How to sweeten Artesian bread
Nathan from the North Carolina Triangle area.
After multiple trials and iterations, I am now able to bake a perfect loaf of Artesian bread in a Dutch oven. Finally, got hydration, the addition of cranberries and walnuts, time to proof, the position in the oven, oven temperature, the time covered, and the time uncovered to give a perfectly crispy outer crust and nice inner crumb. To me, it is perfect.
Except not so for my wife, who likes the bread crumb to be sweeter.
Is there a way to keep the bread wholesome but make the crumb sweeter, but NOT to the extent of store-bought quick-breads that are awfully sweet?
It seems like I could add one additional ingredient (white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, or something else) to sweeten the crumb. I use relatively high hydration % and make the loaf with 2 cups of all-purpose high gluten flour.
Thanking you in advance for your advice
Yeah just add whatever sweetener you prefer... And less that in store-bought bread. Start low and see how much to add by trial checking the taste.
Malt extract is a good sweetener for bread, by the way, and also add to the aroma.
How much would you start with for bread dough weighing around 500 Gm before baking?
I second the recommendation for malt extract but it is a pain to find here in the triangle. I gave up and ordered from Amazon where it was crazy expensive. Maybe a brewing supply place?
Honey works well and is easier to find but doesn't give that nice aroma.
How much would you start with for bread dough weighing around 500 Gm before baking?
I like to base everything on the amount of flour (baker's percentages). The recipe I'm currently tweaking has malt syrup at 10% of the weight of the flour. My experimental loaves use 200g of flour for a total dough weight of 435g. So I use 20g of malt or honey. I can drop that to zero without changing the process, so I think you'd be safe starting with 10%.
That's a nice amount! I guess you can taste it quite clearly at 10%, right?
Yes. I can taste it at 10%. I wouldn't call the bread sweet but I'm pushing the fermentation really far to make it sour. If I used a more reasonable fermentation time I think it might begin to be sweet. Especially with white flour; I'm currently using whole wheat.
Saying the above reminds me of Benny's stiff sweet leven. That might be interesting for Nathan to try.
Over here it's usually available from organic/health food stores, but a brewing supplied shop is a safe bet.
sounds to me like you are ready to try a Tangzhong which involves gelling about 5% of the recipe flour to make the dough naturally sweet. Try it.
i do like to use Malt extract in most of my doughs but tend to use it at 2% rate. Its readily available here in Australia in a can or otherwise at the brew shops in both liquid and powdered form. The powdered form is highly hygroscopic so care needs to be taken in storing.
Regards Derek