The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

ITJB FR Week 5 Barley Bread pps. 87-88

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

ITJB FR Week 5 Barley Bread pps. 87-88

This week's challenge bake was the Barley Bread.  This dough was light and smooth and beautiful. The bake went very well and the loaves turned out lovely.  The texture is springy yet dense like a rye bread and the taste is very nice.  I like the "Gershtnbroyt" name for this bread since it is a bit fancier than our daily breads. 

As you can see here Helen's loaves turned out "drop dead gorgeous" her crust was crunchy yet tender and her crumb is very nice. 

She said that the texture was very much like the light rye she makes and the flavor is very nice. She decided since she was going to use her loaves more as sandwich bread, to leave out the seeds. These loaves look amazing.

Barb's loaves look like she bakes "professionally" which she just about does, since she is the fresh bread resource for just about everybody she knows! Her quilting club members are very happy ladies on meeting day.  These loaves have poppy seeds mixed in and they too look lovely. I am envious of all those round loaves.

 Those two sisters of mine are amazing bread bakers... I have always regressed to putting my breads into loaf pans because the round loaves just don't turn out like these above loaves you see.... 

If there are folks out there that can tell me why my loaves look like they do and not like the ones my sisters make, I will take all advice with an open mind and heart and try to learn from your comments and instruction... I really do want to make round bread and free form artisan breads.

I left this picture full sized so those who want to give me advice could get a good look... there was no shiny rounded top... no oven spring and the crumb is almost undercooked looking... HELP! 

Enough about that! The fun was in the communication between we 3 while baking and the smell of my bread was awesome... I subtituted the nigella seeds for a mixture of poppy seed, minced onion, and oregano.... and it tastes real good.

Enjoyed this week together - next week we are making Onion Kichel... which from reading the book I see is really an onion cracker or chip... should be good with soups etc... looking forward to it... Meet us on page 238. Bake with us and send pictures. 

Diane

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

but your sure looks delicious 3 ways!  What nice looking loaves you girls are turning out regularly!  Fantastic baking all the way around.

This very inspiring for any baker.  I've got to get a loaf of some kind of bread going for Friday's bake!  I don't think I have ever made crackers either. Can't wait to see how they turn out 3 ways.

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

Thank you for the nice words.

I really dragged my feet getting started on this bread. So much that I didn't even hunt down barley flour until time to bake. I was sure that with that much barley (almost half barley flour and half first clear) there wouldn't be enough strength to make much of anything except a brick. Shows you how wrong one can be!

The dough was springy and passed the windowpane test with very little kneading to reach around 78 degrees. Bulk fermentation was about an hour and then formed into tight but elastic rounds. Another hour and it was time to bake. I used the cast iron DO's, hot in a hot oven and the bread was a nice golden brown. (Especially golden since I forgot to sprinkle seeds on top)

The biggest surprise was to see how much my Wonder Bread fan grown up grandson liked it. The crust stayed thin and the crumb is very soft.

I thought it would be a good bread to experiment with so today I am making it with a combination of spelt and oats along with what was left of the barley flour (from a pkg of Bob's Red Mill) and what was left of the first clear. Who knows, today I just might remember to put seeds on top!

As always, the baking and sending pictures back and forth was a fun day with my sisters.

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

''I too grew up on Wonder Bread  It remains the one bread I can't duplicate at home.  My Dad worked at Continental Bakers in KCMO where they made a million loaves  of WB a day.  It is served with the best BBQ in the world and no other bread would be as good :-)  I like your barley breads better though!

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

WoW,

This is a bread I have overlooked in the book....Now I will have to look again and add it to my 'to bake' list.  

On shaping. I bake with sour dough and see this uses IY so my comments are probably off  but I will send them your way anyway...who knows?  My first thought: Are you proofing as specified in the recipe and are your sisters doing it as described too or are they proofing in a bowl for support?  Second thought:  Surface tension when shaping so that the final shape is held. You might not be getting a firm enough gluten sheath going which can be a challenge with so much barley in the recipe.  Third: You said no oven spring so maybe your dough ferments quickly and you ended up with an overfermented loaf.  I know IY moves pretty quickly.

Hope someone else chimes in that is more knowledgeable than I when it comes to baking with IY...

Take Care and thanks for the inspiration and new addition to my line up of breads :-)

Janet

Nici's picture
Nici

Late again, but even so I enjoyed making this bread.  Like the others have said it went together quickly, and with the nigella seed was fragrant and tasty.  Would I make it again, probably as I have a bag of barley flour to use up, but we prefer the mild deli rye. 

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

your bread has! It was a surprise to me since I expected either a brick or something really, really healthy and not real tasty. We like the mild deli rye also so would be more likely to repeat that one too.

Barbra

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Nici, your Barley Bread looks great! I loved the recipe and the texture of the dough... Great baking... you know the saying... Better late than Never... and in this case... Better late looks BETTER! Good Job... Wait, just wait, till you fall in love with the Montrel Bagels...so easy, so fluffy... amazing.

 

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Well, today was the day to bake the Barley loaf.....I tweaked and adapted it to using a sd starter rather than IY and it did an overnight bulk ferment in the refrig.  too.  I wasn't sure how the barley would handle all that wet time and didn't expect much in the way of  oven spring when baked so I was pleasantly surprised when it handled all of it quite well :-)

No crumb shots because these are going to friends.

Thanks again for the inspiration and making me look a little deeper when flipping through the pages of ITJB...just soooo many delicious sounding things to bake :-)

       

Dough ready to load....                                                                   Done :-)

                                             

                                                         The spring I didn't expect..

Take Care,

Janet

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

and I love the curvy slashing! I've been trying to convert recipes to SD also. Seems to work better with husband's blood sugar levels. I've used a cup of active SD in most recipes. Do you have a formula for figuring out how much to use?

Barbra

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Barbra,

Thanks for the complement.  Almost everything I know I learned here :-)

Slashing care of Khalid.

Converting care of Txfarmer and Hanseata.

It is really easy to do with baker's math but the figures I give you are for my flours which are freshly milled whole grains so you will have to tweak a bit to fit your flours.  Mine tend to need less pre fermented flour as the ferment quickly and they are thirstier so essentially you will have to increase the % of pre fermented flour and decrease the overall water you use.  Just go by the feel of your dough.

Here is what I do.  I figure the total amount of flour in the recipe and then take 17% ( I generally use only 15% in the cooler months and 13% in warmer months but decided to go higher on this loaf due to the barley)  of it for the sd I build.  I then multiply that amount by the hydration level I want for my starter which is usually 70%. ( This formulas worked out to my needing 250g of starter.)

 My starter is built up over to builds until I have the amount I need, by weight, for the recipe I am using.  I do this during the day.  In the evening I combine the remainder of my ingredients in my mixer and allow it to sit at room temp. for a couple of hours until there are signs of life in the dough.  It is then S&F and placed in the refrig. overnight for it's bulk fermenting time.  In the morning I bring it up to room temp. for a couple of hours then I shape, proof and bake.

Here is what the Barley Bread formula looked like using that method:

Total Flour:  850g       100%

Total Water:  637g        75%

Leaven

Flour:   145g        15%

Water:  101g        79% 

(  First math was 850 x 17% = 144.5 = flour.  Water = 144.5 x 70% = 101g)  For this leaven build I used 38g seed from previous day's bread and added  it to 27g water and 38g flour.  (103g leaven now)

Second build was 103:72:103. (starter:water:flour)  Out of that I used 250g for the bread and the remainder was used to start today's loaf.

Final Dough

Flour:  306g  ww  (68%)

             400g barley  (40%)

Water:  532g  63%

Non Diastatic Malt:  43g   5%

Salt:   17g   2%

Hemp Seeds:  26g  3%

 

Total Weight:  1573g

Total %:  154%

The instant yeast is left out.

Hope this helps you.  Feel free to ask any questions :-)

Take Care,

Janet

 

MangoChutney's picture
MangoChutney

You have inspired me to buy the book.  *smile*

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

That gives me a few ideas too!    Excuse me as I dig thru "the shop" for ideas...

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I would raise the temp a bit and see what that does or just leave the loaf to bake longer.  I've noticed that wet type of crumb too.  I think with barley it is good to go a little "over" to make sure it's baked well.   That's my little experience with it.

Janet, I see, has turned "pro" on us.  :)

Mini

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

My sisters and I talked at great length about my loaves and have determined that my kneading time was way too short . I made sure my sourdough on my next endeavor was kneaded the correct time and have been putting a timer to it on all breads made since and have had really good results... My oven does tend to be a little off what the dial says, so I will play with that component too... thanks for the tip.  Yes, Janet makes great bread, like my sisters and you all do.  It is great to see where the "bar" is and try to reach it. ;-)

Diane

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Mini,

*Blush*Blush****

Just a 'raggidy home baker' (Pat's term) who learned almost all she knows here....All of you patient help included :-)

Take Care,

Janet

P.S. How is you new home?

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

talking professional red light district again or is she talking professional bread this time ? :-)  I'm guessing the bread since that is one fine looking boule Janet!  Not much of a loaf though :-) 

Nice baking Janet !