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Hello and Happy New Year everyone!

I thought it would be fun to open up a bottle of something bubbly (a bottle of Guinness) and bake a loaf
for New Year’s…started on New Year’s Eve, and baked on New Year’s Day :^)

Katie’s Stout and Flaxseed Bread (thanks to Andy for originally posting about this, and to Karin for the reminder):


 
Crisp crust, delightfully delicious flavor, rich and nutty. (Why did I wait so long to try making this?!)

Last October, I used Guinness beer in another bread, trying a recipe for Dark Malted Bread with Dried Fruit from Martha Rose Shulman’s book, Great Breads (this bread had a terrific depth of flavor from the Guinness barm (poolish) and blackstrap molasses). (Thanks to MC for posting about Martha Rose Shulman’s beautiful breadsticks, another reminder for me, of Ms. Shulman’s book I had been neglecting):


I adapted the formula, including a preferment:
 

One last bake with Guinness!: this cake, Sticky Toffee “Pudding” from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Heavenly Cakes, also included Guinness beer. This cake was really delicious, with the Guinness-soaked dates and butterscotch toffee sauce :^)
(my apologies in advance…unfortunately I did not get permission to share the recipe but if this cake interests you I hope you can get access to the book):

 
Best wishes to everyone, for Happy Baking in 2012!
:^) from breadsong

I just would not feel right without some black eyed peas on New Years Day.  Fresh black eyed peas they say represents coins and the kale money...hummm sounds good and lucky to me.  

This is my MIL real southern cornbread recipe..god bless her...I call it grandma Turner's cornbread.  It has no sugar and no flour and is dropped into a hot skillet of bacon fat.

That's italian sweet sausage from my local butcher's in the soup.  Also pictured is today's bake of sourdough loaves..the fourth one was in the oven.  It was made into a round boule..to fill with cheese, like I saw on Farine's blog...yummm.

Grandma Turner's Cornbread

Preheat oven and 10" or 12" (I use 12" for single and double recipe) inch frying pan with bacon drippings in a 400F oven.

2 cups white or yellow corn meal

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

4 to 6 TBsp. of veg oil or bacon drippings  - add some or all in the pan.  I add about 6 TBsp. full and  put the pan into a hot 400F oven - removing about 3 TBsp. to go directly into mixed batter.

Mix the cornbread. 

Mix all the dry ingredients.

 Lightly beat eggs into the buttermilk

Add wet buttermilk and egg mixture into the dry ingredients.  Add hot bacon drippings - or veg. oil.   I added 3 TBsp. of bacon drippings.  Reserving about 3 TBsp. in the heating frying pan.

 Very lightly stir the mixture and pour into pre-heated hot iron pan.  It will sizzle when it hits the hot bacon drippings.  I used a 12" pan.  This recipe can be doubled if using a the large 12" frying pan.  The corn bread I have pictured is not a double recipe.

You don't have to do the hot skillet and drippings..if you do..use caution, everything is very hot!  You can just add veg. oil or melted butter to your batter and pour it into a well seasoned and greased heated frying pan.  I used all hot bacon drippings in this bake.  I also like using melted butter in the batter and then pouring the batter into hot bacon drippings in the iron pan.

Bake for apx. 20 mins.  The bread will come away from the sides of the pan and start to crack a little..that's good sign it's done!

                                                     Photo for fun and interest.  We burn a lot of oak around here, but not this one.

                                        I saw this on a television show the other day.  It's the US largest oldest living Oak Tree.  Less

                                        than 50 miles from me.  It has quite a history about the land it's on in Temecula, CA.

Happy New Year's Day!

Sylvia

I don’t usually get much time to bake during the holidays, but when I was asked to bake some bread to go with Christmas dinner how could I possibly refuse?  This was the perfect opportunity to try Andy’s mixed leaven formula.  It’s the sort of bread that will go with just about anything and the overnight  bulk ferment suited my schedule perfectly.  The only major change I made was to bulk ferment in a 60°F part of the house rather than in the refrigerator to accommodate my seasonally sluggish starter.

I scaled the formula to make four kilos of dough for four loaves.  That is definitely the limit for my largest mixing bowl.  Though twice the size of my usual batch of dough it was a really nice amount to knead by hand. 

In search of that beautiful, even crumb Andy’s loaves have I gave the dough a long, gentle knead.  I may have overdone it a bit as the crumb came out tighter than I was expecting, but the texture was wonderfully soft and springy.  No complaints there!  The flavor was excellent.  The bread kept very well.  I’ll be baking this one again!

Just to keep things interesting I added polenta and toasted pumpkin seeds to two of the loaves at the end of kneading.  I have come to love this combination – highly recommended.

Marcus

Today I was planning to make Vermont Sourdough with Whole Wheat as part of a return to good healthy eating, but it was not to be.    I had added the starter to the dough and mixed it up, when my nose was assaulted by something NOT RIGHT.   In the past I've ignored these warnings figuring that whatever was not right would disappear in the baking.   But I've learned.   So out with the old dough, in with the new.   I mixed up another liquid starter, but I really wanted bread today, so after 3 hours, I decided to improvise.   Instead of nice, lean Vermont Sourdough,   I started the year with something sweet:   Cinnamon Swirl. 

The last time I made something like this, both my husband and son informed me that I'd skimped unduly on the cinnamon, sugar, and butter.    So this time I didn't.    To say the least.   I threw in the unfinished starter, and then some yeast for good measure.   It rose like gangbusters.   Here is what I came up with. 

Take firm starter and build as above.    Leave at warm room temperature.    Scald milk in microwave for 1.5 minutes.   Add butter to it and let cool.    After starter has ripened for three hours, mix all ingredients.   Let double (this took 45 minutes.)   Press out into a long flat rectangle with short side in front.   Brush with melted butter.   Sprinkle very thickly with cinnamon sugar.   I used two sticks of cinnamon that I ground in a coffee grinder mixed with around 3/4 cups of sugar.   Roll up without pressing in the sides while shaping.   Place in bread pan with seam down.   Brush top with remaining melted butter and cinnamon sugar.  Let rise to over top of pan (this took around 45 minutes.)   Bake at 370 with no steam for 45 minutes.    Then remove from pan and bake for 15 more minutes.  Then enjoy and follow through on resolutions tomorrow. 

Sourdough Raisin Boule :)

On Christmas eve I made 3 pounds of  dough for two large batard loaves intending to bake Christmas morning after overnight refrigerator proofing.  In the morning I went to preheat and the electric ignitor that starts my gas oven was broke and it didn't come on!  I wasn't sure if I could freeze the dough at this point.  I was targeting 72% hydration rather than a more typical 75% for a Tartine bake as I would be baking on a stone rather than in a dutch oven and looking to keep dough from spreading too much.  Plus the KAF patent flour I use seems to have a high moisture content with 72% coming working well in past recipes using this flour. 

Flour was 5.5% rye (100% hydration rye starter which made up 6.4% of the recipe), 10% semolina (ground the day prior) and 84.5% King Arthur patent flour (high protein, from a 50 lb bag - have never seen this in 5 pound bags).  Salt was 2%.  I originally intended to coat with sesame seeds and make two 1.5 lb batards. 

Plan B: pizza dough:  Given the 72% hydration is a level I have used for pizza dough and successfully kept in the refrigerator from 3 to 5 days, I thought this would be a good plan B.   Hoping for the best, I divided the dough into four pieces and place individually in lightly oiled containers.  For pizza dough, 3-5 days of refrigerated fermentation works well for optimal flavor and rising power, but have not ever gone longer. 

I ordered the new ignitor part and 5 days later my oven was up and running.   The $15 part ($22 with expedited shipping)  and an easy 15 minute fix was worth the wait compared to the repairman's $200 quote.  And by the way, three different web sites had the same part for for $75 so it pays to shop around...

So last night I made my 7 day old dough pizza.  You could see lots of holes in the dough while looking at it thru the plastic container.  I left the dough out for 90 minutes before starting.  This is a wet dough so I gently stretched to about 8'' size, let rest for 10 minutes and stretched to the final 14" size.  I made sure there was enough flour on the bottom to not stick, while preserving a rather moist dough otherwise.  I used semolina on the peel.  I used my thick soapstone stone which takes 90 minutes to preheat (to 600 degrees as outlined in a prior post).  The pie cooked in 3 1/2 minutes.  The tray above is where I let it rest after removing from the stone.

Surprise number one was how nice and fluffy the baked pizza was.  I thought the long fermentation may have broken down some of the rising ability/cell structure of the dough.  Surprise number two was very flavorful, but not sour or even tart (although I like sourdough more on the full flavor side).  Likely due to the starter being only 6.4% of the recipe compared to 20% or more in a sourdough bread recipe and a 39° refrigerator temperature.  But the flavor was excellent, slightly complex and the high hydration did allow the dough to become slightly gelatanized inside similar to some of the Tartine breads.  It was one of the best pizzas I have ever made.

So a very happy outcome all around and finding that a week in the refrigerator worked out surprisingly well.  And the holiday spiral ham?  Well while the oven didn't work, the broiler did as it uses a different element/burner at the top of the oven.  Wrapped the ham/pan in heavy foil, placed on low shelf, and removed foil after one hour.  Applied glazed and put under broiler for another 10 minutes.  The broiler flame carmelized the ham nicely and Christmas dinner was not only salvaged but came out very well.  Now I need to remake my original recipe and bake those batards!

Happy New Year to all...

After all the heavy food, sweets and rich baked goods at holiday time, I decided to bake some nice healthy loaves of bread and make some soup with local North Coast seafood.  OK, the chowder has a good dose of cream in it, but I used a recipe without bacon, so it’s dietetic compared to my usual.

The bread is Hamelman’s Whole Wheat Multi-Grain, a 50% whole wheat sourdough with just a touch of instant yeast and some honey.  In the soaker, I used only rolled oats as that’s what I have on hand.  I added toasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.  The seeds plus oatmeal equaled the weight of the mixed grains in Hamelman’s formula.   I used the total amount of water the formula calls for.  The dough was dense but extensible, very easy to handle.  I made three loaves, semi-retarding one on our 50 degree porch while the first two baked.  All came out nicely.  The crust is dark but not crispy, and the crumb is moist and wonderfully wheaty with the nice feel, smell and taste of seeds.

The Salmon and Crab Chowder was adapted from a Food Network recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/salmon-chowder-with-crab-whole-grain-croutons-and-pinot-glaze-recipe/index.html), but I added several pounds of salmon trimmings to the stock and added garlic to both the stock and the chowder; I also added a couple sliced leeks to the chowder.  I skipped the croutons and the drizzle.  It is quite a production with lots of steps, but the result was very well-received.  Rich, hardy chowder with lots of well-melded flavors.  It makes me grateful for the bounty of our local fishery.  Sorry, no photos of the lovely chowder. 

Now, my holiday story of The Hannukah Miracle of Christmas Dinner.

In case you don’t know the story symbolized by the Hannukah Menorah, it is told that when the Jews recaptured their temple from Greek occupation, there was only enough oil left to light the holy lamp for one night.  But miraculously, the oil lasted eight nights.  Thus Hannukah is celebrated as the eight night “Festival of Lights”.

Cat and I have a mixed marriage (we joke that we’re a born-again Druid and a lapsed agnostic, but we don’t remember which of us is which).  Cat’s family celebrates Traditional American Christmas with food, drink, a tree and presents, and drink.  My family celebrates Traditional American Hannukah with food and presents, and food.

For the last several years, I have spent “The Holidays” with Cat’s Family here on the North Coast.  Her brother is a good cook, and he cooks Christmas Eve dinner and I cook Christmas dinner, or vice versa.  This year, for Christmas dinner I made a Rib Roast rotiserried on charcoal, with many side dishes, including caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, and a potato gratin with shallots, Gruyere and cream.   Several days later, after roast beef sandwiches, barbecue beef sandwiches, and several omelets of leftover potatoes gratin and caramelized onions, we  realized that our Christmas dinner made EIGHT MEALS!!  It’s a multi-religious miracle!  It’s a miracle that we’re still standing.

I might also mention that my Hannukah stocking this year included two wonderful baking books—Ortiz’s The Village Baker and Hensperger’s Bread Bible.  I’m looking forward to new experiments.

Happy New Year to all TFLers.

Glenn

Happy New Year to everyone!

Around my native town Freiburg in south-west Germany we have thae habit to eat some huge and elaborately decoreted brezels made of sweet dough for breakfast on New Year's Day. (Usually they are made by professional bakers.)

I made  some of them in the past, here some impressions from this year's bake.

A little mouse made by my wife, peeking into the future:

The somewhat more conventional Neujahrs-Brezel I made:

I used DiMuzio's sweet challah dough - I love to work with it, and it comes pretty close to what bakers use for these brezels in Germany.

The problem with making these is worktop space - the strand for a 600g brezel is about 1.3 metres long!

Best Wishes,

Juergen

Well I was able to cross off a long standing item on my to-bake list with this Miche from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

I followed the instructions very closely.  I used half Whole Wheat Flour and half Bread Flour.  It has been cool here so I did not have to refrigerate the starter overnight, I just left it on the counter.  The recipe calls for 18 to 22 ounces of water and I used about 20.  Next time I would go with 22 ounces to make the bread a bit less stiff and open up the holes in the crumb more.  My times matched those in the book very closely.

Dough turned out onto some parchment paper.  I used half Rice Flour and and half AP Flour for dusting the couch.  There was no sticking.

Slashing was done with a razor blade on a coffee stirrer.

I got some very nice oven spring during the baking of this loaf.

Crumb was a little tight.

The flavor was great the day after bake.  I will have to see how the flavor develops over the next day or two.  The Dough weighted 2100 grams and the baked weight was 1892 grams (about 10% weight loss).

Dwayne

Finally I find time to post.   It's been a busy festive season, with a mamoth baking session on Boxing Day, and a smaller one today.   To the detail, beginning with pre-ferments for the initial large bake.

RYE SOUR DOUGH

Stock Sour 288g [D. Rye Flour 108; Water 180] Saturday 18:00

1. Rye Sourdough  288

D. Rye Flour           292 [+ 108 = 400 TOTAL]

Water                     220 [+ 180 = 400 TOTAL]

TOTAL                   800 mixed Sunday 10:00

2. Rye Sourdough 800

D. Rye Flour          330 [+ 400 = 730 TOTAL]

Water                    330 [+ 400 = 730 TOTAL]

TOTAL                1460g mixed Sunday 20:00

“SCALD”, or “ZAVARKHA”

PÂTE FERMENTÉE

Wholemeal Bread Flour  500

Salt                                   10

Butter                               10

Fresh Yeast                     10

Water                             340

TOTAL                           870g

mixed Sunday 19:00, fermented 1 hour, then retarded overnight

WHEAT LEVAIN

1.Stock Levain  216 [Bread Flour 135; Water 81] Saturday 18:00

Bread Flour      300 [+ 135 = 435 TOTAL]

Water               180 [+  81 = 261 TOTAL]

TOTAL             696 mixed Sunday 10:00

2.Levain           696

Bread Flour     600 [+ 435 = 1035 TOTAL]

Water              360 [+ 261 =  621 TOTAL]

TOTAL          1656 mixed Sunday 14:00

FLAX SEED SOAKER

Flax Seed Blond     200

Cold Water             600

TOTAL                   800 mixed Sunday 10:00

“POOLISH”

Bread Flour    840g

Fresh Yeast   003g

Water             840g

TOTAL         1683g [use 561g for Croissant Dough and 1122g for Bloomers]

mix Sunday 20:00

BIGA

Bread Flour    400  

Water             240

Fresh Yeast   002

TOTAL           642g mixed Sunday 19:30

The first six of these were all made on Monday 26th December using a combination of both wood-fired brick oven and electric oven to complete the baking.   A Christmas Marathon, totalling 25 loaves, plus a range of laminated pastries!   Sorry, there are no photographs from this bake; I was just too busy trying to cope with the hectic schedule preparing for family visiting etc.

1.    Sourdough Seed Bread with Wheat Levain, Wholemeal Flour, Roasted Seeds and a Cold Flax Seed Soaker

For the levain build and cold soaker, see above.

Method:

• Build the levain as above, and prepare the cold soaker.
• Roast the Seeds under the grill with tamari to taste; turn as needed.   Cool.
• Prepare an autolyse with both flours plus water for the final dough.   Leave 1 hour to stand.
• Add the salt, leaven and soaker and mix on first speed for 5 minutes, scraping down as needed, and adjusting the hydration if necessary.   Mix for 3 minutes on second speed, then scrape down and check development.   Add the roasted seeds and mix on first speed until cleared.
• Retard the dough overnight.
• Bulk proof for 1 hour to return the dough to 26°C.
• Scale and divide.   Mould each dough piece round, and rest whilst preparing bannetons.   I made 9 various sized boules from this dough.
• Re-mould, then prove upside down in bannetons for 3 hours
• Turn each loaf onto a peel, score the top, then set to bake in the wood-fired oven.
• Cool on wires.

 2.    100% Wholemeal Panned Breads made with Pâte Fermentée

For the Pâte Fermentée schedule, see above

Method:

• As described above, for the Pâte Fermentée, combine all the ingredients in a mixer, and mix on first speed for 5 minutes, scraping down as needed.   Mix a further 2 – 4 minutes on second speed.   Bulk ferment for 2 hours, then retard overnight.
• To mix the final dough, firstly autolyse flour and water for 1 hour.   Then add the Pâte Fermentée and the other ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on first speed.   Scrape down and mix for 7 minutes on second speed.   DDT 28°C
• Bulk ferment 40 – 50 minutes at 28°C
• Scale, divide and mould round.   Rest covered for 10 - 15 minutes and prepare bread pans.   Shape dough pieces and place into pans.   I made 3 different-sized panned loaves, plus 1 bloomer.
• Final proof 2 hours at 28°C.
• Bake in the wood-fired oven.
• Cool on wires.

3.    Bloomers made with a “Poolish” and Rye Sourdough

For the schedules for both the “Poolish” and the Rye Sourdough, see above.

Method:

• Build levain and “poolish” as above.
• Combine both pre-ferments with all the other ingredients for the final dough in a mixer.   Mix with the hook attachment on first speed for 3 minutes, scraping down as needed and making any necessary adjustment to hydration.   Mix a further 4 – 5 minutes on second speed to develop.   DDT 26°C.
• Bulk proof 50 minutes @ 26°C.
• Scale and divide and mould round.   Rest covered and prepare baking sheets.   Shape for bloomers and tray up.   I made 3 large bloomers.
• Final proof @ 28°C for 2 hours.
• Cut the tops of the loaves with 3 diagonal slashes, spray with water, and bake on the sole of the wood-fired oven.
• Cool on wires.

 4.    Ciabatta with a “Biga”

For the “Biga”, see schedule above

Method:

• Prepare the biga as above.
• For the bassinage, add all ingredients to the mixer, attach a dough hook and mix on first speed for 3 minutes, scraping down as needed.   Mix a further 3 minutes on second speed.   For the final stage, change to a paddle beater and let the down down to required wet consistency on first and second speeds.   Scrape down as needed.   Final DDT 26°C
• Line a container with some olive oil, and pour the wet dough into the container.   Cover and hold at 26°C for 2 hours, using stretch and fold after a ½, 1 and 1½ hours.
• Move to the “dry” stage and scale and divide dough pieces using a combination of Gilchesters’ flour and Coarse Semolina.   I made 6 ciabatta breads.
• Final proof for up to 1 hour.
• Bake on the sole of a hot wood-fired oven.
• Cool on wires.

 5.    “Rossisky” using the Auerman Method

See above for Rye Sourdough Build

Method:

• Build the sour as described, make the Scald, then combine the 2 to make the Sponge.   Ferment this for 4 hours.
• I sifted through the Bacheldre Organic Dark Rye flour, reserving the fine flour to use here   Add the Gilchesters’ Pizza flour to this, plus the water and autolyse for 1 hour.   Add the salt and the sponge to the autolyse in a mixer, and combine with the paddle beater to form a paste.
• Bulk proof for 1 hour.
• Line a Pullman Pan and other bread pans neatly with silicone paper and scale the paste into the pans, neatening off carefully.   Attach lids.
• Final Proof 3 hours.   Bake overnight in the “dead” wood-fired oven.   Sadly, these did not work, as the oven was just too dead, so the loaves did not bake out.   I made a half batch again today and scaled the whole mixture into one large Pullman Pan.

 6.Croissant Dough with a “Poolish”   [See the “Poolish” schedule above]

Method:

• Mix the “poolish” as above, and leave to ferment overnight.   Chill both the flour and water for the final dough in the fridge overnight.
• Combine all the ingredients for the final dough in the mixer.   Attach a dough hook and mix on first speed for 4 minutes, scraping down and adjusting the hydration as necessary.   Develop the dough on second speed for 3 minutes.
• Retard the dough for 1 hour.
• Incorporate the laminating fat using the English method.   Retard 1 hour.
• Give 4 half turns to the dough with 1 hour rest between each turn, in the chiller.
• Process as required.   I used the pastry dough to make a Chestnut loaf for Christmas Dinner with my family, plus a selection of croissants, pains au chocolat.   I made “Palmiers” with the scrap dough.
• Prove finished pieces for 45 minutes and bake in the electric oven using a convection setting at 210°C.
• Cool on wires.

 7.    Bloomers made with a “Poolish” and Rye Sourdough and Wholemeal

For the schedules for both the “Poolish” and the Rye Sourdough, see above.

Method:

• Build levain and “poolish” as above.
• Combine both pre-ferments with all the other ingredients for the final dough in a mixer.   Mix with the hook attachment on first speed for 3 minutes, scraping down as needed and making any necessary adjustment to hydration.   Mix a further 4 – 5 minutes on second speed to develop.   DDT 26°C.
• Bulk proof 50 minutes @ 26°C.
• Scale and divide and mould round.   Rest covered and prepare baking sheets.   Shape for bloomers and tray up.
• Final proof @ 28°C for 2 hours.
• Cut the tops of the loaves with 3 diagonal slashes, spray with water, and bake on the sole of the wood-fired oven.
• Cool on wires.

Photos from today’s baking shown below:

A Very Happy New Year to you all!

Andy