The Fresh Loaf

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Anonymous baker's picture
Anonymous baker (not verified)

1st 2021 bake Hamelman's 5 grain levain

Hamelman's Five-Grain Levain is always a winner in my book. A perfect recipe to get 2021 off to a good [baking] start. A few tweaks to make do with ingredients I had in stock. Substituted the whole-wheat for wholegrain kamut. Instead of cracked rye I used pearled spelt cracked in my coffee grinder. And finally pumpkin seeds replaced the sunflower seeds.

 

FIVE-GRAIN LEVAIN

 

Liquid Levain : 12-16 hours

 

Soaker : 12-16 hours

 

  • Mix all the ingredients together and knead till medium gluten formation.
  • Bulk Ferment for 2 hours giving the dough one set of stretch and folds after 1 hour. 
  • Shape into a Pullman loaf pan and refrigerate for several hours. 
  • Bake.

Crumb typical of a sandwich pullman loaf, has wonderful flavour and the seeds shine through especially the pumpkin seeds. Very happy with this bake. 

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

Broccoli Cheddar Bread Bowls Galore!

I have been trying to make good broccoli cheddar soup for years. I was always disappointed with the results. FINALLY, the stars aligned and I had both an excellent broccoli cheddar soup AND great tasting and great looking bread bowls to boot.

Bread Bowl Ingredients

  • 100g spelt
  • 300g white whole wheat
  • 1000g AP flour
  • 100g starter fed the night before (50:50 hard red)
  • 180g starter from the fridge (1 to 3 days old) (50:50 hard red)
  • 35g salt
  • 85g extra virgin olive oil
  • 85g honey
  • 1150g water (82% hydration not including starter)

Notes:

  • I needed the bowls done in time for dinner, so the extra starter and honey was intended to speed up my rise. Worked out great, bulk started at 8:54a and I loaded the loaves into the oven at 2:25p.
  • I really love the smell of spelt, at least I think that is the spelt I smell, a buttery smell.
  • Used AP flour because I didn't have any bread flour.
  • I poured the honey right on top of the flour mixture. This caused some problems. Next time I need pour the water in first and then add the honey, just to keep the honey from turning into little honey/flour balls that don't want to incorporate into the rest of the dough.

Process:

  • 8:30a: Mix all ingredients except for starter into shaggy mess, let sit for 15 minutes
  • 8:45a: Smear starter on top of shaggy mess and then knead until all ingredients evenly combined. About 5 minutes of working by hand.
  • 8:54a: Transfer dough into proofing container and cover, also transferred 20g to an aliquot jar.
  • 9:48a, 10:45a, 11:49a, 12:53a: Stretch and fold in bulk proofing container.
  • 1:00a: Pour dough onto counter, split into 10 loaves and preshape, then wait 15 minutes.
  • 1:10a: Preheat both ovens to 425dF (non-convection)
  • 1:15a: Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment. Shape each loaf into a buole. Let proof for 1 hour.
  • 2:15a: Score loaves and load into oven. Put 5 into each oven, spread as far apart as possible on the cookie sheets. Baked for 22-28 minutes (I think I baked mine for 25)
  • 2:40a: Set on rack to cool for at least 1 hour.
  • Dinner Time: Using sharp knife carve out bowls.

Notes:

  • Everyone agreed the bread bowls tasted fantastic. They were the right shape and size too. I wasn't as gentle as I should have been when carving out the bowls, but that is ok, because even though on 2 of the bowls I tore the side a bit, the thickness of the soup quickly patched the tear with a beautiful cheesy ooze.
  • My wife and I were in agreement that a slightly chewier crust and a more tart flavor would have been even better. I will try to make changes to improve on those things next time.
  • I am getting better shaping boules. This was the second time I felt like I got the boule nice and tight during shaping. But, I should have put more effort into pulling the dough towards me after stitching it, that way the seams from the stitching would disappear under the loaf. I'll try to do better next time.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup:

I started with the following recipe but made a few changes. I chose this recipe because I liked the recipe ingredients and process compared to other recipes.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/almost-famous-broccoli-cheddar-soup-recipe-1972744

Changes to Recipe:

  • I did not use a blender at all. This worked out perfectly, in the past I had made similar recipes and blending even a portion of the soup gave the soup a baby food texture. Since the soup already had a roux and creamy cheese, blending was totally unnecessary.
  • For 1/3 of the cheese I used gruyere instead of sharp cheddar.
  • I took 1/2 of the carrots and cooked them with the onions. In the original recipe, all of the carrots were added with the broccoli.
  • I had 3 cloves of garlic to the onion/carrot mixture that was part of the roux.
  • The broccoli was cut into quarter size pieces, smaller than bite size, but not too small.

Notes:

  • I would have added diced celery to the roux, but I didn't have any. Outside of that one change, I don't think I would change anything. The soup was excellent. Heck, I don't know if the celery would have improved anything, but I just like celery in my roux.

Sorry for the already eaten dirty spoon photo, but I was hungry.

 

We had 9 mouths to feed and 10 bowls. So I took the smallest bowl and practiced cutting it and got to look at the crumb.

pul's picture
pul

Yeast water small Roggenmischbrote

I tried to mimic Abel's Roggenmischbrot which looks quite pretty.

I like to add rye flour to the mix because of the flavor it imparts to bread. Typically, I add around 10% rye but in this version the rye content is higher. This bake has been based on 50% AP flour, 50% rye flour, 2% salt and 78% hydration, leavened with yeast water. I autolysed the dough for about one hour, but then I actually forgot about it, and ended up applying only one set of S&F after the mix. Since I started the process too late, I had to put the dough in the fridge to complete the bulk fermentation. The next day I shaped the small loaves and proofed for about 45 minutes before baking at 250C for about 15 min and then 230C until finished for another 15 min. It yielded two small loaves since the total flour used was only 260 g.

The loaves were baked seam side up to give a rustic look. Great taste and an unbelievable crispy crust. The next time, I will use less fermented flour in the levain, which was 23% for this bake.

 Happy New Year!

alcophile's picture
alcophile

Flying Crust Causes?

The image is from a loaf using Peter Reinhart's WGB 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread recipe. This was my first time using the recipe and I am fairly new to baking 100% whole grain breads. The recipe was followed as written except that the salt content was modified to use 4.3 g of salt and 2.7 g of Lite Salt blend instead of 9 g of salt.

I thought the loaf had good crumb and flavor, but wondered about the cause of the flying crust. I suspect it was due to poor shaping as I saw the bubble forming during final proof. Could I have popped the bubble to prevent the crust separation? Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks!

HungryShots's picture
HungryShots

Romanian Sourdough Sweet Bread (Cozonac cu maia)

I do this sweet bread every year but it is just this winter that I tried the sourdough version. As always, once I try sourdough, I do not come back to yeast. It will be the case for this bread as well. It is true that it takes time to make it but it worth every minute of it. 

I do this bread called "Cozonac" only for Christmas and Easter. Sweet bread is not my highest preference, but this one is a tradition that I know since childhood. I am continuing this tradition, especially for my kids, although I am now living in another country. The smell spread in the house when this cake is prepared for Christmas and Easter resides deep in my memories.

This is a sweet bread linked to traditions, memories, aroma and holidays. It is a treat to share with family and friends in joyful moments. It is also a delicious breakfast or dessert.

 

Ingredients:

Preferment:

 300g stiff sourdough (50% hydration) 

 

Ingredients for dough:

  • 300ml of milk
  • 15g salt
  • 125g soft butter
  • 4 eggs (~230g eggs)
  • 825g strong bread flour
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 heap tablespoon of lemon zest
  • the above preferment


Ingredients for filling:

  • 2 egg whites (reserve the yolks for brushing)
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 300g Turkish delight
  • 200g raisins
  • 200g ground walnuts

 

Directions and more details on my blog at: http://www.hungryshots.com/2020/12/romanian-sourdough-sweet-bread-cozonac.html 

boopacabra's picture
boopacabra

What might cause baguettes to look dull and white-ish?

I just made a batch of baguettes, and they seem fine (crispy, fine shape/rise, etc), except for the color is really dull and there's almost a white-ish film (see picture), instead of them being golden brown. Any idea why this could be?

Some details:

  • I used the King Arthur recipe with King Arthur AP Flour.
  • As per the recipe, I steamed the baguettes with hot water at the beginning of the bake.
  • I used a floured couche, but didn't use extra flour for any of the other steps. I covered them with plastic wrap on the couche so the flour should've only touched the bottom of the baguettes, maybe the sides a bit, but not really the top.
  • I baked them at 450F for a full 29-30 minutes and they seem crusty and fully baked, so I don't think it's about them being underbaked.

Perhaps it's about steaming? However, reading similar posts, I've seen some comments about under-steaming, and some comments about over-steaming, which makes me a bit confused which direction might be right.

Thanks for any pointers!

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

How to intentionally get chewy crust?

I am tasked with baking sourdough bread bowls for dinner tonight. The dough is already in bulk and here are the ingredients:

  • 280g sourdough starter
  • 100g spelt
  • 300g whole white wheat
  • 1000g AP flour
  • 35g salt
  • 85g oil
  • 85g honey
  • 1150g water

Most posts on tfl ask how to NOT get chewy crust. But, I want the crust chewy. Although, I'm not sure how to achieve chewy crust on purpose.. Any advice is appreciated.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

20201224 Le Cordon Bleu Pain des Rois with CLAS

 To learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS), please see here and here

 

 

 

 

    Happy Holidays! I wish everyone a safe and healthy holiday season. Let's look forward to a better year in 2021!

 

 

 

A gigantic 1.2 kg loaf! A perfect holiday gift!         

After decoration

        

Before decoration 

     

Crumb

   

 

 

89%    T55/Beehive AP                                                                          

8%      almond flour

3%       whole rye CLAS

13%     water

37%     milk

17%     butter

10%     egg

1%       dry yeast

5%       sugar

1.3%    salt

12.5%  rum-soaked raisin

12.5%   candied orange

 

 

Bulk

30-33C x ~45 mins until doubled

 

Rest

 

Shape

 

Proof

30-33C x ~75 - 90 mins until doubled

 

Egg wash

 

Score (scissor-cut)

 

Sprinkle pearl sugar

 

Bake (1.2kg)

410F x 20 

rotate

410F x 10 

cover with foil

410F x 10

rotate, cover with foil

410F x 15

skewer test for doneness                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   As I was about to settle in at the end of a busy day of baking,  at 11 pm on Christmas Eve, I suddenly realized that almond flour = NUT!!! One of the families to whom I was gifting the Pain des Rois has kids who are allergic to nuts!!! I had planned to give the bread to them at 8 am on Christmas morning. What should I do  I frantically searched the bread books and settled to bake a Cramique.  So, I pulled an all-nighter of baking to kick off my 2020 Christmas.  By 6:30 am, the loaves were cooling; by 7:45 am, they were packed and delivered. Whewwww!  
        Some beautiful scenes of autumn.     

 

 

Ehbread's picture
Ehbread

Choosing a new mixer

I currently have a kitchenaid artisan mixer. It’s about nine years old and up until a little over a year ago only made bread a few times a year. Now I’ve been making bread more and I’ve noticed it seems to be starting to struggle with the bread dough. I normally make small batch sizes less than 700g flour. I’ve never felt the bowl size is too small, just that the mixer is under powered. I started looking into a new mixer and am just feeling lost so looking for suggestions and recommendations.

Benito's picture
Benito

Rum Soaked Cranberry Walnut Sourdough

I made a cranberry walnut sourdough loaf sometime in the past year or so and thought that although it was good, not soaking the cranberries made them less than they could be.  So this time I decided since it is Christmas why not soak them in some fine Flor di Cana 12 year old Rum.

What follows is the formula with the double batch weights in parentheses.

For one 906 g loaf 78% hydration 

311 g white bread flour.    (622)           

46 g whole wheat flour.     (92)          

21 g dark rye flour.           (42)             

266 g warm water, then         (532)   

21 g water for mixing later       (42)  

7.5 g salt  (15)

77 g levain   (154)

2 g diastatic malt powder 0.5%  (4)

 

76 g (152 g) Dried Cranberries 20% soaked overnight in rum drained before use

76 g (152 g) Lightly toasted Walnuts 20%

 

Total final weight 906 g 

 

Overnight levain 1:6:6  13 g starter 78 g flour (39 g each red fife and bread flours) 78 g water  started at 8 pm 74ºF with cold water to start, rose x 3 but starting to fall at 5 am

At the same time as the levain build do a Saltolyse mixing flours, diastatic malt, salt and water except hold out water.

 

In the morning add levain and gradually add hold out water.  

 

Bulk Fermentation 1215 to 530 pm

 

  1. + 30 min Bench letterfold remove dough for aliquot jar
  2. + 45 mins Lamination.  Place dough on wet counter and spread out into a large rectangle. Spread walnuts and cranberries on the dough in thirds. 
  3. + 45 min Coil Fold
  4. + 30 min Coil Fold
  5. + 30 min Coil Fold

Bulk fermentation ended with aliquot jar showed 60% rise.

Shaped dough into batard and placed in bannetons.  Allow further bench rest at room temperature until aliquot jar showed 70% rise.  

Cold retard in 2ºC fridge overnight.

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven in place.

When dough loaded into Dutch oven drop temperature to 450ºF and bake with lid on for 30 mins.

Remove lid and drop temperature to 420ºF and bake without lid for additional 15-20 mins watching colour of the crust, compensate if getting too dark by dropping temperature to 350ºF if needed.

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