Sourdough with rye and soaker in covered baker
My experiments continued this morning, as I baked another dough I had frozen very recently. This was a variation of Khalid's recipe that I have made a couple of times. I really enjoy this bread as it has lots of different grains in the soaker, and it is ready to go so quickly. I defrosted the loaf yesterday in the fridge and took it out at 6 a.m. this morning. (We had to get up early here in California to see the Liverpool-Chelsea game, as my husband is from Liverpool. Unfortunately, their winning streak was snapped today, creating a shadow over their chance to win the league.....we are suffering along with our family and friends in Liverpool today. It certainly was not the best start to the day. Then, we saw that the wind knocked over our lime tree and broke its clay pot. And you know about the lime shortage right now!) Despite these setbacks, I pushed forward with my bread experiment.
I took the dough out of the fridge to warm up and did a preliminary shaping. Khalid shared a nice illustration for batard shaping, link below.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24865/shaping-batard
I used my LaCloche oblong covered baker, which I do not use as much as my round domed LaCloche. I have to say that I think the crust turns out better in the LaCloche than when I use the heated stone and steam.
The bread I made today from frozen is on the left; the bread I made last week per the recipe (baked on the stone with steam) is on the right. I am baking longer to get the bold crust, and I do think that makes a real difference. For whatever reason, the scoring worked a lot better today than last week as well.
I still struggle with the shaping and transfer of dough to the preheated baker. I had to use parchment paper as the dough was quite sticky. It did not go into the oblong baker easily (that's probably why I don't use this one as much), and I was concerned that I botched it. The day was certainly going that way....
I was pleased that the loaf looked good as I took the lid off. I preheated the baker and lid at 500 degrees, and then baked it lid on for 30 minutes before lowering the temperature to 435 convention for another 20-25 minutes with the lid off.
Here is the crumb from the bake today with the frozen loaf.
This is the crumb from the loaf I baked fresh on the preheated stone with steam.
I would say the crumb is good in both, but perhaps just slightly better in the frozen loaf. The taste of the frozen loaf was great, very tangy with crispy crust and moist interior.
We enjoyed our sandwiches for lunch. I guess I will continue with my bread experiments, as my husband really enjoyed this loaf!
The original recipe I used is below. Phyllis
Sourdough with Rye, Spelt and Soaker | Prefermented flour % | 30% | ||||
Overall Recipe | Soaker | |||||
| Bakers % | Weight |
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Bread flour | 47% | 450 | grams | Coarse Corn Meal | 30 | grams |
Whole Spelt flour | 11% | 106 | grams | Couscous | 30 | grams |
Whole Rye flour | 26% | 250 | grams | Rolled Oats | 60 | grams |
Coarse corn meal | 5% | 45 | grams | Water | 250 | grams |
Couscous | 5% | 45 | grams | Salt | 6 | grams |
Rolled Oats | 6% | 60 | grams | Flax Seeds | 25 | grams |
Water | 84% | 800 | grams | Sesame Seeds | 5 | grams |
Salt | 2% | 18 | grams |
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Total | 187% | 1774 | grams | Total | 406 | grams |
Rye Sour | Final Dough | |||||
Whole Rye flour | 60% | 150 | grams | Bread Flour | 450 | grams |
AP Flour | 40% | 100 | grams | Whole Spelt Flour | 106 | grams |
Water | 100% | 250 | grams | Water | 300 | grams |
Mixed Starter | 10% | 50 | grams | Salt | 12 | grams |
Total |
| 550 | grams | Rye Sour | 550 | grams |
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| All Soaker | 406 | grams |
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| Total | 1824 | grams |
Prepare the rye sour by adding a tablespoon and a half of your active rye starter to the 250g water, and mix well to disperse. Add the flour, mix well, and let stand for 8-12 hours at room temperature. To prepare the soaker, weigh all soaker ingredients into a bowl, and then add the boiling water to the soaker. Mix well, cover, and let stand until overnight or until your rye sour is ready.
The next day, mix all ingredients using a stand mixer for 7-10 minutes. The dough will remain relatively sticky, so try to resist adding any flour at this stage. Shape as a round and let ferment in an oiled bowl for 2 hours at preferably 78 F, folding it using your scraper at the 1 hour mark. By the end of bulk fermentation, scrape your dough onto a heavily floured surface, pat the dough even, divide into the desired dough pieces, and round each piece leaving them to rest for 15- 20 min, covered. Shape your dough into a batard (see helpful videos on this). I did the final shaping and then placed the dough on parchment paper on a peel. You can also use your proofing basket. Dust your basket with a mixture of all purpose flour and rice flour, and shape your dough and invert it smooth side down into the basket. The final fermentation will be only 45 minutes, but watch the dough NOT the clock. Preheat your oven at this stage with a stone in place to 500F. Have your steaming apparatus in place. When ready, invert the dough on baking paper lined peel/ board and score it before placing on the baking stone. Place boiling water into steaming tray. Bake for 15 minutes with steam, and then remove the steaming tray and reduce the temperature to 450F for another 25-30 minutes or so. This last loaf turned out so big, so it needed a bit more baking time. Be sure to adjust based on the size and the kind of crust you prefer. Remember, you can experiment with different ingredients in the soaker--that's the really fun part.
Cool on wire rack before slicing.
Comments
Crust & crumb, they look beautiful and sound very tasty. Well done. :)
I was pleased with them and will continue to experiment with this recipe. So many options for the soaker....Best, Phyllis
What are the manufacturer's directions for the cloche, does Sassafras say to preheat it before placing the raised dough inside? Am guessing that because of the risk of burns involved, they would have covered their assets and said to load it cold, then place in a preheated oven — though some how I doubt there would be such great oven spring doing that. Am curious because I also preheat my 3 1/2 qt Romertopf; doesn't always give great results from a cold start. But because the la Cloche is stoneware it can go cold right into a hot oven; the Romertopf is terra cotta so cannot. Have long lusted after the oblong baker but was apprehensive about loading it hot without parchment, wondering how good a loaf it could produce if loaded cold into a hot oven. Thanks for any info you could provide on this, Phyllis.
Andychrist: Sassafras does say to use it cold. It actually has a number of recipes that use the bottom for proofing, which would make the transfer of dough much easier, particularly in the oblong one! Perhaps I will try a cold bake and let you know. I have thought about doing that, but heating the cover. After I got the first domed LaCloche, I went online and saw that folks recommended using it preheated, so that it what I have done, and I think that contributes to better crust and perhaps helps a bit to make the scoring look better and enhances oven spring. I did have to use parchment yesterday, as the dough was too sticky. Perhaps a different dough could have been loaded directly. I was concerned that it was so sticky that the parchment wouldn't come off very well, but it came off very easily. I think now that I have worked this out, I may use the oblong baker a bit more than I have. I use the domed baker constantly, and to be honest, I have tried some recipes without it, and then with it, and I think using the LaCLoche baker makes better bread for me. Or perhaps it covers up my many errors much more efficiently! I did burn myself the other day, but not on the Lacloche...I was loading the water for the steaming tray on a recipe I was making WITHOUT the baker. Maybe that's a sign....Good luck with your quest. Best, Phyllis
Thanks for the detailed response, Phyllis. Loading the oblong baker cold but preheating the lid sounds brilliant! Especially in a small oven, that could ultimately help even out the temperatures to which the loaf is exposed. Eagerly awaiting the results of this experiment, should you be bold enough to execute the plan.
andychrist: It worked great. I just posted a blog on it baking a five grain bread. Really worked wonderfully! I will be using this method again for sure. Best, Phyllis
Looks like you got the perfect rise and shape for a sandwich bread. Happy to learn how well this trick works. :)
Interesting experiments, Phyllis. I have never tried freezing dough before but you have piqued my interest and already, even as I reply to this post, my mind is ticking over trying to work out how I can use this to my advantage. :) How long can the dough remain frozen before thawing it out? Presumably there must be some kind of a limit after which the yeast is no longer viable. Have you tried par-baking then freezing? Nice looking loaf.
Syd
Syd: I have frozen dough over the last couple years for weeks or months at a time, and I bet my success rate is about 75%. The failures I've had are from loaves that have gone wrong before I froze them. If the bread worked well as a fresh bake, it has worked well (or better) from frozen. I freeze it as it is just my husband and I at home (unless we have guests), and I just have too much food in the freezer to fit fully baked loaves. I will have to track how long some loaves have been frozen; I would say up to months....the last two I did were only frozen for 19 days and about a week. I will have to experiment with tracking the length of "frozen" time. I have never tried par-baking as it would then take up more space in the freezer. Thanks for your comments and good luck with your baking experiments! Best, Phyllis
is such a great idea. I worry when I freeze a sliced, super wrapped loaf and am always surprised that it isn't dried out when defrosted. I'm downsizing freezer size so I'm particularly encouraged by your accomplishments.
Your bread is beautiful. Thank you for sharing, finally found some dark rye flour so I'm looking forward to trying your method out.
Barbra
Barbara: I have frozen every type of bread dough, and have had good results (with a few misfires!) I think the key is following the original recipe once the dough has defrosted. For example, in this recipe, there is very little proofing time after the bulk fermentation (only about 45 minutes), and I found this to be true after the dough fully defrosted. As always, part of it is your gut feel as well. Hope it goes well for you. Best, Phyllis
Love this version, Phyllis! definitely better crumb and crust. I see you've used the illustration to your advantage, nice shaping!
How do you score? And with what? If you need to perfect scoring, search TFL for scoring tutorial by dmsnyder; very elaborate illustrative tutorial with pictures.
Khalid
I did use your illustration to help me with the shaping, and I think it resulted in a better shaped loaf. I used my oblong LaCloche baker, and I think this helped as well.
I did watch David's tutorial some time ago and have recommended it to a number of others. Very helpful. I have a very good lame that I use, so I don't think it is the tool, it must be the scorer!
Thanks again for your great recipe that I have had fun tinkering with and your inspiration and support! Best, Phyllis
your frozen loaves have a better crumb for some reason and the bloom and gringe on this one was also very good. Semolina and corn meal on the parchment will keep the dough from sticking to it and let you get the dough off of it an into a hot clay baker very easy. I haven't had as good a luck with spring and bloom baking from a cold one. You can also just drop the loaf into a hot clay baker parchment with no worries that way. All looks good from here.
I say go to Whole foods and get some Kamut and Farro to enter a clay baker batard in Ploetziade 2! Well done and
Happy Baking
Thanks, dabrownman. I will continue to experiment. I did use the parchment, and it worked OK. Will try this method again.
I bought some kamut in whole form, so I assume I can just grind it to create the flour. Do you have any particular tips for using kamut? Thanks in advance for your advice. Best, Phyllis
Your frozen-baked breads are astounding... I didn't think they would turn out so well, in terms of structure and flavour. But your results tells us the contrary.
Keep up the insightful experiments!
Zita
Zita: I do think I will continue to experiment. The last two frozen breads were better than the originals, for sure. Perhaps I am not doing some things on the first bake that I am doing on the second bake that makes it better. It has to be hydration, I think. I am making some gluten-free bread today, which is not as much fun...in fact, it can be a real pain! I will move on to my next experiment later in the week and that will be fun. Thanks for your comments. Best, Phyllis