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question about weight and spring in a roast potato and onion bread

mutantspace's picture
mutantspace

question about weight and spring in a roast potato and onion bread

I have just taken a roast potato, roast onion and rosemary bread out of the oven. Its a Hamelman recipe and smells divine. Intoxicating even. It feels quite heavy and didnt get a large spring. Having said that it did rise a bit and the scoring opened up.

There is 25% roast potato, 30% roast onions and 15% whole wheat in the bread and as ive never made a potato bread before, nor made a bread with over 55% added ingredients im just wondering if it's always the case that spring is smaller and bread is heavier. Not that im bothered infact it makes sense to me as there are so many added ingredients, ingredients that have been cooked in oil which will coat the flour and thus inhibit spring.

any thoughts would be much appreciated

heres a terrible photo:

 

 

 

BGM's picture
BGM

I'd say you've done quite well.  I've baked with JH and the KA crew and they (and I) would be happy with this loaf.

mutantspace's picture
mutantspace

thanks for that BGM...i cant wait to cut into it - its been sitting there for 4 hours tempting me with its rich smell...it really is quite an incredible aroma...i had to add more water (even though im in ireland where our flour doesnt drink as much water as american flour does - i.e. your 60% is our 65% - 68%).... i think next time i might do a fendu or just one long cut. I did three because im practising however 3 on a loaf of that size (500g of flour) is pushing it.... 

Out of Interest I presume JH is jeffrey Hamelman but who is KA?

mutantspace's picture
mutantspace

KA as in King Arthur....aaahhh....from the videos and book he and Martin sound like great people to work with and learn from

bread1965's picture
bread1965

.. post the crumb shot.. would love to see it. My own experience is that ingredient additions can reduce how open a crumb is.. and i've never added that much to a loaf, but i've noticed it.. I don't know if a longer fermentation would help open it up.. maybe someone can chime in on that point.. but I don't think it would help.. I think there's only so much weight those bubbles can support.. it's probably just the physics of it all.. but all in all.. looks like a great loaf.. well done!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Great combination of ingredients! That is a fairly high proportion of non-flour stuff; I wonder if it would be 'fluffier' if you developed the dough without the onion and rosemary first, then folded them in later? Maybe add half the potato when mixing the dough and the rest after some gluten is developed? Just a thought...

mutantspace's picture
mutantspace

here are some bad crumb shots:

i think its just the physics there are alot of ingredients for those little bubbles to hold up  - the smell of roast onions is something else - not to everyones taste as it really is quite specific and if youre not into flavoured breads, caramelised onions, then this isnt for you. Having said that its moist, soft, sweet and delicious. Id say its a good BBQ bread....requires rich food ontop (although I love eating it with nothing on it which is, I suppose, the sign of a good bread) such as meat, cheese, etc. As my wife remarked this morning it smells of stuffing. Which sort of sums it up. like a sunday roast infused into a soft bread.  

I was thinking about it afterwards and could have kneaded it more vigorously but as for the rise i did a pate fermentee overnight (with 30% of flour) and it rose as it should...perhaps a retard in the fridge or less yeast than in the recipe could help it develop a more open crumb but to be honest there are so many ingredients as well as the oil off the onions that i think its a losing battle.... the other option is to add more water. I did hydrate more than the recipe called for but could go for more....thanks for the advice