The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Essential's Columbia

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Essential's Columbia

This bread is from Maggie Glezer's gem of a book: Artisan Baking. I have been wanting to make this bread for a while because it was named after the Columbia River. As a Washington State native, I had to make it. I'm glad I did as this bread has become my new personal favorite. 

Formula:

Bread Flour 45%, All-Purpose Flour 45%, Whole Wheat Flour 8%, Whole Rye Flour 2%, Toasted Wheat Germ 3%, Barley malt syrup 3%, Water 67%, Levain 41%*, Salt 2%* (*Glezer's formula specifies 41% but by my calculations it was more like 46%. I used 30g 50% hydration firm white starter to innoculate 150g bread flour at 63% hydration (63g water). *I decreased the salt from 2.4% to 2% overall.

I made a small change to the original recipe in method. Instead of mixing for 10 minutes (!) which I thought was a bit much, I mixed to shaggy mass then let rest (autolyse) for about 50 (instead of 20) minutes before adding the salt and levain. I then did two stretch and folds for the first two 45-minute intervals of the 5 hour bulk ferment. The dough was then divided, shaped and proofed for 4 more hours. I also changed the baking from what was recommended in the book. I baked at 500 degrees F for the first 5 minutes with steam, then turned the oven down to 460F, then 425F for the last 10 minutes, for a total of 34 minutes baking time.

This is the best ear/ bloom that I have ever gotten on a loaf. It was really fun to watch it open up in the oven. 

We like the toasted wheat germ that was added to this bread. It adds a lot of nuttiness and depth of flavor along with a small amount of rye and white whole wheat. Some others on TFL have tried it with spelt with good results. I might try that. The picture above shows one that I slashed twice, and the other tried to follow the "grapevine pattern" instructions described in the book. THere is only one small off-to-the-side picture of the actual bread, so I wasn't quite sure what Glezer meant. My attempt wasn't pretty- too many scores. The below picture is of some sort of shape I made-up today to avoid a disaster. I tried shaping these batards differently than I usually do (actually, I tried GR's technique shown here) and the batard ended up too long for my baking stone. (Not to discount this shaping method, just my learning curve error to blame) So I made a coronne/ ciabatta shape to fit. Worked pretty well, and I kind of like the look :-)

Wonderful flavor and texture, I love this bread.

Comments

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

This was a big favorite. Look back at some of the first posts on TFL.

Betty

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

I did have a great time looking over previous posts of this bread. I included a link to the ones by ehanner and others including spelt. There has been some very nice work on this bread for sure. 

Hope you don't mind reruns! I don't- I like to see other people's variations of the same bread.

cheers

 

CaptainBatard's picture
CaptainBatard

me what a great bread it is....I really enjoy  baking from Glazer's book....looks like a nice crumb.

Judd

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

And the crumb is stellar! 

David

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

I was just commenting below to trailrunner about the scoring and how it's not necessarily the technique that produces a good ear but several other factors. I don't know if you want to weigh in here or not, but you helped me understand the oven steaming/ grigne correlation on a previous post and it helped a lot.

Thanks for the comment!

JoeVa's picture
JoeVa

What was the dough temperature and the bulk/proofing temperature?

I love the crumb (and the crust) too!

Giovanni

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Hello and thanks for the comment :-)

The dough temperature for mixing was 76 degrees F, at least that's the desired dough temp. in my opinion, the book doesn't specify.

For the bulk ferment, I tried to keep a temp. of about 78 degrees F. I found that if I boil a mug of water in the microwave and then keep it in there with the dough- the microwave works as a sort of proofing box. Keeps a pretty constant temperature and then I just reheat the water when I take the dough out to stretch and fold. 

Thanks for commenting! I love your blog- you do good bread.

JoeVa's picture
JoeVa

We are synchronized! I use the same proofing box (the microwave) as you do.

So you did a 5h+4h of fermentation at about 78°F. That's a really long fermentation (with 45% of levain). I usually do (max) 3h+2h and with the same temperature and with less levain (about 30%-35%). Maybe the different flour or levain?

Giovanni

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I love the crust and the crumb and the ear you mention is really nice. It did open very well. You have great slashing techniques. c

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Thanks trailrunner for the comment. I really don't think it was my slashing technique that produced this scoring bloom. I have come to realize that scoring technique alone will not produce a good ear, you have to have the "perfect storm" of sorts with the proper shaping, good timing on the proof, and sufficient steam and oven temp. This is just one of those first times for me where it seems I got some of those elements right.

jacobsbrook's picture
jacobsbrook

Beautiful loaves!  I smiled when I read you skipped the 10 minute knead.  I am a fan of the autolyse followed by stretch and fold.   

Wonderful job!

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Thanks! Yeah, 10 minutes? Seems like that would be better for a sandwich bread. Plus, stretch and folds sure save the wrists. :-)

BTW, great job on your recent GR miche, and I love the post of your boy with his baguettes! Super cute.

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

This is interesting. I do a really simple sourdough that uses about the same amount of levain and flour and usually with that one i do a 2 1/2 hour bulk ferment with a 2 hour proof. I thought about this going into this Columbia bread and the rising times seemed really long to me too.(Glezer specifies 3 to 5 hours bulk ferment and 3.5 to 4.5 hours proofing) I just decided to go ahead with the formula/method as written and see how it went. Sure enough, the first time I made it I set it on the counter during bulk ferment and proof at about 69 degrees F and it took the full 5 hours recommended bulk ferment time. Additionally, the proof (in a couche) took 3 1/2 hours. The second time I made it, (first pictures above) I decided to speed things up using dough temp and controlled temp proofing. It didn't speed things up as much, but cut off about 2 hours total. The third time I made it- again I used the proofing box method as described above and the rising times ended up right in the middle of what was recommended for the formula. (3.5 hours bulk and 4 hours final proof). Incidentally, I think the last batch that I made was underproofed at that!

I'm not sure what it is with this formula that makes it take longer...would be an interesting discussion. I'm suprised too at the length of time considering the malt syrup. Maybe that's the key- at low incriments sugar speeds fermentation, but too much can slow it. This formula had 20g malt syrup. Hmmm.

One last note- it is cold here where I'm at, and I don't use an expensive thermometer. My thermometer could be way off....

If you try this bread, it would be interesting to hear of your results with Italian flours and what your proofing times end up.