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This is my first go with Maggie Glezer's Pandoro (from Artisan Baking), and all things considered I'm quite pleased with it.  There are two amazing things about this bread.  The first is how something with that much sugar and butter can be so light and ethereal-  I'm stunned by the texture.  The second is the balance of flavors.  It doesn't come across as too eggy, it doesn't taste only of butter or vanilla, and it isn't obviously a sourdough.  But put them all together in just the right balance, and they add up to a beautiful, rounded, perfumed and complex flavor.  I was so very happy when this bread was baking, I don't think I've ever smelled something quite that good from my oven.

The dough largely followed the schedule in the book, with the exception that the first build took about 50% longer (6hrs vs 4) than it was supposed to, but I attribute that to my tendency to feed starters a little too early, so it needed a bit of time to catch up.  Once it did, the rest of the stages proceeded right on time.  I used my folding proofer set at 78F.

The only other issue I had was that my paddle attachment was just not capable of mixing this super-sticky yet strong dough.  I have a KA 600, and this dough only worked when I switched to the dough hook.  With the paddle, it just wrapped around and would not come off for anything, not with a spatula, not with high speeds.  I finally had to slice it off with a sharp knife.  

I used a large tube pan (16 cups capacity) instead of two eight cup pandoro molds, as I wanted to see how the bread was before buying more pans.  Looks like I'll be in the market for some star-shaped molds this season:)  

The final proof takes the dough up by more than quadruple, from the picture above to the one below.  Not bad for a naturally-leavened bread with just 0.2% yeast.

I don't want to post Maggie Glezer's recipe, but Artisan Baking is a lovely book to read or check out of the Library.  This bread was the reason I made a starter last year, and though it's taken me a while to collect all the ingredients (like cocoa butter, high-gluten flour and osmotolerant yeast), I'm glad I finally got around to making it.  

The top is prettier than the bottom, if I make it in the tube pan again I think I'll keep it right side up.

The ethereal crumb, so soft and light.  It even had a bit of shreddability.  Next time, I'll try a bit longer/slower mixing to see if I can get more shredding.

This would be the perfect seasonal viennoiserie for anyone who isn't crazy about the fruit in a panettone, or who appreciates light textures.  The bread has 17% of its flour pre-fermented, more  than 42% butter/cocoa butter, 0.2% osmotolerant yeast, 68% eggs/yolks, more than 41% sugar/honey, and hydration of 73% (taking into account the water content of eggs, honey, butter, etc.).  

putting this on here as its definetly a yeasty product:)

Not sure completely yet of the fresh loaf's definitions of what is and isn't allowed:)

Taken directly from my greedybread  blog... ENJOY!!

Mmmmmmmmmmm

Karisik means mixed grill in Turkish, err I am lead to believe so I just hope it doesn’t actually mean something terrible:).

So delish, I have to show you straight away before making you wait till the end.

Now this one below is not the one i made today but one i made in Istanbul. All the other photos are from today 

Mmmmm Pide

My lamb mince filling was just so scrumptious, it was gorgeous. I suppose working in the garden all day and being VERY hungry helped but this truly was divine!! Not quite to the standard of my friend above BUT very very close.

So let’s get Yeasty beasty.

Just like to say , this is very similar to a pizza dough, so you could make pizza with it or calzone or even a Cornish pasty type thing. You also can make double to dough and freeze it. A friend rolls out the dough and freezes like that, all ready to go for next time. Great time saver:

Scrummy Karisik and Karsarli (cheese) Pide:

Makes 8 Pide.

For the Pide you need:

• 3 cups of strong bread flour or all-purpose(if no strong).
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil.
• 1 egg beaten.
• 1 cup milk warmed.
• 2 tsp sugar.
• 3 tsp dried yeast.
• Pinch of salt.
• 1 egg beaten for egg wash.

Pide dough ready to go into hot water cupboard (please note, this is double the recipe!!)

For the filling you need:

• 350g lamb mince.
• 3tsp garlic.
• 2 chillies (medium heat)
• 1 tsp sweet paprika.
• 2 tsp cumin.
• salt and pepper.
• 1-2 cups of grated cheese (your choice but a strong cheese is best as you use less).
• 2 tomatos diced.
• 1 capsicum.
• 1 red onion (but white is ok).
• 4 slices bacon cut up or sausage cut up.

Mince filling

• Warm milk and stir in sugar until dissolved and stir in yeast.
• Cover and place in hot water cupboard until creamy ,usually 20 mins.
• Place dry ingredients in a bowl and stir through.
• Mix egg and oil together and stir into yeast mix when ready.
• Slowly pour into dry ingredients and form a dough.
• Turn out on (or do in bread maker on knead cycle).floured area and knead for 5-6 minutes until smooth and elasticy.
• Place in lightly oiled bowl , cover with gladwrap (loosely) and a tea towel and place in warm place until doubled in size. Usually 60-90 minutes.

Meat Filling:

• Place lamb mince in hot fry pan.
• Cut up chilli, onion and garlic and place in with mince when 1/2 cooked.
• Stir mince. Make sure you separate the mince so it’s not all clumpy.
• You can drain off fat if you wish, if any but i have to say it adds to the over all taste.
• Add in cumin and sweet paprika and stir lightly.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• While this is cooking, dice tomato and capsicum and place in a  little bowl and put to side.
• Cut up bacon into small pieces.
• When mince is cooked, leave to cool. DO NOT place on dough whilst hot/warm.

Dough risen and ready to chop!

• Remove dough from warm place and turn dough out on floured area.
• Cut dough into 8-9 pieces

Dough ready to roll out

• Roll out to oval-shaped dough. Not too thin, but not too thick.

Ready to Fill!!

• Place dough on tray with baking paper on it.
• Pre heat oven to 220 Celsius.
• Put lamb filling, tomatoes, bacon ,capsicum and cheese on the oval dough.
• Roll the edges in so it resembles a boat (see below)
• You can also do bacon and cheese fillings.
• You can do what ever filling you like. A spicy beef or chilli chicken would be nice too  You are only limited by your imagination or what you think tastes great!!

Ready to cook , just needs egg wash

• Give a brush of the edges with the egg wash.
• Place in oven and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and gorgeous!!

Scrummy Yummy!

More scrummyness………

Enjoy, enjoy and enjoy.

Some special treats coming up this week.

A NZ bread and a new fruit brioche i am testing ( a new recipe i made up) …..All looking very good so far….. and i think I am almost ready to use the sourdough starter that i have been brewing for a lovely Levain style bread.

Lots to do and look forward too……………..Mmmmmmm warm brioche…

Direct link to recipe

http://greedybread.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/scrummy-yummy-yeasty-karisik-pide/

Thanks to i love lucca tours and http://www.ilovelucca.co.nz/2012/04/running-i-forgot-to-say/ and http://www.ilovelucca.co.nz/about-me/recipes/ for the recipe which i adapted 

A while ago, I tried to make a loaf that resembled one of my favorites, Della Fattoria's Rosemary-Meyer Lemon bread.  It turned out pretty well, although it didn't exactly measure up to my memory of the bread.  On my last flour run to Central Milling in Petaluma, I decided to make a slight detour and stop at the Della Fattoria bakery to remind myself what it tasted like before I attempted to make it again.

It was a disappointment.  My memory was probably clouded, but it was nothing like I remembered it.  The crust was soft, the crumb was dense as if it had little oven spring, and the taste was generally flat.  It seemed as if they tried to squeeze in just one more bake in their WFO before it cooled too much, but the timing was off.  Or maybe, now that I am more happy with my own bread baking, I just like the taste of what I make better. One thing that I learned, though, was that their bread included olive oil, something that I missed the first time.

I decided to make another attempt at a Rosemary-Meyer Lemon bread of my own.  I modified the sourdough recipe I have been using lately (already a modification of David's SFSD).  Instead of spelt flour, I used 10% rye.  The addition of 4% extra virgin olive oil changes the flavor to something reminiscent of a focaccia, but the crumb is more sourdough-like.  The results were pretty satisfying.

My standard starter is 100% hydration, wheat only starter.  It is fed with Central Milling Artisan Baker's Craft (ABC) flour and is refrigerated between bakes.  Before use it is warmed to RT and fed at least twice in 24 hours until very active.  For the final build I used about 11.5B-% rye and kept the hydration at 77%.  The overall hydration is 67%.  Just after scoring I sprinkled some Maldon salt (the flakey kind) into the spreading scores and peeled into the oven.

It has a nice sourdough tang, and the flavors of the rosemary and the lemon are evident but not overpowering.  The crust is dark golden and chewy.  I tried to avoid a very bold bake by slightly lowering the temperature because it might overwhelm the lemon.  The formula for this bread is:

I have become fond of using bran instead of corn meal or semolina on the peel to transfer loaves into the oven after learning about it for Genzano Country Bread in Local Breads by Daniel Leader.

Here are some photos of the crumb.  The loaf was very airy and much less dense than it seemed considering the size of bread.  The mouth feel was a bit less creamy than I was looking for, and the sourdough tang was too much for the other flavors, so no doubt there will be another iteration.

San Francisco is having a very warm fall this year.  After the rains in the early part of the week, it has been warm and sunny.  When I went to pick the lemons for the bread, the buzzing of bees was all around, no doubt responding to the wonderful fragrance of the blossoms.  I managed to capture one of our fertilizing friends starting the 2013 crop of lemons.

Thanks for reading.

-Brad