The Fresh Loaf

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wine connoisseurs pls advise, interesting bread I want to make

katyajini's picture
katyajini

wine connoisseurs pls advise, interesting bread I want to make

Hello friends!

Here is a video I found of a bread made with white wine.

Its in Spanish, but this woman speaks slowly and clearly and in the context of bread baking I can understand what she is saying.  This lovely bread has white wine for about third of the liquid. She calls for a Catalan wine with a floral bouquet.  Would you suggest a wine that might be good to try to make this bread?  Something easily available to Americans and not particularly expensive?  Sweet/dry and what what kind....

By the way this woman has posted some really good bread videos.  I tried her focaccia and it really was fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1zsY-d2l54&t=550s

Thank you!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I probably can't advise you on which wine to try, but I'm sure you have enough variety of wines in the US that you could try different ones and see which you like best. I'd stay away from heavy sweet wines, but maybe something dry-ish and fruity would work.

This video is also really good for showing different ways to manipulate and develop dough by hand. Useful!

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

drinking?  Whatever it is, is going to be your best bet for including in the bread (or any other cooking / baking recipe).  Realistically, you are looking for flavour notes that you enjoy but won't likely be a very strong note in the bread.

I personally tend towards the dark and earthy reds, so don't know much about whites.  Since I prefer the dryer side, I think that I would maybe look for a pinot grigio for a white wine addition. 

I'll add my thanks for posting the video, as I really enjoyed it.  The bench work method was quite different from anything that I've used (the sheer volume of bench flour really surprised me), and it's great to see different approaches.

katyajini's picture
katyajini

Thank you Lazy Loafer and IceDemeter.

It is a nice video isn't it?  Never made a bread with wine or beer.  This should be a lot of fun. And I think pinot grigio would be a great place to start.  I was was actually thinking it my self :)

IceDemeter, if I may ask, would you try a red wine in this? I know someone in TFL did once, can't find it now.  I have a pinot noir. Would that work?  Would you suggest a red?

Thank you so much!

 

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

I would likely use something earthy and woody, like a heavy merlot.  I'm a huge rye fan, and could see mixing in some rye flour and even some toasted barley and rye flakes with it...

A couple of versions that I found on the site just now:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38287/spelt-and-rye-sourdough-red-wine-bread

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32472/sourdough-wine-bread

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13989/pain-au-levain-wine-60-hydration

The great thing about both bread and wine is that there really is a version suitable for all different preferences!  I hope that you have fun picking a version to go with - and make sure that you share the results!

katyajini's picture
katyajini

Wow!  So much reference and at your finger tips.

And you have given such a list of ideas!

Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!

I certainly will share.

:)

katyajini's picture
katyajini

I was startled by how good this bread tastes while it is so easy to make.  I have made four loaves of this bread with pinot grigio.

I have made the bread with the pre ferment exactly as in the recipe.  Then on a whim just combined all the ingredients with a direct method and a long fermentation at room temperature (~6hrs, 1 gm of yeast) I used instant yeast and no sugar.

It does have a unique, delicious flavor, a soft chewiness and the crust is chewy and not at all hard.  The crumb is a delicate beautiful green-gold like the wine (not white like it seems in the video) and the crust is a deep rich gold. There is a splintering skin to the crust.

The dough with pre ferment is tighter, easier to knead and the crumb is tighter and meatier(?). With the direct method the dough is looser and the crumb is softer, more hole-y while still chewy and the crust is also chewy but a little thinner.

But the flavor!  With the pre ferment the flavor comes closer to hefty rustic bread and you don't perceive the delicate and unique flavor as much.  With the direct method you really taste something different.  A slight sweetness (not from the wine, it was not sweet at all) and a nuttiness like in the best baguette.  The crumb is special too.   To each his own but I like the bread from the direct method way more, but that is not the bread in the video. Also I could not get the crease to stick. The skin just blew up within minutes and eventually  broke.  

This is definitely a dipping bread. The crumb will pick up sauce or oil so well and not disintegrate or become mushy and the crust is just right for tearing.  The flavor is clear but decidedly lovely and will go well with anything.

Both of you are sophisticated bread bakers and make breads with deep complexity and i am pretty naive...but I do think this is very nice.

I am a little challenged right now to post pictures but I will figure it  out and post.

I will make this bread again and probably other reiterations of it.

Its worth trying, I recommend it.

Thank you!

 

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

I'm so glad that you made a bread that you enjoyed this much --- it's definitely tempting me to crack a bottle one of these days!

What make pinot grigio did you end up using?  I'm just re-reading your review and thinking that this sounds like a perfect gift for my Mother-in-Law, and I'd love to get the same kind of flavour that you got.

I've got this thread book-marked as a definite "must try".

Thanks!

katyajini's picture
katyajini

I hope you are not disappointed.  The wine is called Cavit, an inexpensive wine imported from Italy that I bought to steam mussels (for which it worked quite well). 

The flavor, when you are having the bread, if I did not tell you it was wine, you would not know.  At least I would not. Rose Levy Beranbaum in her Bread Bible has a beer bread. I have not made it.  She comments ' if one didn't know, one might not guess what mysterious ingredient provides such an appealing depth of flavor'. Something like that is happening.  I think white wine is more subtle than beer.

I have something more in mind....

katyajini's picture
katyajini

I forgot to add..There is no alcohol-y taste what so ever and no obvious wine flavor either.  But after a while of being stored in a closed bread box you definitely smell the wine, but in a nice way.

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Thanks so much for the wonderful follow-up review! Now this one is on my to-try list as well. I often bake bread with beer (both a lighter pilsner-style and a dark stout) and the breads are very tasty. Given that all the alcohol is baked off in the heat it's not surprising that the resulting bread doesn't taste like beer or wine, but retains may of the flavour compounds anyway.

It's interesting that there was such a difference between the straight dough and the one made with pre-ferment. When I bake with beer I almost always put the beer in the pre-ferment, so I wonder what the difference would be to put it straight into the dough? Always new things to try, right? :)

katyajini's picture
katyajini

Just a thought,  RLB's beer bread is also made by the direct method and uses a higher proportion of beer, but beer has less alcohol than wine (probably half as much).