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This past holiday season was kinda crazy - a cross country move, a trip back to China, a new job, a new place to live, etc. etc. I did still squeeze in some holiday baking though, well, actually I only baked one holiday bread: the Francesco Elmi Traditional Sourdough Panettone I posted before, however I baked that bread many times. So many times that not only my friends and relatives around US and Canada got to taste it, I even carried 3 loaves back to China last month! Boy, did they go over well. My friends in China were nuts over it. It's not something commonly seen over there.

Even after New Year, I had another batch to make for Chinese New Year (coming up this weekend) as gifts. This time, I want to try something new, something better. But how to improve on perfection? Well, chocolate of course! Lots and lots of 70% Valrhona dark chocolate, in extravagantly big chunks. Oh Yeah.

The original recipe is from here (a google translated Italian baking forum post), I stuck pretty close to the original, but replaced raisins with more chocolate. In this formula, butter ratio is 48%, and yolk ratio is 41%, slightly less than the Francesco Elmi version (53% and 50% respectively), but the extra cocoa and chocolate make up for the richness.

I love sourdough panettone for it's complex flavor profile: richness from all the butter and yolk, with slightly sour note from the stater lingering in the background. In this version, dark chocolate adds another level of flavor, making the bread even more decadent and complex. With a thorough kneading, and proper(very long) fermentation, the crumb is tenderly soft, yet still a little "bouncy".

Two kinds of toppings: one was the chocoalte glaze from AB&P, the other one was scoring and hiding butter pieces underneath (from the forum post), both turned out delicious.

Even after stuffing more dough into the paper moulds than I should (1000g should be perfect, but I kept adding 1100g of dough into each mould because I want my friends to have more delicious breads to taste), I had some dough leftover. It turned out that <200g of dough was perfect for my Chinese cube pullman tin (baked with cover).

Wrapped up and ready to be shipped. This is probably the last batch this year. Time to get some rest and figure out what to do with 100+ egg whites I have in the freezer!

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I am glad that my post on laminated sandwich loaves got a lot of interests, here's a variation on that formula. Changes I made this time:
1) In the main dough I used 103g of ww flour and 258g of bread flour, rather than 361g of bread flour, which brings the ww ratio to be 20% for total formula.
2)Did two folds (one 4-fold followed by a 3-fold), rather than 3 folds (one 4-fold followed by 2 3-folds)
3)Used differnt tins. For the "golden brick tin" (which is quite common in China), I used 3 groups of braids, each group weighted 120g (for all 3 strands together).
Before proofing

After proofing

For my new mini Chinese pullman pan, I used one group of braid, weighting 225-250g for all 3 strands together.
Before proofing

After proofing

Everything else remained the same, the mini loaves were baked uncoverd.

The "golden brick" was baked covered, to create ...well a brick. One less folding lead to less layers, but each layer is more dinstinct. BTW, the folden brick loaf needs to be cooled on its side like below to avoid sinking on the top.

Crumb is still very open, but one less fold lead to less holes, but each hole was larger. Apparently the "industry standard" for such breads only require two folds (4-fold and 3 fold like what I did for this variation), but some customer (including me) prefer the more even crumb of the 3 folds process. 20% of ww flour does bring an extra dimention to the flavor profile, I like it better than the all white flour version.

Had some extra dough in the end, so I just divided them into 3 strands, made a braid, rolled up, and dumped into the copper tin in the picture below. It turned out much better than I expected!

This style of bread is easier than croissants and danishes since the final dough doesn't need to be rolled out as thin. The trick is to figure out how much dough to use for your particular tin, and how to group and arrange the braids.

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It all started with a trip to my neighborhood organic market. My first time there, and I was quite disappointed actually, way overpriced (Whole Foods seemed practically frugal in comparison), and the selection is just OK. However they did have Poilane Miche straight from Paris, which ended up being my only purchase from there. It was sold by quarters, but I did get a sense of how large the bread is. Crumb is fairly dense, but full of flavor, a bit more sour than what I usually bake. Crust is not hard or crispy, due to the packaging and shipping time I assume. 

Inspired, I decided to bake a miche of my own. Still went with the SFBI formula I used before (posted here), which was originally posted by David (here). I did do a few things differently:
1) Instead of a blend of ww and AP flour, I used Golden Buffalo, which is an organic high extraction flour.
2)Instead of a white starter, I used my rye starter, which is VERY active and flavorful.
3)Instead of bakion on the stone with steam, I baked it in my large Staub cast iron pot. Preheated at 500F for nearly one hour, slash, load the loaf, cover, bake at 450F for the first 20min, remove lid, lower temp to 430F, bake for another 40min, turn off oven, open the oven door a little, leave the loaf (in the pot) in oven for another 20min before taking out.
4)My cast iron pot is oval so I shaped the dough into a batard, which is not the "usual" shape for miche
5)The scoring was borrowed from breadsong's post here, thank you so much!
Everything else remained the same, including the 2KG size, as well as fermentation/proofing schedule.

I really like how the scoring showed up

Such large loaves tend to flatten out on the baking stone, but in a pot, it had a very tall profile

A side by side comparison of the crumb between my miche and Poilane. The texture look kinda similar, but taste different: my miche (upper left) is less sour, has a more "sweet" taste than Poilane (lower right). I really liked the use of rye starter, it adds another dimension to the flavor profile.

I don't know which day the Poilane Miche was baked and shipped, but by the time I was eating it, it was a tad dry. I kept my miche wrapped for 24 hours before cutting in, and it tasted the best after 48 hours. Hmmm, I don't think I will go to that merket again, if I were to buy Poilane Miche again, I would get it in Paris, when its flavor is at the prime.

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Continuing with my obession for laminated dough...

Unlike the laminated sandwich loaf  I made last time, these cheese danishes are definitely all American. The dough I used was very similar to the laminated sandwich loaf, with a tad less liquid to make the crumb layers more crisp. Since these are meant to be snacks, the dough is richer than croissants, also uses more roll-in butter. However, the lamination process is exactly the same as croissants: 3 book folds, and roll out to about 4mm thickness.

Laminated Sandwich Loaf (Adapted from many different sources)
Note: for details and tips on making croissants, please see this post
Note: this recipe makes about 930g of dough, about 12 large danishes.

-levain
starter (100%), 44g
water, 75g
bread flour, 134g

1. mix and leave at room temp for 12 hours.

-final dough
bread flour, 361g
milk, 135g
egg, 77g
sugar, 60g
salt, 10g
instant yeast, 7g
butter, 41g, softened
levain, all
roll-in butter, 310g

-cheese filling
recipe here

1. make the dough following the procedure illustrated here in this post
2. Cut the dough into 4.5X4.5inch squares, and shape into half pockets or full pockets by folding two or four corners into the center

10. Proof at around 27C until more than double and layers are visible, about 3-4 hours in my case. If seal opened during proofing, press corners back into the center, and press down to seal well. Sqeeze cheese filling in the middle and decoreated with blueberries.

11: Bake at 425F for 10min, lowered to 375F and bake until done, about 15 min more.

Shattering crispy layers and decadently rich flavor

Gotta say I am usually not a big fan of store bought danishes which often are doughy, flavorless, and too sweet. However, these really rock!

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Don't get me wrong, they are all delicious, I just love this 36 hr SD baguette formula and its endless variations. However, some favorites just jump out from time to time.

1) Recent favorite: Almond meal baguette

AP Flour, 425g
ice water, 325g
almond meal(I recommend to grind them yourself, the store bought almond meal usually is less flavorful and too fine), 100g
salt, 10g
white starter (100%) 150g

-Mix flour, almond meal, icewater, and autolyse for 12 hours.
-Mix in salt, starte, then follow the basic 36 hour sourdough baguette formula here.

A lot of cakes and cookies use almond meal to enhance flavor and texture, it does the same thing here. So fragrant!

Goes well with both savory and sweet fillings. I plan to try nuts other than almonds too. A big hit.

2)With black olives. Lots of them.

AP Flour, 425g
ice water, 325g
black olives, 100-150g
salt, 10g
white starter (100%) 150g

-Mix flour, almond meal, icewater, and autolyse for 12 hours.
-Mix in salt, starte, then follow the basic 36 hour sourdough baguette formula here.

I planned to only use about 100g of olives, but "accidentally" dumped whatever is left all into the dough, probably more than 150g. That's why olives were practically bursting out of the seams. Tasted great though, a happy "accident".

The crazy amount of olives affected the crumb a bit, but not too bad.

3) With dried mushroom
AP Flour, 425g
ice water, 325g
dried mushroom, 50g
salt, 10g
rye starter (100%) 150g

-Soak mushroom in warm water for 5-10min. Add enough ice water, so that the weight of mushroom+water is 325+50=375g. Mix in flour and autolyse for 12 hours.
-Mix in salt, starte, then follow the basic 36 hour sourdough baguette formula here.

I love mushroom flavor, so I love this variation, even though wet and sticky mushroom does make the crumb less open, somewhat.

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After weeks of driving, moving, and settling down, I've finally gotten my new kitchen more or less in order and ready to start baking/bloging again. Loving everything about Seattle so far, the active lifestyle, the urban living environment in downtown, the seafood, the "green" mentality -- I even like the grey weather! It's good for making laminated dough... :P

Now back to bread, this is a very Asian bread, I don't think I have seen anything similar in a western bakery. It's essentially the love child of Danish and Asian Style Soft Sandwich bread, inheriting the best qualities of both parties: nice and crispy on the outside, soft inside, and full of buttery goodness. While still a laminated dough, in order to rise high in the sandwich tin, it differes from croissants(tips here) and traditional danishs in following ways:
1. For croissants and danishs, we usually keep the dough fairly dry to ensure crisp and clean layers. While more kneading would make layers seperate more, resulting in a better crumb, we usually don't knead the dough to fully developement for the ease of rolling out. However, Asian style soft sandwich breads need to be kneaded very well to pass a very thin and strong windowpane test, otherwise the bread volume would suffer, and the texture won't be shreaddably soft (see details here). For this bread, we do knead the dough well (similar to other Asian style soft sandwich breads). In the mean time, the dough is kept pretty wet to have more extensibility, which make it possible to roll out.
2. Since the dough is fairly wet, and shaping procedure is different from traditional croissants, we don't expect as many honeycomb-like holes in the crumb, instead, crumb just need to be fairly even and open. In the mean time, the final dough doesn't need to be rolled out very thin (15mm instead of 4mm for croissants). For those reasons, the amount of roll-in butter is considerably less than croissants.
3. While for this particular batch in the first photo, I did one 4-fold, and two 3-folds, but this bread usually requires less folding than croissants. The most common method is one 4-fold, and one 3-fold, which I tried in another batch with good result.
In summary, since the dough requires less folds, and doesn't need to be rolled out very thin, it's an easier laminated dough than croissants and danishes. However, it does have different challenges: the intensive kneading to full developement, the final shaping which requires concise cutting and weighing, as well as braiding.

Laminated Sandwich Loaf (Adapted from many different sources)
Note: for details and tips on making croissants, please see this post
Note: for tips on kneading soft sandich loaves see this post
Note: this recipe makes about 930g of dough, less or more depending on how much you trim off the edges etc.

-levain
starter (100%), 44g
water, 75g
bread flour, 134g

1. mix and leave at room temp for 12 hours.

-final dough
bread flour, 361g
milk, 145g
egg, 77g
sugar, 60g
salt, 10g
instant yeast, 7g
butter, 41g, softened
levain, all
roll-in butter, 245g

1. Mix everything other than butter, knead until gluten starts to form. Add in butter, mix until fully developed. see this post for details.

2. Round, press flat, put in fridge immediately for 2 hours.
3. Make butter block, put in fridge for at least one hour before using.  Take out the dough, roll out, and enclose butter. (see this post for details)
4. Roll out to 20X60CM, fold one 4-fold as in the following pictures. Put in fridge for one hour


5. Roll out again and do one 3-fold, put in fridge for one hour. (see this post for details)
6. Repeat 5. (optional)
7. Roll out dough to 1.5CM-2CM thickness. Length of the dough piece  would depend on the tin you use. Since we are braiding them, you will need the length to be about 2X length of the tin.
8. Cut the dough into thin pieces. This is where experience becomes important. We are braiding 3 pieces into one group, each group need to have a certain weight. Do note that if a tin requires more than one group of dough, each group should weigh the same, otherwise bread would appear uneven at the end. In another word, for each tin, select a weight for each dough group (less for flat top, more for round top),  then stick to that weight for each group of dough.
a) For my bigger Chinese pullman tin (pictured on the left), I need 2 groups, each group has 3 pieces, and each group (all 3 pieces together) weigh 225-250g (225g if cover of the tin is used to make a flat top shape, more if cover is not used to make round top as in the picture).
b) For my small Chinese pullman tin, I only need one group of 3 pieces, each group (all 3 pieces together) weigh 150g (if cover of the tin is used to make top flat).
c) For 8X4 US loaf tin,  I suggest to use 2 groups, each group has 3 pieces, and each group (all 3 pieces together) weigh 250-270g.
d) For KAF 13X4X4 pullman pan, I would suggest to use 4 groups, each group has 3 pieces, and each group (all 3 pieces together) weigh 195-215g.
9. For each group of 3 pieces of dough, braid them. Make sure the cut surface is facing up, to expose the layers. Fold ends under, put into tin.

10. Proof at around 27C until 80-90% full, about 4-5 hours in my case. Egg wash if you are not using the pullman pan cover.

11: Bake at 425F for 10min, lowered to 375F and bake until done. The bigger Chinese tin which took 450g - 500g of dough, needed about 40-45min of TOTAL baking time. The smaller tin which took 150g of dough, needed 30min in total. If colors too much, cover with foil.

If the gluten network is fully developed, the bread should be proud and tall, with clear layers visible.

If the pan cover is used, the dough amount needs to be fairly accurate for the pan, other wise it's each too short (not reaching the top), or bursting out (the cover can literally be blown open). This neat rectangle shape is nicknamed "golden sticks".

The crumb soft but open with honeycomb structor.

In general, I feel it's easier than croissants, since you can fold less and doesn't have to roll out as thin. However, the success does depend on proper kneading and careful piecing and shaping.

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More pumkin recipes, like I said, that was a "big" can of pumpkin puree.

The idea of this bread came from here, I used same dough, but added a lot more pumpkin (so the dough was very wet), and kneaded thoroughly to get a windowpane, which means the final bread was fluffy and light.

Note: The following amount fits a 10inch bount pan

bread flour+AP flour, 420g (about half/half)
brown sugar, 50g
salt, 6g
instant yeast, 4g
milk, 147g
pumpkin puree, 160-260g (I used 260g, it's a very wet dough, need patience and skill to knead well)
egg, 55g
vegetable oil, 15g
ginger powder, 1/4tsp
cardamom, 1/4tsp
coating, melted butter, 90g
topping, 100g brown sugar + 100g sugar + 2tsp cinnamon + pinch of nutmeg, well mixed
filling, cream cheese 80z + 100g sugar + 1tsp cinnamon, soften then mix well

1. Mix everything together other than coating, topping, filling, autolyse, knead until pass windowpane

2. Bulk rise until double, about 1.5 hr at room temp
3. Punch down, roll out into 12X12inch square, cut into 36 parts, divide filling equally on each little square

4. wrape each square of dough around filling, roll in coating first, then roll in topping, put in an oiled bount pan.

5. Rise and room temp until double, about 60min
6. Bake at 375F for about 45min.

Hard to say whether it's bread or dessert

A crowd pleaser that's easy to make

------------------- cake cake cake --------------------

Still had pumkin left, as well as that 16 egg whites left over from that sourdough panettone, so I made pumkin financier cupcake. The original recipe is from Sherry Yard's "The Secrets of Baking", but you can find it online here. I made them into about 20 cupcakes rather than one 10inch cake, and decoreated with maple creamcheese icing (recipe here).

Fragrant with brown butter and almond meal, and full of fall flavors.

Makes a great goodbye gift for the neighbors.

-------------- STILL got pumpkin left! ----------------

Believe it or not, that can of pumpkin was neverending. So here's some pumpking risotto with shrimp.

Yeah, after that, it's finally gone, thank goodness.

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I have been baking more, not less, even with all the craziness of a cross country move. The reason is simple: we are driving to Seattle, must use up perishable ingredients. However, time is tight, so I haven't had a chance to post all my baking, trying to catch up here.

Got a big can of pumpkin puree open, so here's a batch of sourdough bagel based one lumos's formula a while ago. I used pumpkin puree as part of liquid, and cornmeal instead of ww, some cranbrrries thrown in for flavor and texture. Very yummy.

The original formula is here, and my modification:
1)120g of cornmeal for that 120g of wholemeal flour in final dough
2)240g of pumpkin puree + 90g of water to replace the water in final dough
3)240g of cranberries mixed in at the final stage of kneading

Still used lye to boil them, hence the great color. See here and here for more details about my lye bagels. Cornmeal gives a nice texture, while pumkin lends a great golden color. Chewy and sweet and delicious.

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It's that time of the year again -- when I sacrafice sleep in honor of holiday spirit. Starting early this year since I am moving soon, and sourdough panettone makes a great goodbye gift. This recipe is from here: 53% butter, 36% sugar, and 50% egg yolks (that's 16 yolks for 2 loaves my friends, as I was seperating them, I was praying the breads would work out, I really would like NOT waste a whole case of eggs for nothing!)! It's rich, it's light as air, it's melt in your mouth, I am pretty sure my friends will remember me for a looooong time! I follow the recipe closely with the following notes:

- Yes, the link is in Italian, this is where we put Google Translate in good use.
- Instead of sultanas and candied fruits, I got inspired and add candied chestnuts. Recipe can be found here. Yes, it takes 4+ days to make, but hey, with this sourdough panettone thing, one should just ignore time spent, money spent, or fat/cholesterol content. :P I didn't make quite enough, so my add-in ingredients was 87.5% of what the formula specified for both sultanas and candied fruits, making the final loaves slightly lighter (but definitely not smaller, see below).
- I made 2/5 of the formla, which means I got 2 big loaves. If I had divided the dough evenly, each should be 1040g, perfect for the paper case. However, one loaf was a gift, the other was for ourselves, so I put 1100g in the gift case, only 980g in the other. From last years experience, I thought 1100g would fit, but OMG, this formula is much richer, which means the dough rose much higher. As you can see below, the 980g looks perfect, the 1100g one was threatening to spill over! Oh well, my friend had no objection with some extra yummy bread.

-Key #1 for a successful sourdough panettone, especially such a rich one, is an active Italian mother starter. I first kept my 100% liquid starter at room temp for 2 days (feeding everything 12 hours), then converted to 50% firm starter (20g 100% starter +20g Bread Flour+5g water), then keep it at 85F and feed it every 4 hours with following ratio: (starter: flour: water = 1:1:0.5). Did this for 48 hours, the starter more than tripled between each feeding.
-Key #2 for a successful sourdough panettone is a thorogh kneading. For the first dough, butter must be added little by little after the dough as come together, then I kneaded until the dough came together again and cleared most of the mixing bowl (no need for windowpane). Be careful not to overknead, with so much yolks and butter, it's easy to overknead. However, be sure not to underknead, otherwise, the 2nd dough would be much harder to knead. The following is first dough after kneading:

For 2nd dough, butter must be added little by little AFTER the dough has come together and clear the bowl. After butter is added, the dough must be kneaded until you can get a thin but strong windowpane. The dough literally felt like liquid silk, draping down from my hands.

-Unlike last year, the dough rose right on schedule this time, indicating an active starter and good kneading. After 5 hours at 30C, the dough came to the rim of the case. The chocolate glaze recipe I used was from AB&P.

- I hung the loaves upside down between stacks of books for 5 hours after baking.

- For my last years panettone post please click here, it also includes info on the paper case.

Definitely richer and lighter than last year's version

Shredding...the texture is literally like air, the flavor on the other hand, hits like a rock! If I can get my new kitchen in order before Christmas, I am sure I will make more of these.

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We are moving! New job awaits in Seattle, we are packing up everything (including my baking stone and 10+ different kinds of flour), selling the house, leaving town in less than 10 days. I am excited for the new beginning, but, can I still keep the name "TxFarmer" now that I am not living in TX, and our new home will be in downtown Seattle? :P

With the pending move, I am trying my best to use up ingredients, a good chunk of my grain supply went into this bread. The formula is from Hamelman's "Bread", but I increased hydration a tiny bit (trust me, it's still a dryer dough), and left out the instant yeast.

Note: makes one 550g loaf

- levain
bread flour 54g
water 69g
starer (100%) 10g

1. Mix and let rise at room temp for 12 hours.

- soaker
grains 85g
water 98g

2. Mix and soak overnight

- final dough
bread flour 173
whole wheat flour 227g
water 205g
salt 10g
honey 14g
soaker all
levain 122g

3. Mix everything but salt autolyse for 20 to 60min, add salt, mix @ medium speed for 3-4 min until gluten starts to develope.
4. Bulk rise at room temp (~75F) for about 3hrs. S&F at 50, 100, 150min.
5. Shape into boule, put in basketes smooth side down, put in fridge over night.
6. Next morning take the dough out to finish proofing, about 100min for me. Score.

7. Bake at 460F with steam for the first 15min, take out the pan with water, keep baking @450F for another 30min.

Awesome ovenspring.

Pretty open crumb for such a dry dough with 50%ww and so much grains. For the grain blend, I used oats, rye flakes, cornmeal, flaxmeal, and cracked wheat,  complemented by rich ww taste, creating a flavorful loaf.