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As Jennifer Paterson famously said 'This bread is not your slimy old white slice' - Well, this isn't either.  I followed Akiko's recipe almost to a tee except I used my mandarin, minneola, apple yeast water instead of raisin yeast water.  I was forced into a 7 hour retard and I baked the loaf at 400 F w/ convection because that is what my Cuisinart Mini Oven does ( only 25 degree increments in temperature) and there was no reason to use a big oven.  I only baked it for 30 minutes, turned off the oven and cracked the door when the loaf hit 205 F and let it sit inside the oven to crisp up the skin.  This is the same oven I used for Phil's Vollkornbrot yesterday - talk about some serious dark to light whiplash :-)  teketeke's (Akiko's) recipe can be found here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22482/japanese-white-sandwich-loaf-raisin-yeast-water

Akiko has been most generous and helpful in getting me started with yeast water breads.  Some day, when I learn to slash better than my current 'double y chicken foot' signature slash, I will try out her baggies she makes from yeast water.  There is no question in my mind that YW is far superior to regular yeast when it coms to breads where sour is not need or wanted.

This Japanese bread has to be the king of white sandwich breads.  It sprang well over 100% in the oven even though we figured out my pan way too big compared to what Akiko uses.  It has the most luxurious, creamy crumb so moist, soft and delectable.  Just perfect.  The crust is deeply browned, crackly, bubbly, crunchy and crisp.  The taste is about as good as any white bread can ever hope to be - and that is saying something.  I can think of 20 ways this dough can be used, other than as a sandwich loaf.

If you don't use YW - you should try it even if just for fun.  It will brighten your bread horizons and its varieties and qualities can't be matched.  The next bread in mind, where some of the water is replaced with orange juice like Shiao-Ping did with her Orange Turmeric SD bread - that I also baked off with yeast water instead of SD.  Orange zest seems in order here too.  I hope those aromas get transferred to this new variation of Japanese White Bread.   But, Akiko just might beat me to it which will be fine and dandy :-)

And today I had it for lunch as a Hispanic spiced grilled chicken sandwich.

This is what happens when one tries to make the Oatmeal Bread from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book on a day that turned out to be too busy to make bread! 

The night before, I had cooked 1 1/3 cups of Roger's Porridge Oats* in 2 cups of boiling water, adding 1 Tbsp of salt once the porridge was off the heat.  I left the porridge to cool overnight in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. 

*Roger's Porridge Oats are a blend of rolled oats, oat bran, wheat bran and flax

In the morning, not as early as I'd hoped, I ground some fresh whole wheat flour and mixed up the dough as per the recipe.  The flour was straight out of the grinder, still warm.  I found I had to add more water than the recipe called for to make the dough come together.  The dough was still extremely stiff, but because the recipe insisted that the dough would absorb moisture from the oatmeal as it was kneaded, I didn't add more.

Right after mixing, I unexpectedly had to leave the house for a couple of hours.  I hadn't had time to knead the dough (by hand) for more than 2 minutes, and I never did add more water to soften it up.  I put the stiff ball into a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and left it on the counter.  The house temp was 17 degrees C.

When I got back a couple of hours later I only had a few minutes before I had to leave again.  The dough had risen about one and a half times.  I put the dough on a board, flattened it gently, folded it a couple of times, made a ball and put it back in the bowl.  It was so stiff that there was no stretching and folding possible - just a patting out, then folding to the middle.

When I came home again 2 hours later, the dough had risen to about one and a half times again and it was almost supper time.  I had no idea how to fix or amend the dough at this point, so I figured I'd get it ready for baking and see what happened.  I divided the dough into two and kneaded each piece briefly.  It tore pretty easily.  It was still quite stiff.  I don't know if that's what I should expect from 100% whole wheat loaves or if the dough does eventually get stretchy if it is handled properly.  I let the two pieces rest for 15 minutes or so, then formed them into loaves and placed them into two loaf pans brushed with pan grease. 

I put the bread to rise in the oven with the lights on and a pan of hot water.  It had been sitting in a cold, dry house all day and I thought I'd finally give it some warmth.  Once it was just over the edge of the pan, I brushed the loaves with warm milk and topped them with more porridge oats that had been soaked in milk for a few minutes.  I removed the steam pan, turned the oven to 400F, and baked the loaves with the cold oven method for 45 minutes, turning the heat to 350 after 20 minutes or so.

The loaves never did rise very well, but the bread turned out very moist and flavourful - way better than I was expecting after having to abandon it for most of the day.  It makes delicious toast.

 Things I was left wondering:

• Should the dough have been softer?  It was so stiff that kneading was a real chore.
• If I had kneaded it for more than the 2 minutes I had available, would it have ended up stretchy and gluteny and stopped tearing, or is that too much to expect from a whole grain dough?
• Did sitting all day help, or hinder, the dough?
• Could I have amended the dough after it sat all day, when I finally came home for the evening?
• Can the seeds in the oatmeal actually cut the gluten strands during kneading and ruin them?  Should I use plain oats next time?
• What can you tell about my bread from looking at the crumb in the photo above?  I don't know anything about "crumb" and that's what I find most intimidating about this site.  Can you experienced bakers take one look at my sliced bread above and shudder and know everything I did wrong in a mere glance? 

I have disappeared for weeks for a good reason: went to Argentina and got on a ship to Antarctic! (Trip itinerary here: http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic-expeditions/crossing-antarctic-circle/overview) Here's my trip report...

So many penguins! We are required to keep >5 meters away from them, but there are so many, can't get away!

Some baby ones are so curious.

Water aerobics

Diving?

What did ya say?

All lined up and ready to ... nap

Chinstrap penguins, kinda look like traffic cops?

Going home after a dip in the freezing ocean water

Hello...

Got on a zodiac to kayak, but before we could starter, an orca whale got REAL close! Yup, both my husband and I were on that boat.

Coming, it's coming

And it went under out boat. Three times!

Close enough to see it's face and... eye lashes!

It didn't just happen once, the next day, a humpback got real close

I thought that was the best whale sighting I could possibly have, then the next day, while we were kayaking a whale leaped out

Twisted and turned. Twice.

Can't forget seals, they are so cute too

Often saw them on ice while we kayak nearby

We got to kayak everyday

We were just casual kayakers before this, but now, we love it

How can you not love beating through floating ice?

Just resting, for a little while

Picture perfect

Step #1 to camp in Antarctic: create a hole in the ice/snow so we won't slide into the ocean

No tent! Can you believe it?! Just a mummy bag and a waterproof bag.

Husband was not cold at all, I was freezing all night

A full moon coming up right when we were setting up the campsite, we stopped everything and stared in awe

One of those perfect moments

Sunrise, yes, it's a seal beside the ocean right by our campsite

We got up and the seal poked out its head

Took a hike up the snowy slope when we first landed on the continent

Great weather, even I got warm after the hike.

Staring at the breathtaking views

That's our ship

It can get real rough, especially around Drake Paasage. We managed not to throw up, but it was still too shaky to do much else

Crossing the circle! I could swear I felt a bump...

Went to Iguazu Falls before we departed from Argentina

Bigger and better than Niagra Falls? You decide

After the cruise, glacier near El Calafate, Argentina

A 24oz steak in Argentina, husband finished it all. Plus a big plate of potatoe, I was sure he's gonna get sick

More meat

Even more meat. And they don't eat it until 10pm. I just can't deal.

If you want to see more pictures, go to the sub-albums here on the right hand side: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j109/SJRunner/Antarctica%202012/

A holiday week for Alison; a week of baking for me, plus a trip to Oxford to meet up with fellow UK TFL members and enjoy real quality time.

Here is the baking side of things:

Firstly I made Borodinsky on Wednesday 15th Feb, as my "show and tell" loaf for the UK meet.   My project is to turn this and other high rye loaves into 100% rye and eliminate the wheat portion.   Alison is avoiding wheat, and I am aware that there are numerous customers out there with similar aspirations.   To do this I need to source bulk quantities of light rye.   No changes made at this stage to the current formula.

Thursday 16th Feb was a much bigger baking day.   I began with a new rye formula; Moscow Rye.   This uses caraway seeds along with red rye malt.   It is all rye!   I used only the Bacheldre Dark Rye, and I also used a soaker plus the sponge to adopt the full 3 stage process.

Moscow Rye 15 – 16.02.2012

Rye Sour build:

Method:

• Build the sourdough as described above.   Make the “scald” as follows:   combine the caraway and the red rye malt and dark rye flour.   Weigh the molasses into a pan, add water and bring to a rolling boil.   Tip this onto the flour mix, and add any extra boiling water if there is evaporation.   Stir well to ensure full gelatinisation.   Cover and cool.
• Once sufficiently cool, add the scald to the sour to make the sponge.   Cover and leave to ferment for 6 hours.
• For the final paste combine the sponge with remaining flour and the salt, mix with the paddle beater in an upright machine, 2 minutes on first speed and 2 minutes on second speed.   Add water if needed [I added 220g which is 11% on flour].   Scrape down the bowl to ensure thorough mixing.
• Bulk proof for 1 hour with DDT at 28°C.
• Shape into a large Pullman Pan, plus a large and small bread pan prepared with lining of butter and coating of rye flour.
• Final proof for just 1 hour at 28°C, then bake.
• Pre-heat the oven to 280°C.   Load the pan, apply steam, and turn the oven down to 100°C.   Keep a supply of steam in the oven and bake for a total of 6 hours.
• Cool on wires; wrap in linen and leave 24 hours before cutting into the bread

I baked everything else in the wood-fired oven, as follows:

Gilchesters’ Miche/Boules 15 - 16.02.2012

Makes 2 Miches, 1 large and 2 small Boules

Levain build:

Method:

• Build the levain, see description above.
• For mixing, first of all mix on first speed for 3 minutes with a hook attachment, then autolyse the Gilchesters flour with the water only for 1 hour.
• Add the levain and the salt.   Mix on first speed only for 10 minutes.   Dough Temperature 26°C.
• Retard overnight.
• Bulk prove the dough allowing recovery to ambient; approx. 2 hours.  
• Scale and divide as above.   Mould round and rest for 15 minutes.   Prepare bannetons, re-mould dough pieces and set to final proof.
• Final proof DDT maintained at 26°C, for 3 hours.
• Tip each loaf out of the banneton onto a peel, score the top and set to bake on the sole of the wood-fired oven.   Small loaves bake in half an hour, next biggest takes 40 minutes and the biggest loaf took around 50 minutes.
• Cool on wires.

White Bread

This bread turned out with a lovely cracked crust; I made 1 large and 2 small loaves.

The sponge was fermented overnight; the Gilchesters' flour produces distinctly "off-white" bread, but these looked attractive once baked.

Wholemeal Bloomers

I made these as 4 large bloomers, baked on the sole of the oven.   The spring in the oven was really pleasing, producing a very light bread for a 75% wholemeal loaf.

Croissant etc. with Sponge

My base recipe for laminated yeasted dough   And I have adapted the formula to use a sponge where 20% of the total flour becomes pre-fermented.   I’m still to be convinced on the sponge, as I believe it makes the laminating process somewhat more difficult; the jury is out on this!

Method:

• Make the sponge the night before and leave to ferment slowly.
• For the dough, blend the milk powder and salt through the flour.   Weigh very cold [I pre-chill the water overnight] water into the mixing bowl, and dissolve the fresh yeast into this.   Add the sponge and the dry ingredients.   Mix with a hook attachment for 3 minutes on slow and 4 minutes on second speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
• Cover the dough and store in the chiller for half an hour, and meanwhile cut the butter into slices and roll between 2 plastic bags to create a pliable sheet of butter.
• Roll out the croissant dough so that the slab of butter fits onto two thirds of the dough slab.   Fold the butter in letter-style to create 2 layers of butter.   Rest for one hour in the chiller.
• Turn through 90° and roll out to the same size as before.   Fold the dough in 3 for the first turn, then chill a further hour.   Repeat this 3 more times to give 4 x ½ turns in total.   Rest a further one hour
• I then split the dough into 3 sections and made 14 Pain au Chocolats, 12 Pain Amandes and 14 Croissants.
• Glaze each finished unit with egg, dip the Pain Amande in flaked almonds and set to proof for 45 minutes.
• I used the electric oven to bake these on convection heat setting at 210°C for approx 15 minutes each tray.
• Cool on wires

Bara Brith [Speckled Bread, or, Welsh Tea Bread]

Method:

• Soak the fruit overnight in freshly brewed boiling hot strong tea.   The liquor should just cover the fruit.
• Drain off the liquor from the fruit and reserve both parts
• Make the ferment and leave, covered in a warm place for 40 minutes
• Cut the butter into small cubes, combine flour, mp, salt, spice and sugar.   Add the ferment and mix in a machine with hook or paddle beater to form a soft and well-developed dough.   Add the reserved tea liquor as needed to let the dough down.
• Ferment for half an hour covered.
• Cut the soaked fruit into the dough
• Rest 20 minutes, then process.   I made 3 large round loaves, Panettone-style, scaled around 800g each.
• These were baked slowly in the wood-fired oven.

The breakfast pastries went in the freezer, except a few left as a gift for my Sister-in-Law and Niece who came to look after our cat for the weekend!   One Bara Brith for Mark, "mine host" at the Bear and Ragged Staff in Oxford.   That apart, all the rest of these breads were sold on day of production, even though I only had orders for 7 loaves; the rest went too.

Today's baking made it to the freezer, ready for the Farmers' Market coming up on Friday.   I made the following:

 Breads for Monday 20th February 2012

Rye Sour built with 40g stock, plus 300g Dark Rye and 500g water, fermented overnight.   Wheat Levain built with 40g stock plus 600g white flour and 360g water, fermented overinight.   The Biga was also fermented overnight.

Ciabatta Dough

I made 15 x 250g Ciabatta breads, plus 3 x 900g sheets of Foccacia [Red Onion and Feta; Olive and Feta; Rosemary and Rock Salt]

Pain de Campagne with Mixed Leavens

I made 2 Miches plus 1 large and 3 small Boules.

My brother and sister-in-law sent me 5kg of T55 flour as a birthday present recently.    They have been staying in the Dordogne for most of January, and eventually he came across this flour which he was confident would be good for me to work with.

I’m going to use up the other 4kg on Thursday!

Some business on the baking front, with lots of ideas about how to take “Bread and Roses” forward too.   The studying needs more priority, of course.   ‘Twas ever thus!

Happy Baking Everybody!

Andy