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jdchurchill's picture
jdchurchill

ayo tfl-ers

dig my bread this week.  twas a good week:

is this photo too big?  i changed the dimensions to (800X535) what size do you guys make your pictures for this type of stuff?

and i know all you bread-nerds dig the crumb shots so here you go:

and even closer up:

omg its so nice and soft.  i am so pleased.  i think lately i have not been letting the final proof go long enough so this one went about 8hrs, but i probably could've gone even longer.   maybe this week i will try the same recipe, but do final proof for closer to 12 hrs.  anybody has an opinion about this?  ok guys thanks for looking and reading, take care.  -jdc

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Had to make a couple of changes to Sweetbird’s hugely fantastic, far better than magnificent, Buckwheat Bread recipe that can be found here:

 http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27784/buckwheatpear-sourdough-pear-hard-cider#comments

 First off we, my apprentice and I, used aWashingtonstate hard apple cider called Spire.  It was their mountain apple draft variety and used 245 g in the dough instead of 230.  We also; did not use any cider in the SD levain and used the excess apple water squeezed from the re-hydrated dried apples and frozen fermented apples from the YW plus some water.  Also used Whole Rye and WW with the Buckwheat in the first SD levain build since our starter had them and we think these grains make better bread when used in levains.   I wanted to taste the cider so I drank 90 g just to make sure it wasn’t spoiled or otherwise not up to the task at hand.

 My apprentice, bless her heart, substituted an Apple / Orange Yeast Water levain instead of SAF instant yeast since we don’t stock any commercial yeasts in the pantry, autolysed 1 hour instead of 30 minutes, sprouted the buckwheat groats instead of scalding them (after making red and 2 white malts she’s into sprouting it seems) and then put them all inside since she reasoned enough stuff would be hanging out in the end anyway.

Because the mix – ins were so wet (compared to sweetbird’s), I added 30 g of BW and 30 g of BF to them and let it autolyse while the dough was doing the same thing, added chopped pistachio nuts and chopped cooked buckwheat soba noodles, added fermented apple pieces saved when refreshing the YW that were previously frozen, re-hydrated the dried apples in apple juice.

 My apprentice also cut the salt to 10 g from 11 since the pistachios seemed salty to her when tasted for poison and she was a little bloaty this morning, added 15 g home made white diastatic malt to the vital wheat gluten, and finally, subbed bread flour for the AP which birdsong recommended doing after her bake.

 So, not much at all really major changed in the scheme of things we call bread.  We agree with sweetbrird that the dough needs 2 S & F sessions at 40 and 80 minutes and another to pre-shape at 2 hours.  Do a quick S & F to form into a ball.  Drag the skin tight and put into your large floured benetton.  Place into a plastic bag and let it final proof for at least an hour or so.  You can get your oven ready at 500 F with your steaming method in place while it proofs.  My final proof was 1 ½ hours about twice as long as sweetbird’s and it was not over proofed.

 The bread was turned out onto parchment on a peel and slashed with my patented ‘angry face with really nasty eyes design,’ steamed for 20 minutes at 430 F, then the steam was removed.  The bread then baked on the stone for about another 45 minutes until it reached 203 F and then left in oven for 12 minutes with the door ajar and oven off.

Will post the recipe later if somone wants it.  This boule finished weight was 1,305 g.

varda's picture
varda

The other day I posted on preliminary miche attempts.   Due to problems with handling high hydration dough, the results were fairly disreputable.   The nice crumb did give me hope that I was on the right track.   Today I tried again, taking extra care not to fumble the dough.   While the dough throughout had the consistency of a water balloon I handled with care and got a better result.  This has a crispy crust and complex flavor which I don't really know how to describe, but it is definitely memorable.    It is made with 40% hand-sifted whole wheat flour, which I think I'm safe in describing as 90% extraction and the rest AP and Bread Flour.    For a simple formula - predominantly wheat - this bread achieves flavor that I usually can only coax out of multigrains and/or added ingredients.    I think it's all about the fermentation which is aided by the high hydration.  

I picked a difficult bread to try out a crescent moon score, but here it is:

Formula and method:

Starter

 

4:45 PM

9:15 PM

 

 

 

 

 

Seed

28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KAAP

15

 

120

135

 

 

 

 

KABF

 

47

 

47

 

 

 

 

Dark Rye

1

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

Whole Rye

 

3

5

8

5%

 

 

 

Water

12

34

145

191

100%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

382

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final

Starter

Total

Percent

 

 

 

 

Hi Ex

303

 

303

41%

 

 

 

 

KAAP

150

96

246

33%

 

 

 

 

KABF

150

33

183

25%

 

 

 

 

Whole Rye

 

6

6

1%

 

 

 

 

Dark Rye

 

1

1

0%

 

 

 

 

Water

480

135

615

83%

 

 

 

 

Salt

14

 

14

1.9%

 

 

 

 

Starter

270

 

 

18%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1367

 

 

 

 

 

Starter factor

0.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave starter overnight after second feed for 10 hours 45 minutes before using

Sift Whole Foods Whole Wheat flour to around 90% extraction

Autolyse flour and water for 45 minutes

Mix in salt and starter for 20 minutes at KA Speed 1, 20 minutes KA Speed 2

Dough should cohere into a loose ball by end of mix

Do a quick stretch and fold in bowl right after

BF for 3 hours

Stretch and fold in bowl

BF for 30 minutes

Stretch and fold on counter by pulling out in all directions flat (around 2.5 ft diameter)

and then folding into center

BF for 30 minutes

Remove from bowl and preshape into a loose ball

Rest 15 minutes

Shape into a ball by loosely turning corners into the center

Dough is very squashy like a water balloon

Place seam side up into a basket covered with tightly woven well-floured cotton cloth

Proof for 1 hour 40 minutes until dough starts to lose spring

Very gently turn dough onto peel with wheat bran under parchment paper

Slide onto stone

Bake with steam at 450F for 20 minutes, without steam for 35 minutes

Leave in oven for 5 minutes with door closed and heat off to finish

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Was getting ready for tomorrow's Sweetbird Buckwheat and Apple SD Bread bake and for once was organized enough to pinch off some of the buckwheat starter and make some lovely SD pancakes for breakfast.  I took 30 g of refreshed buckwheat starter and added;  60 G of bread flour, 60 g of buckwheat flour and 120 g of milk.  After mixing I let it stand on the counter for 1 hour and then in the fridge overnight for 8 hours.  This morning I took it out of the fridge and let it stand on the counter for 1 hour before mixing in 1 tsp of honey, a large pinch of salt,  1/2 of a large beaten egg, 1/16 tsp each baking powder and baking soda.  You forget how much you like SD buckwheat pancakes when you don't have them for years and years.  This recipe made 2 nice sized pancakes.

 

 

Salilah's picture
Salilah

In the middle of March, we had a long weekend / short week in Sicily - great fun!

Varied breads - we had two completely different Pane Nero de Castelvetrano (one from a baker in Marsala, one from a supermarket in Sciacca) and one Pugliese I think (well, it looked like it) from a baker in Sciacca

This is the pugliese - well, 3/4 of it, with the supermarket Pane Nero behind it...  It was my favourite bread - light, yellowy, great crust, I loved the shape (Chris said why didn't I do a square bread - but it won't work very well in La Cloche!)...  Excellent toasted, drizzled with olive oil and with fresh tomatoes on top (+ garlic rubbed if wanted)

This is the supermarket Pane Nero - a long oblong, I guess baked in a pan.  Sesame seeds on the top.  Chris liked this one the best - it tasted like a good wholemeal, it was brown, quite a rich complex taste but boring crumb (well, I thought so)

The crumb shot of the two breads!  I must admit I looked at the Pugliese one and thought "My pugliese looks quite a lot like that!" which was very exciting <grin>

Now I really thought I had a photo of the other bread - but I can't see it!  It was a boule shape, it wasn't a very dark crust, whitish crumb, quite a nice taste but to be honest, nothing special, and we tended to go back to our own favourites for breakfast...

So I'll leave you with another photo instead - the ruins at Selinunte

Salilah's picture
Salilah

I decided this week to have a go at the most recent (?) SF Sourdough posted by DMSnyder (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27892/my-san-francisco-sourdough-quest-take-4)

Must admit that the timing on this was the most difficult - I couldn't work out how to get all these 16 and 20 hour chunks in!

Ended up with the following timings:
* Starter refresh - should be 16h then overnight fridge, I did around 11 hours then overnight 11h in fridge, then 2 hours out
* stiff levain - should be 16h room temperature - I mixed this around 10am and put in the fridge at 9pm (didn't fancy getting up in the middle of the night); out again Sat around lunchtime
* mixed dough and autolyse for 2 hours
* added salt, levain, ferment should be 3.5-4h, mine was around 4 hours
* should prove for 1-2h, then cold retard overnight - I ran out of time again, so shaped and into the fridge straight away for overnight 15 hours (we were trying to get a repeater router to work ,so the bread had to wait!)
* should be 3h final proof warm & humid - mine was in the airing cupboard so very warm, only 2h and it was seriously well over the top of the banneton!

30mins on 240C in La Cloche, then 20m at 220C...  Lots of singing when it came out, cracked crust, darker than I usually do...

Pictures (sorry for delay, my phone ran out of charge!!)

Views inside the kitchen - poor lighting but gives an idea

Did I mention it sung?  Really chunky cracks:

And a view of the crumb (really must stop using phone for these!)

I decided to try some natural light this morning - but no table outside as yet, it's too early!  So - I put the bread on the car <grin>

Gives a better idea of the colour - as I said, darker than I usually do

The crumb - shows quite a deep crust

And a crumb closeup:

(sorry re shadows and a bit gritty)

Final pic - on the sundial, as a change from the car:

Taste - very nice, I agree with a previous comment on David's blog about a "cool mouth feel".  My only slight disappointment was that it was not sour at all - despite all the long rests in the fridge - I think probably I need to leave the levain / stiff levain out longer?  But a good looking, tasty loaf, and enjoyable to try this with these stages.  I'll try again, but need to think about timing...

S

freerk's picture
freerk

When was that again?

I'm always a bit confused about Easter.

I'm never sure when it's going to happen. Last year it was at the end of April. This year it's the 8th! As usual, I visit the Wiki Easter page in an attempt to, for once and for all, understand about full moons, spring equinoxes, Julian and Gregorian calendars and... well, that's usually where I give up.

Just hit me with it when it comes along! I usually start shifting gear when people actually start buying the chocolate eggs, -bunnies, and other Easter paraphernalia that have been patiently sitting on the supermarket shelves ever since the X-mas deco was chucked out.

With Easter shifting so violently all over the April calendar, and all the related holidays shifting with it, it is my most likely season for a good old "showing up at work on a national holiday"-experience.

Most of all I'm a bit confused about Easter itself. I have some distinct associations ingrained in my gray matter and gene pool. 

Friendly Fire

This one is in the genes I'm afraid. A bonfire is a Northern European's traditional way of chasing away the winter demons and welcoming back the light. The sight of a big pile of wood waiting to turn bonfire in the middle of a field somewhere when visiting my family for Easter up North, where the tradition still lives on, never fails to get me all revved up with anticipation. As a kid the bonfires seemed a multitude of impressions bigger and more awesome. The smells and intense heat have remained equally intoxicating.   This year there is a small village in the East trying to beat their own Guinness World Record. They have a live web cam, so you can see the biggest ever bonfire  go up in flames if you want to, and who wouldn't! Nothing like a good friendly fire.

Chicken on a Stick

Another strong  association with Easter is the Palm Sunday Parade. It involved a bread roll shaped like a rooster on top of a decorated cross. It's eye was a currant that came off quite easy. I was the kind of kid looking up all the time to make sure my rooster wasn't going blind up there on his stick.

Much later I realized the full meaning of this (literal) crossover tradition. Eggs, oranges and roosters; all pagan "finally-it-is-spring-again"-symbols mingled in with Christian symbols like (palm)leaves and the cross Christ died on. The rooster became associated with the bread Jesus broke at Last Supper and even with the rooster crowing after Peter denied knowing Jesus three times on Good Friday. Eggs doubled as symbols of spring as well as a symbol of new life (Easter Sunday).

Blissfully unaware of all of this, I was most of all concerned with my currant-eyed rooster and oranges surviving the parade. My mother once told me her story. When she was a kid, right after world war II, oranges were the stuff dreams were made off. And then; lo and behold; the first Easter came around that she proudly paraded around her chicken on a stick with two shiny oranges pinned on both ends.

My mother was of course as proud as a peacock. As soon as she came home, she took the oranges off carefully and put them in a box, carefully wrapped, guarding it with her life, to admire and eat later.

When she finally gave into her desire to eat her precious jewels, she found them dried out and wasted in her beautiful box. I consider it one of my more important lessons in life.

All Together Now

And then you realize that Jewish Pesach and Christian Easter share a whole lot of history as well, and were at one time the same thing. Christian Easter allegedly gets its name from the Saxon Goddess Eastre, the spring goddess. The Netherlands is a linguistic border in the Northern regions of Europe. All around us, geographically speaking, there is talk of "Ostern" or "Easter", but the Dutch have stuck with French & Latin influences and celebrate "Pasen", like the Flemish their "Paas", the French their "Paques" and the Italian their "Pasqua".

So what are we celebrating? The return of the light, the resurrection of Christ AND the end of slavery and thus freedom regained. That's a whole lot of celebrating! Let's turn to the Italians to provide us with the necessary festive bread. The message of this bread is simple: Peace! All of the above celebrations will benefit from that beautiful word, even if the tulip named after it at the tulip exhibition certainly isn't going to win any big prizes soon, except for maybe in the category awkward yet true...


Colomba Pasquale

For the peeps who rather watch things than read, here we go!


Ingredients

550 gr / 22.9 oz bread flour

8½ gr / 0.2 oz salt

4 eggs

1 x 120 gr / 4.2 oz soft butter

2 x 40 gr / 1.4 oz soft butter

120 gr /  4.2 oz whole milk

150 gr /  5.2 oz sugar

75 gr / 2.6 oz candied lemon peel

75 gr / 2.6 oz candied orange peel

50 gr / 1.7 oz of small pearl sugar

Method 

Home made orange/lemon peel

The day before; Wash and peel the skins of two oranges (or lemons). Cut into thin strips. Cover them with water, bring to a quick boil, simmer for 5 minutes and then drain. Put fresh cold water in the pan, and repeat this twice.

Then dissolve 450 gr / 15.9 oz sugar in 435 gr / 15.3 oz of water. Add 1 TBS of lemon juice. Simmer the orange peels in the sugar syrup for about 1 - 1½ hrs until translucent. Drain and dry the peels over night on a cooling rack. The next day put 100 gr / 3.5 oz of sugar in a plastic bag, add the peels and toss around to cover them well. Cut into little cubes and put aside until needed in the dough. If you want to shape your Pasquale in the traditional way, you might want to browse around for sturdy card board that can be cut into the shape of a (rudimentary) dove. The amount of risen dough yielded from this recipe gives you two medium sized loafs when baked in standard bread pans.

 

The starter

Mix 12 gr / 0.4 oz of instant yeast with 100 gr / 5.3 oz of flour and add just enough water to make the dough come together; 2-4 TBS. Cover and let rest at room temp until the stiff dough has turned puffy; about 45 minutes. Alternatively; try submerging your ball of dough in warm (30° C / 86° F) water.

Your starter is ready to go when it floats to the surface! (I finally tried this method, and it really works...)

The dough

Combine flour, salt, sugar and candied lemon peel, mix together. Then add the eggs, a little at a time until incorporated. Add 120 gr / 4.2 oz soft butter in pieces and mix. When the dough gets dry, add the milk and the starter dough. Mix very well on low-medium speed until you have a firm and elastic dough. Depending on what sort of flour you are using, you might have to add a few extra TBS of flour, or hold back a little of the milk to get the right consistency.

First rise

Transfer the mixed dough to an oiled bowl. Cover the dough and let it rest until increased in volume by ⅓.

Second rise

When the dough has risen by a third, turn it out into the mixer bowl again. Add 40 gr / 1.4 oz of soft butter and the orange peel in portions. Mix until well distributed. Transfer the dough to an oiled container once again, and this time leave it to rise until doubled in volume.

Third rise

Transfer the dough to the mixer one last time to incorporate the last 40 gr / 1.4 oz of soft butter. Mix it in and transfer the dough to your mold or bread pan(s). In Italy the traditional Colomba Pasquale mold is easily found. Outside of Italy that might be a bit of a problem. If you are dead set on shaping it the traditional way, you might have to get your card board and scissors out to put one together yourself. Don't worry about making it neat; the more "rustic" your "bricolage"-mold looks, the more rustic your Colomba will look as well.

Cover and let the dough proof one final time.

Making the topping

200 gr / 7.0 oz sugar

80 gr / 2.8 oz ground almonds

3 egg whites

¼ TSP of almond extract

almond flakes

pearl sugar (optional, but very pretty)

confectioners sugar

When the dough has almost fully proofed (poke it with a wet finger; if the dough springs back immediately, you are not there yet. If the dent fills back slowly, you are on the money and ready to go on) continue making the topping. First, preheat your oven to 200°C/ 390°F.

In a fat free mixer bowl, whip up a meringue using three egg whites. Fold in the sugar and the ground almonds and spread out evenly over the dough when using the traditional mold or bread pans. Sprinkle royally with flaked almonds and pearl sugar.

 

(Alternatively; if you are using a dove mold, you will first have to bake the bread in the mold and then add the topping to it after taking it out of the mold. You can put it back in the oven to make the meringue set and brown the almonds on top).

Put the Colomba on a rack in the middle of a preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes on 200°C/ 390°F. Then lower the temp to 170°C/335°F and bake for 35-45 minutes more until nice and golden on top. Make sure to rotate the loaf halfway the bake to ensure even browning. Keep an eye on the top; if it goes too fast, you can cover it with foil to prevent burning.

When your Colomba is done, let it cool completely before taking it out of the mold.

The first day it tastes great, the second day, it tastes better, so making this Pasquale ahead of the Easter festivities is no problem at all!

Make sure to like us on Facebook, we need your support to make that 6 part documentary on real bread! And if you want to see more bread making videos, make sure to visit the BreadLab hannel on YouTube.

Peace!

Freerk

 

 

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

This bread is an adaptation of my Coffee flavored Rye bread I made a little while ago.  This time I tried to get a stronger coffee flavor so at the suggestion of my fellow "Mad Scientist" bread baker DA Brownman, I added espresso powder to the recipe.  I also increased the amount of onion since I wanted a more pronounced onion flavor in the final product.  If you are not a big onion fan, feel free to lessen the amount or leave it out.  I also added some Durum Semolina flour just to make it interesting.

The final result was a nice chewy, bread with a pretty strong onion flavor and a pronounced coffee flavor.

For a time I was worried that the bread would end up a disaster since my refrigerator is not working properly.  The dough almost blew the lid off of my dough rising bucket due to the higher temperature in the refrigerator, but instead of letting it sit out for 2 hours before forming it into loaves I skipped that step and the end results were excellent.

Ingredients

15.5 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed (I use a AP flour starter.  I refreshed the night before, left it out at 70 degrees room temperature for 8-9 hours and then put in refrigerator)

15 oz. Water  90 degrees F.

9 ounces Bread Flour (KAF)

4 ounces Pumpernickel Flour

4 ounces Durum Flour

2 ounces Whole Wheat Flour

1.5 ounces  Barley Flakes

1 ounce Wheat Germ

4 ounces Smoked Onions (I smoked a whole onion on my barbecue and cut it into 1/2" pieces when it cooled)

2 1/2 Teaspoons Espresso Powder

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Pistachio Oil

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours, and oil and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 15 minutes

Now add the salt and onions and mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and do a stretch and fold and then  form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 15 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10- 15 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

Feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts.

 

 

 

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

I baked David’s “San Francisco Style Sourdough”.   I used the formula and procedure from his latest blog entry on the on-going experiment (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27982/san-franciscostyle-sourdough-bread-two-ways-3252012), except I did not retard the proofed loaves overnight.

The loaves are light in weight; crispy-crusted; with an almost perfect moist, airy crumb; the flavor is moderately sour and very nice.

These aren’t the best-looking loaves I’ve baked, on the outside.   But the crumb is real purdy.

Made a nice accompaniment to Chicken Salad.

Next time, I’ll retard the proofed loaves and see what it adds.

Thanks for all the effort on this, David.  Good bread.

I also baked a quick bread from Beth Henspergers Quick Breads book today—it’s a Pumpkin Gingerbread, with a spiced streusel topping.  Very moist and quite spicy (I added white pepper and candied ginger to her recipe).  Real good with Brandy butter, my new favorite dessert condiment. And since there's some whole wheat flour in it....it's healthy!

Glenn

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