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Lucy loves naan more than she loves Indian food but she really loves Indian food the best of all.  So when she found out we were going to make Fusion Chicken Curry for dinner at 10 AM she was a little put off since she likes her naan to snea a long cold nap in the fridge just like pizza dough.

But, she thought she had enough time to at least get a poolosh going to increase the flavor a little bit, even though that might be a myth, when the poolish is only 5 hours old.  She mixed a pinch of ADY with 60g each of milk and AP to make it 20% of the total and put it on the heating pad at 82 F for it to do its thing.  The recipe for 5 naan is:

350 g of flour 100%

250 g of milk 71 %

7 g of salt

pinch of ADY

Some folks would throw some about a T of sugar in there but we don’t like sugar around here very much.  The key is to have a wet dough that isn’t sticky.  After 5 hours of poolishing we did enough slap and folds to get the dough smooth, non sticky and have little blisters under the skin – about 6 minutes for this little bit of dough.  Then we let it sit on the heating pad for 3 hours when it puffed itself up nicely after 1 S&F at the one hour mark.

We fired up Big Old Betsy to 500 F and moved the top and bottom stones a little closer together but leaving them far enough apart to get the naan between them without burning ourselves too much.  For 3 of us we divided the dough into 5 pieces and rolled the out several times to get it as thin as we could.  We don’t like thick naan.

We cooked them 2 at a time, 2 minutes a side by putting the first one in for 2 minutes and then turning it as we put the 2nd one in, then pulling the first one after another 2 minutes while turning the 2md one and putting the 3rd one in.  The naan were brushed with Mojo de Ajo as they came out of the oven.

Lucy say's not to forget the salad.   The naan were pretty tasty and held the Indian / Asian curry perfectly.  Fusion Curry has the normal Indian suspects in it using coconut milk to make the sauce and with the addition of broccoli, pea pods and tofu.  Breakfast and lunch were pretty good too ..using Friday's 50% whole grain 10 grain bread for a P&J  with the usual fixings.

Well my hiatus is over.  The full market has begun and I'm ready to return to the weekly trading routine.  Been hooked on the stiff levain lately so i decided I'd switch in up and build a liquid levain and then do a second build and use a young levain to keep it mellow and sweet.  I had honey in the formula and opted to omit and allow the young levain to bring the sweetness.  I kept the pre-fermented flour low to give enough time to gently build the gluten.  The dough was lovely and easy to work with and after bulk was full of life and ready for a nap in the fridge.  This one is a keeper. 

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Spelt Levain
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Levain: 3-4 hours (76F) 11% PF
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40 Seed (50% Spelt/50% FLOUR MIX) --> (78% Bread Flour, 20%Wheat, 2% Rye)
40 Spelt
40 FLOUR MIX
80 H20
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200
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Dough: (76F)
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405 Spelt
405 FLOUR MIX
600 H20 (hold back 50g to add with salt)
19 Salt
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1429
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Total Flour:     910               (50% Spelt, 39% Art, 10 % Wheat, 1% Rye) 11% PF
Total H20:       700               (77%)
Total Dough: 1629               (12 @ 810g)
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Autolyse with Levain 1 hour
Add Salt and 50g h20 and squeeze through until well incorporated.
6 SF @ 30 minutes, rest 30 minutes
Divide and Rest 30 minutes
Shape and Retard 8-12 hours
Bake 500 with steam for 15 minutes and vented for 20-25 longer.

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Bounty Local dehydrated Shitakes, Local Mytakes sp???, dried soup herb blend (so good), local eggs, fresh raw goat milk, organic local merlot, spicy greens, a bunch of dried figs (fignfennel comin up soon), and some ground lamb owed to me.  Thank you for the land I live in and the wonderful things produced here.  

Cheers

Josh

image.jpg

Sorry this is upside down. Don't know why that happened.

Lloyd D.

This is a country style bread (mix of rye, ww, and bread flours) 75%(+) hydration leavened with my home culture. The added protein and fiber comes from pre cooked French Lentils. The crumb is soft but chewy, aroma sweet caramel, and the taste is nutty and rye. Just some slight lentil flavor. Bread has depth of flavor but only slightly sour, which is the way I like it.

AM mix, ferment at 75deg F for 8-10 hrs, will smell very fruity like peach schnapps at the end

50g starter (AP 100% hydration)

175g rye (Hodgson Mill)

175g warm water (I need warm water because rye is refrigerated)

boil 1/4 cup cleaned and rinsed French lentils in 1 cup water covered for 25 min, let cool

PM mix, maintain dough at 75-78deg

550g warm water (strain excess lentil water into bowel then add water to make total)

150g WW (mine is frozen)

650g bread flour

rest 30 min covered

Add 20g salt and squeeze in with repeatedly wet hands

rest 30 min covered

Add all of lentils and any remaining fluid and stretch and fold (SF1) with wet hands until incorporated

rest 30 min covered

SF and rest 30 min 3 more times, Total of 4

rest 60 min covered after last SF

with wet hand remove dough to counter lightly coat with flour and divide into 2 pieces, shape into rounds with bench knife

rest 30 min covered

dust with flour, flip, and four corner fold. tighten into boule

place in banneton, place in plastic bag and refrigerate overnight

AM pre heat oven and Dutch ovens to 500deg, sprinkle dough in banneton with bran to prevent sticking, place boules into Dutch ovens and score, cover and regular bake at 450deg for 30 min.

remove covers and bake 430 convection setting for 20 min. Rest, oven off with door ajar 10 min. Remove from Dutch oven to cooling racks

Something about bagels that make a Yooper (this is now an official Webster dictionary word) winter......I mean Spring.....

tolerable. 10 inches of snow on April 5th is a cruel joke, but I've decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Bagels, a hot toddy and a good book in front of the fire. Ok, more than tolerable. 

This is a photo from last year but the recipe is the same. Very easy if anyone wants it, let me know!

  Finally the weather is starting to turn and actually feel like Spring after one of the longest and coldest winters we have had in a long time.  It was time to fire up the grill and make some hamburger and hot dogs to really make it feel like a new season.

I decided to use the basic formula for my popular Onion Parmesan Rolls which I posted about here but change things up a little.  I didn't have any cheese powder left so I used some fresh shaved Parmesan which certainly could only help matters.  I also wanted to use some Caputo 00 flour in place of some of the European style flour.  The idea would be to make the rolls a little harder similar to the German style rolls I had made last year which came out just like Kaiser rolls.  I also added some fresh ground Red Winter Wheat and since I didn't have Durum flour I used the grainier Semolina version.

The other main change I made to the recipe was to use minimal mixing and stretch and folds along with a bulk fermentation in the refrigerator.  I was going to bake these the next day, but I caught the stomach flu so the dough rested for 2 days before I finally had the strength to bake them off.

I also increased the hydration by adding 144 grams additional milk to compensate for the thirstier Caputo 00 flour as well as the freshly milled whole wheat and spelt.

If you want a soft fluffy roll than don't use this recipe, but if you want a nice semi-hard style roll that goes great with a burger than you will like this formula for sure.  I've been eating them for breakfast everyday this week with a little cheese or butter and I'm sorry that I just ate the last one a few minutes ago.

Directions

Bring the milk up to a boil in a heavy-duty sauce pan and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.  Take it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature before using.

In the mean time leave your butter out at room temperature or soften in your microwave.

Mix flours with yeast to combine.  Next add remainder of the ingredients and mix on low for 1 minute and let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Next, knead on medium-low speed (or with hands) for 2 minutes. Dough should be supple and still a little bit sticky (adjust with water if needed). Continue kneading for 4 more minutes, increasing speed to medium-high for last 30 seconds.

Take the dough out of your mixer and form it into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl or dough rising bucket.  Let it sit for 10 minutes and then do a set of stretch and folds.  Repeat the same procedure a total of 3 times within 40 minutes.  Place covered bowl with dough in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

On baking day, take the dough out of your refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for around 2-3  hours until the dough is nice and puffy and has completely doubled from the original size.

Next gently deflate the dough and form into rolls and place on cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cover with a moist towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  Let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours until the rolls have almost doubled in size and pass the poke test.

Around 30 minutes before ready to bake the rolls, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and prepare your oven for steam as well.  I use a heavy-duty pan in the bottom shelf of my oven and pour 1 cup of boiling water in right before placing the rolls in the oven.

Right before you are ready to bake the rolls prepare an egg wash, paint your rolls and add  your topping of choice.

Bake the rolls at 450 degrees for the first 5 minutes and lower the oven to 425 degrees until they are nice and brown.

These should take about 25 minutes to cook thoroughly.  When done  let them cool on wire rack for at least half an hour before digging in if you can wait that long.

This was festive around here this week.  Our daughter turned 23 yesterday so a more festive bread was in order.  We decided to go back to baking two smaller loaves instead of one larger one.  That way we could get two different breads, one plain and one festive, out of the same dough and one bake.  The festive one would be packed with fruit and seeds which Lucy says is way more festive than a plain loaf…. even if neither was a pumpernickel

No sprouts or scalds this week either.  We also dropped our usual hidden inclusion of ground flax and sesame seeds too.  But we did up the number of whole grains used to 10 and got the janetcook inspired whole corn back in there for the extra flavor it provides.  Lucy was going to go with a 9 grain bread but at the last minute decided to toss in some semolina she found somewhere lurking in her pantry.

We kept the hydration in the 85-86% range that we like for a 50% whole grain bread but this one turned out more slack than usual slack dough due to more lower or no gluten whole flours being used in higher percentages in the mix.  The sloppy mess finally stopped sticking to the counter for the most part at the end of first slap and fold session.

Another change we made was to cut the levain amount down to around 10% to make sure that the dough would not fully proof in the fridge after 10 hours so that we could let the dough warm up on the counter and not have to bake it right out of the fridge to see if the crumb and sour not would change for the better.

We did our usual 3 stage levain build from out multigrain stiff starter that has been refrigerated for 3 weeks now.  The entire counter time for the levain build was 12 hours but it was refrigerated for 24 hours one hour after the 3rd build to help bring out the sour and fit our baking schedule.

Once the levain came out of the fridge for its warm up and doubling to ensure it is at it peak before use, this gave us about 3 hours to autolyse the everything else except the levain, salt, cranberries and seeds.  We had soaked the cranberries earlier to plump them up and made sure there was some extra soaker water available to use as part of the dough liquid in the autolyse.  We did sprinkle the salt on top of the autolyse ball of dough  s we wouldn’t forget it later.

Once the salt was finally mixed in we added the levain mixing it in with a spoon before turning it out on the counter fir 3 sessions if slap and folds of 8, 1 and 1 minute on 12 minute intervals followed by 3 sets of  stretch and folds on 30  minute intervals.  The dough was divided before the 2nd set if S & F’s to separate out the 762 g plain loaf from the festive one.

We incorporated the cranberries, pumpkin and sunflower seeds into the festive loaf on the 2nd set of S&F’s and they were thoroughly distributed by the end if the 3rd set.  The 11% shown on the formula for these add ins is really twice as high since the formula is for the combined loaves and these festive add ins only went into one of the them.  That loaf was packed with fruit and seeds otherwise, as  Lucy said, it wouldn’t be festive enough.

We pre-shaped and then shaped this still pretty slack but no longer horribly sticky dough into a small boule and oval, plopping them into right sized rice floured baskets.  We bagged them and let them sit in the counter for an hour before refrigerating them for 10 1/2 hours.

After the dough came out of the fridge we let it warm upon the counter and finish proofing for 1 1/2 hours before removing them from the baskets onto parchment and peel at the same time.  After a quick slashing and sliding them into the hot oven preheated to 550 F regular bake on the lower of 2 stones as the temperature was lowered to 500 F.

The Birthday Girl's Breakfast Fritatta has two sausages, 3 cheeses, 4 peppers with red and green onion.

Mega steam was supplied for 14 minutes with 2 of Sylvia’s steaming pans and one of David Snyder’s lava rock pans – all half full of water.  2 minutes into the steam the temperature was lowered to 475 F for the final 10 minutes of steam.  Once the steam came out we lowered the temperature to 425 F – convection setting this time.  In a total of  25 minutes the plain bread read 2058 F on the inside and the festive one came in at 203.  So we baked them both a couple of minutes more until the seeded bread read 205 F.

They both browned up pretty well, with the plain one having small blisters and the festive on a little darker.  The plain one spread more than it sprang which was the opposite of the festive bread but both bloomed OK.  I think the hydration should have been a couple, or even 3, points lower for the plain version.  We will have to wait on the crumb shot til after lunch.

The crumb of the pain bread was much more open than the festive one as expected.  Th festive one was nuttier, seedier,sweeter and moister because of the fruit - also expected.   Both are Delicious in their own way.  Toasted and buttered  the fruity, seedy one is perfect for breakfast or brunch with no jam required at all.  The plain 50% whole grain version made for one of the best melted cheese and corned beef sandwiches of al time -  for lunch.  It is seriously hearty, healthy and flavorful bread. The festive one is just like it and possibly even more healthy with the nutrition of the seeds and cranberries.  We like both of these breads very much.  Lucy is taking a victory lap chasimng after the birds in the back yard intent on eating the tomatoes and unharvested grain. 

We love grilled yet nearly raw Ahi Tuna.

Formula

This apple, pear, blackberry and srawberry crisp has a blueberry and almond granola top.

These two loaves together cost $4.70 to make including energy costs.

Lucy is doing what she does best, resting while trying to think up next Friday's bake and she never forgets the salad

I have been thinking about making baguettes for some time, and I finally did it, using David's recipe.  I made SO many mistakes and learned a lot. I will do my best to do a better job next time.  I watched videos over and over to do the proper shaping and still did a pretty poor job.  I think I understand the error of my ways, so I can improve on my next attempt!

 I learned a lot going through the process. It was the first time for my using a French couche cloth.

I liked the crumb, and the crust was wonderful. My husband really enjoyed the bread.

Our baguette sandwiches were really wonderful.

I used David's recipe for the baguettes, making a few changes, including using the couche cloth instead of parchment paper.  I also didn't have any ice ready, so just used boiled water for the steam.  See recipe below:

Pain_de_Campagne

The formula for this bâtard is derived from that for Anis Bouabsa's baguettes, as shared with TFL by Janedo and then modified by David. His recipe follows:

Formula

Active starter ........................100 gms

KAF French Style Flour.......450 gms

Guisto's Rye Flour..................50 gms

Water......................................370 gms

Instant yeast............................1/4 tsp

Salt............................................10 gms

Mixing

In a large bowl, mix the active starter with the water to dissolve it. Add the flours and stir to form a shaggy mass. Cover tightly and let rest (autolyse) for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the yeast over the dough and mix with a plastic scraper. Then sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix.

Using the plastic scraper, stretch and fold the dough 20 times, rotating the bowl 1/5 turn between each stroke. Cover tightly. Repeat this stretch and fold procedure 20 minutes later and, again, after another 20 minutes.

Fermentation

After the third series of stretches and folds, scape the dough into a lightly oiled 2 quart/2 liter container and cover tightly. (I use a 2 quart glass measuring pitcher with a tightly fitting plastic lid manufactured by Anchor Glass.) Immediately place in the refrigerator and leave it there for 21 hours. (In this time, my dough doubles in volume and is full of bubbles. YMMV.)

Dividing and Shaping

(I chose to make one very large bâtard, but you could divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and make smaller bâtards, boules or baguettes. Or, you could just cut the dough and not shape it further to make pains rustiques.)

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and scrape it gently onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently pat it into a rectangle. To pre-shape for  a bâtard, fold the near edge up just past the center of the dough and seal the edge by gently pressing the two layers together with the ulnar (little finger) edge of your hand or the heel of your hand, whichever works best for you. Then, bring the far edge of the dough gently just over the sealed edge and seal the new seam as described.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and/or a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30-60 minutes, with the seams facing up. (The time will depend on ambient temperature and how active your starter is. The dough should have risen slightly, but not much.)

To shape a bâtard, fold the near edge of the dough and seal the edge, as before. Now, take the far edge of the dough and bring it towards you all the way to the work surface and seal the seam with the heel of your hand. Rotate the loaf gently toward you 1/4 turn so the last seam you formed is against the work surface and roll the loaf back and forth, with minimal downward pressure, to further seal the seam. Then, with the palms of both hands resting softly on the loaf, roll it back and forth to shape a bâtard. Start with both hands in the middle of the loaf and move them outward as you roll the loaf, slightly increasing the pressure as you move outward, so the bâtard ends up with the middle highest and the ends pointed .

Preheating the oven

Place a baking stone on the middle rack and both a cast iron skillet and a metal loaf pan (or equivalent receptacles of your choosing) on the bottom shelf.  Heat the oven to 500F. (I like to pre-heat the baking stone for an hour. I think I get better oven spring. Since I expected a 30 minute rest after pre-shaping and a 45 minute proofing, I turned on the oven 15 minutes after I had pre-shaped the loaf.) I put a kettle of water to boil 10 minutes before baking.

Proofing

After shaping the loaf, transfer it to parchment paper liberally dusted with semolina. Cover the loaf with plastic wrap and/or a kitchen towel. Proof until the loaf has expanded to about 1-1/2 times it's original size. (This turned out to be 30 minutes for me.) Do not over-proof, if you want good oven-spring and bloom!

Baking

Put about a cup full of ice cubes in the loaf pan on the bottom shelf of the oven and close the door.

Slip a peel or cookie sheet under the parchment paper holding the loaf. Uncover the loaf. Score it. (The bâtard was scored with a serrated tomato knife. The knife was held with its blade at about a 30 degree angle to the surface of the loaf. One swift end-to-end cut was made, about 1/2 inch deep.)

Transfer the loaf and parchment paper to the baking stone, pour one cup of boiling water into the skillet, and close the oven door. Turn the oven down to 460F.

After 15 minutes, remove the loaf pan and the skillet from the oven. Rotate the loaf 180 degrees, if it is browning unevenly. Close the oven door.

Bake for another 15 minutes, then remove the loaf and place on a cooling rack. Check for doneness. (Nice crust color. Internal temperature of at least 205F. Hollow sound when you thump the bottom of the loaf.) If necessary, return to loaf to the oven to bake longer.

Cooling

Cool on a rack for two hours before slicing.

As stated by Jan Hedh in his book Swedish Breads and Pastries ‘The advantages of scalding include better kneading abilities, a strong aroma and flavor…making the bread more durable.’

I was curious to learn more about scaled bread as it’s something we ate regularly during my time in Sweden. As opposed to the one I just baked, the scalded breads of memory were more a wading type loaf that was incredibly dense. This recipe however is adapted from a professional Swedish baker (Not Jan Hedh, though I used his book throughout as a reference point) in turn it’s much lighter and made for a modern palate.

My lasting experience with this particular dough was the incredible aroma it gave while developing, ranging from cider in the early stages to a peculiar baked custard in the later. For that reason I recommend you all to try this and share how your particular bread developed. I’m imagining the possibilities that reduced yeast and longer resting times with at least the proofing done at a low temperature would have on flavor development.

I have not used red fife flour often in my baking career apart from petit epi’s in a particular bread basket, and because of this experience will absolutely be introducing it as a regular in my pantry. The bread flour listed above is regional wheat grown about 40 km away and is only available in a few local health food stores as well as the farm itself. This will slightly effect water retention so be conscious of this in other attempts as the hydration percentages are relatively high to begin with.

 Another note to the will be baker, do not fear long kneading. Granted the machine is gently working the dough at a low speed your bread will not suffer the ill effects of slow/fast cycle, particularly over oxidation. The high hydration requires longer kneading and will be a very thick crepe batter otherwise.

Please enjoy this recipe and be sure to share your experience. Happy baking. 

Recipe Follows:

Procedure:

Scalding

125g                Water

63g                  Red Fife Flour

12g  Salt

Boil water and pour over flour/salt. Stir into a paste and cover at room temperature and rest at room temp 12-24 hrs.

Final Dough

200g Scalding

270g White bread flour

180g Red Fife Flour

350g Water, 70 to 78

20g Fresh Yeast

Combine in kitchen aid mixer on speed 2 for around 15 minutes. Do gluten test. Let rise for 2 to 4 hours stretching and folding at 3 to 4 times. 20 minute intervals worked fine for me. Once the dough reaches about 2.5 times its size, punch it down and let rest for several minutes. Gently form your loaves to whatever you want, with a batard being most traditional option. Allow loaves to proof until a finger dent test shows an indent that gradually recedes. Preheat oven and baking tray for at least 45 minutes to 500F. Once proofed score loaves. I simply scored my bouleo n the axis with two small parallel slits to fill out the remainder. The Swedes appreciate symmetry, so here’s to you. Transfer scored loaves to the baking sheet and adequately steam oven either using a prepared pan or a spray bottle. Bake at full temperature for 5 minutes , reducing the heat down to 420 for the remaining baking time. After 15 minutes of baking open door to release steam for a few seconds. At the 25 minute mark, repeat the previous step. Bake loaf until thoroughly baked. I highly recommend a darker bake than mine, as the crust left a little to be desired, especially in a wheaty bread such as this. Jan takes his very dark, shy of burning. Before cutting in, rest loaves for a minimum of an hour.   The interior crumb of my bread was honeycomb and surprisingly delicate and spongy with a slight bitterness, complimenting sweet overtones.