dabrownman's blog

It has been almost 3 weeks since the last blog post of lunch sammys and other stuff - so here goes.

More later

It has been several year's since bagels were on the bake list.  We always made them sourdough but after seeing that Stan published his bagels on TFL, we had to give them a go for the 4th of July. 

We used Stan's method but instead of using clear flour we used a host of multi-grain s and some sprouts.  The grains include dark rye, WW, Durum Atta, semolina, soft white wheat and Bread flour.  The starter was a sourdough and yeast water combo starter that had some Bulgar, AP and 6 grain cereal in it.

Since the whole grains were over 50%, much of it home ground, we upped Stan's hydration to 60% from 50% and hand kneaded it after mixing the levain with the dough and salt briefly in the KA .  We built the combo levain in 3 stages - first 2 stages were 4 hours each and the last stage 2 hours before being refrigerated overnight.   The YW was used to replace the commercial yeast in Stan's recipe.

When the levain came out of the fridge the next day, we autolysed the flour with the dough for 2 hours as the starter warmed up.  We hand kneaded the dough for 10 minutes after mixing in the KA for 3 minutes.  The 25 g of sprouts were added at the very end of kneeding.  The dough was then rested for 15 minutes to relax it before forming the bagels over the knuckles and rolling the seam.

We weighed out the dough in 102-103 g portions to end up with 12  nice sized bagels that ended up at 85 to 90 g (with seeds) when baked.  Stan's recipe doesn't call for any bulk ferment prior to or after forming the bagels or after retard either.  I guess they were supposed to only rise in the fridge.  The bagels are formed right after kneading and placed on parchment, covered in plastic and placed directly in the fridge for an overnight retard.

The bagels are then removed from the fridge the next morning and simmered in malted barley water for 1 minute, (30 seconds a side -mine floated right away) then dried slightly (we used a non terry cloth towel) before dipping them in the sesame, poppy, salt or combo toppings.  They go back on the parchment and directly into a 450 F oven preheated with steam in place for 8 minutes.  Then the steam is removed, the bagels turned over and baked for another 8 minutes.

I tested the baking with 4 bagels and found that, using 2 of Sylvia's steaming pans with towels and water, the bagels needed 10 minutes of steam then flipped without steam for 10 more minutes and then flipped again for 2 more minutes - 22 minutes in all instead of 16.  We made 4 sesame, 4 poppy and 4 combo black and white sesame with kosher salt.

The bagels didn't rise as much as we wanted even though they tasted very NY authentic and had fine chew just like they should.  These would be great bagels if allowed to proof in a trash can plastic liner at room temperature - possibly after simmering in the water.  Maybe someone would know the correct thing to do.  I read later that David Snyder lets his bulk ferment for an hour before forming and retarding. 

The formula follows immediately if not sooner.

With the 110 F days of summer upon us, all baking and most cooking is done out doors on the grill or in the mini oven moved outside.  It has been a while since we did pizza on the grill so out went the stone to preheat at 650 F.

The Semolina and Durum Atta really made this dough stand out.  My wife said it was the best pizza dough we have ever made at home.  The starter was a Yeast Water and SD combination starter that was added to the autolysed dough with the salt, rosemary. grated pecorino cheese and garlic.  The hydration was 72%.

After mixing with the KA on speed 2 for 8 minutes the dough was rested for 15 minutes and then 5 S & F's were done on an oiled surface and rested for 10 minutes in a plastic covered bowl in between.  The last S&F was done on a floured surface and then the dough was rested for 1 1/2 hours on the counter before being refrigerated for 4 hours.

2 1/2 hours before bake and pizza time, the dough was removed from the fridge and divided into one piece 400 grams (for 2 pizzas) and one 800 gram piece for the bread.  The bread was pre-shaped into a batard and then final shaped 10 minutes later an places into a rice floured cloth lined basket to proof. 

When ready to bake the bread was up ended onto parchment and the top of the broiler pan that came with it  It was then baked in the mini oven at 500 F with Sylvia's steaming method for it for 4 minutes and then the oven was turned down to 450 F for another 8 minutes.  At the 12 minute mark the steam was removed the bread rotated 180 degrees and then baked at 400 F convection this time.  Every 5 minutes the bread was rotated until done and the internal temperature was 205 F  - about 32 minutes total. 

It thought the pizza was terrific and I ate a whole one by myself - no problem and I never do that.  The crust was the difference. We had grilled some; eggplant and Mexican grey squash, some poblano / red peppers and yellow onions.  Other toppings included; sliced green martini olives, reconstituted shitake mushrooms, green onions,  pepperoni, basil  and home made hot Italian sausage.   Cheeses included mozzarella, Pecorino Romano and pepper jack.  The sauce was homemade and spicy just the way we like it.

The pizza dough was par baked for 3 minutes and then removed from the grill for a coating of Mojo de Ajo and the toppings befopre being placed back on the stone for 3 more minutes.  The crust came out thin and very, very crisp. 

The pizza was so good it overshadowed the bread which oddly tasted just like the pizza dough -  which was fantastic :-)  I see some nice sandwiches in the future and some fine tasting garlic bread that, when toasted, will be perfect for bruschetta.   Some lunch with this Italian bread salami, guacamole, chips, pico, carrot, celery, cherries, cantaloupe, corn, radish, pickle and tomato.  The formula follows the cheesecake photo that jumped in there again.

The lemon cheesecake has been trying to bust into other posts recently so we though it needed a blog of its own.

This is not the normal NY Style that we love to no end but one where the egg whites are whipped to nearly stiff peaks and folded into the rest of the batter. 

Some folks, like my daughter, think cheesecakes should have a graham cracker crust.  But I say, just like in bread, anything that tastes great is never a problem.  Oreo cookies are never a probem when it comes to taste especially if you add melted butter to them while processing them to crumbs.

We also whipped up some fresh cherry and bourbon sauce just in case then cheesecake had some poison in it and needed alcohol to kill off the offending organism.  It seemed to work since no one has come down with anything remotely close to consumption - so far.

We really like kjknits SD English muffins and have made them several times.  This time we decided to make them circles instead of irregular shapes cut with a dough scraper and we wanted to get some YW working in there too.

Still don't have a cutter so we used a plastic lid from a peanut butter jar.  It worked OK if a little small.  The recipe should make 12 large English muffins but we got 24.  The spring on these things is amazing so we rolled them about 3/16" thick to get about a 1" final height.

These were just delicious as usual they were small enough to eat like candy.  Toasted with butter and jam.... they made a for a fine, if short, breakfast.

Now how did that cheesecake get in there again?  Looks like it has an Oreo cookie crust.

Franko had me drooling with his post and kind sharing of his pate recipe.  No question about it I love pate - all kinds.  Now that the larder is full of some fine bread to spread some kind of pate on  - it was time to make some.  The French are masters of making what they have on hand into some kind of Pate Maison - and it tasting great - especially on bread or toast.

Mine started with some shredded bacon crisped up in a frying pan.  The bacon was removed and half the bacon fat removed with it.  A half an onion was cramelized in the bacon fat, 3 sliced mushrooms added 3/4 th of the way to caramelization.  At the end a minced garlic clove was added to the caramelized veg and 3 leaves of shredded Swiss chard tossed in to wilt.  Carrot battons were tossed in as well to soften them a bit.

6 ozs of minced beef and pork were further ground in the Cuisinart mini food processor.  6 oz of chicken liver were then processed until it was almost a liquid.  The liver, beef and pork were then mixed together into a paste with 1 T of cognac.  A hard boiled egg was quartered and 4 oz of ham was cut into batons.

The meat was divided into fourths with 1/4 going in the bottom of the ramekin, a layer of caramelized veggies and 2 quarters of the HB egg went in next.  A whole raw chicken liver was placed in the middle and a layer of ham on top.  Then the other quarter of the meat was placed on top to encapsulate the fillings.  The two pate ramekins were cooked in a water bath at 325 F For hour until  done.  The pate was then cooled with weights on top and pouring out the fat as it accumulated.  Eventually it was moved to the fridge to cool completely and compress some more.

This pate is delicious and fantastic with any home made bread that you might want to toast or possibly a pate lunch. That is rye bread behind the pate that looks like pate.

How did that lemon cheesecake get in there? The was souffle type cooked in a water bath before it cooled and deflated a little.

After the last white bread bake using the Pharaoh’s Mastaba, we went back to a 67% whole grain; rye and wheat bread with rye and wheat sprouts and a variety of add-ins and seeds including wheat germ, flax, coriander, pumpkin, hemp, rosemary, chia, cumin and red rye malt baked in another variation of the Chacon.

 The Chacon is quickly becoming a favorite bread shaping method.  It is a fun way to make bread with as many variations as one can conjure up and imagine.  This time we used a plain knotted roll in the middle of the basket and surrounded it with a plain two strand braid that was twisted (Twisted Sisters).  Then we added the remainder of the dough which contained all the add ins and sprouts as a disk to the top – which will become the bottom when tipped put of the basket.

This gave us a new but handsome boule shape that had no add-ins in the finish top and all the add-ins on the bottom.  It will be like having two different breads in each slice.

The Chacon came out of the basket easily and it slid into the mini oven, without slashing, just as well and onto my new ceramic tile / stone - which quickly broke when we threw water onit by accident before closing the door to steam.  No worries, the tile only cost 88 cents and I have 11 more of them.  In the back of the mini, we used Sylvia’s steaming method with a Pyrex 1 cup measure half full of water with dish rag in it.

 The stone worked well and the Chacon was very brown and crunchy when it came out of the oven and it smelled wonderful too.  The boule cracked at each twist of the sister and at the knot seams.  We just love the way the Chacon cracks almost exactly where we want it to and think it should instead of willy nilly.  

 The crumb shots and tasting will follow after the Chaon cools.  The formula and method follow the pix’s. 

 Method

The method was similar to our recent bakes with (3) - 4 hours each, 12 hour SD levain build.  This time it was not retarded overnight because we used some sliced onion in the build that made it smell more sour than normal.  The flours were autolysed with the wet and salt for 12 hours in the fridge too.  We have been adding the salt in with the autolyse recently and cannot tell any difference when we do it this way.  Forgetting to add the salt days are now over.

After soaking in water for 4 hours, we placed the seeds to be sprouted on 2 damp paper towels covered with another and wrapped in plastic on a plastic cutting board.  Half way through the 24 hour sprouting period, we re-dampened the top towel and covered it back up.  The seeds were sprouted in 24 hours. 

 We mixed the dough with the autolyse with the KA for 8 minutes on 2 and  2 minutes more on KA3.  The dough was then moved to an oiled, plastic covered bowl to rest for 15 minutes before doing 5 sets of S&F’s every 15 minutes on a floured work surface.  When the S&F’s were complete the dough was left to develop and ferment for 1 ½ hours before going into the fridge overnight for 8 hours.  In the morning the dough was allowed to come to room temperature over 1 ½ hours on the counter.

 The dough was then portioned into (3) 150 g pieces for the knotted roll and the 2 strand, ‘twisted sister’ braid.  In a rice floured basket the knotted roll went in first in the center, then the twisted sister went in around the knotted roll.  The remainder of the dough was flattened out gently and all the sprouts and add ins were incorporated.  Once the add ins were incorporated evenly, the remaining dough was shaped into a boule and allowed to rest for about 5 minutes until it had relaxed.

 It was then flattened into a disk the width of the basket and placed on top of the roll and braid to make the finished Chacon in 3 distinct sections.

 After a 2 hour proof it had passed the poke test and was ready for the mini oven stone and 12 minutes of steaming at 450 F regular bake.  The steam was then removed and the mini oven turned down to 425 F convection this time.  The Chacon was rotated 90 degrees every 5 minutes.

 After the 2nd rotation the oven was turned down to 400  F convection.  20 minutes after the steam was removed, the bread was done – 32 minutes total.  It was allowed to cool with the oven off and the door ajar for 10 more minutes before being moved to the cooling rack.

Found some Canadian durum attta in the Indian aisle at the Lee Lee’s Chinese grocery- real globalization at work.  The brand was Golden Temple.  The ‘atta’ makes this flour different than regular durum or semolina since it still has the bran in it.

We love the way the yellow durum flour softly colors the inside of white breads and gives the outside a rich brown hue.   This was more of a basic white bread with just a hint of rye and WW in the starter, levain build and dough at a total of 10%.  The durum makes up 47% of this bread with AP flour comes in at 43%.  The hydration was 73%.

 For some reason, probably because I froze it the week before,  the 33% each AP, rye and WW starter that we keep 80 grams of in the fridge, was weaker than normal so it was slow to build strength over the normal 12 hour, 3 stage, levain build.   Usually it is ready to go in 8 hours in the summer heat but it took a full 12 hours to double this time.  Maybe it didn’t like the white flour diet it hardly ever sees too.

Preheating and Sylvia’s steaming method went well but the dough stuck to the wooden articulating form and deflated as it released but it sprang back very nicely in the oven like a ciabatta.   I’m guessing poor forming and slashing caused the batard to split along the length of both of the long sides of the bottom - so the bloom at the slashes was pretty weak.

The crust browned nicely and came out of the oven slightly blistered and cracked.  The crust was very crispy when it came out of the heat and then softened as it cooled like a ciabatta. 

The crumb was a pale yellow shade due to the durum and it had some nice holes, was airy, soft and moist.

This is tangy SD bread that tastes good.  It will make some kind of fine sandwich for lunch.  Method and formula follow the pictures. 

Method

This was a 2 day build where the levain was built and the flours autolysed with the salt  in the fridge for 10 hours waiting for the 12 hour levain build to finish .  At the 10 hour mark the autolyse was removed from the fridge so it could come to room temperature over the next 2 hours.

When the levain was ready it was mixed with the autolyse by hand with a spoon, kneaded on a floured surface for 1 minute.  The dough was then placed in a covered oiled bowl to rest for 15 minutes.  

5 S&F’s  were done on an oiled work surface every 15 minutes and the dough allowed to rest in the covered oiled bowl between each one.  The dough was then allowed to ferment and develop for 1 ½ hours on the counter before being refrigerated overnight.

The dough was removed from the fridge in the morning and allowed to come to room temperature for 1 ½ hours.    It was then pre-shaped into a batard and allowed to rest for 10 minutes before final shaping.  The batard was placed into a rice floured wooden contraption and allowed to double in a plastic trash sack until it passed the poke test – about 3 hours – about an hour longer than normal due to the levain not being as active as normal.

The batard was removed from the wooden contraption by folding it flat and upturning the batard on to parchment and a peel.  We liked the Egyptian stepped mastaba shape (it almost nearly left) on the bread so much, we will call this forming articulating appliance  the ‘Pharaoh’s Mastaba.’

Sylvia’s steaming method was used in the 500 F mini oven using a 1 cup Pyrex measure, half full of water, with a face towel.  This apparatus was micro waved for 1 ½ minutes to get the water boiling before putting it onto the cold broiler top as batard was load on it and placed with the steaming cup into the oven.

4 minutes into the bake the temperature was turned down to 450 F and steaming continued to the 12 minute mark when the steam and parchment was removed and the temperature tuned down to 400 F convection this time.  The batard was rotated 180 degrees ever 5 minutes until the batard was done, 205 F inside temperature  – about 20 more minutes – 32 minutes total.

 The batard was left in the mini oven for 10 minutes with the oven turned off and door ajar to further crisp the skin before removing it to a cooling rack.

After baking my first variation of sweetbird’s Buckwheat SD and Apple Bread here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28081/dabrownman-butchers-sweetbird%E2%80%99s-lovely-buckwheat-apple-and-apple-cider-buckwheat-groat-br

I thought we would give it another go, since we butchered her lovely bread and also made an evil face with the boule,  by removing the hard cider and replacing it with the juice used to re-hydrate the dried apples and prunes and combining it with Phil's Sage and Walnut Rye.

 We added prunes, walnuts, a walnut oil paste, sage, chia, flax seed and wheat germ.  The buckwheat groats remained and were used with the apples and prunes as decoration for the loaf and well as add ins.

 The bread is 60% whole grain consisting of buckwheat, durum atta, rye, soft white wheat, WW, WWW, semolina and AP.   The hydration was 75%

 We made this bread 2 ways; in a loaf and as the ever popular Chacon.  The top of the loaf was decorated with buckwheat groats and the apple prune filling and the Chacon was left nakedly unadorned.

Both baked up nicely in the mini oven.  The crust was dark brown and crunchy going to chewy when cooled.   The exterior of both was appealing.  The crumb was ope, light, airy, moist and soft - just like the YW and SD combo bakes tend to be every time. 

This bread tastes great with the buckwheat, fruit and walnuts coming though  well with the hint of sage.  The SD tang is muted because of the YW and hanging out in the background.  We really like this bread and glad that we did another variation of it - without the ugly face!

Method and formula follow the pix's.

Chacon wedge shot of the ctrumb.

Made a great salami sandwich with veggies and fruits for lunch.

Method

Instead of our usual 3 day method we shortened it down to 24 hours.  The mixed YW and SD levain was built over two 4 hour builds and one 2 hour build and then it was added to the 2 hour autolyse of; flours, apple /prune re-hydration juice liquid and salt.

The dried apples and prunes were reconstituted in water overnight in the fridge and the excess water was squeezed out and used for the dough liquid.  The groats were micro waved in water for 1 minute and allowed to sit for 30 minutes.  The walnut and walnut oil paste was made.

Once the autolyse was complete the levain was added and hand kneaded to mix before being allowed to rest in an plastic covered oiled bowl for 15 minutes.  6 S&F’s were done every 12 minutes.  The first 2 were performed on a floured surface and the next 4 on a lightly oiled surface.  Before the 5th S&F the dough was rolled pout into large circle about ½” thick and the walnut and sage paste, buckwheat groats, walnuts and apple / prune add ins placed on top. ¼ C of AP flour was added to the apple / prune mixture to help dry it out some more and not affect the overall hydration of the dough..

The dough was placed back into the oiled bowl and allowed to ferment and develop for 1 ½ hours before refrigerating for 6 hours.  In the morning the dough was removed from the fridge and divided in half with the Chacon half going back in the fridge for another hour while the other half of the dough was formed into a loaf and placed into a PAM sprayed Pyrex loaf pan and allowed to rise in a plastic trash bag until doubled and passing the poke test about 2 hours.

After the additional hour in the fridge, the remainder of the dough was formed into a Chacon by making a knotted roll and placing it in the center of the folded round edges of the circular Chacon.  The Chacon was formed on a cutting board so it could be inverted into the rice floured basket placed on top.  Rice flour was also used to dust the top before being inverted into the basket.

The Chacon was placed into the plastic trash bag with the loaf and allowed to rise until doubled and passing the poke test.

 The mini oven was heated to 500 F regular bake and Sylvia’s steaming method using a wash cloth and 1 C Pyrex measure ½ full of water installed on the back of the oven after being micro waved until the water boils.  We decided to slash this loaf at the last minute and then steamed it in the mini oven for 12 minutes with the temperature turned down to 450 F at the 4 minute mark.  At the 12 minute mark the steam was removed and the temperature turned down to 425 F – convection this time.

The loaf was rotated 180 degrees every 5 minutes and it was removed from the pan at the first 5 minute rotation.  At the 32 minute mark the loaf was done, reading 205 F on the inside and allowed to dry in the off oven with door ajar for 10 minutes.  The loaf was them allowed to cool on a wire rack while the mini oven was steam prepared and preheated for the Chacon in the same way as the loaf.

The Chacon was removed from the basket by inverting it onto parchment paper with the perforated top of the broiler used as a baking tray.  The decoration of buckwheat groats, apple and prune fruits was added.  The same baking method was used for the Chacon as the loaf.

Boule and crumb.

We are continuing to discover a better method of summer baking in the Cuisinart mini oven.  This time we tried Sylvia’s steaming method by using a 1 cup Pyrex measuring  cup half full of water with a dish rag rolled up inside and microwaving it before putting it onto the preheated 500 F mini oven.

 No stone was used.  We think this steaming method is a good as covering the boule with a stainless mixing bowl and that both would be better with a stone.

 Even though the loaf was not slashed, since we managed forget to do so, I though for sure it would split somewhere but it only cracked down one side.  There wasn’t much spring - about an inch.  It browned up nicely though.  We love the color that durum brings to bread inside and out and about 50% of this bread was durum with the other 50% whole grains of various varieties with wheat germ and the flax ground.  The whole grains overpowered the yellow color of the durum with barn on the inside though.  This bread is much more about being a hearty multi-grain variety.

 The only slightly unique addition to this bread was using Vietnamese 902 Green Jasmine Tea for the liquid.  I just love Vietnamese jasmine tea and used one that is especially fragrant with jasmine blossoms. 

Boule crumb

 The crust was nicely browned and chewy after coming out of the oven very crusty.  The crumb was very moist and light and tastes very sour. It made a fine sammy and it was delicious as toast or plain.   I have noticed that, if YW and SD starters are mixed from the beginning of the levain build, the bread is less sour.  The boule sprang more than the loaf and the crumb was a little more open.

Loaf crumb

 This bread didn’t have the usual sprouts and pumpkin or sunflower seeds (since I also forgot to put the pumpkin seeds in) we like so well, but it is a very hearty and satisfying bread to munch on – until it is gone!  Formula and method follow:

Method

 The YW and SD levains were built separately this time and used 3 builds.  The first 2 builds for each were 4 hours apart and the levains were refrigerated overnight at the 8 hour mark right after the 3rd build as each had already doubled. 

 All mixing was done by hand.  The flours, ground flax seeds, wheat germ, chia seeds, salt and green tea with the salt were autolysed for 1 hour before the levains were added the next morning.   After mixing the levains in completely the dough was allowed to rest for 20 minutes.

 4 sets of S&F’s were done every 15 minutes.  The first 2 were done on a floured surface the last 2 in a well oiled, bowl.  The dough was rested in a plastic covered oiled bowl between the S & F’s.  The dough was allowed to ferment and develop on the counter for 1 ½ hours before retarding in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

 The dough doubled in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning the dough was divided in half and half returned to the refrigerator since it would be baked one hour after the first half.  The other half was allowed to come to room temperature for 1 hour and then pre-shaped into a loaf rested 10 minutes and final shaped into a loaf and placed into a Pyrex loaf tin and allowed to proof.  The other half of the dough went through the same process but shaped into a boule and placed into a rice floured basket to proof.

 After an hour and half the loaf had doubled, passed the poke test and ready to bake .  Sylvia’s steaming method was used with a wash rag heated in a half full Pyrex 1 cup measure in the microwave and the placed in the back of a 500 F preheated Cuisinart Mini Oven.  No stone was used.  The loaf was not slashed but was steamed  for 12 minutes and then the steam removed and the temperature turned down to 425 F convection this time.

 The bread was then rotated every 5 minutes until if reached 205 F internal and then was removed to the cooling rack with no extra crisping in an off oven.  After the first 5 minutes of convection baking the loaf was removed from the Pyrex loaf pan and baked directly on the rack. 

 A similar process was used for the boule except it was slashed and steamed on parchment paper on the top cover of the broiling pan for the first 12 minutes and then baked at 425 F directly on the rack.  The loaf took about 30 minutes of total baking time and the boule 3 minutes less.