Rustic Bread from Hamelman's 'Bread'
From a marathon baking session last weekend. The whole rundown is here.
Laura
From a marathon baking session last weekend. The whole rundown is here.
Laura
After baking whole-wheat and rye breads exclusively for about six months, I decided this weekend to try my hand once again at the elusive baguette. I returned to my old, trusted source, Dan Leader's Bread Alone, but also consulted the all-wise Internet, just to refresh my memory on all the tips and tricks to getting the perfect baguette.
My starter has been active but no leavening after seven days. Started with 1C flour and 1C water. Replacing half of the starter w/ fresh AP flour and distilled water every 12 hours or so. I get small bubbles and hooch but no big rise. I'd read a tip to use your oven as a proofing box by turning on the oven light to heat the inside. I am reading 78ºF on the middle rack where I have my jar of starter and now have about 1/4" of leavening above my mark. Good stuff!
I am contemplating making a sweet bun recipe that was taken from the Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook 1970 edition (I believe it was published in the USA?). It calls for "a cake of yeast".
I've searched around the internet trying to find out just how much a "cake of yeast" weighs. Most sites I've found agree and say that a cake of yeast weighs .6 oz; one says it weighs .06 oz (!) and another says it weighs 1 oz.
This would mean an equivalent of either 3tsp, 1/3tsp, or 3.4 tsp active dry yeast. Rather a large difference, I'd sya...
I'm beginning to think my yeast is on steroids...
Given my hectic schedule, what with work and home and hubby and 3 kids going at least 4 different places, I have often stowed dough in the fridge to buy some time...as well as develop the flavors. However, I've noticed a pattern that I haven't seen discussed on the forums yet:
i have a general question to all those experienced bakers.
let's say a recipe says to let the dough rise until doubled, or about 2 hours. then punch it down/fold andd let rise again.
what if my schedule is such that i have to do the folding before the dough has doubled in size? can i compensate with a longer 2nd rise?
i'm making a ciabatta and i see that the ponsford recipe calls for folding at 20 minute intervals for an hour. how would this differ from doing all 4 folds at the same time and letting it rise for an hour thereafter?