Home baking in late July, and September 2010
The lecturing schedule kicks off in earnest tomorrow, following Induction sessions this past 2 weeks to enable our students to find their way and settle in at the College.
I noted the freezer stock of bread at home, piled high before we went to Crete, was virtually empty, so set up to do some baking over this weekend.
I borrowed "Advanced Bread and Pastry" by Michel Suas from the College Library as essential reading for the Summer, in order to plan to run a Level 3 ["A" Level] course this year. It seems to be a ready-made textbook, especially given that Cengage [publishers] offer excellent online support for both instructor and student.
The breads I made just before our holiday utilised the Mountain Bread recipe, moreorless straight from the book. I really enjoy making a couronne shape; these were lovely, with a formula very similar to the Pain de Siègle recipe I use in class with students, but omitting the fresh yeast in the final dough.
I also made some of the "Wonderful White", which I posted on at the back end of last year, when I first happened upon TFL. You can read about that here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15974/sour-dough-leaven-refreshment-and-ash-content#comment-102650 [3]
Yesterday [Saturday] I mixed 2kg of paste to make Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel in a Pullman Pan. These are the links to the formulae: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17254/horst-bandel039s-balck-pumpernickel [4] and http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17931/horst-bandel039s-black-pumpernickel [5]
Except that I used strong white flour in the final paste this time, so the formula is as Hamelman recommends, with the additional controls on water I added as constant. This was then baked very slowly overnight in my regular electric [fan] oven, at 100°C, with a small tray of water for a steady steam supply. I did share this earlier with Nico to ascertain a bake profile. I still like to steam these loaves, and intend to revert to this method in the ovens at College [Pumpernickel now on the student syllabus!]. The end result was very acceptable, with Alison asking for more at lunchtime, when I really should have been insisting on waiting a couple more days before slicing. We just love rye in this house! Photos:
And I made 3 x 1200+g loaves of Pain de Campagne. The leaven had one feed from stock beforehand as refreshment and to re-invigorate activity.
New journey for me this time round: overnight retarding! I've done this before commercially and whilst running bread courses, but not at home. It worked well, I did 3 variations, and think the last loaf gave the best results. Loaf 1 had only 1½ hours final proof [too tight in the baking]; loaf 2, radically, I did not re-mould [good, but a bit flat and rustic] and loaf 3 instructions given below, with photographs attached.
Great finished bread taste and texture too!
This is the formula:
Material |
Formula [% of flour] |
Recipe [grams] |
|
|
|
Levain |
Flour: 12.4. Water: 7.5. TOTAL 19.9 |
Flour: 280. Water: 168. TOTAL 448 |
Strong White Flour |
18.65 |
420 |
Water |
11.2 |
252 |
TOTAL |
49.7 |
1120 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dark Rye Flour |
2.15 |
50 |
Water |
2.15 |
50 |
TOTAL |
4.3 |
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leaven [from above] |
49.7 |
1120 |
Rye Sour [from above] |
4.3 |
100 |
Strong White Flour |
63.8 |
1435 |
Dark Rye Flour |
3 |
65 |
Salt |
1.78 |
40 |
Water |
47.1 |
1060 |
TOTAL |
169.68 |
3820 |
Total Pre-fermented flour |
33% |
|
Total Hydration |
68% |
|
Bake Profile: Steam, pre-heated oven [250°C], baking on hot bricks, drop heat to 200°C after 20 minutes. Total Bake Time of 40 - 45 minutes
Method:
- Autolyse flours, water and rye sour for 1 hour.
- Add leaven to form a dough and mix by hand for 5 minutes.
- Add salt and mix a further 5 minutes. Rest briefly
- Complete mixing cycle, using "slapping" techniques.
- Bulk ferment for 2½ hours; S&F every 45 minutes.
- Scale and divide into 3 equal pieces, and mould each round.
- Line plastic bowls with a little olive oil and use these to store dough pieces overnight, covered, in the fridge [mine was running <4°C].
- Take each dough piece out as required and re-mould.
- Drop upside down into a prepared banneton and set to prove for 2 hours, covered with heavy plastic
- Turn out the dough piece onto a pre-heated metal sheet, cut as desired and bake to the profile shown above.
Best wishes to you all
Andy