trailrunner's blog

I have started feeding my levain with semolina. I had forgotten how much it loves it... grows so fast triples in a couple hours. This is another 1-2-3  tripled with additional water . I don’t measure but probably 100 g . The barley ,I think, is responsible for the incredible taste of the last bake and the color of the finished bread. Will report when it is cut. 

300g 100% hydration semolina fed levain

600g water ( no YW ) at least 100g extra to hydrate flour and salt and countertop

900 g mixed flours——- 100 g milled barley, 200g milled rye,  

 and 600g KA bread flour 

40g yogurt

60g honey

18 g salt

Mix all but salt just til wet. Let set one hour. Fold in salt misted with water using a large rubber spatula.  Place in PAM sprayed bucket and let rest 30 min. Dough turned out on wet counter patted out to huge rectangle about 1/2” thick. Dough very extensible and had gotten poofy in bucket. Folded up left to right like strudel then folded top over and bottom up and placed in bucket one hour. Removed and patted out again.... amazing gluten sheath at this point and dough very poofy. Same folding procedure and back in bucket for one hour. Barely 25% growth but very very light. Turned out onto floured counter divided two approx 900 g pieces. Lightly shaped by pulling in four sides to make boule and folding to make rough shaped batard and placed in banneton seam down. Covered and retarded 12 h. 

Pictures tell the rest. Graniteware roaster at 500 while oven preheats approximately 15 min. Bake 10 min at 500 covered then 10 min at 475 still covered then 25 min uncovered at 475. Ears and musical crackles . Stopped using ice cubes awhile back... not needed. Amazing gluten development with almost no hands on. Very little bulk proof. 

Fantastic oven spring. Followed my 1-2-3 tripled it so 300-600-900. Added some extra water along the way to enhance the feel of the dough. There is 100g of apple yeast water as part of the liquid. I had some barley grains so I used 50g of those and 100g of fresh  milled rye with 150g Red Fife and the rest Arrowhead Mills Unbleached. Dough was laminated 3x and I only let it room temp proof till it was about 50%. Same as last time I shortened the bulk proof due to the YW. I divided into roughly 2 pieces  900g boule and batard. Minimal shaping and baked " seam" side up ...I don't really do a seam. So pleased with the way these double levains are turning out. 

Nice easy very minimal hands on bread. 200g/400g/600g. The levain was built from leftovers after the lovely date pecan bake and 100 g of apple YW was used directly into the 400g of liquid along with 30g yogurt and 30g of honey. Two sets of lamination folds at 30 min apart and a bulk ferment for a couple hours cause I got busy and forgot! It tripled! Yikes. Quickly shaped and retarded. Again due to stuff it sat till supper time the next day . Baked the usual graniteware roaster 10 min covered 500 degrees, 5 min covered at 465 then 20 min uncovered. Unsurprisingly not a huge spring but the crumb is lovely  and creamy and very well developed subtle flavor profile. 

and ramacinata semolina. Ordered both flours. Amazing quality. The pasta is like yellow velvet. Helps that we had local double yolk eggs. Served with a pasta Fresca sauce. Fresh local tomatoes, caper berries chopped, my preserved Meyer Lemons diced, pancetta , a squeeze of anchovy paste, EVOO fresh basil and Parmesan grated on top. Toasted SD. 

A mouthful of a title...a la Dab !  This bread has evolved considerably from my initial bakes based on Shaio Ping's posts. The only liquid in the bake is the banana puree. I use two levains just because. I add figs and pecans..well just because. 

The dough is pretty sticky but after letting it set a couple hours  and doing a couple lamination folds it was like silk. I only did a short bulk ferment in a warm oven as it was getting late and I had started the whole process too late in the day. I divided and simply plopped them in  lightly floured bannetons. Covered and placed in the fridge. Baked cold from the fridge with very little discernible rise overnight.  

The bloom of the crust is typical of my loaves with the free-style non-shaping. The first loaf got a little darker than I would have liked but I modified the temp and loaf 2 is perfect. The Fragrance is almost more than a body can stand what with the YW, bananas and the caramel of the figs. I used a LOT of soaked/chopped figs. 

500g levain---250g rye levain from NMNF stash at 75% hydration and 250g white KA and Banana YW at 100% hydration

440g unbleached KA

90g fresh milled rye

110g Red Fife

500g very very ripe banana puree

70g date syrup ( you will find this in middle eastern stores)

70g yogurt

18g salt

lots of hydrated chopped figs ( I have used dates and raisins also) and pecans

Mix all but salt. Let set. Add salt by sprinkling on top of dough and spraying liberally with water. Cover.

Let this all set at least one hour. Flour your board and your hands and pat out the dough to a very flat rectangle. Gently lift and stretch and fold like apple strudel. Do this again and then place in PAM sprayed bucket. Leave for 30 min and repeat. If dough not holding shape do a third time. should be very silky and extensible. Distribute the dried fruit and nuts on the last lamination. 

Place in warm spot and leave an hour or so till beginning to puff up...about 25% rise . Remove and shape. Place in fridge. After 12-15hr. Preheat pan and bake. I use my Granite roaster and only do a short pre-heat at 500 just till oven is ready. Bake 10 min 500, 10min 475 ( modified for second bake and used 465) remove lid and bake 20-30 min more till 210 or so. 

Will post crumb tomorrow if I can wait that long !   

crumb:tastes lie the creamiest fig bread pudding ever! with a caramelized crust its almost too good!

Best yet with the method and formula that joze had posted....http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/56967/50-wholewheat-community-bake-jozes-version.

I took to heart the discussion on over-proofing during both bulk ferment and retard. I also retarded my YW levain. What I consider my somewhat less optimal postings to his thread have tasted fantastic !  As has been noted YW bakes  while fermenting and baking and then when eaten have the fragrance of a rich pastry/cake. I used my tomato YW in the first two bakes as discussed in the linked thread. I hadn't used a vegetable before. This bake used my 6 yr old apple YW. It is SO active and triples in just a couple hours at a warm temp. 

I got great bloom and ears and the fragrance is intoxicating. Will post a crumb pic when I let it cool . 

 pic just before baking. I have gone back to baking direct from the fridge....I am fortunate to have a dedicated refrigerator in the basement so I set it at " 7" which gave me a 47 F temp. for retarding. 

my trusty granite wear roaster. I put it in the oven at 500 and just let it  preheat till oven beeps ready. No extended preheat with this metal. I baked the 540g loaf at 500 lid on for 10min then lowered to 475 for 5 more min. Removed lid and finished at 475 for 15 min to 209 internal temp. 

crumb shots. Shattering thin crisp crust, very wheaty flavor and a beautiful crumb. No giant holes in spite of the huge bubbles and pillowing during the ferment stage but that's OK. 

Just getting back to baking after extended Spring vacation in Hawaii. 

600g bread flour

150g Red Fife

150g Kamut

100g AYW levain built using one time feed of flour to AYW and left in warm oven a couple hours. Was VERY active

100g Rye levain- did several builds over a few hours to get my 10g of stored starter active again. Left in warm oven all night. Stirred down the next morning and fed again and left for a few hours. 

550 g total liquid - 300g AYW + 250 H2O ( additional water on counter for s&f approx 50-100 g)

50g ground flax misted to moisten before adding to dough

20 g Kosher salt

Mixed everything but salt. Left in sunny window a couple hours. Did a couple stretch and folds added salt on first set then placed in bucket. Repeat this q30 min x 3. Bulk ferment till 75% took a couple hours in warm oven. Shaped and placed in fridge for about 16 hrs. Baked in hot roaster at 475 covered 25 min with 4 small pieces of ice. Removed cover and cont to bake 20 min. Really pretty crust due to Kamut and caramelization of the AYW. Very nice oven spring. Did my usual " no shaping" shaping. Left to crack and make ears as it will. Posting crumb later. 

well I am astounded at the results of this bake. Even more simple than any others of late. Small amount of  hands on involved and amazing oven spring for so little effort. Will post crumb later...having a dinner party in an hour so need to get scooting ! 

Refreshed Starter, 100% hydration*:  150 grams
Total Flour**:  485 grams 
Water:  330g 
Sea Salt:  11 grams

Borrowed this formula from Girl meets dirt a blog that is interesting if you want to take a look. 

I of course did some changes to the formula. I used a fresh ground young rye levain at some hydration . I don't keep track of how much flour or water I add. I just make it feel right when I stir it. I used all unbleached KA bread flour. I doubled all the amounts. Of the 660g total of water there was 200 g of AYW and 460 g H2O. I added  more water to get the mix as soft as I like it. All was stirred together except the salt and placed in the oven with light on. When it was puffy in about 2 hrs. I took it out and folded in the salt with misted water at several intervals as I added the salt. Since 1 tsp adds 1 percent of hydration who knows how much I had :) ? I then set the dough back in the oven with light on. After one hour I took it out and did one s and f. It was pretty wet so I was glad I floured the board. Put it all back for another hour. Did one more s and f. Felt like it needed more time so set it back again. Was almost at double by then. Took it out and did one gentle s and f and included some ground flax seeds. Not toasted or soaked and probably only about 25g since I am experimenting with them. Made a batard and one boule....thought better of it and cut 300g off the batard and made a baby boule . Placed in banneton and directly in fridge. Baked in 500 degree preheated granite ware roaster. 500 degrees 10 min with 4 ice cubes ( note I have doubled the amount) tossed under the paper lid on.  475 degrees 10 min lid on. And then 20 min 475 lid off. Temp 212. This is my first loaves in forever with this much white. So we shall see the crumb etc. 

baby boule 

Basically the same process as the last bake. So little hands on that it is amazing to see what the dough becomes with just time and two s and f's. The one thing I will change is I won't be doing a bulk ferment any longer. I remember why I hate having to wait around for the dough to get warmed up and risen before baking. I will shape and retard in the banneton.  I like baking the cold dough as it is so easy to get out of the banneton. Other than that I won't change any of the technique . It all went flawlessly. 

I found a way to add cinnamon without placing it in the dough. I don't soak my dried fruit but I do mist it several times as I am working in the kitchen and keep it covered to get it hydrated. This time I misted and also tossed it with 8grams of cinnamon. Wow...the fragrance!  I stole a piece of raisin off one of the loaves and it tastes great. It doesn't get the flavor all through the loaf but I do have pockets of sweet cinnamony goodness now in the bread. 

500g KA bread flour

250g Red Fife flour

250g Kamut

400g Spelt levain 100% hydration ( added more flour and water to leftovers from yesterday and let it go about 4 hrs - young levain) 

320g milk ( I didn't have fresh so made double strength powdered milk ) 

50g maple syrup

50g yogurt

320 g Banana Yeast Water

20g Kosher salt

8g cinnamon on about 250g  diced dried figs and crimson raisins and hydrated by misting. 

Mixed flours, milk and YW  ,syrup and yogurt . Used as few strokes as needed to hydrate all. Covered and set in warm 80 degrees F oven. Left till puffy. about 3 hrs. Folded in damp salt with few strokes and then folded in all levain. Covered and left in same 80 degree F oven till quite puffy about 3 hrs. Removed and did 2 s and f. On the last S and F folded in the fruit. Placed in oiled bucket and left overnight. More than doubled. Removed and shaped cold using the pinch a seam method , nothing more. Took about 2 1/2 hrs to rise up. Bake preheated for 15 min  roaster at 500 -10 min covered, 475-10 min covered and 475- 20 min uncovered. Threw in 2 icecubes at the start. 

crumb

banana yeast water

young spelt levain

folding levain into dough

about 50% done folding

after the dough with levain has rested 

turned out dough on floured counter ready for s and f

after 1 fold 

after 2 folds 

macerated dried fruit

after retarding in bucket all night cold 34 degree F refrigerator

shaped cold loaves ready to rise 

risen and ready to bake

turned out of banneton ready to bake 

baked loaf

Well the pics tell the story but here goes for some more details. 

350g very very young spelt levain 100%( fermented only about 4-5 hrs) 

660g KA bread flour

90g Kamut

50g fresh milled rye

22g Kosher salt

20g maple syrup/20g yogurt

500g water ( 300g apple yeast water 200g water) 

I put all the flour and the yogurt and maple syrup with the  YW/Water mix together with just enough spatula work to get it wet. Placed covered bowl in the oven with the light on and door propped a bit open so warm but not too warm. Left it several hours till puffy and the young levain was also puffy and full of bubbles. A note about this. I took the  160 g water and 160g  spelt flour and added it to 18 grams very firm rye starter from my NMNF cache. I did not do multi feedings I did nothing...mixed it and set it in the warm oven with the bowl. 

I removed the bowl and sprinkled the salt on the dough and sprayed it till quite damp with water. I then did about 30-40 gentle turns with the spatula just to get it folded in. I folded in the levain using just enough gentle turns to get it mixed in. I then covered the bowl and placed it back in the warm oven. I waited a couple more hours. You can see the bubbles on the dough. I scraped it out onto a well floured counter. I did two s and f one right after the other....that was it...Nothing, absolutely nothing else. I placed it in the oiled container and DID NOT leave it out anymore. I placed it directly in a cold fridge. You can see it easily doubled and more by this morning.

I removed  the cold dough from the container. Divided into two 800g pieces. The rolls were barely shaped while cold  to preserve the puffiness so somewhat free-form. The batard was also barely touched. It was cold and all I did was lightly sprinkle the seam side with coarse rye flour . I then pinched the seam together. No preshape, no rest, no shaping at all. Just folded the edges together and pinched. Placed seam side down in rice/flour banneton. Plastic bag and into the oven with light on and the pan of rolls. Left to rise one hour. Baked the rolls first at 500 for 10 min and 475 for 10 min. They are brushed with egg yolk/half and half and sesame seeds sprinkled on. Misted a couple times with water in first 10 min. They are amazing...had a ham and cheese on one and husband had house cured pastrami from our son...so yum !! The batard was baked in my trusty roaster that was preheated 10 min at 500.Loaf turned out on parchment and lowered into hot roaster.  Loaf baked with two  ice cubes for steam thrown in bottom of hot pan for 10 min at 500 lid on, 10 min at 475 lid on and 20 min lid off. 

Crumb shot of bread will be tomorrow...I am taking it to our Buddhist meditation get together. I hope this lenghty description will help to further the " almost no hands on" technique of gluten development. It has certainly converted me. There is no reason to do much of anything. Nature takes its course with little interference. I have a fig/raisin banana yw that will have cinnamon in it to see how that does with the no hands treatment. More to come tomorrow. 

after the salt and levain were added and it rested in a warm oven....you can see the bubbles in the dough

after only two stretch and folds 

into bucket for the night

wow...look at that dough growth all in the fridge...no room temp time at all

out of tub onto floured counter ready to divide

batard in banneton seam down

batard ready to be turned out after 1 hr rising

you crack me up...

wow....what BIG ears you have :) 

rolls risen and glazed and ready for oven

rolls baked 

roll crumb