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I'm baking a lot, but, since it's summer, mostly for sale.

And then there are other time consuming projects like painting windows (with some tireless mosquitoes for company), massaging my husband's cramped neck (after installing aforementioned windows), and hunting for those friggin' Japanese beetles that turn my raspberry leaves into lace.

  Beetle "Lace"

My list of "Equal Opportunity Breads" still waits for more items to be checked off - I did some more, but got a bit listless after a few stubborn loaves just didn't turn out the way I liked.

But in a recent weekend edition of "The Guardian", master baker Dan Lepard published an interesting bread made with whey instead of water. From my last batch of Greek yogurt I had a lot of whey left over, sitting in my fridge, while I wondered what to do with it.

Pumpkin Whey Bread was just what I was looking for!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Seeds and Whey - main ingredients for this autumn loaf

Dan Lepard cooked fresh butternut squash for his puree, but here in the US good quality canned pumpkin is readily available, and preparing and draining pumpkin puree a time consuming process.

I always have a supply of pumpkin puree in my pantry (to satisfy a sudden craving for pumpkin pancakes or pumpkin chocolate chip muffins). But for those who don't (or prefer making their own), here is a link to the procedure.

The dough looks a bit dry still, but will be soft and a bit sticky after brief kneading

What I like about Lepard's loaves is his minimalistic approach to kneading. Much as I admire Richard Bertinet's breads: compare his 30-minute-complete-upper-arm-workout to Lepards 10 seconds of gentle handling.

Normally I would use a stand mixer, but this soft dough can be easily (and less fussy) made by hand.

Threatening dough overflow - next time I will reduce the yeast!

Preferring longer fermentation I mixed the dough the day before, and let it slowly rise overnight in the fridge. It rose so mightily that it almost popped the lid. A sure sign that the instant yeast can be safely reduced to 5 grams down from the 7 grams the recipe requires. 

And, (for the good conscience) I substituted some of the white flour with whole wheat.

Ready for the oven

My Pumpkin Whey Bread turned out really nice. It had a delicate crisp crust, and a rich, dark golden crumb. Very flavorful, it is a true multi-purpose bread, and can be enjoyed with ham as well as jam. It is also good for toasting.

Stored in a brown paper bag, it kept fresh for several days.

Dan Lepard's formula you find HERE.

MY CHANGES:

• Use good quality canned pumpkin (like Libby's or One-Pie) instead of fresh
• Reduce the amount of instant yeast from 7 g to 5 g
• Substitute 100 g of the bread flour with white whole wheat flour
• Cold bulk fermentation in the fridge overnight (remove 2 hours before shaping)

Striking gold with this wonderful tasty loaf!

Overnight Country Brown with modifications

September 8, 2013

My exploration of Ken Forkish's breads from Flour Water Salt Yeast continued this week. Hoping to get my timing closer to the ones he describes in the book, I needed to slow down fermentation. I made another large loaf of Forkish's “Overnight Country Brown.” I used filtered water at 63 ºF rather than at 80-90 ºF which Forkish prescribes, and I used 8% pre-fermented flour rather than the 12% called for in the published formula.

I fed my levain at 11 AM. By 5 PM, it was quite mature. I mixed the dough at 6 PM. Now, this dough is supposed to ferment at room temperature for 12-15 hours and expand by 2 to 2.5 times. My kitchen temperature was running in the high-70's. Even using the cool water and decreasing the levain by 25%, the dough had doubled by 11 PM, that is, in 5 hours. So, before going to bed, I refrigerated the dough. 

At about 8 am, I removed the dough from the refrigerator and shaped it as a boule about a half-hour later.

While the dough rests ...

I proofed it in a floured, linen-lined banneton placed in a plastic bag. To my amazement, it was fully proofed by the “poke test” criterion an hour later, but it had to wait while I baked some baguettes.

By time I could get it in the oven about 40 minutes later, it was very gassy. It deflated somewhat when scored, and I was really afraid it was so seriously over-proofed it would collapse. Because of this concern, I baked it in a cast iron combo cooker that had not been pre-heated as usual, except for the lid which got about 10 minutes at 455 ºF (convection), during the last part of the baguette bake. However, the loaf sprung like crazy and turned out pretty darn good. I just had to bake it about 5 minutes longer than last time, presumably because of the cold cooker.

Compared to the last bake, I'd say the crust and crumb are about the same. The flavor had significantly more acetic acid tang than my last bake of this bread. In other words, it is a really good bread, but I really don't know how closely it resembles, in flavor, Forkish's intention.

The San Joaquin Sourdough baguettes turned out really well, too.

 Happy Baking!

David

 http://nybakersbench.com/?p=132

Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com

I had several of these ordered so couldn't cut them. I made one more for our cookout tonight. Wonderful family dinner by the pool. The Challah was so tender and slightly sweet with the addition of some extra honey and the golden raisins. 

before glaze: glazed with a mixture of egg yolk/honey/1/2and 1/2: just out of the oven: crumb:

One of the great things about TFL is that when I see an ingredient at the store, even though I've never used it before I know it will be good because of all the posts I've read.   So it was the other day while shopping at Costco, when a bag of Deglet Noor dates jumped into my basket and came home with me.   I've only eaten dates a few times, and don't like them so much as I find them too sweet and sticky.   Nonetheless, there they were and so had to be used.    The next day, I built up my rye sour way too much getting ready for market day and was on the verge of tossing the extra as I already had enough baking to do.   But then I remembered the dates.   So I pulled them out, cut them in half, and computing madly, made up a bread around them.    I made two loaves, a pan loaf and a hearth loaf.   The hearth loaf was so pretty I decided to sell it at the market the next day, but we ate the other one.    When my husband tasted it, he announced that if I only wanted to make breads like that, it would be fine with him.    And really it was delicious.  

I may not like dates in general, but apparently I like dates in bread. 

Then my real baking for market day got going.   I made crown challahs, cherry almond whole wheat loaves, baguettes, Hamelman's Pain au Levain with mixed starters, and rolls made out of the same dough.  

The market was as slow as can be, but I still sold almost everything.   I traded two of the leftover loaves - one for corn, and the other for quiche.   Then had one baguette left to take home.   

I've learned a lot about baking larger quantities since I last posted using a lot of the great advice I got here.   Friday-Saturday I made 26 loaves and 10 rolls.   It is a lot of work, but easier as time goes on.   My last bake before running off to the market was a load of baguettes (8) and the rolls.   For some reason, my oven was just not hot enough and I couldn't get either the baguettes or the rolls properly browned before I had to go.   But they sold anyhow, and no one seems to mind a paler loaf or roll except for me.  

Been a busy month with the new business coming together, vacation, and the daily grind.  Missed a couple markets and I'm back.  Only 11 more markets left if my math is right.  Ran into some temperature issues and hit a ceiling of whole grain for retarding in form again.  Fortunately the bread came out quite nice and tastes great.  I'm trying to come up with a few variations of levains that are relatively simple and can be used as daily bread.  Then I'll have a variety to offer at the shop.  I want to stress improvisation in my business.  Why have a set schedule of breads when it can be ever changing and always exciting for both the customer and myself.  

Moving on.

For 2 875 g boules

Levain: (DDT 78F 3-5 hours pending room temps)

100 g      White Starter (100%)

100 g      Whole Wheat, freshly milled

68.5 g     H20

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

Final Dough:

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

450 g     Malted Bread Flour (11.5 %)

150 g     Whole Wheat

166.6g   Whole Spelt Flour

41 g       Whole Rye, freshly milled

16..5 g   Barley Flour

21 g       Salt

639 g     H20

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

What I did.

Autolyse 1 hour

Add salt and levain and mix until fully developed. 

Bulk Ferment 3 hours (2 french slaps at :30 and :60

                                     2 s + f             at 1:30 and 2:00

Divide at 875 g and preshape 

rest 20 minutes

shape into flour bowls and retard for 8-12 hours

Bake 500 with steam for 15 minutes

lower to 460 and continue baking 235-30 minutes more rotating as needed.

--Changes I'd imply

First off my dough came out warm @82F and moved faster than I'd have liked and the dough would have appreciated 1 more s + f abut I had to get it shaped before it was over fermented.  

I think this dough would work much better mixed.  The 4 stretch and folds at 15 minutes and then retard overnight.  Then divide, shape, proof and bake at room temperature.

If a more sour flavor is desired simply decrease the seed starter in 1/2 and replace with equal parts flour and water in the final dough.  Then the levain will take 8-12 hours.  

Happy Baking

josh

Artichokes, tomatoes, corn, Italian Herb Mix, Local honey, Red D'anjou Pears, Peaches, grapes, watermelon, fennel, brocolli, goat ricotta, and broccoli 

. . . once again a boule and a batard.  After 5 days away I fed my starter 1:1:1 using about 10% organic rye and strong bread flour for the feeding.  My mother must have liked seeing dad back as she more than doubled and fell back within 4 hours, so it was into the fridge to mix the next day.

For the batard I went to 75% hydration using an overnight autolyse of the flour and water doing 4 sets of S&F's with 10 minutes rest followed by 3 more S&F's with 30 minutes rest.  After an hour of bulk on the counter into the fridge for 18 - 20 hours of retarding.  After an hours rest this morning, I pre-shaped, shaped, proofed for 35 minutes and baked @ 500F for 8 minutes with steam, then 450 convection with steam removed for another 12 minutes, turning often.  I got a good deep score with the lame and the oven spring on this loaf was enormous!  I wish I had before photo.

 The boule was prepared side by side the batard using the same method.  For the boule, I used 15% organic rye and 10% whole wheat and went 85% hydration autolysing the flours and water overnight.

For both loaves I used 20% of recently fed and vigorous starter, adding it to the autolysed flours, mixing well and then adding salt after about 20 minutes.  To the boule I added 1Tbs oil and 11/2 Tbs honey.  Next time I will add 'toadies.'

The boule was proofed in a linen lined bowl and at 85% kind of flopped flat when I turned it out.  This was baked in a hot DO though and with the sides supported also achieved amazing spring.  I baked in a covered DO @ 500F for 20 minutes, then uncovered for 10 @ 450F convection turning once.

And the boule in some lunch action today:

Roast chicken, bacon, Hungarian salami and tomato make a fine sandwich!  Very satisfying bread.

Here is a shot of Takakaw Falls in Yoho National Park in BC.  The falls is 258 meters high and is easily accessible by vehicle and about 11/2 hours drive from my home in Canmore.

Happy baking folks!  Brian