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Pane Valle del Maggia

February 23, 2014

 Several bakers on The Fresh Loaf have shown us their bakes of “Pane Maggiore.” This bread comes from the Swiss Canton of Ticino, which is the only Swiss Canton in which Italian is the predominant language.

While the Ticino Canton has Lake Maggiore on its border, the name of the bread supposedly comes from the town of Maggia which is in the Maggia valley, named after the Maggia river which flows through it and enters Lake Maggiore between the towns of Ascona and Locarno.

I was interested in how this bread came to be so popular among food bloggers. As far as I can tell, Franko, dabrownman and others (on TFL) got the formula from Josh/golgi70 (on TFL) who got it from Ploetzblog.de who got it from “Chili und Ciabatta,” the last two being German language blogs. While Petra (of Chili und Ciabatta) knew of this bread from having vacationed in Ticino, she actually got the recipe from a well-known Swedish baking book, Swedish Breads and Pastries, by Jan Hedh.

 For your interest, here are some photos from Petra's blog of this bread as she bought it in it's place of origin: 

Pane Valle del Maggia. (Photo from the Chili und Ciabatta blog)

Pane Valle del Maggia crumb. (Photo from the Chili und Ciabatta blog)

After this bit of backtracking research, I ended up with four … or is it five? … recipes. I had to decide which one to start with. I decided to start with Josh’s version, posted in Farmers Market Week 6 Pane Maggiore.

 Josh’s approach used two levains, one fed with freshly-ground whole wheat flour and the other with white flour plus a touch of rye. I did not grind my own flour but followed his formula and procedures pretty closely otherwise. What I describe below is what I actually did.

 Both levains were mixed in the late evening and fermented at room temperature for about 14 hours.

Procedures

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle installed, disperse the two levains in 600g of the Final Dough Water.

2. Add the flours and mix at low speed to a shaggy mass.

3. Cover and allow to autolyse for 1-3 hours.

4. Add the salt and mix at low speed to combine.

5. Switch to the dough hook and mix to medium gluten development.

6. Add the remaining 59g of water and continue mixing until the dough comes back together.

7. Transfer to a well-floured board and stretch and fold into a ball.

8. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover.

9. Bulk ferment for about 4 hours with Stretch and Folds on the board every 40 minutes for 4 times. (Note: This is a rather slack, sticky dough. It gains strength as it ferments and you stretch and fold it, but you still have to flour the board and your hands well to prevent too much of the dough from sticking. Use the bench knife to free the dough when it is sticking to the bench.)

10. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and pre-shape round.

11. Cover with a damp towel or plasti-crap and allow to rest for 15-30 minutes.

12. Shape as tight boules or bâtards and place in floured bannetons, seam-side up.

13. Put each banneton in a food-safe plastic bag and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.

14. Pre-heat the oven for 45-60 minutes to 500 dF with a baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.

15. Take the loaves out of the refrigerator. Place them on a peel. Score them as you wish. (I believe the traditional scoring is 3 parallel cuts across a round loaf.)

16. Transfer the loaves to the baking stone.

17. Bake with steam for 13 minutes, then remove your steaming apparatus/vent the oven.

18. Continue baking for 20-25 minutes. The loaves should be darkly colored with firm crusts. The internal temperature should be at least 205 dF.

19. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.

 I had some trepidation about baking at 500 dF, but the photos I had seen of the Pane Valle del Maggia were really dark. Also, it made sense that, if I wanted a crunchy crust on a high-hydration bread, I would need to bake hot. I baked the loaves for 33 minutes. They were no darker than my usual lean bread bakes. The internal temperature was over 205 dF. The crust was quite hard, but it did soften some during cooling. In hindsight, I could have either baked the bread for another 5 minutes or left the loaves in the cooling oven for 15-30 minutes to dry out the crust better.

I can tell you, these breads sure smell good!

When sliced, the crust was chewy except for the ears which crunched. The crumb was well aerated but without very large holes. Reviewing the various blog postings on this bread, all of the variations have about the same type of crumb. The high hydration level promotes bigger holes, but the high percentage of whole grain flours works against them. In any case, this is a great crumb for sandwiches and for toast.

Now, the flavor: I was struck first by the cool, tender texture as others have mentioned, although there was some nice chew, too.  I have been making mostly breads with mixed grains lately, so this one has a lot in common. It has proportionately more rye than any of the others, and I can taste it. The most remarkable taste element was a more prominent flavor of lactic acid than almost any bread I can recall. I really liked the flavor balance a lot! I would describe this bread as "mellow," rather than tangy. The dark crust added the nuttiness I always enjoy. All in all, an exceptionally delicious bread with a mellow, balanced, complex, sophisticated flavor.

Now, it wasn't so sophisticated that I hesitated to sop up the sauce from my wife's Chicken Fricassee with it! It did a commendable job, in fact.

I baked some San Joaquin Soudough baguettes while the Pane Valle del Maggia loaves were cooling.  

They had a pretty nice crumb, too.

Happy baking!

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

This is my take on the 5 grain loaf as described in "The handmade loaf:  Contemporary recipes for the home baker" by Dan Leopard.  

A book which I certainly recommend, if only for the sheer variety of the recipes and the accessibility for the average amateur baker.  I usually 'roll my own' but when following recipes and preparation descriptions  they invariably turned out well.  Plus, they're beautifully illustrated.

I'm not sure about copyright restrictions so won't post the detailed recipe here but in general terms, preparing it involves:

1. A day before, preparing 100 gr. of white leaven (at 100% hydration)

2. Preparing a boiled whole grains soaker; many options are available but what I did was boiling a mixture of quinoa, whole millet, wheat berries, lentils (I used black 'urad dal' for their earthly flavour but any whole lentil will work).  Be sure to pre-soak the quinoa and to rinse well before boiling as else you'll get some very unpleasantly tasting saponins in your loaf.

3. Preparing the flour mix, consisting out of about equal parts strong white bread flour, strong brown wholewheat flour and rye flour.  I added one extra part of millet flour, salt and 3 grams of bread machine yeast.

Method:

Let cool the cooked grain soaker and set apart 200 gr.  To that are added 50 grams of sunflower oil, 25 grams molasses, the leaven,  water required for baking and 50 grams of honey.  I selected French chestnut blossom honey for its pronounced taste.  Mix it all well, you'll end up with a not very appetising looking brew.

Add this to the dry flours and mix  until incorporation, I gave it a 25 minute rest afterward.

In the book an elaborate manual kneading/folding technique is described.  I just mixed mechanically for 5 minutes at low speed, followed by 5 minutes at high speed in order to maximally develop gluten structure.  This is very important as 50% of my flours do not have any gluten to speak of (rye and millet).

You will end up with a very sticky dough.  I gave it a 1 hour bulk rise at 25 centigrade, by that time it had doubled thanks to the leaven, added yeast and the sugars present, folded, let rest for 15 minutes, then folded again and shaped.

Finally,I proofed it for another 1.5 hours at 25 centigrade until it had doubled.  Due to the quite high hydration, low gluten presence and oil it will have a tendency to spread somewhat so tight initial shaping is very important or you could proof it in a banneton or bread tin.  I just went with a free shape and let it proof, covered in oiled cling film on the baking tray.

After proofing, spray with water, dust with rye flour or with rolled oats and score.  This is a loaf that benefits from a long bake; give it an initial 30 minutes in a 215 centigrade oven with steam, then reduce temperature to 190 centigrade and bake for another 20-25 minutes until it's well browned and sounds hollow when tapped.

Impressions after cooling, slicing and tasting:

Very nice, soft yet chewy crumb, contrary to what you might deduce from the picture is was quite open but not as pronounced, due to lower gluten presence in the mix.

It tastes very nice and the grains present an interesting contrast, I especially appreciate the lentils for the earthy note they bring.  Not so sure about quinoa, it becomes almost completely resorbed and taste-wise it is quite neutral.  The chestnut honey provided a pronounced aroma, if you like a more neutral taste or bring the grains more forward then I feel it would be better to select a more neutral tasting honey.  The bread pairs very nicely with both young cheese and cheeses that have a really pronounced taste.

All things considered this was fun to prepare and a lot less work than one might imagine!  Enjoy!

Yesterday I made FWSY Overnight Country Blonde (with chopped olives), and started too late in the day. I put the dough to rise - in a large bowl covered with plastic - in a back bedroom that is around 65 degrees during the day. At 8PM, I suddenly realized that it would be midnight when I should divide the dough, shape the loaves, and then have to let them rise another 4 hours. Not happening!

I shoved the bowl into the fridge and let it sit until 7 AM this morning. Pulled it out, let it sit for 1 1/2 hours, shaped the loaf (I cut the recipe in half for a single loaf), let it rise 2 hours more, and baked it in a dutch oven at 475 degrees, 30 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered. Checked the internal temperature, it was 210 degrees, so I pulled it out.

Lookee at dem ears! :-) Crumb still fairly tight - some day I'll have open crumb - but the taste is to die for!!

Bless my husband for encouraging my baking and eating everything that comes out of the oven - even the "less than perfect" loaves. We have given up buying bread at the supermarket and are now supporting our farmer and miller friends by using their products.

Couldn't be fresher, couldn't be more local!

I have been grinding flour in my bleNader, using 200 grams hard winter red berries to 800 grams all purpose flour and making my 200 grams of levain with either 100 grams of the fresh flour or using a 50/50 blend. 

I have also varied the autolyze period from overnight to an hour. I add the levain and salt after the autolysis. I can't say that I can't ell the difference in the finished loaves but the dough is somewhat easier to handle because it is less sticky.  It feels odd to incorporate the levain into the autolyzed mixture but it seems to incorporate just as well as when I disperse it in the water and then add it to the flour and water. 

I dont know if there is any benefit to doing it this way, and am posting just so folks know there are other options out there. That way if you "mess up" you can rest assured that the end product won't suffer. 

I suppose one benefit is if the levain is not ready you can get mixing thr flour and water and let it sit while the levain develops and then just spoon out your 200 grams of ready levain into the dough and get mixing with those hands. 

One thing I note for sure, when adding the 50 grams of water and salt after the autolysis, the water does not incorporate as well into the dough and the dough itself seems wetter than usual. 

Hello to everybody. I want to share with you some pictures of these Romanian little sweet breads we make for the 9th of March. The dough is brioche like, but maybe sweeter, the same dough we use to make the traditional "cozonaci" (similar to panettones maybe), the ritual sweet breads we make for Christmas and Eastern.

Well, these little breads I was telling you about are called "mucenici". They are usually shaped in the form of an "8" or a double spiral, suggesting the human body. There is an Orthodox Christian holiday ocurring at this date - the celebration of the 40 martyrs of Sevastia, who died in the 4th century for their faith. So the shape of the "mucenici" might suggest their sacrifice. Nonetheless more than probable this holday goes back to the Antiquity and is related to the celebration of the New Year (in the old calendar, around this date the spring equinox was taking place), when some rituals had to be made to positively influence the future crops and the well being of the animals. So these breads might have been symbolic sacrificial offerings. 

The main reason I am posting today though is to ask you about your experience with sourdough enriched dough. I have no experience whatsoever with it and I would be curious about some aspects, mainly if it is worth the trouble. I wonder if using it would result in better keeping qualities or if the taste is any different. Does sourdough make brioches or panettones better?

Thank you and have a lovely week!

Today I baked off this fennel&date sourdough, 

To make the levain I mixed 10g 100% hydration chef with

                     20g whole rye

                     20g warm water and let it ferment for six or eight hours at room temp, then to that I added 50g whole rye and 50g cold water and fermented that at room temp for roughly 12 hours untill it was right on the verge of falling.

To make the final dough first I toasted some fennel seeds and chopped some fresh dates. Having done that I took

700g KABF (91%)

140g Rye Levain (9% water 9%rye)

546g water (71%)

116g chopped fresh dates (15%)

16g toasted fennel seeds (3ish%

15g salt. (2ish%)

autolyse 1hr

add salt

slap&fold 6min

rest 5min

slap&fold 3 or so min

rest 10 min

stretch&fold a few sets

bulk retard around 20 hrs with one set of stretch and folds about 5 hours in.

scale/shape

proof 3 hrs

bake. around 30 minutes each at incrementally decreasing temps starting at 550 and going to 450

This bread is so darn good, though I did cut it while it was still piping hot (amateur hour I know) and kinda smeared the otherwise a little bit better crumb.

Hiatus goes well but I did a small bake so i can gift a few loaves to my farmer friends this week.  Many moons ago I found a recipe for a "Poilane" styled loaf that sounded good and fiddled with it at work.  Do to limitations at work adjustments were made and an approved bread resulted.  We call it our "Whole Wheat Sour".  VWG and commercial yeast are among quite a few changes to make this bread come about. It's 50% whole grain (29WW/11Rye/10Spelt) and rolled in poppy seeds.  It's actually a nice sandwich bread with a finer crumb.  It's soft and even with the added yeast the true Whole Wheat Levain gives this loaf great keeping quality.  

I decided to make a rendition of this flour blend but without the added VWG or commercial yeast and with added hydration.  After all the talk on Pane Maggiore this is actually quite similar with a 10% increase in whole grains, a small increase in Whole Wheat, and the addition of Whole Spelt, while reducing the Rye a touch.  Okay quite a few changes but it is quite similar in its eating quality with one major difference.  It's much less sour and has a pleasant sweetness instead.  I'll add some photos of the loaf I make at work as well.  Also I'll include a shot of the Country Sour I made this week using a stiff 100% Wheat Levain which produced another excellent loaf.  

Now for the Whole Wheat Sour i make at work.  Maybe a touch underproofed. Crumbs usually a bit more open. 

\

And finally for the Country Sour (20% Wheat, 2 % Rye)

Happy Baking All

Josh

In 1824 "The Virginia Housewife" by Mary Randolph was published.  It contained a recipe for Soda Cake.

Dissolve half a pound of sugar in a pint of milk; add a teaspoon of soda, pour it on two pounds of flour--melt half a pound of butter.  Knead all together until light.  Pour it in shallow molds and bake it quickly in a quick oven."

I have not tried the recipe above. 

I did bake this one last night.        

It was great toasted with butter. My first taste of Soda Bread. I will be doing more of these I think.

sd2.jpg picture

Irish Ladies’ Soda Bread

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1-1/2 cups raisins

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

Sift together the dry ingredients. Gently stir in the butter, raisins and buttermilk.

Knead gently and place in a lightly greased and floured round 8-inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 minutes.

http://myaccidentalmuse.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/irish-soda-bread-yours-mine-and-ours/

 I added 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of skim milk. I didn't have any buttermilk.

Scott in Houston

I have changed the feeding of my levain. I now feed it 1: .5: .5 every 24 hours. It has been a week now. The bake this morning produced a house full of nice sour smells. I tasted this loaf and still no tangy bread. This bulk fermented at room temp then went into the fridge overnight for final proofing. Im happy with the results. A nice crunchy crust and soft crumb. I would like to have a more sour flavor to it. Im thinking of increasing the levain in the dough. My levain sits at room temp and this time of the year is around 65 degrees. I think warming it up by 10 degrees would help with the sourness of everything. Below are the bakers percent of what I did. The loaf pictured is 600g and baked at 425 F for 45 min in a cast iron double cooker. The first 15 min covered.

Flour, 12% protein: 100%

water : 63%

salt, kosher: 2%

prefermented flour: 33%

levain is 100% hydration

I love using this 36 hour method to make bread.  It takes a little planning but once you figure that part out it's pretty easy.  I have yet to have a bad result from this method unless you count the baguettes that got stuck to my peel and fell into my oven, but we won't go there!

I actually baked this bread on Monday but since this week has been a blur due to me starting a new job on Monday and adopting a new apprentice on Sunday I've had my hands full!

Our new family member Lexi is around 4 months old and is a black Lab mix.  She's keeping Max busy, that's for sure!

I love caramelized onions and wanted to use them in this bake along with some fresh milled hard winter white whole wheat, spelt and rye along with some KAF French style flour.  Other than the different flours this one was  pretty straight forward formula and the end results were perfect.  The crumb is nice and open and the onion flavor was to die for.  I mixed the onions in with the dough when adding the starter and salt and it had plenty of time to permeate the dough.

On another note, I signed up to be a test subject for BreadStorm for the IPAD and the formulas below are screen shots from my first attempt.  I have to still learn how to use this program, but for the first try it seems great and worth a look if you like to turn your recipes into formulas. (Update: I switched out the original formulas for the corrected versions with the flour and water from the seed starter included).

Give this one a try and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Directions

 Starter Build 1

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.

 Starter Build 2

Add to Build 1 Starter:

85 grams French Style Flour

52 grams Winter Hard White Whole Wheat

100 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around  4 - 6 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.

Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flours and the ice water together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Put the dough in a slightly covered oiled bowl and put in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

The next day add your starter, caramelized onions and salt to the dough and mix by hand until it is thoroughly mixed and evenly distributed.  Due to the high water content in the 100% hydration starter this dough is very easy to mix by hand and is very silky and smooth.

Bulk rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours until it grows around 1/3 in volume doing stretch and folds every half hour until it has developed the correct amount of strength.

Put the dough back into the refrigerator for around 20-24 hours.  I took it out about 20 hours later.

When you take the dough out of the refrigerator you want it to have almost doubled in volume, but if it doest don't worry as it will end up okay anyway.  Let it rise at room temperature for around 2 hours or until the dough has doubled from the night before.

Next, divide the dough and shape as desired and place them in their respective basket(s).

Cover the dough with a moist towel and let sit at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 550 degrees F. at least 45 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your oven on your oven-stone with steam and let it bake for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature  to 450 degrees.    When the loaf is golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 210 degrees F. you can remove it from the oven.

Let the bread cool down for at least an 3 hours or so before eating as desired.