Following on from the single loaf dough that i posted yesterday i am posting todays effort which was slightly bigger than the normal batch (EXTRA 500g ryemeal) which resulted in 10 x 500g loaves and 4 x 750g loaves which made the sharing a lot easier.

Tasters all liked it, i could have used a bit more water as the ryemeal and wholemeal both sucked up some of the moisture during the over night stint in the coolroom.

Unfortunately the feta didnt show up in this cut shot but there was plenty in there.

i still have plenty to use up in the next week or so before we start our christmas break.

it may well have to be the home brew stout with heavy heavy feta use but finely crumbled instead of the big chunks.

I think that in the next couple of weeks  they want all the wholemeal flour used  up too so could be busier than usual.

The Mix

flour 1500g

wholemeal 1500g

ryemeal 500g

salt 65g

sour dough culture 1000g

water 2200g

butter 140g

feta 750g

walnuts 750g

malt extract 100g

and look Andy no added gluten

Mixed in a good spiral mixer,  do three stretch and folds over 3 hours adding the feta and walnuts during the folding process to minimise damage to nuts and cheese pieces . Scale and form allow to relax for 30 minutes shape and place up side down onto couche dusted with sharps (semolina) cover and leave in cool room over night.

 6.30 AM Take out and transfer to trays, wash with cornflour paste, sprinkle with seeds and score, place into hot combi oven with steam for 10 minutes and temp up to 210c,  drop to 200 when steam turned off bake for 35 to 40 minutes cool on wire racks and decide who is going to get a loaf back to my office to start work at 7.45am before most of my work colleagues even roll in.

go back in 1 hour and slice up the loaves left for morning tea.

kind regards Yozza

Last week 's bake was a single loaf  sourdough  with hazel and walnuts

Normaly i would make a dough 3 kgs flour 2 kgs water 1 kg sourdough culture  70g salt and 70g butter but this time i did it by hand back at my work station. It had a fairly minimal mix as the work bench had been covered in  a christmasy table cover that had been stuck down so rather than pull it off to allow a bench mix i did it in the bowl. The dough was much smaller  but at the same ratio it was  given a stretch and fold every hour and shaped  and put into the cool room after 3 hours and baked the following morning.

My normal tasters were disappointed as there was only a slice or two rather than a whole loaf.

Tomorrows bake is the normal size 50% wholemeal sourdough with feta and walnuts.

The college will be closing SOON so there are a few ingrediants that need to be used up

Regards Yozza

Last week i presented  an "excuse to use sour dough", this week its a continuation with this weeks bake a 50% wholemeal effort, same basic ingrediants 3:2:1 flour water  and sour dough culture

1.5kg whole meal +1.5kg bakers flour

2kgs water

1 kg sd culture

70g salt (2%) 100g butter 100g malt extract (home brew can)

The dough was a little tighter than last weeks effort  due to the wholemeal being more thirsty but still a nice moist dough .

3 series of  stretch and folds on the hour followed by scaling and shaping onto the couch and into the cool room/ retarder. This time i came in to work earlier to bake off before my normal WORK duties.

Fired up the combi oven as soon as i walked in then removed the dough pieces from the retarder and placed onto baking sheets , made up my wash of cornflour powder and cold water brought to the boil in the microwave stiring occasionly until thickened (it does bubble over easily when it gets to boiling point and will make a mess)

Apply the wash liberally to the loaves  add seeds of choice and score, take to the oven and load up, apply water/ steam  for the first 10 minutes and then shut off the water/steam injection, it actually lowers the oven temperature some 25 degrees  whilst being applied but quickly jumps up when shut off,  bake at 200c for 30 minutes  remove the sticks and bake for a further 5 minutes  then remove and cool on rack.

Last job is to distribute the bread  to the worthy souls and place some in the staff lunch room sliced when cool with a tub of butter and watch it disappear.

Kind regards Yozza

yesterday I took the opportunity to knock up a batch of bread using the sour dough culture that i maintain here at work.

I have had some luck getting one of the chefs to do the sourdough crackers  over the last couple of weeks that appeared here  a short while ago.

I must say they turned out really good and loved by all those that tried them. Anyway it must have stirred me into  some action.

I started my dough just before 8.00 am and after mixing took it back to my office  where it was stretched and folded every hour

the dough was

 1KG STARTER

2KG WATER

3KGS FLOUR

35g SALT 

100g BUTTER

100g  of THE CONTENTS OF A BREW KIT (mostly malt extract with the infusion of hops)

AT 12.00 lunch time the dough went back to the bakery  area was scaled lightly handed up and shaped put onto couched boards and retarded  until 12.00 the following day and and after placing onto trays and washing with a boiled cornflour wash seeding and scoring just waited till i got the nod that the combi oven was free and no longer being used for the lunch time  service put the trays in with some steam for 5 minutes and allowed to bake for about 35 to 40 minutes time for a few quick photos and slice into one of the breads for a look inside  and there we have it a nice little rememberance day and my eldest grand daughters birthday loaf (lest we forget). The dark malt seems to have added some colour to the crumb

Many thanks to all our service personell past and present for your sacrifice for our well being

 regards Yozza

Yesterday was the dinner  for CHAINES DES ROTESSIUERS

I had agreed to make my home brew stout bread for the occassion so after starting off the soak of stout and wholemeal at 8.30 in the morning i took to my normal purchasing duties until lunch time and then with thanks to my manager was allowed to go down to the kitchen.

The soak consisting of 2kgs of organic wholemeal and 500g of ryemeal 200g of sour dough starter 2.1Litres of home brew stout and a further 700mls of water, i could have used my last bottle of stout but wanted to reserve that for colleagues to sample to see if they thought that the flavours had carried through.

The rest of the dough was formed by 2.5Kg flour 100g salt, 100g gluten, 75g dried yeast 200g malt extract from a brew kit, 100g butter.

As the mix was coming together a generous litre of water was added which bought the liquid content to 76% it was sticky and possibly a little less may have been better.

The dough when mixed was placed in a large bucket  and for the benefit of the two mature age overseas students that were assisting me a mark placed on the side. the 2 students one from Taiwan and the other from Malaysia along with another 3 from our college have just been chosen to assist with the food for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) that is being held in Perth very soon. 

DOUGH MIXED IN BUCKET FOR PROOF I was anticipating a 2hour bulkfermentaion period with 1.5% yeast but with the soak in active bottle fermented stout and an addition of sour dough culture it came through quicker than anticipated

in fact as can be seen ready in 1 hour

50 g dinner rolls  out of the oven

there wes plenty of extra dough so sticks and a couple of loaves were made the sticks i gave to the visiting chefs to take home and was much appreciated

some bread with the french butter

also attached the menu for the evening i didnt stay for the meal and got away not long after my normal knock off time i did have the stich with some nice blue costello and tomato and cucumber.

CHAINE CHEFS DINNER 2011

canapés

Chef Marco Bijl –

Prawn with jackfruit and lime chutney

Crevettes et son chutney de jackfruit et citron vert

Peppered beef with caramelised onion jam on a German rye

Boeuf au poivre avec sa confiture d’onion caramelisee sur canapés de son

Duck breast on orange salad

Magret de canard et sur salad a l orange

Smoked Salmon with Japanese mayonnaise topped with Wasabi

Saumon fume avec sa mayonnaise Japonaise et wasabi

champagne

TEAM CHALLENGER INSTITUTE: fresh breads & beurre d’isigny (normandy)

Pain du jour et beurre d’ Isigny (Normandie)

CHEF PHIL WESTWOOD/ CHALLENGER INSTITUTE – quail flambé with port/pink pepper jus, golden egg & enoki mushroom garni

Caille Flambee et son jus de poivre rose au porto

Oeuf d or et champignon Enoki garni

d’Arenburg sparkling red chambourcin (Aus)

CHEF GRAEME SHAPIRO/ WILD POPPY- pork belly in caramel with crispy crab, pork & crab relish

Travers de porc au caramel et crabe croustillant, accompagnee d une compote de crab and porc

trois mont bier (Fr.)

CHEF DOUGLASS KERR/ BOUCHARD RESTAURANT-Pan fried line caught fish, petit pois a la francaise, potato and clam veloute.

Poisson de ligne et son veloute de  petits pois a la francaise, pommes de terre et coques

wine

CHEF LUKE WAKEFIELD/ NATIONAL JEUNE CHEF 2010- corn fed chicken gallontine, sweet corn croquette, chanterelle fricassee, tomato essence

Gallantine de poulet de ferme aux grains, croquette de mais, fricassee de chanterelles et essence de tomate

Tricastin La Ciboise Blanc (cotes du rhone) ’09 (Fr.)

CHEF SOREN KOBERSTEIN/ GEORGE ST. BISTRO- sour beef cheeks, almond & sultana jus, brussel sprouts

Joue de boeuf aigre douce au jus de raisins et amandes

pirathon by kalleske ’09 (Barossa)

CHEF MATTHEW LADKIN/ FRIENDS RESTAURANT- coconut pannacotta, pineapple carpaccio & raspberry and mint salad.

Crème de noix de coco accompagnee d un carpaccio de framboises et ananas

Wine

DAVID MOPIN/ PHIL WESTWOOD/ TEAM CHALLENGER INSTITUTE-coffee & petit fours

Café, petits fours

Service: Jeanette Paladino & Clare Russel.              Beverages: Gary Bird.

Supported by Food and Beverage Students & Trainees

 regards yozza

MORE  tries at rye, following on from a week ago

2 loaves here 1 using rye flour and ryemeal but only half as much sour dough culture which slowed things down somewhat

(an error on my part) the one with the rye flour is the one on the left.

 a bit of show of bread for the restaurant lunch buffet menu the sticks and knots were from a 12 hour  soak of 2 and half litres of home brew stout

over 2 and a half kilos of organic whole meal then add 2 and half kilos of flour 100g salt 100g yeast 100g butter 100g gluten

bulk ferment of 1 hour  shape and put onto slippers.

The plaits were a 3 plait @1kg with a 4 plait @ 1 kg on top mostly for visual effect but cut up at the patrons request.

the red cup hold a foccacia that has been cut up too and all this before i get to my paid employ!  

regards Yozza

Hi there to conclude the holiday we travelled from Darwin to Adelaide on the Ghan , the train named after early explorers use of Afghan  camel drivers opening up the continent. The modern Ghan caters for 4 styles of travel, the Platinum class where opulence is the name of the game at about A$3,000 Gold comes in at A$2,000 where you still get good sleeping berths and fine dinning  We then have red class and you have a sleeper but dining is taken in a club style dinner and finally you have the red sit ups which is reclining chairs and the use of dinner and shared shower and toilet facilities this is where we travelled, and  for A$15 extra you could use the club car that had 24hr tea and coffee and club style seating for socializing.

The journey starts at 9.00 am with the first stop at Katherine where you are able to leave the train for a variety of tours,  we Explored the Katherine Gorge.

After some 4 hours the train sets off throughthe night occasionally allowing passing freights to pass at long loop sidings in the middle of nowhere. The next morning we pull into Alice Springs for another lengthy stop and more optional  excursions, the one that i took was to see the old Ghan where the steam train used to run, it was very good not so much for the old train but a world class motor museum that has a huge collection of historic as well as modern trucks. Another night spent before waking to the sight of the Flinders Ranges  and gradualy the outskirts of suburbia.

We had a nice hotel in Adelaide and caught the free tram into the markets here are some of the photos that i took of bread on sale also some of the wine we sampled in the Barossa.

All up a very good holiday can recommend Darwin and Kakadoo  train was good even travelling on the cheap like us at back packers rate of A$666 no frills but fun. Adelaide will definately have to visit again. Got into the zoo at childrens price on our youth  hostel pass and saw the giant Pandas and their great enclosure.  

Regards Yozza    

After seeing some really lovely ryes here recently I thought it was time to give it a go, so this morning whilst refrehing my sour dough i thought rather than toss it out i would put it to work.

I used 500g of coarse rye meal and 100g of white flour 200g of ripe sour dough culture, (just my standard white culture refreshed twice a day normally) and 14g of salt to this i added enough water to make a batter the same consitancy as the sour dough culture and just whisked it with my hand for a few minutes till it felt that it had all come together i then pour / scraped it into a bread tin and used a wet spatula to smooth the top a bit like trowelling cement really dusted it with rye flour and placed it in a plastic bag  for 4 hours.

To my great suprise when i returned it had passed the top of the tin and had stuck ever so slightly to the plastic, i hadn't expected it to have made it that far actually. Any way i fired up the combi oven and in 5 minutes i had it in the oven with a bit of steam for 6 or 7 minutes and then let it bake at about 185C for the best part of 40 minutes.  

It was then onto the cooling rack and  when it was barely cool enough we sliced it to see and taste. It had a certain amount of sourness that we don't normally detect when using the same culture in other doughs.

I was quite pleased with the openess and the texture of the crumb especially as there had been very little mixing to develop what gluten the white flour and the sour dough culture brought to the mix. The German program manager loved it and took the remainder of the loaf home for the family to comment upon, but is still looking for a heavier loaf with what he refers to as champagne style aeration, minute little holes in great profusion. for me it was quite moorish and well worth the 5 minutes it took to bring together  the 4 hour proof  with virtually no moulding skills required.

another bake was a quick go at Baguettes using instant yeast with 24 hour retardation of the dough  and then shaped a quick fermentaion period and baked off, time was a bit of an issue and i think i could have allowed them a bit more final proof  but other than that quite happy

regards Yozza

Hi folks just recently i was fortunate to be given some flour samples, one in particular that i hve enjoyed using is a course ryemeal. 

I have used it in a sour dough that is based on the rye meal being 500g (16.6%)  i have in the last two batches brought the rye meal and 2 litres of water to the boil  and allowed to cool. in this last batch i also added the chia seed to the boil up

to this is added bakers flour @2.5kgs and sourdough starter coming in at 1 kg, salt at 60g and butter or olive oil at 70g.

Unfortunately the chef that did the boil up for me didn't measure the water precisely and was about 2litres (It is hard to get good help these days) I have been trying to keep my sour dough as 3 parts flour 2 parts water and 1 part starter for the sake of simplicity  and ease of following for the people at work who are getting interested in trying sour dough making. To this i added 500g of cashew nuts, i didnt bother chopping them as i quite like the idea of a decent piece of nut in my slice of bread, and some were going to break up during the final few turns in the mixer.

The dough was then turned out and went through a series of stretch and folds i managed to do it half hourly this time as i took the dough back with me to my office rather than a long walk back to the restaurant bakery area. normally i'd would do the stretch and folds hourly, on this occasion it was over a 3 hour period with the final shaping and placement on boards i use the linen table clothes that are laundered for the resturant and they work well dusted with sharps ,also donated(semolina) and place them in the retarder .

The next morning Friday i come into work early and turn on the combi oven that heats up in 5 or 6 minutes whilst i place my dough pieces onto trays wash and  top with seed and score before placing in the oven with the steam added until the loaf has set

and then baked out i usually start the temperature high as the injection of water vapour shields the dough from the high heat and turn back to 200 degrees C

bread is usually out before the student chefs arrive to take over the kitchen at 8.00am

 other variants that i have tried with the dough remaining basicly the same have been sundried tomatoes at various rates and olives too last wee was pistacchio and pumpkin seed and now this week was cashew and chia we are starting to develop a bit of a theme.

some of the other bakes from a couple of weeks back

my list of taste testers has outstripped supply, but some very intersting trades are being made,

The plumbers cut and folded the trays for the new oven  and the carpenters provide me with ply boards for the  retardation time, and as i said the chefs will prep stuff too, leaving me to do my bit of play time!

It seems it is the time of the return of the TFL lurkers, we have just been in the background, kind regards to all Yozza 

We were invited to join friends on their caravaning holiday in Darwin this year, we did a similar holiday meeting up in Broome 2 years ago and had great fun. Bob and Joan are retired and are part of a large number of Australians known as grey nomads, they tend to travel north to the tropics  to avoid the cold weather and head south when the weather gets hot.

Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory or the TOP END as it is often refered to, we flew up to Darwin on a flight that lasted 3.5hours and into a different time zone 1.5 hours ahead of Perth which is GMT+8. As soon as we landed it was time to break out the shorts and tee shirts, a far cry from the torrent of rain that bucketed down on us when boarding the plane from the tarmac (no covered elevated walkway) not even a brolley to be had.

Darwin is quite a nice city and fairly easy to get around with a good bus service and lots of places to eat at reasonable prices.

I did not dicover any particularly good bakeries or see any breads of note, pretty much the same old fayre that we would get back in Perth at shopping centres. We did visit the air museum that has a B52 bomber  inside and dwarfs everything else, we went on a sunset cruise too that was well worthwhile.

We also took a light plane flight over Kakadoo which was quite exciting as they had a record wet season just past, the top end is home to some very big salt water crocodiles

(sweetheart 4,5 metre exhibit in the museum) NO SWIMMING means NO SWIMMING

Kakadoo (world heritage listed) from the air, we landed and had a boat trip on yellow water billabong to see the wildlife up close. 

The bread was going to have to wait until we got to Adelaide the capital of South Australia (but here is a preview, to be continued)