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shelstaj's picture
shelstaj

Hello fellow bakers! 

Ive been a fan on The Fresh Loaf for quite some time, and finally have decided to start posting some stuff!

I have been working in restaurants the last 2 1/2 years, the last year in pastry/bakeries. I currently work at a small startup bakery in San Francisco. Currently one of the things we are working on is croissants. 

Ive started with the Pierre Herme base recipe and have been playing around with it.

the recipe calls for fresh yeast and ive been currently playing with fresh yeast vs osmotolerant yeast. The recipe also calls for the dough to be mixed, then left to rest for 24 hours in the fridge. I am currently trying to do bulk fermentation in hopes to avoid the 24 hours in the fridge enabling me to produce the croissants from mix to shape within a 8-10 hour shift.

here are the results between 2 of my recent batches. 

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LoNX3vdFS3B2RK2B_mb9i_QPzKwtmnNXUyHCYq75zMc?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hQ832IsknS0/TyXq2Y-Q97I/AAAAAAAABbg/AEGwrm9iBpw/s144/DSC00735.JPG" height="144" width="96" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/Jshelsta/Crx?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPLL15yC7vasHg&feat=embedwebsite">crx</a></td></tr></table>

Truth Serum's picture
Truth Serum

I just came across some videos explaining bakers math and making baguettes.

http://www.stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/how-to-make-a-basic-baguette-video-recipe

 

Nate Delage's picture
Nate Delage

It's been a while since I mixed up my standard white bread flour formula. I decided to march to a different tune a few days ago and try something a bit different.

I started collecting things from the pantry and this is what I arrived at:

The formula:

  • 850g bread flour
  • 150g rye flour
  • 25g wheat germ
  • 25g sesame seeds
  • 460g water
  • 250g beer
  • 20g salt
  • 6g yeast

I decided not to count the wheat germ as 'flour' when calculating the amount of water to add. Not sure what the generally accepted approach is.

The mix (KitchenAid)

  • 6min: speed 2
  • 45 autolyse
  • 3min: speed 2

Fermentation

I used a primary fermentation of 3 hours at 72 degrees and overnight in the fridge (mostly to fit my schedule). The dough easily doubled, I think the sugar in the beer kept the yeast happy.

Shape, Proof & Score

The next day I (for no good reason) decided to shape all this dough as a single large boule. It proofed for about 3 hours at 70 degrees. I needed such a long proof because the dough was still chilled from the time in the fridge. I proofed on a couche and transferring wasn't an easy task. There was no way to flip this over like I do my baguettes. I eventually just did my best to scoop it up with my hands and transfer to some parchment. Doing this really made me nervous, but thankfully it more or less held it's shape. Next time I'll probably proof right on some parchment paper. Looking back I think the proof time was a bit too long (I was out of the house while it proofed and made it back later than I expected).

Scoring was a piece of cake because it had developed a bit of a skin, having proofed for so long. I used to think any skin was to be avoided, but just a little makes scoring so much easier. And I don't think it's the detriment of the final product.

Bake

This was unlike any bake I've done before! Into the oven at 500 degrees with 1 cup of water poured into a pan for steam (oh no! did I just use a volume measurement?!) 30 minutes into the bake the crust had developed a nice brown color. I decided to check the internal temperature, thinking it might need another 10min or so. Imagine my shock when the thermometer read 96 degrees!! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even halfway to my usual 'done' temp of 208 degrees.

So I dropped the temperature to 425, realizing this was going to be a loooooong bake. I lost track of time, but it felt like an eternity. I was nervous I'd eventually burn the crust, but that wasn't an issue. Eventually the temperature crept up while the crust became darker and darker.

When I arrived to 208, I turned off the oven and left the boule in the oven with the door ajar, sitting on a cooling rack. This way it would cooled without the internal moisture 'steaming' the crust (something I've had happen more than once) Can't loose that crunch!

Taste

Delicious! I can't stop eating it ;) Because of the long bake time, I ended up with a super thick crust that isn't overly chewy. And while not burned, the dark crust has a flavor I really enjoy. The crumb isn't very open at all, which is fine with me and expected given the rye and wheat germ. I'm not really sure the sesame seeds provided at flavor. I'm making this loaf again without the seeds or the beer.

What about the beer? I used a darker Octoberfest beer I had laying around. I'm really not sure what if anything it contributed to the flavor of the loaf. It definitley doesn't smell like beer, nor can I pick out the taste of the beer. It will be interesting to compare this loaf with another made without the beer (currently in progress).



pmccool's picture
pmccool

Warning: I have not baked this bread!  Now that that's out of the way...

I have a 1948 edition of the Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer.  It had belonged to my mother; a wedding gift, I believe.  

Although the CAI (not to be confused with the CIA or with the other CIA--good grief, now I'm getting confused!) itself had a rather spotty history, it's cookbook lives on in various reprintings.  For its time, it was a big deal in cookbooks.  It has a profusion of photographs, some in color.  It's big--over 1000 pages, including the index.  It covers everything from basic information about ingredients to advice for planning a party; from appetizers to pulled sugar work.  More than just being a cookbook, it strives for a certain sense of personality or style.  As Ms. Berolzheimer put it, "The elusive charm of this personality stems from clear overtones: a light touch--a sense of humor--a flair for the clever idea in cooking and serving that results in something called style, but above all a feeling for the kind of beauty that women want about them in their work-a-day world."  I suspect that what I saw in the kitchen of our small farmhouse in northern Michigan was probably something different than Ms. Berolzheimer envisioned while she lived in the big city of Chicago.

In any event, the book also contains recipes for various yeasted and quick breads.  This one for Dark Rye Bread caught my eye and I thought that some of you might be interested.  Note that a bread with the same title is still included in the newer editions of the book but that the contents have been radically changed.

Dark Rye Bread

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cake yeast

15.5 cups sifted light rye flour

1 cup freshly mashed potatoes

1 quart lukewarm water

3 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons caraway seed

Mix the sugar and crumbled yeast; allow to stand until the yeast liquifies.  In a large bowl, sift in 6 cups of the rye flour.  Combine the sugar, yeast, potatoes and water; then stir into flour.  Mix until smooth.  

Add the salt, the caraway seed, and another 6 cups of flour.  Mix thoroughly rather than kneading.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough is doubled in bulk.  

Place the dough on a floured board and knead in additional flour until the dough is smooth and almost stiff enough to hold its shape as a single large loaf.  (This may take 3-4 cups of flour to achieve.)  

Round the dough up into one large loaf and place it on a floured baking sheet.  Let it rise until it has doubled in bulk, perhaps 1.5 hours.  

Pierce the dough lightly with a fork, brush the top with cold water, and place it in an oven that has been preheated to 425F.  After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F and bake for 45 minutes longer.  Remove the loaf from the oven and brush the top with cold water.

Makes one very large loaf.  (Ya think?!)

As I said at the top, I have not made this bread.  For one thing, locating light rye flour is something of a challenge for me.  But even if it weren't, I'm pretty sure that I would not be a happy camper with it as written.  Picture the poor soul who is acquainted with wheaten breads that tries to make this for the first time ever.  Oh, the stickiness!  Frankly, I'd skip the knead-on-a-floured-board business and just leave the dough in the bowl.  That would at least allow me to keep one hand clean for things like adding flour while using the other as my kneading/mixing implement.

I would also convert this to use a rye sour, rather than using commercial yeast.  There are so many advantages that accrue from using a sour in a 100% rye bread.  But then, I'd be making a different bread, wouldn't I?

Anyway, there you are; a small look back at baking at home in the mid-20th century.

Paul

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I was in a creative mood the other day and after my wife fried up some bacon I felt inspired to use the leftovers in a bread.  You know what they say....."bacon makes everything taste better".  It's hard to argue with this logic, so I decided to combine the bacon with some cheddar cheese, toasted onions and added some wheat germ I just bought from King Arthur Flour to add some nuttiness to the overall flavor profile.  I boiled some potatoes and left the skins on when mashing them up since I like the flavor and look of the charred bits of potato skin in the finished bread.  I decided to combine Durum Semolina flour and KAF European Bread Flour (you can use regular bread flour if preferred).  I do have to say I was not disappointed with the end result as it has a nice hearty bacon flavor with bits of cheese that makes it hard to stop eating.  I made 2 loaves and was going to freeze one for later in the week, but I have a feeling I will end up finishing both loaves in the next couple of days.   It's a cold and snowy day here on Long Island, NY and this bread goes perfectly with soup or chile which my wife is planning on making for dinner tonight.

If you decide to try this, feel free to add some additional bacon to give it  even more bacon flavor.

 

Ingredients

15 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

5 ounces Durum Flour (I use King Arthur Flour)

12 ounces European Style Flour from KAF (or Bread Flour)

2 ounces Wheat Germ

5 ounces Mashed Potatoes (I used plain mashed potatoes but if you have left-overs from dinner you can feel free to use them up)

3 ounces Cheddar Cheese (I cut into small cube pieces but you can shred if preferred)

4 Slices of cooked crisp bacon cut into small pieces

1 Tablespoon Toasted Onions (you can use chives or roasted onions if preferred)

14 ounces Luke warm water, 90 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

2 1/4 Teaspoons Instant Yeast  (you can omit the yeast if desired and let the dough sit for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours before refrigerating)

Directions

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

Add the flour, potatoes, salt, yeast (if using), and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

Add the bacon (note if you shred the cheese you can add it now, otherwise I suggest kneading it into the bread by hand which is what I did).

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 need for 1 minute and form into a ball.  Flatten into a rectangle and add the cheese and form dough into a ball.

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

Put in your refrigerator immediately for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it. (If you did not use yeast, let it sit in your bowl for 2 hours before shaping).

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!

Please visit my other blog at  http://www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for my older posts.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.  This post has also been submitted to http://www.girlichef.com/p/byob-bake-your-own-bread.html, so please visit them for even more baking recipes.

Salilah's picture
Salilah

We are invited tonight to a Burns Night supper - long-running, we've been going for years!  I thought this time I should try to take some bread (though I wasn't confident enough to stop them buying bread - must be more confident!)

I recently purchased Bertinet's Crust, and Hanseata (I think) mentioned the Breton Bread, so I thought I'd give that a go, as unusually I had some fresh yeast.  As this was a new recipe, I decided to also do DSnyder's Pugliese as usually that works really well for me.  18 people so it felt like a big quantity was required - so I did around 2kg of each, which was a fun experience in itself, as I've not done these volumes before!

Ingredients - Breton Bread

Pre-fermented dough: 3.6g yeast, 3.6g salt, 180g strong white flour, 126g water - 6 hours or so (it went a bit faster)

Final dough: 10g fresh yeast, 750 strong flour, 200 buckwheat flour, 50 rye flour, 300g (all) pre-ferment, 15g sel gris, 700 water - total 2038g at 70%

Ingredients - Pugliese

200g starter, 720 water, 590 strong flour, 160 "00" flour, 250 durum flour, 20 salt - total 1940 at 75%

I thought originally the breton bread would be fairly quick, but the pugliese also went really fast - so I nearly ran out of proofing baskets!  As it was, I ended up doing 3 Breton and 2 Pugliese - both the Pugliese in the La Cloche, two of the Bretons on a stone with metal lid and the other in La Cloche

The Breton didn't rise as much as I'd hoped, even in the La Cloche - but I guess there's quite a lot of buckwheat in there!  I did bake it when I thought it was just about ready - so a bit quicker than planned...  Quite a thick crust (this one was under the metal lid), pleasant taste, went well with eggs this morning...

Not sliced the Pugliese as both are going down to the dinner, but it rose beautifully (as usual) and I hope will taste good

Challenges of timing - the Pugliese went a LOT faster than I expected - so rather than my usual proof overnight in the fridge, I baked them all the same day.  Luckily I have two ovens, so one had the stone and the other the Cloche!

Will see what the reaction is tonight
cheers
S

namadeus's picture
namadeus

Prepared dough for a Spelt, Wheatgerm &Oat Loaf last night at about 7pm. Now Saturday 28 Jan 10am.

Flour mix is 500gms white spelt / 100gms wheatgerm / 100gms pinhead oats / 300 gms dark rye

Put three loaves into our very cold conservatory overnight and this morning the dough looks like this :

Is this cracking more common in certain types of bread ? and does it effect the baking time as the loaf "opens" in the oven. Any comments welcome

 

I like the look when baked

Thanks for comments

bakeshack's picture
bakeshack

So here is my take on the classic Cheese bread.  I love the flavor and aroma of melted/toasted gruyere cheese. I wanted this flavor to infuse my basic sourdough loaf without getting muddled in the process.  I have seen several different types of this bread but all of them simply mix the cheese (either cubed or grated) in the dough during the mixing/kneading stage.  I wanted something more "in your face" gruyere, melted/toasted cheese flavor in every slice while, at the same time, achieving a very rustic-looking country bread.  

 

 

Here is how I made this wonderful bread:

90% Bread Flour - 446g

10% Rye Flour - 50g

70% Water - 347g

40% Leaven - 198g (Starter culture was fed with flour/water mix at 100% hydration, 12 hrs before mixing the dough)

2% Salt - 10g

Gruyere cheese, grated - 200g

1)  Dissolve leaven in water; mix all of the flour by hand.  Autolyse for 30 mins. 

2)  Add salt and mix until fully incorporated. Perform stretch and fold  every 20 mins during the 1st hour of bulk fermentation and once every hour afterwards to complete a 3-hr bulk fermentation.  

3)  After the 3-hr bulk fermentation, the dough should be billowy and very easy to stretch.  Turn the dough out into a lightly floured counter.  

4)  Preshape the dough into a rectangular mass.  Bench rest for 30 mins.  

5)  Lighty dust the dough with flour then turn it over, doing the same to the other side.  Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a rectangle (about 12"x18", 2cm thick).  Rub some flour to the rolling pin if the dough is sticking to it.  

6)  Scatter the grated gruyere cheese on the dough leaving about 1.5" border all around without cheese.  

7)  Starting from the short side of the dough, roll it into a log just like a jelly roll/cinammon roll, making sure the cheese is being trapped inside the cavity.  Also, make sure that the log is rolled tight with the edges sealed underneath to build tension on the surface of the loaf.  

8)  Proof for 3 hrs seam side up on a couche or a lined-banneton dusted with flour.  Alternatively, you can proof for 1.5 hrs at room temp and retard in the refrigerator for 10-12 hrs. 

9)  Preheat oven to 500F.  If the loaf was retarded overnight, take it out of the refrigerator 1 hr before baking.  

10) Place your steaming apparatus inside the oven (I used 2 wet towels), then place loaf inside.  Lower oven to 450F.  

11)  Bake with steam for 15-20 mins, remove steaming apparatus, bake for another 25-30 mins until crust is dark golden brown with the cheese oozing out from the grigne.  

12)  Leave in the oven for another 10 mins.  Let cool, slice, and serve.  Enjoy!

 

Submitted to YeastSpotting  http://www.wildyeastblog.com/yeastspotting/ 

davidg618's picture
davidg618

I've made croissants before now, twice: once during a King Arthur baking class, and, shortly after, at home, a bit more than two years ago.  I was nominally satisfied with both attempts, but in that same time frame my focus was elsewhere: sourdough and baguettes. With due humility I've been satisfied with my consistent successes with both baguettes, and a handful of sourdough formulae that I've felt the urge to try a new challenge: croissants--high on my "enjoy eating" list.

While studying the subject, and formulating an approach, I frequently reminded myself that it took nearly three years to reach satisfaction with my sourdoughs, and more than two in regard to baguettes. And I'm still learning. Nonetheless, it's time to stretch.

Over that last two days I've begun a new goal: consistently produce satisfactory croissants. Satisfactory means good flavor, wonderfully flaky crumb, and eye appeal, in that order. Examining those criteria I decided flaky crumb, i.e., building properly laminated dough was, initially the most challenging. My thinking was flavor was determined by ingredients, and relatively passive techniques: fermentation; poolish or natural levain vs. straight dough; and quality of ingredients. Eye appeal is primarily manual techniques, which equates to practice, practice, practice. For my first "real" home attempt at croissants I decided to focus intensely on dough lamination.

I used a straight dough formula--the same formula used in the KA classroom, a straight dough, with two modifications. Guided by Michael Saus' Advanced Bread and Pastry: a professional approach, I lowered the baking temperature to 385°F. I found the KA and SFBI straight dough formulae differed only in 2% hydration and malt powder, and baking temperature. I opted for the lower, SFBI, temperature. Additonally, I added malt powder to the mix, ala SFBI. I also used osmotolerent yeast prescribed by SFBI, although neither the sugar nor fat content in the dough demand its use.

Results: I made four basic croissants and two pain au chocolat. One can see I need practice, practice, practice.

Crumb. I had intial difficulty with the lamination. During the first turn the dough tore, and exposed the butter layer in a small area. I attribute the mistake to too much aggression rolling the first turn. Despite the dough's wound, I contined doing two more turns as prescribed.

Needless to say, I'm satisfied with the crumb, although we did find a "doughy" spot in one croissant.  I'm fairly sure it was caused by the dough rupture mentioned.

Flavorwise, I'm statisfied; more importantly, so is my wife. I used KA AP flour, and Vermont Creamery cultured butter: the primary flavor contributors.

Next effort, will include the same ingredients and techniques, but will incorporate a poolish ala SFBI's formula.

David G

 

 

varda's picture
varda

Some time ago Franko did a great post on Tom Cat's Semolina Filone.   I pretended to make it but in fact I didn't because I used starter instead of poolish and whole durum instead of extra fancy.   Now following Karin's excellent no-discrimination policy I decided to cook from books lying under my nose, and what book could be greater (or more underutilized by  me) than Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking.    This time I followed directions to the letter (see page 124.)  This bread is so good that someone should post on it every few months or so.   With this post, I've done my part.   

Bonus bread lessons:

1.  Different flour,  different bread.

2.  If you bake bread from a formula without following directions you haven't yet made that formula. 

 

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