A goodbye batard
We have a friend who is moving across the country this coming week. She really liked my raisin-pecan WW batard, and my wife thought that I should bake her a goodbye R-P WW. And while I was at it, I figured that another two would be just dandy! Just because.
The last few times I've used dried fruit, I took the advice of some TFL "elders" and soaked the fruit first. I also added the soaking water into the mix as part of the hydration.
Baked extra dark because that's what my formula notes say and that's what I really like! And yes, I just checked the batard coloration held up to my computer screen where I'm typing this - it is that dark.
470dF, 13 minutes steam, 19 minutes additional, 3 minutes venting w/oven off. 2x710g, 1x650g.
Crumb shot from the "baby" batard added just before hitting the toaster. Golly, it feels almost like I'm running a peep show with these crumb shots. Cover the children's eyes and shame on you all!
Neglected to mention that the fruit and nuts are each 12% baker's percentage-wise.
alan
Comments
...and tasty. What does the 3 minute venting step produce?
and...they're also tasty! Thanks. Here is my understanding of the final phase of venting. Once the loaves have baked, I turn the oven off, open the oven door about a third to let the heat in the oven to begin to escape and to allow fresh air into the oven while still maintaining the breads in there. The loaves will continue to shed further moisture and start to "dry out", since after they reach fully baked temperature (somewhere ~205-210, but I never temp), they still have some residual moisture in them.
I gave these fat toads a minute or two more of venting time than I do with my ordinary baguette bakes, because of their girth. I think that we can notice corner artisan bakeries doing similar things when they use their big commercial ovens. My local baker always did. Now that I bake my own, I never see my local bakery anymore ;-) . Of course, if one worries about scorched bottoms or over-baked loaves, it may not be a wise choice to make - unless the bake time is backed down a minute or two to allow the venting phase.
Yum! Fruit and nuts (especially pecans) in a loaf is always a nice combo. I'm sure they taste lovely!
Do you freeze your extra loaves whole, or do you slice them up?
I really like how dark you baked them, i haven't been brave enough to go as dark as yours though. I always chicken out :)
Great Alan!
Ru,
You can always be brave enough to sacrifice one of your loaves and leave it in the oven, kinda like letting it "take one for the team" so that you can do a QA test on them side by side.
I've done both sliced and frozen whole. For my beloved morning toast, I like to have frozen slices ready to go if I ever have the occasion of running out of fresh stuff. For an entire meal when I might have to reach into my minimal freezer inventory, that's when I like having the entire beast frozen whole.
BTW, these are the progenitors of the fig version, and I'm guessing that most any dried fruit could be used as well. I'm just more of a "traditionalist" in the bread realm, which is why I don't post things made with jackfruit or durian, for instance!!! i.e. please don't ever offer me a pizza with BBQ chicken and pineapple on top. From my background that ain't pizza any longer.
dried fruit is used for the dough liquid - a beautiful dark crust from all that sugar! This is why you use the liquid in the dough - crust perfection! Way to go. This is the kind of bread you want to toast and put some butter on for breakfast all by itself. Well done and
Happy baking
that I added. In the past I had the forgetful habit of tossing the liquid and then immediately realizing that I should have added it to the final dough water. Jah! I figured the dark bake would catch your attention, a mutual love of ours. And allow me to be perfectly clear on this point: I L-O-V-E T-O-A-S T and butter for breakfast, oh yes I do.
Funny that I hadn't considered the raisin-water adding sugar to the bread, regardless of how minimal. That's why I need long-in-the-tooth folks like you around. Always another lesson to be learned. Thanks.
Super nice loaves as usual! You are very talented!!
It is my suspicion that I get a little less loft on the oven spring from these due to the "weight" of the fruit and nuts holding back the ear and tamping down the bloom a bit. Nothing more than a SWAG about that. Just an observation and not a complaint, but I notice the these never get that same oven spring that I otherwise see in my other stuff.
Historically I know that these are really really tasty. My favorite bakery started making these about a decade ago, and I though that I'd try my hand at them as well. Almost like candy.
That's how I like all my food; nice and dark, a little toasty... watch... if you're going to cook it, COOK IT, already! :)
Man, that's some good lookin' soul food right there! Good job, Alan! Thank you for going the extra step and posting the pictures. For me, that tends to be the hardest step after all the love and time it takes to bake such beautiful bread. Bravo!
Murph
I pick and choose which foods I like "nice and dark". For instance, my cream of wheat or oatmeal is a no-go in that realm, as are my meats (carnivore I am) - medium rare across the board please. Cheeses too! My mother used to make a calve's liver that doubled as replacement shoe soles. My brother and I would avoid going much beyond poking a fork at the near impenetrable beast while trying to pierce the surface of the offending slab. And eventually after a mostly tear-filled half hour of staring at the plate of this quickly cooling and greening former "food", she'd let us off the hook. Ahh, the good old days... But I now love liver - pink inside.
Snapping photos immediately after the bake always seems to yield the most satisfying images. The bread is still singing and the surface still shiny before any type of real cooling and oxidation starts to diminish the look of the bread. Hooray for camera phones, always a reach into my pocket away. Or is it still phone cameras?
I think they show up best on the darker stove background. So Yummy. I had to turn up my computer brightness to get a good look too! Lol
Mini
of the breads on a black background pretty much since Day 1, so for a change I thought that I'd be "artistic" and incorporate the couche into the action as it is a contrast and such an integral component of the process for me. And what do I get from a distant corner of the globe? Nuttin' but bellyachin'! Huh!
I do like the black background more, but I suppose that I was due for a change of pace. At least temporarily.
thanks, alan
must be the parasites here. Lots of 'em.
Anyway... It has to do with contrast. The more contrast the more the distraction from the object of focus. (exceptions to every "rule") I remember in college, when they took the photos for the student ID cards, then specified "no white shirts or blouses" and preferably a dark colour.... blue, red, brown, you get the idea... It has to do with the sensitivity of the camera and detail. When the light meter shoots up from light reflection off bright objects, the shutter speed or timing will be faster. The darker object, in this case the lovely bread, will be darker and edges less focused. (although I can drool on all the photos.) Same thing happens when pointing the camera in the direction of light, the people, trees, buildings in foreground all become so much darker.
Hope that was a clean couche by the way. (Parasites still talking. Man! I need a good dose of fresh chicory)
Thanks, and it seems to make sense, even to a coconut head like me! There is definitely a better "glow" and contrast against the black, so my experiment with the couche may be short-lived.
Yes, the couche was clean after it came out of the wash the day after I bought it about three years ago. In the traditionalist sense, I like the idea of keeping whatever bugs are embedded in it, well, in it. It gets a staunch drying via hanging over the hot oven door during venting and after, a serious scraping with a bench knife, and then a roll-up and back into its plastic sleeve. Nope, never been washed since the first use.
In that sense similar to the containers where I keep my levains. The bugs in them have never been washed out. It's not as though I believe that their spirits must remain unwashed and present, but rather I want that history of these ancestors to forever be a part of the current batch of offspring.
So far as I know there hasn't been a need for a stomach-pumping or severe case of influenza from dining on any of these breads! So far as I know...
alan
:)
LI've dark bakes and black dogs :) that's why I have 2 of them!
Great baking as always Alan. Sorry you don't like BBQ chicken pizza....I love traditional but you know by now I'm a little crazy in the head when it comes to ingredients.
Happy Bakng!
Ian
it seems almost profane to say you like pizza with these foreign objects pasted on top. Your family must be pulling the curtains closed in horror. I'll go only so far as to tolerate anchovy on top, maybe even broccoli rabe too, but can't allow myself that next step. Ever try using cod liver oil instead of olive oil on a pizza. No? I didn't think so! Some experimenter you are.
Yeah, I'm timid when it comes to stepping away from the "traditional" toppings, and probably why I am not anywhere's near as experimental as you are.
thanks, alan
You just have to say to yourself that I'm making a new style pie and not pizza. This pie just happens to have balsamic vinegar, caramelized onions and mushrooms along with some smoked cheddar cheese :). (P.S. I made this one Sunday night and it was worth pissing off the pizza gods! I did make a more traditional pizza as well though!)