Recent Blog Entries

Somewhere in a previous post (I cant find the post) I said I had this manual and if anyone wanted it to contact me on pbdegraaf@tadaust.org.au    This email address will soon cease so anyone wanting a zip copy of the manual can get in touch on barbdegraaf1@gmail.com.    I have had quite a few requests so hate to think someone might lose out when @Tadaust is cancelled.

Like so many of you, I hate to throw away my sourdough starter, so I made pretzels for the first time.  They really turned out very well; a much better first time bake than some of my other first-time experiments!   My husband is a bit picky, and he really enjoyed them.  We ate one fresh out of the oven.  I tried a few things that were different than the recipe, and I think I will do the same the next time I make them.  I really wanted a recipe where the pretzels were boiled, so I found one that was fairly simple.  The shaping will take some practice, but I happy with the first try and look forward to making them again, perhaps with a little different twist.  Now, I have to do some real work rather than enjoy the Labor Day holiday baking!

Broadtrip:

So it started with Miller's Bakehouse, Chico Farmers's market found us another bakery, Bouchon Bakery is always worth a visit.  Then we swung over to Wild Flour bread for more loaves. 

So the two rows on the left are all Wild Flour Bread

top left (2 loaves) Dragon:  jalapeno, garlic, and cornmeal

down one:  Olive:  kalamata olives, zaatar, nigella seed

front:  100 % Rye:  caraway, sunflower seed

Second Row from left:

top:  "Wildflour"  Signature wheat loaf (baker's suggestion and mentioned Spelt)

down 1:  Super Seed (multi grain with seeds)

down 1  Wonder - all white sourdough

front:  Occidental - nuts, raisins, cardamom seed

Four loaves top right all from Miller Bake House:

top left - Sesame Loaf - 50% wheat (i think) sesame seeds

bottom left :  chico nut bread (100% wheat, walnuts, almonds)

top right:  Mission Loaf (fig and fennel)

bottom right : Spelt (100 % spelt loaf)

The front right two loaves: 

Large is from Bouchon and I forget the name but he seemed usnure if it was a sourdough.  Multigrain none the less.  Also had a sweet baguette which was good but nothing to right home about.  On the hand some of the pastries were amazing.  The gourmet HoHo, the bouchon brownie, salted carmel macaroon, and the two sandwiches just great.  They make a brioche that they finish like a pretzel which looks awesome but has no shelf life and was very dry, pain au rasin was better last time.  The lines were crazy and we had to do it twice.  Great service.  Expensive as I was already aware.  Not to knock this bakery as it is worth a visit and has some great stuff.  It is proof that too large of production diminishes quality.  

And finally front right.  Hearth and Stone from Cohasset, Ca (found em at the Chico farmers market)  

Russian Black : Pretty standard ingredient list like a Russian Rye but done with natural levain.  

I'm gonna do some slicing, take some photos of each, and then taste and I'll show em all individually. 

Happy Baking/Eating

Josh

Alnwick Farmers’ Market

Friday 30th August 2013

I have really enjoyed reading other TFL regulars posting about their baking adventures in relation to their local farmers’ markets.   I attended my own local market on Friday of last week and thought I’d do a short blog post with some photographs of the products I offer for sale.   I’ve posted formulae for most of these more than once before, but it may be instructive for me to give more description for each of them here, as they are currently made.

Here are some photographs taken at the market to give a flavour of the Bread and Roses' range:

All these breads are now made using only natural leavens.

The Moscow Rye is unchanged; 100% rye sourdough, 3-stage process.   It is an 18 hour first fermentation, followed by the addition of a scald to the sour to create a sponge.   4 hours more fermentation before making the final paste.  1-2 hour bulk and 1-2 hour final proof, then bake.   They go into the wood-fired oven at whatever temperature the oven is at; with lids on the pans.   A hot oven sees an 800g loaf bake in just over an hour.   But I have baked them for a LOT longer on the dead oven.

The Gilchesters’ Miche is unchanged too, but I find a 2 hour autolyse combined with a stiff levain gives the best results for a dough with 73% hydration using very weak locally grown organic and high extraction flour.

Seeded Sourdough has a long history, as we baked a Special Seed Bread at the Red Herring many years ago using Pumpkin, Sesame and Sunflower Seeds.   The soaker of Golden Linseed is from Jeffrey Hamelman.   The stiff white levain is my own, as is the choice of 50:50 white flour to wholemeal.   Similarly with the Five Grain Levain which is very much based on the Hamelman formula, but using my stiff levain.

The Spelt bread is still a work in progress.   I like that it allows me to use more local flour from Gilchesters.   I like that there is interest in this ancient grain.   My formula uses stiff levain of strong organic white flour at 30% pre-fermented flour, 60% hydration, with wholemeal organic spelt making up the remaining 70% of the flour.   I don’t like: it’s bitter!!   I use a raisin purée to try to offset the bitterness [with mere occasional success].   The crumb is tight and the dough dries out too quickly; an increase to 71% overall hydration has helped a little…but results in even less dough tolerance, as the fermentation always races like a train.   I definitely do not like the cost either!   Ok, it’s “a pig” to mill, and the yield is a mere two thirds of what you can expect from wheat; but how do I justify £23 for 15 kg as against £12 for 15kg of the lovely Farmhouse flour?   I should explain that the regular wheat used by Gilchesters is a single variety “rare breed” Sativa wheat, organically grown, sourced specially from Germany on account of no fancy biologist arsing about with its genetic make-up over the last umpteen years and more.   Try as I might I often fail to convince those who worship as the alter of Spelt that the Farmhouse flour offers equal provenance, is just as safe a dietary bet for those with issues, and, actually tastes a lot better.   So I’m stuck trying to make a better spelt loaf.   This one is not bad, but you can see I’m not raving about it; and that is not good enough.   I want to love all the bread I offer for sale.

Moving on; the white bread.   I’ve changed tack here; this is a more ordinary white bread.   I like it much better too.   Nigel makes a much better white loaf than I have ever achieved using the Gilchesters’ Ciabatta flour and a liquid leaven.   A lot of this is to do with his oven, I believe.   Anyway I was really happy with the 800g offerings I came up with this time.   In summary, I now use only the Marriage’s Organic Strong White flour.   I use stiff levain, 60% hydration, with 25% pre-fermented flour.   I autolyse the remaining 75% of the flour for 1-2 hours.   The overall formula gives 68% hydration.   Nigel uses an overnight fermentation for his white dough.   That doesn’t work for me.   2 – 3 hours of bulk fermentation with a couple of folds, followed by 1.5 – 2 hours final ferment gives me the best results.   Of course, the real difference is in the leaven preparation, and I remain in favour of well-fed stiff dough rather than liquid levain.   Feedback from colleagues is favourable and positive.   This is good, as I find it very hard to get REALLY enthusiastic about any white bread.

The Toasted Brazil Nut and Prune Breads are now made with levain only.   Originally, I used an overnight Biga.   I make these as 400g loaves, in order to make them a commercial proposition.   And, they are really popular at the Alnwick Market; I sold a dozen of them, even at £2.80 each.   Why do nuts have to cost £10/kg here in the UK these days???

The laminated paste does use baker’s yeast, as a “straight” dough.   I use an overnight cold fermentation.   Once the butter is incorporated, I give four half turns to laminate the dough.   Typically, this would involve 2 half turns, one hour rest, 2 more half turns, then a further one hour rest.   I used 1kg of flour in the formula, and 420g butter.   Yield gave me 15 Croissants, 10 Pain Amandes and 10 Pain au Chocolats.

Autumn at Bread and Roses looks busy; very busy indeed.

Happy Baking to you all

Andy