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Colomba with poolish

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

Colomba with poolish

Hi,

I implemented this recipe for the classical easter cake "colomba" from an italian pastry chef

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=110276

but with some adaptions. The recipe calls for a stiff sourdough, something that I really detest because it requires many more attentions that I want to dedicate it and because it involves a lot of risks for the taste (acidity is always around the corner, not something you will like in a cake).

I replaced the stiff sourdough with two consecutive poolishes amounting to the same amount of flour; the water in excess was subtracted from the first dough. Moreover I started with my rye sourdough (100% hydratation), but in many other occasions my friends and I used a plain white wheat or durum wheat sourdough without the slightest problem.

Salt is essential to relent the enzymatic rection that deteriorates the gluten, thus I moved it from the second to the first dough. When I didn't I had a lot of failures.

This kind of cakes requires the use of a very strong flours. I used a "canadian" one (in italy they are called "manitoba", W >= 350).

The original recipe amounts to 1.5 KG; I rescaled the ingredients to get to 1 KG.

First poolish: 13 gr sourdough, 13 of flour (depends on your starter, mine was rye), 14 of water. Let triple.

Second poolish: add 40 gr of water and 40 of very high gluten/canadian flour. Let triple.


First dough:

flour 260 gr
butter 70 gr
sugar 70 gr
2 egg yolks
water 80+ gr (I used 80 gr of egg whites, instead)

salt 4 gr

mix water, eggs, sugar and salt, dissolve very well and add 100 gr of flour; whip to create a smooth cream, add the poolish, mix well, add the remaining flour and work to get a smooth dough, add the butter in 2 turns and knead until the dough is perfectly smooth and elastic. It's sticky, better use a kneading machine or a bread machine (as I did). Let double in a warm environment.


Second dough:

mix 20 gr of sugar (I used 50) with 60 gr of flour and knead them in the dough, add 2 egg yolks (one at a time) and 1 teaspoon of honey, mix until they are perfectly embedded, add 55 gr of butter and knead the dough until it's perfectly elastic. Add some vanilla extract, some orange zest ( I used the grated zest of two lemons, instead) and 200 gr of candied orange zest, mix until they are perfectly distributed and let the dough rest for one hour.


Fold the dough and fill the mould as explained in the pictures in the linked article and let rise in a warm environment until the dough gets 2 cm below the border of the mould.

Cover the surface with the almond glaze (I changed it: 100 gr of almond finely chopped with 20 gr of durum flour and 120 of sugar, then mixed with enough egg white to get a very very dense cream), spread some almond on top of the glaze and cook at 180°C for 50 minutes.


This is the last I made, of the many;)


Unfortunately the glaze cracked because of the incredible oven spring.

 

 

The texture was a bit of a disappointment because it didn't come out as open-crumbed as in many other occasions. Taste is wondeful ;)

 

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Nico,

I rarely get that turned on by cakes; but this really looks something special.

I love that you have been able to apply such long and complex processes to this

Great stuff

Best wishes

Andy

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

Thanks a lot Andy!

This cake has a really special taste and a very soft consistence. It also keeps well for a lot of time if enveloped in a plastic bag. I made it for easter; next week I'll post the pictures of the inside.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

but I had to stop to wipe the drool off my chin.  Those look spectacular!  And the flavor has to be stellar, too!

Very well done, Nico.  I actually like the crackled look of the glaze; it hints that good things are going on inside.

Well done!

Paul

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

Nico,

Well i think your pictures speak volumes for the awesomness of your Colomba. I was going to try a different formula this easter but don't think I've got the patience to babysit a stiff starter and two doughs for 2 or 3 days. Your use of a 100% hydration starter is ingenious.

Ironically in my (recent) experience, I've found using a higher hydration starter can give *sourer* results than a frequently-refreshed stiff starter. Also it can contribute to weaker (less elastic at any rate) dough if used in large proportions. Moving the salt to the first dough was a really smart move and obviously paid off. I must try this in the future.

Nice work!

FP

 

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

that put me on the right track after many in depth discussions  on the dynamics of liquid vs stiff sourdoughs.

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Wow Nico!

Just beautiful, and I like that crackled glaze too. Can't wait to see the crumb shot.

I could tell you were really understanding it, but you've done a really beautiful job of taking all the information, processing it, then applying it to create the bread you want, your way. I am so proud of you :-)  I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Best,
dw

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

...theory and applications ;)))

I'm looking forward to cut it, really.

 

Many thanks to all of you for your kindness

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

I uploaded a picture of the crumb, although I was a bit disappointed because it wasn't as open as in other occasions. Anyway the taste was delicious.

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

Hi Daisy,

many bakers use the same base dough for Panettone and Colomba. What changes, most of the time,  are only the filling (raisins and  candied orange zest) and the topping (no topping on panettone, but I  have to say that I like a nice glossing of almonds, egg whites and sugar on top).

This is the recipe for a 3kg dough:

http://www.cookaround.com/yabbse1/showthread.php?t=98119

There's a small amount of butter less than in colomba, but I like better the added fat:-)

Moreover I prefer to use a small amount of added sugar: 120gr for 1kg of dough.

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

are the way to go in order to build a levain with very strong raising capacity. Debra wrote a couple of precious threads on this subject.

As for bonding I would avoid it: the original recipe doesn't require it and in one of the aforementioned threads it was explained that it's not really necessary.

The amount of acid you want to limit is acetic. I don't know how strong a  water yeast is so I can't comment on it, but if in doubt I recommend to use a more tested method. This kind of levained require a lot of ingredients, time and patience, so you don't want to drop everything in the thrash :)