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SCruz's picture
SCruz

Had fun combining an ordinary spiral holiday challah with the dragon scoring technique.

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

This is my favorite brioche dough. Not as dull as french brioche that contains almost no sugar and too much butter, not as "dietetic" as italian brioche that has a touch more sugar but too little taste overall. It's very sweet and buttery without excess (at least for my tastes) and especially the crumb is very very soft (did i ever write how much I detest chewy crumbs?:-) ). The crumb I want is as soft and light as cloud, leaving you with the doubt of having even bitten something. In a word: ethereal.

ingredients:

500 gr flour (50% bread flour and 50% cake flour)

300 gr divided between 3 eggs + water: (60% liquids). Replace water with milk if you want a tighter crumb (as in my picture)

150 gr sugar (30%)

8 gr salt (1.5%)

200 gr butter (40%)

flavors (generally I use dried and sifted orange and lemon zest, but instant coffee is an alternative that I love more and more ). I find that adding flavors make a lot of difference, they may make the difference between a so-and-so and an excellent result.

Preferment with 50 gr flour, 50 gr water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 10 gr of wheat starter. All ingredients subtracted from the total.

I always preferment 10% of the flour with equal weight of water and a teaspoon of sugar, plus some of my wheat starter. When it has at least tripled in size I prepare the dough as I always do: all ingredients except butter mixed together  at high speed with the paddle attachment; when the dough comes together I add the butter in 8 pieces adding the next block only when the previous has been completely incorporated. When the dough comes completely together I mount the hook attachment to take the dough to complete gluten development, still at high speed. The dough must pass the windowpane test, it's the most fundamental part as txfarmer explained so well in several occasions.

3 hours at room temperaturem, than 2 days in the fridge at 10°C. Such a long rest in necessary to get an extremely soft dough. With shorter rests in the fridge I never obtained the same result, meaning that the crumb always had a tougher feel.

At this point the dough should be spread, divided in 6x2 cylinders, eached rolled without pulling tight. When the cylinders have tripled in size bake in preheated oven at 200°C in static mode or  at 180° in convection mode until the top gets a golden brown color. Other people reported better results at 180° in static mode or at 160° in convection mode. In my opinion the best would be a simple fan-assisted mode, that my oven doesn't have.

This is the crumb of one of my brioche

 

Other brioche, done by my friends and better looking than mine:-)

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=266969&p=5296150#post5296150

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=266969&p=5299704#post5299704

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=266969&p=5304725#post5304725

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=266969&p=5321379#post5321379

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=266969&p=5299881#post5299881

golgi70's picture
golgi70

White Bread?!?  Been so heavy on the grains all summer I figured it was time to do a simple Sourdough.  I used 10% whole grain split even with freshly milled rye and wheat.  All went into the levain to help give a nice sour twang to this white bread.  When it comes to white bread my favorites lean toward the baguette and ciabatta and less for a traditional sourdough.  Must be the crust to crumb ratio.  With less flavor in a white bread the higher proportion of crust gives the ample flavor one wants.  As for white sourdough I find them most suited for toasting/panini, or croutons.  In the end this came out quite nice and with all the whole grain in the levain it comes off with the flavor of a dough with more than 10% whole grain.  Very happy with this loaf.  

Levain

100     White Starter (100% hydration)

100     Malted Bread Flour (11.5% protein)

50       Fresh Ground Rye

50       Fresh ground wheat

142.5  H20

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

Mix to 75 deg F and let ripen 8-12 hours pending room temp will nearly triple and have a lovely scent when ready

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

Dough:  DDT 75 deg F (its warm in the kitchen so I aim a touch low knowing it will warm to 77-78)

750    Malted Bread Flour
608    H20 (hold back 10%)
21.5   Sea Salt
----------------

total Dough    1,789
2 @ 894.5 g

Total Flour 1000 g

Total H20     800 (80%)

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

1)  Autolyse 1 hour holding back 10% of final dough h20

2) Add levain and mix to incorporate.  Repeat with salt.

3)  Develop dough to pass window test.  Add held h20 and mix slowly until dough comes back together.

4)  Bulk Ferment 3.5 hours at 76-78 deg F                                                                                                                                    Do three strong stretch and folds (once from one direction and again from the other) @ 45 minute intervals.

5)  Divide dough at 894.5 g and round into a tight ball.  Let rest 30 minutes.  (This dough is wet and the tighter you get the pre-shape the easier and stronger your final shape)  Shape as batards into floured bowls and retard immediately for 8-12 hours. 

6)  Bake at 500 with steam for 11 minutes.  Lower to 460 and continue for 22-25 minutes rotating as needed.

COOL and enjoy

Josh

 

Yellow watermelon, toad melons, poblanos, red delicous apples, zukes, broccoli, dried herbs, kale, carrots, parsnips, mixed greens

Have a great weekend all, 

Josh

namadeus's picture
namadeus

Hi - looking for some help. 

On checking this loaf after 15 mins I notice that the top crust is splitting away from the sides.

Can anybody help as to why and what I might do to stop this happening.

I like the end look but would be keen to have some input.

 

With thanks

CeciC's picture
CeciC

This is my second attempt at Norwich sourdough. 

with the help from mini oven, this loaf is not as sour. and it didn't collapse when I score it but the oven spring is still not good enough.  Maybe I have over proof it again.

CeciC's picture
CeciC

Following kjknits recipe on English muffins it gives me an extremely slack dough which sticks everywhere. After proof thrower them onto a heated griddle, which is a bit too hot for them and most of them are burnt n one side. 

I guess I would increase the amount of ap flour to make it a dough like structure or use a muffins ring to hold its shape.

But this recipe is yet one of the best English muffins I've have ever had. 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Today's SD batard included about 2% toasted wheat germ as 'toadies.'  These add a really nice and subtle, nutty flavour enhancer and you can definitely taste the toadies in the finish. 

I baked this at 75% hydration, autolysing the flour and water over night, mixed and developed the dough as per my previous post.  I baked this in the new Lodge combo cooker for 8 minutes covered @ 500F and surprisingly 12 minutes 450F convection.  Next bake I will go 10 minutes covered and then judge.  A pretty satisfying small loaf.

I received Ken Forkish's book WFSY from out library system today and have been waiting all summer for it. A most interesting read and a very interesting take on life and baking!  I will be baking 2 or or 3 of his recipes shortly and may actually have to drive into the big city for some Caputo 00 for the pizza dough . . .

My most interesting take is his target of 78F for the autolyse and his opinion that the temperature of your autolyse has a big impact on the bread flavour.  Okay, this one is a totally unique take on an eye opener! I can't wait to try his techniques.

I have a batch of SD cinnamon buns going from this interesting site provided here by another poster, can't find the link or I would shout out:

http://sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.ca/2013/07/sourdough-cinnamon-rolls.html

Happy baking!  Brian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We went with another multigrain white bread this week but instead of putting ground sesame and flax seeds in it we went with the 3 P’s: pistachios, prunes and pumpkin seeds.   This bread is the equivalent of 38% whole grains due to the Toadies and malts.

 

We decided to go with our multigrain sourdough starter instead of the SD, YW and poolish combo starter from last week and we went for the dour too by refreshing the stiff starter and then refrigerating it for 3 days before building levain and then refrigerating it for 24 hours.

  

The levain was a 3 stage build of: 3 hours, 3 hours till it doubled, and then 1 hour where it rose 25% before refrigerating.  The levain was allowed to come to room temperature and finish doubling, about 3 hours before it was used.  The levain came in at 20% of the total weight.

 

While the levain was finishing its final doubling on the counter, we began the autolyse the flour with the fig water, extra water, Toadies and malts – with the salt placed on top.  The fig water was left over from re-hydrating the figs for a bake a couple of weeks ago.  This week we have prune water for a future bake left over from re-hydrating the prunes from this bake.

 

Looks a little over proofed to me.

Once everything came together with a spoon at a little over 74% hydration, we did 5 minutes of slap and folds to get the gluten development started before resting the dough for 15 minutes and doing 1 more minute of slap and folds.  Normally we would do at lea1t 20 minutes of slap and folds over two sessions of 6 and 4 minutes

 

We decided to go with less slap and folds and 3 S&F’s to see if it opened the crumb.  We don’t think it will with all the add-ins for this bread but you never know when your apprentice gets her paws into stuff when you aren’t looking,.  The pistachios, pumpkin seeds and prunes were added at the beginning of the first and 2nd set of S&F’s. 

 

By the end f the 3rd set the add-ins were thoroughly incorporated.  We allowed the bread to bulk ferment for 1 hour before dividing the dough into the pieces required for the Chacon design: a central knotted roll, 4 balls and 4 snails surrounding the roll.

 

This bread makes fin toast with half of; a mango, nectarine and peach, some bacon, black grapes and raspberries - yummy!

After these pieces were placed in the bottom of a lightly rice floured basket I forgot to put the pumpkin seeds in first which would cause a mistake trying to glue them on later.  The remaining bulk of the dough was air shaped into a huge bialy to cover the design.  The basket was immediately placed into a used trash can liner and placed in the fridge for an 18 hour cold retard.

 

The dough rose well in the cold and after a peek, Lucy decided to let the dough warm up for an hour before baking it off in the mini oven at 500F with (2) of Sylvia’s steaming cups and 1/4 C of water tossed into the bottom of the oven for instant steam.

We glued the forgotten seeds on with egg wash, per my apprentice’s recommendation but we should have used water as the egg wash browned much darker than the rest of the crust.  Oh well, I really could care less and I know Lucy doesn’t care a lick either!

 

The lunch sandwich today was an aged white cheddar, pastrami, spicy brown mustard with caramelized; onions, mushrooms and hot peppers all melted together in the micro wave to make a fine pastrami melt.  Yummy!

After 4 minutes we turned the heat down to 475 F and at the 8 minute mark we turned it down to 450 F.  At the 15 minute mark we removed the steam and turned the oven down to 425 F, convection this time.  12 minutes later the bread hit 205 F and was deemed done and removed to the cooling rack.

The bread sprang weakly but well enough for the Chacon design to show itself and it browned up with the little blisters the mini oven is famous for putting on crusts.  But that egg wash was a mistake.  The crust didn't lose all of it's crispiness as is cooled. The crumb was open, soft, glossy and moist. It was slightly sweet and sour due to the SD, fig water and prunes.  The pistachios and pumpkin seeds were a nice chew foil to the soft crumb.  We like this bread and will have no problem devouring it. 

The rest of lunch.

Formula

 

Build 1

Build 2

 Build 3

Total

%

Multigrain SD Starter

10

0

0

10

2.38%

Whole Rye

7

10

13

30

7.14%

Whole Wheat

7

10

13

30

7.14%

Whole Spelt

7

10

13

30

7.14%

Water

21

30

39

90

21.43%

Total

52

60

78

190

45.24%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multigrain SD Levain

 

%

 

 

 

Flour

95

22.62%

 

 

 

Water

95

22.62%

 

 

 

Hydration

100.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Levain % of Total

20.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

 

AP

225

53.57%

 

 

 

Bread Flour

100

23.81%

 

 

 

Dough Flour

325

77.38%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

8

1.90%

 

 

 

Fig Water 165, Water

235

55.95%

 

 

 

Dough Hydration

72.31%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

420

100.00%

 

 

 

Fig Water 165, Water

330

78.57%

 

 

 

T. Dough Hydration

78.57%

 

 

 

 

% Whole Grain Flour

37.84%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration w/ Adds

74.32%

 

 

 

 

Total Weight

942

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add - Ins

 

%

 

 

 

Red Malt

4

0.95%

 

 

 

White Malt

4

0.95%

 

 

 

Toadies

8

1.90%

 

 

 

Pistachio Nuts

60

14.29%

 

 

 

Prunes

60

14.29%

 

 

 

Pumpkin Seeds 

40

9.52%

 

 

 

VW Gluten

8

1.90%

 

 

 

Total

184

43.81%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 g of Pumpkin seeds used on the outside for decoration

 

Wingnut's picture
Wingnut

So I thought I would mix up a batch of Pita Bread for dinner. I put ground cardamon in the dough for a change of flavor.

Getting ready to mix the spiced Meat 

Skewers ready

Bake off the Pita

Keep warm

Spicy Chickpeas

time for the Hibachi

 and eat

Cheers,

Wingnut

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

I have only been seriously baking sourdough bread for about six months now with my sourdough starter which I built from scratch in January this year. Although I used to cook professionally and have worked with many bakers and pastry chefs for years, I never really make time (which I don't really have much) to explore artisan bread. Until recently, I really want my family to enjoy top quality bread every day and also for my children to know how good breads are made. I named my starter Blossom. My kids are fascinated when I let them feed my “pet” for baking, and knowing it can do “tricks” such as to make holes in a loaf of bread and to make the bread tasty.  They also know that most of the time Blossom likes to “sleep” in the fridge. :)

I’ve baked many different loaves from different books and formulas from here in the past months and my favorite bread is pain de campagne.  I was so inspired by the Overnight Country Brown of FWSY book posted by David of dmsnyder that I have to bake one right away after I’ve read about it.  I don’t have FWSY book and my local library doesn’t have it either so I just made up a formula based on David’s notes.  It worked out really well.

                                                     

 

This loaf was intended for sandwiches so I chose 75% for dough hydration with 20% preferment flour.

 Levain @ 75% hydration

50g white starter @ 100% hydration

75g rye flour

50ml water

Mix all together and leave for 12 hours at room temperature of 17oC

 

Final Dough

 

175g rye levain

75g Australia’s Four Leaf whole wheat flour

325g Australia’s Laucke organic plain flour (11.5% protein)

300g water

5g salt

Mix two types of flours together with cold water, save 50g of water for a second hydration, and leave to autolyse for 12 hours at room temperature of 17oC. 

When the levain is domed, add to the dough along with salt and the rest of the water. Mix for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and make sure levain is evenly mixed through the dough. Bulk fermentation for 5 hours at 19oC room temperature with three double letter folds at 60, 120 and 180 minutes.  Shape and leave the dough for another two hours before pop it in the fridge to retard for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 250oC. Score and bake the dough straight from the fridge in a Dutch oven (I baked this loaf in a Schlemmertopf). Immediately turn the oven down to 230oC and bake 25 minutes with the lid on and another 20 minutes with the lid off.

  

Although the method seemed to take a long time from start to finish, it suits my schedule very well.  I built the levain and mixed flour with water before bed time and left to autolyse overnight. They were all ready for dough mixing at noon. The shaped dough was ready to go to the fridge for retarding overnight at 5pm. The dough then baked off the first thing in the morning at 5.30 am (I set the timer for oven to be on at 4.45 am so it is preheated and ready for baking). I sliced the loaf for breakfast at 7.30 and packed sandwiches for lunch boxes too.  The whole loaf was consumed by dinner so I have no idea what it would taste like the next day. It was a very tasty loaf. The crust was thin and crunchy, the crumb was moist and soft. It tastes creamy and sweet as if I’ve added sugar to it with no hint of sourness at all. Very delicious bread indeed!

 

I dedicate this loaf to all the talented bakers here at TFL for their efforts to share the knowledge and experience in artisan bread making. Also I’d like thank Floyd for creating and hosting this wonderful website.

Happy baking everyone!

 

Annie

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