Hamelman's Normandy Apple Bread

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 8, 2009 - 11:02pm

Hamelman's Normandy Apple Bread

Today, I baked Hamelman's "Normandy Apple Bread" for the first time. This bread is a pain au levain spiked with instant yeast. It uses a firm starter and bread flour and whole wheat in the final dough. The apple flavor comes from chopped dried apples and apple cider.

Jeff (JMonkey) posted the formula and instructions for this bread May 19, 2007, so I won't duplicate them here. For those interesting in making this bread, Jeff's entry can be found here: Hamelman's Normandy Apple Bread

I followed Hamelman's instructions pretty much to the letter. I machine mixed for about 7 or 8 minutes and did a French fold before bulk fermentation. I did one more fold after one hour of a 2 hour bulk fermentation. I had to refrigerate the formed loaves for about 3 hours to work around an afternoon outing. I then let them proof about 60-75 minutes at room temperature before baking.

The loaves smelled wonderful while baking. The crust was crunchy. The flavor was somewhat disappointing. The apples do give pleasant little bursts of sourness, but the crumb flavor was not my favorite. It was basically like a light whole wheat levain, and that is not a type of bread I particularly like.

Your taste (undoubtedly) varies, and you may enjoy it more than I.

Then again, the Vermont Sourdough had such spectacular flavor, anything else would be hard to compare. Again, that's my taste.

David

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Submitted by SylviaH on November 9, 2009 - 1:21am.

I can smell them baking!

Lovely loaves, David! Even without a peek at the crumb..delicious I'm sure. David, have you tried the bottled 'Boiled Cider' from King Arthur flours? This stuff is absolutely delicious. It's pure apple cider no sugar added. It's a syrup made from evaporating fresh apple cider. You can add it to just about anything..and delicious added to anything with apples. It gets back ordered but it's definately worth the wait.

Sylvia

Submitted by Salome on November 9, 2009 - 1:33am.

uuh...that's a bread that

uuh...that's a bread that I've been wanting to try for a long time now. I love breads baked with cider - I found the crust often very delicious due to the additional sugars which result in a nice caramelization...

Looks very beautiful, David, I'm looking forward to see the crumb shot.

Salome

Submitted by Debra Wink on November 9, 2009 - 6:57am.

Nice!

Anxiously awaiting the crumb shot :-)

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 9, 2009 - 9:40am.

Thanks, everyone for the nice comments!

I'll post the crumb shot this evening.

The crust was crunchy. The flavor was somewhat disappointing. The apples do give pleasant little bursts of sourness, but the crumb flavor was not my favorite. It was basically like a light whole wheat levain, and that is not a type of bread I particularly like.

Your taste (undoubtedly) varies, and you may enjoy it more than I.

Then again, the Vermont Sourdough had such spectacular flavor, anything else would be hard to compare. Again, that's my taste.

@ Sylvia: I've been looking at that boiled cider. I may give it a try on your strong endorsement.

David

Submitted by flourgirl51 on November 10, 2009 - 7:43am.

Wonderful looking bread!

Wonderful looking bread! Could you have added a touch of cinnamon to this to boost the flavor?

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 10, 2009 - 9:32am.

Thanks, flourgirl!

I thought of adding cinnamon. I think I'd be happier trying dried apples in a cinnamon bread I already like though.

David

Submitted by txfarmer on November 9, 2009 - 10:55am.

Great write-up!

I've been eyeing this bread for a while now, thanks for sharing.

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 9, 2009 - 6:56pm.

Crumb shot and tasting notes now available.

David

Submitted by Mini Oven on November 9, 2009 - 10:12pm.

Can't get the link to work

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 9, 2009 - 10:18pm.

It works for me.

Hi, Mini.

I assume you mean the link to Jeff's message with the formula for Hamelman's Normandy Apple Bread.

When I click on it, it takes me right to his message.

David

Submitted by ehanner on November 10, 2009 - 6:34am.

Visually interesting crumb

David,

The crumb is quite interesting looking. Sorry to hear the apples don't retain their flavor. Apples are a good vehicle for cinnamon. Maybe an apple cinnamon loaf would be more satisfying.

Eric

Submitted by dmsnyder on November 10, 2009 - 9:37am.

Apple flavor

Hi, Eric.

I use dried apples from WFM. They were super dry and leathery. I could hardly cut them with a knife. I ended up tearing the pieces. I think either soaking the apples briefly or using other dried apples would improve the bread.

Hamelman's instructions call for you to dry your own apples.

David