The Fresh Loaf

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January 8, 2016 - 1:19am
charbelcher's picture
charbelcher

Second Attempt - 100% Rye, 100% Hydration

My first loaf was an overcooked, imploded disaster.

I started this thread last week to get some urgently needed advice during the final proof of my first loaf. The paste wasn't rising as scheduled and I didn't know what to look for (still don't). People tried to talk me through it, but as you can see it overproofed. Bigtime.

I followed up by showing off the collapsed loaf I'd created. That turned into a very helpful discussion about the obvious mistakes I'd made, and I can't thank those first responders enough.

After my initial attempt kept me waiting around all day for the paste to rise, this time I wanted to try proofing in the fridge overnight. I've seen pictures of 100% rye pastes almost doubling this way, coming out ready to bake. It looks so convenient! So I mixed my final paste last night, loaded the pan, and stuck it in the fridge. I expected to wake up, preheat, and bake.

The night before:

 

What I woke up to:

 

Welp, apparently my fridge is too cold for that method. According to my research, when a loaf drops below 40, the leavening comes to a screeching halt. So I left it out to rise at room temp. Shouldn't take long, I thought.

Seven hours later...

 

Finally, it went in the oven. Here are the adjustments I made between the first and second attempts.

  • Went from 600 g to 700 g flour, because my first loaf had room to spare.
  • Went from 20% scalded flour to no scalded flour at all, because this time I was following a process that didn't call for it.
  • Went from 10 minutes at 500 + 2 hours at 350 (What was I thinking?) to 10 minutes at 450 + 1 hour at 350.

Most importantly, I pretty much halved the baking time. I've read that the internal temp to aim for is 205, and my first loaf was holding steady at 211.4 F - aka boiling point - for who knows how long.

Let's see how it turned out:

 

What luck!

To my surprise, the paste sprung up and completely filled the pan. As far as I know, that's not a bad thing, but there is cracking around the top of the loaf. Does that indicate that the pan was too tight?

Cooling:

 

I'll be cutting into this thing a little more than 24 hours from now. Maybe the crumb shot will shed some light as to whether or not the loaf was overly compressed. Until then, thanks for bearing with me. I feel a bit overzealous to be starting threads here as a complete and utter beginner, but I wanted to show some progress. Special thanks to Dabrownman, Mini, and Drogon for setting me straight!

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January 5, 2016 - 11:13am
dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Westphalian Pumpernickel – 1537

After Gerhard posted the video of a Westphalian bakery making old school pumpernickel the same way since 1537I knew Lucy would be getting it on the bake list pretty fast since she claims the only real bread is pumpernickel if you are German like her.

 

The recipe for this one is about as short and easy as it gets – rye meal and water at 100% hydration and 2% salt.  Lucy, being the con conformist and whack job she is wont to be couldn’t leave it alone and added 12% scalded rye berries and 5% aromatic seeds where half were caraway and the other half equal amounts of anise, coriander and fennel.

But that is it.  No sourdough, no yeast.  It is then baked low and slow in monstrous Pullman pans for 24 hours in the video.  I was making a tiny one, in a cocktail pan totaling 981 g with everything in it. So I cut the baking time down to 12 hours total – 1 ½ hours at 325 F and 10 ½ hours at 225 F.

This is a mix everything, autolyze for 1 hour and dump it in the pan recipe.  Then I covered it with foil to keep the moisture in and then put the pan in a pot with 1 1/2“ of water in the bottom and then covered the pot with foil too.  Then into the mini oven it went.  You don’t want this bread to dry out because it will become harder than a brick and last longer than one as a building material too.

Not only is this a fine eating bread but it has to be the most aromatic one when baking too.  The smell is intoxicating and addicting.   The foil stuck to the top on one edge and discolored that spot.  This one needs to sit for 24-48 hours before slicing if you want 1/8th” slices like Lucy does.  So now we wait and then wait some more as the wrapped bread redistributes its retained moisture.

The holidays scream for a an eggnog cheese cake with a gingersnap crust to go with those pork ribs and salad.

 

 

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January 4, 2016 - 4:23pm
rgreenberg2000's picture
rgreenberg2000

Pre-Ferment - Increase overall hydration?

Hey, TFL!  First post in a while.  Still exercising my sourdough starter, just not posting much.  I recently made a change to my process, though, and wanted to get some input....  I'm still using the 1-2-3 formulation (150g starter for my standard loaf), but have recently begun doing a pre-ferment.  So my formula for a single loaf would be as follows:

Feed/build WW starter to 150g (usually three builds for me)

For pre-ferment, combine all of starter, 50g AP flour, and 100g water - ferment for about 12 hours

For final dough, combine all of pre-ferment, 400g AP flour, 125g water, autolyse, add salt, etc, etc.

The major difference that I have noticed is in the perceived hydration of the dough once I bring it together.  It seems much drier.  My two guesses as to why are (1) the flour in the pre-ferment has much more time to soak up the moisture, so the mix of the final dough seems drier, and (2) moisture evaporates during the 12-hour preferment (I have my doubts on this one as I keep my bowl tightly covered in this phase, so not sure how much evaporation is really going on.

Given that my dough seems much drier throughout the mix, slap fold, proof, shape process, would it be reasonable to just increase the amount of water that I'm using?  Say by about 5%?  That would only be 15g water per loaf, and would bring my hydration from 71% to 74%.

I have been very pleased with the loaves I have made using a pre-ferment, so maybe I shouldn't change anything.....but what would the fun be in that?!? :)  The attached picture is the last couple of loaves that I made with this method.  I didn't get a crumb shot, but was pleased with the openness of the crumb, and the flavor is just where I like it.

As always, thanks for your input, and bake on!

Rich

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January 4, 2016 - 9:45am
dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Victorian Cowboy Lore, Recipes, Songs, Poems and Life Lore

A nice section on recipes, baking bread and one on biscuits too - From the Victorian Era

http://www.lonehand.com/default.html

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January 3, 2016 - 12:24pm
nmygarden's picture
nmygarden

A New Year's Bake

Three days off in a row... a luxury after months of none or one at a time, you can imagine how much I was looking forward to them. We are just two at home, so bread gets baked, cooled, sliced and frozen, then used as needed. I looked in the freezer a week ago only to find it was nearly empty of bread. Good news for these hands!

So, after some consideration, a review of ingredients on-hand, and a bit of planning, I began the process to restock, first a few basics that are preferred and consumed by my now retired husband, burger buns (with some WW snuck into the mix - he won't notice) and a Cinnamon Swirl loaf. Then it was my time to play. The artisan-type breads are my faves, so I'm free to experiment. This time, I went with a SD Multigrain Polenta Black Pepper Pine Nut bread. Loosely inspired by a polenta porridge bread posted on TFL by Emkay last May, I started with dry ingredients - too lazy to make the porridge, though I know it makes great bread. Ingredients included:

Mix and Autolyse for an hour:

30 g Coarse Polenta (dry)

50 g Wheat Germ

100 g Whole Rye flour

400 g AP flour

380 g Water

Add:

120 g SD starter (unfed from the refrigerator)

12 g Salt

Stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 2 hours, adding these with the first S&F:

1/2 c Pine Nuts, toasted

2 tsp Black Pepper, coarsely ground

Our kitchen is cool this time of year, mid-60's, so bulk fermented for 4 hours on the counter, then shaped and into a basket, bagged and overnighted in the refrigerator.

Brought it out to the counter for a couple of hours to proof and while the oven, stone and cloche heated to 500 F. Turned the loaf onto parchment, slashed it T-Rex style, spritzed it with water and loaded it into the oven for 20 minutes to steam. Uncovered it, removed the parchment and turned the temp down to 425 F, and baked for another 25 minutes, then shut off the oven and cracked open the door to crisp the crust for another 5 minutes.

I was happy to see the oven spring, a bit of blistering and toasty ears, too! Pine nuts litter the surface and the crumb, and if you look closely, you'll see pepper grinds, too. It's definitely savory, the pine nuts and black pepper come through and compliment each other and the polenta lends a homey, warm quality in the background. And I'm finding, as others have, that using AP, rather than BF, makes the crumb a bit softer. We had some last evening with a light supper of turkey meatball vegetable soup. Mmm, yum.

It will be back to the grind tomorrow, but having enjoyed a relaxing weekend. Happy New Year to each of you and here's to sharing lots more baking stories in 2016!

Cathy

 

 

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January 3, 2016 - 6:44am
Sammie1's picture
Sammie1

Can you help me with substituting some white wheat flour into this recipe?

It's for english muffins. I'd like to use some of my white wheat flour. Also, I don't have bread flour on hand but AP flour. Most of y'all have more experience than I do, so how would you change this recipe to do this?

 

Recipe:

 
  • 397g lukewarm milk
  • 43g softened butter
  • 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
  • 25g sugar
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 539g Bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • semolina or farina, for sprinkling the griddle or pan
Directions
  1. Note: Thanks to reader feedback, this recipe has been amended as of 1/08/13, as follows: the amount of flour has been increased to improve the dough's consistency; and the cooking time has been increased.
  2. Combine all of the ingredients (except the semolina or farina) in a mixing bowl, or the bucket of your bread machine.
  3. This is a very soft dough, so you'll need to treat it a bit differently than most yeast doughs. If you have a stand mixer, beat the dough using the flat beater paddle until it starts coming away from the sides of the bowl, and is satin-smooth and shiny; this will take about 5 minutes at medium-high speed. When you lift up the beater, the dough will be very stretchy. If you have a bread machine, simply use the dough cycle.
  4. Scrape the dough into a rough ball, and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise until it's nice and puffy; this will take 1 to 2 hours or so.
  5. Prepare your griddle(s). Using two griddles allows you to cook all the muffins at once; but since you probably don't have two griddles, you'll need to cook the muffins in shifts. Whatever you use — an electric griddle, stovetop griddle, frying pan, electric frying pan — sprinkle it heavily with semolina or farina. If you're using a griddle or frying pan that's not well-seasoned (or non-stick), spray it with non-stick vegetable oil spray first, before adding the semolina or farina.
  6. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 16 pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball, then flatten the balls until they're about 3" to 3 1/2" in diameter.
  7. The easiest way to handle and cook these muffins is to lay them right onto the cold surface you'll be frying them on. That way, you don't have to move them once they're risen; and they won't mind cooking very slowly as you fire the griddle up to its desired heat. If you don't have enough griddle space to do this, sprinkle a baking sheet heavily with semolina or farina, and place the muffins on the sheet; they can be fairly close together. Either way, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with additional semolina or farina.
  8. Cover the muffins (a piece of parchment works well), and let them rest for 20 minutes. They won't rise like crazy, but will puff a bit.
  9. Cook the muffins over low heat for 7 to 15 minutes per side, until their crust is golden brown, and their interior is cooked through. When done, the center of a muffin should register about 200°F on an instant-read thermometer. If you find the muffins have browned before they're cooked all the way through, no worries; simply pop them into a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes or so, or until they're thoroughly cooked.
  10. Remove the muffins from the griddle (or oven), and let them cool thoroughly before enjoying. Remember: use a fork to split, not a knife to cut. Fork-split muffins will have wonderful nooks and crannies; knife-cut ones won't.
  11. Yield: 16 large (3" to 3 1/2") English muffins.
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January 2, 2016 - 5:19pm
amber108's picture
amber108

RECIPE 100% sourdough pan au chocolat

Thought Id put this here for anyone interested, if you give it a go, please let me know how it went :)

Our leaven that we use for all out products is the same; 128g whole rye flour, 128 white spelt, 400g water.

Sourdough Croissants;

745g white flour (we use bakers flour with around 12%, but it might be better to use less strong if you like)

305g leaven (we use our leaven at pre-peak directly from the fridge, young/fresh leaven is best as its less sour)

167g cold milk

158g cold water

53g unsalted butter

45g sugar (we use a mild brown but white would do)

12g salt

Incorporate all ingredients, work til smooth (dont over work as it gets too strong) Wrap well with multiple layers of glad wrap (weve had a couple explode in the fridge), put in the fridge over night. Laminate the next morning with 400g unsalted butter (cultured butter has more flavour) Im assuming you know how to laminate ,if you dont I can give you details :) I do an envelope fold for the lock in and make sure the butter goes right to the edge. Then another envelope, and then a full book fold.

I roll it out about 7mm or so and cut 9 x 14cm, pipe very stiff ganache (if its too soft itll all melt out) put candied pecans with it and fold like traditional pain au chocolate - with the 2 fillings twice. I bake @ 210C for about 17 - 18mins with steam, vented @ 10mins.

 

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January 2, 2016 - 7:44am
djkbread's picture
djkbread

100% whole wheat hole structure

First post here.  Would love some pointers on getting my 100% whole wheat to open up a little more.

Just made my first loaf of 100% whole wheat using the Tartine method.  89% hydration.  Gave the flour a 90-minute pre-soak before adding my leaven.  Four hours bulk ferment.  Four hours final rise.  Holes were a little tighter than I might like.  Any thoughts on how to coax it to open up a little better?  Longer pre-soak?  Higher hydration?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

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January 2, 2016 - 6:18am
Chaos's picture
Chaos

Kneading using stand mixer (Kenwood Major)

I have been trying to adapt my daily recipe for the stand mixer but it keeps coming out denser than i want it.

 

The recipe and method I was using successfully without the mixer.

 

250g white flour (sometimes very strong sometimes just strong)

250g whole wheat flour

10g salt

8g yeast

350g water

 

1) mix all ingredients until combined, then cover and leave for 30 mins.

2) stretch / fold in the bowl (pull up edge and press into the middle once or twice round the bowl (i.e. maybe 4 to 8 times))

3) repeat stretch and fold in the bowl every 30 mins or so, do this 4 times.

4) shape into 1 loaf, place into a 3lb loaf tin.

5) BAKE! for around 35mins (at ~200c (392F))

 

As I say this works fabulously almost every time. 

The bread is soft and great for sandwiches or toasting.

 

As mentioned I now have a Kenwood Major and want to use it to speed up the process as I don't always have 3 or 4 hours available to make bread.

 

Should I use less water?

How long should I mix for? (I use the dough hook)

I have made white successfully in the machine using very similar measures (maybe even the same).

 

Any tips would really be appreciated.

 

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January 1, 2016 - 7:42pm
alfanso's picture
alfanso

Here's to you Dr. Snyder

Yeah, I know.  I've posted my version of these SJSD's before.  But I have a new oven (again).  I recently posted my first two bakes with the new oven, the Tartine Country Bread done up as baguettes.  I was a bit perplexed as to how long the baguettes took to bake: 32 minutes at 300g each.  Way too long in my book.  And I wondered whether it was the oven, or me or the dough, or or or...  So I needed to return to a reliable workhorse for a comparison bake.  And to also see how the new oven performed in relation to not just the Tartines but also to the prior oven.

And they did just fine.  13 minutes of steam followed by 10 minutes more, and an additional 4 minutes for the batard.  A bit too browned on the grigne, but they opened up beautifully, so who am I to complain?  They bake a bit too close together in my 30" wide oven and so the sidewalls get a bit too much insulation from one another, hence a slightly lighter shade on the sides.  

Similar to the Tartines - 3x300g baguettes and 1x550g batard.  I guess the Tartines are just a different animal, and maybe/maybe not designed to work well in the baguette format.  Perhaps one day I'll conform to a more rigid standard and try to bake Mr. Robertson's Tartine baguette formula itself.

My hat's off to David Snyder for not just this formula, but for being an inspiration to a number of other bakes that are chugging along just dandy for me.  Could I have done it had there been no dmsnyder?  For the most part, I guess so, but I can't go back now.  Mr. Peabody and Sherman took the Wayback Machine with them.

alan

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