weavershouse's blog

I made the sour rye today following David's post and spraying the loaves with water instead of the corn starch glaze as suggested by arlo and PMcCool. I sprayed the loaves well with water just before putting them into the oven and again after 15 min. and again after 10 min. and again after the temperature of the loaf was 205 degrees. I turned off the oven and let the loaves sit for 5 min. with the oven door ajar. 

The crust is very firm, there is a nice shine and I'm pleased. 

I used first clear flour from KAF and rye I ground. Unfortunately the loaves burst on one side.

 I haven't cut the loaves yet.

I made JoeVa's sourdough with Durum Flour and while very tasty there are more holes than crumb. Anyone know why? I followed his formula but added 1 TBLS. vital wheat gluten because I was using all purpose flour with the durum and thought the AP might need a boost. When I took it out of the fridge this morning it looked ready to bake so as soon as the oven was ready I put one in then baked the other when the first came out. This photo is of the second loaf. The crumb was not as open on the first but almost. You can see I did not get the lift that Joe got. Like I said, the taste was very good.

I plan to do this again soon using higluten flour and I just might bulk ferment the dough overnight and stretch/fold and shape/bake the net day.

weavershouse

I posted this under Eric's SIMPLE SOURDOUGH CHALLANGE and here in my blog.



Two tries

Ok, here's what I did. Yesterday I made a loaf and baked it the same day. Today I baked a loaf I had mixed yesterday. I'm happy with both but want some improvement and I want to try some things a little differently.

Yesterday I used my starter that was made with AP flour. I consider my starter firm but it's not kneadable. I started at 7am, followed directions using the high gluten flour but 1/4 cup of oatmeal instead of the whole wheat. I wanted to see if I could make a loaf the same day with no refridgeration. I did the S & F's as instructed. It's cold in the kitchen, the dough was taking forever to rise so I moved it to a warmer spot on the oven. I finally baked it at 5:30pm. I was very surprised to see blisters on the crust because I thought that only came with time in the fridge. (Was my kitchen that cold??) Anyway, the crust was both crisp and chewy. Crisp on the outside with a chewy underside. The crumb was very open with nice shiny air holes and chewy. Holes are almost too big, I think. Taste was excellent fresh and this morning made very good toast with butter dripping on my front. I'm happy with the rise but I want the nice round boule with high shoulders. Try again.

The important things for me are:

Use high gluten flour if you like chewy

I did the S & F's in the bowl. Let the dough rise to double, turned it out on a lightly floured board and GENTLY did a S & F, pulling the dough out and folding it over itself, preshaped GENTLY, let rest, shaped GENTLY and it only took an hour to rise enough to bake.

I baked it under cover (in my hot le creuset) as written. Lately I've been turning the oven down from the 450ºF to 400ºF but not this time and I think it helped make the shiny holes and the crisp top crust.

SECOND LOAF

Yesterday when I mixed the first loaf I refreshed my starter with high gluten flour and it was ready for me to mix this second loaf at 4pm. I followed the recipe and was ready to put in fridge at 9pm last night. This morning at 7am I took it out. It was well risen so I turned the oven on at 7 and baked at 8am. I was trying for a nice round boule but used an oblong basket with linen that I folded up around the dough hoping to keep it round. Instead I ended up with a square loaf! The blistered crust is nice, the taste is great with a tiny bit of sour. Very chewy and if you don't like chewy I'd try using regular AP flour.

Getting the dough from my basket to the le cresuet and trying to slash was not easy so next time I'm going to turn the dough unto a cookie sheet and use the stainless steel cover. I know it will bake the same as the le creuset because I've done it before. The slashing was impossible once the dough was in the HOT pot so I just used scissors to cut some kind of pattern that didn't come out very pretty. Next time I'm going to do like hans and just turn the dough upside down and let the bread do its own thing.

Thanks Susan for all your hints and patience. Do you think your very firm starter makes a difference in the outcome? How do you get your dough to the baking surface from your colander? How do you get your boule to pop up so nice and round??

weavershouse

My third Scali

I'm adding this to my blog. It's also in Sylvia's post for Scali bread.

 I'm very happy with this bread. Yesterday I made a double batch and made 7 rolls and one braid. I didn't take a photo of the braid but the rolls are shown below. They were delicious with that stretchy pull apart crumb that I like in Italian breads. To make yesterdays batch I made the starter as given in the KAF recipe very early in the morning, let it sit 7 hours, mixed the dough, let it rise 90 min., deflated it and put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning it was risen about half way, I divided it, let it rest for an hour then shaped, let rise and baked. The flavor was delicious in the rolls and like I said a nice stretchy holey crumb. I didn't taste the braid, it was a gift. I did not make the strips 24" long like the recipe called for. I only made them about 17". The loaf was much higher and I liked it that way.

Last night I made up another starter and today made the recipe as written but made batons instead of the braid and used poppy seeds because I had used up all my sesame seeds. It probably can't be called a Scali anymore :o)  I was surprised with the high rise of todays loaves. They were a good 3 1/2"-3 3/4". Todays bread tastes very good but not as delicious as yesterdays and I'm wondering if it's because today I used the dry milk called for instead of using the whole milk I used yesterday or because the dough for the rolls was retarded overnight. Still very good but not quite up to the other. Todays crumb is not as open either.

Anyway, thanks again for introducing us to this KAF recipe. It's become a favorite. Wish I had some of that cherry jam! A friend gave me 5 lbs of the huge dark sweet cherries. I couldn't get out to her place to get them right away so she froze them for me. Do you think I could still make cherry jam with them?

weavershouse

The rolls shown below were made with the Scali dough

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Today I made Mark Sinclair's wonderful Multigrain. I've made it before and don't know why I waited so long to make it again. The aroma of this bread baking should be enough to get me to make it often. Ehanner posted his loaves last year and his crumb is very open and beautiful. And the crumb on his is lighter in color for some reason. To see his take on this bread go here...

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/7905/really-great-multigrain

Mark's recipe makes 4.6 lbs of dough enough for 3 good size medium loaves and one that I made into a small cinnamon raisin pan loaf. Even with a tighter crumb than Eric's the bread is still light and delicious. Toasted for breakfast or for sandwiches is my favorite way to eat it. I used mostly white whole wheat for the whole wheat called for otherwise I followed the directions as given. I didn't use a mixer.

I was refreshing my starter to make pain de campagne when I saw this post. Your Italian bread is beautiful inside and out. I decided to try this and was VERY happy with the results. A really delicious bread, we ate half a loaf already.

I doubled the recipe to make four batards. The only thing I did different is I used Barley Malt Syrup instead of the powder because that's what I had. Next time I'd mix it with the water first because it was hard to mix in. I don't have a mixer so I did stretch and folds and a couple of minutes kneading. My crumb is not as open as yours. The first two loaves overproofed a little because my grandkids were getting ready to go home just as the loaves were ready to go in the oven. By the time we said our goodbyes I knew the bread had gone too long. You can see which two they are. The second two had time to sit and ferment while the first two were baking and by the time I formed them they had lots of air bubbles. I formed carefully and only let them proof for a little more then 30 minutes. Absolutely delicious! After all the lean breads a litte bit of sugar and oil were very tasty. I like the lean breads for toast and this Italian will be a favorite sandwich bread. Thanks for the post. 

English Muffins

After seeing proth5's muffins I had to try them hoping to get the nooks and crannies. I messed up totally when I tried to convert the recipe to kg so ended up guessing. After several stretch and folds I let it rise for about 1 1/2 hour. It was full of big bubbles by then and I thought I want lots of holes so why should I deflate this thing and roll out all the air bubbles. I just gently turned it out on a floured board and gently pulled it out till it was about 1 1/2 - 2" high and just cut with an inverted drinking glass. I put them on cornmeal and then right onto the hot skillet still full of air bubbles, no rise time. I didn't use rings. I was happy to see all the "butter bowls" inside. I hope I can repeat the whole thing, mistakes and all. I ended up with 18. I doubled the recipe but should have ended up with 12. Oh well. Thanks proth5 for the inspiration. They toast up great.

My photo is very bad.

Pagnotta

Bill Wraith's Pagnotta

Today I also made Bill Wraith's Pagnotta. This bread always works well. I was on the phone when these were proofing and they went too far. I was worried they would deflate but they didn't, they just baked into each other so I'll have to pull them apart when they cool. The recipe can be found in the SEARCH. Hope you see these Bill so I can say thanks for your recipe.

SAUSAGE ROLLS

I made these for dinner tonight along with a salad and it was good eating. I used PR CRUST AND CRUMB Pizza Dough II, with some changes. For the flour I used 1/3 all purpose, 1/3 whole wheat I ground and 1/3 King Arthur Italian Style. At the last minute I decided to double the recipe and then realized I didn't have enough poolish so the only thing I had to make up the missing amount was to add about 1/2 cup of my rye starter. It all worked out fine, the rolls were very tasty. I used about 1/4 of a single batch recipe (about one pizza's worth) to make 4 rolls about 6" long. I patted the dough out into rectangles, added thin slices of Asiago cheese, chopped cherry tomatoes and sliced onions, s & p, and about a 5" piece of well cooked and browned Italian Sausage. Wrapped the dough around and sealed. Baked on parchment covered cookie sheet till nice and brown. Oiled tops when they came out of oven. A nice crisp salad and we were happy.

Pain de campagne

This is the first time I made Leader's French Country Boule and I'm very very happy with it. I doubled the recipe and made 3 loaves. The boules are 8" across and the batard is 12". I thought they were well risen but I guess I should have let them go longer because they busted out. I should have left the boules darken more just because I like the dark better. Instead of the whole wheat called for I used First Clear Flour and I used pumpernickle for the light rye and I used a little more salt than called for. My sour dough starter was refreshed 3 or 4 days before I made the starter but it did good. It was a stiff starter.

I will make this often. The flavor is excellent. The crumb is even with no large holes. Did anyone else post a photo of this bread so I can compare? How long did you let it proof after shaping? I know zolablue and Liz made this....how does is compare bread friends?

By the way Liz, I picked up my rye grain yesterday. The health food store finally got it in. I'm itching to try it. weavershouse

I finally made the English muffins, thanks browndog, etc. I made one batch with milk and one batch with buttermilk. I did add 1 TBL. olive oil and used 1/2 cup starter. Neither had open holes but still tasted very good with the buttermilk batch having a little more flavor. The picture shows the crumb (both batches looked the same inside and out). My picture is not very good and I sent my daughter home with all the nicest looking muffins. These were, as everyone who made them said, very easy indeed and very good. No more store ones for us. I used a 3" cutter and only got 7 from one batch and 8 from another. Next time I'll roll them thinner so they cook faster. I did put them in the oven for 10 min. to be sure they were cooked because they were so thick.

My husband brought in this 3rd big basket of red peppers from the garden. What to do with them??? I've already frozen, fried and dried so many. I decided to try making rolls with the red peppers cut in small pieces and using Asiago cheese in the dough. I mixed everything (flour, salt, yeast, o. oil, Asiago cheese, diced peppers, water) GARDEN PEPPERS  ENGLISH MUFFINS  

 together and let it sit overnight. In the morning I did one stretch and fold and let it sit a half hour then divided it into 3 oz. pieces and made rolls using some tension but the dough was sticky and they were hard to shape. They were already puffy from the half hour rise and I didn't want to lose the bubbles. They rose 45 min. and baked up delicious. I baked them under cover using the rectangle roaster shown peeking out under my tray of rising rolls. Baked 15 min. under cover and 15 min. with cover off. My husband had his with Italian sausage and onions and I had one with sliced tomatoes and lettuce. Ok now....that took care of one pepper what about the rest??!!

By the way, a couple of members asked about the cow in the background in another photo. He's an antique cookie cutter from Pennsylvania. The other antique cookie cutter would be me if someone made a cookie cutter of me. Well, I exaggerate about some areas :)

Anyway it's good to be back baking. I've been checking in now and then and I've seen some BEAUTIFUL breads. Thanks browndog for getting me to finally try the muffins. Any new books to suggest?