The Fresh Loaf

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Saffron?!

NCKathryn's picture
NCKathryn

Saffron?!

I was baking a basic French loaf, 66%, and I noticed I had an old teensy tin of Middle Eastern saffron in my spices. This is embarrassingly old, but had been sealed. I've only heard of saffron bread as a sweet bread, but I decided to soak some threads in the water before mixing.  Turned a pretty yellow :-)

As a side note, I don't know if I did wrong or not--I didn't think my yeast was reacting in the warm water, but I already had the saffron in there and didn't want to waste it, so I added some more yeast, having no idea how this would come out. I did basic kneading and it seemed wetter that usual, but I'm still very new at this.

New things: I used parchement paper for the first time, and let the loaf rise between canned soup on each side for shaping (hey, I'm totaly wingin' it here...).

I am very happy with how it turned out. The saffron was just enough to give it a creamy tint, and I could see bits of saffron theads when I cut into it. It smelled more "baked bread" than my other loaves, if that makes any sense. A pinch of saffron gave a subtle but distinct taste-I don't know if someone "saffron-indifferent" would catch it. The crumb was very soft but not mushy. I'll post pics when my camera recharges. 

I don't know if the extra yeast made any diferrence. It was a nice bread to eat with leftover korma curry.