dabrownman's blog

We love salads so it’s not unusual for us to grow our own when we can. We grow them in pots which makes it easy. For the two of us, we have two 12” planters of red romaine, one 12” pot of spinach and one 24” planter for mescaline, arugla, and the green lettuces. That is enough for us to have salad every night just by trimming off the larger leaves of each every night.

The 14” pot of Swiss chard is included because it is going on its 3rd year of continuous production! There are 5 plants in the pot; 2 red, one yellow and 2 white. It is the best producing pot of all time. We put Swiss chard in everything since this pot is so prolific.

We also grow tomatoes in huge pots - 2 plants per pot. Since we are not doing but one heirloom tomato this year we already have over 80 tomatoes on 6 plants with the heirloom only having 10.

If you live in AZ where the produce is so unbelievably cheap and where much of the winter veg for the US is grown, the rest of the salad fixings are a snap and inexpensive to boot.

Now with a very inexpensive two recycled food can pot smoker, you can smoke and grill some ungodly good BBQ chicken to go with the salad with some bakes steak sweet potato and russet fries and some BBQ baked beans out of the mini oven - a little slice of culinary heaven is yours for the taking.

It helps to have a bass playing garden frog to protect the veggies from insects and watch the sunsets with too!

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April 12, 2013 - 12:11pm

dabrownman

Italian Tang Zhong, Fig, Hazelnut & Ricotta Cheese Sourdough Chacons

After our recent experiments with 100% whole grain bread, and DaPumperizing some of them, we found out that our limited supply of what we call white breads was exhausted. These ‘white breads’ still have 20%-30% whole grains in them so they have some decent flavor and healthfulness.

We thought we would go Italian for this bake because of the sneaky ricotta, goat cheese and citrus cheese cake my apprentice baked while no one was looking. It had also been awhile since we had done a chacon shape too. We could have done an Italian shape like an Altamura but these shapes usually need some durum flour in hem and we are saving the last of Desert Durum for something else.

Instead of out usual pesto, parmesan and sun dried tomato Italian bread that we like so much we decided to go in a different Italian direction by using figs, hazelnuts and ricotta cheese to go along with the 22% whole grain Rye, spelt and WW that was mainly used in the levains.

Yes, we had 2 levains for this bake but they were both of the SD variety instead of YW we usually use for 1 of them. We used out Rye Sour and our Not Mini’s Ancient WW starters for this bake. We love what both of them do for bread so why not combine them and see what happens.

So not to have enough to do for this bake we also decided to use whey water for some of the liquid and do a Tang Zhong with 25 g of the dough flour with an additional 125 g of water not included in the liquid amounts in the formula.

We thought about throw in some of our aromatic seed mix but the apprentice nixed that at the last minute wanting to know what was German about this bake anyway? For being mainly nutzoid when it comes to breaking the bread mold, she can be traditional when you least expect it – usually right before doing a nose rip on you – which is also not expected.

These levains built themselves up to doubling in 4 hours so only one build was needed to get them full strength. We did not retard the levains when built as is our usual practice of late but we did do a 4 hour autolyse of the dough flours with the malts, VWG and Toadies. We kept the nuts, figs, cheese and salt out. Usually we put the salt in the autolyse so we don’t forget it but thought we try to have Lucy remember to put it in later.

After the 2 levains, the Tang Zhong, ricotta cheese and autolyse came together, we mixed it withy a spoon for 1 minute and then did 4 minutes of slap and folds before adding the salt. This dough feels much wetter that the just short of the 69% total hydration with the add ins. This is due to the Thang Zhong and the cheese.

After the salt went in, we did another 8 minutes of slap and folds before the dough finally came together fore a 20 minute rest. We then did (3) sets of S&F’s on 15 minute intervals and incorporated the nuts and re-hydrated figs in the 2nd one and by the 3rd one they were well distributed. The wet figs also added some more unaccounted liquid to the mix.

After a hours worth of ferment on the counter the dough was bulk retarded for 12 hours, ala Ian’s typical retard mastering. In the cold it had risen to the rime of the bowl and after 1 ¾ hours on the counter the next morning it has risen above the rim of the bowl .

We then divided it and shaped the knotted rolls; one each for the bottom of each basket, and shaped the twisted rope in addition of the oval basket so these Chacons wouldn’t end up looking too similar after baking. So no braids, balls or other intricate shapes and designs in the bottom of the basket were used in keeping with this simple Italian bake.

After 2 hours of final proof on the counter in a plastic bag, they were ready for Big old Betsy that had bee preheated to 500 F with one of David Snyder’s lava rocks in a large cast Iron skillet along with a large size one of Sylvia’s steaming pans with 2 rolled up towels in it. Both were put into the oven half full of water when the 40 minute preheat started and they supplied their usual mega steam. We also used top and bottom stones as we always do since they never come out of the oven.

My apprentice thought that the loaves were over proofed again when the came out of the bag since the dough jiggled like jello or a croissant and the dough had risen above the rim of the baskets. But, since Chacons do not need to be slashed, they went straight into the oven on the bottom stone after un-molding onto parchment paper and peel. They still managed to spring nicely anyway and my apprentice’s over proofing fear was as unfounded as her legal immigration status.

After 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 460 F and then after a total of 12 minutes the steaming apparatus came out of the oven and the temperature was turned down to 425 F , convection this time. The loaves were rotated on the stone every 5 minutes for 15 minutes when they tested 205 F and were removed from the oven to a cooling rack.

The loaves cracked well on top as they should and they ended up being nicely browned, crisp but un-blistered despite the long retard and mega steam. They are awfully nice looking loaves none the less and we can’t wait to cut into one to see what the crumb looks like.

The crumb turned out fairly open, glossy and super soft. The Tang Zhong really came through as it always does. I like to use it on whole grain, multi-grain breads since we discovered that it does the same thing for these breads as it does for white breads. Now we know it isn't just the YW that makes the crumb soft. We like this bread very much and it is worth the extra effort required to pull it off.

Formula

WW and Rye Sour Levain	Build 1	Total	%
WW SD Starter	25	25	3.79%
Rye Sour Starter	25	25	4.67%
Spelt	25	25	4.67%
Whole Wheat	50	50	9.35%
Dark Rye	25	25	4.67%
Water	100	50	9.35%
Total	250	200	37.38%

Levain Totals		%
Flour	125	23.36%
Water	125	23.36%
Hydration	100.00%

Levain % of Total	17.82%

Dough Flour		%
Whole spelt	5	0.93%
Dark Rye	5	0.93%
AP	525	98.13%
Dough Flour	535	100.00%

Salt	10	1.52%
Whey 200 Water100	300	56.07%
Dough Hydration	56.07%

Total Flour	660
Soaker Water 300 & Water	425
T. Dough Hydration	64.39%
Whole Grain %	22.27%

Hydration w/ Adds	68.92%
Total Weight	1,403

Add - Ins		%
White Rye Malt	3	0.56%
Red Rye Malt	3	0.56%
Toadies	6	1.12%
VW Gluten	10	1.87%
Ricotta Cheese	100	18.69%
Adriatic & Mission Figs	115	21.50%
Hazelnuts	71	13.27%
Total	308	57.57%

Weight of figs is pre re-hydrated weight

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April 8, 2013 - 1:32pm

dabrownman

Two Way 75% White Bread - DaPumperized with Scald and Seeds

My apprentice says that sane German bakers don’t usually try to do a pumpernickel style bake of; slowly reducing low temperatures over a long baking time, when baking white bread of any kind. But, I figured that if professional bakers can call a bread with only 25% to 30% of rye flour in it a rye bread, then we should be able to DaPumperize a white bread too.

I have to admit this is about the whitest bread we would usually make, but thankfully, only my apprentice is a German baker and she doesn't count when it comes to new and exciting things, bread wise, around here most always. Now, if the bake goes horribly wrong, then it is all her fault - I mean she is only an apprentice. She also looks ridiculous in that full body hair net when she bakes anyway. So who could take what she says seriously looking like that?

We had to break the recent trend of 100% whole grain bakes or risk falling into the dark abyss. Even though the dark side breads are fantastic and tempting, being stuck there forever is a little much if you aren’t a German bread baker,

We do like breads in the 25% - 30% whole grain range and they make fine sandwich breads. Sandwiches, as some might know, are right up there with home made amber lager beer, as far as, my apprentice’s way of thinking goes - which admittedly isn't very far or even deep for that matter.

So, mainly out of boredom with a touch of insanity and a touch of spite, I decided to try to DaPuperize a white bread and see if the tremendous boost in flavor this technique usually provides would work with white bread too. It was worth a shot even though a long one – otherwise you would think people would be doing it all the time as a matter of course – but they don’t. Maybe it’s the 6 hour bake time that puts them off?

To give the bread a chance at being decent, we included bread spice seeds and the other usual other seeds we have recently been using, to give this bread a chance the bread at some depth and chew like our whole grain breads we DaPumperize.

Since this bake was planned to be 80% wheat we decided to use our new Not Mini’s Ancient WW starter ( a very powerful one) to go along with a WW Yeast Water one and make separate levains. All 25% of the whole grains are in the levains and are made up of a mix of WW, rye and spelt.

We upped the whole grains some using 100 g of wheat berries for the scald along with the Toadies and home made red and white malts. We dropped the molasses and barley malt syrup for this bake. For much of the dough water we used the excess scald water. Aromatic seeds were the usual coriander, fennel, anise and bi-color caraway that we buzzed up a little after roasting this time. The meaty seeds were also roasted and they included; black and white sesame seeds, cracked flax and 50 g each f pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

We followed usual routine of late by building the levains over 3 stages with the Not Mini’s Ancient WW one doubling every 3 hours from the first build on while the YW one took 4 hours. For the last build – its best showing. We autolysed the dough flours, salt, malts and Toadies for 3 hours before adding in the levains.

10 minutes of Slap and folds followed when the slack dough really came around on the gluten development side. After a 20 minute rest we stretched out the dough to do an envelope fold and dropped all the seeds and scald onto it and folded it up with a few S&F’s. We did 2 more S&F’s on 20 minute intervals to further develop the gluten and to distribute the add in seeds thoroughly.

After a 30 minute rest we took half the dough and shaped it into a loaf and placed it into a large loaf tin, filling it less than half full and covering it with plastic. The other half of the dough was left in the oiled and plastic covered bowl. Both were then refrigerated for 8 hours overnight. They didn't expand much in the fridge.

In the morning, both were placed on a heating pad, covered with a cloth and allowed to warm up for 1 1/2 hours. The bulk retarded dough was them shaped and placed into a basket for final proof on the heating pad with the tinned loaf.

After another 2 hours the tinned loaf was 1/2” under the rim. We covered it with aluminum foil and placed it into the preheated 375 F mini oven for its 6 hour baking schedule where the bottom of the broiler pan was full of water to provide extra steam. We didn't put any oat bran or poppy seeds on the top of the loaf because we wanted to see how dark a white DaPumpernickel could get in 6 hours. The baking schedule follows:

375 F - 30 minutes

350 F - 30 minutes

325 F - 1 hour

300 F - 1 hour

275 F - 1 hour

250 F - 1 hour

225 F - 1 hour

For some extra thrill for my apprentice and a comparison baseline for me, we decided to bake the other half; the boule, as one would expect a loaf like this to be baked - just in case the DaPumpernickeled half was a total failure.

We decided to bake it in a hot DO but it took another hour and a half before we thought that it was ready for the oven. After a poor slash job and lowering into the DO with a parchment sling, this boule was baked at 450 F for 20 minutes with the lid on and another 5 minutes with the lid off at 425 F convection before removing it from the DO and placing it on the lower stone to finish baking - another 10 minutes – 35 minutes total baking time.

We then turned the oven off and left the bread on the stone with the oven door ajar for 5 minutes to help crisp the crust. The boule baked up nice and brown, blistered and the crust was crispy before went chewy as it cooled. It smells terrific.

The loaf is now through with its slow and low bake and hit exactly 210 F at the end of 6 hours in the mini oven. We will slice into this loaf after it has rested for 40 hours. Luckily we have tasted the boule and it is a fantastic loaf of bread. The crumb is so soft and shreddable, glossy and open like it had butter, eggs and and cream in it - just delicious! This bread cannot be sliced thin and 1/2" thick, or maybe a little more is its sweet spot. This is another bread could eat every day. Already ate a quarter of the boule!.Can't wait for the loaf to be ready to slice thin. It will have to go a long way to be better than the boule.

We got 33 slices oiut of the 83/4" DaPumpernickel loaf. It wasn't as dark as a black pumpernickel about a couple of shades darker than the other part of this two way bake. The flavor wasn't as deep or rich as a 100% whole grain pumpernickel but it tastes totally different than the regular baked boule. This tastes like half a pumpernickel and is much more powerful a taste than the boule. We like this bread a lot too! For those that don't like pumpernickel but want something stronger than a rye then this loaf might be the one for you!

Formula

YW and Rye Sour Levain	Build 1	Build 2	Build 3	Total	%
WW SD Starter	20	0	0	20	2.47%
Dark Rye	0	25	0	25	5.00%
WW	0	0	50	50	10.00%
AP	50	0	0	50	10.00%
Water	50	50	10	110	22.00%
Spelt	0	25	0	25	5.00%
Total	120	100	60	280	56.00%

Levain Totals		%
Flour	310	62.00%
Water	230	46.00%
Hydration	74.19%

Levain % of Total	31.69%

Dough Flour		%
AP	500	100.00%
Dough Flour	500	100.00%

Salt	13	1.60%
Water	400	80.00%
Dough Hydration	80.00%

Total Flour	810
Soaker Water 300 & Water	630
T. Dough Hydration	77.78%
Whole Grain %	26.67%

Hydration w/ Adds	75.99%
Total Weight	1,704
			0.40669
Add - Ins		%
White Rye Malt	3	0.60%
Red Rye Malt	3	0.60%
Toadies	20	4.00%
Bicolor; Sesame, Cracked Flax	13	2.60%
Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds	100	20.00%
W&B Caraway, Anise, Coriander, Fennel	12	2.40%
Total	151	30.20%

Scald		%
WW Berries	100	20.00%
Total Scald	100	20.00%

Weight of scald is pre scald weight

Read more about Two Way 75% White Bread - DaPumperized with Scald and Seeds
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April 4, 2013 - 1:55pm

dabrownman

Whole Grain DaPumpernickel Aroma Bread

After baking out take on Karin’s (Hanseata) great post with her take on Maria Speck’s Aroma Bread here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32830/aroma-bread-love-story

and my take here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32921/100-percent-whole-multigrain-aroma-bread-2-soakers-11-seeds

We knew that we would have to try a similar version but bake it DaPmpernickel style which is quickly becoming our favorite bread type – although we love them all . We stayed with 100% whole grains but dumped the WW portion and subbed rye in its place.

For the liquid we used yogurt whey for much of it while the add ins for seeds, scald and aromatic seeds remained the same since we had divided them in half for the last bake. We dropped the VWG since not much rise was needed and we added some molasses and barley malt syrup to counter the bitterness of the rye and help with the deep dark crumb we want Dapumpernickels to display when cut.

This time, even though the formula doesn’t show it, we autolysed all of the dough flour with the soaker. Why we held back such a small amount from the autolyse in the previous bake didn’t make much sense to my apprentice. So few things make sense to her we as it is, we just chalked this change to another one of her wild whims. We have also learned that not doing as told could cause some horrific ankle biting episode.

We subbed a rye sour and a rye YW levains for the poolish and the WW SD levain of the last bake. We though the rye levains in combination would be more traditional for this kind of bread even though traditions really go through the ringer around here.

This bread worked out very different than the last one. It was much more sticky due to the rye in place of the WW and it acted like a paste instead of a dough. We did do 10 minutes of slap and folds and tried our best to get some gluten worked up but it wasn’t having any of it. Se we treated it like a paste, slap by slap and folding with the add ins to get them evenly distributed and panned the sticky mess lot into (3) cocktail loaf pans to about half full and smoothed the top with a wet teaspoon.

Instead of using tri-color poppy seeds to cover all of them like the last bake, for two of the loaves we used oat bran to cover. After an hour and a half proofing on the counter we put them in the fridge for a 12 hour retard. The next morning they went onto the heating pad for a 2 ¾ hour final proof at 85 F.

Each breakfast sandwich has 2 - 1/4" slices of DP Aroma bread, not toasted so no butter. One each slice is caramelized Minneola marmalade and 1 slice of aged white cheddar cheese on. In the middle of each sandwich is 1/2 of a hot sausage paddy and 1/2 a fried hard egg. Served with home grown and squeezed Minneola orange juice and a strawberry. Dabrownman's place is one of the few places in the world where this breakfast is occasionally served but you can recreate it in your own kitchen!

28, 29 and 30 slices for the (3) each 6 7/8" loaf.

When the dough had risen near the rim of the pans we covered tightly with aluminum foil and started the reduced temperature over time baking schedule. Last time we did a pumpernickel style bread we had let it proof over the rim and we wanted to fix that with this bake. Since these pans were smaller, we lowered the initial start temperature and reduced the baking time too. Here is the schedule

Pate Maison lunch with cukes, carrot, pickled Thai eggplant, Mexican green rice, tomato, salad, extra sharp cheddar cheese and a strawberry.

375 F - 30 minutes

350 F - 30 minutes

325 F - 2 hours

235 F - 2 hours

200 F - 2 hours

We checked the temperature at the 3 hour mark and the bread was at 205 F so the rest of the bake time it was just getting itself dried out even though it was still covered. I suppose you could take it out at the 3 hour mark if you wanted to but I’m guessing it won’t be a dry loaf if baked the full 7 hours – At least it isn’t 10 hours like last the laast DaPumpernickel

We haven’t used this baking schedule before but my Germanic apprentice and resident DaPumpernickel expert said she doesn’t really care how it gets baked as long as it is low, slow and she gets the first bite. I’m thinking she is still mad she didn't get her way when I didn’t use the German made Romertopf clay baker to bake this bread in like the last bake.

One of the reasons to bake bread like this, besides it tasting terrific, is that the entire house smells fantastic the whole day! We can already tell that we will love this bread too. We won’t know for sure until we can cut into it and give it a taste – in a couple of days. We let it sit in the off oven for 8 more hours before allowing the loaves to cool on a rack. We wrapped them in a cotton cloth and will let them rest for 32 hours before slicing them. Stay tuned.

This bread can be sliced 1/8" thick. I has a powerful, deep and meaty taste. It is moist, the crumb is open, dark chocolate in color and has chewy bits. The crust is very dark and chewy. It is everything you could ever want in a Dapumpernickel - and a little more! There really isn't much more to say about it except that I'm going to make breakfast and see how it works with sausage and eggs.

Formula

YW and Rye Sour Levain	Build 1	%
WW SD Starter	25	10.42%
Spelt	65	27.08%
Dark Rye	50	20.83%
Yeast Water	50	20.83%
Water	65	27.08%
Total	255	106.25%

Levain Totals		%
Flour	127.5	53.13%
Water	127.5	53.13%
Hydration	100.00%

Levain % of Total	14.24%

Dough Flour		%
Dark Rye	120	50.00%
Spelt	120	50.00%
Dough Flour	240	100.00%

Salt	10	1.69%
Whey 195 & Water	218	90.83%
Dough Hydration	90.83%

Total Flour	591.5
Soaker Water and Water	513.5
T. Dough Hydration	86.81%
Whole Grain %	100.00%

Hydration w/ Adds	86.43%
Total Weight	1,791

Add - Ins		%
Molasses	15	6.25%
Barley Malt	15	6.25%
Toadies	20	8.33%
Bi-color; Sesame, Cracked Flax	40	16.67%
Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds	40	16.67%
W&B Caraway, Anise, Coriander, Fennel	15	6.25%
Total	145	60.42%

Multigrain Flour Soaker		%
Coarse Cornmeal	57	23.75%
Rye	75	31.25%
Spelt	92	38.33%
Water	168	70.00%
Total Flour Soaker	392	163.33%

Scald		%
WW Berries	46	19.17%
Rye Berries	46	19.17%
Spelt Berries	47	19.58%
Total Scald	139	57.92%

Weight of scald is after draining - pre scald weight was 25 g each

Read more about Whole Grain DaPumpernickel Aroma Bread
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April 2, 2013 - 2:59pm

dabrownman

100 Percent Whole Multi-Grain Aroma Bread with 2 Soakers & 11 Seeds

After seeing Karin’s (Hanseata) great post with her take on Maria Speck’s Aroma Bread here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32830/aroma-bread-love-story

We knew that we would have to move it to the top of the baking list before anything else got baked. My apprentice immediately knew this was her kind of bread – 100% whole grains, soakers for a majority of the flours, includes the oddball cornmeal and some Toadies, a scald for the whole berries, seeds galore with multi-versions of SD starters and commercial yeast.

We, of course, decided to go all with the seeds getting around to 11 different ones not including the 3 whole grain seed soaker (making a total of 14). Some seeds like the coriander, anise, brown and black caraway and fennel were aromatics to spice the bread.

Other seeds like; cracked brown and golden flax, black and white sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds make the bread healthy and meaty when combined with the spelt, whole wheat, and rye scalded whole berries.

We strayed from Karin’s bake in some minor ways. We used the berry soaker water for much of the liquid, had a few more and different seeds here and there. We added our new very vigorous WW starter in place of rye sour one Karin used and used a poolish in place of the commercial yeast. We added WW to the scald, tossed in some toadies and VWG since these flours have so little and also used more rye in place of some of the spelt.

We did 10 minutes of slap and folds after everything except the sesds and scald came together to work up the gluten and then did (4) S&F’s on 15 minute increments ,to incorporated the seeds and scald. After 1 hour of fermentation on the counter we bulk retarded the dough for 8 hours in the fridge.

After warming up again on the counter for 1 1/2 hours the next morning and using the time to soak the clay baker, we shaped the loaf to fit an oval Romertopf and let it proof for 2 hours until it more than doubled. You might want to let yours be slightly under double so you get the oven spring we didn’t get. Well, at least it didn’t collapse.

We warmed the oven to 450 F with a stone below and above the rack that the cold clay baker would do its thing on. We covered the top of the loaf with our tri colored, poppy seeds for a final touch, covered with the lid and steamed the bread for 25 minutes, We then removed the lid, turned down the temperature to 425 F convection and let it bake another 20 minutes rotating the Romertopf every 5 minutes.

At the 45 minute mark the bread hit 200 F and we turned off the oven, leaving the bread inside, until it hit 205 F - 5 minutes later, when we removed the bread to a cooling rack. It was very aromatic, boldly brown., crispy but not sporting a blistered crust.

We can already tell that we will love this bread and will know for sure as soon as we can cut into it and give it a taste. It has another top 5 rating hanging over it I’m guessing. As a side note we have another nearly identical bake planned with the exception that; we will bake it like a pumpernickel to see which one we like better and it will have yeast water and Rye Sour levain in place of the WW SD and poolish used for this bake.

I can't stop eating this bread. Plain or toasted with butter - just fantastic. We love the deep flavor, the aroma of the toasted spice seeds, the nuttiness of the toasted more meaty seeds that give the soft crumb its chew. This is a great bread adn one i am so glad that Karin posted. It''s different than her Wild Rice Bread and, to my liking, a tad better and I love the Wild Rice Bread. It would be very difficult to craft a healthier bread too. Can't wait to have a sandwich made with it tomorrow for lunch. This bread is why I bake and put up with my apprentice....You have to try it.

She's a tuckered doggie just waiting for the sunset.

Couldn't wait for lunch. We had to have tomorrow's lunch tonight for dinner - a wise choice !

Formula

Poolish & WW SD Levain	Build 1	%
WW SD Starter	25	4.37%
Whole Wheat	115	52.27%
Water	115	52.27%
Total	255	115.91%
Flour and water is split between the poolish and WWSD levain

Poolish & WW SD Levain		%
Flour	127.5	57.95%
Water	127.5	57.95%
Hydration	100.00%

Levain % of Total	14.48%

Dough Flour		%
Dark Rye	100	45.45%
Spelt	120	54.55%
Dough Flour	220	100.00%

Salt	10	1.75%
Soaker Water for Dough	218	99.09%
Dough Hydration	99.09%

Total Flour	571.5
Soaker Water and Water	513.5
T. Dough Hydration	89.85%
Whole Grain %	100.00%

Hydration w/ Adds	83.97%
Total Weight	1,761

Add - Ins		%
VWG	20	9.09%
Toadies	20	9.09%
Bicolor Sesame, Bicolor Cracked Flax	40	18.18%
Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds	40	18.18%
W&B Caraway, Anise, Coriander, Fennel	15	6.82%
Total	135	61.36%

Multigrain Flour Soaker		%
Coarse Cornmeal	57	25.91%
Rye	75	34.09%
Spelt	92	41.82%
Water	168	76.36%
Total Flour Soaker	392	178.18%

Scald		%
WW Berries	46	20.91%
Rye Berries	46	20.91%
Spelt Berrries	47	21.36%
Total Scald	139	63.18%

Weight of scald is after draining - pre scald weight was 25 g each. White, brown ad black poppy seeds were used as a top garnish.

Read more about 100 Percent Whole Multi-Grain Aroma Bread with 2 Soakers & 11 Seeds
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March 31, 2013 - 12:49pm

dabrownman

Poolish & Y W Chocolate Walnut Easter Babka with Streusel & Snockered Fruits

The past 2 years we have been making an Easter Babka and this year the GMA’s decided to make it their Easter Bake (along with Hot Cross Buns), so naturally, we had to join them for the Babka Rhamma Dhamma. Ca't wat to see their Easter Babka Bakes!

This year we decided to do the traditional 2 sided roll up and then do a Twisted Sisters twist of the double roll. We made the dough without the pumpkin pie spices to try to get a more chocolate flavor coming through and now consider the spices ‘optional’.

Once again we used our trusty Bundt pan to contain things and give the top a decorative look. We increased the size of the bake to fill the Bundt pan up to maximum capacity, and a little more, since this Polish and Russian inspired babka is so tasty and goes so fast.

Like last year, we used walnuts, cocoa, chocolate chips and bourbon snockered fruits for the filling, dropped the pie spices but added brown sugar to this year’s roll up and add in goodies. We did increase all of them to account for the larger babka. We kept the streusel topping on the top and bottom of the loaf for the nice crunch and we kept the vanilla, powdered sugar milk glaze for the top. This year we added a dusting of powdered sugar too.

This year, instead of just yeast water making the dough rise, we added in a large poolish too. Each was brought to peak, fed again and then refrigerated for 2 days. We let the levains double on the counter after removing them from the fridge - about 4 hours.

We re-hydrated non fat dry milk powder for the dough liquid and used it to autolyse the dough dry ingredients for an hour. After mixing in the levains with a spoon we did 10 minutes of slap and folds to get the gluten developed, before allowing the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

We did 2 sets of S&F’s, on 30 minute intervals, to develop the dough further. After another 15 minute rest we rolled out the dough a little less than ½” thick and into a huge rectangle 24” x 36”. Half the butter in the formula is in the dough and the other half is softened and schmeared onto the rolled out dough before the rest of the fillings go in. After sprinkling on the fillings in an even layer, then roll it up, from each wide side, meeting in the middle.

The starting in the middle, twist the roll toward each end to get the Twisted Sister part of the design. The roll will get longer but no worries, you need the length to get around the Bundt pan twice. Spray the pan liberally so nothing will stick, place half the streusel in the bottom of the pan and then coil in the Twisted Sister going around twice and ending where you began to ensure that the babka stays level as it rises.

Sprinkle the top with the rest of the streusel cover with oiled plastic and allow to proof on the counter for 1 hour before refrigerating overnight. In the morning allow the babka to come to room temperature and finish proofing 1” above the rim of the pan. Fire up the oven to 350 F convection and bake until golden brown and the inside temperature reaches 205 F - about 55 minutes. Rotate the pan every 10 minutes to ensure even browning.

Remove pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before un-molding. I run a paring knife around the outside and inside to make sure the babka comes away clean. After 5 more minutes of cooling drizzle the vanilla glaze over the top and dust with powdered sugar. Eat at least one slice while still warm otherwise warm up I the micro wave before serving.

This is a real Easter treat! We love this for breakfast, brunch or dinner desert! Nothing is overpowering or too sweet and the lack of PP spices really let the chocolate and walnuts shine through.

Happy Easter !

Formula

Poolish & YW Levain	Build 1	%
Pinch of AD Yeast	0	0.00%
AP	150	12.20%
Whole Wheat	150	12.20%

Yeast Water	115	0.18699187
Water	150	24.39%
Total Starter	565	48.78%
Flour is split between the two levains

Poolish & YW Levain		%
Flour	300	48.78%
Water	265	43.09%
Hydration	88.33%

Levain % of Total	24.78%

Dough Flour		%
W W Pastry Flour	140	22.76%
AP	475	77.24%
Dough Flour	615	100.00%

Salt	10	1.63%
Rehydrated Non Fat Milk	382	62.11%
Dough Hydration	62.11%

Total Flour	915
Milk and Water	647
T. Dough Hydration	70.71%
Whole Grain %	31.69%

Hydration w/ Adds	81.14%
Total Weight	2,280

Add - Ins		%
Butter 50 + 50	100	16.26%
Honey	50	8.13%
VWG	10	1.63%
Brown Sugar 40 Cocoa 20	60	9.76%
Walnuts 70, Chocolate Chips 130	200	32.52%
Sugar	25	4.07%
Re-hydrated Snockered Fruits	185	30.08%	After Snockering
Egg (2 medium)	78	12.68%
Total Add ins	708	115.12%

Optional Spices
1 tsp each Cinnamon and Nutmeg
1/2 tsp each Ginger, Allspice
1/4 tsp Cloves

Struesel
1/8 C each of Walnut Maple Granola, APF flour
Sugar and Butter cut in with PP Spices.

Read more about Poolish & Y W Chocolate Walnut Easter Babka with Streusel & Snockered Fruits
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March 30, 2013 - 11:49am

dabrownman

Hot Cross Buns - 25 % Whole Grain

Baking with the 3 GMA’s again this week for Easter where hot cross buns and babka are on the list. Good Friday is Hot Cross Bun Day and we decided to make an overnight poolish for the buns and a small 200 g YW dough for the crosses. The crosses were only 12.5% whole grains trying to make them a shade lighter in color than the buns.

We did 2 sets of S&F’s over 40 minutes to incorporate the bourbon re-hydrated dried; apricots, cranberries and raisins and then let the dough ferment for 1 hour.

For the crosses we mixed 100 g of YW with 100 g of AP and 25 G of WW with 20 g of sugar and let this ferment on the counter2 hours before the bun dough came together. We later added 2 g of salt to the mix before final proof of the cross dough.

After the bulk ferment the dough was divided into (4) 150 g pieces and (6) roughly 70 pieces. The larger pieces were further divided into 4 balls that were placed into ramekins to make clover leaf rolls and make natural seams for the crosses to be placed. The 70 g rolls were placed into muffing tins where the crossed were laid on top.

Final proofing of the rolls took 6 hours on the counter before the crosses were placed on top, egg wash applied and placed into the 450 F mini oven with one of Sylvia’s steaming cups. We baked the muffin tins first followed by the ramekins as the 2nd batch.

After 8 minutes the steam came out and the mini oven was turned down to 425 F, convection this time. The tins baked for 7 minutes more – 15 minutes total and the ramekins baked for an additional 3 minutes - 18 minutes total.

We juiced ¼ of a lemon onto ¼ C of powdered sugar, stirred and then micro waved the mix for 30 seconds to clarify the glaze. The buns were un-molded onto a cooling rack as soon as they came out of the oven and then the glaze was brushed on the entire top of the buns while still hot.

These turned out well as a desert roll, warm with butter, and made fine French toast the next morning too. They are worth the work to make them at least one day a year.

Formula

Poolish	Build 1	%
Pinch of AD Yeast	0	0.00%
AP	50	12.50%
Whole Wheat	50	12.50%
Water	100	25.00%
Total Starter	200	50.00%


Poolish		%
Flour	100	25.00%
Water	100	25.00%
Hydration	100.00%

Levain % of Total	19.65%

Dough Flour		%
Whole Wheat	40	10.00%
Whole spelt	40	10.00%
AP	320	80.00%
Dough Flour	400	100.00%

Salt	8	2.00%
Water Weight Only + 1/3 C NFDMP	200	50.00%
Dough Hydration	50.00%

Total Flour	500
Milk and water	300
T. Dough Hydration	60.00%
Whole Grain %	26.00%

Hydration w/ Adds	68.70%
Total Weight	1,018

Add - Ins		%
Butter	30	7.50%
Sugar	30	7.50%
Snockered Fruits	100	25.00%	After Snockering Weight
Egg	50	12.50%
Total	210	52.50%

1/4 tsp each Cinnamon and Nutmeg
1/8 tsp each Ginger, Allspice
1/16 tsp Cloves

YW cross dough was 100 g of YW, 100 g of AP and 25 g of WW
with 20 g of sugar and 3 g of salt.

Read more about Hot Cross Buns - 25 % Whole Grain
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March 25, 2013 - 12:50pm

dabrownman

50% Whole Wheat Matzoh

Had to get the matzoh done in time to make gefilte fish and Matzoh Ball soup. My apprentice ave the chicken stock simmering away and has 10 tubs of smaltz in the freezer. Now for more time:-)

Have a good Passover everyone!

Home made Gefilte Fish - my personal favorite. Wrapped in collard green and cabbage, covered with onion and carrot and then the fish stock goes in to cover. Even though I sold Kosher for 20 years from all the manufacturers, and theya re great folks - make your own matzoh, fish , matzoh balls. Can't buy anything close.

Yes, Brownmen like their Matzoh's to be on the brown side:-)

The balls will expand greatly so don't crowd the pot.

See how much they puffed? They floated in 30 seconds like good little matzoh balls should.

Have a nice Passover Seder!

March 23, 2013 - 8:59am

dabrownman

WW SD YW Multi-Grain DaPumpernickel

For the 2nd test of our new 2 week old WW starter, we though we would continue our 100% whole grain quest to a 3rd bake, similar to the last 2, but making a few changes along the way as my apprentice usually does. She just can’t leave well enough, or me either for that matter, alone.

We decided to add in some YW to the mix to help open the crumb of the planned pumpernickel baking temperature and schedule. We also decided to change from a 100% whole wheat, 100% whole grain bread to one that was still 100% whole grain but had equal portions of WW, Spelt and Rye. We omitted the VWG on this bake.

We also added some barley malt syrup and cut the molasses in half and throw in some bread spices consisting of; black and brown caraway, coriander, anise and fennel. To keep in line with the change in whole grains we also changed the whole berry scald to match it using WW, Spelt and Rye.

The resulting overall hydration of 87.5% is fairly in the middle of the pumpernickel hydrations we do around here in AZ where it is so dry all time. The method was pretty straight forward if a tiny bit unusual. We built the whole wheat combo SD YW levain together over (2) 4 hour builds where it easily doubled.

After a 1 hour autolyse that had everything in it but the levain and scald, we mixed the levain and the autolyse together with a spoon and then did 10 minutes of slap and folds trying to develop as much gluten as we could = what fun. We then folded in the scald berries with a bench knife.

Once the berries were evenly distributed, we tossed the paste into a large bread pan filling it about 3/4th full. The paste filled the pan fuller than we would normally like for pumpernickel but, my apprentice was lazy and refused to pull it out, divide it and put into two smaller cocktail pans.

She did, to be fair, reminded me that the Altus loaf at 300 G lsss in size actually shrank the last time leaving the finished bread 1” below the rim of this same pan. We dusted the loaf with oat bran and let it ferment on the counter for an hour before it went into the fridge covered in plastic, for a 16 hour retard.

It's a little more dense and moist on the bottom.

It had risen to the top of the pan when it came out of the fridge the next morning when it went into a plastic bag to warm up and do final proof on a heating pad for 3 hours. Since the bread would eventually rise almost an inch above the pan rim, we decided to bake it low and slow; pumpernickel style, in the WagnerWare, MagnaLite turkey roaster with the trivet inside so extra water could be added to steam the loaf.

The temperature reducing (as time goes on) baking schedule follows:

400 F - 30 minutes

375 F - 30 minutes

350 F - 30 minutes

325 F - 30 minutes

300 F - 1 hour

275 F - 2 hours

250 F - 2 hours

225 F - 1 ½ hours

200 F - 1 ½ hours

We had a powerful sunset last night

When the bread tests 205 F in the center, turn off the oven and leave the bread in the DO inside the oven for 8 -12 hours. We did 8 hours and the oven was still warm in the morning due to the two baking stones on the top and bottom rack of the oven.

The 3 P sandwich - DaPumpernickel, Pepperjack and Pate

Yes, it is a long bake but worth it in the end if you want to make a classic pumpernickel style loaf. Not that this one is a classic, since it isn't 100% rye, have cornmeal, potatoes or bacon fat in it. But this sure tastes like a pumpernickel even if it doesn't really use classic pumpernickel flours and uses an Irish Stout for much of the liquid. That’s the great thing about bread – there aren't any real rules, especially if you choose not to follow them like my apprentice. This bread smell tremendous with the caramelized grains, scald and aromatic seeds.

Love the first one so much we made a variant - DaPumpernickel, Irish Swiss and Pate open face

Sadly, even after it cools you don’t want to slice it for at least 32 hours. Just wrap it on linen or cotton and be as patient as you need to be…. We love pumpernickel and do not mind waiting, as long as, we win the Power Ball tonight for over $320 plus million. Well we didn't win the big moola drawing but we still won a jackpot none the less. We took a few slices off the loaf this morning for pictures and breakfast, re-wrapping the rest to let it sit another 24 hours before slicing it.

A close up open face sandwich - in your face:-)

This bread easily sliced 1/4" thick slices even for such a large loaf. The bread was open and very moist. It is also about the best tasting example of a non-traditional pumpernickel my German apprentice has ever tasted. She wanted to take the rest of the loaf outside to bury it in the back yard but I managed to stop her before she got to the doggie door. It is a powerful bread flavor wise, as much so as last night's sunset, and we can't wait to try it with some robust red wine, pate, cheese and fruit spread especially after this morning's toasted pumpernickel with butter, egg, hot sausage and bacon delight. Yummy.

Formula

SD Starter	Build 1	Build 2	Total	%
Mini's WW Starter	20	0	20	3.28%
Yeast Water	30	0	30	6.00%
Whole Wheat	50	50	100	20.00%
Water	20	40	60	12.00%
Total	90	90	210	42.00%

SD Levain Totals		%
Flour	110	22.00%
Water	100	20.00%
Hydration	90.91%

Levain % of Total	16.15%

Dough Flour		%
Whole Rye	165	33.00%
Whole Spelt	165	33.00%
Whole Wheat	170	34.00%
Dough Flour	500	100.00%

Salt	9	1.80%
Guinness	423	84.60%
Dough Hydration	84.60%

Total Flour	610
Guinness, YW & SD Starter Water	523
T. Dough Hydration	85.74%
Whole Grain %	100.00%

Hydration w/ Adds	87.50%
Total Weight	1,300

Add - Ins		%
Red Rye Malt	3	0.60%
White Rye Malt	3	0.60%
Caraway, Anise, Fennel & Coriander	16	3.20%
Toadies	4	0.80%
Barley malt	16	3.20%
Molasses	16	3.20%
Total	58	11.60%

Read more about WW SD YW Multi-Grain DaPumpernickel
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