eggs

I have some left over brisket and pulled pork in the freezer I defrosted to for this weekend so I wanted to make some rolls that would be good for sandwiches.  I have been experimenting with my Wild Yeast Water Starter over the last month or so with some mixed results.  My last experiment to convert a recipe for New England style hot dog buns to WYW ended up with bread sticks so this time I was determined not to make the same mistakes as previously.

I have decided to believe what I have been told and made sure to build the starter up over at least 2 stages versus the one stage for the hot dog fiasco.  If you want to know more about starting your own WYW starter let me know and I will be glad to help you.  It is really easy to start and maintain and WYW does not have nearly as much of a sour tang as sourdough starters.

For this recipe as I mentioned I built my starter up over 2 phases four hours apart using AP flour and WYW.  I ended up with extra starter since I would rather over-estimate the amount needed than under-estimate.  Feel free to cut back on the WYW and flour about 10%.

Procedure

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 1

210 grams AP Flour

210 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build2

200 grams AP Flour

56 grams WYW

Mix additional ingredients into Build 1 and use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  You should have a fairly firm 65% starter.  Leave covered for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then either proceed to main dough or refrigerate over night.

Main Dough

425 grams WYW Starter from Above

200 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

200 grams First Clear Flour (KAF) (This is typically used in Rye breads and I enjoy the nice chewy texture it adds to rolls)

100 grams Oat Flour (KAF)

78 grams White Whole Wheat Flour (KAF)

18 grams Salt (Seas Salt or Table Salt)

121 grams Egg Yolks (around 6-7 large eggs)

298 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees)

26 grams Olive Oil

Add all the water except 50 grams to the starter to break it up in your mixing bowl.  Next add all of the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough autolyse for around 15 - 20 minutes. This will help the dough absorb the flour.  Next add the salt, remaining water and the olive oil and mix for 2 minutes on speed number 1 and 2 minutes on speed number 2.  You should have a nice smooth dough which is still tacky.  Move the dough onto your work surface and dust lightly with flour if necessary or spray some cooking spray instead.  Most of the time if the dough is not a high hydration I will not use anything on my wood board.

Do 4  stretch and folds and form the dough into a ball and leave uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the first rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough.  Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  You can now put the dough into a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover it.  Let it sit at room temperature for 2 additional hours or less if it is warm in your kitchen.  After 2 hours place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 3 days until ready to bake.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 1.5 -  2 hours.  After its rest it is time to shape the rolls.  Depending on how big you want the rolls, first cut the dough in half and then roll half the dough into a log.  Next cut off the desired size piece you want and roll it into a tight ball.  Place rolls on cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until they are at least 1.5 the size.

Make an egg wash with a little egg wash and apply to each roll and put on desired toppings.  I used toasted onions, poppy seeds and also Charnushka seeds or also known as Nigelia Sativa which are tiny black seeds used on Jewish rye breads as well as Slavic sausages and in Armenian and Israeli cooking.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 500 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.  After adding the steam lower the oven to 425 degrees and continue baking.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

The rolls ended up nice and chewy and light with a nice open crumb.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

Lily

Pineapple Lily

Dahlia

I know this is the Fresh Loaf and this isn't a bread, but I just want to share this recipe with you.

The souffle, one of the world's most feared desserts.

You'll need:

Rhubarb compote:

• 100g of rhubarbs (frozen are great), cut into centimetre chunks.
• 25g sugar
• A splash of water

• 100g of good quality white chocolate
• 2 eggs, seperated yolks from whites
• 60g sugar

• Unsalted butter
• Sugar

Butter the inside of your ramekin and refrigerate it.

Make the rhubarb compote: Put the ingredients into a pot, heat it up and let it simmer until it get a somewhat smooth consistency, don't worry if it has a few chunks. Set it to cool.

Melt the chocolate in a water bath, get some water boiling in a pot and place a bowl on top of the pot and place the chocolate in the bowl and wait for it to melt completely. Take the bowl off and let it cool a little.

Whisk the eggwhites with the sugar until they become somewhat stiff, not really stiff, but certainly full of air.

Add the eggyolks and rhubarb compote to the melted chocolate. Make sure the chocolate isn't too hot, so the yolks cook.

By this time you should butter your ramekin again, so it has two layers of butter. Put it back in the fridge.

Carefully mix the eggwhites with the chocolate/rhubarb mix. Gently turn the whites in without knocking any air out of the mixture, little by little.

When all has come together, take out your cool ramekin and pour some sugar into the bowl and pour all the excess sugar out.

Gently spoon the souffle dough into the bowl, make sure not to get any dough on the edges or knocking any air out. Fill up the bowl all the way up and use a knife to make the surface completely even. Use the tip of your thumb to clean the edges of the bowl, so the souffle has no resistance at all when rising.

Your oven should at this point be at exactly 200 degrees celcius. Place the souffle on a low rack. It is very delicate, so keep an eye on it at all times, it should take about 6-8 minutes for the souffle to rise to it's desirable glory. Watch it.

By the time it's finished it should have risen 1-1½ centimetres over the top of the ramekin and still have a gooey centre.

Bon appetit!

Today, I made Peter Reinhart's Rich Man's Brioche from BBA. I've never made such a rich, buttey bread, but it was delicious. I could only eat one slice, but with raspberry jam, it made the best breakfast.

I posted this on the blog my brother and I share ( http://bakingacrosscountry.wordpress.com/ ) We're both trying to complete the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge, and also, I'm completing a high school project about artisan breads.

Anyway, here's the post!

Nowadays, we know brioche as a rich bread, enriched with enormous amounts of butter and eggs. The name brioche is derived from the Norman verb, "to pound." The Norman region of France was well known for the butter which they produced, and excessive kneading was required to incorporate all the butter into the dough.

Brioche came to Paris in the 1600s as a much heavier and far less rich bread than the one we know today. Supposedly brioche became well known with Marie Antoinette's famous quote, "qu'ils manget de al brioche" during the 1700s, which translates to "let them eat cake." This referred to the peasants who rioted because there was a lack of bread. The different butter contents of bread were baked for different classes-even the food reflected the social-class divides in 18th century France.

In the Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart provides three different recipes which vary in the butter content. Rich Man's Brioche has about 88% butter to flour ratio, Middle-Class Brioche has about 50%, and Poor Man's Brioche has about 20%. Since I had never made brioche, I splurged and made Rich Man's-why not? The recipe makes three loaves- In my head, the idea of three loaves somehow justified the pound (?!) of butter in the bread.

Traditionally, brioche is baked in molds as brioche a tete, which are formed with two balls of dough. Served with jam, brioche makes a perfect breakfast, and topped with meats and cheese, it can be served for lunch or dinner, thus making brioche a truly versatile bread.

I began the brioche with a sponge of flour, yeast, and milk. After the sponge rose and collapsed, I added five eggs. Next, incorporated the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and sugar), and mixed until the flour was hydrated.

After a few minutes, I mixed in a stick of butter at a time, making sure they were fully incorporated before the next addition. The dough looked smooth, and almost icing-like, because of the butter. I had never worked with such a fluffy, light bread dough, so I felt kind of intimidated in new waters.

After all the butter was added, I mixed for a few more minutes until the dough was soft, and tacky, but not sticky. I spread the dough onto a cookie sheet and put it in the refrigerator to firm up and retard overnight.

Since I don't have brioche molds, I used three loaf pans. I cut the dough into three even pieces, and with a rolling pin, I formed a rectangle. Like sandwich bread, I rolled the dough up, and placed them seam-down in the pan, and let it rise for about two hours. After it had risen for the second time, I brushed it an egg wash, to form a shiny crust.

In a 350 degree oven, I baked the bread until it was golden brown, and the internal temperature reached 190 degrees. However, when I tried to take the bread out of the pan, it kind of stuck to my not-nonstick pans, which I didn't grease. With some slight prying, I got the bread out, but slightly crushed and deflated a loaf. Also, when forming the loaves, I didn't seal the seam well, and when baked, it split on the sides.

Once cooled, I cut the bread, which flaked like a croissant, and tasted so rich and delicious. Since there is so much butter, one slice is more than enough, but every bite was so delicate and smooth. I'm glad I splurged for Rich Man's brioche, but I'm not sure how often I'll make it because of it's richness. With raspberry jam, it honestly made the best breakfast.

So my sourdough starter isn't ready yet. I've decided I'm going to baby it a little longer with three stirrings a day and lots of love. That being the case, I still needed to bake. This came about because I had oatmeal for lunch today. Strange lunch, I know, but sometimes you just have those cravings that must be heeded. I envisioned this as a soft-crusted bread with a dense but moist crumb and a decently caramelized crust. I wanted a little maple flavor, as well as the flavor of the brown sugar. I almost got it, but I think that this is still a work in progress. Not using instant oatmeal may be a start. It also needs a tad more salt than the teaspoon I put in. The only thing I'm lacking to make it completely from scratch is the maple syrup, which I'll get on friday, and I'll bake it again this weekend from old fashioned oats, brown sugar, and maple syrup. For anyone who still wants the recipe, it is below. I think I'm starting to get the scoring thing. These didn't blow out on the bottom. They were also better proofed than my last loaf. I let them sit for about an hour before baking. The real test of any bread making, for me anyway, is the appearance of the crumb. This is, by far, my best for a more dense loaf. I'm really loving what I'm learning here. I'm having a lot of fun baking (sometimes more than my boyfriend, our daughter, and I can eat, but it's proving to be very educational. Recipe: Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Bread - Take One Prepare the oatmeal: 1 packet instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal 1/2 cup water Mix and heat for 1 minute. It will be almost done, but not quite. Allow to cool to just warm. Assemble the rest of your ingredients: 3 1/3 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 2 tablespoons of butter 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar (very lightly) 1 egg, lightly beaten 2/3 cup milk (lukewarm) 1 1/2 tsp salt Disolve the yeast in the milk. In your large bowl you use for mixing the final dough, mix together the oatmeal, sugar, and egg. Once incorporated, mix in the milk. Once all this is well mixed, add 2 cups of flour and the salt and mix until you get a thick paste. Add the rest of the flour in 1/3 cup increments until it's almost all in. If your cups are the same as my cups, it should take all but the littlest bit of the flour. If not, you want the dough to feel very sticky and barely hand-kneadable. Once mixed together so that there's barely any flour left in the bowl, rest for 10 minutes. After the resting period, turn the dough out onto your kneading surface and "knead", as well as you can, for a few minutes. 5 or so. Bulk ferment should be about 60-80 minutes. Mine was on the longer side because of the temperature of my kitchen. I stretched and folded the dough three times during this time. Got very good gluten development. Preshape and allow to sit for 5 or so minutes. Shape loaves, then proof for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Score and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 and bake until a thermometer reads 200 degrees or so.