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I'm new to this site, just found it yesterday while I was surfing around looking for sourdough ideas while my yeast bread rolls were rising. Love the site and now on to my comparison.

I made a batch of my favorite white bread yeast rolls. I wanted to see how different scoring and glazing would affect the crust of the rolls. Specifically, I'm looking for a very tender crust that's easy to chew without messing with the texture of the actual bread.

I made for the test, 12 rolls. I placed them on my cooking stone in a 4 X 3 grid. Top row was a single score, right down the middle. Middle row was two scores in the shape of an X. Third row was three scores, and X with a line through the center making a star.

The first column I did not glaze, the second was glazed with vegetable oil, the third with butter and the fourth with olive oil. I glazed them once before baking, and twice after baking (first one was right after they came out of the oven, next one was about 10 minutes later).

I think both the oils gave me the texture I was looking for, the butter was very close to the texture I was looking for, but I really loved it's flavor.

I did learn that I need a lot more practice with my scoring, and a way sharper knife!

Spelt Squares
----------------------------------
total flour: 924 (86% spelt, 14% white) with an extra build this can be 100% spelt if desired
total h20: 715 (77% hydration)

Levain: 6-8 hours
60 White Starter (100%)
100 Bread Flour
38 Spelt
138 H20
------------------------------
336 (168 prefermented flour

Dough:
756 g Spelt
547 g h20 (hold back 100 g)
20 g Salt
------------------------------
1323
------------------------------

135 g       toasted cashews
-------------------------------
Total dough = 1794
Divide a @ 445 (this was what I did but too small I think I'd divide to 3 parts @ just shy of 600 next time.) 

1) Mix all but salt and nuts squeezing through fingers to get a nice even dough.
Rest 15 minutes
Add 100 g water and squeeze through until its a smooth soft dough. Add nuts and lightly knead/fold in.
Rest 15 minutes
Slap and fold until resilient rest 5 minutes repeat 2 times (time elapsed 35 minutes)
Rest 30 minutes
Stretch and fold (once from each direction
Rest 30 minutes
Stretch and fold
Rest 30 minutes

Preshape to a rough square by stretching into a rectangle and then give a letter fold.
relax 15 minutes
Now carefully stretch to a rectangle and give a 3 fold and lightly shape to a square. Pinch together seams. Place smooth side down on spelt floured couche and proof 45-60 minutes
turn out to floured peel and dock/score/or leave plain
Bake 500 with steam for 7 minutes and vented for 15-20 more

*  These have a seriously crunchy crust.  I think the loaf would be greatly improved with a bit more size.  

Also I think the presheape should be a tight ball.  Then relax. then stretch and give fold.  This should give some more tension and a better spring in the oven.  All in all its salty and crunchy.  Delish with butter and i bet cheese or even jam.  

I toasted the cashews but maybe not quite enough.  Next time I'll be sure to roast a bit deeper and I think they will permeate the dough with there lovely flavor a bit more.  

I made the levain not exactly sure of my plan besides some spelt.  Had I known I'd add all spelt I think I'd have made the levain with all spelt and maybe done two builds to make this 100% spelt.  

 sorry bad photos 

Cramique 

Cramique (Fr) or Kramiek (Dutch) is the name given to a type of rich, sweet breakfast bread with raisins such as sold in traditional bakeries in Belgium.  The following is the traditional recipe such as it’s been used for the past 100 years or so.  Some variants exist and I’ll briefly mention those at the end of the recipe. 

Typically this is eaten freshly baked on Sunday mornings while having a leisurely breakfast with the family.  It’s tasty to eat ‘as it is’ with some butter but favourite toppings include high quality chocolate paste, or with speculoos(paste), served with coffee or strong chocolate milk.  It’s also delicious when toasted and paired with onion confit and pate or pan-seared foie gras, accompanied by a glass of well developed, aromatic sweet white Bordeaux wine such as a Sauternes or (cheaper) Montbazillac. 

Formula (yields one large loaf) 

- White bread flour, 430 grams (strong bread flour is ok but a 50-50 mix with all purpose flour also works well)  

- Milk, room temperature, 220 grams 

- Butter, unsalted, 85 grams  

- 1 egg, loosely beaten,(about) 55 grams 

- Fine granulated white sugar, 45 grams 

- Salt, 5 grams 

- Raisins, 250 grams 

- Fresh yeast, 25 grams or bread machine yeast, 9 grams 

- Small quantity of egg/milk mixture, for glazing the loaf 

Remarks 

- You can use white bread flour or a 50-50 mix of strong bread flour and all purpose flour.  In bakeries 100% white bread flour is typically used because it results in a stronger, chewier crumb that's easier to cut and transport.  If you like a more delicate texture that's perfect for immediate consumption, go with the 50-50 mix (which is what I'd recommend ). 

- Some bakers add a small quantity of natural vanilla extract (NOT essence) to the liquids 

- In stead of fresh yeast you can use bread machine yeast, reducing to 8 grams and adding this to the solids 

- The butter needs to be tender for easy incorporation so take it out of the fridge 15 minutes beforehand.  Do not melt it and do not substitute it with shortening or oil, the taste and mouth feel are not the same. 

- Raisins can be sultanas or any seedless raisin variety but typically not currants, which tend to be drier.  They can be incorporated as such or first soaked for at least  ½ hour, then patted dry with kitchen tissue paper and dusted with flour to dry the surface.  If you soaked them and to avoid making an unsightly mess, roll out your dough into a rough rectangle, spread out raisins over the top 2/3rd, then fold bottom third toward the middle and top third down.  Manipulate the dough gently so as to achieve a good distribution.  Don’t skimp on the quantity. 

Preparation 

- Add yeast to milk and dissolve, add loosely beaten egg and sugar 

- Put the solids (flour, salt, butter) in a bowl 

- Add the liquids and mix well, let stand for 10 minutes 

- Knead well for 10 minutes by hand or about 6 minutes with a processor and hook 

- Cover with oiled cling film and let ferment in bulk for 30 minutes (31 centigrade) or until almost doubled 

- Toward the end of the bulk fermentation, add raisins and incorporate so as to distribute them evenly. It’s important not to add them earlier and to knead gently or they’ll turn to mush, certainly when soaked 

- Flatten, fold and shape (boule for freestyle loaf), place on silicone baking mat or in a greased baking tin 

- Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes in a warm (30 centigrade) room or until almost doubled 

- Apply egg wash or milk 

- Bake for about 40 minutes in the middle of a 190 centigrade oven, using conventional heat 

- Remove when top crust is dark brown and it sounds hollow when tapped, it should effortlessly drop out of the tin  

- Place on a wire rack and allow to cool 

Variations 

- Together with the raisins, 100 grams of pearl (P4) sugar can be added, it’s no traditional cramique anymore but some people like this, personally I feel it’s a bit over the top 

- Raisins can be soaked in water or in rum to which 2 grams of speculoos spices or powdered cinnamon have been added, then patted dry, lightly floured and incorporated 

- In the city of Liege, pearl sugar is added and the dough is placed in a round pie baking tin that has been lined with sweet pie dough. 

Nutrition 

The recipe as stated above will yield a dough mass of approximately 1150 grams.   

After baking and cooling this will result in a loaf of approximately 930 grams, containing 3322 kCal or 357 kCal/100 grams approximately.  One portion size would be 3 slices or approximately 100 grams.  This represents about 18% of the average male's daily calorie needs.  Of the calories, 25% are from fat. 

Needless to say, this is not a lean bread but if you limit yourself to a normal portion on a Sunday morning  it shouldn't be an issue. 

Pictures 

Below are some pictures.  Note that I only baked half a quantity due to insufficient raisins on hand.  Also, I did not let the dough bulk ferment until doubled; this has to do with local conditions (kitchen temperature of minimum 33 centigrade over which I don't have control).  These same conditions make it necessary to reduce the yeast quantity.  If you're baking under normal temperature conditions, do as  I say in the recipe, not as I do in practice ;-)  The pictures were shot using my phone under cold TL-lighting, in reality the colour of the finished product is more yellowish. 

The dough immediately after mixing

 After  a 30 minute bulk fermentation

Incorporating the raisins

Placed in baking tin

Baked

Cut and ready to eat

Following on from the visit by Ross and Janice to Challenger Institute for an evening "Introduction to Sourdough" i had asked Ross to bring me a sample of his sour dough culture  so that i might give it a run.

The dough was a 5O% Wholemeal dough that i mixed and allowed a bulk ferment in the cool room overnight and took around 24 hours after mixing,  No stretch and folds  were administered any way it felt good to  quite good to handle although a little sticky but a bit of semolina and flour took care of those problems.

i decided to make 12 baguette shapes and a couple of loaves these were quickly handled and put on couches for another night in the cool room. i came into work early the next morning to put the dough through before my normal start time of 7.45 am. So shortly before 6.00 am the ovens were fired up the dough pieces brought from the cool room  and in the time it took to make a coffeee and the cornflour wash for the dough pieces the oven had reached 220, i chose that temp because as the water is injected the temp drops  about 20 degrees.

i have a long piece of thin ply that i use to peel the dough pieces off the couch and onto the trays, the  3 trays were then washed and seeded and then slashed and into the oven. the other two loaves were then similarly treated and into the oven . the water/steam injection is kept on until the loaves have set and the first signs of any colour appearing the temp  was set to 200 for the rest of the bake. i even used the exhaust facility on these ovens to try to get a really crisp crust and it does seem to have done the job

on the couches on the boards out of the cool room

All in all  quite pleased with the sample there Ross It made some good bread and i will probably use it again soon, my one tomorrow though!

kindest regards yozza 

Winds of Change

Things haven’t been changing much for me in the last couple of years, and it seemed at some point that I was stuck in an unfulfilling clerical/office Job for the rest of my life. Lately, I’ve been witnessing changes in my life; the winds of change have finally blown. Pondering for over a year now on how to change my career, I decided to join an amateur course on Pastry in a culinary institute in Dubai.

The 6 months program, which includes Puff pastry, short crust, Choux, Meringue, cakes, cookies, Chocolate, also happens to include a lesson about yeasted goods (no sourdough, though). The lessons I’ve chosen to join are the Friday’s weekend ones that span over the whole day; approx. 7 hours, including an hour lunch break. I’ve completed two training sessions so far, and I’m quite content with them. However, when I return home from the long day, I’m often too tired and lazy to do any home baking. I still manage to squeeze a sourdough bake every week during the weekdays, but I haven't the energy to photograph or blog about it.

The Puff / Filo pastry class:

Choux / Meringue Class:

The last bake was a trusty and tested one, just like most Hamelman’s recipes; Flaxseed bread. The recipe calls for a sour rye ferment and 60% Rye flour with overnight- soaked flaxseeds. I’ve followed the recipe to the letter, including the addition of 1.5 tsp instant yeast.

-Khalid

Here are some more photos of my 2Kg loaf:

Details of the challenge are here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34915/challenge-all-multigrain-breads-fans

and my formula and process description are here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34915/challenge-all-multigrain-breads-fans?page=1#comment-268885

Happy Baking,

Juergen

Always see figs, cherries, cranberries, raisins, currants.  Why not apples.  Hell, why not fresh apples.  I'm from a Jewish family so why not walnuts with apples.  And since we're being so, Why not be it Rye.  And hence Sour Apple.  Pretty delish for a first run.  Only thing I'd do different off the bat would be to lay apples out on a towel for a bit before adding to dough so they don't create a layer of water between the stretch and folds.  It all work itself out in the end but i think the dough would have come together better had I done this.  Oh and I think I'd like to add some cinnamon, not much, but just enough to hint the dough of it.  I'm not sure what ratio this would be but I'll be looking into it. Without further ado.

Sour Apple

build 1 (skip if rye starter is already available) (this is enough for a touch extra to build as a rye seed if desired)
-------------------------------------
50 g White Starter
100 g Rye (local stone ground whole rye)
75 g h20

-----------------------------------------

Build 2 (Final Levain @ 78degF 2-4 hours)

------------------------------------------
200 Ripe Rye Starter
200 Rye (local stone ground whole rye)
140 H20
---------------------------------------
540
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Dough:
----------------------------------------
1000 g Strong White Flour (Giustos Ultimate Perfomrer)
166 g Rye (local stone ground whole rye)
44 g Wheat (local stone ground hard red winter wheat)
770 g H20 (hold back 10%)
75 g honey (mine was raw and infused with cinnamon but as you saw in post not enough cinnamon)
32 g Salt (pink himilayan sea salt)
100 g Walnuts, toasted
125 g Apples, diced 1/2" (the other problem I had was the apples turned out to not be great baking apples and are                                                mushier than I'd like, so get a good crisp baking apple)
----------------------------------------
2297 (final dough)
540   (levain)
----------------------------------------
total dough 2837
makes 4 @ 705 g (25 oz)

1) Fauxtolyse*** all but salt, walnuts, and apples 30 minutes. Bulk starts now (4 hours)                                                     #fauxtolyse***my new word for the act of an autolyse but with more ingredients than just flour and water. 

2) Add salt and squeeze through fingers until well combined. Rsst 15 minutes 

3) slap and fold, rest 15 minutes, repeat
4) add remaining h20 and squeeze through fingers until dough comes back together
5) Add fruit and nuts and fold/knead in lightly. Rest 30 minutes. 
6) 2 s + f @ 30 minutes (rest 1 hour)
7) divide, preshape into a tight ball and relax for 30 minutes. Shape to unlined bowls dusted with rice flour
Proof 2-3 hours and bake or 1 hour and retard overnight.
8) Bake at 500 with steam for 12 mintues. lower to 480 and continue baking vented for 22 minutes until deep
dark color. cool

Happy Sunday

Josh

Trying to score on an apple.  Only had 4 loaves to try with.  Got it good once.  But I think I got the idea now. 

I've wanted to make an olive fougasse for a long, long time, but never got around to it until today. Served it for dinner along with a white bean soup that's a lot like the well-known U.S. Senate Bean Soup recipe.

Here's how I made it.

Preferment:

• 150 grams all-purpose flour
• 3 grams salt
• 97 grams water
• A pinch of instant yeast

Final dough

• All the pre-ferment
• 300 grams all-purpose flour
• 50 grams whole wheat or whole rye or a mix
• 4 grams salt
• 1/2 tsp instant yeast (1-2 grams)
• 40 grams coarsely chopped black olives, pitted
• 245 grams water
• 1 Tbs olive oil (optional)

Mix up the pre-ferment the night before, knead it and let it rise 12-16 hours. Once the pre-ferment is ripe (it should have domed and collapsed slightly in the middle), break it up into about 10 pieces and mix with the other ingredients. Develop the dough, adding the olives at the last minute (I sprinkled half on the flattened dough, rolled up the dough, flattened it again and repeated) and let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours. Shape it into a boule and let it rise, covered with plastic or baker's linen for another hour or so. Meanwhile preheat a stone and a steam pan to 500 degrees F. Once the dough has risen about 50% or more, stretch it to half again its length and shape into a rough triangle. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, make one long cut all the way through the dough down the center, with three others along each side so it looks a bit like a leaf. Stretch the dough to open the cuts.

Bake the fougasse with steam for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Serve warm.

CAKE

-----------------dry stuff--------------------

240 / 2 C AP-Flour

85 / 1 C Coco Powder

8 / 1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 / 1/2 tsp Salt

-----------------wet stuff---------------------

353 / 1-1/2 C Buttermilk

8 / 1 tsp vanilla

-----------------creamy stuff---------------

115 / 1 stick Butter, unsalted

305 / 1-1/2 C Sugar

----------------eggie stuff-----------------

150 / 3 Lg eggs

---------------technical stuff-------------

Combine dry in its own bowl

combine wet in its own bowl

crack eggs and scramble in its own bowl

Cut butter into 1/4 inch cubes and place in bowl of stand mixer fitted with beater

Set oven to 350 degrees f, Now STOP!

Walk away. Yes, walk away. while your oven heats let everything come to room temp. 30 min no less! Sure, your oven is super and heats up in 10 min. That's the air in the oven not the oven itself. Open the door and let all that warm air out with no retained heat and that burner will work overtime and your cake will fall flat. Plus cold ingredients don't make good cake. Everything must be warm to hold that air and not overwork the batter.

Now, creme the butter to the consistency of mayonnaise

add the sugar and creme it. Really creme it like for 3 - 5 good minutes. if you dont do this your cake will be grainy and have poor structure causing streaks and possibly falling. The butter/sugar should come together and get fluffy and white-ish

add the eggs in 3 parts mixing only enough to just incorporate

now add the dry and wet starting with the dry and alternating with the wet and ending with dry. So, dry in 3 parts and wet in two parts. Mix just enough to incorporate

use a #16 disher to fill 24 cupcake wrappers in a cupcake tray.

Bake for 15 - 18 min intill a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 - 15 min then remove from tray

Let cool completely, about 2 - hours

Filling

112 / 1 stick Butter, unsalted, softened

340 / 3 C Confectionery Sugar (ultra-fine sugar is better) SIFTED

3 - 4 tbsp milk

-----------method--------------

creme butter and sugar.   I mean really creme it, like 3 - 5 minutes.

Add milk intill it reaches desired consistency. Nice and fluffy not runny.

Let this sit for the two hours the cupcakes are cooling to hydrate the sugar. It gives a better flavor and mouthfeel.

Then reserve some filling for the decoration on top.

Pump these beauties full of creme. Use a piping bag and large round tip or a cookie press with filling attachment.

GLAZE

120 / 1/2 C Heavy Creme

25 / 1 tbsp Light corn syrup

170 / 1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

-----------------------method------------------

Melt together over double boiler intill smooth

dip tops of cupcakes and set to dry for an hour before decorating

-----------------------------------------------------

Pipe reserved filling onto tops of cupcakes in a swirl. You can thin this out a little to stretch the filling and give flatter swirls like the original ones.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

I guess I should begin with a disclaimer:  I’m not usually one to put chunks of fresh fruit in my breads.  Nuts, seeds, grains, even a bit of dried fruit, sure.  But something about having all those mushy bits in the bread has made me wary of the whole concept.  Plus, the sandwich possibilities can be limited.

Of course, where there is a rule there is an exception, and this is it.  The credit goes to Hanne Risgaard’s Home Baked, which includes a very tempting pear sourdough bread.  That by itself would be little temptation if not for the pear tree in my yard.  Even with the birds claiming their share I still come away with more than enough to do some experimenting. 

And so an annual bake has been born.  Last year I stuck pretty close to the recipe in the book and baked some very tasty loaves.  This year I changed almost everything and got some more very tasty loaves!  Maybe there is something to this bread-with-fruit-in-it after all…

And so an annual bake has been born.  Last year I stuck pretty close to the recipe and baked some very tasty loaves.  This year I changed almost everything and got some more very tasty loaves!  Maybe there is something to this bread-with-fruit-in-it after all…

The original recipe features spelt, toasted semolina, and yogurt.  I kept the semolina, ditched the yogurt and spelt, and added whole barley flour and type 85 flour.  The barley flour was a craving borne of some barley flour cookies I’d had recently, and the type 85 is just what I had on hand.  Whole wheat flour would work in place of the type 85, though I might reduce the percentage to avoid adding too much of a bitter note.

For more on baking with barley check out blog posts by mebake, hanseata and sam.  Barley has its limits in bread baking and without some background info from fellow TFLers I could have found myself in trouble!  (I’m sure there are other posts but these were the first few that popped up.)

As for the result, no complaints!  The crumb is close but very soft.  The mild, slightly sweet flavor of the barley comes through and compliments the pears very nicely.  I added to the toasted semolina flavor by using it on the bottom of the loaf when loading into the oven (otherwise, I just use regular flour) and that comes through as well.  This bread doesn’t keep particularly well – moisture from the pears is my guess – so it is best enjoyed fresh.  I’m sure there a more, and probably better, ways to put this loaf together, so any suggestions are welcome! 

Meanwhile, up at the office we were enjoying the first day of... fall? 

I always love it when Old Man Winter throws out a quick teaser of snow in September!

Marcus