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I have not been able to blog for a bit now, so a few bakes have lined up that I want to share.

#1 Vermont SD

I won't even go into details of this bake, because frankly NOTHING went according to schedule and therefore I couldn't possibly talk about what I did.Let it just suffice to say that I did the mixing of ingredients at 8am and the poor bread didn't get baked until about 8 or 9pm.....travelling in and out of the fridge all day (that's what happens when I think I can have a few toddlers over and go through the simple things like folding and shaping when needed-yeah, right!)

I only took a picture of one loaf-the other one actually was prettier but was devoured at a little girl's b-day party. This guy, for some reason would have benefitted from a tad more proofing, since one of the slashes blew out a tad.The flavor was great-it is amazing what that small amount of rye flour does!

#2 Vermont SD with increased Whole Grain

I went by the metric column and just used 1/10 of it..so that means my percentages were as stated in the Baker's percentage column. I really like the flavor of this bread,even yummier than the original Vermont SD

I had a bit of a shaping issue;as we munched our way through one of the loaves I noticed one big fat hole...........seems to me, momma's shaping can use a lot of practice! I used Bob's redmill organic flour and organic whole rye flour from Organic Wheat Products, MN

Both of them were proofed seams side down, but the one on the left got baked seam side up and I did not slash it.The one on the right actually showed some cracking of the crust-very exciting!crumb shot of the unslashed loaf.

As you can see at the bottom left, I had some issues-the main one, I think, being that I somehow did not mix the salt in as well as needed and when I went to form the loaves in this loaf, there seemed to be small pockets of dense flour---really strange. I think the other loaf will be more uniform, but alas, it is taking a sojourn in the freezer.

#3 A variation of the 80% SD Rye with rye flour soaker

This bread I am super proud of! Since I had already made the three stage 90% rye I thought I would take some leeway with this bake and combine a few methods and add a dash of my own ideas-in pursuit of a childhood bread.

So, I built the SD according to the three stage method with the proportions set forth in the three stage 80% rye. I used 200g water and 200g Rye flour for the soaker, I subsituted sifted high gluten red hard whole wheat flour for the bread flour and I added 70g of ground Sunflower seeds. I added the sunflower seeds because that used to be one of my most favorite breads we bought from the Hofpfisterei in Munich and when I went on their website it stated that the bread was a 90%Rye10% wheat bread with ground up sunflower seeds.I ground them in my coffee grinder.

I added the optional yeast, since I figured the bread could stand the extra aeration with the whole wheat flour and sunflower seeds present. I almost want to say this is THE yummiest rye I have made so far-but let me be reasonable and say it is one of the most delicious ryes. It is nice and moist, can be cut very thinly, it had great ovenspring and the taste is very complex-it almost tastes as if some spices were in it-maybe a hint of caraway.

Ok and now off to work..............

Happy Sunday to all of you!

Christina

Fot quite a while now I was working with whole grain doughs producing flavorful breads with strong aromas from the various flours. A few days ago I decided to bake a proper baguette after seeing the beautiful baguettes you TFL members are showing here.

I have never made a baguette in my life but have read about it quite a bit. So I searched TFL and found dozens of recipes but I rememberd that I wanted to give Bouabsa's baguettes a shot back then so I went for it. It was my first time using the strech and fold in the bowl technique wich I found very easy and effective.

I used 94% AP flour and 6% whole rye as I was stuck without additional AP flour. I increased the hydration accordingly to 78% as I wanted to preserve the texture of the dough. I also added a final fold on the counter after the 3 S&F in the bowl as I felt the gluten was not developed enough.

The dough was retarded for only 16 hours because of my working schedule. Shaping was done by Hamelman instructions in "Bread" and the baguettes were proofed in a couche for an hour.

Anis Bouabsa's Baguettes:

Crumb:

The results were very good. The taste was sweet with a great arome of fermented flour. The baguettes were eated warm with a variety of cheeses. Delicious!

Have a Good Week!

Jonathan.

 Submitted to YeastSpotting.

A lightly sweet taralli, made with a full-bodied red wine such as Cabernet, Merlot, Barolo, Zinfandel, and Primativo etc. Perfect for a wine tasting party.

http://turosdolci.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/double-dip-red-wine-taralli/

Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain

I felt like baking something new this weekend, but I like the breads I make most often. That's why I bake them most often. So, I wanted something I would really like as much as those, but different. I settled on the Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain from Hamelman's “Bread.”

In the sidebar of this recipe, Hamelman talks about the “two small changes” in this formula compared to the “regular” Vermont Sourdough resulting in “surprisingly large” effects. The two changes are an increase in the whole grain flour from 10 to 15% and in the pre-fermented flour from 15 to 20%. These changes result in “a sharper tang and more or a whole-grain taste.” Well, that sounded terrific.

Then, I recalled the errata sheet for “Bread” that Paul (rainbowz) got from Jeff Hamelman and shared with us. I consulted it and found that the corrections decreased the pre-fermented flour which seemed in conflict with the description in the sidebar. Not having a clear sense of how to deal with this discrepancy, I ended up using the ingredient amounts as printed, resulting in a larger batch of dough than that printed in the book.

The Vermont Sourdough with Additional Whole Grain was made with KAF Bread Flour and 15% KAF Medium Rye Flour. It had 20% pre-fermented flour in the form of a 125% hydration starter fed with a mix of 70% AP, 20% WW and 10% whole rye flour. The total dough was 65% hydration. The loaves were scaled to 810 gms and shaped as boules.

The oven was pre-heated to 500ºF on convection bake for 60 minutes, with a baking stone on the middle shelf, pushed to the left, and a 7 inch cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks at the right front of the lower shelf. The oven was pre-steamed by pouring about 1/3 cup of boiling water over the lava rocks. The loaves were then transferred to a peel, scored and loaded onto the stone. Another ½ cup of water was poured over the lava rocks and the oven door quickly closed. The oven was immediately turned down to 460ºF, conventional bake. The skillet was removed after 15 minutes, and the oven was re-set to 435ºF, convection bake. The loaves were baked for an additional 25 minutes. Then, the oven was turned off, and the loaves were left on the stone with the oven door ajar for another 7 minutes before being transferred to a cooling rack.

I baked this bread as part of an experiment to see if I could reliably produce a crackly crust. My results were most satisfactory. (See Consistent Crackly Crust Conundrum Conquered?)

Crackly Crust

The crumb was fully aerated but without huge holes - good for a 65% hydration sourdough.

The crust was crunchy with a caramel-like nutty sweetness. The crumb was tender-chewy. The flavor had both a sweetness and a moderately assertive sourness. This is a bread that is quite sour, but there is a lot of complexity that also comes through. I'll have to make it again, but based on today's bake, I prefer it to the "regular" Vermont Sourdough.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

Achieving a thin, crackled crust has been a frustrating pursuit for many, myself included. I have been able to get it, sometimes, but not consistently. There have been numerous discussions of how to get that crackly crust. I've been slowly digesting what's been written, and I think I may have arrived at a reliable method, at least for my breads, my dough handling and my oven.

The basic principles

The crust crackles during cooling because the interior of the bread contracts as it cools, and the crust is too dry to absorb water vapor which is trying to migrate outward and too rigid to contract with the crumb.

In order to optimize oven spring, bloom, crust shine and crust thickness when baking hearth breads, it is necessary to have a moist environment for the first part of the bake. Keeping the surface of the bread moist delays hardening of the crust, so it is extensible enough to expand with oven spring and permit a nice blooming of the scoring cuts.

Thus, it is desirable to have a humid oven for the first part of the bake but a dry oven for the last part of the bake.

Convection ovens, by increasing hot air circulation, tend to dry the surface of whatever is cooking. That's nice for crisping chicken skin, but it is counter-productive for keeping the bread surface moist early in the bake. On the other hand, convection baking helps dry the loaf surface, as is desirable during the last part of the bake. Convection ovens made for bakeries solve this problem by injecting steam under pressure over a time period under control by the baker. The home baker can achieve something like this by covering the loaves or using a cloche for the first part of the bake. The cover protects the loaf from excessive water evaporation, even in a convection oven. When the cover is removed, the crust can be dried, and a convection oven can presumably achieve this better than a conventional oven.

Allowing the loaf to sit on the baking stone with the oven turned off and the door ajar can achieve additional crust drying, but it may be that a less gradual cooling results in faster contraction of the cooling crumb and greater likelihood of crust crackling, according to some.

The protein content of the flour used and the inclusion of other ingredients that increase water retention, for example, potatoes or soakers, may also have an impact. These factors may impact both the degree to which the crumb contracts and the difficulty of drying the crust, and both of these would inhibit crackle development. If so, crackles should be easiest to achieve in a straight bread dough made with lower protein flour. Indeed, the bread most associated with a thin, crackly crust is baguette, which meets these conditions.

The principles applied

My oven is made by KitchenAid and has both convection and conventional baking options. This provides me with the opportunity to apply the principles discussed above.

I baked two breads yesterday and today with these principles in mind. The first was one I've baked dozens of times, my San Joaquin Sourdough. The second was one I had not baked before, the Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain from Hamelman's Bread. Both breads had 20% pre-fermented flour in the form of a 125% hydration starter fed with a mix of 70% AP, 20% WW and 10% whole rye flour.

The San Joaquin Sourdough was made with KAF AP and 10% KAF Medium Rye flours. The dough was 72% hydration. The loaves were scaled to 480 gms and shaped as bâtards. The Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain was made with KAF Bread Flour and 15% KAF Medium Rye Flour. The dough was 65% hydration. The loaves were scaled to 810 gms and shaped as boules.

For both bakes, the oven was pre-heated to 500ºF on convection bake for 60 minutes, with a baking stone on the middle shelf, pushed to the left, and a 7 inch cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks at the right front of the lower shelf. The oven was pre-steamed by pouring about 1/3 cup of boiling water over the lava rocks. The loaves were then transferred to a peel, scored and loaded onto the stone. Another ½ cup of water was poured over the lava rocks and the oven door quickly closed. The oven was immediately turned down to 460ºF, conventional bake.

San Joaquin Sourdough Bâtards

Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain from Hamelman's "Bread"

For the San Joaquin sourdough, the skillet was removed from the oven after 12 minutes, and the temperature was reset to 440ºF, convection bake. After another 18 minutes, the oven was turned off, and the loaves were left on the stone with the oven door ajar for another 7 minutes before being transferred to a cooling rack. The loaves commenced “singing” immediately and exceptionally loudly. By time they were cooled, they had developed many crust crackles, as pictured.

Crackly Crust on San Joaquin Sourdough

For the Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain, the skillet was removed after 15 minutes, and the oven was re-set to 435ºF, convection bake. The loaves were baked for an additional 25 minutes. Then, the oven was turned off, and the loaves were left on the stone with the oven door ajar for another 7 minutes before being transferred to a cooling rack. The loaves were already singing when I took them out of the oven, and, to my delight, there were already a few crackles. I had never before seen crackles develop before a loaf was cooled out of the oven. More lovely crackles appeared as the loaves cooled.

Crackles in crust of Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain, right out of the oven

More crackles appeared as the loaves cooled

And more ...

And yet more crackles

Conclusions

While two bakes is not sufficient to completely establish that the method described will reliably produce a crackled crust with all hearth breads, or even these, every time, this experience certainly supports my current understanding of the mechanisms involved and suggests the possibility that other bakes and other bakers might achieve similar results by applying these techniques.

I'd be happy if others would give this a try and share their experience.

David

Baked 2 different breads, taking up the Hamelman's challenge, one quite successful and the other,  just had too many mistakes.  You will understand what I mean when you look at the pictures.

Cheese Bread with quite a bit of modification to the recipe.  Great oven spring, still learning to score to get the ears.  Not enough cheese,  quite an open crumb,  thin crust,  and 100% sourdough only.   check out the details here.

Flaxseed Bread - too many mistakes here,  and this didn't turn out well at all.  Taste was ok, but it was dense and it didn't have much oven spring.  

1.    This was my 3rd loaf (not counting my other bakes like muffins and flatbread) on a weekend,  and its one of the more difficult ones.   2.    Warm water for the flaxseed.  My water was still warm when I added into the flax seed.  I think that creates the gluey form more. 3.    Use of olive oil to handle the dough, the smell and taste doesn't seem to go together 4.    Brushing with butter - it made the rolls soft,  and not at all what I was hoping for. 5.    Shaping my rolls created a hole in the roll,  should have done better than that. 6.    Not allowing time for the dough to rise properly. 7.    I don't think I baked long enough or I didn't let it cool properly before I kept it,  as it turned moldy after 5 days.  

Well,  I still have  a lot to learn. 

This is a sourdough version of Peter Reinhart's 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf from his book: Whole grain breads. I spiked it by 2.25 Teaspoons of instant yeast.

The crust was soft due to the presence of Milk, and butter, but the crumb was light soft, and even textured.

I used only Waitrose Organic Strong bread flour with 13.9g of protein. I also baked this bread under a pyrex cover in a grill oven, 30 min. covered, and 15 minutes uncovered.

The taste, well, it was somewhat salty (I HAVE TO STOP USEING SEA SALT! i can't figure out how much is enough in a formula(in this bread it was somewhat salty coz i doubled the amount of salt, knowing that sea salt isn't as efficient as refined salt.) It had a faint acidic taste from the levain (50% of the total dough weight), but was pleasant overall.

I learned something very important here: Always increase hydration with PR's wholegrain breads recipes, from 70% to 75%, as peter apparently prefers tighter crumbed wholegrain breads.

Another thing: Never take shortcuts with wholegrains, as this will adversely effect the resulting flavor. I didn't prepare a soaker with a pinch of salt (spong), so no sweetness to there to counteract the excess salt or the sourdough acid.

Here is the bread:

Mebake

Ok, back from my business trip to beautiful San Antonio, Texas ...got more work done on the garden shed, and I'll be baking the whole wheat (pate fermentee?) from Bread for The Bread Challeng on Sunday.  Here's the lates on the garden shed ...and a tidbit or two on the shop that I'm having built at the same time.  My yard is a genuine construction zone!!!

Got all 4 walls in.  Notice the windows all along the near end and around each corner.  This end of the shed will be a seed-starting / pseudo-greenhouse for early-starting our Alaskan garden.  Why buy when you can grow?

Lifting the roof trusses into place ...alone!  I threaded them in in-between studs, raised one end on top of a wall as high as I could reach, then lifted the other end onto the opposite wall... and voila!  Trusses on top of the walls, upside down, ready to be flipped into place.

After getting the truss, upside down, on top of the walls, I raised it to a support that spanned the shed, then used a "picker upper thingy" that I made to flip the truss upright and lean it against the others.

Here we are with all 8 trusses on the top of the walls, leaning against each other and ready to be moved into position.  I'll get OSB onto the roof and some of the siding on before the weekend is out... and will be baking on Sunday, pate fermentee prepared on Saturday (wife's birthday ...wait until she sees the diamond earings that I bought her!!  A more wonderful women can't be found...)

And if a garden shed weren't enough ...I'm also having a builder build a shop for me ...so I can pursue my other hobby ...boat building!  Isn't my wife wonderful?  She agreed to buying this house with extra land and room for a shop, and agreed to building the shop too!

Please Mister ...Try not to make a mess of my back yard!  Right!  This guy doesn't know the meaing of the word "neat" or "clean" or "just as much as you need to and no more"!  We'll have some landscaping to do after he's done!

Got the foundation excavated and ready to form things up and pour concrete...

Foundation poured ...stem wall constructed, now need to level out the interior, fill with gravel, add 4" blue foam insulation and pour the slab!  The shop is 28' wide by 36' long ...hard to tell in the photo.  Garage door is 12' wide by 11' tall, interior ceiling 12'6" high, 12:12 roof with 36' long by 11.5' wide bonus room upstairs!

Oh yeah... Baking on Sunday!!!

Brian

This the second try on this bread and it went better than last time. It still is not brown enough, is too flat and the texture is not open enough. I tried proping the door open with a hot pad at the top of the oven door for the last approx 12 minutes. Turned the oven off and left the bread in with door closed. I baked it quite a bit longer than called for so I guess I should just leave it in until it's brown enough.

I'm not vwery well organized so don't take enough pictures, although it's a challenge with hands covered with dough. I have been going this way and that trying to get the pictures uploaded for entry with many false tries but think I may have it now if I can get the pictures in the right place.As you can see it worked, alittle ugly but they are there. The bottoms show thepoor shapping. And the rest is evident to see. Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Herb

So I finally bit the bullet and bought  "Advanced Bread and Pastry" by Michel Suas. I tried to be good and thrify, I really did. I used to borrow baking books from library, but then I couldn't let them go, wanting to keep them around in case I wanted to bake something from the books, which means I often had to pay hefty late fees and got to keep nothing. Now I just buy them. Amazon loves me, I think I will buy every book on bread baking sooner or later.:P

Now back to "Advanced Bread and Pastry" , it a wonderful book with overwhelming amount of information not just on breads, but on all kinds of baking. Besides great recipes like this Caramalized Hazelnut Squares, there are also valuable technical knowledges, which I intend to read from cover to cover. It will take me years I am sure, so in the mean time, I will bake from the book to fuel my learning! ;) Oh yearh, the book is hella heavy, so I am convinced by holding it, I am getting good strength training too!

The formula calls for no less than 4 preferments - 2 sourdough ones, and 2 commercial yeast ones. Along with making the caramalized hazelnuts, it's not a quick bread to make. However, it's not difficult either. Sticking to the formula, the bread came together pretty easily. It's a wet dough, but not as wet as ciabatta. It is however indeed shaped as ciabatta - rustic squares with no preshaping. The formula does not call for scoring, but I did anyway to one of the squres since I like the look better.

Very open crumb, studded with delicious caramalized hazelnuts, a decadent treat. I, however, am not convinced that we need all 4 preferments. I can see the rye starter preferment providing some sourness, the whole wheat sponge  probably adds some earthy ww tastes, but the white flour starter preferment and the white flour sponge virtually do the same thing, do we really need both?

Highly recommend the bread, as well as the book!