dabrownman's blog

After seeing Ian’s post using buttermilk and Greek yogurt I just couldn’t resist taking one of our normal multigrain breads and having a go at it to see what the taste difference would result.  Plus Lucy is always one to try new and interesting things in bread so that she can DaPumperize them later.

We had made a huge batch of Greek yogurt earlier in the week and was just going to go with that as an add it but noticed the buttermilk was still unopened even if 3 months out of date.  My reasoning was that since buttermilk is sour already, how much more sour would it be and if baking it to 205 F on the inside what could live through that?  The buttermilk smelled fine but was much thicker than usual. 

We used 10 g each of our WW and rye starters to build the levain.  One hour after the 3rd feeding we refrigerated it for 48 hours to bring out the sour.  When we removed the levain from the fridge so it could finish its doubling in volume we started the autolyse of everything else, including the ground flax and sesame seeds, except the sprouts, pumpkin seeds and aromatic bread spices consisting of caraway, fennel, anise and coriander.

This week we ran out of everything so had to make a batch of Toadies and some barley and rye sprouts to make red and white malts out of later today after their 5 days of sprouting.  We pinched off 50 g of these wet sprouts for this bread yesterday.  

All the whole grains were in the levain and we added some potato flakes, semolina and corn flour to the AP in the dough flours.  The whole grains came in at slightly less than 25 % but when including the Toadies and sprouts this shoots up to over 40%.  Toadies are sifted middlings, wheat bran, oat bran and wheat germ that is toasted until golden brown and then reground.

My Greek yogurt is much thicker than the ones in the stores and the buttermilk was very thick so I had to guess at what the hydration was for those items and constructed the formula to have it come out like it felt while doing the slap and folds   It felt like around   75% hydration dough after 12 minutes of slap and folds.

We also did 3 sets of S& F’s on 15 minute intervals and incorporated the sprouts and aromatic seeds on the first set and the pumpkin seeds on the 2nd set.  By the 3rd set the add ins were evenly distributed.  We gave the dough a 15 minute rest and then shaped it into an oval and dropped it into an oval basket and immediately refrigerated it for 21 hours.

It rose about 70% in the fridge during retard and we let it come to room temperature and final proof fro 2 hours before being scored and baked in the mini oven with 2 of Sylvia’s steaming Pyrex cups which were heated to boiling in the microwave. 

The mini was heated to 500 F and the bread was un-molded onto parchment on a peel.  The bread was transferred to the mini oven’s broiler pan vented top, the 2 steaming cups added and the whole assembly was loaded into the mini oven.

After 3 minutes we turned the temperature down to 475 F since we know the oven reads 25 F higher than actual temperature.   After 12 more minutes of steamed baking we removed the cups and continued to bake lowering the temperature to 425 F - convection this time.  In 20 more minutes of rotating the bread 90 degrees every 5 minutes, the bread was deemed done when it reached 205 F on the inside.

It sprang fairly well in the oven and smelled wonderful with those aromatic seeds.  It browned nicely too - but no big blisters that the mini oven is so famous for –just small ones.  he crumb was soft and moist and the crust stayed crunchy shattering when cut.  You can definitely taste the tang of the Greek Yogurt and the buttermilk.  Our bread is usually tangy but this is a whole new and different kind if tang,  You can also taste the aromatic seeds in the background.  It was great toasted with butter and as a lunch sandwich.  I think I like the version using yogurt whey as the liquid better though.  Never really made a bread with Greek yogurt nad buttermilk before,nor have tasted one till now.  Glad I did and thanks Ian for the inspiration.

Formula

After our last crack at buns that was a ADY poolish / YW version found here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33585/yw-poolish-hot-dog-buns

we decided to try a YW version only that also included a Tang Zhong portion of flour with the intent of further softening the crumb.

We also made some other changes by upping the hydration from 65% to 78% which was probably a little….eeeeerrrr…..a lot too much with the tang zhong and we got rid of the dry add ins; VWG, Toadies, white malt and the honey.  We made them smaller in length this time; 4 at 102 g each and the 2 longer ones were 131 g

The result was a bun that spread rather than springing like the last batch.  For some reason it didn’t color up as well even though it was egg washed and baked exactly the same as last time.  I’m guessing they won’t taste as good either since there were no toadies present but we shall see when we eat them for dinner

 Don’t forget to brush the buns with milk when they come out of the oven to keep them soft. We have Hot Italian sausage that require a larger bun length, white Brats, Boudin, and smoked sausage on tap for the filling with the usual Chicago pickled red onion, poblano and jalapeno peppers and home made Dijon mustard.

The crumb turned out as we expected.  No mustard will fall through it.  It took 20 minutes of slap and folds to get this dough to come together so… high hydration does not mean big holes every time.   We only fermented the dough for 45 minutes on the counter after 3 sets of S& F’s.  It also final proofed for 2 hours which probably wasn’t enough but…. we needed buns for dinner.

 The crumb came out like we thought it would, not so open the mustard would fall through.  Soft and moist and after the meat and the buns were grilled we plastic wrapped the meat in the buns so they could be steamed soft from the hot meat,  Delicious!  The pickled onion, poblano and jalapeno was the perfect topper.  We liked these buns and they turned out better than we thought they would.

Formula

20 g of dough flour was used for the Tang Zhong but 80 g of water was not included in the hydration calculations.

We’ve been working on an everyday white bread that has at least 25% whole grain flour.  This bread would need a soaker, scald or sprouted whole grain berries inside it to give the crumb some chew.  It would need some potato and oat in the mix since we love what they do for the rise. 

It would need to include some ground flax, sesame seeds and Toadies to give the crumb some healthy flecks of color and more flavor.  Including the Toadies we would want the bread to be over 40% whole grains

This bread is a variation of that theme using yogurt whey water for the majority of the dough liquid to give the already tangy SD even more pucker.  We went all out to get sour out of this bread by using a week old refrigerated 66% hydration, 50-50 mix, totaling 20 g, of our whole grain rye and whole wheat SD starters.

The levain was also retarded for 24 hours - 1 hour after the 3rd build feeding to enhance the sour of the levain.  All of the whole grain flours were in the levain to allow them the most time to be wet and get soft.

We simmered the scald for 20 minutes before allowing it to sit undisturbed on the counter for 6 hours.  The autolyse was 2 hours in length and included everything except the levain and the scald.   Once the autolyse met the levain it was at 77% hydration.  we did 10 minutes of slap and folds and 3 sets of S&F’s 20 minutes apart. 

We incorporated the large whole berry scald in the first set of S& F’s.  After completion of the last S&F, we allowed the dough to ferment on the counter in an oiled bowl for 30 minutes before going into the fridge for a 16 hour retard.

It more than doubled in the fridge.  After 15 minutes of warm up the next morning, we shaped the dough into a boule and put it into a lightly rice floured basket to final proof inside a used trash can liner.  After 1 ½ hours of final proof we fired up Big Old Betsy to 500 F.  This loaf was too big for the mini oven.

Once the oven hit 350 F we put (2) of Sylvia’s steaming pans and (1) 12” CI skillet full of lava rocks into the bottom of the oven to supply mega steam.   After Betsy said she was at temperature, we waited 15 more minutes to allow the top and bottom stone to get to temperature.

 We un-molded the bread from the basket onto a peel covered in parchment.  We slashed the boule T-Rex style with a pairing knife and slid it onto the bottom stone.  We turned the oven down to 450 F after 3 minutes and continued to steam for another 12 minutes.

At that point the steam came out and we turned the oven down to 425 F, convection.  After rotating the bread every 5 minutes 90 degrees on the stone to promote even browning, in 20 more minutes the bread was 203 F on the inside when we turned off the oven.  Baking time was 35 minutes total.  When the bread hit 205 F we cracked open the oven door and let the bread sit on the stone to crisp the crust for another 5 minutes.  The boule eventually hit  207 F after the 5 minute crisp and then we removed it to a cooling rack.

It browned up, sprang and bloomed nicely.  It s a quite handsome boule - if there is such a thing.  It sure smelled earthy and deliciously wheaty coming out of the oven and it had that tinge of semolina color on the crust.  No blisters but it wasn’t baked in the min oven either where blisters are common.

The crumb turned out as expected; open ,soft and moist with some gloss.  No one will ever ask "is this a sourdough bread?'  They will know it is a SD without question.  This is the kind of pucker we look for and hope it only gets better tomorrow.  Our most distinctly sour breads come from this metho of handling starter, levain and dough retarding  processes and using yogurt whey water for half the dough liquid.  This bread is the one you want for you everyday sourdough sandwich bread.  It is delicious, hearty, healthy and satisfying.

Breakfast  and lunch on bake day.  White DaPumpernickel for breakfast and this everyday bread for lunch.

Formula

And then, latter on, things went to hell in a hand basket in an instant.  It is getting to the point where even my apprentice doesn’t have a clue anymore.  She never had one in the first place, so she has an excuse and has plausible deniability…. unlike some others, like me.  But, some are still blameless because we were nearly almost close enough to call it that….. if you are not paying attention while  reading this ….which could be easy enough on your part.

It all started last Saturday, the day before Father’s Day, when we decided to have Sunday Gravy on the wrong day.   We were out of a lot of home made stuff that needed replenishing but decided to blow them off in favor of some fine Sunday Gravy on Saturday thinking  a it a better thing to do ….on the wrong day.

The Ezekiel bread was a odd choice.

The gravy went well and turned out tasty even though we only had hot Italian sausage and some pork chops that we flattened out and stuffed with cheeses, herbs and sausage and then rolled up into larger tied sausages that we browned in a pan.  The tomato sauce came out tasty too, just the way we like it, spicy and dark with the crushed red pepper, chicken stock, mushrooms, onions, Cabernet and Swiss chard.

So Fathers Day was set to make or finish making all the stuff we out of like kosher dill, bread and butter and Indian eggplant pickles, apricot jam, prickly pear jam and 3 bottles of arancello that had been sitting on skins since January.  The prickly pear and arancello are two main ingredients in a fine margarita we like …..so they so they went first.  Everything turned out just great.

Yesterday, I decided to make pizza for dinner, using the left over gravy for sauce,  and wanted to try a new crust recipe that didn’t require any retarding of the dough but used yeast water form the liquid, a pinch each of desem and rye SD starters and a pinch of ADY for a poolish all mixed into one combo levain.

We decided to do a 2 stage build starting at 10 AM hoping it would be ready with pizza hitting the stone at 6.45 PM.   We used 2 hours for both builds since all the starters can double in 3 hours in the summer.  By 2 PM the levain was mixed with the rest of the ingredients that had been autolysed for an hour.

We were looking forward to this dough since it was 32% whole multigrain with toadies for the first time.  All the whole grains were packed into the levain.  This dough also had almost 30% semolina in it too making it a little more Italian.

We did 10 minutes of slap and folds and 3 sets of S&F’s 15 minutes apart.  The home made sun dried tomato, garlic and rosemary were incorporated during the first S&F. The dough came together beautifully and was ready to go after 3 hours of proofing on the counter.  It smelled terrific.

The 3 hour proof gave us all kinds of time to make the pizza fixings.  Hot Italian sausage was browned first followed by caramelized; onions, mushrooms, poblano, hatch, jalapeno and green chilies that were browned in the same pan in succession.

We chopped up some basil, olives red peppers, green and red onion, made the mojo de ajo, grated the cheeses and found the pepperoni in the freezer.  We even had time to make a nice salad - something we never do on a pizza night.

Instead of making 2 smaller pizzas I decided to make one larger one and this is where things starter going wrong.  The crust formed perfectly, extensible yet strong but it was too big for the peel.

After hand forming I had rolled out the middle with my new, mini, black and green, alligator rolling pin found at Goodwill just for this purpose - it worked beautifully.  I covered it in mojo de ajo, docked it and prepared to par bake the crust for 3 minutes as we always do – but this was a don’t.

When I went to slide it onto the stone the front hung upon the peel sticking badly and back slid quite freely making the most beautiful, brown, 3” high ribbon candy that stone had ever seen.  Just perfect if one was making ribbon candy in a 500F oven on a pizza stone,

I immediately looked at my apprentice who muttered ‘Was für ein dummer Idiot’ under her growl while wisely running out of the kitchen as fast as she could.  I grabbed the dough off the 500 F stone no longer than 5-7 seconds after it landed - but that was plenty enough time to really change it into a different kind of pizza dough.

After reforming it as best we could it didn’t really have a discernable raised edge, was twice as thick as usual and was about 3 “ less in diameter than the original but it did barely fit the stone. We par baked the blob for a minute longer than usual, 4 minutes due to its thickness.  Then we loaded it up, no pepperoni or olives for my wife and no olives for the daughter and baked it for 8 more minutes - 3 minutes longer than normal in the top and bottom stone set up.

It wasn’t a complete disaster, and I can prove it.   For those who have grown used to near perfect pizza and having it for so long, this was quite a letdown.  The crust was nicely brown on the top and bottom, crispy and very tasty but …..not at all close to being right either.  No one said this was the best pizza or pizza crust ever but, the proof that it wasn’t a total disaster is that the pizza is gone and no one touched the salad.

Can’t wait to make this crust again and see what it is really like when not final shaped into ribbon candy and scorched on a blazing hot pizza stone while loading.  The one thing I learned is that Sunday Gravy made on Saturday for a Monday pizza sauce is the way to go every time.

My wife pinched off a little bit of the salad this morning for her bag lunch sandwich.

Formula

We are down to baking bread on Friday’s only now and outside in the mini oven at that until the amount of bread in the freezer disappears and the temperature gets below 90 F - sometime in late September.  We went with a more simple multigrain formula this time with 6 of them in the levain only.

We ended up at 40% whole grains if you discount the whole grain sprouts and the effect the toadies would have it they weren’t separated out of whole grains for a separate toast.  Including the toadies and sprouts we would be at 60% whole grains – 50% just with the sprouts.

We used 2 dough flours AP and semolina – the left over from Golden Temple Durum Atta where we had previously sifted out the atta (bran) to make toadies.  We went with 5 of the levain whole grains to make the larger amount of sprouts for this smaller sized loaf.

We limited the add ins to Toadies, red and white malts and some toasted and ground golden and brown flax seeds and white, brown and black sesame seeds.  Then for some seed chew we added 50 g of sunflower and pumpkin seeds to the dough and reserved 40 g to do some kind of seed art on the outside of the chacon.

After seeing Ian’s fine chacon example this week we wanted to get back to an earlier bake where seeds really spiffed up the outside of a chacon.  My apprentice thought with some actual design for a change the bread wouldn’t suffer any.

There were two levains for this bake.  A yeast water levain that was two builds of 3 hours each using 50 g of YW and 124 g total.   There is also a SD levain 3 stage one that was built separately.  It totaled 156 g and was initiated with equal parts totaling 12 g of our rye sour and WW starters.  Both the SD and the YW levains were refrigerated for 24 hours at the 6 hour build mark right after the 3rd feeding of the SD.

When removed from the fridge at noon the next day, the SD levain was allowed to do its final double while the YW levain just sat on the counter warming up while going for a ride with its SD buddy.

We autolysed the dough flours, ground seeds, salt, malts and toadies with the dough water while the 2 levains did their thing in the afternoon…about 2 ½ hours.  Once the autolyse met the levains, we did 10 minutes of Slap and folds until the dough was silky smooth and the gluten well developed. 

Breakfast on bake day.  This bread found here  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33480/dark-russian-jewish-deli-rye-porter-onion-sprouts-and-aromatic-seeds

We did 3 sets of S&F’s and incorporated the sprouts on the first set and the pumpkin and sunflower seeds on the 2nd one. By the 3rd set all the seeds and sprouts were well distributed.  After a 25 minute rest we started the chacon artwork. 

First, a 100g Franz Joseph roll went into the bottom of the basket and part of the reserved seeds were laid next to it so they should be on the outside of the 150 g (2) rope braid that covered the seeds while surrounding the central roll.   Then we made (10) 1” balls and placed them next to the rope braid climbing the inside of the basket in one layer.  Then the rest of the seeds were placed next to the balls.

Then a reverse bialy was made where the edges were much thinner than the middle - in an oval shape so that the dough would match the basket and to make the dough be the same thickness throughout the finished loaf.  After forming, we immediately put the basket in a used trash can liner and placed it in the fridge for a 15 hour retard.

It proofed up nicely while in the fridge so when it came out of the fridge all it really had to do is warm up.  When ready we un-molded it onto the parchment covering the vented top of the broiler pan of the mini oven after warming up 2 of Sylvia’s steaming cups in the microwave.

We decided to go without the bottom of the broiler pan that would usually have extra water in it.  We tossed 1/2 C of water into the bottom of the oven as we shut the door on the 500 F preheated mini oven.  2 minutes later we turned the oven sown to 450 F and continued to steam for 13 minutes.

What a great lunch for a hot Friday.  Sweet potato, tomato, home grown salad greens, hot pepper jack chunks, sliced carrots, cukes, red and  black raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe. red pepper, avocado, home made Southwest hummus on a few lime tortilla chips.  The sammy is a grilled chicken, brie, tomato and lettuce.

At the 15 minute mark the steam came out of the oven and we turned the oven down to 425 F, convection this time.  We turned the bread 180 degrees every 5 minutes and it registered 205 F 25 minutes after the steam came out – 40 minutes total baking time.

The crust browned up very nicely and the design was unusual with the seeds showing up where they were supposed to poke out.  It stayed crunchy too.  The crumb turned out light, moist and fairly open for a bread with a high amount of whole grains and lots of tasty tuff in it   Best of all it is a terrific toasting bread, so earthy,chew and complex.  Could eat it all day but.... my daughter is taking it to her boyfriend in Tuscon tonight after dinner as he loves my seeded breads like this one.

How did that apple crisp get in there?  Maybe Lucy had something to do with it?  She looks guilty if you ask me.

Breakfast at Brownman's. 1 slice of maple cured bacon, hashbrowns, an egg,  cantaloupe, straw and blue berries, toast with homemade strawberry jam.

Formula

50 G of Pumpkin and sunflower seeds are in the dough.

It was time for hamburger night.  A little early really but Lucy says she might be from there and possibly was feeling a little homesick.  There was no time for SD so we went with a quick biga using a pinch of ADY.  It was ready to go in just 6 hours.

We did a 1hour autolyse, mixed everything together and did 10 minutes of slap and folds followed by 3 sets of S&F’s on 15 minute increments.  The dough felt much wetter than the hydration level would warrant.  We used sour cream in place of the cream cheese in the hit dog buns.

After proofing for 2 hours, the 4 buns were egg washed and then baked at 350 F convection, in the mini oven for 20 minutes, rotating them every 5 minutes.    They came out splotchy brown which was weird for egg washed buns.  We forgot to wash them with milk while still hot.  They were still fairly soft curst wise.

The crumb was soft and moist.   They tasted OK for white bread and when grilled with the hamburgers they went glossy dark brown on the crust and were much more tasty.  The fixings included caramelized; poblano peppers, onions and mushrooms, maple smoked bacon, home grown tomato, lettuce, pepper jack and brie cheeses.  Sides were the usual sweet and regular baked, seasoned steak fries.

All in all, it was a nice dinner where the buns stood up well to the piling on with the fixings and stayed together without falling apart while munching on them.

Even better 2 days later for lunch with the bun steamed in the microwave.  Daughter could only eat half of her hamburger the other night so it made a great lunch addition today.

Formula

We are now officially on the summer baking schedule.  No more large loaves.  Only 1 small one or possibly 2 if baked on the same day.  All bred baking is done in the mini oven outside.   This particular bake came in at over 1,300 g so it will have to be baked as 2 loaves one after the other to fit the mini oven.  Lucy isn’t quick with basic math.

My apprentice quickly forgets just about everything and the size of a loaf that fits in the MO is something she never knew to begin with - like every thing else worth knowing.   I have noticed that she is really good at hunting geckos, eating them and then upchucking the gooey mess on your summer bare feet.  Amazing really…. so don’t think you can catch a gecko with your bare teeth like she can.

This bread is what I would call our almost everyday bread that we would like to eat if we ever made the same bread more than once and had a favorite one dominating our bake list.  Thankfully, my apprentice forgets what that last bake was much less what her favorite might be other than knowing DaPumperizing any bread is way better than not doing so.

.The only thing missing is a dried fruit, I had a variety of them laid out and ready to be included but Lucy forgot all about them.  When I asked, she said that with the molasses and honey already in the mix, the sweetness of the fruits wasn’t needed.  Odd how these recipes come together especially after traversing torturously through such a tiny brain as hers.

We were going for multi grain sour so we used 10 g each of our rye and whole wheat starters and used all the whole grains in the 3 stage levain.  The whole grains ended up at 36% if you do not include the wholegrain soaker and the levain was 20% of the total weight.  We like to use a larger levain when making a bread that is jam packed full of add ins.

We refrigerated the levain for 24 hours after it had risen 25% after the 3rd stage feeding to increase the sour.  It rose another 25% in the fridge before being warmed up and allowed to finish its 3 stage doubling the next morning.  The whole grains in the levain included, barley, farro, spelt, wheat, and  rye.  Lucy tries to keep the whole grains in the levain so they have a really good chance of softening up as much as possible.

We added some corn, oats and potato to the AP dough flour because we like the flavors they bring to the party.  We scalded; whole wheat, rye, barley, farro, and spelt berries before putting them in the fridge overnight to soak and soften up.  They were well drained before being added to the dough.

The add ins included home made red and white malt, honey, molasses, ground flax and ground sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pistachios,. We tossed in some Toadies since they are nearly required to enhance the flavor of every bake and a little VWG to bring up the gluten to an acceptable level .

Bake day breakfast.

The autolyse included everything except the pumpkinseeds, sunflower seeds, pistachio nuts and the whole berry scald.   The autolyse was done while the levain warmed up and finished doubling in the morning - about 3 hours.

Once the levain and the autolyse came together we did 10 minutes of slap and folds to develop the gluten and then let it rest for 15 minutes in an covered and oiled bowl.  We did 3 sets of S&F’s on 15 minute intervals where the scald and remaining seeds and nuts were incorporated on the first one and thoroughly distributed by the third set.  After a 1 hour ferment on the counter, into the fridge it went for its 16 hour bulk retard.

After taking the dough out of the fridge we divided it in half and then refrigerated half.  This way we could maintain a time window of 45 minutes between the 2 loaves.  This accounted for one loaf to bake off, the oven come back to temperature with steam in place and be oven be ready just in time for the 2nd loaf.

We shaped the dough cold into small ovals and for a little excitement, the first one we proofed seam side down so it would bake seam side up without slashing and the 2nd one we placed seam side up and slashed it.  The bread was ready to into the oven 2 1/2 hours after coming out of the fridge.

The mini oven was pre heated to 500 F and (2) of Sylvia’s steaming Pyrex cups, half full of water with a dish rag in each, were heated in the microwave.  We overturned the bread cross wise onto the top of the vented broiler pan covered in parchment paper.  The bottom of the broiler pan was preheated in the mini oven.

This bread made a fine balogna and brie sandwich with veggies, fruits and cheese.

A half a cup of water was put in the bottom of the broiler pan right before the broiler top, with the bread and steaming cups was placed on top of it.  The small space where the bread takes up 25% of it and the mega steam applied usually makes the mini put crust on bread like a commercial bakery oven.   Our best breads have always come the mini oven.

How did that stir fry from last night's dinner get in there? 

Once the bread went in, we steamed for 2 minutes and then turned the oven down to 450 F for 13 more minutes.  At the 15 minute mark, the bottom of the broiler pan came out with Sylvia’s steaming cups and the bread was left to bake on the top of the broiler pan at 400 F, convection this time.

We turned the bread 180 degrees every 5 minutes and flipped itnover on the top for the last 10 minutes of baking to get the bottom as brown as the top 20 minutes after the steam came out the bread tested 205 F on the inside at 35 minutes total baking time. 

Once removed to the cooling rack we noticed that the bread had not cracked mightily along the seam as we thought it would.  It wasn’t a lack of steam, possibly 98% proofed?   It did brown nicely, was crunchy with very small blisters and it smelled great.

The 2nd loaf was slashed before it went in the mini oven and baked the same way. It to did not spring or bloom much and did not bake as dark on the outside.  It too softened a little as it cooled but the crust was still crunchy and very tasty. 

With the crumb not as open as our usual, maybe the bread was under proofed?   The crumb was soft and moist like always.   Maybe there was just so much stuff in this bread it had a hard time getting lift?  Usually we would put YW in these kinds of breads to open the crumb and probably should have this time.  It passed the poke test and it looked like it had nearly doubled though.

The great thing about this bread is that it is a fine tasting bread.  My daughter said this is the only bread I should make.  The flour mix, corn, potato, scald, Toadies, ground flax and sesame seed, pistachios pumpkin and sunflower seeds really make this a tasty treat.

Formula

Having never made Ezekiel Bread before, this was a real treat for Lucy.  Us older ex-Hippie types haven’t made it for decades.   One reason is the 2 day sprouting for the beans and rice in one large pile and then sprouting whole grains in another.

Then you mix half of each pile, add the dough liquid to it and then chop them up in a mini Cuisinart chopper.  Chop them into the smallest pieces you can for adding to the dough as a horrible looking gruel .....that doesn’t smell too good either.  My apprentice appreciated me thinking of her by having this mix smell especially horrid.

There were 3 leavens for this recipe; SD, YW and a poolish.  Ezekiel is famous for rising from the dead and making the bread named after him into bricks.  He nmght do this just for fun or possibly spite since he was forced to eat an unleavened version of this bread for two years while wandering in a harsh desert.  I’d really be mad about that but maybe gladder at being alive at the end of the ordeal…. I guess.

The leavens were not made from sprouted grains but were made in (3) 4 hour builds.   The SD portion was then refrigerated overnight.   The poolish took 12 hours to double after the last feeding as did the YW levain.  Why they were so slow is unknown, but mysterious none the less as are most things coming out of this kitchen now a days.

As for using non sprouted grains in the leavens, Lucy said she is crazy as any other baking apprentice but she isn’t as stupid as some of them.  This is debatable and isn’t saying all that much anyway when you think about it a second longer than she does.

We were going to make this a 100% whole grain affair in keeping with the door stops that Ezekiel actually ate but thought better of it.   We could always do another bake at 100% whole grain if this one doesn't end up breaking rock in a quarry.

The leavens ended up being such a huge portion of this bread, we decided not to retard it and risk a possible IED in the fridge.  We are old enough to want to live forever so, tempting fate is not one of our strong suits - even though it seems we we do it all the time with much more dangerous things. 

We did our usual 10 minutes of slap and folds even though this dough, if you could call it that, was a sticky, goopy mess that wouldn’t begin to get tame until 5 minutes of being slapped around had passed.  Eventually it came together enough to let rest 15 minutes before 3 sets of S&F’s were done on 20 minute intervals. The left over half of the beans and rice sprouts, as well as, the grain sprouts were incorporated on the first set. 

The dough was allowed to ferment for 30 minutes before it being formed into one large chacon using a knotted roll in the middle, surrounded by 8 balls and then one twisted twin sister rope.  The design was then covered by the remaining dough that was shaped in the air into a huge bialy - a near unmanageable thing and I was glad my apprentice had 4 paws to make it into the basket in some decent shape,

The basketed dough was placed into a used trash can liner to final proof on the counter for 1 ½ hours before Old Betsy was cranked up to 500 F with top and bottom stones  .  Once the temperature hit 450 F we slipped in the CI skillet full of lava rocks, half full of water, on the bottom rack to create steam and set the timer for 20 minutes to allow the temperature lagging stone to get at least 450 F.

When 20 minutes was up, steam was aplenty and we un-molded the chacon onto a peel covered in parchment and slipped the bread into Betsy’s steaming hot maw.  After 2 minutes we turned the temperature down to 450 F.   13 minutes later we removed the steam and turned the temperature down to 400 F, convection this time.

We rotated the bread every 5 minutes on the stone for 25 minutes until the bread hit 203 F in the middle.   Then we turned off the heat and let the bread come up to 205 F when it was removed to a cooling rack.

The bread took on a handsome, if unusually deep, mahogany color that we have never seen before but like very much.  The crust was very crisp which we also like and it stayed that way as it cooled.   It wasn’t as aromatic as a bread containing aromatic seeds.  Even so, it smelled very earthy.

We can’t wait to taste it and see what this unusual ingredient list with beans, rice sprouts and grain sprouts will taste like.   The crust cracked beautifully right where we expected.   The taste wait is over and we have never had a bread that tastes like this.  Deep and rich like a pumpernickel... and with all the beans - Satan's Farts may be closer than you think.  It has its own taste but the taste isn't beans or grain.  My daughter liked it with butter out of the microwave.  I loved it toasted - a whole meal in one bread.  The process was long but the rewards were great.  One of those great meals in a bread.  Perfect as a salad foil.  The crumb was soft and moist but not as open as we thought it would be - not dense and heavy but not as open as we will get it next time.

Next time...... and there will be one, we will omit the YW levain - no need, do an overnight retard, make it 100% whole grain by subbing WW for the AP and get some crunch in there with whole hemp and millet seeds....possibly some dried edamame.  Haven't decided on the dried fruit but apricots come to mind.   It's a lot work for a baker and his apprentice compared to normal bread bakes - but worth it.

There is a  toasted and buttered slice of multi grain Dapumpernickel in the middle of this fine breakfast in order to compare it to the Ezekiel Chacon.  We like the Ezekiel even better and we love the pumpernickel.  Testament to a fine bread and breakfast.

Lunch wasn;lt bad either with a smoked pork, brie and hot pepper jack grilled cheese sandwich, watermelon, strawberry, pickled Thai eggplant, grilled summer squash and eggplant, salad and all the fixin's with home grown tomato, steamed broccoli and yellow squash, half a banana, BBQ baked beans, celery, red pepper and carrot sticks and a half an avocado.  Just yummy!  We like thsi bread very much and the sour has really started to come out on day 2.

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With Memorial Day neigh, we needed some hot dog buns for some sausages and brats we will start the weekend off with tonight for dinner.   Who better to come up with a recipe for them than none other than our resident Hot Dog and my German baking Apprentice - Lucy!

She got in the mood doing slap and folds for the Japanese Black Rice bread earlier today while singing her favorite Japanese cowboy song -  ‘Yippee Oh Kiyae, I am a Japanese Hot Dog, Bun Making Sandman.’  Yes, it is even truer that she got into this song more doggedly while doing the slap and folds for these buns.  She is incorrigible.

 In any event, we made a poolish and YW levain over 12 hours.   After a short 1 hour autolyse, we mixed it all together, did the singing, slapping and folding over 10 minutes and then let the dough rest for 15 minutes before doing the first of 3 sets of S& F’s in the bowl.

After a 30 minute rest we shaped the dough into 5 tight little logs a spiral bun and a Franz Joseph roll just in case a hamburger happened onto the gill with the Hot Dogs over the weekend.   After proofing for an hour and a half on parchment paper laid out over a plastic cutting board substituting for a peel, we thought they looked fairly proofed.

The oven was already hot from the Japanese Black Rice bread so all we had to do was reconstitute the lava rock and CI skillet steam and get to baking.  The rolls, after egg washing, went in at 400 F for 2 minutes and then 6 minutes at 375 F before removing the steam.  We then turned the oven down to 350 F convection this time and baked the rolls for an additional 12 minutes while rotating them on the stone every 5 minutes,

After a total of 20 minutes, the rolls looked nice and brown so out they came to a cooling rack.  We brushed some milk on them to make sure that they crust would be soft as possible.   They puffed up beautifully in the oven and the Toadies really come through in the smell department.  Lucy can’t wait to eat these buns with a nice variety of sausages for dinner.  Will post a crumb shot then.

The nuns were very good and they worked out well even if a little on the large side - just more room for pickled, onions, cucumber and Hatch chilis.

Happy Memorial Weekend!

Love the left over toasted buns much better when steamed for lunch the next day!

Formula