The Fresh Loaf

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Two Large Boules and a Spicy Ginger Cake

ananda's picture
ananda

Two Large Boules and a Spicy Ginger Cake

Already the freezer stock of bread is running low, but the supply of Bacheldre Dark Rye and Gilchester Pizza Flour is just about exhausted.   There was enough to make a refreshed Rye Sourdough, but the wheat levain needed to be switched over to an alternative flour for its second refreshment to build up the amount needed to make these 2 loaves.   The rye sour had one refreshment from stock; the wheat levain had two refreshments.   There is still some Gilchester Farmhouse flour [c.85% extraction] in the cupboard, so I built this into the final formula for the bread, and used it in the Ginger Cake described below.

Two Large Boules

Alison found some Marriage’s Organic Strong White Flour for me on Saturday, so the levain build was complete, and I could start dough mixing this morning [Sunday].   Here is the recipe, formula and method:

Material

Formula [% of flour]

Recipe [grams]

1. Rye Sour dough

 

 

Bacheldre Dark Rye

4

60

Water

6.67

100

TOTAL

10.67

160

2. Wheat Levain

 

 

Gilchesters Organic Pizza & Ciabatta  Flour/ Marriage’s Organic Strong White Flour

26.67

400

Water

16

240

TOTAL

42.67

640

3. Final Dough

 

 

Rye Sour [above]

10.67

160

Wheat Levain [above]

42.67

640

Marriage’s Organic Strong White Flour

53.33

800

Gilchesters Organic Farmhouse Flour

16

240

Salt

1.8

27

Water

45.33

680

TOTAL

169.8

2547

Overall Pre-fermented Flour

30.67

-

Overall Hydration

68

-

Wholegrain: White

30:70

-

 

Method:

  • Autolyse flours, water and rye sour for 1 hour
  • Add levain and form dough.   Add salt and develop.
  • Rest for 15 minutes, then mix a further 10 minutes.
  • S&F after 1 hour.   Bulk Proof 2 hours.   Knock back after 1½ hours, gently.
  • Scale and divide.   I made 1 boule @ 1000g and 1 just over 1500g.   Carefully mould dough pieces.
  • Proof upside down in bannetons for c.3 hours.
  • Tip out of the bannetons, cut the top of the loaves and bake in a pre-heated oven with steam.   I baked the 1.5kg loaf for 1 hour and the 1kg loaf for just less than 45 minutes.
  • Cool on wires

The steam has given these loaves a lovely shiny appearance.   They are quite bold and have expanded well around the cuts.   The crust has a few cracks appearing.   The crumb gives evidence of well developed dough and proper attention to fermentation.   We are both looking forward to a week of enticing sandwiches for lunch.   Photographs shown below:

 

Spicy Ginger Cake

The British contingent here may have come across Dan Lepard’s “Honey and Treacle Cake” in The Guardian Weekend Magazine on Saturday.   I’m quite a fan of these “blended” Ginger cakes, and one of my students made Dan Lepard’s “Whisky Ginger Cake” [see his website for this one] in the Confectionery exam last Monday…and it really is loaded with alcohol too!

Alison saw this article and decided it was a healthy option because it had no refined sugar in the recipe!!?   Well, this is my take on it, although the Mascarpone and Orange Icing  is down to Alison.   It’s very spicy and full-on ginger.   The finished cake texture is exactly how I like to eat cake; you decide for yourselves.

Recipe, formula and method are shown below.   I’ve made a good few changes to the recipe published in the Guardian, so I’m happy to list it below as my own take.

Material

Formula [% of flour]

Recipe [grams]

Organic Honey

 

125

Blackstrap Molasses

154.3

70

Ginger Syrup

 

75

Butter

86

150

Black Peppercorns

 

7

Cloves

16

7

Mace

 

7

Ginger Powder

 

7

Eggs

86

150

Orange Zest

0.6

1

Gilchesters Organic Farmhouse Flour

100

175

Baking Powder

5.7

10

Stem Ginger [diced]

172

220

Dried Fruit

 

81

TOTAL

620.3

1085

It is not so clear in the table above, but I have tried to show the formula in relation  to constituent parts, so 16% is proportion of spice, and 154.3 is proportion of syrups, both to flour.   Fruit is 172% of flour; this could perhaps be lower 

Method:

  • Gently heat the sugars, butter and whole spices to 80°C in a pan.
  • Lightly beat the egg
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder and ginger powder.
  • Strain the syrups off the whole spices.   Add zest plus dry ingredients and fold to form a smooth batter.   Fold in the egg.   Fold in the fruit.
  • Scale equally between 2 loaf tins.   Bake at 160°C for 40 minutes
  • Cool on wires.

Photographs of the finished crumb are shown.   Lovely cake, but neither of us ever really eat much of the stuff; let’s hope it will keep the week in the fridge?

Best wishes

Andy

Comments

RonRay's picture
RonRay

I am glad I do not live close enough to be tempted to come begging at your door. It certainly would destroy my "boyish" figure... LOL

Ron

 

 

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi RonRay,

a shame you haven't any intention of popping over here then.   I guess it's a bit of a trek really!

It's hardly healthy, but I see some outrageously unhealthy nonsense produced day in day out in the British Bakery sector; how depressing, let's just not go there!

Great to hear from you

BW

Andy

varda's picture
varda

So impressed with the crust on those boules.  They look almost like burnished mahogany.    And black peppercorns in your ginger cake.    Wow!   -Varda

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi varda,

Steam in the oven worked a real treat in baking these breads, and gave a great crust as you noticed.

I think Dan Lepard must be a bit of a fan of black pepper.   Eric first pointed me to one of his formula for Rye using Black Pepper; you can see it here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14080/black-pepper-rye-dan-lepard

I adapted Dan's formula by using whole spices of Black Peppercorns and Mace, and extracting their flavour by heating the butter/syrup combo upto 80*C, then sieving off and discarding the spice.

Worked a treat

Best wishes

Andy

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Andy,

Well your breads are lovely as usual with your trademark crumb and crust, but forgive me if I just skip right to the Ginger Cake and say that it has me drooling right along with Ron, and quite a number of others I'm sure. The first thing I did after reading the formula was to copy your post to my favourites, as this is a cake I will be making soon. I've always loved gingerbread and ginger cake of any type, but this is the first one I've seen with the inclusion of black pepper in it, which I imagine ramps up the the spiciness a notch or two. Sweet, spicy, with a little heat as well, sounds like a winner to me. Did you make the ginger syrup used in the formula, or is it something available commercially in the UK , as I haven't seen it over here? Easy enough to make, but is it a light or heavy syrup, since this will have a bearing on the mix and bake of the cake?

A delicious looking recipe Andy, many thanks for sharing it!

Best Wishes,

Franko

ananda's picture
ananda

This is a real fun cake for a baker to make, Franko.

But, spicy it certainly is; see comment to varda.

Syrup is from the jar that contains the stem ginger, as explained to BjornErik and rthomp2002 below.   As for texture, it's quite a light syrup, so really helps the batter to flow when heated.   I love to push the caramelisation when making these type of cakes, I don't know about you.

I'm already looking forward to reading how you get on with this formula, and looking at pictures of the end results.

Very best wishes

Andy

Franko's picture
Franko

Thanks for the clarification on the syrup Andy, I should have thought about the preserved ginger in syrup that is available over here. I think I'll probably make my own regardless, using a 30 Baume concentration, along with a few other inclusions of my own. The black pepper component is something I have to try, intrigued with using a warm syrup to infuse the various flavours first, then incorporating it as part of the hydration. Not something I've tried previously, but looking forward to using the technique. For a single stage batter such as this, "pushing the  caramelisation" is the difference between a good cake and a delicious one, so yes I do try for that. Marie and I are trying to slowly empty our fridge for our upcoming vacation in Europe, so the cake will have to wait until late June or so before I can get to it.

All the best,

Franko

ananda's picture
ananda

Hope you and Marie have a really excellent time in Europe

Best wishes

Andy

Syd's picture
Syd

I'm  with Varda on this one, Andy.  Perfect caramelisation and colour of the crust.  They almost look too good to cut.  The farmhouse flour, is that a white flour? 

Great baking, Andy, and very thorough on the details, as always. :)

Best wishes,

Syd

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Syd,

Thank you for your kind words.

Not had Port Salut in a while; fantastic cheese and salad sandwiches for lunch today.   I can't imagine not cutting into this bread.

The Farmhouse Flour is approx 85% extract, so very much a high extraction flour.   Did you catch my previous post here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23415/baking-allbritish-flour

Best wishes

Andy

rhomp2002's picture
rhomp2002

I also was wondering about the ginger syrup.  I have never seen that here in any stores.  What is it and what could be a replacement.

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Mascarpone and Orange Icing! Andy, with all due respect for you skills and professional delivery, The icing sounds like it would be wonderful. The cake looks moist and delicious. Your breads of course are always to be envied. Great work, both of you.

Eric

ananda's picture
ananda

I'll always champion Alison's inspiration.

She's my lovely wife, what more can I say!

It's a pleasure to hear from you, of course

Very best wishes

Andy

BjornErik's picture
BjornErik

I was wondering about the stem ginger.  Is it the fresh ginger root that is found in the produce section of the grocery store, or is it ginger that has been preserved in sugar syrup so that what you drain off is the ginger syrup and the remaining solids are the stem ginger?  Or is it the slices of candied ginger rolled in sugar much like orange and lemon peel?  Thanks

ananda's picture
ananda

Many thanks to BjornErik and rthomp2002,

Stem Ginger looks like this:

mmm, hope this shows up on the post; if not you can see it here:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/media/content_ginger.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2004_38_thu_05.shtml&usg=__d1F0mdvEsLMAqXu1uB-sJBiOG2g=&h=165&w=247&sz=12&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=DAgadZklaeHnuM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=141&ei=usTaTemzKYmq8QOO54GEBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dstem%2Bginger%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2ADFA_en%26biw%3D1157%26bih%3D396%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=461&vpy=153&dur=2653&hovh=132&hovw=197&tx=105&ty=154&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&biw=1157&bih=357

It's root ginger that has been preserved using sugar, formed into balls about 2cm in diameter.   They are sold in jars, with a sugar syrup used to hold them in the jar.   Not a healthy option, but much more interesting than crystallised ginger, and less sugar content, with a real kick.   So, I used the sugar syrup as part of the sugar content in the cake, and chopped the stem ginger up to include within the cake for texture.   So, it's the middle one of your 3 options Bjorn.

Best wishes

Andy

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello Andy, What breads! And what a cake!
I made a cake using ginger marmalade a couple of years ago, and your cake is bringing back some very happy memories.
I love how you infused your honey and molasses with spices for this recipe - wow!
Your wife's orange and mascarpone frosting sounds decadently delicious too.
:^) from breadsong


 

ananda's picture
ananda

and very good to hear from you Breadsong.

Best wishes

Andy