Elsie_iu's blog

I have a sudden fondness for coffee flavored baked goods lately. Nowadays, people pair cheese with not only wine and beer, but also coffee. Since wine, beer and coffee bread already exists, there’s no reason not to upgrade it by adding cheese, right? :)  

Coffee Provolone Piccante SD with 30% Sprouted Black Quinoa

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 28 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 5 hours (24°C).

Make the coffee concentrate by brewing the coarse grind coffee in the hot water. After 5 minutes, filter the solution and discard the residue. Keep refrigerated until needed.  

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the cheese. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark. Fold in the cheese by a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 9 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

This loaf has a moderately open crumb. Its crust is particularly thin and crispy because of the milk fat. The cheese also gives the crumb a pleasantly chewy mouthfeel. 

Err isn't this kind of scary looking...? 

The coffee flavor is rather subtle in this bread. It acts as a complement to the quinoa, intensifying its nuttiness. The savory taste of provolone, sweetness of grains and sourness of coffee & SD contribute to a well-rounded sensory profile. 

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Korean Gochujang stir fried chueng fun with tuna & Blue Stilton

Garlicky capellini with brussel sprouts, mushrooms and shrimps

Pork, water chestnut & scallion dumplings in seaweed Jinhua ham broth

Scallion & Provolone pancakes with tuna cream cheese

Greek moussaka x Italian lasagna (pressure cooked pulled lamb in spiced tomato sauce, noodle sheets, sliced eggplants & cream cheese)

Homemade pork sausage in porcini mushroom gravy, with sautéed brussel sprouts and Pecorino masa “polenta”

Thai yellow chicken curry, glass noodles with shrimp oil, caramelized kabocha squash, tomatoes & scallops, shrimp paste sautéed assorted mushrooms and cabbages, and plain steamed Thai rice

Scallion white, garlic, sesame, seaweed & Provolone pizza with a wasabi honey glaze (SD scallion green crust)

No. You didn’t read that wrong. This bake was inspired by the delicate, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits from Macau. I had no intention to put almonds or seaweed in the dough at first. Yet when the grains were being milled, the aroma of roasted nuts filled the kitchen. It totally blew my mind! Ahem, I came so close to adding pork floss to the dough. 

Macau Almond Cookie SD

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 6 hours (24°C).
Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 33 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients. 

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the almonds. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark. Fold in the nuts by a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 8 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

It had been a while since the starter was refreshed so it was rather inactive. The dough appeared sluggish that it struggled to rise. You can see that the crumb is on the dense side. Microbes can’t be rushed. I should have known this by now…

Nut lovers would go nuts over this bread. It tastes and smells like roasted nuts & seeds. The toasted buckwheat intensifies the nutty aroma undoubtedly. With the addition of Anonori, this loaf is bursting with umami flavor.

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Homemade gnocchi with kipper & garlicky spinach

Garides Tourkolimano (Greek shrimp) with 50% mixed grain SD pita

Gobi (cauliflower) chicken Makhani with SD naan

XO sauce fried cheung fun (Chinese rice noodle rolls) with Chinese sausage

Homemade noodles with mushrooms & sugar snap peas in a coconut cream sauce

Pressure cooked lamb shank with mushrooms, bean curd sticks & carrots (Chinese fermented red bean curd seasoned). So good...

Top blade steak chili, oven fried BBQ drumettes, seared scallops with sweet potato fries, Yorkshire pudding, Sautéed brussel sprouts & radishes with toasted walnuts, and pepper rice pilaf      

See? The chili wasn't burnt! 

And lastly, two green bread for Christmas: 

Matcha bagels (30% rye & Red Fife)

Basil pesto SD (40% atta)

Happy New Year to all! 

I realized that I’ve been less experimental in baking recently. Today, cheesy herby bread is making a strong comeback!

Blue Stilton Tarragon SD with Sprouted Quinoa & Buckwheat

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 32 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 7 hours (21.5°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the Stilton. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark. Fold in the cheese by a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 10 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

There wasn’t much oven spring, probably because the dough was already 100% proofed. The crumb turned out moderately open for the grains used. The melted cheese created extra pockets that mimic air holes too :)

I like the combination of spicy, savory Blue Stilton and sweet, vanilla-scented tarragon. The sprouted quinoa and buckwheat make the bread noticeably nutty. Since the buckwheat was left untoasted, the subtle sweetness of the grains can shine through. Thanks to the cool temperature, there is little sourness in this bread.    

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Cod tikka with paniyaram

Capellin & marinated egg glass noodles salad

Tomato mushrooms capellini with pickled herrings

Pickled herring ceviche with blue corn tortilla chips 

Garlicky shrimp & corn fried rice

Lamb okra keema with rava upma

Brussel sprouts carbonara with crisped pancetta

Chicken, wood ear mushrooms & cilantro dumplings

Fried egg topped spiced rice

Smoked herring, caramelized mushrooms & cabbages, and pickled red onion wrap

BBQ mushroom SD pizza

Honey roasted chicken & corn-flakes-crusted, baked Scotch eggs

Mace-spiced 30% emmer purple sweet potato SD 

It’s been a month since I last posted… That's why there are bunch of food photos to share! To save time, I didn't type out the bread formulae. Do let me know if you want them though. Updated: Formula for the Kabucha SD now uploaded.

Kabocha Sourdough 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 6 hours (26°C). 

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except the salt and levain. Autolyze for 4 hours. 

Using Rubaud mixing, incorporate the levain and salt at the 0 minute mark and 15 minute mark respectively. Construct a set of lamination at the 30 minute mark. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Freeze it for 1 hour before retarding in the fridge for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

Extremely soft and sweet…

40% Red Fife, 30% each sprouted red quinoa and durum:

Very aromatic and has a balance of sweetness and acidity

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Thai turmeric fried rice with currants and cashews

Porcini risotto with grilled chicken thigh

Fermented napa cabbage & tofu stir fry with plain steamed rice and a marinated soft boiled egg

Broccoli corn cream cheese rice pilaf with seared lamb chops

Grilled chicken breast tacos (75% masa harina, 25% atta) with corn & black bean salsa

Korean fried rice with a fried egg

Corn risotto with pan-fried cod

Broiled capelin with rava upma and ghee roasted carrots & potatoes

Miso poached mackerel, braised kabocha, marinated soft boiled eggs, pickled daikon radishes, pork cartilages in a black vinegar glaze, chestnut sesame rice, and sautéed veggies with sweet onions   

100% Kamut Kabocha pancakes

I know it’s getting very cold in places but here in HK, it’s only starting to feel like fall :)

This is my second einkorn loaf. The first was baked roughly half a year ago when my friend kindly offered me some einkorn berries to try out. It left me with the impression that einkorn makes a slack and sticky dough that weakens with time. For some reason, the experience isn’t quite the same this time. 

50% Einkorn Sourdough

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 28 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 4 hours (28.5°C). Roughly combine all dough ingredients. Ferment for a total of 4 hours. Construct a set of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark respectively. Do a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 10 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

My hand shook while I was pouring the water into the flour… Oops... The dough was thus a bit too wet than I’d like. After the first round of mixing, it was still quite slack with little gluten development. However, it gained strength on its own as time went by. There was little, if any, stickiness too.

The oven spring wasn’t massive so my expectation wasn’t high. Miraculously, the crumb is rather open compared with my other whole grain bakes. It’s even more confounding when you consider that it’s 50% einkorn (of which more than half is sprouted!) and 50% white wheat. Both are grains that tend to produce weak dough.

Some people don't like einkorn but I personally find it quite tasty. It's got a very distinctive coconut taste that there's no way to mix it up with another grain. This bread is moderately sweet and sour.

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Rolled oat & moong dal khichdi with baked capelin and caramelized carrots

Porcini mushroom, Jinhua ham & tomato rice pilaf with melted Reblochon

Tomato cream tuna rigatoni with king oyster mushrooms & shaved Gruyère

Pressure-cooked lamb shank Pho

Spicy black beans & rice with garlic ghee grouper

Squid biryani with garlicky cabbage & potatoes

Honey glazed pork chop 

Macau Portuguese chicken with egg fried rice, HK-style Bolognese with mushrooms, honey roasted sweet potatoes, and soy sauce braised veggies 

50% blue emmer SD ciabatta

30% durum scallion SD bagels

 This week we have two brightly coloured loaves: one yellow and one purple.

30% Sprouted Kamut & Rye Sourdough

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 20 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 5 hours (28.5°C). Roughly combine all dough ingredients. Ferment for a total of 5 hours. Construct a set of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 30 and 40 minute mark respectively. Do a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Retard for 10 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2hours before slicing.

The dough wasn’t very proofy by the end of the bulk. I thus skipped the brief freezing and go for the fridge retard directly. It turned out to be a wise decision as the dough was quite well-proofed. There was decent oven spring and the crumb is pretty nice too.

This bread is relatively sweet unsurprisingly. It does have some acidity though, which is desirable in my opinion. This might be attributed to the extended bulk.

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Purple bread inspired by Ian :)

Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough

You can’t any get sweeter “white” bread than this one. The sweet potatoes produce not only a beautiful purple colour, but also an extraordinarily soft and moist crumb. Definitely qualifies as a dessert in my book! 

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Korean pancake with squid & scallion

Mixed veggies & shrimp glass noodles with shrimp paste

Peach braised chicken drumsticks in glazed white wine tarragon sauce, Parchment oven steamed lemon thyme grouper, vinegary yellow peppers & mushrooms, rice pilaf in beef broth, green beans with caramelized onions, and caramelized purple sweet potatoes & carrots

Thai sticky ribs, Mee Siam Kuah (Malaysian aromatic shrimp broth with rice noodles), sautéed veggies in preserved Chinese mustard green, and cold shredded potato salad

Life’s been a bit busy so I’m only sharing some food photos today.

Halloumi gassi with paniyaram (yes, paneer not Halloumi is used traditionally)

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes with plain jasmine rice. My kind of comfort food :)

Pan-fried garlic chive pork dumplings

Calamarata in a simple tomato sauce with crisped Spanish chorizo

Garlicky white wine spaghetti with cabbages, shimeji mushrooms and capelin, with a generous handful of Provolone Piccante. Trust me, it's good

Cheesy Mexican rice with pan-seared chicken thigh. Extra spicy!

Korean stir fried homemade udon with fishcakes

Clams in miso broth, fried seasoned chicken, Beef Bulgogi, braised soya beans, garlic chive salad, braised potatoes, stir-fried cabbages with corn & seasoned fried tofu skin, and plain Japanese rice

10% each durum, kamut & rye SD

30% each sprouted white wheat, Red Fife & spelt, 10% rye SD, with 25% halloumi and 3% white sesame seeds

30% sprouted durum, 20% sprouted buckwheat & 50% kamut SD    

100% atta scallion pancake with shrimp oil, Sichuan peppercorn and white pepper

Happy baking, cooking and eating! 

 Bread with bold flavours wanted this week.

25% Germinated Red Rice 15% Sprouted Rye Sourdough

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 30 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients. I used it after 3 hours and it wasn’t quite ready (28.5°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients. Ferment for a total of 5 hours. Construct a set of Rubaud mixing for 3 minutes at the 30 and 40 minute mark respectively. Do a set of lamination at the 50 minute mark. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Freeze for 20 minutes before retarding for 16 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

Oh well, that hole...

The oven spring was quite decent for a loaf with 40% rye and red rice. I find lamination really useful in improving dough strength in weak dough. It makes a real difference that can be obviously felt.

This bread tastes pretty sweet, comparable to sprouted kamut/durum bread. Sprouting seems to have tamed the acidity of rye. Usually I get noticeably sourer bread even with 10% rye but the acidity isn’t very pronounced this time. I suspect this is owing to that a very young levain was used as well.

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Falafel tacos

Nasi lemak with an Italian & Japanese twist… Risotto-like coconut rice with a Japanese style soft-boiled egg

Cheesy egg omelette served over rava pilaf

Garlicky linguine with shrimps, mushrooms and green beans. Topped with provolone piccante :)

Chicken enchiladas in 3 chili sauce, spiced grouper with sautéed cauliflowers, green peppers & onions, pan-grilled corn with pickled cucumber, black bean rice pilaf, and stir fried veggies

White bread of the week: 30% amaranth 10% sprouted rye & white wheat

A bit under-proofed... Again

Last weekend, I continued testing the new method to see the potential it has. The best way to do so is mixing up a relatively weak dough with higher proportion of sprouted grains. That’s why half of the flour is sprouted in this loaf.

50% Sprouted Spelt & Red Wheat Sourdough

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 27 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 5 hours (29.5°C). Roughly combine all dough ingredients. Ferment for a total of 4 hours or until quite proofy. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 10 and 20 minute mark. Do a set of lamination at the 30 minute mark. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Freeze the dough for 25 minutes then retard in the fridge for 10 hours.
Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 27 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients. 

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

Since time was short, I was forced to shorten the rest. Consequently, the gluten network wasn’t as developed as I had hoped. That said, the dough was still considerably stronger and more extensible than other 50% sprouted dough I worked with in the past.

I figured that the dough was a bit under-proofed… There wasn’t adequate strength from both the gas and gluten when I shaped it. This might explain the flattened dough. The crumb is pretty nice though, it’s no doubt more open when compared with my past attempts.

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Smoked duck breast (In case you’re wondering… Yup, of course I discarded the skin!) with spicy rice pilaf

Pressure cooked pulled lamb shank with 3 Mexican chilis, made into tacos (75% masa harina 25% atta, because... I ran out of the former... Yet I actually prefer this version to 100% corn tortillas) and topped with fresh pineapples and pickled red onions

Sweet & sour rice noodles with Chinese sausages, eggs, enoki mushrooms, leek and pickled Chinese bulbous onion

Spanish chorizo & mozzarella pizza (50% semola), mung bean hummus with fermented daikon radish, grilled zucchini & toasted hazelnuts, lasagna (pressure cooked all beef meatballs in herby tomato sauce, garlicky mashed potatoes, mozzarella & provolone piccante), enoki mushroom pork rolls with a Japanese brown sugar glaze, Pan grilled cauliflowers in a mustard sauce & topped with raisins, and roasted cauliflower leaves (our addiction)

Since I started working with white dough, I’ve come to recognize the importance of gluten development in bread. Whole grain dough tends to be stiffer even when fully hydrated, which gives a delusion that dough mixing is neglectable. Wrong. I was so wrong! Two rounds of 3 minute mixing and 1 set of lamination contributed enormous elasticity and extensibility. The dough felt completely different and it does show in the crumb.

30% Sprouted Sorghum SD

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 27 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients. 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until ready, about 5 hours (29.5°C). Roughly combine all dough ingredients. Ferment for a total of 4 hours (27.8°C) or until quite proofy. Construct 2 rounds of 3 minute Rubaud mixing at the 20 and 30 minute mark. Do a set of lamination at the 40 minute mark. 30 minutes before shaping, do a set of coil fold. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton directly. Freeze the dough for 30 minutes then retard in the fridge for 9 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 20 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let it cool for a minimum of 2 hours before slicing.

Sorghum tastes pretty mild. Not really much to be excited about. It makes the crumb a tad dense and dry as well… It’s too early to judge though. Let’s see how it performs in wheat/spelt dough later.

Last week’s bread. No freezing and thus slightly over-proofed.

 
Collapsed in the oven 

Because of the increased extensibility, there’s a higher tendency for the dough to spread out in the oven. Letting it become quite proofy before shaping improves its strength. Yet, this leads to another problem of over-proofing… Freezing it briefly before the retard helps solve the issue by lowering the dough temperature.

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Korean japchae topped with a fried egg

Garlicky linguine with salmon & brussel sprouts

Scrambled eggs with shrimps & Stir fried leeks and cabbages with steamed rice

Spicy grilled chicken breast with pan grilled zucchini & bell peppers, and potato rosti

Dry brined

Shrimp & spicy chorizo paella, rutabaga & leek casserole, pressure cooked pork chop braised in a tomato-carrot-onion-caperberry sauce, and pan grilled asparagus & brussel sprouts with boiled eggs & diced red peppers

Tomato herb (rosemary & thyme) soft bread

Huge thanks to my friend who kept bugging me to work the dough more :)