The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Caramelized Onion

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

This is another take on a multi-grain bake we did not s long ago that you can find here;

60% Whole Grain SD / YW Bread With Caraway, Rye Chops, Coffee and Cocoa

 

This time we upped the whole grains to 75% and the hydration to a little over 85%.  We dropped the chops and added multi-grain sprouts.  The whole grains and sprouts were rye, spelt and whole wheat.  A combination we like very much as long as the rye equals the other two grains.

 

We also decided to make this bread a little more Russian by using their Baltika #6 Porter for a majority of the liquid in this bread and all of the dough wetness if you overlook the barley malt.

 

We were overcome by guilt and also knowing that The Hempster would not be her kindly self if we left out the seeds so we tossed in some caraway and coriander to perfume this dark bread in a traditional way - but not too much.

 

Hanseata, probably in a fit of non-hempness, is also the creator of her very fine wild rice bread that we like so much.   Thinking she would still be upset that there are no hemp seeds in this bread, we plunked in some cooked wild rice hoping to appease Her Hempness with one last gesture of jester.

 

Keeping with the black theme this bread was calling out for, we also added in some caramelized onions, quite a lot actually, with its deglazed reduced juices as Eric, Andy, Ian and so many TFL bakers are wont to do out ofa  honed professional education and experience for many of them that know what they are doing and a playful, inquisitive wonderment of the strange for Ian and myself.

  

One last shot at anti-establishment went to the Combo YW and SD rye and Desem starter and levain we cooked up over two builds.  As we contemplated the dark path we were about to trip along, in total disregard of anything sane or normal, my apprentice became edgy, quite uncomfortable really and took on the look of one sick puppy. No, it wasn’t Toady Tom’s Toasted Tidbits at fault here even though we put 15 g of them in the mix.

  

It is a look that I see most often right before she upchucks - which she did... then murmuring under her lowly growl something about death to all dark baking masters or another…….. It seemed she got sick after noticing that the bread lacked nuts.  She recovered quickly after the upheaval when she realized there were already plenty of nuts out of their shells in the kitchen as it was - so no extra nuts were required for this Holiday bake.  

  

After all of what would pass for bread 101 on Empress Ying’s home planet, we hoped that this bread would be a shade darker than a dark one should be and also one that we could be proud to pair with the fine Pate Maison that we had baked and smoked up for the Holidays the day before.  Hopefully, both will pair well with a nice Malbec from Argentina, if one could afford it and a plate of various exotic cheeses from other places even more expensive.

 

Hey, it’s the Holidays and who needs another pair of Santa socks, snowflake ties and Snowman stocking caps anyway.  So, as an option, save enough bread by not getting those things and splurge on some foreign hooch and cheese to share with family and friends instead - all while making the bread and pate that much better.

The crust came out dark, shiny and crispy but, after a 24 hour wait before slicing, it went soft with a slight chew.  This bread cut ¼” slices easily without crumbling.  The crumb was not heavy, slightly open, soft and very moist with little gloss.

 

The taste was where this bread really shines.  Subtle coriander and caraway flavors combine with a stronger caramelized onion taste and the chew of the wild rice and sprouts to go with the complex flavors of the porter, cocoa and coffee.  Very tasty indeed. 

 

We have now eaten it plain, toasted with butter, as a sandwich and toasted with pate – just delicious and the perfect pate platter mate.    

  

Method

The method was straight forward if you remember to start the WW sprouts a day before the spelt and rye sprouts since they take 48 hours to chit instead of 24.  The levain was built over (2) stages of 8 and 4 hours each with an overnight retard of 12 hours following the 12 hours on the counter

The flours, salt, Toady Tom’s Toasted Tidbits, ground flax seed and the red and white malts were autolysed with the Baltika  #6 Porter for 1 hour after my apprentice had tasted about 205 ml of the 500 ml bottle to make sure that it wasn’t a covert left over cold war poison of a 3rd kind.

Once the autolyse and levain came together, we did 10 minutes of French slap and folds and then 3 sets of S&F’s on 30 minute intervals where the seeds and rice were incorporated in the 2nd set and the sprouts on the 3rd set. 

The dough was allowed to ferment and develop for 1 hour before being shaped into an 800 g and one near 500 g loaf and panned. The dough was allowed to proof for 1 hour in a trash bag on the counter before being retarded for 12 hours in the fridge. 

Once out of the fridge the small loaf was allowed to proof for 4 hours on the counter.  The larger one proofed for 4 hours on the counter at 65 - 68 F and an additional 1 ½ hours at  85 F in the make shift microwave proofer that had a cup of boiling water in it. 

Both of these should have been baked in the mini oven but Big Betsy was preheated to 500 F instead with 2 of Sylvia’s steaming pans and a 12”cast iron skillet full of lava rocks on the bottom rack.  The stone was put on the very top rack of the oven to project radiant heat downward to the top of the loaves.

As soon as the small pan went in the temperature was turned down to 450 F for 15 minutes of steam. When the steam was removed the temperature was turned down to 350 F, convection this time.

After 5 minutes the bread was removed from the pan and finished baking directly on the oven rack.  The bread was turned 180 degrees every 5 minutes until the internal temperature reached 190 F. Total baking was 30 minutes when the bread was removed to the cooling rack.

The larger loaf was baked the same way through steam but took an extra 15 minutes at 350 F to reach 190 F internal temperature.

Formula

Mixed Combo Starter

Build 1

Build 2

Total

%

SD Starter

5

 

5

0.99%

Yeast Water

10

 

10

2.63%

WW

10

15

25

6.58%

Rye

30

45

75

19.74%

Spelt

10

15

25

6.58%

Water

40

75

115

30.26%

Total Starter

95

150

245

64.47%

 

 

 

 

 

Starter

 

 

 

 

Hydration

100.00%

 

 

 

Levain % of Total

20.14%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

Toady Tom's Toasted Tidbits

15

3.95%

 

 

Whole Wheat

35

9.21%

 

 

Dark Rye

141

37.11%

 

 

Whole Spelt

35

9.21%

 

 

AP

154

40.53%

 

 

Dough Flour

380

100.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

8

2.11%

 

 

Russian Baltika Porter

305

80.26%

 

 

Dough Hydration

80.26%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

507.5

 

 

 

Water & Russian Porter 305

432.5

 

 

 

T. Dough Hydration

85.22%

 

 

 

Whole Grain %

74.58%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration w/ Adds

85.51%

 

 

 

Total Weight

1,266

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add - Ins

 

%

 

 

Red Malt

5

1.32%

 

 

White Malt

5

1.32%

 

 

Barley Malt

20

5.26%

 

 

Ground Flax Seed

15

3.95%

 

 

Add- In Total

45

11.84%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multigrain Sprouts

 

%

 

 

WW

10

2.63%

 

 

Rye

20

5.26%

 

 

Spelt

10

2.63%

 

 

Total Sprouts

40

10.53%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Stuff

 

 

 

 

Caramelized Onions.

100

26.32%

 

 

Cocoa

10

2.63%

 

 

Instant Coffee

10

2.63%

 

 

Caraway Seeds

8

2.11%

 

 

Coriander Seed

5

1.32%

 

 

Cooked Wild Rice

100

26.32%

 

 

Total Other Stuff

233

61.32%

 

 

This lunch plate has some thin sliced sliced pate with 100% whole spelt bread, aged super sharp crumbly cheddar cheese, a pickled Serrano pepper, half a Granny Smith apple, some carrot coins, half an avocado, black and pinto re-fried beans, cabbage salad with black raspberries on non fat yogurt. 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We have been baking with YW, Combo YW / SD and straight SD lately but have not had the chance to compare identical YW and SD recipes to see how they might compare.  We recently made a Joe Ortiz Desem Starter that we really liked so decided to use WW to build each of the starters to the same 90 grams of levain with the same 80% hydration.

  

We usually want somewhere around 40 % whole grains minimum in our breads with sprouts and seeds, but since these rolls were going to be used for our monthly hamburger dinner we skipped the sprouts and seeds but added fresh chopped basil, caramelized onions, bacon and parmesan cheese instead. 

Yeast Water version is first for pictures.

 

These additions reflected isand66’s (Ian’s) bacon, caramelized onion and cheese bread we rank in our top 5 and his roll bake this week along with breadsong’s roll bake this week that had basil and parmesan cheese in it.  We thought combining the 2 would make for a very nice bun for our grilled poblano chili, caramelized onion and mushroom, cheese burger we were planning for dinner.

 

Since it is summer, we planned on bailing the rolls in the mini oven using (2) of Sylvia’s steaming cups designed for it.   We are amazed the varieties of well baked bread that come out of that little oven.

 

This was no exception.  Both rolls were soft and moist inside with the YW being more so but the SD was more open.  The crusts came out nice and crusty but were immediately toned down to nice and soft by brushing milk on them immediately – no one wants a hard hamburger bun. The crust on the SD was darker and more blistered and the spring was greater.  The SD rolls were baked last when the oven temperature and steam were working better.

Now for the Desem SD pictures

 

The YW rolls were slightly under baked and the SD ones were slightly over baked even though both were baked the same way and for the same time and temperature exactly.  Since only the levain was retarded, the SD tang was muted for the SD rolls and there was no SD tang in the YW as expected.

We liked both of these rolls equally well and have now found our new go to hamburger bun and possible bruschetta  bread.  We will add 10g each of potato flakes and ground oats with a little garlic and 12g of water to the recipe next time to make it even better.  We just forgot them this time by mistake.

 

Method

The levains were built over (2) 3 hr and (1) 2 hr build before being refrigerated overnight.  Home ground whole wheat was used for the levains in keeping with the normal Desem starter feed.  We also ground the soft white whole wheat berries.

 

Each  dough was made by hand mixing the levain and non fat milk together first to break up and liquefy the levain, then the flours, butter and oil were added.  We added the fat to give the rolls an even more tender and moist crumb.  The dough was then hand kneaded for 4 minutes and allowed to rest for 15 minutes in an oiled, plastic covered bowl.

YW is on the right in side shot and on the left in the crumb shot.  The spirng better for the SD - quite unexpected.

 

(4) sets of S & F’s were done on 15 minute intervals with the herb, onion, bacon and parmesan added in on the third set.  The dough was then allowed to ferment and develop for 90 minutes.

Each batch made (6) 111 g rolls.  After dividing, the rolls were S&F’ed to shape and then rolled under the palms of the hand until the skin was tight and the fold seamed shut.  The rolls were then proofed for 2 hours on parchment in a plastic bag.

YW on the left, SD on the right.

 

The oven was preheated to 500 F and Sylvia’s (2) Pyrex cups, half full of water with a wash cloth in them were heated until boiling in the microwave.   The rolls with parchment were placed on the top part only of the mini’s broiler pan with the steaming cups and loaded in the lower rack for 10 minutes of steaming.  After 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 425 F.

Who wants a plain cheeseburger?

 

When the steam came out at the 10 minute mark, the baking rack was moved to the upper level and the temperature turned down to 375 F convection this time.  In 5 minutes the rack was rotated 180 degrees and moved to the lower level for 5 more minutes of baking. 

When you can have one of these.  Both have grilled poblano peppers, Alpine Lace, Emmenthaler Swiss and brie cheese, caramelized onion and mushrooms.  One has lettuce and tomato and one does not.  Either makes any architect a proud builder :-) Even Lindy's on 4th in Tucson would have a hard time beating these burgers and no way they can beat the buns!

 

At 20 minutes the rolls were deemed done and removed to wire cooling racks where they were immediately brushed with milk to soften the crust for hamburger buns.

Brownman's Banana Bread made as a sheet cake For desert.

Formula follows the pictures.

YW StarterBuild 1Build 2 Build 3Total%
Yeast Water25200452.86%
WW152194515.00%
Total Starter404199030.00%

Or the Desem starter below

Desem SD, Caramelized Onion, Basil, Bacon,  Parmesan Rolls     
      
Desem StarterBuild 1Build 2 Build 3Total%
SD Desem Starter1000102.86%
Rye00000.00%
AP00000.00%
WW152194515.00%
Water152003511.67%
Total Starter404199030.00%
      
Starter     
Hydration80.00%    
Levain % of Total14.49%    
      
Dough Flour %   
Semolina5016.67%   
Bread Flour7525.00%   
Soft White Whole Wheat5016.67%   
AP7525.00%   
Durum Atta5016.67%   
Dough Flour300100.00%   
      
Salt62.00%   
Non Fat Milk19565.00%   
Dough Hydration65.00%    
      
Total Flour350    
Milk and Water235    
T. Dough Hydration67.14%    
Whole Grain %42.86%    
      
Hydration w/ Adds68.29%    
Total Weight621    
      
Add - Ins %   
Butter206.67%   
Olive Oil 103.33%   
Total30

10.00

   
 Add ins are split between  12 rolls     
3 Bacon strips     
4 T Chopped basil     
6 T Caramelized onion.     
1/4 C Grated Parmesan    

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

After pinching off 100g of this combo; Yeast Water and Joe Ortiz’s Cumin, WW Sourdough starter for the donuts and English muffins this past Sunday, we used the remaining 230g of combo starter to make some semolina, durum atta and white whole wheat based herbed bialy’s that had a filling of home made chorizo, caramelized onions, 4 cheeses; brie, aged cheddar, pepper jack and pecorino cheese. The herbs were basil and cilantro.

What a beauty with the cilantro sprinkled on top.

The previous YW bialy’s we made here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27712/yeast-water-rye-ww-garlic-chive-onion-cheese-and-chorizo-bialy%E2%80%99s

where we used YW only for the levain, used much lower % of whole grains and only used a small amount of pepper jack cheese with the only herb being a garlic chive in the dough. The best thing about the old bake was the unbelievable open crumb. Everything else about the new bake turned out better than the old one.

Chorizo and onion mix before caramelizing.

This bake built on the previous one without autolyse, but we gussied it up and baked it with Sylvia’s steam this time while making it a totally hand made dough. Because of the steam and50 Flower temperature, the bake took longer than the previous one that was 10 minute long. This one took 5 min of steam and then 10 more minutes to finish.

These bialys were just delicious with a slight SD tang that we hope will develop over the next 24 hours. We continue to be impressed with the JoeOrtizSDstarter and when mixed with the YW created a nice, light, open crumb and a crust that was thin and chewy. The filling was built up from the bottom starting with fresh basil a cube of double creme and a cube of Alpine Lace Swiss, then a tablespoon or so of the chorizo and caramelized onion mix, with 4 cubes of cheese on top (2 cubes of pepper jack, 1 cube of pecorino and a cube of aged, super sharp cheddar.

Before proofing.

The Method

was straight forward. The combo YW SD was built up over (2) 3 hour builds and (1) 2 hour build and then it was refrigerated for 72 hours. But there was no need to refrigerate it other than to fit my scedule

The chorizo and onions were sautéed until caramelized and refrigerated until needed.

Spooned and docked after proofing.

After warming up, the levain was mixed with the dough water to break it up and the salt, flour, dried potato flakes, barley malt, molasses and butter were added to the mix. After combining by hand, the dough was emptied out to a slightly floured surface and kneaded by hand for 5 minutes. It was fully developed and the dough rebounded immediately when two fingers were poked into the dough. The dough was rested for 20 minutes and then 2 sets of 4 S & F’s each were done on 15 minute intervals. The dough was then allowed to ferment for 1 ½ hours until it had nearly doubled.

Sylvia's Steam in the microwave heating up.

The dough was divided into (10) roughly 100g pieces and hand formed into tight balls. These balls were rested for 10 minutes and then formed into little pizza shapes by picking them up and hanging them in the vertical while pressing out the centers.

Mis en place for filling the unspooned and undocked bialys

These were placed on semolina sprinkled parchment paper on un-rimmed baking sheets. The centers were then pressed out again before covering with plastic wrap to proof for another hour. At the 30 minute proofing mark the oven was preheated to 500 F regular bake and Sylvia’s Steam was prepared in the microwave and placed in the bottom of the oven.

Basil and brie first then Alpine Lace went in too on this level but not shown for som reason..

After proofing, the centers of the bialys were then pressed out flat again with a wet spoon and the centers docked with a fork to keep them from puffing in the oven. Some basil leaves were placed in the bottom with a cube of brie and a cube of Alpine Lace Swiss, a tablespoon of chorizo was added and flattened out to fill the well and 2 cubes of pepper jack and 1 cube of each of aged cheddar and pecorino were placed on top.

Chorizo, and 3 more cheeses, pecorino in the middle, flanked by cheddar and pepperjack.

The bialys were placed onto the middle oven rack with the stone one very top rack and steam below. At 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 450 F regular bake. At 5 minutes the steam was removed and the temperature turned down to 425 F convection this time as the bialys were rotated 180 degrees on the oven rack. At the 10 minute mark the bialys were rotated 180 degree again and at 15 minutes they were done and moved to cooling racks. The fresh chopped cilantro was then sprinkled on top

Before the cilantro went on.

The formula follows the pix’s.

Cut vertical with my daughter apprentice holding before scarfing.  She liked them!

Cut horizontal.  Not as open as the first YW only ones but these tasted so much better.  Will make them again.

SD & YW Semolina, Durrum Atta, WWW Bialy's w/ Caramelized Onion, Chorizo and 4 cheeses     
      
Mixed StarterBuild 1Build 2Build 3Total%
SD Starter2000203.48%
Yeast Water3500357.61%
S. White Wheat21170388.26%
Durum Atta16017337.17%
WWW01717347.39%
Water035357015.22%
Total Starter92696923050.00%
      
Starter     
Hydration100.00%    
Levain % of Total22.14%    
      
Dough Flour %   
Durum Atta10021.74%   
Bread Flour20043.48%   
White WW5010.87%   
Potato Flakes102.17%   
Semolina10021.74%   
Dough Flour460100.00%   
Salt91.96%   
Water26056.52%   
Dough Hydration56.52%    
      
Total Flour575    
Water - 340, YW -35375    
T. Dough Hydration65.22%    
Whole Grain %46.09%    
      
Hydration w/ Adds70.09%    
Total Weight1,039    
      
Add - Ins %   
Barley Malt204.35%   
Molasses204.35%   
Butter408.70%   
Total Add Ins8017.39%   

 

Apprentice takes a nice 105 F bake herself in the backyard oven.  Dumb Doxie !!!

 

 

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Franko had me drooling with his post and kind sharing of his pate recipe.  No question about it I love pate - all kinds.  Now that the larder is full of some fine bread to spread some kind of pate on  - it was time to make some.  The French are masters of making what they have on hand into some kind of Pate Maison - and it tasting great - especially on bread or toast.

 

Mine started with some shredded bacon crisped up in a frying pan.  The bacon was removed and half the bacon fat removed with it.  A half an onion was cramelized in the bacon fat, 3 sliced mushrooms added 3/4 th of the way to caramelization.  At the end a minced garlic clove was added to the caramelized veg and 3 leaves of shredded Swiss chard tossed in to wilt.  Carrot battons were tossed in as well to soften them a bit.

6 ozs of minced beef and pork were further ground in the Cuisinart mini food processor.  6 oz of chicken liver were then processed until it was almost a liquid.  The liver, beef and pork were then mixed together into a paste with 1 T of cognac.  A hard boiled egg was quartered and 4 oz of ham was cut into batons.

 

The meat was divided into fourths with 1/4 going in the bottom of the ramekin, a layer of caramelized veggies and 2 quarters of the HB egg went in next.  A whole raw chicken liver was placed in the middle and a layer of ham on top.  Then the other quarter of the meat was placed on top to encapsulate the fillings.  The two pate ramekins were cooked in a water bath at 325 F For hour until  done.  The pate was then cooled with weights on top and pouring out the fat as it accumulated.  Eventually it was moved to the fridge to cool completely and compress some more.

This pate is delicious and fantastic with any home made bread that you might want to toast or possibly a pate lunch. That is rye bread behind the pate that looks like pate.

How did that lemon cheesecake get in there? The was souffle type cooked in a water bath before it cooled and deflated a little.

 

 

mrosen814's picture

Cast Iron Cornbread With Caramelized Onion and Chèvre

May 20, 2012 - 5:15am -- mrosen814
Forums: 

I think this quick and easy cornbread is a fantastic recipe (thank you Smitten Kitchen), with an incredible amount of flavor. 

The savory caramelized onion bounce off the sweetness of the cornbread, and the addition of the goat's cheese adds that subtle twang.

I made this the other weekend to bring to my sister-in-law's home for Sunday night dinner -- huge hit. 

Pics and recipe here.

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