Benito's blog

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I had some success with my last focaccia and wanted another go at it to improve the crumb.  This time I did a direct dough and baked it same day.  That bake had an overnight cold retard.  I also extended the proof to 5.5 hours from the original recipe posted by Maurizio on The Perfect Loaf.  What follows is my adjusted recipe for one or two 9” pans and adjusted instructions.

9” round pan

Total dough weight 450 g

Levain 19%

Hydration 76%

Total flour 247.5g

Levain build 1:6:6 75ºC 8-9 hours

4 g starter + 24 g water + 24 g bread flour

9”x13” pan or two 9” round pans

Total dough weight 900 g

Levain 19%

Hydration 76%

Levain build 1:6:6 75ºC 8-9 hours

7 g starter + 42 g water + 42 g bread flour

Method

Mix – 9:00 a.m.

This dough can be mixed by hand (I would use the slap and fold technique) or with a stand mixer like a KitchenAid.

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add both the flours, water, salt, and ripe sourdough starter (hold back the olive oil until later in mixing). 

Mix on speed 1 for 1 to 2 minutes until incorporated. Then, mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes until dough strengthens and clumps around the dough hook. Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes.

Next, turn the mixer on to speed 1 and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl while mixing. Once all of the olive oil is absorbed, turn the mixer up to speed 2 for 1 to 2 minutes until the dough comes back together.

Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.

This highly hydrated and enriched dough is  wet and loose , it won’t strengthen to the same degree as a typical bread dough.

Immediately after mixing the dough is still very wet and chunky. However, it’s not falling apart or soupy. Resist the temptation to add more flour at this point, as you can see below in the image at the right, by the middle of bulk fermentation it’ll strengthen after several sets of stretch and folds.

Transfer the dough to a covered container for bulk fermentation.

Bulk Fermentation – 9:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Give the dough 4 sets of stretch and folds, starting 30 minutes after mixing, and a set every 30 minutes thereafter.

Every 30 minutes for the remaining 2 hours of bulk fermentation gently stretch the dough, with wet hands, toward the corners of the rectangular container. The dough will resist stretching and spring back (especially with the oil underneath), but don’t force it—each time you stretch it’ll relax a bit more and eventually fill the container.

Proof – 11:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Transfer the dough to a deep rectangular pan or two round pans that have been greased with olive oil. If you don’t have a pan with a silicone liner, make sure to heavily oil the pan’s interior so the focaccia doesn’t stick during baking.

At 76-78°F (24-25°C), the dough will proof for 4 hours. This time period is flexible and dependent on the temperature: if it’s cooler, let it proof longer, and conversely, if it’s warm, you might be able to bake sooner.

Every 30 minutes for the first hour, uncover the pan and gently stretch the dough with wet hands to the pan’s edges to encourage it to fill the pan. The dough will naturally spread out during this proofing period, so it’s unnecessary to spread the dough aggressively. Once the dough is mostly spread to the edges, cover the pan and proof for 4 hours.

I felt that the focaccia needed 5.5 hour of proof and would consider going even longer next time.

Top & Bake – 3:15 p.m.

First, dimple the unadorned dough with wet fingers. Make sure the dimples are evenly spaced and go all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Then, drizzle on 1-2 tablespoons of your extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and coarse sea salt. If using other toppings, add them now as well—I like to press them into the dough gently.

Bake the focaccia in the oven at 450°F (232°C) until deeply colored on top, about 30 minutes. Rotate the pan front-to-back halfway through this time. Keep an eye on it during the last 5 minutes and pull it out if it’s coloring too quickly, or leave it in longer if you’d like it a little darker.

Let the focaccia cool a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. It’s fantastic warm from the oven, and best on the day of baking, but it’ll keep well for a couple days loosely wrapped in foil (reheat under the broiler before serving).

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Of note, I found that baking the focaccia in the cake pan resulted in much better oven spring than the one baked in the cast iron skillet.  Because both were proofed in their baking vessels the cast iron takes a lot longer to heat and as a result by the time the dough gets hot enough to rise, the top crust is starting to set.  Whereas the focaccia baked in the thin cake pan, while also cool at the beginning of baking, heated much more quickly before the crust started to set and ended up with much great oven spring and lovely bubbles which I like to see in focaccia.  If I want to make two focaccia at a time again, I may need to purchase another 9” cake pan.

These were topped with locally grown cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, shallots, feta (the feta and shallots were buried beneath the tomatoes and olives) olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.  This made a wonderful dinner what a simple salad.  I love this combination and you should give it a try, feta is wonderful on focaccia.

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So after having some luck with my first greater than 40% whole grain bake last week with the 75% whole red fife, I thought I’d push my luck and try another with a formula I put together.  Still chicken to go 100% whole grain I thought I’d inch it up a bit to 80% with whole Kamut and whole spelt.  The idea came to me when I noticed that Melissa had posted a Kamut spelt sourdough on Breadtopia, but that was 100% without any white flour. 

I should note that I forgot to add the honey as indicated in the recipe.

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I also finally got around to using the BBA based spreadsheet that Dan so kindly shared with me a while back.  Hope you like this new format.

Do overnight saltolyse and levain build.

In the morning add levain to saltolyse dough, mix to incorporate with Rubaud mixing.

Slap and fold to good gluten development.

Rest 30 min then bench letterfold ferment at 80ºF removing 30 g of dough for aliquot jar

Rest 30 min then lamination

Then every 30 mins coil fold

End bulk when aliquot jar 60% rise

Shape then bench rest until aliquot jar 90% rise. 

Then cold retard overnight

Next day

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside.

Once over reaches temp, turn dough out of banneton, score and bake in dutch oven for 20 mins at 450ºF with lid on.  Drop temperature to 420ºF and bake 10 mins with lid on.

Remove lid band bake for 20 mins or until done with the bread out of the dutch oven on rack directly.

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Sacrilege I know, focaccia is Italian but I wanted feta today on my focaccia.  So this really is just a simplified Greek salad on bread, what’s not to like?  Cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, shallots, feta cheese, salt, pepper and oregano are the toppings.  The feta is buried under each pair of tomato and olive, I wanted lots of toppings.  I followed Maurizio’s sourdough focaccia recipe again however, I did adjust down the dough weight so I would end up with a more “normal” thickness of baked focaccia in the end.  Because of scheduling, I had to do a cold retard of the dough overnight for the bake today.  I wasn’t sure how long to let it final proof for and I’m not sure if it is over or under proofed.  I was hoping to have lots of big bubbles, which I also didn’t get on my last focaccia.  

9” round skillet

Total dough weight 450 g

Levain 19%

Hydration 76%

Total flour 247.5g

Levain build 1:6:6 75ºC 8-9 hours

4 g starter + 24 g water + 24 g bread flour

Method

Mix – 9:00 a.m.

This dough can be mixed by hand (I would use the slap and fold technique) or with a stand mixer like a KitchenAid.

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add both the flours, water, salt, and ripe sourdough starter (hold back the olive oil until later in mixing). 

Mix on speed 1 for 1 to 2 minutes until incorporated. Then, mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes until dough strengthens and clumps around the dough hook. Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes.

Next, turn the mixer on to speed 1 and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl while mixing. Once all of the olive oil is absorbed, turn the mixer up to speed 2 for 1 to 2 minutes until the dough comes back together.

Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.

This highly hydrated and enriched dough is  wet and loose , it won’t strengthen to the same degree as a typical bread dough.

As you can see below on the left, immediately after mixing the dough is still very wet and chunky. However, it’s not falling apart or soupy. Resist the temptation to add more flour at this point, as you can see below in the image at the right, by the middle of bulk fermentation it’ll strengthen after several sets of stretch and folds.

Transfer the dough to a covered container for bulk fermentation.

Bulk Fermentation – 9:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Give the dough 4 sets of stretch and folds, starting 30 minutes after mixing, and a set every 30 minutes thereafter.

Every 30 minutes for the remaining 2 hours of bulk fermentation gently stretch the dough, with wet hands, toward the corners of the rectangular container. The dough will resist stretching and spring back (especially with the oil underneath), but don’t force it—each time you stretch it’ll relax a bit more and eventually fill the container.

Proof – 11:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Transfer the dough to a deep rectangular pan that’s been greased with olive oil. If you don’t have a pan with a silicone liner, make sure to heavily oil the pan’s interior so the focaccia doesn’t stick during baking.

At 76-78°F (24-25°C), the dough will proof for 4 hours. This time period is flexible and dependent on the temperature: if it’s cooler, let it proof longer, and conversely, if it’s warm, you might be able to bake sooner.

Every 30 minutes for the first hour, uncover the pan and gently stretch the dough with wet hands to the pan’s edges to encourage it to fill the pan. The dough will naturally spread out during this proofing period, so it’s unnecessary to spread the dough aggressively. Once the dough is mostly spread to the edges, cover the pan and proof for 4 hours.

OVERNIGHT OPTION: After two hours in proof, cover the rectangular pan with an airtight cover and transfer to the fridge. The next day, take out the dough and let it come to room temperature, and continue with the Top & Bake step below.

The rectangular pan I use fits perfectly inside my B&T Dough Proofer. I keep it inside the proofer, covered with reusable plastic, and set to 78°F (25°C) until ready to bake.

About 30 minutes before you anticipate the sourdough focaccia dough being ready, preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C) with a rack placed in the bottom third (a baking stone is not necessary).

Top & Bake – 3:15 p.m.

First, dimple the unadorned dough with wet fingers. Make sure the dimples are evenly spaced and go all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Then, drizzle on 1-2 tablespoons of your extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and coarse sea salt. If using other toppings, add them now as well—I like to press them into the dough gently.

Bake the focaccia in the oven at 450°F (232°C) until deeply colored on top, about 30 minutes. Rotate the pan front-to-back halfway through this time. Keep an eye on it during the last 5 minutes and pull it out if it’s coloring too quickly, or leave it in longer if you’d like it a little darker.

Let the focaccia cool a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. It’s fantastic warm from the oven, and best on the day of baking, but it’ll keep well for a couple days loosely wrapped in foil (reheat under the broiler before serving).

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idaveindy challenged me to bake a bread with more whole grain so I decided to take the plunge and bake a 75% red fife loaf.  I don’t recall having baked anything more than 40% whole grain before so this was going to be different for sure.  Red fife is a heritage wheat and I believe one of the first to be grown in Canada so it is dear to my heart and is what I use instead of whole wheat.  Despite the pandemic I’ve been able to reliably source it here in Toronto.

Going head first into this project I decided to write my own formula for this bread.  I recently have been trying to write my own formulas or adapt other formulas from the net.  I expected this whole red fife to be thirsty so my original recipe called for 95% hydration, however, I was shocked at how relatively not thirsty it was and ended up around 85-86% hydration.

Levain 92 g needed whole red fife 

Overnight build 1:6:6

8 g starter + 48 g water + 48 g red fife

Dough mix 

115 g bread flour 25%

299 g whole stoneground red fife 75%

9.2 g salt 2%

322 g water for 86% hydration

27 g honey 6%

Overnight saltolyse

The bran in whole grain need sometime to absorb water and soften.  I believe that this long saltolyse really helps that happen.

In the morning add levain to saltolyse dough, mix to incorporate with Rubaud mixing.

Slap and fold to good gluten development. 600-700 

Rest 30 min then bench letterfold ferment at 80ºF removing 30 g of dough for aliquot jar

Rest 30 min then lamination

Then every 30 mins coil fold - six done

Final shaping when aliquot jar reaches 60% and dough is domed, jiggles well and has fermentation bubbles visible.

Placed into banneton and left to rest on the bench until aliquot jar show 80% rise.

Cold retarded overnight.

Next day

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside.

Once oven reaches temp, turn dough out of banneton, score and bake in dutch oven for 20 mins at 450ºF with lid on.  Drop temperature to 420ºF and bake 10 mins with lid on.

Remove lid and bake for 20 mins or until done with the bread out of the dutch oven on rack directly.

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Overnight levain build

14 g starter + 86 g cold water + 86 g bread flour left to ferment at 77ºF overnight.

Prepare the Matcha paste and Black sesame powder as follows.

For the Matcha paste

Mix 8.5 g Matcha, 8.5 g sugar and 18 g water until smooth, cover and set aside until the morning.I

For the Black sesame powder

Grind 96 g of toasted black sesame seeds (I used a coffee grinder) then combine with 18 g of sugar.  Cover and set aside until the morning.

The next morning mix the following except for the butter.

312 g bread flour

1 large egg

30 g sugar

126 g milk

6 g salt

180 g levain 

30 g room temperature butter.

Using a standmixer, mix until incorporated at low speed.  Then mix at higher speed until gluten well formed.  Then gradually add the butter and mix until the dough is elastic, shines and smooth.

Remove the dough from the mixer, shape into a ball and divide into approximate thirds.  Shape the largest third into a boule and set aside covered with a towel.

Take the smallest third and combine with the black sesame powder and knead by hand until the black sesame powder is well incorporated.  Shape into a boule and set aside under a tea towel.

Place the final medium sized third into the stand mixer along with the matcha paste.  Mix until the dough is a uniform green colour and smooth.  Shape into a boule and place under a tea towel to rest for 5 mins.

Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule.  Roll out to at least 12” in length, set aside.  Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the matcha dough out to 12” and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough.  Finally rolling the black sesame dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the matcha dough.

Next tightly roll the laminated doughs starting with the short end until you have a swirled log.  Place the log in your prepared Pullman pan (I like to line it with parchment so it is easy to remove from the pan).  Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough come to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the pan.

At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355*F with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack.  At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough.  When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash.  Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through.  Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon.  After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness.  Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy.

Edited to add sugar to better balance the matcha.

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I had a theme going for this Valentine’s Day weekend of sour cherries.  Of course I needed a dessert so what better than sour cherry raspberry pie.  I decided after reading through a pie cookbook that I would try to bake it differently.  I blind baked the crust and then baked cut outs that I then painted some with red gel food colour.  I also cooked the filling on the stovetop and then assembled the whole thing placing the red cut outs in a heart pattern for Valentine’s Day.

The all butter pastry was a new recipe for me, one written by Kate McDermott in her book Art of Pie.  I’m still trying to find pie crust nirvana.  Although I was quite happy with Stella Parks Recipe, it was at times less tender than I would prefer.  So I’m still trying other recipes to see if I can find one I prefer.  This one certainly has the lamination and layers of buttery pastry that I like.  

Since these pie pastry recipes are American, I had to combine my 10% protein all purpose with my 13.3% protein flours to get it around 11-12% protein.  I didn’t use any baking powder or vodka or vinegar for that matter to tenderize the crust.

All the leftover bits of dough after trimming the edges of the pie crust were layered and chilled.  Later I rolled them out, sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on them, then rolled it up like a log and chilled again.  I later sliced them and baked them from frozen for about 30 mins and make half palmiers.  If they are any representation of the pie crust, then I think the pie crust is a success especially given the extra handling that these scraps of dough had.  Definitely don’t throw your scraps of pastry dough away.

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I’ve baked with Kamut up to 30% in the past but never tried 40% and never with inclusions.  I have however, baked with Semolina up to 100% but that wasn’t whole grain.  So based on my past Kamut recipes I’ve increased both the Kamut and the hydration and added black sesame seeds on the inside rather than seeding the crust.  

Overall I think this was a successful bake.

Total dough weight 900 g

Levain 86 g needed 9% PFF

Overnight build 1:6:6 Bread flour 74ºF 

7 g starter + 42 g water + 42 g Bread Flour

Wasn’t ready after 9 hours

Dough Mix overnight saltolyse 

Water for 85% hydration 364 g hold back 20 g so 344 g at mix

Bread Flour 244 g

Kamut 192 g

Salt 9.58 g

Levain 86 g

Total Formula 

Total flour 479 g

40% Whole Kamut = 192 g

60% Bread Flour = 287 g

Total water 407 g 85%

In AM

Add 86 g Levain and hold back water 20 g 

Rubaud mixing and then slap and folds until full windowpane approximately 550 slap and folds done

30 mins bench rest then bench letterfold

30 mins rest then lamination

Add black sesame during lamination 

30 mins rest then series of coil folds 

Aim for aliquot jar rise 60% before shaping

Allow further bench rest until at least 70% rise before cold retard.  This bake 75% then cold retard

Retard Overnight

Bake

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside

Once 500ºF remove dough from banneton and score as desired.

Transfer to dutch oven placing the lid on top place in over lower ⅓ of the oven.  Turn oven temperature to 450ºF. Bake for 20 mins.  The drop temperature to 420ºF and continue to bake for 10 mins lid on.  Then remove lid and continue to bake in the dutch oven lid off for 10 mins further.  Remove bread from dutch oven and bake directly on the oven rack for another 10-20 mins until fully baked.

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This is my first time with this recipe I put together.  Based on Dan and JC’s experiences with cocoa sourdough I’m hoping that my formula is a good tasting cocoa bread.  I used the usual 2% salt rather than lowering it because salt had hide bitterness.  I’ve added a bit more honey to try to balance the bitterness of cocoa.  I used a rich Dutch processed cocoa again with the alkalinization to help reduce acidity.  I added semisweet chocolate chunks and I used dried sour cherries that I soaked overnight in Irish Mist liqueur.  For those unfamiliar with Irish Mist it is made from aged Irish whiskey, heather and clover honey, aromatic herbs, and other spirits, blended to an ancient recipe claimed to be 1,000 years old.  The left over soak was so flavorful that I added it back to the bottle of Irish Mist, the sour cherry going so well with this liqueur.

Because the tannins in the cocoa tighten the gluten and increase the elasticity of the dough, I attempted to counter that by adding spelt to the dough and also using a relatively high hydration for a dough with only 20% whole grain.

Despite my alterations to the recipe hoping to increase extensibility the dough proved to be quite elastic.  So much so I was only able to do half coil folds most of the time.  Next bake I would consider using 10% protein all purpose to replace the bread flour, this dough doesn't require the extra strength of the 13.3% protein bread flour we have here in Canada.

For one 900 g loaf 90% hydration 

300 g white bread flour.              80%

41 g whole spelt flour (for added extensibility)             20% (including levain)

205 g water     (Next time 225 g and hold back water back down to 20 g)

40 g water for mixing later

6.75 g salt  

30 g cocoa powder alkalinized (Dutch Process) 8% cooked with 60 g water to make a syrup, then added 20 g honey to balance the bitterness of the chocolate

70 g levain   

20 g Honey 5.3%

70 g Chopped 60% semi sweet dark chocolate 20%

Total flour 376 g

Total water 320 g for 85% hydration 

Since added 40 g water during bassinage 90% hydration

68 g dried sour cherries 20% soaked in rum (or kirsch or Irish Mist) overnight

34 g toasted hazelnuts chopped 10% (consider dec to 10-15%)

Levain build 1:7:7 for overnight 74ºF

5 g starter + 35 g water + 35 g spelt

Overnight saltolyse

Bulk Fermentation 80-82ºF 

Add levain to dough, pinching along with hold out water, Rubaud for a few minutes then 700 French folds fully develop gluten.  

1. + 30 min Bench letterfold, set up aliquot jar
2. + 30 mins Lamination.  Place dough on wet counter and spread out into a large rectangle. Spread walnuts and cranberries on the dough in thirds. 
3. + 30 min half Coil Fold
4. + 30 min half Coil Fold
5. + 30 min Coil Fold
6. + 30 mins Coil Fold
7. + 30 mins coil fold
8. + 45 mins coil fold

End of BF - Shaping aliquot jar 60% or greater - the bench rest until aliquot 70% or greater.

Retard Overnight

Bake

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside

Once 500ºF remove dough from banneton and score as desired.

Transfer to dutch oven placing the lid on top place in over lower ⅓ of the oven.  Turn oven temperature to 450ºF. Bake for 20 mins.  The drop temperature to 420ºF and continue to bake for 10 mins lid on.  Then remove lid and continue to bake in the dutch oven lid off for 10 mins further.  Remove bread from dutch oven and bake directly on the oven rack for another 10-20 mins until fully baked.

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Based on my last bake which I felt didn’t have enough water, I wanted to see what would happen if I greatly increased the hydration for this bake.  If you do not include the soaker water the hydration is 70%, but with the soaker water it is a crazy sounding 109% hydration.  There was some spreading of the dough as it baked which I don’t like so I suspect the ideal hydration might be 5% less or just what the original recipe calls for.  The original recipe is Hamelman’s Five Grain which is super popular here, but I wanted to play around with hydration and used a 100% hydration levain instead of his > 100% hydration.

This is my third time attempting a decorative leaf score on my bread and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.  Had I achieved a better oven spring on this loaf I think the leaves would have stood up more from the loaf.  As well, between the end of steam baking and end of baking I lost some of the contrast between scored and unscored areas losing definition of the leaves.  Although I brushed off excess rice flour it is obvious that I didn’t brush enough of it off and when handling the bread to get it out of the dutch oven much of the loose rice flour shifted into the scores.  It’s too bad because the leaf scores actually looked decent this time.  Something to work on to improve next time along with adjusting the hydration.

Levain 74ºF overnight 

18 g starter 110 g water 110 g red fife 

Dough mix saltolyse overnight 

Bread flour 214 g

Spelt 71 g

Rye 36 g

Water 189 g (held back 20 g until next day added with levain)

Salt 8 g

Soaker overnight

34 g oatmeal, 0.68 g salt, 34 g black and white sesame seeds, 34 g poppyseeds, 34 g mix pumpkin and sunflower seeds 174 g boiling water

Overall 31% inclusions

1.    Liquid Levain   --- Make the final build 8-9 hours before the final mix and let stand in a covered container at about 74°F. Mix Levain and Soaker at the same time.

2.    Soaker   --- Pour the boiling water over the grain blend and salt, mix thoroughly, and cover with plastic to prevent evaporation. Make the soaker at the same time as the final build of the levain and let stand at room temperature. If grains that don't require a hot soaker are used (such as rye chops in lieu of the cracked rye listed here), a cold soaker will absorb less water, and therefore it's likely that slightly less water will be needed in the final dough.

3.    Mixing   --- Add all ingredients to the mixing bowl. In a spiral mixer, mix on first speed for 3 minutes, adjusting the hydration as necessary. Mix on second speed for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. The dough should have a moderate gluten development. Desire dough temperature 76°F.

4.    Bulk Fermentation   --- 76ºF until 60% rise by aliquot jar

5.    Folding   --- the bulk fermentation should be 3.5 hours with 2-3 folds

6.    Sharped and placed in banneton.

7.    Final Fermentation   --- After shaping leave on the counter at room temperature for 1 hour aliquot jar reached 75-80% rise, then place in fridge at 3ºC for 24 hour cold retard.

8.    Baking   --- With normal steam, 450°F for 20 mins then drop temperature to 420ºF and continue to bake lid on for 10 mins.  Remove lid and bake for another 10 mins.  Then remove bread from dutch oven and complete baking directly on the rack for another 10 mins.

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I’ve wanted to do another fruit and nut bread for a few weeks and decided to finally see how apricots and walnuts would do together.  I loved the rum soaked fruits I’ve done in the past so decided to rum soak the apricots overnight.  Toasted walnuts are always better than raw and finally to see if I could amp up the walnut flavour I added some walnut oil as well.  I tried another decorative score, of course my lack of practice and artistic talents impair the outcome.  I also think that perhaps a fruit and nut laden loaf may not be the best vehicle for this type of decorative scoring.

For one 900 g loaf 80% hydration (2 loaves)

311 g white bread flour.    (622)           

46 g whole wheat flour.     (92)          

21 g dark rye flour.           (42)             

274 g warm water, then         (548)   

21 g water for mixing later       (42)  

7.5 g salt  (15)

2 g diastatic malt powder 0.5%  (4)

12.5 g Walnut oil 3%

77 g levain   (154)

Total flour 416.5 g

76 g dried apricots 20% chopped soaked in rum overnight

76 g toasted walnuts 20%

Double batch 152 g each

Final dough weight 906 g

Levain build 1:6:6 for overnight 74ºF 

6 g starter + 38 g water + 38 g red fife

Overnight saltolyse

Add walnut oil at the end of mix by drizzling over and stretch and folding.

Bulk Fermentation 80-82ºF 

Add levain to dough, pinching along with hold out water, Rubaud for a few minutes then 500 French folds fully develop gluten.  Then stretch and fold to add walnut oil.

1. + 30 min Bench letterfold, set up aliquot jar
2. + 30 mins Lamination.  Place dough on wet counter and spread out into a large rectangle. Spread walnuts and cranberries on the dough in thirds. 
3. + 30 min Coil Fold
4. + 30 min Coil Fold
5. + 30 min Coil Fold
6. + 30 mins Coil Fold
7. + 30 mins coil fold
8. + 45 mins coil fold

End of BF - Shaping aliquot jar 60% or greater - the bench rest until aliquot 70% or greater.

Retard Overnight

Bake

Preheat oven 500ºF with dutch oven inside

Once 500ºF remove dough from banneton and score as desired.

Transfer to dutch oven placing the lid on top place in over lower ⅓ of the oven.  Turn oven temperature to 450ºF. Bake for 20 mins.  The drop temperature to 420ºF and continue to bake for 10 mins lid on.  Then remove lid and continue to bake in the dutch oven lid off for 10 mins further.  Remove bread from dutch oven and bake directly on the oven rack for another 10-20 mins until fully baked.

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