretch and fold at 1 and again at 2 hours.

Divide, preshape, rest 20 minutes, shape, retard overnight in fridge, preheat oven to 460F, bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 425F, bake until done (depending on loaf size). Tent bread with foil while baking if it's browning too quickly.

 

I made two different batches. I learned from the first batch:
- I used way too much yeast (BP 1%). The dough fermented too quickly! I reduced to .4% BP in the second batch.
- I found the dough a bit stiff after mixing and didn't do a great job mixing in the dried apple (uneven distribution of apple shows up in the crumb shots below, from two different loaves). For the second batch, I tried double-hydration, to get some gluten and then soften the dough with the addition of a second amount of liquid. The dough was easier to spread out, I was able to "jelly-roll" the apple pieces and knead them in much more easily.
- Not moistening the dried apples before adding, I think caused them to pull water out of the dough during bulk fermentation; the dough seemed dry and I found it harder to shape. I splashed a bit of extra cider over the dried apples for the second batch and this helped.
- Transparent apple applesauce contributed great flavor to this bread. Had enough left over to make a second batch. :^)
- A sweeter sparkling apple juice didn't translate to a better tasting bread, to my taste; in the second batch, I used apple cider which was not as sweet and I liked the flavor of the bread better:

These were from the first batch (the "P" is for Pomme, a nod to Normandy!).
The kitchen smelled like extremely apple-y after the bake!!!:


Here is a picture of a loaf from the second batch (trying for apple branches and leaves with the scoring):



In drying the apples, I was curious what the yield would be.
For the second batch, 5 apples = 1200 g weight, then 860g after peeling, coring, dicing, then 165g after drying (the apple flavor concentrated quite well, and yummy caramelization happening here and there!):


While dicing the apple, I tossed the pieces with lemon juice so they wouldn't brown too quickly before making it into the oven.
I dried the apples on two baking sheets, in a reducing oven:
380F convection for 10 minutes, stir, (at 10 minutes, the smell of baking apple starts to fill the kitchen!)
380F convection for 10 minutes, stir
320F convection for 10 minutes, stir
275F convection for 15 minutes, check to see how they're drying
275F convection for 10 more minutes

 

I really loved the flavor of the bread in both batches, but in the second batch the bread had a bit more tang that complemented the sweetness of the apples.  The crumb is nice and soft. In the end, I got the apple flavor I hoped for!

Happy baking everyone! from breadsong

 

 

 

Hello,

Many thanks to Daisy_A for her wonderful posts:
Sourdough Wholemeal Lemon Bread, and Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies!

I wanted to bring some flavors to the table that remind me of sunny places, as it's been rainy and wet where I live for quite awhile. Daisy_A's recipes seemed perfect and lovely to share with our dinner guests.

Here is the bread (made 4 loaves; two are pictured).
I added the zest of 5 lemons to Daisy_A's formula and the bread had a really nice lemon flavor.
My lemon-loaf-shaping was not as successful as I'd hoped for, and unfortunately couldn't give the bread as much fermentation time as I would have wanted - was a bit short on time yesterday and pulled these out of the oven just as our guest arrived!:



For dessert, I assembled Mexican ingredients from my pantry to make Daisy_A's amazing Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies. What a truly special cookie! I followed Daisy_A's suggestion to add orange, cinnamon and vanilla flavors, and wow, all I can say is I think this is the most delicious cookie I have ever tasted!!!  

Here are some of the ingredients. The piloncillo sugar is a Mexican cone sugar I purchased for making cafe de olla. Thanks to ehanner for his excellent inquiry about other ways to use this sugar (his post is here); I took his suggestion and used the sugar in these cookies - bravo, Eric!
I had some Mexican Ibarra chocolate and Mexican vanilla - I was pretty happy to have these ingredients on hand for this cookie bake! 



 

Daisy_A's Mexican Chocolate Crackle Biscuits (adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking), with orange and vanilla flavors; makes about 30 biscuits, 22grams each
(I doubled Daisy_A's quantities, to make enough cookies to give some to our guests as a gift to take home with them)

90g sliced almonds, lightly toasted and cooled
100g all-purpose flour
100g Piloncillo sugar, broken up into small pieces with a chocolate chipper

I whirled all of this around in the food processor, trying for a fine grind. The sugar didn't incorporate as finely as I would have liked; I sifted and whirled the larger bits around again until it was finer. Next time, I may chop the sugar even more finely by knife before processing.

To these ingredients I whisked in:
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Canela Molida) (equal to Daisy_A's original amount, and not doubled, as the Ibarra chocolate also had cinnamon flavor)
1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder 
1/16 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I actually forgot to add this - so much for mis en place!)

The dry ingredients were set aside while the chocolate mixture was prepared.




In a double boiler over two inches of simmering water, stirred and melted:

40g unsalted butter
4 teaspoons Kahlua liqueur
2 discs (3.1 oz each) Ibarra Mexican chocolate, broken up into pieces with a chocolate chipper

(Didn't this smell heavenly as it was melting down!)
When smooth and glossy, the mixture was set aside to cool a bit. Once cooled, I whisked into the chocolate mixture:

20g very finely diced candied organic orange peel
3/4 tsp Mexican vanilla

In a separate bowl, I whipped 2 large eggs until lemon-colored and thickened.
The eggs were folded into the chocolate mixture, then the dry ingredients were folded into the chocolate mixture.
The mixture was chilled for 2-1/2 hours before forming the cookies. By the time I was finishing forming the cookies, the mixture was getting soft; next time, making this quantity, I may chill the mixture in two separate batches so one half can stay chilled while forming the first half.
I used a small ice-cream scoop to portion the cookies and they ended up weighing 22g each.

I rolled each portion into a ball then rolled each ball in icing sugar. The cookies were baked on a perforated baking sheet at 320F convection for 15 minutes:


These were so lovely to enjoy with after-dinner coffee!!! They came out of the oven at 2pm and they had several hours for the flavors to blend and develop by dessert time. So very yummy!

Thank you, Daisy_A, for a great introduction to Jan Hedh with this bread, and for your pretty, tasty little cookies.
From breadsong







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello,

I've been watching shaping videos, including brand a new one! from Mark at The Back Home Bakery, thanks to freerk's recent post (please see his post here...) and everyone who responded! And many thanks to Mark and those who take the time to make these videos; they are such a great resource.

There was nothing to do except get my hands in some dough!

My husband had a craving for a simple white bread, so I made a batch of Mr. Hamelman's Toast Bread (I snuck in 3% of my Red Fife whole wheat flour for some extra flavor). I made 1.5 times the recipe so I would have a little extra to practice shaping with. 
This quantity made a pullman loaf, a small batard, and two different sizes of couronne bordelaise:


I shaped the small batard trying to use Mark's technique he just posted.
I shaped the couronnes using 1.5 ounce boules for the small one (proofed in a plastic wicker basket), and 2 ounce boules for the bigger one.
I rolled the dough circle for the small couronne a bit thicker, and am happier with the result after baking.






I gave my firebricks (I use these in place of a baking stone) a rest today, and was happy with how the bread baked and rose in the oven in the absence of using a stone. The loaves were nice and crackly too, after baking.

Still having some candied orange peel left over from Christmas baking, I made Gibassier (Ciril Hitz's beautiful recipe).
This is an orange and anise-flavored enriched dough, and the flavor is absolutely-out-of-this-world!!!
I am so glad I made these!:





SylviaH made these too; I found her post today - please see here.
I think she did a much nicer job than I!

Happy baking everyone! from breadsong

 

Hello, This is my first attempt at making a miche, substituting a 13% spring wheat bread flour and a 75%-sifted Red Fife whole-wheat flour for the high-extraction flour called for in the formula.

Here is the result (springy! wasn't expecting that):


 mmm mmm good - we love the flavor!

Franko kindly sent me this link, which explained how to approximate high-extraction flour (thank you Franko!):
http://hamelmanchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/06/tech-note-high-extraction-flour.html
The calculation in the above link returned a 53% bread/47% whole-wheat substitution for the high-extraction flour.
This is factored into the baker's percentages I used, with the baker's percentages per the original formula listed below for comparison, in this table:

From SUAS. Advanced Bread and Pastry, 1E. © 2009 Delmar Learning, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions

AB&P Miche				Final Dough weight in grams
				1000
	Baker's Percentages			Weights				Baker's
	Dough	1st Levain	Final Levain	Dough	1st Levain	Final Levain	Total	%
Bread flour	0.706	0.53	0.53	205	24	136	365
Red Fife 75% whole-wheat flour	0.094	0.47	0.47	27	21	121	169
Medium rye flour	0.2			58			58
Water	0.1	1.2	1.2	29	54	308	391	66.0%
Salt	0.038	0.006	0.006	11.00	0.27	1.54	12.81	2.2%
Starter (stiff)		0.1			4		4
1st Levain			0.4			103
Final Levain	2.306			670
Totals	3.444	2.306	2.606	1000	103	670	1000
Original formula:
High-extraction flour	0.2	1.0	1.0	58	45	257	360
Bread flour	0.6			174			174
Medium rye flour	0.2			58			58

The first levain fermented for 16 hours, and the final levain for 7 (instead of the recommended 8 hours), but the final levain was starting to recede at 7 hours so I proceeded with the mix. I dissolved coarse gray Brittany salt in some of the water and added at the beginning of the mix and did not let the dough autolyse.

*Added to original post: The first levain and final levain didn't double during fermentation - perhaps only a 75% rise;
I am assuming because these levains are both salted and the salt slowed them down. I am used to seeing my starter/levains doubling after feeding/refreshing.
I was worried that maybe my levain for this bread might not be active enough so I threw in 3g of diastatic malt at the last minute when mixing, hoping this would help the dough through its long process. I'm not sure how much of an impact this may have had on the outcome.*

This dough was only supposed to bulk ferment for 15 minutes - there is a high percentage of preferment - I was curious about trying this formula as it's different from others I've tried. 
After the mix, my dough was a bit cool (72F instead of 75F to 78F as recommended) so I let it bulk ferment for a bit longer, a little longer than half an hour. Preshaped, rested boule 20 minutes, shaped and retarded in fridge for 12 hours.
I proofed the boule at 80F for one hour and 15 minutes prior to baking. The oven was preheated to 500F, reduced to 460F after loading and steaming, then reduced to 440F after 10 minutes. Total bake time was 38 minutes; left boule in oven with door ajar for 10 minutes.

This is a tasty miche and I'm glad to have tried it.
Happy baking everyone! from breadsong

Hello, What a pleasure to discover farine-mc's post on her blog about Noah Elbers and his talented group of bakers, and this bread.
Thank you Farine!!! (Farine-mc's post is here: http://www.farine-mc.com/2011/01/noah-elbers-maple-oatmeal-bread.html - great information on how to make this bread, and video from Mr. Elbers' bakery, too!)

This oatmeal bread is made with cooked steel-cut oats, maple syrup, levain and a poolish. I had to try it!:



These are the weights I used (to make two loaves, 680g each)
(My baker's percentages may not correspond exactly to farine-mc's percentages;
I keep my starter at 100% hydration):

Noah Elbers' Maple-Oatmeal Bread				1360	Desired Dough Weight in grams       <----
	From farine-mc.com
	Baker's Percentages			Weights				Baker's
Ingredients	Dough	Levain	Poolish	Dough	Levain	Poolish	Total	%
Bread flour	0.75	0.2	0.9	438	23	53	514	76%
WW flour	0.25	0.05	0.1	146	6	6	158	24%
Steel-cut oats, cooked	0.2			117			117
Water	0.54	0.25	1	316	29	58	403
Maple Syrup	0.16			94			94	75.05%
Yeast instant			0.004			0.2	0.2	0.03%
Salt	0.0264			15.43			15.43	2.30%
Sourdough Starter		0.5			59		59
Levain	0.2			117
Poolish	0.2			117
Total	2.3264	1	2.004	1360	117	117	1361

Here's the crumb shot (this bread has a gorgeous flavor, very moist crumb, and a slight sweetness, not definable as maple but still very good):

Happy baking everyone! from breadsong

Hello, With many thanks to Franko for sourcing this wonderful Red Fife flour for me (so very kind)!
I've now the luxury of baking with this heritage, organic, stone-ground, 75% sifted whole-wheat from True Grain Mill, and I am very grateful.

These breads were made using Mr. Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Whole-Wheat (Red Fife) Flour, as Franko had done.
Franko really did a beautiful job on his bread; his post is here.

The Red Fife is a lovely, top-notch flour to work with, and my husband and I were very happy with crust, crumb and flavor it produced in this bread.
We cut into the small loaf, trying to wait a decent amount of time to let it cool off!
The dough was retarded in the fridge for 20 hours before baking.
I included a picture of the Red Fife flour below (on left side of plate; my other stone-ground whole-wheat flour on the right side of plate, for comparison).







Happy New Year everyone! from breadsong

Hello, I am taking a trip down memory lane in trying to make this sourdough rye with walnuts.
I got to taste a rye bread with walnuts, made by Mr. Hamelman, at the IBIE show in Vegas in September.
His bread was absolutely delicious!!! I'm afraid I'd never had the pleasure of tasting good rye bread prior to tasting his.
Using his formula, I hoped to re-create the flavor here at home. I just tasted a tiny slice and although my bread could never match his, it is good and tangy, and I love the walnut flavor in this loaf.

I did two things differently from the formula/instructions...I added 15g of vital wheat gluten to the mix to try and strengthen the dough, to compensate for the 50% rye; and for some unknown reason, thought I had to proof the loaves seam side up (consequently scoring after proofing, not before proofing).  Also, running behind schedule this a.m., I just caught the sourdough as it was starting to deflate and am not sure if that had an impact on how this bread turned out.  Having never baked with 50% rye before, I didn't know if I should be expecting any oven spring or not, but I didn't get any.

Here are my pictures: First loaf, no blowout; second loaf, side blowout; and a crumb shot

 

Here's Mr. Hamelman's bread from the IBIE show (demonstrating what this bread actually should look like!):

I will definitely try this bread again, maybe at 40% rye overall and see how it goes.
Regards, breadsong

 

 

 

Hello, These loaves are to bring to a New Year's potluck (no crumb shot...although the bread smells so good I'd dearly love to cut into one so I can taste it!).

Inspired by louie brown's Olive Leaf scoring to evoke the olives in his bread, I tried to score little garlic bulbs on the tops of my loaves.
They turned out looking more like strange, animal paw prints...!   :^)

This dough fermented beautifully - I hope there will be a nice crumb once it's cut & that everyone likes it!
Happy New Year! from breadsong