The Fresh Loaf

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Hamelman Olive Levain (as baguettes, of course)

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Hamelman Olive Levain (as baguettes, of course)

I did my due diligence searching for anyone who had made this bread either without using a mixer or had made this as baguettes.  My search came up empty on both accounts.  So it was high time to take the plunge.  This is my first bake from Mr. Hamelman's book, although I did bake two of his pain au levain breads from formulae posted by someone somewhere on the Web.  This bread has a combination of castelvetrano and kalmata olives.

I'd never worked with as stiff a dough before, by at least 4-5%.  This one clocks in 63% hydration, and performing French Folds on this bread was akin to performing French Folds on a flaccid basketball.  The dough sure was stiff and I did't know what to expect down the line.  But the results are quite satisfying, and as with all of the breads that I've made for the first time, I really didn't quite know what to expect.  But the dough became more manageable and extensive between folds1 and 2 and more so on the final fold.  

Shaping was a cinch, and the amount of oven spring speaks for itself.  The crust has a satisfyingly sharp snap to it and the amount of olives, 25%, pretty much guarantees some olive in just abut every bite.

I didn't want to risk blowing the whole bake on baguettes that might have turned out to be trash-worthy, so I hedged my bets with 2 stubby baguettes and one batard.

Changes from original formula included:

  • Resized the dough amount to 1000g total.
  • "Autolyse" without the called-for salt.
  • Hand mixing rather than by machine.  150 French Folds, a 5 minute rest and then another 150 French Folds.
  • Olives incorporated at 1st set of Letter Folds instead of at end of mix.
  • 3 Letter Folds instead of 1.
  • 2 hr. bulk fermentation instead of 2 1/2 hrs.
  • Overnight retard and bake straight out of retard rather than bench top proof and bake.

 2x350g baguettes, 1x750g batard.  13 minutes steam: baguettes total bake time- 28 min.  Batard total bake time - 33 min + 2 min venting.

For comparison I made 2 125% liquid levains concurrently.  One using my 60% stiff rye starter and one using my standard 75% mixed flour ever ready levain. 2 builds, just as Mr. Hamelman suggests.  As I discovered, the ever ready levain based mix outpaced the stiff rye contender easily.  Not only was the top populated with a lot of frothy bubbles after each build but it grew significantly more.  The levain on the right was used in the mix.

after first build (~8 hrs).

after 2nd build (~3-4 hrs).  I knocked back the growth on the right one before realizing that I wanted to take this picture, so the delta between the two is even more pronounced than the picture indicates. 

alan

Comments

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Nice bake Alan, looks and sounds delicious. 

The crust looks beautiful :)

I've tried an olive loaf before so I have some idea of how tasty yours must be!

I'm glad your first bake from your book worked out for you. 

Happy baking!

alfanso's picture
alfanso

I love olive breads, including with some rosemary.  And I'd been meaning to get around to baking one, so now was as good a time as any.  The toe has now been dipped into the water, and I think that this will be on my regular rotation.  Next time, I think that I'll increase the hydration by a few percent.  Just for fun.

alan

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I think my computer is missing a corner!   

Mini

alfanso's picture
alfanso

I think your request for hardware repair was misdirected.  The "contact us" page for TFL leads to here.  You wanted the "contact us" page for MiniComputer Repairs R Us.com.

alan (growing up in Da Bronx my corner was missing a computer! Dang thieves.)

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

The pictures looked so good I bit a corner off my computer screen; but alas; it didn't taste of olive or even hint at bread.  Such a disappointment and not good for my gums either.  Perhaps I will have to repair it and my gums but first, first I need to make... most urgently... a lovely loaf of olive bread and hope it bakes up as scrumptious looking as yours! 

With three corners, I could always turn it into a hat.  :)    Good for short weather circuits...

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Our country is quickly running out of tin foil hats, so the contribution of your three cornered computer to our desperate needs will be noteworthy. 

After wrangling the dough during the FFs, I really had no expectations that it would turn out so lovely myself.  But the shaping step was a breeze.  With a dough so chock full of the 3rd party intruders, i.e. chunks of olives, I decided to roll the baguettes short.  Longer would have exposed more olives to the surface, something that I wanted to avoid, so that was a tactical decision which played in my favor.  I think...

Batard shaping is generally simple these days as well, and I long ago (if a year and change counts as long ago!) adopted the initial part of the technique used by Martin Phillip at minute 6:25 here.  

Give it a try.  If you love olives in bread, this is a good place to be!

thanks, alan

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Those signature alfanso blisters! At first look some olives looked liked pistachios, What olive combo did you use?

alfanso's picture
alfanso

castelvetrano are the green olives, the dark are kalamata.  For a first bake and not knowing the outcome, I used pretty pedestrian quality versions of them, and they are not very impressive.  But now that I see the output, I'm on my way to get some quality olives for the next go-round.  I'll be visiting my brother next week, so I figure I'll make a batch of these in advance and bring it with us.

My understanding is that the blisters are really the result of long cold fermentation, nothing that I contributed to except for shoving the couche into the refrigerator.  But I do love the way they give the crust a distinctive skin.

thanks, alan

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

hate it so we don't get to make if often.  This one looks very nice and with such a low hydration it will be interesting to see the crumb since Lucy is continuing her Modern SFSD quest this week by making a lower hydration and lower sprouted grain, bran levain version that she plans on making into baggies with hemp seeds for another take on her Hempy Dopey Baggies - maybe 68% hydration or so.

It is tough to slap around dough at less than 70% hydration - I call it two slaps to one fold at 68%:-)

Well done and happy baking Alan.

alfanso's picture
alfanso

double check whether she added seeds or buds to the bread.  

One area that I thought was worthy of correction for the next time is that the seam on the bottom, something that I typically have no problems with, needs some extra TLC added in the future.  The lower hydration allowed the seam to start a minor separation during the bake because I neglected to consider ensuring it was a good seal.

Definitely not a "back to the drawing board" issue, but just a note on my formula sheet.

thanks, alan

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I am starting to develop a taste for olives and this looks especially delicious! Another bookmark for me!

alfanso's picture
alfanso

I feel somewhat sorry for all of our compatriot working stiffs out there who have to pick and choose their open spots to find time to do all of their baking tasks.

Sure, they're still making a living, drawing an income and all.  while I'm one of the retired 47%ers (reference for you north-of-the-border types - google "Romney 2012 47%").  Unfortunately for me my two favorite foods are bread and ales.  Oh well.

This is a fairly easy one to do, just have to be prepared for working with a stiff dough, although it relaxes a bit by the first fold.  I've never made bagels, so I don't know what "real stiff" is like yet.

thanks, alan

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

is typical of rye.  It doesn't rise as high as wheat and requires a few more degrees (than wheat) to compete in the extensibility department.  The reason I love it so in the fridge as it never perks over and tries to escape it's cage.  A most well behaved starter.  Looking at the two side by side is is easy to judge the expected volume height of a full rye bread compared to a full wheat bread.  The more wheat (or spelt) mixed with rye, the more volume of the loaf. 

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Still have a ton to learn.  I look towards folks like you, with your extensive knowledge, to help me through my steep learning curve.

alan

joc1954's picture
joc1954

Looking at your awesome baguettes I now finally decided that I will try to make two short ones like your's are during next week. I had always an excuse that I have not enough place in the oven. And they will be my first baguettes, so I am sure that low hydration dough will be very convenient for my first attempts in baguette shaping.

Well done and happy baking,

Joze

alfanso's picture
alfanso

The enlistment posters have been printed and we've recruited a few early adapters, like you.  Within the year, we should be challenging the D.O. crew out there.

With the exception of being a "dry" dough, it is really pretty easy to handle (except for that French Fold thing).  Regardless of which hydration or formula you choose, the basic handling is the same.  For starters, pick one that isn't too tacky or wet...Just know that like all other doughs, some are easier to handle than others.  Last year dabrownman challenged me to a 100% WW at 105% hydration and it was a near disaster, so there are limitations.  But that was an outlier.

Disregard the rigors of standard baguette length, and do what seems right for you.  Call it a demi-baguette or a "short and chubby".  Doesn't matter.  My oven can handle a max of 15" depth, which is about what I bake, but these were 12" long.  They took one score less.  So what.  All in the fun of it.  Please do give it a try and thanks for your kind words.

alan

joc1954's picture
joc1954

Alan, thanks for encouragement. I have to first prepare my oven for baking baguettes.  I have tow ovens - one "normal" which I am using most of the time and I can fire up to 280 dC. The second one is fancy-pancy new one with steaming option, but this one has the highest temp just 230 dC. For the latter I did a special tray with 30 mm thick baking stone (fire brick) but unfortunately I found later on that I can't really heat the baking stone to appropriate temp so it has really a very limited usage. Besides that I also found that the provided steam is not enough so I have to use additional steam at the very beginning.

Therefore I recently decided to make another baking tray (frame) with 30mm firebrick for my fist oven. For now I am using Lodge cast iron skillet for everyday baking. Will come back with the results during this week.

Happy baking Alan!

Joze