Benito's blog

We were out of bread again since we’ve been away so much and I haven’t had the time to bake as much as I like to.  I also didn’t have much time to plan and do something different.  When I realized that I hadn’t done a 100% whole wheat bread in a while I pulled out my tried and true 100% WW SD Hokkaido Milk bread formula which is now onto a 4.0 version.  I have to say that this is one of my best bakes in sometime.  Usually there are somethings that could have been better with each bake, some tweak that I’d so next time.  This one however, there really isn’t much to complain about.  I’m so happy with the oven spring this 100% wholegrain loaf attained.  The four lobes each rose so evenly.  When I measured the dough for each lobes I made sure that the center two were equal but heavier than the outer two.  I usually make all four the same weight, but wanted to see what would happen with the center two being heavier.  I’ll need to do this again on a few more bakes to see if there is an advantage to doing this, but my first time doing this suggests that there might be.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat. 

To develop by hand, melt the butter and add it with the wet ingredients.  

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 4-6 hours at 82ºF ending bulk fermentation once the dough has risen 30-40%.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.  At this point the dough should have risen 130-140% in total from the start of bulk fermentation.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF.

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My Index of Bakes

I haven’t baked in quite a while with the traveling that we have recently been doing.  I was tasked with bringing rolls for our family dinner at my sister’s new place up in the Muskokas and this was going to be our first visit since she and her husband moved there.  Everyone is a fan of milk rolls but I wanted to make them slightly different than I have for dinners past so added red Leicester cheese to the dough and the top of the rolls.  They came out pretty well although I have have underdeveloped the dough somewhat limiting the oven spring.

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For 24 rolls in a 9 x 13” pan

egg wash: 1 egg and 1 tbsp milk, beaten…

Prepare the stiff sweet levain overnight or the day before and refrigerate when ready.

Cook Tangzhong mixing flour and milk constantly until it becomes a thick roux.  Let cool before adding to final dough.  Or add to cold milk and egg to cool it down.  Add the levain and break it up into small pieces with your spatula.  Add the salt and dissolve.

To mix by hand, add the flour to the wet ingredients (milk, tangzhong and egg) to dissolve.  Next add the flour and mix with a silicone spatula until no dry flour remains.  Rest 10-20 mins.  Next perform French folds until the dough is well developed.  Smear the butter onto the dough and then fold to incorporate and then perform further French folds until well developed.  Form into a tight ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a damp cloth @ 82°F for 3-4 hours, some rise will be visible. Alternatively, you can add the butter once the dough is moderately developed a pat at a time.  Finally mixing the dough until well incorporated.  Allow to bulk ferment until risen about 30-40% depending on the temperature this may take from 4-6 hours.

Butter a large baking pan or line the pan with parchment.  Punch the dough down and then divide into 24 equal portions.  Form each into tight boules.  Place in the buttered baking pan seam side down.  Cover them and allow them to fully proof about 4-6 hours, they should pass the poke test.

About 30 mins before the end of proofing time, whisk your remaining egg and milk and then brush the small boules.

About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.  Top with the shredded cheddar cheese to your preference.

Bake the rolls uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your rolls get brown early in the baking process.

Remove the bread from the oven but not the pans and then let cool for 10 minutes before pulling the bread from the pans. You may need to slide a butter knife down the sides of the pan to loosen the bread, but I have found parchment paper to be unnecessary. 

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I also baked a rhubarb streusel pie with all butter crust and pastry leaves.  I added a handful of strawberries to give the filling a bit more colour.

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My Index of Bakes

I just baked this today and I think it is my favourite pan bread that I’ve made so far.  I absolutely love the crumb, nicely open for a pan loaf.  The flavour from the toasted walnuts, toasted sesame seed oil, touch of honey and the 20% whole spelt are just fabulous.  There is a mild tang since I did not use a stiff sweet levain to suppress the acidity, but instead used a regular stiff levain.  This bread is so soft yet the crust is pretty thin and crisp.  No tangzhong or butter or milk used in this loaf, it isn’t quite lean but only has 2.5% sesame seed oil and that bit of honey.  I’ll be making this again, but not right away since we are headed to the UK for a vacation and won’t be back home for about 3 weeks.

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For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

Build stiff levain, ferment at 74°F for 10-12 hours overnight.

In the morning salt and honey to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds or use your mixer.  Once the dough is well developed, while the mixer is running, drizzle in the toasted sesame oil until well incorporated.  Next gradually add the walnuts until well incorporated.   Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

Once the dough has risen 40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan or a total rise of 85%.  Pre-heat oven at 425°F and prepare for steam bake starting about 45 mins prior to dough reaching 85%.

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Vent the oven (remove steaming gear) rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust.

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My Index of Bakes

I’m working on improving my spelt baguettes by slowly increasing the hydration 1% at a time trying not to overshoot and have a disaster LOL.  At only 9% of the total flour, whole spelt should give some good whole grain flavour while also helping the dough’s extensibility.  Also this should help achieve an open crumb which is quite desirable for baguettes.  I don’t think I’m quite there yet with this bake.  I also had some trouble releasing one of the baguettes from the couche causing some degassing.  As well, by using my Ankarsrum Assistent to develop the dough I have been increasing the final rise.  This time I started the preheat of the oven when the dough had a total rise of 60%.  During the oven preheat, the shaped en couche baguettes were cold retarded in the fridge.  I believe next time I will increase the hydration to 79% and start the cold retard at 65% rise.

I have been dropping the temperature of the oven sooner and more and like the effect on the crust.  I have been able to get a thinner crust this way which I love for my baguettes.

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Overnight levain

Built and fermented at 76°F to be ready in 10-12 hours.

Fermentolyse - mix 359 g water with all the levain, salt 10 g and diastatic malt 5.3 g to dissolve, then add AP flour to combine.  Rest 5-10 mins. Slap and fold x 100 or use mixer to knead until moderate gluten development,  then add hold back water 27 g gradually working in until fully absorbed then slap and fold x 100 or use mixer until mod-full gluten development.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.

Do folds every 30 mins doing 2-3 folds

Could do cold retard at this point for  up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins

Use spelt flour for couche

Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 60% rise then cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring. 

Pre-heat oven 500*F after 30 mins add Silvia towel

Transfer to peel on parchment

Score each baguette and transfer to oven bake on steel

Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480*F 

The baguettes are baked with steam for 9 mins.  Decrease the temperature to 450°F and continue to bake with steam for another 4 mins.  The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam.  The oven is left at 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 8 mins rotating them halfway.  The oven temperature is then dropped to 375ºF and the baguettes rotated again if needed and baked for another 3-5 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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My index of bakes

I’m am behind on my posting here.  I baked this loaf a while back and it is already gone.  I recently found ground black sesame seeds at a local Asian market, this saves me the trouble of grinding the seeds myself.  I love adding the ground seeds to the dough as it gives the crumb a lovely grayish colour and a great black sesame flavour to the bread.  If you cannot find already ground black sesame seeds, then I would use my coffee grinder to grind the seeds.  You’ll just need to clean the grinder before and after use.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Again, knead until well incorporated.   Next add ground black sesame and mix again until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Add the nuts/seeds, then mix again until they are well distributed.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF

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My index of bakes

I’m back at work for a couple of weeks covering a few of my old colleague’s practices for them while they are on vacation.  Working interferes with my baking and other retirement activities but at least I make a bit of extra money and keeps my mind fresh.  I wanted a quick bake of something to bring to work with me, it seems it is expected now, so a quick loaf/cake came to mind.  I was in Chinatown the day before and picked up a couple of pounds of purple sweet potato with this loaf in mind.  I prepared all of the sweet potato by wrapping each in foil and baking them until they were fork tender.  Once cooled I scraped out the flesh and mashed it all, taking out what I needed for this bake while bagging 90 g batches in small ziplock bags which I’ll keep in the freezer for future bakes.

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This was truly a delicious cake, the dark chocolate is rich and smooth, while the cake is moist and tender with lovely spice notes and a mild flavour of the sweet potato.  It was devoured very quickly with lots of compliments.

I did make one big mistake with my first batch of chocolate ganache, unfortunately I kept pot on the burner after adding the chocolate to the simmered cream etc. and the chocolate split.  I tried a few things and couldn’t bring it back together.  I ended up having to toss it all in the bin and run to the store for more dark chocolate.  The second batch went perfectly.

Ingredients

1 lb. sweet potatoes (2–3 medium), peeled, cut into 1" pieces, or 1 cup (250 g) canned sweet potato purée

Unsalted butter or nonstick vegetable oil spray (for pan)

2½ cups (313 g) all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

2 large eggs, room temperature

1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar (I used 250 g)

2 tsp. finely grated orange zest

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

GANACHE AND ASSEMBLY

½ cup heavy cream

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

2 Tbsp. brewed coffee

½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt

8 oz. (227 g) bittersweet chocolate

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation

CAKE

Step 1

Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 400°. If using raw sweet potatoes, wrap in foil and roast on a parchment-lined baking sheet until tender (a knife should slide easily into flesh), 50–60 minutes.

Step 2

Unwrap sweet potatoes and let sit until cool enough to handle. Transfer to a small bowl. Using a potato masher or fork, smash until smooth. Measure out 1¼ cups (250 g) purée; save any extra for another use.

Step 3

Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Butter a 9x5" loaf pan or lightly coat with nonstick spray. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on long sides. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.

Step 4

Whisk mashed sweet potato (homemade or canned), eggs, granulated sugar, zest, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add oil, whisking constantly until completely incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients in 2 batches, mixing just until combined after each addition. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth surface with an offset spatula.

Step 5

Bake cake until golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 75–90 minutes. Transfer cake to a wire rack and let cool in pan 15 minutes. Using parchment overhang, lift cake out of pan and onto rack. Remove parchment and let cake cool completely.

GANACHE AND ASSEMBLY

Step 6 

Bring cream, butter, sugar, coffee, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, add finely chopped chocolate (this will allow it to melt more quickly) and vanilla, and whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. If you don’t remove from the heat and heat the chocolate too high it will split and be very hard to fix.  Let cool until thickened slightly, 40–60 minutes.

Step 7

Pour ganache over cake (it should flow over the sides) and, using a small offset spatula, smooth it evenly over surface. Chill cake until ganache is set, 20–30 minutes. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

 My index of bakes.

This past winter I figured out my miscalculation on the salt content of my miso when I realized that I based the salt on the dry weight of the beans when in fact I needed to account on the hydrated weight.  This loaf achieves a nice mild yet distinct flavour of my homemade 1 year fermented red miso.  To balance the flavour I have added a small amount of my friend’s wild flower honey from their beehives.  Other than the addition of the honey, this is otherwise a lean bread since no fats were added.  The bread is lovely and soft with a fairly open crumb for this type of bread.  I did attempt to score it, but it was very very soft.  The resulting bloom actually almost appears to have occurred naturally.  I think the next time I will try this again and add some toasted sesame seed oil and see how that comes out.

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Overall hydration about 82% when including the 18% water in honey

For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

Build stiff levain, ferment at 74°F for 10 hours overnight.

Starter 6 g, water 23 g bread flour 39 g

Bread flour 262 g, Whole Wheat Flour 129 g, Water 304 g, all levain, hold back water 13 g, honey 26 g and Red Miso 54 g

In the morning, add miso and honey to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds then gradually add the hold back water in several aliquots using Rubaud to fully incorporate the water well.  Alternatively you can use your standmixer to develop the dough and do the bassinage.  Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

Once the dough has risen 40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan.  pre-heat oven at 425°F and prepare for steam bake.

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Vent the oven (remove steaming gear) rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust.

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My index of bakes.

Since my last two loaves were for family members I am low on bread again.  I toasted some walnuts and decided to combine it with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for a loaf.  I love the flavor you get from the addition of nuts and seeds to bread.  For this loaf I baked it once the total rise was 140%.  I use an aliquot jar to measure this, a company called BillieOlive makes them.  I’ve doing testing of their aliquot jars for them and most recently, they made a new one that has markings to allow me to measure over 150% rise.  These are very useful.  This loaf is a touch over fermented, you can see that by the slight loss of definition of the four lobes.  I like to see more definition, so probably for this dough 130-135% rise is optimal.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Again, knead until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Add the nuts/seeds, then mix again until they are well distributed.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF.

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My index of bakes.

I decided to bake a second loaf today on a whim to bring with us on our visit to my inlaws.  I didn’t plan ahead so an instant dry yeast leavened loaf was the only thing to do.  I had a bottle of pesto in my cupboard that has been staring at me every time I opened the cupboard so decided to do this laminated bread which I gave a fancy name even though it isn’t all that fancy to make, although it looks it.

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Ingredients

3¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons (422 grams)

all-purpose flour, divided

1 tablespoon (12 grams) granulated sugar

1 (0.25-ounce) package (7 grams) instant yeast

6 g salt

1 cup (240 grams) whole milk 

¼ cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs (100 grams

Pesto - I used store bought, 212 mL.

Directions

1. In a small pot add milk and butter.  Using medium heat, warm the milk to melt the butter.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted add the milk/butter mixture.  Once cool to warm room temperature, add eggs, salt, sugar and IDY.  Add flour and mix until there is no dry flour.  Fermentolyse for 5-10 mins.
3. Knead using the standmixer until there is good gluten development.  Using my Ankarsrum Assistent this took about 4 mins.
4. Transfer the dough to a damp countertop and do a letter fold, then tighten the dough into a tight ball.  Place the dough into a bowl and allow the dough to double, about 40-60 mins.
5. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
6. Punch down the dough.  Release the dough from the bowl to a lightly floured countertop.  Divid the dough into four approximately equal pieces.  Snape each quarter into a tight boule.  Cover and rest for 10-15 mins.
7. Roll 1 boule into an 11” circle.  Transfer to the parchment paper lined cookie tray.  Spoon then brush about ⅓ of the pesto onto the dough circle leaving a ½” border.
8. Repeat #7 for two more boules of dough stacking each on top of the previously pesto covered circle before adding and spreading the pesto.
9. Roll the final boule again into an 11” circle and stack this on top as well.
10. Preheat oven to 375°F bake.
11. Place a 1.5” round cutter in the center of the dough circle pressing lightly to leave an impression but not cutting through the dough.
12. Using a long knife or pizza cutter make 16 equally spaced cuts from the outside edge to the center circular impression.
13. Twist each piece of dough in alternating directions 3 to 4 times.  Pinch adjacent pairs of twisted dough together at the ends to form points.
14. Cover and allow to double in size about 30 to 45 mins.
15. Just before baking, brush with egg and milk wash.  Optionally sprinkle sesame seeds in the center circle.
16. Bake for on baking steel lowest rack.  18 mins until golden brown.   After  18 mins moved up to the middle rack to completely bake and become golden brown.
17. Allow to cool, enjoy.

My index of bakes.

We are heading to my in-laws house this long weekend for a visit.  I wanted to bring bread because when we had our vacation from our vacation in Florida with them this past winter I didn’t have time to bake bread for them.  I still had some mashed purple sweet potato in the freezer from my stash last year so decided that this might be a good use of 100 g of it.  The only change from this bread from my previous bake is the addition of smoked paprika.  I was going to add cinnamon but wanted the bread to be more savory than sweet.  I love adding smoked paprika to sweet potatoes when I roast them so I figured this would work well.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Purple Sweet Potato Filling

100 g mashed sweet potato

12 g granulated sugar

1 tsp (1 g) smoked paprika

12 g flour

Mix together and set aside.

Egg/milk wash: 1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk, beaten

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

Butter a large baking pan.  Punch the dough down and then divide into 2 equal portions.  Form each into tight boules.  Stretch and then roll each piece of dough into a large rectangle, approximately equal sizes.  Spread the prepared purple sweet potato filling evenly over one of of the rectangles of dough leaving about 1cm at the edge of dough without mashed potato.  Place the other rectangle of dough onto the other sandwiching the sweet potato between them.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out a bit more aiming for more than 12” in length and just under 9” in width.  

Using a ruler and pizza cutter, cut the dough into evenly wide strips about 1.5-2 cm wide along the length of the dough but leaving about 2-4 cm of dough uncut at the end furthest away from you.  When all the strips are cut, twist the strips in alternating directions, clockwise and then counter clockwise.  Once all the strips are twisted, roll the whole thing into a log starting furthest away from you getting a nice tight roll at the start.  Transfer the dough into your prepared pullman pan with the seam side down.

Place in the buttered baking pan seem side down.  Cover them and allow them to fully proof until the top of the dough reaches within 1 cm of the rim of the pan.

When there is about 30 mins left of proofing time, prepare your egg and milk wash and then brush the top of the loaf.

About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your loaf gets brown early in the baking process.

Remove the bread from the pan and return to the oven baking directly on the rack if the sides of the loaf aren’t yet crisp baking for another 5-10 mins.  Cool on a rack, enjoy.

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I hope I remember to get photos of the crumb tomorrow.

My index of bakes.