The Fresh Loaf

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SueVT's picture
SueVT

For my second round, I made the adjustments based on round 1, and used a different recipe to see the contrast. I developed the LM for about three days, but it was still very active from the series last week. 

I added some cocoa powder to the glaze, and baked on a stone in the regular static oven using convection for only the first few minutes. 

This time, recipe from Fabrizio Galla, faithfully followed so that I would have a baseline. It is a nice recipe, makes a dough that is easy to work with, and rises well. 

I love the flavor of this crumb. There's a small amount of lemon and orange emulsion in addition to vanilla, which is subtle but good with the chocolate.

The texture is more like a traditional panettone, very light and rich.

This dough tripled in 10 hours, as specified in the recipe. Also, final rise was 5 hours.

Here is the recipe, if anyone would like to try it. I factored it down to make enough for three 500 gram Colombas plus a little overage:

 

Benito's picture
Benito

I had a good handful of toasted sweetened shredded coconut leftover from a pie that I made a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to try adding it to a sandwich bread.  I didn’t want the bread to taste too much like dessert so other than the sugar I used for the stiff sweet levain, there were no other sweeteners added to the dough.  I did decide to add some olive oil to this dough to soften it up a bit and keep it fresh longer without having to make a tangzhong.  Yes I’m still feeling a bit lazy down here in very hot humid Florida where I’m still developing the dough fully by hand.

I like how this loaf turned out, but it could have even more coconut added to it.  I would have added more but was weary that the coconut was sweetened.

For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

 

Build stiff sweet levain, ferment at 76-78°F for 10-12 hours overnight.

 

In the morning, add salt to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds.  Add the coconut and walnuts through a series of folds, incorporate well.  Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

 

Once the dough has risen 30-40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

 

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan.  pre-heat oven at 425°F .

 

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water or egg wash.  Transfer to oven and bake (without steam) for 25 mins.  Rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust if needed.

My index of bakes.

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

The second time around. Much better than the last time. 

Hands-on laboratory practice exercise 03/14 - 03/16

Area of improvement

No unsightly burnt crust

Oven spring

Area needs improvement

Scoring 80% hydration dough is a challenge even straight out of the refrigerator

Country Bread EIB Style (Forkish) AKA

Pain de Champagne 

KA Bread flour

Hayden Einkorn Whole grain Wheat 

Hayden Gazal Whole grain Rye

Hayden Purple Barley

Hydration 80%

Prefermented flour 20%

Salt 2.2%

 

Yield:

Total dough 1800g

Three at 600g

 

ReneR's picture
ReneR

The 100% biga bake was not very successful. 

Got an OK loaf at the end, but was a little too heavy and chewy.

Used 30% wholegrain rye and 70% strong white wheat. 

Used all 400g for the biga, with 40g of liquid SD starter and 180g of water. Added the remainder of the water to the biga after 24h.

Biga smelt nice and looked developed correctly.

Surprisingly, just mixing the extra water to the biga was much harder than when I did it with the extra flour for the 50% biga bakes. Already from the mixing I could tell that the dough was not the same consistency as with the 50% biga bakes. Just never quite came together well.

Then, the fermentation was way too aggressive and fast, rising so fast it started to tare the dough and looked way too bubbly. I think there was not enough time for the gluten to form properly before the fermentation kicked in.

Then, after the initial very aggressive fermentation, the gas seemed to go out of the dough a little and it grew much less impressively, even though the fermentation activity was still strong.  

It felt as if the dough was already over fermented after a couple of hours. 

100% Biga

Got descent oven spring, however, but the loaf was quite heavy and hard once it had cooled down.

Funnily, it actually improved substantially as it aged, becoming moist and soft in day 2 and 3 after the bake. Maximum hardness was in day 1. 

Biga 100% crumb

The taste was OK. Slightly tangy but nice. Nice with cream cheese and ham or smoked salmon.

I am trying a similar bake but with only 50% biga this weekend to see how they compare, but I am sure that 100% biga is not the biga sweet spot. 

I know it is 30% wholemeal rye, but I've baked much better and softer 30% loaves, even with my liquid levain.

 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Happy π Day 3.14159.   The year of our Lord 2024. 

The tale of the tape.

For the cracker Jack crew at Banner imaging Mesa

1. NY street slice pie

1. Queen Margarita of Savoy

 

SueVT's picture
SueVT

Results of my first round of Colomba testing.

I think that results were satisfactory, but I learned several things:

1. Recipe: Colomba is not the same as panettone. I used my current panettone recipe, and the results were almost too soft and airy; Colomba is a long, flat cake, and so it needs a bit of structural integrity to be physically stable. Make sure your recipe isn't extreme in any direction.

2. Baking: Don't put the pans on a baking sheet, as the bottoms will either be burned or not as done as the rest of the cake. Because of the shape, Colomba bakes in less time than panettone. There is a balance between baking slowly enough for optimal dextrin formation, and fast enough to achieve good oven spring. Baking on a preheated stone seems like the best option to achieve both.

3. Sugar: This is a sweet cake, with a lot of top crust area. Between the glaze, pearl sugar and powdered sugar, it can become too sweet. So, reduce the amount of pearl sugar to a dramatic sprinkle.

4. Skewers: Make sure you have long skewers ready that can be placed in pairs diagonally through the pans right after removing from the oven, and have a place to hang the cakes. 

Crumb:

 This was a nice crumb result, for me it is more attractive than Massari's Colomba, which is made "con metodo pandoro". I can appreciate this, as a pandoro version would have a sturdier crumb. I have had the Fiasconaro Colomba Pandorata, and don't prefer it. And so, I am working with panettone dough here.

It is a light crumb and very moist; baked in 35 minutes to 93-4C. The shape of Colomba makes it important to check internal temperature in the center of the cake.  

My paper pans are small, designed for 500g of dough. I scaled these cakes at 550g, but will go higher next time. This is more of a fashion thing.

Dough development:

My Lievito Madre was out of storage for four days, and was fed twice/day, with alternating warm/cool refreshments and also alternating water and free storage. (water for warm refreshments, free for longer, cool refreshments). I use a thermoelectric cooler for both.  I find that around day three, I usually begin to see much more dramatic rising of the LM, particularly during warm refreshment (expected). I go another day before using the LM for baking. 

I did two baking-day refreshments, 4 hours each, each one rose very well. This helps to "sweeten" the LM just prior to using it to bake.

My first impasto was made with Pasini panettone flour, fermented at 22C for 10.5 hours. The final pH was 5.01. 

My second impasto was made with King Arthur Galahad flour because of this nice high pH, no worries about gluten damage in the dough. This was done to get the softest crumb, and indeed the crumb was very soft. Dough at the end of second impasto was extremely extensible and handled well. 

For the next test, I will use technical flour for the second impasto as well. (It remains to be seen whether baking on a hot stone will offset the tenderness of the crumb)

Final rise was 4.5 hours at 28C in the Brod & Taylor proofing box. Glazed, pearl sugar, whole almonds and powdered sugar applied just before baking.

Overall, this was a good test and it's always nice to eat the results! 

 

JonJ's picture
JonJ

If you think about it, the spicing used in falafels (cumin & coriander, garlic, cardamom...) is like a recipe for a bread spice. The thing is though, how would you put a falafel into a bread. Home made falafel mixture, with freshly minced chickpeas, fava beans or lentils? Even better still why not use a box mix which has already been dehydrated and they've done part of the work for you already!


There's a really pretty falafel mix that I've been buying lately that has the potential to be really pretty in bread - the 'crazy' blend with beetroot and poppy seed. A bit like putting falafel in bread - crazy. This is my second try with it, and I do know that if you don't mix it in super well you could potentially get pretty patterns from the included beetroot. But, the first time I tried this mix I also had home-made humus in the bread and although tasty (and pretty) it didn't come out as open as I would have liked this.



This time around, I used the falafel mix in the main dough (in the saltolyse, or should I say falafelyse), and this had the benefit of creating a stronger dough with a less gritty texture to the final bread. Alas however, the beetroot effect was largely lost and all I got was a general pink and yellow ethereal glow to the loaves rather than the pretty patterns from my first go at it. Some VWG was added to the dough to compensate for the falafel mix, and who doesn't like their bread bouncy?


Was it worth it? It certainly made a very interesting bread. Obviously, great with humus. Obviously! These 'bread spices' brought in some wonderful flavours, and especially with a cheese and tomato sandwich I had some great taste moments. Might reduce the salt a touch on the next bread as it was a little salty.

Method was as follows:

    50m saltolyse, complete with salt and falafel mix

    Added levain using the dough hook for 2 minutes only.  Completed this with 35 slap and folds

    30 minutes later added bassinage of 50g of water that had been held back, bringing total water to 600g. Also added 4g of leftover falafel mix here.

    20 minutes later bench fold to close the dough up

    At 4 hours 45 min after adding levain pre-shaped into rounds

    20 minutes later final shape

    20 minutes later into fridge

    (next day, 16 hours later) baked the first bread - 230C with steam for 20 min, then 200C without steam. Second bread had an hour in the proofer extra time whilst the first one baked


Isand66's picture
Isand66

It's been a while since I made a bread using eggs. I wanted to make something using fresh milled durum as well and included some freshly milled Stardust whole wheat from Barton Springs Mill.

I love cherries so I added some dried cherries that I soaked in water to rehydrate them and used the water in the main dough. I've recently read on a Facebook post that using freeze-dried fruit is actually the best way to go. I will definitely have to try that soon. In any case I should have doubled the amount of cherries as it wasn't nearly enough.

I laminated the cherries in the dough after the first round of stretch and folds after mixing. I need some more practice with this technique as usually I just add in the inclusions at the end of mixing. I didn't get even distribution with the lamination so I have some work to do.

The whole wheat and durum berries were both milled with my Mockmill 200 and sifted with a #30 drum sieve, and re-milled at the finest setting and then sifted with a #40.

Some KAF bread flour was used to build the levain and in the main dough.

I used egg yolks which are about 48% water and don't tend to dry out the crumb like egg whites do.

This was pretty high hydration dough and the egg flavor really came through. The durum and Stardust WW flours along with the cherries made this bread taste like a supped up Challah. The crumb came out nice and open. This is a keeper for sure.

Formula

Gracie was desperately trying to get into my bread photo!

 

Levain Directions 

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Note: I use an Ankarsrum Mixer so my order of mixing is slightly different than if using a Kitchenaid or other mixer. Add all your liquid to your mixing bowl except 50-80 grams. Next, add all your flour to the bowl and mix on low for a minute until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover the mixing bowl and let it rest for an hour.   Next add the eggs, salt, maple syrup, and remaining water as needed and mix on medium low (about speed 3) for 12- 24 minutes.  If you are using a more traditional mixer you would only mix around 7-10 minutes.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Laminate the dough and add the cherries. Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 1.45 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours. I use my proofer set at 79-80 degrees. If you are leaving it at room temperature 72 degrees I would let it sit out for 2 -2.5 hours before refrigerating. Depending on how developed the dough is after the initial mix you may not need to do as many S&F's.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours or if using a proofer set at 80 degrees for 1 hour.  Remove the dough and do a pre-shape into a round(s). Let it sit covered for around 15-20 minutes. Next shape as desired and add to your proofing baskets/bannetons and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  (I use my proofer set at 80 F and it takes about 1 hour.

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 540 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 455 degrees.  Bake for around 35 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature around 200-210 F. 

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist. 

 

ReneR's picture
ReneR

To be honest, posting more in order to use the above tabloid-type title rather than to share some new bread breakthrough, but here goes anyway. Apologies for overdoing the biga theme in the process.

My latest bake was a 50% white spelt 50% strong white wheat flour loaf with 5% golden flaxseeds (pre-full hydration). All the spelt went into the 'shaggy' biga.

Bigger biga

The loaf had amazing oven spring. I would say at least doubled in size in the dutch oven, lifting the lid in the process.

Lovely soft texture, crunch crust and open crumb and nice, slightly sweet, taste. Kept really fresh for a long time as well. Still almost like fresh after about 2.5 days from the bake.

Bigger biga 2

I have plucked up the courage to try pushing the biga experiment to the limit as per the conversation in the previous posting with GaryBishop about whether 50% biga is the sweetspot by going for a 100% biga in the next loaf I a preparing. Trying for a 30% wholegrain rye loaf.

Will be reporting back with results.

Benito's picture
Benito

Still working on my sandwich bread (bake in a Pullman pan) that isn’t enriched with fat.  I decided to add a touch of honey to balance the sour notes since I didn’t use a stiff sweet levain for this bake.  I may switch to a stiff sweet levain next time to reduce the sour notes, we’ll see how I feel when that next time comes up.

I’m loving the pecan and walnuts in this bread though.  Although it doesn’t have the softness of my Hokkaido milk bread, it also doesn’t have the animal fats from the milk or the butter.  Also, making this bread and developing the dough by hand down here without my Ankarsrum Assistent make a less enriched bread easier to do.  In this heat and humidity I’ve been feeling a bit more lazy so this fits the bill.

For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

 

Build stiff levain, ferment at 74°F for 10 hours overnight or about 72°F for 12 hours.

 

In the morning, add salt to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds.  Add the pecans and walnuts through a series of folds, incorporate well.  Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

 

Once the dough has risen 30-40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

 

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan.  pre-heat oven at 425°F .

 

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water or egg wash.  Sprinkle seeds on top if you wish. Transfer to oven and bake (without steam) for 25 mins.  Rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust if needed.

My index of bakes.

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