A heads up to all bakers who use an autolyse in their bread baking -

Teresa Greenway (a home bread baker of consummate skill who has been sharing her knowledge on her blog  - http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/ - for many years) has posted two entries exploring the effect of an autolyse (the technique of mixing water and flour from your bread recipe and allowing it to rest for a period of time in order to develop the gluten in the bread dough).

Teresa specializes in sourdough breads. Her two experiments explore the length of an autolyse (from 30 minutes to 2 hours) and it's effect on the outcome of the bread. Her posts are detailed, well written and include many photos.

Here are the links to her two posts on this subject...

http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/?p=2558 (post #1 dated October 26, 2011)

and

http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/?p=2603 (post #2 dated November 3, 2011)

Definitely worth the read! Thanks Teresa. We owe you.

=== PS === I don't know Teresa and she certainly doesn't know me. I am simply an enthusiastic follower of her blog and thought that these two posts might be of special interest to some of the more advanced bakers on TFL.

The following was a blog post this week on a whole wheat/whole grain version of a Cuban bread recipe I posted a while back. Enjoy!

When you have baked for a while, you will have the urge to tweak your recipes, to play with them. At least that is how it has always been for me. IF I am patient enough, I will make the original once, ultimately determine that this and this ought to be different, and I go for it.

As much as I love the Cuban bread recipe I posted a while back, I am also in general not a huge fan of white bread, no matter how addicting. And Cuban bread is one of the best sandwich breads I have had. Therefore I set out to “Germanize” it, if you can call it that, and add some whole grain aspects to it.

One thing to keep in mind is which kinds of ingredients will affect the hydration balance in the dough and which ones will simply add flavor and texture. Because the balance of ingredients is nowhere more crucial than in bread, one has to be able to fine-tune a dough when one “plays” with it. Adding whole wheat or rye flours will affect the hydration balance, as they soak up water in a different way than white bread flour. Further, their gluten content is different, so this will have an impact on the overall texture. On the other hand, seeds will affect the flavor and texture primarily.

This tweaked “Cuban” is not only STILL a great sandwich bread, but it will make a great and very healthy addition to your dinner table (Thanksgiving?), both as sliced bread or as rolls. In the Basic Cuban Bread recipe, I substituted 1/3 or 292 g of the bread flour for whole wheat flour, or a mix of equal parts whole wheat, dark rye, white rye and semolina. I also added 50 g each of pumpkin seeds, sesame, cracked wheat, steel-cut oats and rolled oats. This made the loaf more crumbly, but not by much.

Last but not least, a few people have been asking me how to best shape a baguette/French bread. The technique is pretty much the same, no matter what length. In order to force the dough into a French bread/batard shape, start with a boule, let it rest, shape it into a "torpedo" and then roll it into itself. Seal the seams. This will give you the same effect as an "envelope fold" would, but it is easier in my estimation, and more effective.

The most important thing is to let the dough rest between stages in order for the gluten to relax. When you have sealed the seams, begin rolling the loaf into a batard by elongating it towards the sides. It is easiest to do the final proof on a French loaf pan instead of a couche, if you want to avoid transferring the loaf (also, I am avoiding proofing anything containing traces of oil/fats or egg on baker's canvas).

German Foodie’s Whole Wheat “Cuban” Bread

584 g bread flour 292 g whole wheat flour 462 g water 92 g poolish 18 g yeast 16 g sugar 57 g lard or liquid shortening 18 g salt

50 g each of pumpkin seeds, sesame, cracked wheat, steel-cut oats, rolled oats

Prepare bread dough, let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 400 F. Shape dough into two batards the length of a half sheet or French bread pan. Proof on pan, score straight down the middle. Bake for 30 minutes or until the bread’s interior is about 200 F; steaming at the beginning. Makes 2 loaves.

Download a printer-friendly recipe.

I just posted this review to my blog at The German Foodie.

“The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”, Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart

“The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” is published by Ten Speed Press, (P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley/CA 94707; http://www.tenspeed.com). 2001. ISBN 978-158008-268-6, 304 pages, hardcover. List price $35.00 plus shipping.

If there is one book I would recommend hands-down for anybody who wants to learn bread baking the right way, then it is “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”, lovingly called “BBA” on some bread baking forums I frequent.

Reinhart begins with an overview over gear and ingredients, including why some are to be preferred over others. My favorite aspect in this part of the book was the instructions on how to make improvised proofing bowls (p.36). I own several proofing baskets myself and am keenly aware how insanely expensive they are, so this is a good, low-cost alternative.

Most people will be tempted to skip the part about baker’s math (pp. 41), but I would urge them to read on. Baker’s percentages, while odd to get used to, are still the best measurement system when it comes to bread. After using them for a while, just looking at the percentages will tell the artisan baker all he/she needs to know about the general characteristics of the dough.

For anybody who has been wondering about general classifications of certain kinds of bread, pages 46 and 47 contain a graph listing the most popular breads and where they fall, from dough characteristics to rising method. More important to the novice baker, however, is the explanation on the twelve stages of bread, starting on page 48.

I am a strong autodidactic learner, and every good how-to (cook) book should include a section like this. Armed with this knowledge, if you cannot churn out amazing bread afterwards, you should maybe consider another past-time – it does not get any more comprehensive than this.

In this context, BBA includes some very helpful photographs on shaping bread (pp. 72). The one criticism I have here is that Reinhart’s way of shaping pretzels (top of page 80) is – sorry to say it – PATHETIC. I have never seen such a sorry excuse for a pretzel; children can do a better job than this. I would strongly recommend a complete redo of the related photographs.

Yet, this is the only real sore point about this book, which I otherwise love. The formulas are clearly written, and while I would have appreciated a column with grams included in the recipes, at least BBA is listing both volume and weight (the latter albeit in decimal ounces, when most smaller scales I have seen will give them in fractions – but hey, it is a start).

Unlike “Crust & Crumb” (featuring an awkward two-column layout), the recipes are listed in one large column with a tiny side column containing commentary, baker’s percentages and tips. The formulas are written out in clear paragraphs organized in ordered lists, and the first sentence of each paragraph starts with bold letters giving you the first idea of what is coming. Many recipes also include “grace notes” at the end, often disclosing the kind of information you would have to hunt the Internet for, like making your own herb oil for focaccia (p. 163).

Also, many recipes are accompanied by “how to” photographs as appropriate, for example when it comes to shaping the bread a certain way. And speaking of photographs, the majority of pictures included in the book are really nice and in color, unlike “Crust & Crumb”, which relies on awkward drawings for most of its illustrations (with the exception of some color photographs in the center of the book).

It seems inevitable, though, that every cook book contains a few recipes which, for the life of you, will not work, no matter how closely you follow them. BBA is no exception. Just like you would buy a CD for the one single and a handful of other songs you really liked, and accept that the other songs were not really your cup of tea, I guess one has to accept that the same applies to recipe books.

There are a few recipes in this book which I have not been able to replicate ever, no matter how faithfully I stuck to the letter of the formula. Neither have other people I have talked to, which would indicate an inherent issue with the recipe itself, not operator-related error. For some this only meant that some aspects of the method were erroneous, like using a stamp for making Kaiser rolls (p. 177). Interestingly enough, the photograph featured on page 176 shows rolls that have been hand-knotted or (dare I say it?) machined – but there is no way they were baked using a stamp. I should know, because I bought a stamp following what I read in BBA, and more or less tossed it the first time I tried it out. What does yeasted dough do when it is proofed, and later baked, after being stamped? Even when it is placed, as directed on its face for proofing? Exactly.

Other recipes that did not impress me very much were the one for pumpernickel rye (p. 246) or the one for ciabatta (p. 136). But most of those are outweighed by the parts that make this book indispensable in every serious bread baker’s collection – both regarding what I have outlined above, and by some other formulas in this book, like the one for lavash crackers (p. 178) or Vienna bread (p.261).

Get baking! :)

Sourdough is as old as humankind, or at least that is what I would like to think. This is how bread baking must have started: let a bowl with hydrated flour stand somewhere, and magically it rises at some point. It took mankind until the 17th century to figured out what organism actually worked that magic.

As fickle as a sourdough starter can be at times, the taste it conveys to a loaf of bread is unsurpassed. Tangy, rich, moist, and in this case perfectly complemented by the dark rye flour, which is at the same time sweet and tart. Give me a slice of sourdough rye with butter and some cheese and I am in Heaven.

I typically “feed” my sourdough starter, fondly referred to as “Hermann”, the day before I intend to make the dough. This treatment ensures that its taste is at its best, its freshest. “Hermann” is a 100% rye starter, so my sourdough rye bread has a LOT of dark rye in it.

The original recipe, which I found on Chefkoch.de, called for 250 g of cooked potatoes, but I have also used flax seed, pumpkin seeds (pictured) or sunflower seeds.

Basic Sourdough Rye Bread

700 g rye sourdough starter
250 g dark rye flour
400 g bread flour
300 g water
20 g salt
10 g gluten
10 g malt, dissolved in water
(10 g yeast, optional)
(250 g cooked potatoes or seeds, optional)

Preheat the oven to 200 C or 400 F. From the ingredients work up a dough, let rise until doubled (preferably retard over night). Divide dough into two equal parts, form boules and place them in proofing baskets. Proof until visibly doubled. Turn baskets onto baking sheet lined with a greased sheet liner. Bake for about 45 – 60 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 200 F and the thermometer shows no signs of wet dough on it. Let cool completely before cutting.

A staple in Cuban society, Cuban bread is not very much known in the Midwest. A few select places may sell Cuban sandwiches, but many times with a wholesale version of the bread which does not even come close to the original. Similar in style to French or Italian bread, traditional Cuban bread is made with all-white bread flour. The main difference is that the recipe calls for lard or alternatively, vegetable shortening. Instead of slashing the loaf before baking, a palm frond is placed on the bread, which leaves an indentation and is removed before eating. 

We used to make Cuban bread at the shop on full-length baguette pans. As a residential oven will not hold a loaf of bread this long, I had to resort to French bread pans, about half a sheet in length. Also, the crust turned out darker and more blistered than in our commercial ovens back then. My family did not care; they inhaled it just the same. Besides, THESE loaves looked prettier than the uniform, lighter crust we used to produce. :)

Basic Cuban Bread

876 g bread flour
462 g water
92 g poolish
18 g yeast
16 g sugar
57 g lard or liquid shortening
18 g salt

Prepare bread dough, let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 400 F. Shape dough into two batards the length of a half sheet or French bread pan. Proof on pan, score straight down the middle. Bake for 30 minutes or until the bread’s interior is about 200 F; steaming at the beginning.

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping someone would be able to help me with a constant problem I have been having.  I am relatively new to baking bread (I have been baking breads for about 6 to 8 months) but have always had success with every bread I have tried, whether artisan or simple, to a point.  The problem I keep running into is really wide bread.

Let me explain: Every time I make a round loaf my bread gets wider instead of getting taller (it gets tall to a degree but i still end up with a larger shorter round) causing my slices to be about 8 inches long but only an inch and a half or so tall.  Is there a way to avoid this and get more of a fully round loaf?  Do I need to use a mold in order to achieve this? I thought that I would be able to get a round free form, but it hasn't been working so far.  Is it possible that my bread is just too slack? I think its possible that the dough is too slack but it seems odd that it would happen to all my different types of bread and recipes I've used.

I currently have a poolish sitting out and would like to make some bread when I get home, so any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for any help you can give!

- Laura

Regular readers of the TFL forum will have seen that we have amongst us an expert baker and educator in the form of Andy (ananda).  It is clear from Andy's posts on this forum that he is a very accomplished baker and he has access to kitchens that are suitable for teaching bread baking, the college where he works has even just invested in some deck ovens.  

Having such a resource within our community made me wonder whether we could arrange a course that teaches Artisan bread baking techniques to experienced amateurs (such as myself and most other contributors to TFL).  It is likely that such a course would last at least a couple of days and, given Andy's location in the North East of England, an overnight stay would be necessary for most participants.  However, one great advantage of a course like this is that participants could have a high degree of involvement in developing the course content.

I must stress that this is only an idea at present but, if there are enough interested bakers out there it may be worthwhile exploring things a little further.  It is unlikely that the course could be arranged before June or July 2011.

Is anybody out there - particularly those of us who are UK based - interested?

I've been trying to bake artisan bread for about three years now, since I picked up a copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice as an exchange for a Christmas present.  In that time, I've never been particularly good about focusing on one particular bread and practicing it until I get it down, as so many of the wise bakers on this site recommend.  There are a couple of breads that I've mastered anyway, simply because I love them and bake them often enough to do blindfolded--the BBA Italian Bread in particular.  Starting this week, however I'm going to try to amend that, in a way sure to put me deep in over my head.  My objective: produce a reliable, tasty and beautiful baguette through practice, trial and error.  I don't really imagine that I will truly master the baguette--better home bakers than I have tried in vain, I know.  But I'm hoping to turn what is usually a hit-or-miss process into something I can do over and over again well, if not perfectly.

So, every Saturday from now until I get it right (or get sick of it), I will be baking three baguettes using the Baguettes with Poolish formula from Hamelmans Bread.  I have made this formula before with varying success, and on the first occasion just about nailed it by pure luck and accident--nice ears, open crumb, the works.  I know it can be done, if not precisely how.

This is the formula:

Poolish

• 5.3 oz. bread flour
• 5.3 oz. water
• 1/8 tsp yeast

Final Dough

• 10.7 oz. bread flour
• 5.3 oz. water
• 5/8 tsp yeast
• 0.3 oz. salt

Note: I halve the quantities that Hamelman calls for--we can only eat so many baguettes!

Process:

1. Mix Poolish night before
2. Mix all ingrediants with wooden spoon, let sit 5 minutes  
3. Mix in mixer ~2 minutes until the dough windowpanes 
4. 30 folds in the bowl with a rubber spatula  
5. Ferment 1 hour, stretch and fold  
6. Ferment 1 hour more, divide into 9 oz. pieces, pre-shape as cylinders  
7. Rest 10-20 minutes
8. Shape as baguettes, place on couche, spray with oil.  
9. Proof 1 hour  
10. Pre-heat oven to 515 and stone 45 minutes before baking
11. Transfer baguettes to parchment on a sheet pan, score.
12. Cover oven vent, slide parchment onto stone, pour steam, lower temp to 460.  
13. Bake 24-26 minutes, uncovering the vent, and turning the baguettes around after 10.

Pictures from week 1:

The dough was reluctant to slash, and so the scoring is all irregular. Still, it formed a nice ear along the slashes.  I'm thinking for next time I will make two changes: first, I will cover the baguettes while proofing, but not spray them; I think the surface was too wet to score easily.  Second, I'm going to increase the oven temperature--I kept the baguettes in for almost 30 minutes, and you can see how much color they got.  I'm aware that my oven doesn't get as hot as it says it does; I just have to calibrate what temp actually bakes a nice baguette in 25 minutes.

I'll update with crumb pictures later.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions; but for certain I'll be back next week to try again!

Update: Typical crumb shot below.  Surprisingly nice given the irregular scoring.  Crust wasn't as crisp as it might be; if changing the oven temp doesn't fix that I'll think about applying the "turn off the oven but leave the bread in" method, but one thing at a time.  Texture of the crumb was more fluffy than creamy, and the flavor just okay; I've done better with this formula.  But, again, one thing at a time.

This is a high extraction Batard from hamelman's "Miche point a callier"

I did not sift the wholewheat flour, i just mixed 90% wholewheat with 10% all purpose.

I deviated somewhat from BREAD. i folded in the bowl for 20 strokes for 4 times at 1/2 hour intervals.

Under sunlight

Taste: Well, since i haven't used a high extraction flour, nor artisan T90 or T85 flours, i would not really call this Point a calier, but nevertheless, it tasted like a superior quality 90% wholewheat loaf at 82% hydration. It has a subtle , yet well defined acidic tang, with creamy roasted-nut-like aftertaste. The crumb was soft, moist and firm enough to accomodate all kinds of spreads. I love it, and i will surely stick to the stiff levain with such a high hydration doughs.

Hi, I'm curious how everyone has learned this craft.  Through books and practice?  Baking Schools?  You Tube?  Divine intervention?

I'll share my experience, and then I want to hear yours...

I was given Jeffrey Hamelman's 'Bread' book a few years back.  Had no formal training and very little practical experience...just a love of eating good bread.  I mean I REALLY love good bread.  After reading the theory sections and thinking I understood much of it, I gave his Pain Rustique (Rustic French) a go.  Not sure how to describe the result.  Let's just say that after staring at the lump with my head in my hands for awhile, I decided to buck up and try again.  Next day the new lump was a little bigger.  The next was bigger still.  After a dozen or so attemps, I was actually able to, with a straight face, let my family taste my bread.  Not bad.

After months of practicing his Pain Rustique and attempting a few other recipes I felt that I could actually make pretty good bread.  I lurked on this forum for awhile and tried some of the more creative steam injection tricks...even bought a 6" half size hotel pan and a steam cleaner/injector.  Bread was getting better.  I'd say it was getting closer to local bakery quality.  Then, the wife did one of the things that makes me realize she's the one for me. She enrolled me in a bread baking course.

The instructor was a guy named Carl Shavitz who runs an artisan baking school in Italy and started doing a couple of courses in the U.S.  He was coming to Washington State (where I live) for an intensive week-long course at a great B&B.  It was all hands-on (no mixers) and the bread was baked in a wood fired oven.  Holy carp did we make some good bread.  White w/ Overnight Sponge, Grissini w/ Hazelnuts, fantastic sourdough, bagels, ciabatta, unbelievable foccacia, etc.  We had all our meals together (courtesy of the owner of the B&B) and ate huge quantities of great bread...and drank a fair amount of wine.  I can't even tell you how amazing that course was.  The attendees are even planning a reunion!

Anyway, I came away from the course making better bread than any local bakery and fully inspired to make this my future.  The bread has amazingly gotten better and better.  In fact, I'm starting a micro Artisan Bakery selling just 3 types of bread (for now): Sourdough, Rustic French, and Challah.  I already have a few regular customers and (to be confirmed over the next 2 weeks) 2 weekly wholesale accounts!

OK, enough of tooting my own horn.  What has your experience been?  Who did you learn from?  Who really inspired you?  I want to know.

Best,

Todd