The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

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teketeke's picture
teketeke

Happy Merry Christmas to everybody! and thank you so much, Robyn (RobynNZ)!  She is the one of  TFL members who taught me the great Christmas tree recipe that she found, and more than that, she is  the one who encouraged me to join with TFL. I was very nervous to write about my bread in English. I can't thank her enough as I see that she has been helping everybody here beside me. 

You can see the detail from here.

I hope that everybody will have very nice Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Akiko

 

loydb's picture
loydb

Today was the final stretch before heading to the in-laws for Christmas. I spent pretty much the whole day in the kitchen, minus a trip to the grocery store. The takeaway:

First, this was week 3 of the Inside the Jewish Bakery challenge. I haven't actually gotten to taste the results, so my comments are limited. I did a four-high braid, and had a little trouble getting the ends to stick together. I ended up wetting my fingers and kind of blending it, which seemed to work. There are some shots of the initial braiding and the final rise at the bottom. On top of the two challah loaves, I also did a pullman pan full of PR's pannetone recipe. I used dried strawberriers, dried orange-infused cranberries, and dried sour cherries that I soaked for a day in apple brandy (plus the vanilla and orange extract). For the nuts, I used 5 oz of macadamias and 2 oz of almonds. Finally, another pan of Mohn bars from week one of the ITJB.

 

 



breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

I baked several loaves in anticipation of the holiday weekend.  These are all from published sources, so no recipes, but wanted to share the photos anyway.  Happy holidays to all and happy baking.

-Brad

Sourdough walnut from Reinhart's BBA (his basic SD recipe with addition of toasted walnuts).

 

PiP's Hybrid Ciabatta that I modified slightly to use a biga instead of starter. I need some practice shaping, but it is relatively easy ciabatta dough (relative is the operative word) to work with.

 

Sunflower Seed Coronne, also from BBA with the addition of a "string of pearls" gleaned from "Baking with Julia." There was also enough dough left to make a small pan loaf.

 

Lastly, Semolina bread with soaker and fennel seeds from Hamelman's "Bread."

 

 

 

Chausiubao's picture
Chausiubao

I've made quite a few batches of pineapple buns by now. So much so that I've got my own nicely formatted excel spreadsheet with all the relevant information about the latest particular incarnation of the pineapple bun (including the topping, though that is on a different spreadsheet). I will attempt here to explain it in as much detail as possible. And God willing, it will actually come out, seeing as how I've only just mixed it to rest, and have yet to finish mixing it, let alone doing all the other bready type things it still requires before I can eat it. Let us begin!

One nice thing about my method is there is no need to measure any water temperatures! With the addition of pre-gelatinized flour, I cook it before I start mixing and generally my final dough comes out around 80F, which, while a tad bit warm, is quite workable. That being said, there are three stages in my method for pineapple buns; mixing the pineapple topping, cooking the pre-gelatinized flour, and finally the actual mixing and preparation of the bun dough.
So we start with the topping,

Butter 81 g

Sugar 111 g

Egg Yolk 40 g

Sweetened condensed milk 60 g

Evaporated milk 60 g

Bread flour 252 g

Milk powder 14 g

Baking powder 20 g

 

Mix up by the creaming method. So basically, cream the sugar and the butter, then fold in the eggs, followed by the liquids and then by the dries. Then wrap it up and chill it while you finish up the second and third parts.


Onto the pre-gelatinized flour (PGF); I've been following convention and doing 6% PGF, so that amounts to this formula,

Bread flour 58 g

Milk 290 g

 

This is pretty simple, just heat up the flour in a pan with about equal parts of flour and milk, then as it heats and as the flour dissolves, add successively more milk until all the milk is in. You will be cooking the flour until it forms a thick paste, in other words when it has obviously gelled.

Now for the bread part of the equation, you can scale all the ingredients, except for salt, directly into your mixing bowl, I have a planetary mixer, so I throw all the ingredients into there, being careful that ingredients that shouldn't touch don't (like eggs and sugar, hot flour paste and yeast).

Bread flour 907 g

Sugar 183 g

Butter 77 g

Salt 10 g

Yeast 15 g

Milk powder 24 g

Eggs 145 g

PGF 350 g

 

And because of the personality quirks of the planetary mixer I have my liquids in the bottom of the bowl, as much as possible at the very least. The mix starts off with the paddle for incorporation, then I switch to the dough hook for three minutes, the point at which all the ingredients seem equally distributed. Now I've thrown the salt in, and allowed it to rest for 15 minutes.

Another 3 minutes on first speed is for mixing in the salt, then it needs to be developed on second speed, however long it takes is however long it takes. Here it is after 7 minutes.

And again after 18 minutes on second speed. Needless to say it takes a long time to mix. When you combine the butter, sugar, and milk, it is quite the hydrated dough, but with time it will be properly developed.

At 80F it will be about 45 minutes to bulk ferment, give it a fold out of the mixer. Once this is completed, the dough was divided at 75 grams, rounded and placed eight to a papered sheet pan. Once proofed the rounds were topped with the pineapple bun topping, a flattened round about two inches across and baked at 375F for about 12 minutes.


I think I've narrowed down the bake to 375F fom 10 to 12 minutes. The mixing as well was spot on, with a 15 minute pre-development rest done without the salt and an 18 minute development phase on second speed. What still confounds me is the placing of the cookie dough on top of the dough prior to the bake. Sometimes the oven spring grows the round so that the cookie dough grows on the side of the round rather then right on top. That may mean that I need to use a thinner piece of cookie dough, but not so thin that it tears as the round grows. Quite the conundrum.


 

BurntMyFingers's picture
BurntMyFingers

I've been cooking Chad Robertson's Basic Country Bread for awhile with great success. Last week I was in San Francisco and decided to get a loaf of the real thing for comparison. This is not an experience for the faint of heart: you have to order 72 hours in advance, and it is literally impossible to find parking in the neighborhood at 5 pm which is the appointed time to pick up your loaf.

But, I persisted. And was surprised to discover the loaf currently offered out of the bakery is quite different than the recipe in the book--with a darker and moister crumb, and distinctively more sour.

I brought the loaf back to New York with me and after a bit of fiddling think I'm pretty close--actually as close as I'm going to get considering the differences in flours between East and West Coast. (I used KAF)

Here are the two loaves with Chad's on the right (what remained of a huge miche):

And here's a close up of the crumb (again, mine is on the left, theirs on the right)

I like the variation better and will be making it from now on. Here are the differences:

800 grams bread flour and 200 grams whole wheat flour (vs 900/100 in the recipe)

80% hydration (vs 75% in the recipe)

retarded 14 hours in refrig at 39 degrees F to increase sourness (and match the sourness of the loaf I purchased at the bakery).

lumos's picture
lumos

….Gosh, been really busy last few weeks and haven’t been able to post or blog for at all. A few people gave me PM/email messages, concerned about my absence (Thank you! :)), so thought I’d better re-appear once before Christmas just to prove I’m still alive and baking!

 So, here’s my last blog in 2011…..Seeded sourdough bagels.

 

 The formula is very similar to my regular basic sourdough WW bagels that I blogged about which seems like zillion years ago, only with added seeds and reduced WW. The procedure is exactly the same, except for spread & fold method, introduced by Eric, instead of kneading, which is so easy and works like a magic, especially for seeded dough = no need to chase around escaped seeds during kneading! (Thank you, Eric!) 

 

**************************************************************************************************

 

★Please note that I've been making this without added yeast as in original recipe lately.  It needs longer fermentaion, obviously, and the crumb is somewhat denser, but choice is yours! :) ★

 

Sourdough bagels with Mixed Seeds

 Levain …. Fed twice during 24 hr period before use with 120g high-gluten flour (see below) and 80g water (1st feed = 40g flour + 25g water,  2nd feed = 80g flour + 55g water)

 

 Main Dough

  High-Gluten Flour   470g (I use Watirose’s Canadian Very Strong White Flour)

  WW bread flour  100g

  Mixed Seeds   110g

  Non-diastatic malt powder   12g

  Sugar   14g

  Skimmed milk powder  2~3 tbls

  Wheatgerm   1~2 tbls

  Instant active dry yeast   1/4 tsp  optional (see Note above)

  Salt   12g

  Water  320g

 

Mix all the ingredients, leave for 30 mins.  ‘Spread & fold’ a la Eric-style (the link above) 3 times every 30~40 minutes.  Pre-shape → shape and place them on baking sheets (six per sheet), cover and cold retard in the fridge for 12 – 18 hrs to develop flavour.

 

  Just FYAI,  this is how I proof and boil bagel. (Note : those pictures are of the other batch of sourdough WW bagels with reduced WW which I baked during my absence, before seeded ones, but haven’t been managed to blog due to lack of time….)

A bit difficult to see, but I place thin strips of reusable baking sheet and sprinkle semolina under bagels…..

 

……which makew picking up fragile, proofed dough and putting them into boiling water gently so much easier.

 

 

A large, deep roasting pan is my trusted friend for boiling bagels, six at a time, which is ideal for my routine of baking 12 bagels at a time…..boil first six, 1 min a side → fish them out to drain on a tea towel while I put next six into the boiling water → load the first six into the oven → fish the second batch out, drain and into the oven. Switch the fan on for even temperature.

 Bake for 18 – 20 minutes @ 200C. (Take the first batch out after 18 – 20 minutes, move the second batch to the higher shelf, switch off the fan and bake another 2 minutes or so.)

 

…..and this is how they come out. (the photos miraculously change to those of seeded bagels! :p)

 

 ***************************************************************************************************

 

 Thank you so much for all your wonderful bready info, advices, help and  friendship in 2011 and

Very best wishes for merry Christmas and happy baking in 2012, too! 


Mebake's picture
Mebake

As i browsed through Laurel's Cookbook for Wholegrain Breads, i came across a recipe that utilizes Dates! and i live in a region where Dates in most forms are abundant all year round. The recipe calls for Pitted dates, that must be simmered first, and the resultant cooled goo is to be added to the dough. I had some date paste (used for confectionary, and pastry), and used it instead, so its not technically Golden Date Bread. I also added poolish to the recipe, and adjusted the formula accordingly. This bread, is a 100% Whole Wheat enriched bread, that is leavened by commercial yeast.

 

 

   

The Dough was quite thirsty, due to all the fiber, and was mixed longer for proper development.

  

The dough received two deflations, prior to preshaping. Final proofing was tricky, as i had

Pointers to the final fermentation time. Seems i underproofed slightly.

  

Today morning, i've had a few slices for breakfast. WOW! the first morsel struck me with its date-sweetness. The sweetness is very pleasent, and dates really lend a well bodied flavor. The bread is packed with fiber, from both wheat and dates. No bitterness of wholewheat was evident. The crumb is smooth and soft, not dense, and the crust is tender.

Very Recommended.

proth5's picture
proth5

My old waffle iron was handed down to me from my grandmother.  As the one or two of you who read my posts know, I am no spring chicken.  Neither is the waffle iron – which is roughly my mother’s age.

Just as with human beings, appliances seem to have a lifespan.  When sometime last year half of one of the two waffles produced by this venerable piece of equipment never got beyond a pale yellow and parts that should not have gotten warm became ominously hot, I decided that honorable retirement was the best thing for the trusty old waffle iron and began to cast about for one more fit for active duty.

I found one – I did all the standard “interweb” searching and this one was highly rated – except it was advertised as a “Belgian Waffle Iron” but reviewers said that the waffles were really a bit on the thin side for “Belgian” waffles.  I thought that would be perfect.  It was – sort of.  The recipe (found on these pages, thanks SylviaH) that I had for sourdough waffles wasn’t quite up to the increased thickness.

And it was bit sour for my tastes, I thought.

And not quite light enough.

With a head slap to my forehead, I reminded myself that 2011 was all about formula development and that perhaps I had it in my grasp to revise the (already delicious) formula to my specific tastes.

Also, if truth be told, I’ve been doing some Supply Chain consulting for the company that distributes OXO products.  You know “Good Grips” – the angled measuring cups, etc. In the vast confluence of unlikely events that makes up my life, I was chatting with one of the folks about my desire to own a hand cranked egg beater, their new egg beater and how cool it looked and somehow, one happened to come into my possession. I promised that I would give it a workout and report back.  A new waffle formula seemed to be just the thing.

I get all misty about waffles around the Solstice because my father really loves them. My mother can’t make them (that talent skipped a generation) and the only time he gets them is when I make the journey halfway across the continent to make them for him – usually at this time of year.  Unfortunately, the little hobby that supports my household and what seems to be an ever growing assortment of hangers on sometimes has its extraordinary demands and I will not be making waffles on the East Coast until sometime in 2012.

So for your enjoyment, I give you my jazzed up waffle formula.  I always have plenty of sourdough discard hanging about the house, but it’s worth saving up some.

As with so many of my breads as of late I use two “pre ferments.” I’m told by someone I respect (and admire!) that this is over elaborate, but since I’ve made this switch people (some of whom don’t even know me) are going seriously crazy over my breads, so, well, too bad, I say, too bad.

First pre ferment

4.5 oz 100% hydration sourdough discard

6 oz 11.5% protein flour (this is King Arthur All Purpose flour, but ringing in my ears is “All purpose? What does that mean?  You are beyond that.  You speak in protein percentages now!” Must – obey –voice!)

4 oz unsalted butter melted and cooled

8 oz milk

1 tsp sea salt

2 TBS non diastatic malt (or brown sugar)

Mix (with an eggbeater if you have one) and allow to mature overnight.

Second pre ferment

2.25 oz 11.5% protein flour

2.25 oz water

Pinch of instant yeast

Mix and allow to mature overnight

Additional ingredients

2 eggs, separated

¼ tsp baking soda

When pre ferments are matured (the next morning…)

Pre-heat the waffle iron at the appropriate time...

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (I’ll mention that an egg beater comes in handy here…)

Mix together the two pre ferments, the egg yolks, and the baking soda (can also be done with an eggbeater.)

Fold in the egg whites. Don’t use the eggbeater for this.

Bake per your waffle iron’s directions and your tastes.

 

Just a few more minutes than the earlier version – delish!

So, realizing what a privilege it is to get to make waffles for your family – be sure to make a special breakfast (or dinner) over the next couple of weeks.

My best wishes for whatever brings light into this dark time of the year go out to you all!

DougMathis's picture
DougMathis

Hi,

Has anyone come across a whole wheat bread recipe using molasses and honey? If so, has anyone ever substituted the honey with more molasses? or Has anyone a recipe that uses only molasses?

 

Thanks,

Doug

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