The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

This week's baking: march 26, 2017

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

This week's baking: march 26, 2017

I had made sourdough pita breads a few months ago with 50% whole wheat flour. They were much better than "store bought," as everything I had read led me to expect. I had experimented with two methods of shaping - rolling out versus stretching (like a pizza) - and thought rolling out had better results (a surprise). I also didn't allow any proofing time. I divided, shaped and baked. This time, I shaped all the pitas by rolling and allowed a rather brief proof period - about 10-15 minutes. I think this improved the puffing out of the pitas. I had some, still warm out of the oven, with hummus and olives as appetizers for my dinner tonight (chicken cacciatore and broccolini).

I've been meaning to make sourdough bagels for a long time. "Long time," in this case, means I found I had asked TFL member rossnroller to share his recipe back in 2010. I finally got around to doing it. Although I didn't use Ross's recipe but converted Hamelman's bagel recipe in "Bread," which has worked well for me in the past, to a sourdough version. I think they turned out pretty well.

Finally, I also baked a couple loaves of what has been my favorite "daily bread" for the past several months. It is roughly based on Forkish's "Field Blend #2.j

Happy baking!

David

Comments

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Sourdough Bagels

(adapted from Hamelman's bagel formula in Bread)

 

David M. Snyder

March 23, 2017

 

 

 

Total Dough

 

 

Ingredient

Wt (g)

Bakers' %

High-gluten flour

372

40

AP flour

500

54

Whole wheat flour

38

4

Rye Flour

18

2

Water

538

58

Barley Malt Syrup

5

0.5

Salt

18

2

Instant yeast

11

1.2

Total

1500

161.7

Makes 13 113 g (4 oz) bagels.

  

Liquid Levain

 

 

Ingredient

Wt (gms)

Bakers' %

AP flour

140

70

Whole wheat flour

40

20

Whole rye flour

20

10

Water (85ºF)

200

100

Active liquid levain

80

40

Total

480

240

  1. Dissolve the levain in the water.

  2. Add the flours and mix thoroughly.

  3. Place in a clean container and ferment until ripe. 8-12 hours, depending on vigor of your starter and the ambient temperature – 76ºF is ideal. (For a liquid levain, this means the surface is bubbly and wrinkled. It should smell fruity, not like raw flour and not sour.)

  4. If not ready to mix the final dough, the ripe levain can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Note: I fed the levain with my usual sourdough feeding mixture of 70% AP, 20% whole wheat and 10% rye. I keep a supply of this mix to use as needed. That is, I actually added 200 g of that mixture.

 

Final Dough

 

Ingredient

Wt (gms)

High-gluten flour

372

AP flour

371

Water (85ºF)

353

Barley malt syrup

5

Salt

18

Instant yeast

11

Liquid levain

370

Total

1500

 Procedures

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the water, ripe liquid levain and malt syrup. Mix at low speed until these ingredients are well-blended.

  2. In a separate clean bowl, combine the flours, salt and instant yeast. Add this mix to the liquid ingredients a third at a time, mixing each addition at low speed until well-blended before adding the next.

  3. Mix at medium speed until an early gluten window forms (6-8 minutes).

  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board. Form into a ball and place in a lightly oiled clean bowl. Cover tightly and ferment at 76ºF for one hour. The dough should be almost doubled in volume.

  5. Transfer the dough back to the board and divide into 113 g (4 oz) pieces.

  6. Pre-shape into rounds and allow to rest, covered with a towel, for 20 minutes or so.

  7. Form bagels from each piece. Degas gently. Form a tube, as if shaping a baguette. Roll each tube into a cylinder (not tapered) about 12 inches long. Wrap this around your open hand, with the ends overlapping under your palm by 2-3 inches. Roll your open hand back and forth on the board to seal the bagel. If it sticks, flour the board lightly. If it slides, wipe the board with a very slightly damp towel.

  8. Place the bagels with at least an inch between them on parchment-lined baking sheets sprinkled with semolina or coarse cornmeal. Cover with plasti-crap or place in a food-safe plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. (I find quarter sheet pans most convenient. Each holds 6 bagels.)

  9. Pre-heat the oven to 500ºF (with an optional baking stone in place).

  10. In a large sauce pan (4 quart or larger), bring water to boil with 2 tablespoons of barley malt syrup.

  11. Take as many bagels as you can bake at one time out of the fridge.

  12. Boil the bagels right our of the fridge, 3 or 4 at a time, 15-20 seconds on each side. They should float.

  13. Remove the bagels to a cooling rack placed over a sheet pan. If topping, press the top or both top and bottom, if desired, into a pie tin containing the topping of choice. (If the bagels' surface is too dry for the toppings to stick, place a damp paper towel on a baking pan or another pie tin. Put the bagel on this for a moment before pressing into the topping mixture.)

  14. Then place the bagels on a clean, parchment-lined baking sheets sprinkled with semolina or coarse-ground cornmeal with at least one inch between them.

  15. Repeat steps 10. and 11. until all the bagels have been boiled and topped. (Note: If you cannot bake all the bagels at once, leave the ones you cannot accommodate in your first bake in the fridge until the first batch has been baked, then repeat steps 9.-11. with the remaining bagels.)

  16. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the desired degree of brownness has been achieved.

  17. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Those that are not to be eaten right away can be frozen for later consumption.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Sourdough Pitas

David M. Snyder



Total Dough

 

 

Ingredient

Wt (gms)

Bakers' %

AP flour

284

51.6

Whole Wheat flour

261

47.4

Whole Rye Flour

5

1

Water

400

72.7

Salt

10

1.8

Sugar

14

2.5

EVOO

14

2.5

Sesame Seeds to coat

 

 

Total

988

179.5

 

 

Liquid Levain

 

 

Ingredient

Wt (gms)

Bakers' %

Liquid starter

40

40

Water

100

100

AP flour

70

70

WW flour

20

20

Whole Rye flour

10

10

Total

240

240

  1. Disperse the liquid starter in the water.

  2. Add the flours and mix thoroughly.

  3. Ferment at room temperature until expanded and bubbly (8-12 hours). If necessary, refrigerate overnight and let warm up for an hour before using.

 

 

Final Dough

 

Ingredient

Wt (gms)

AP flour

250

Whole wheat flour

250

Water

350

Salt

10

Sugar

14

Active liquid levain

100

EVOO

14

Total

988

Procedures

  1. In a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, disperse the levain in the water.

  2. Add the flours to the liquid and mix at Speed 1 to a shaggy mass.

  3. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20-60 minutes.

  4. Add the salt, sugar and olive oil. Using the dough hook, mix at Speed 1 until the ingredients are well-dispersed, then mix at Speed 2 for about 8-10 minutes.

  5. Transfer the dough to a 2 quart lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl tightly.

  6. Ferment at 76ºF until doubled in volume, with a stretch and fold at 1 hour. (Bulk fermentation took about 4.5 hours.)

  7. Divide evenly into 8 pieces (125g each) and form the pieces into balls.

  8. Cover the pieces and let them rest for 10-20 minutes.

  9. Roll the pieces into 7-inch diameter circles. Flour them well. They should not stick to the board.

  10. Cover and let the pitas proof for 10-20 minutes.

  11. 45-60 minutes before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with a baking stone in place.

  12. Bake the pitas 2 or 3 at a time for 5 to 5.5 minutes.

  13. As they come out of the oven, cover the pitas with a cloth. They should remain soft and flexible.

  14. If not to be eaten immediately, freeze the pitas. They thaw and freshen well if heated in a microwave oven at full power for 10 to 15 seconds , wrapped singly or in pairs in waxed paper.

 Note: One can “spike” the dough, optionally, with 1/8 tsp instant yeast. If you do, add it with the sugar, salt and oil. And bulk fermentation will be about 90 minutes. Procedures are otherwise the same.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Your breadslook fantastic! Thank you for sharing the recipes!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

'DaMan'.  These all look great and those pitas are very puffy - just perfect.  Don't think the bagels needed the instant yeast spike with your skill though.  That daily bread is marvelous.  Very well done indeed and

Happy baking David

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The yeast spiking is not a matter of skill but of timing. The last time I made these, they took 4.5 hours to double at 76 dF. This time, I had only 2 hours to bulk ferment before I had to leave the house, and I used starter that hadn't been fed in 2 or 3 days. So, I used the IY to speed things up, although I probably lost a bit of flavor.

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

big time equalizer to shorten things up like the fridge is the the other way to slow things down.

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

variety, and gorgeous results on all of them!

Thanks for including the formula - those pita breads have more poof than any others I've seen and are really, really tempting...

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Just to clarify: The puffing does not occur during proofing. It occurs in the oven with baking. 

David

cgmeyer2's picture
cgmeyer2

i'm definitely going to try; probably not all at once :)

thanks, claudia

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Sometimes retirement gets so busy that some activities get sidelined.  Or so my father told me.  He said he wondered how he had ever found time to go to work, pre-retirement.

Beautiful breads.

Paul

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Thanks for the kind words, Paul!

David

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

Fine bakes, David. Happy to see you're still around TFL. 

Zita