The Fresh Loaf

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Hamelman's 66% Sourdough rye, and Pastry# 5

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Hamelman's 66% Sourdough rye, and Pastry# 5

Last week end was lesson 5 for me: Yeasted goods. The lesson spanned over 2 exhausting days with so much to bake in so little time. Moreover, we had to mix all doughs by hand; not an easy quest for 90% of the new faces  that have signed up for only those two days. First we had to prepare our laminated dough and refrigerated it for next day. We’ve used high quality margarine for fat, but for sake of comparison, I chose plain butter. During intermittent refrigeration, we had to make foccacia, baguette, grissini (Italian flavored bread sticks), spelt loaf, and a wholemeal seeded loaf. All bread that was made was enriched with some butter or olive oil. At the end of day one, we mixed up a poolish for next day’s Ciabatta dough.

 

On day two, we began preparing sweet breads/buns. Again, We mixed many similar doughs instead of a single one all by hand. Cinammon rolls, Orange rolls (both not featured in the photos), and soft dinner rolls were all baked during the day. Also, we rolled our laminated doughs, created croissants and Danish pastries and to be fair, there was very little difference in flavor between the margarine croissants and the  butter ones. Texture and volume was substantially better with margarine, though.  Finally there was fatayer (savoury pastry with spinach and cheese filling), Brioche, Savarin, doughnuts, and at last Ciabatta. By the time Ciabatta dough was mixed, the poolish was alcoholic from the 24 hour fermentation at room temperature! I didn’t get a chance to sample the Ciabatta, but everyone liked it.

 

Yesterday, I mixed up a batch of 66% sourdough rye from Hamleman’s book: BREAD. I’ve cut through the batard today, and left the boule to age for another day to develop flavor. It is a very good rye, and I’m glad I baked it.

 

 

-Khalid

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

yeasty-loaf's picture
yeasty-loaf

From the looks of the loaves they were worth the hard work. They look great Khalid. 

Kind regards, 

Kris

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks, Kris.

The breads we made in the class were nothing to write home about, however they were worth the effort only when warm. 

-Khalid

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Great to know that margarine had better texture and volume than the butter for laminated goodies.  With winter around the corner, we can get back to doing some laminated dough and puff paste around here.  Everything looks great but the bake schedule had to be a killer over two days:-)  Nothing like a good rye bread to warm the heart and satisfy the taste buds and yours looks near perfect.  You and David are doing similar breads this week - both bakes are top notch.

Happy  baking Khalid

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks, DA! a much appreciated compliment. 

Yes, the margarine used by the chefs here are almost indistinguishable to butter, but at a price.

All is well now, after the grueling days of breads and croissants. 

-Khalid

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It sounds like your class is quite a workout. It certainly confirms my judgement that professional bakers work way harder than I want to work.

I don't believe I have ever baked that particular rye bread. It sure looks good.

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I agree, it is a very physically demanding job. 

As it happens, i've come across a post on TFL were you baked this formula. I believe it was september 2009.

I'm waiting for that 80% rye crumb shot!

Thanks a lot , David!

-Khalid

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

You are correct. I did bake this in Sept. 2009! I wonder how many other breads I have baked once, enjoyed and then forgotten to make again!

Just like I forgot to post the crumb shots from my 80% rye. Let's see ... it must be because I took the photos before I'd had even my first cappuccino this morning. I'll get right on it!

David

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Your Rye bake looks fantastic.  Wonderful photos.  Thanks for sharing all.  It was well worth your hard work.

Sylvia

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thank, Sylvia!

-Khalid

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Khalid,

Beautiful baked 'goods' by all of you!  I am very impressed by the variety and the hand mixing.  I know how much work that is.

I love the scoring on your batard.  I just pulled 2 of my loaves shaped as batards out of the oven and my scoring was a mess so the loaves look as though I dropped them from a high spot somewhere in my kitchen :O  I have yet to find a method of scoring a batard that I really like.  Next batard that I bake I will try out your scoring pattern.  Thanks for posting it here where it certainly has inspired me to try again!

Take Care,

Janet

Mebake's picture
Mebake

It was too much for 2 days, but we managed to make it to the other end. The batard scoring was inspired from Phil's.

Bake on, Janet!

-Khalid

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Khalid,

You encouragement brought a smile to my face this morning.

I decided to shape today's loaf as a batard and I was still smiling when I stiffened up my nerves and began to score….I continued to smile as I watched the loaf during its oven spring time.  In fact, I could not pull myself away from my oven's window to watch this loaf unfold as it baked.  

I was thrilled by the results!  Thank you so much.  Now I feel less afraid to shape loaves into the batard shape.  (Before your posting your pictures I had never found a scoring pattern I was happy with so I have stuck with boules and, only occasionally, did I venture into 'batard land'.)

 

Take Care,

Janet

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Hi Khalid

you are a machine , how is your back holding out, it appears the operation was a success from the work out and test its been given. That was a lot of students for the last 2 days it just goes to show the popularity and interest in bread making. Your rye is a great looking loaf, you should have taken one along to the class. How many more lessons are there in this series, and was it expensive?

Your Trade minister has just been visiting Perth and talking about food security for UAE one of the commodoities he is very interested in is Wheat but a whole lot of others including beef, with Emirates operating 3 flights a day the capacity for chilled freight is looking good and with the prospect of  A380's in the near future even greater capacity.

regards Derek 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks, Derek!

Thankfully, my back is holding out quite well. I still can't sit for too long, and constant movement is crucial for me. Luckily i'm able to wonder around the kitchen collecting ingredients for recipes while at class.

Yes, there was some interest in bread among the new faces. The lesson for yeasted goods was divided into four sessions in two days only. The fees were around $ us 540.

I'm glad that bilateral trade with Australia grows. Thanks for the nice words Derek!

-Khalid

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Khalid,

I've been enjoying your posts on your pastry classes and my apologies for not having commented till now. I've thought for some time that with your artistic talent, pastry, desserts and confectionery would be a terrific medium for you to combine both your baking and artistic strengths. I hope that you continue your pastry studies once the classes are finished as I've no doubt you could take it on to a professional level judging by what you've shown of your work in these posts. Your 66% Rye is lovely of course, and your breads are, and have been consistently top notch for years, but great to see you expanding your baking repertoire to include items other than bread. Looking forward to seeing more of your pastries in the future Khalid. 

All the best my friend,

Franko  

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks for the kind words, Franko!

I never thought i'd study sweet pastry. I've always had a thing for savoury pastry and breads, and still do, but i had to expand my baking knowledge to sweets if i want to have any chance in baking industry.

Much appreciated,

-Khalid

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi Khalid,
That looks like it was a busy couple of days in the kitchen, making a lovely variety of breads and pastries.
And you followed them up with your perfect 66% rye (beautiful scoring and crumb on the bâtard!).
Glad you are enjoying this bread, and that you have the boule to look forward to! 
:^) breadsong

Mebake's picture
Mebake

As to the batard scoring, thanks to Phil who inspired me to try the pattern.

-Khalid

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

Looks like you're making wonderful progress on your pastry and bread baking skills. Keep it up! It sounds like hard work but it may be worth it in the end once you run a successful bakery. ;)

Cheers!

Zita

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I'm starting to like the journey more than the destination. Once you run a bakery, you wouldn't have much time to be immersed in dough. I'm glad i am now! unfortunately, i'm unable to take the path of a baker, as it is physically demanding and can be injurious to my back.

-Khalid

holds99's picture
holds99

For a high percentage rye bread you got great oven spring, nice open crumb and crust.  In fact, the entire spread of bread and pastries is beautiful.  You did an amazing job in just two days.  Excellent post.

Best wishes,

Howard

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks, Howard!

This rye bread is a keeper. I just wish i hadn't added the 1 tsp of yeast to the final dough, it would have been better tasting without it. I had to get mine out soon, as it was running late.

-Khalid

holds99's picture
holds99

Michel Suas (SFBI) in his book Advanced Bread and Pastry adds a bit of yeast to many of his bread formulas.  I think he does it for predictability, because fermentation of levain can be hard to predict.

Howard

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks like your pastry is coming along great.  That bread looks perfect as well.

Regards

Ian