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Back in Singapore after a wonderful time in Vancouver and to celebrate the season I opted to bake Panettone, a once a year special. Revived my canadian starter (thanks Floydm!) which I dried out and made into flakes about a week ago. The starter flakes were surprisingly hardy having traveled with me to numerous places through various temperature changes. But it took just one feeding to get it back being active. Fed it a few more times before shortening the interval to a 4 hours feed and making it into  a 50% hydration stiff starter typical of a Panettone.

Decided to try a new recipe  - Susan's Wildyeast recipe found here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2013/12/21/panettone-in-miniature/#more-13026 . For the previous two years I went with Txfarmer, Foolishpoolish recipe, but for this year I thought the additional yeast added would be useful to have a more predictable rise time. 

Followed the recipe as in the link. The dough tripled in about 6 hours much less than the 12 hours I was expecting so I tossed it in the fridge to slow it down until the next morning. Final proof time was about 4 hours. Everything moves faster in warm and sunny Singapore! Baked in two 9X5 loaf tins and some additional mini brioche tins. Here's one in a brioche tin all glazed and ready to bake:

Baking did not turn out too well though. Baking all the tins so close to each other resulted in the sides not being adequately browned and firmed up. The mini brioche were still fine but the loaves collapsed on its side soon after I took it out. Oh well I guess when you have collapsed brioche let them eat cake!

All that butter and sugar makes for a good cake. The mini brioche came out more in line with what one would expect a panettone to be - light, fluffy but still so rich.

The chopped almonds provide a nice bite too. Overall I still prefer my old standard recipe. The 100% levain formula provides superior flavour. However this is a good simple recipe if you want something more predictable and less effort. Note that it uses quite a bit of water though. I held back 30g of water as I found the dough quite slack already. 

So that marks the end of 2013 baking adventures. Wishing all fellow bakers in TFL a wonderful 2014 ahead. Cheers!

-Timothy

Hello Everyone, 

I baked brioches today using Tartine's recipe but used half the ingredients. This is what I ended up with. The final result tasted good, but the holes were small.

Please let me know what went wrong here.

Thank you.

After last year’s total and complete fiasco using origami panettone moulds made out of parchment paper where the panettone fell out of the mould onto the floor while cooling upside down, we decided to bake it in a large soufflé pan this year.

We used Susan’s Wild Yeast formula found here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/12/07/panettone/ 

Lucy cut the recipe in half, dropped the commercial yeast and used the same amount of YW levain in its place.  So this is another SD /YW combo levain panettone attempts.  We also added 40 more grams of snockered fruits to the mix that included, candied pineapple, lemon and orange peel, green and red cherries, raisins, cranberries, prunes apricot and citron.  She also chucked in 100g of mini chocolate chips. 

Because the fruits were so wet with bourbon, amaretto, limoncello, arancello, dark rum and brandy the final 5 sets of stretch and folds were done 15 minutes apart and extra bench flour was used, around 50g, to get the dough to not be a sticky mess and actually begin to hold together even though still very wet.

We let it final proof on the counter for 10 hours before moving it to the heating pad and 80 F for another 3 hours.  We used Susan’s glaze for the topping and chucked it in the 350 F oven with a stone above and below the rack where the panettone landed.

Because the panettone was so big at 1,100 g, we baked it to 190 F instead of 185 F,   It took and hour to bake to the handsome brown color.  The spring was very good and the panettone doubled in height in the oven from 2 below the rim of the pan to 2 “  above the rim of the pan.

It smells terrific as it cools on the counter.  Lucy will post the crumb shots after it cools – with no hanging upside down this year.  The crumb is the most moist, shreddable and soft one that Lucy had ever managed to chomp down on.  This is just delicious through and through.  No more store bought panettone that is half a s good ever again.  It is such a relief to make a comeback from last year's 2 panettone disasters that fell out on to the floor while cooling upside down.

This one never though about deflating so I see no need for hanging them upside down and no need for expensive forms either.  This was a 7 1/2 "x 4" souffle pan but they could just as easily be baked in small cocktail or larger full loaf tins too.  I love panettone,,,,, especially spread with marmalade and whipped cream on top....or made into French toast.  Thanks to Susan at the Wild Yeatst for the formula and methods.

Happy New Year to all.

The lead in photo is Barb's first ever homemade tamales... She and Helen both made tamales for the first time... and they both made pork... She did a marvelous job meandering outside of her comfort zone.

Helen made her's with her daughters and granddaughter, thus starting a new family tradition... They made about 90 or so of these ...

 Nice looking tamales here too... fun times!!

 My tamales are Chicken and Green Chili... I made plenty for later... we like them rather thick... so my recipe ended up making 42 out of 2 pounds of chicken breast. 

  Just a word of warning... If you happen to wet down too many corn husks... DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRY THEM OUT IN YOUR CLOTHES DRYER!!! On the other hand, I may have discovered how corn flour... or corn starch can actually be made without a grain mill!!! One day, I will look back and laugh... actually any day, I can look back and laugh.. LOL... 

Happy Baking, Everyone... Hoppin John, Cornbread and Greens for the new year... tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TFLOAFIANS.

Barbra, Diane* and Helen

Here is her picture.

Recently, I'm reading Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread before sleep. His concept and method in bread baking are unique. I tried the Tartine Country loaf before reading his book, while I decide to try it again sticking to his procedure. 

Here's the recipe(I can't get good whole wheat flour here, so I replace it with whole rye flour).

1.Make the leaven. I fed my starter(4g) with 25g bread flour, 25g whole rye flour, 50g water. At 26C, it takes about five hours to pass the floating test.

2.Mix the dough. Mix all the ingredient except salt and 25g water. It's shaggy. Don't worry. Gluten will develop in later procedures.  Autolyse for 30 minute. Incorporate salt and the rest of water with the dough by hand. Transfer the dough into a plastic container.

3. Bulk fermentation. At 26C, it takes about four hour and the dough increases 20~30% in volume. Do stretch and fold every half an hour. I did 5 S&Fs. The dough is no longer shaggy but cohesive, which means good gluten development.

4. Shaping. Dough cutter is an useful tool in shaping this kind of wet dough. There's an useful shaping video  on youtube, which inspired me a lot.

Initial shaping:In this procedure, we want to incorporated as little flour as possible into the dough. Fold the side of dough onto itself so that the flour one the surface of the dough is sealed on the outside of the dough.The outer surface of the dough will be the crust, so we can use more flour to avoid sticking.

Bench rest: 30min.

Final shaping: Flip the dough so that the floured side is resting on the surface. Shape the dough like folding the envelope. Round the dough on the surface to achieve surface tension. The dough is soft and jiggling, so every movement needs to be gentle. Transfer it to the proofing basket.

5.Final proof. At 26C, it takes about 3~4 hours. At the end of this stage, I was too sleepy, so I popped it into the oven after only 3 hours. However, I think 4 hours might be better.

6.Baking. Preheat the dutch oven  40min before baking. It proves that dutch oven is the perfect device in baking this bread. It can restore heat and trap the moisture, and it's like a auto steam generator. Transfer the dough into the dutch oven and score the dough.(My scoring turns out to be awful.) Remember to wear oven mitts, otherwise it can burn your fingers. Pop it into the oven. Bake with the lid on for the first 15 minute. Take the lid out for the rest 25 minute.

There's a hugh oven spring inside the oven. And the cracking sound is the loudest I've ever heard, which owes to the dutch oven. This time, my loaf is no longer a flat bread. The volume increased a lot, comparing my last trial. The crumb is open, but still has room for improvement. I'm going to make them into some delicious sandwiches for my New Year's brunch.

After last week success, I followed a similar formulae and maintained a similar dough temp. Since this is more of a impulse bake, I first taste my refrigerated starter, but i find it a bit too sour, so I built the levain once @ 1:2:2 which gives me a milder tone. 

I mixed starter, flour, water thoroughly and let stand for 60mins. Using Pincer method to incorporate salt and develop gluten. 

S&F it 3 times at 30mins interval. 

When it has completed the bulk fermentation. 

Shape it n put it into proofing basket, seam side up. 

After 12 Hours Retard, it looks like 80% proof to me, so I bake it cold. But I guess I can give it an hour room temp proof before it goes into the DO.

It sprang beautifully and gives a fairly nice open crumb

As the weather has turned cooler, my sourdough breads have become less tasty. They have  had a less complex flavor and have been less tangy than those baked last Summer. My kitchen is in the mid-60's of late, while it was in the high-70's (or low-80's)  in the heat of summer. So, in the interest of science and other noble causes, I set out to return my SFSD to its rightful tastiness.

The truth is that I changed a number things at once, which is poor scientific methodology. But  I think I know what made the biggest difference, and the important thing is that I made some really good bread.

The basic formula and methods for my San Francisco-style Sourdough with increased whole wheat can be found here: San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread with increased whole wheat flour And here is what I did differently:

1. I fed my levain with some firm starter that had been refrigerated for about 3 days, rather than freshly refreshed starter.

2. I fermented the levain for 9 hours at 76 dF, rather than overnight at room temperature. I then refrigerated it for about 12 hours.

3. I mixed the autolyse with water warmed to 90 dF rather than cool water.

4. After a 1 hour autolyse, I mixed the dough and fermented it in bulk at 76 dF for 4 hours.

5. I then divided the dough and shaped boules and refrigerated for 24 hours.

6. I baked at 475 dF for 12 minutes, then convection baked at 445 dF for 14 minutes more.

Here is the result:

The crust is a little darker than usual. I prefer it this way. And the crumb ...

Mixed at the same hydration level as usual, this dough was noticeably  more slack from the time I mixed the autolyse. I guess that must be because my flour had more water content with the cooler whether. I think that is why I got the much more open crumb. It is also possible that increased enzyme activity played a role.

In any event, this bake produced bread with a crunchy crust, chewy but tender crumb and a delicious flavor that was both more complex and more tangy than my previous few bakes of this bread. I think I have a new procedure, at least until hot weather returns.

We often have bread that is a few days old and starting to get a bit dry, even for breakfast toast.  I hate throwing out bread, and I seldom do. Many of my favorite dishes made with bread of advancing age are made with croutons - slices of bread that I dry in the oven before using.

Except when drying bread for salad croutons or breadcrumbs, I slice it thinly and put it on a baking sheet or pizza pan. If I want it to remain pale, I convection bake the slices at 250 dF for 15 minutes on each side. If I want the slices browned, I convection bake at 350 dF for 15 minutes on one side, then turn them over, brush them with EVOO and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Then, depending on how I am going to use them, I may rub the warm, dried slices with a clove of garlic. That's what I did for these ...

These croutons served to support heaps of grated gruyere cheese, floating in onion soup and run under the broiler for 90 seconds before serving. 

Croutons made in this way are also delicious put in the bottom of a soup bowl before filling it with ribollita or another hearty soup.

The slices of SFSD can also be toasted in a toaster and then left in the toaster for a few minutes to dry out further. That method makes a nice base for crostini. These are topped by a chicken giblet dice sautéed in olive oil with shallots, herbs and madera wine.

The giblets came surrounded by a whole chicken! We roasted it while eating the crostini and discussing how we really should have just made the crostini our dinner. 

Happy baking!

David

I have recently become somewhat interested in making sourdough at home (OK, maybe slightly more than interested...). I've always loved bread but never made it seriously until recently. Last year I enrolled in Stratford Chefs School where I got my hands doughy again in pastry class, and I'm now in second year. I've made a few different kinds of breads (Baguettes, Sours, Sourdough Ryes, Pain Rustique, Potato bread, so on) but have not had any real repetitional experience, often just make the bread once or twice.  

It being Christmas Vacation and all, I decided I would try to tighten up my technique a bit, as well as stock the freezer for the looming second semester of school. I've been focusing on sourdough because its what I enjoy most at the moment, and my house mates and I go through a few loaves a week. 

Here is my bake from december 15th, it was my first time making bread in this house, and making this sourdough recipe solo. I want to improve the crumb, and have it open up more, but am still happy with the results considering the quality of oven I'm using. I bake in an electric still oven, using aluminum pots or cast iron dutch ovens, sometimes hotel pans (AKA 1/3 inserts). 

Stratford Sourdough - makes 2 x 700 gram loaves

Build:

AP Flour   104 g

Rye Flour  7.5 g

Water        69 g

Culture      22.5 g

Final Mix:

AP Flour   712.5 g

Rye Flour  35 g

Water        500 g

Salt           16.5 g

Build          all 

Did an Autolyse for roughly 20 minutes, mixed by hand, and folded in 30 minute increments about 7 times. 20 minute bench rest. Shaped into baneton and Roughly a 2 hour final fermentation. Baked for 25 minutes (covered) in a hotel pan and dutch oven, and an additional 4-7 minutes (uncovered). I like them somewhat dark. 

Any advice to increase the opening of the crumb would be welcome!

Cheers, 
Nick 

So I was making some bread for the holidays and I decided to try using scissors to make my cuts since I had little success using a knife. I am still contemplating buying a razor.  But this is what I got with my shears...nothing fancy. The top left was basically an octagon or circle cut. He top right was intended to be a square and the bottom was a simple snip in the center and a second perpendicular snip in the middle.  

  I received a Nutrimill for a present from my wife last week....another new toy to play with!  I've ground fresh flour in small batches in my coffee grinder, but it is no comparison to using the Nutrimill.  I have yet to purchase any drum sieves to sift the flour and I definitely want to buy some bulk grains as soon as I can find a good source.

For my first attempt I used whatever I had on-hand which was Kamut, Hard Red Whole Wheat and Hard White Whole Wheat.  I used the Kamut to make the levain and also made a scald with some of the white whole wheat.

I added the scald ingredients to the hydration calculations but I think I did something wrong as I'm coming up with a crazy number for the hydration with add-ins.  The potatoes were calculated at 81% water content which as something to do with it.  In any regards, the dough is a bit on the wet side but the fresh grains really soak up the water, so it's not that hard to handle.

I added the potatoes which I had left-over from making potato pierogies over the holidays and it had cream cheese, butter and milk in them.  This was probably the best tasting pierogies filling I've made to date.

I also used some honey to try to cut some of the bitterness from the whole wheat and made the scald for the same reason.

All in all, for the first loaf made with my milled flour it was very good.  The loaf is very tasty with a moderately open crumb and a nice crust.  I sent one of these off to Arizona as a belated present to Max's friend Lucy and DA.  I hope they enjoy it along with the Orange Shandy Durum Semolina bread.

Formula

Levain Directions

Mix all the Levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.  I usually do this the night before.

Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

Scald Directions

Boil the water in a small sauce pan and add the flour.  Mix until you end up with a paste.  This should take only a minute or two and then you can remove from the heat and let it cool down before using in the main dough.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flours, and water together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 20-30 minutes.  Next add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces), potatoes, and honey and mix on low for 3 minutes.  Mix on medium for another 3 minutes and then remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours.  Remove the dough and shape as desired.  I made 1 large boule shape.   Place your dough into your proofing basket(s) and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  The dough will take 1.5 to 2 hours depending on your room temperature.  Let the dough dictate when it is read to bake not the clock.

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 550 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right before you are ready to put them in the oven, score as desired and then add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 500 degrees and after another 3 minutes lower it to 450 degrees.  Bake for 35-50 minutes until the crust is nice and brown and the internal temperature of the bread is 210 degrees.

Take the bread out of the oven when done and let it cool on a bakers rack before for at least 2 hours before eating.