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 Gilchesters’ Miche/Boules.

Double-leavened Dough, made as a Sandwich Loaf and a Boule.

I have been enjoying using a 3.5kg bag of both the Gilchesters’ “Organic Farmhouse Flour”, and the same size of their “Organic Pizza/Ciabatta Flour” in my breads this week.   Alison and I called into the big city [Newcastle!] on Saturday afternoon, en route to our friends’ house in County Durham, to allow me to stock up on specialist flour.   I also bought 2 bags of Bacheldre Organic Dark Rye.   This must mean a Borodinsky session is not far away!

On Monday this week, I made 4 Gilchesters’ Miche loaves using the same formula and methods as I used today, as posted below.   I also used the Pizza/Ciabatta formula with a mix of 2 leavens to make another dough.   I baked all this in the wood-fired oven.   It continues to be more difficult to build up good bottom heat, but the domed roof is producing a fantastic crust from lovely and gently radiated top heat.   I made a boule and 4 baguettines with the second dough.   The boule was lovely, but the baguettines convinced me I should not make these solely with natural leaven again.   At this stage of my journey, I am only interested in working with the natural leaven.   I have very limited capacity, much prefer to use only natural leavens anyway, and my wife has an obvious intolerance of bakers’ yeast as well; all very good reasons.   However, a friend had gifted me 2 half stick wires with 2 channels each, so I thought I would at least give them a trial.   Anyway, the baking was a success, as I sold all the loaves I made on the day, plus 3 Sourdough Seed breads specially requested by neighbours…which I just happened to have stashed in the freezer.

Since then, I have been working through all my accumulated teaching and learning resources [the paper-based ones!!!], and had a huge “throw out” of all the material I had either duplicated, or that has become out-of-date.   Alison was delighted when she got home to watch me filling our Recycling Bin with mountains of paper, previously languishing in cardboard boxes under my desk.   I’ve also acquired a website too.   More details, obviously to follow, but I have set time to one side 10th and 11th December to work with my brother to build this.   He and his wife have a website for their own small business, so I’m utilizing their expertise; how exciting!   And I have a Business Plan to write too!   These are my pre-Christmas plans, as well as circulating samples of bread to local businesses and flyers through peoples’ letter boxes in the village.   The MSc kicks off again later in January, so I need a regular income by then…although it will only be small, and things will be tight in our household.   It’s a tough time, but Alison knows how to keep me up-beat and confident this venture will be a big success for both of us.   That’s not easy when I know how much she must be worried too.

Anyway, onto the breads for today.   I built both my rye sour and wheat levain up over the course of yesterday.   The wheat leaven had 3 refreshments and the rye sour had 2.   I began with 40g of each in stock, and ended up with around 340g of rye sour and 980g of wheat leaven.   I have returned 40g of each to stock, and used up the rest in the formulae posted below.

1.    Gilchesters’ Miche/Boules

Method:

•  Build the levain, see description above.
• For mixing, first of all mix on first speed for 3 minutes with a hook attachment, then autolyse the Gilchesters flour with the water for 1 hour.
• Add the levain and the salt.   Mix on first speed for 2 minutes, then second speed for 7 minutes.
• Bulk prove the dough maintaining DDT of 26°C for 2 hours.
• Scale and divide as follows: 2 pieces @ 525g, one @ 1050g and the remaining piece @ c.1350g.   Mould round and rest for 15 minutes.   Prepare bannetons, re-mould dough pieces and set to final proof.
• Final proof DDT maintained at 27°C, for 2 hours
• Tip each loaf out of the banneton onto a peel, score the top and set to bake on the sole of the wood-fired oven.   Small loaves bake in half an hour, next biggest takes 45 minutes and the biggest loaf took around 55 minutes.
• Cool on wires.

I set these loaves in the oven with the top heat reading in excess of 300°C and even the bottom heat was close on 280°C.   I was confident it would settle out; this is easily the best firing I have achieved with this oven; so very pleasing.

2.    Double-leavened Dough, made as a Sandwich Loaf and a Boule.

Method:

• Build the leavens as described above.
• Weigh all the ingredients into the mixing bowl.   Attach a dough hook and mix on first speed for 2 minutes.   Scrape down as needed.   Mix on second speed for 7 minutes.
• Bulk proof for 1½ hours, DDT maintained at 27°C.
• Scale and divide, 4 pieces @ 300g for a Sandwich loaf, leaving one piece of just over 500g for a small boule.   Mould round and rest for 15 minutes.   Prepare one banneton and one large Pullman Pan.   Re-mould the boule, and shape the four pieces ready and tin up.   Attach the pan lid and set both for final proof.
• Final proof; the boule took 2 hours and was loaded with the Gilchester loaves.   The panned loaf stood 3 hours and was baked in the wood-fired oven straight after all the other loaves were baked.   The Sandwich loaf baked in 50 minutes.
• Cool on wires.

Plenty of photos attached.   The wood-fired oven behaved as it has never done so far.   When I set the panned loaf in the oven the top heat was still at 250°C and the bottom heat sitting nicely at 220°C.   This is so solid compared to previous baking and is really bolstering my confidence that I will be able to bake more in it than I had originally feared might be the case.

The builders across The Square are my latest fans; they bought 3 loaves and have placed an advanced order for Monday already.   The rest is for Alison and I and, hopefully, a trip to our local town, Wooler, tomorrow see if one of the shop’s is interested in taking it as samples.   We shall see?

Happy Baking!

Andy

White sandwich bread may not be as exciting as many but it sure is delicious.   Especially following Syd's poolish formula.    I have made this several times but never felt I had the proper pan for it.   Fortunately my  husband came through for my birthday.    I completely stopped buying bread and bagels from the supermarket after I started baking two years ago, with the exception of sandwich bread - industrial varieties of which can be quite good.    That may have to stop.   This bread is bursting with flavor unknown even to Pepperidge Farm.   Syd's instructions are clear and simple.   Thank you Syd (wherever you are.)  

Believe it or not, Floyd's Sweet Potato Rolls can be made even better.  And I wouldn't even have known that but for a bit of Thanksgiving serendipity.

My youngest daughter and family had been in town for a visit the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.  For one of our meals, she made Elizabeth Karmel's Sweet Potato Bourbon Mash.  Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite things and they play very nicely with a bit of bourbon.  Needless to say, the dish was delicious!

A few days later, I was planning to take some rolls to our older daughter's home for Thanksgiving dinner and decided that the sweet potato rolls would be in keeping with the day.  As luck would have it, there was about 3/4 of a cup of the sweet potato bourbon mash left over; just the perfect amount for the rolls.

The dough came together nicely and the rolls baked up prettily, filling the house with their fragrance.  They tasted even better than they smelled!  As our daughter put it after taking a bite, "It's like Thanksgiving in your mouth!"  

So, if you feel the need for a bit of self-indulgence, I'd highly recommend this.   In effect, you get a two-for-one deal, since the sweet potato mash is worth doing in its own right.

Paul

My buddy and I are setting up Reinhart's panettone recipe to do 80 medium loaves.  Last year we did the large ones (dont remember how many as there were other loaves done that day). This year we are just doing the panettone and will use  commercial flour in the soaker.  I love playing with all these big quantities, like 7 dozen eggs!  I have a 16-20qt Hobart which make it possible. Will let you know how it turns out!

It seems that all that was required was to step back, breath deep, and allow time to create a little distance.  As I started to bake this again my wife asked "So, what are you baking?".  After I answered she asked "So, what are you going to do different?".  I said "I'm going to bake this like I never saw it before and see what happens."  She just smiled and left me to it.

I approached this bake as if there were nothing different about it, and (almost) as if I had never made it before.  The only intentional deviation I made from the recipe as printed was to reduce the yeast by 1/3, as I always do these days when a recipe calls for IDY.  Some day I must do a test bake with bottled water because something around here makes IDY go crazy!

The dough developed fully in only 11 minutes in my old Bosch.

Shaped, panned and proofed.  I was as careful as I could be with the shaping on these, and got a pretty good result for each.  The pan on the left is a shiny one, and the one on the right is a non-stick dark one.  I brushed both with my usual home-made pan release.

I kept the top tiles out of the oven for this bake (and he nods at the commitment to forget previous bakes) and I kept the middle rack where these loaves baked just above the level of the lower tiles (and he nods again).  After baking it was clear that I should have proofed them a few minutes longer.  Both ruptured along one top edge, and there was no seam there on either loaf.  Both the bottoms are nice and brown, and there is a slightly darker tone on the nearer/dark-pan loaf in the following shot.

The crumb is more open than that described in the book, but it is nice and tender, and there is no evidence of doughy crushed layers on the side verticals.  There is also no pronounced hourglass shape evident.

There was another, unintentional, deviation from the published recipe.  I forgot to turn the oven down from the preheat of 375F to 350F when I loaded the loaves, so these baked a little hotter for a while, until I finally remembered it.  I'll find out one day if that contributed to the openness of the crumb.

It is finished.  It is not perfect.  It tastes wonderful, and I'm thinking, maybe, french toast for breakfast.  And on to other things. 

Thanks for stopping by.
OldWoodenSpoon

A few days ago, my lovely stepdaughter, Cat, convinced me to join twitter. As if I didn't spend enough time already on my computer!

But it's fun to follow Dalai Lama (my favorite, whose tweets are not about food, but food for thought), well-known food gurus, like Mark Bittman ("How to Cook Almost Everything" - always good for some environmentally conscious comments) -  or new baking entrepreneur Martina Snetkova ("Cookie Time!") in her heroic fight to establish her little bakery-on-wheels against a big chain cafe who tried to crowd her out of the Bay Area market before she even got started.

And Dan Lepard. When I saw this recipe, I jumped on my bicycle (yes, at the end of November! In Maine!!!) to get local brown ale, sharp cheddar and white onions:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/21/ale-crust-potato-pasty-recipe

Having learned a few tricks by watching the French video on croissants (that somebody here just posted), working with the ale dough was fairly easy. I americanized the potato onion filling a bit by adding some fried bacon. The amount of the filling would have been enough for nine pasties instead of six (my husband will work the surplus into somosas).

This is the result:

The crust was wonderful, and can surely be used for pies crusts, too. Smaller versions would be great finger food at parties.

Here ist my adaptation of the recipe (with a reduced amount of filling - enough for the six pasties):

ALE-CRUST POTATO PASTIES (6)

DOUGH
325 g bread flour, plus extra for rolling
175 g spelt flour, or whole wheat (I used spelt)
10 g salt, (2 tsp.)
300 g cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1 cm (0.4") cubes
250 ml Newcastle Brown Ale, or similar (I used Bar Harbor Thunderhole Ale)
 
FILLING
2 slices bacon, cubed
265 g white onions, chopped
¼ tsp. salt
15 ml olive oil
65 g water
salt and pepper, to taste
50 ml heavy cream
350 g potato, cooked and diced
70 g sharp cheddar, grated
egg, lightly beaten , for egg wash

1. For the dough: Stir together flours and salt. Toss butter cubes through flour mix. Pour in beer and mix to rough lump (the butter pieces will still be visible).

2. Transfer dough to floured worktop and roll out ca. 1 cm (0.4") thick. Fold it like a business letter, roll it out and fold it again into thirds. Wrap dough package in plastic foil and freeze it for 30 minutes to firm. Repeat this double rolling and folding 2 x more at 30-minute intervals. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

3. For the filling: In a saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Using slotted spoon, take out bacon bits, place on piece of paper towel, and set aside.

4. Add onions, oil, water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Cook until all water has evaporated, and onion is very soft. Stir in cream, let thicken a bit (mixture should not have too much liquid). Remove from heat, add potatoes, season well with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.

5. Divide dough in halves. Return 1 piece to refrigerator. Roll other half into rectangle ca. 23 x 33 cm (9 x 13"), then cut into thirds (using a pizza cutter), each about 23 x 11 cm (9 x 4 1/3").

6. Brush dough stripes with water, spoon filling towards one end, covering about half of piece (leave edges clean, otherwise you can't seal them!), top with bacon and sprinkle with cheese. Fold other half over filling, and seal edges with a fork. Repeat with other pastry sheet. Chill pasties until firm, at least 30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C.

8. Brush pasties with egg wash, and trim cut sides, if necessary. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and slash tops.

9. Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees for even browning, and continue baking for another 15 - 25 minutes, until puffed and golden.

I don't know about you guys, but last week wore me out. I'm just now recovering and have the energy to recap :)

Here's the last week or so of production. The struan I kept, everything else went on Thursday.

• Sourdough rye rolls using the Old School Deli Rye recipe from ITJB. I milled 1.5 tablespoons of caraway seeds in while milling the flour. IMO, I made them too small and/or cooked too long, they got really hard. They were fine once cut in half, but biting into a whole one was painful.
• Plain sourdough loaves. This was my first time using the Russian whole wheat sourdough strain from sourdo.com. It's a little less sour than the KA New England strain I've been using, but is much more vigorous with 100% home-milled grain.
• Apple Pie. Pretty much straight from Alton's Good Eats recipe, except I use traditional spices.
• PR's multigrain struan via WGB. This has become one of my favorite recipes.

Hi all.   Cruising around the various forums and recipes and I see an ingredient ' 1 bottle of soft butter'.    I live in northern Illinois USA and here we have butter in sticks, tubs and by the pound.   What is bottled butter and how much butter is in the bottle?   And where does one find this item?  And can melted & cooled butter be used in place of 'bottled butter'?  I'm 'fused here...   Thanks in advance to one and all!    Joey the Doeyo 

I have learned a lot about my oven this fall.  One of the most important things I learned, though, I just confirmed this weekend with this bake.  I have feared since I finished the insulation layer that my oven was too thin-walled to hold enough heat for multiple bakes.  I also suspected that perhaps I just was not "charging the heat battery" fully enough to make it last.  This weekend was a test of this theory.

This weekend I extended the high-fire burn from 1 3/4 hours to 2 1/2 hours.  I did not burn it any harder than I have before, but I burned it that hard for longer.  The finished temperature of the oven was not that much different from previous bakes.  I could tell by other external observations, like steam coming from the insulation layer, that I had the heat deeper into the oven than before.  The temperature drop during my soaking and equalization period was also quite a bit less.  I figured that was a good thing.   It did throw off my proofing schedule though!  Just one of the joys of learning a WFO.

The plan was to again try to bake two loads in the oven, back to back.  I've tried it before and ended up with undercooked second batches both times.  For this test I prepared a first load of 30% Whole Wheat sourdough boulles (6 loaves @ 770 grams each) that I knew with confidence I could bake off.  The second load was a lighter test of two loaves of "Old School" Deli Rye from the Inside the Jewish Bakery book.  At only two loaves I could bake them in the kitchen if the wfo proved not up to it.  In the end, the wfo proved up to the task.

It was a challenge trying to bring all the timings together, and I only pulled it off, sort of.  I underestimated the soaking and equalization time I needed after the longer high-fire burn.    While waiting for the oven to cool I over-proofed the sourdough, and ended up forcing the oven floor temperature down with repeated damp scuffling.  It worked out though, and the sourdough baked off beautifully.  Next time I will try loading just a few degrees hotter.  Here they are, just ready to come out of the oven.

These finished at 208F after 28 minutes.  The bottom crust was not as pronounced as I feared.  I must have gotten the floor cool enough after all.  As soon as I got these loaves out I loaded the rye loaves, even though the oven temperature was a bit higher than the recipe specified.  Nonetheless, they baked off in roughly 30 minutes as well.  Here is the whole bunch on the rack cooling.

I was very pleased with the crusts on these loaves. They all have that great thin, crisp crust that I think is characteristic of the WFO finish.  Following are the crumb shots.  The sourdough first:

Though quite acceptable and very tasty, there is obviously some tightness in the crumb from over proofing.  As I learn to manage the oven timing better that will improve.

Here is the rye bread:

I was very pleased with this result.  I have a short list of improvements to shoot for next time, but the patti-melt sandwiches yesterday were great!  I also gave one of the sourdough loaves, still warm from the oven, to my neighbor and assistant oven builder.  As it happened his newlywed daughter and her husband were visiting, so they enjoyed the loaf for dinner.  Next day my friend said "Don't send that bread over when the kids are here!  Now they're looking for a house in the neighborhood!".  Too much fun!

What did I learn about my oven?  It can bake two loads back to back with no trouble.  I just have to charge it up accordingly.  I need to allow more time in my timeline for oven soaking and equalization though.  I have a big note in my oven management log to "Make the oven wait for the bread, not the reverse!  Start the fire early!" 

I also know that I must finish my oven door.  I have been getting by with just a piece of 3/8" plywood held in place by a brick for an oven door, and it does not fit all that well.  I know, therefore, where my heat is going!  I have a 3" thick solid oak door in progress, but I still need to get the stainless steel heat shield made for it, and get my thermometer.  I also have a little millwork to do to finish the woodwork up before I can do those things.  With that door, though, my heat retention will improve a lot.  As it was, the oven was at 545F (roughly) when I loaded the sourdough, and roughly 435F when I loaded the rye.  It was still over 400 when the rye finished.  I assume the temperature drop was less for the rye bake because it was only two loaves.  Next time I'll prepare more loaves for the second load!

Thanks for stopping by!
OldWoodenSpoon