Benito's blog

I did not bring my starter with me to Florida.  Instead, I have decided that I would bake using preferments using tiny amounts of IDY.  Today I baked a loaf using a biga.  The main reason I chose a biga is that I want milk to be the main hydrating liquid for this bread rather than water, it is a milk bread after all.  I didn’t do a good job accounting for the humidity of Fort Lauderdale and the formula I wrote up ended up with a dough that was too wet.  I gradually added little bits of flour until it wasn’t so wet.  That isn’t ideal of course but next time I’ll start with milk at 5-10% less and bassinage more in if I need to.  I also do not have a mixer down here in Fort Lauderdale so did this enriched dough all by hand.  I probably didn’t develop the gluten quite enough, although in the end it looks fine.

For this loaf I wanted to incorporate some holiday flavours since we’ve decorated our apartment for Christmas already and felt in the mood.  I love cranberry and orange together and since we’re in the south, pecans of course.

This was my first time working with King Arthur Whole Wheat flour, it is quite different from the organic stoneground whole wheat I am used to which has much larger bran particles.  This also affected the hydration of the dough and is yet another thing I’ll have to adjust for the next bake.

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For a 9x4x4” Pullman pan

The night before, prepare tangzhong and biga.  

Soak cranberries with just enough water to cover

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on med heat with about 1.5 cm of water, place the bowl of your stand mixer creating a Bain Marie, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool.

In a small container, mix the flours for the biga.  In a separate container dissolve the IDY in the water.  Pour the IDY water into the container with the flours.  Mix well to fully hydrate the biga.  Allow to ferment overnight at room temperature.  In the morning it should be domed and ready to use.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 5 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar, diastatic malt and biga.  Mix and then break up the biga into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour.  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 drizzling or adding in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium.  Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  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 strained cranberries and pecans, mix until they are well incorporated in the dough.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2-2.5 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 or line with parchment paper.  A tip if you’re using very soft butter to grease your pan, after greasing the pan, place it in the fridge for a bit to firm up the butter that way the butter won’t just melt into the dough.

For baking as rolls

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into 12. Shape each tightly into boules, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then shape tightly into boules.  Place them into your prepared pan.

For baking as a loaf

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

Lightly flour 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 a 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 3-4.5 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 3-4.5 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. Proof until the dough passes the finger poke test.  For a loaf the dough should reach within 1 cm of the rim of the pullman 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 rolls for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your buns if they get brown early in the baking process. You can brush the top of the buns with butter if you wish at this point while the buns are still hot and sprinkle with flaked salt.

For baking loaves, bake for a total of 50 mins at 350°F, remove the loaves from their pans and bake directly on the rack for an additional 5-10 mins.

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After I posted my first sourdough Mazanec and Vanocka, I heard from many European bakers on IG who love these breads and they said that they eat them year round that’s how much they are loved.  We leave for Florida in a couple of days, unless we are delayed by the newly forming tropical storm, so I needed to bake another Christmas present, this time for the staff of our building.  With the feedback from the first bake, I decided to make some adjustments to Maurizio Leo’s recipe.  I wanted to use a stiff sweet lEvian with the idea of reducing the sour tang while also hopefully making a levain with more osmotolerant yeast selected for.  I increased the lemon zest to enhance the lemon flavour while also adding some candied mixed peel for a bit of variety to the inclusions.

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This formula is for two loaves.

Directions

Make the levain and soak the raisins and cranberries the night before.

In the evening, when your sourdough starter is ripe (when you’d typically give it a refreshment), make the levain. In a large jar, combine bread flour, water, ripe sourdough starter, and sugar. Cover the jar loosely and let the levain ripen overnight at warm room temperature (I keep mine around 74°F to 76°F/23°C to 24°C). In a small bowl, combine the raisins/cranberries and brandy (use enough brandy so they’re just covered). Cover the bowl.

Mix the dough 

In the morning, about 12 hours later, your starter should be bubbly on top and at the sides, have risen in the jar, have a sour aroma, and have a loose consistency. If it was cold in your kitchen overnight or it isn’t displaying these signs, give it one more hour to rise and check again.  Drain the brandy soaked fruit. 

Cut butter into small pieces, place them on a plate, and set them inside the proofing box set to 82*F to become very soft. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), lemon zest, and the ripe levain. Set the mixer to low speed and mix until all the ingredients are combined and no dry bits of flour remain. Turn up the mixer to medium-low and mix for 3 to 5 minutes, until the dough starts to clump around the dough hook. This is a moderately strong dough at this point, and should mostly pull away from the bottom of the mixing bowl. 

Let the dough rest 10 minutes in the mixing bowl, uncovered.

The butter should be at room temperature by this time (meaning a finger should easily push into a piece with little resistance). If you used the paddle to mix, switch back to the dough hook, and with the mixer turned on to low speed, add the butter, one piece at a time, waiting to add the next until the previous is incorporated, 4 to 6 minutes total. Once all of the butter is added, turn the mixer up to medium-low and continue to mix until the dough smooths and once again begins clinging to the dough hook, 2 to 3 minutes. The dough will be cohesive, smooth, and elastic at the end of mixing.  Add the drained fruit and mixed peel.  Mix until well incorporated. 

Transfer the dough to another large container (or leave it in the mixing bowl) for bulk fermentation.

Bulk ferment the dough

Cover the dough with a reusable airtight cover and let it rise at 82°F  for a total of 2-4 hours. During this time, you’ll give the dough one set of “stretches and folds” to give it additional strength.

Finally, let the dough rest, covered, for the remaining 3 hours of bulk fermentation.

Shape the dough

Check your dough; after 2-4 hours, it should have risen about 10-20%  in the bulk fermentation container, have a few scattered bubbles, be smoother with a slightly domed top, and be moderately light and fluffy to the touch. If the dough still looks sluggish or feels dense after 4 hours, give it another 30 minutes to rise.

For shaping Vanocka, divide dough into six equal portions.  Pre-shape as a boule.  To form each piece into a strand about 14” long. On an un-floured board, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to about ¼ inch thickness. Then roll up each piece into a tight tube. Using the palms of your hands, lengthen each piece by rolling each tube back and forth on the bench with light pressure. Start with your hands together in the middle of the tube and, as you roll it, move your hands gradually outward. Taper the ends of the tube by rotating your wrists slightly so that the thumb side of your hand is slightly elevated, as you near the ends of the tube.)

Braid the loaf.  Braiding somewhat loosely, not too tight. 

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I ran out of bread, hard to believe since I’m semi retired with more time to bake, but it happened.  I found a bit of whole kamut in the back of the closet so that gave me the idea of combining it with some semola rimacinata (semolina) since they are related and both have a great yellow colour.  I decided to try doing a cold retard after shaping.  I’ve never done this with a milk bread that I can recall.  This is the reason for the blisters on the crust, which for this type of bread I’m not a huge fan of.  The bread ended up being super soft and fluffy with a gorgeous yellow crumb and buttery crisp crust.  Really perfect for sandwiches which is what we did with the first slices for dinner tonight.

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For 1 9x4x4” Pullman pan

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 Kamut 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.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium. Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 3 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 countertop and your scraper. Scrape the dough out onto the oiled 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 a lightly oiled rolling pin and hands, 4roll and 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. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the bread is still hot to keep the top crust soft.

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My index of bakes.

This year we will be away until just before Christmas.  As a result, I need to do at least some of my Christmas baking before we go.  I’ve been eyeing the mazanec recipe from Maurizio Leo since Easter.  I realize that Mazanec is an Easter bread, but the recipes for Mazanec and Vanocka are so similar and since Vanocka is a christmas bread I thought I would try making these.  The Mazanec seems to be shaped as a boule and given a cross scoring.  The Vanocka seems to typically be plaited in two layers, I decided to do a six strand plait because I enjoy doing them and like the way they look.

I followed Maurizio’s recipe except that I used half raisins and half cranberries since I thought they would be nice and a bit more Chrismassy.  I also used brandy to soak the dried fruit instead of rum.  My fermentation took longer than Maurizio’s but I think both loaves turned out well.  I had to stagger the baking since both would not fit well in my oven.  I gave the Mazanec a cold retard so that I could bake it the following morning.

These breads are slightly sweet, enriched with butter and eggs and have hints of vanilla, almond and lemon.  I hope the recipients of these loaves enjoy them.

Vanocka

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Mazanec

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Directions

• Make the levain and soak the raisins and cranberries the night before.
  
  In the evening, when your sourdough starter is ripe (when you’d typically give it a refreshment), make the levain. Cover the jar loosely and let the levain ripen overnight at warm room temperature about 75°F.  In a small bowl, combine the raisins/cranberries and brandy (use enough brandy so they’re just covered). Cover the bowl.

• Mix the dough 
  
  In the morning, about 12 hours later, your starter should be bubbly on top and at the sides, have risen in the jar, have a sour aroma, and have a loose consistency. If it was cold in your kitchen overnight or it isn’t displaying these signs, give it one more hour to rise and check again.
  
  Cut butter into small pieces, place them on a plate, and set them aside to soften to room temperature. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), zest of 2 lemons, and the ripe levain. Set the mixer to low speed and mix until all the ingredients are combined and no dry bits of flour remain. Turn up the mixer to medium-low and mix for 3 to 5 minutes, until the dough starts to clump around the dough hook. This is a small amount of dough in the mixer, so if at any time the dough fails to effectively move around with the dough hook, you can switch to the paddle attachment. This is a moderately strong dough at this point, and should mostly pull away from the bottom of the mixing bowl. 
  
  Let the dough rest 10 minutes in the mixing bowl, uncovered.
  
  The butter should be at room temperature by this time (meaning a finger should easily push into a piece with little resistance). If you used the paddle to mix, switch back to the dough hook, and with the mixer turned on to low speed, add the butter, one piece at a time, waiting to add the next until the previous is incorporated, 4 to 6 minutes total. Once all of the butter is added, turn the mixer up to medium-low and continue to mix until the dough smooths and once again begins clinging to the dough hook, 2 to 3 minutes. The dough will be cohesive, smooth, and elastic at the end of mixing.   Add the drained raisins and cranberries and mix until well incorporated.
  
  Transfer the dough to another large container (or leave it in the mixing bowl) for bulk fermentation.

Bulk ferment the dough

Cover the dough with a reusable airtight cover and let it rise at 82°F  for a total of 3-4 hours. During this time, you’ll give the dough one set of “stretches and folds” to give it additional strength.
Shape the dough

Check your dough; after 3-4 hours, it should have risen about 10-20%  in the bulk fermentation container, have a few scattered bubbles, be smoother with a slightly domed top, and be moderately light and fluffy to the touch. If the dough still looks sluggish or feels dense after 4 hours, give it another 30 minutes to rise.

Line the inside of an 8-inch round banneton or kitchen bowl with a clean kitchen towel and lightly dust with bread flour. Lightly flour the top of the dough and gently scrape it out to your work surface flour side down. Using a bench scraper and floured hand, flip the dough over and shape it into a very tight round by pushing and pulling the dough with the scraper against the work surface. Pushing and pulling will create tension on the top of the dough, creating a uniformly smooth surface.

Using your scraper, scoop up the dough, flip it over, and place it in the prepared banneton, seam side up. The seam on the bottom should be completely sealed. If it’s not, pinch the bottom closed with your fingers. Cover the banneton with a large plastic bag (or another bowl cover) and seal.

For shaping Vanocka, divide dough into six equal portions.  Pre-shape as a boule.  To form each piece into a strand about 14” long. On an un-floured board, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to about ¼ inch thickness. Then roll up each piece into a tight tube. Using the palms of your hands, lengthen each piece by rolling each tube back and forth on the bench with light pressure. Start with your hands together in the middle of the tube and, as you roll it, move your hands gradually outward. Taper the ends of the tube by rotating your wrists slightly so that the thumb side of your hand is slightly elevated, as you near the ends of the tube.)

Braid the loaf.  Braiding somewhat loosely, not too tight. 

Proof the dough

Proof the dough at a warm temperature 82°F  for about 6 hours.  Extend the proof time as necessary until the dough is puffy and a poke slowly springs back.

Bake and finish

Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with a rack in the middle and a baking stone on top (if you don’t have a baking stone, you can bake directly on a 13x18-inch half sheet pan ). In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and 15 grams milk for the egg wash.

Place a piece of parchment paper on top of a pizza peel or upside-down sheet pan. Tip the proofed dough out to the center of the parchment paper so the seam is facing down.

Lightly brush the entire surface of the dough with the egg wash. Using a razor blade, baker’s lame, or sharp knife, make a cross shape with two shallow straight lines that intersect right at the top-center of the dough. Sprinkle on the sliced almonds (if using), slide the parchment paper onto the baking stone or sheet pan, and bake for 20 minutes at 400°F. After 20 minutes, rotate the parchment paper halfway and reduce the oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake the Mazanec/Vanocka for another 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s golden brown and the internal temperature is around 200°F (93°C). Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

If desired, fill a fine-meshed strainer with confectioners’ sugar and liberally dust the top of the mazanec. This is best the day it’s baked, but can be stored on the counter for 3 days, covered.

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My index of bakes.

This is my first bake using my new Ankarsrum Assistent to develop the dough.  What they say is true, there is definitely a learning curve and I am at the beginning of that slope.  This would usually take 30 mins from start of mix to the end of kneading in the KA mixer, not that I could safely do two loaves though.  With my being totally new to this mixer and wanting to try both the dough hook and the roller, it took me 60 mins!  Much of it was me f’ing around though so I can’t blame the Ankarsrum Assistent.  In the end, the dough was lovely silky and had a great windowpane.

I wanted to bake two loaves as gifts and wanted to bake something I’m quite familiar with, so it had to be a Hokkaido milk bread.  However, since they’re gifts you never know how much whole wheat the recipients might like or not, so I decided that 30% is a good amount for that extra wheat goodness without going all the way.

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For two loaves, one in a 9x4x4” and the other in a 8.5x4.5x3” pan.

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 50% growth.

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

At room temperature, it typically takes 7-9 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on med heat with about 1.5 cm of water, place the bowl of your stand mixer creating a Bain Marie, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 5 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar, diastatic malt and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour and vital wheat gluten.  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 drizzling or adding in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium.  Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  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.  This is a good time to add inclusions such as my favorite black sesame seeds, that way they do not interfere with the gluten development.  If you add inclusions mix until they are well incorporated in the dough.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2.5-3.5 hours at 82ºF.  There may 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 or line with parchment paper.  

For baking as rolls

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into 12. Shape each tightly into boules, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then shape tightly into boules.  Place them into your prepared pan.

For baking as a loaf

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

Lightly flour 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 a 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 6-8 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 3-4 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. Proof until the dough passes the finger poke test.  For a loaf the dough should reach within 1 cm of the rim of the pullman 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 rolls for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your buns if they get brown early in the baking process. You can brush the top of the buns with butter if you wish at this point while the buns are still hot and sprinkle with flaked salt.

For baking loaves, bake for a total of 50 mins at 350°F, remove the loaves from their pans and bake directly on the rack for an additional 5-10 mins.

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I just unboxed, cleaned and setup my new Ankarsrum Assistent, I’m loving the build quality and this gorgeous orange we picked.  I can’t wait to try it out.  I plan to bake two Hokkaido milk breads tomorrow.  Hopefully I’ll have a glowing review and I hope I can learn to use this quickly with tomorrow’s bake.  In the meantime here are the photos.

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I’ve had this loaf on my list to bake for sometime.  I’m still not sure that I love high percentage rye breads, this one is 59%, but wanted to try a different recipe to find out.

Daniel’s description of this bread from the book:  “ There aren’t many bakers who continue to follow the tradition of building a rye sour in several stages. Josef Hinkel organizes his bakery around a mixing room where he has large mixing bowls of sauerteig at different stages of development. It’s hard to tell from looking, but the bakers know exactly which bowl is ready at which moment. Because the bowls are all open, the air is thick with the powerful, pungent aroma.

This particular bread is Hinkel’s go-to everyday loaf. He makes hundreds of them a day, selling them exclusively at his two shops, both on the same busy shopping street in Dusseldorf. For people who are new to 100 percent rye breads, this is a great gateway recipe.”

START TO FINISH: 21 to 22 hours

FIRST STAGE STARTER AND OLD BREAD SOAKER 15 hours

SECOND STAGE STARTER 3 to 4 hours

KNEAD 12 minutes

FIRST FERMENTATION 1½ hours

FINAL PROOF 1 hour

BAKE 50 to 60 minutes

MAKES one 1-kilo loaf

Total rye flour 314.5 g (includes starter but not Altus)

Total flour 534.5 g

Rye 59% overall not including Altus.

I think that the instant yeast is too much, the first proof only took 30 mins rather than the 1.5 hours that the author (Daniel Leader) suggested.  Perhaps reduce to 4 g

1. PREPARE THE GRUNDSAUERTEIG (first stage rye starter): In a small bowl, dissolve the sourdough starter in the water. Stir in the rye flour until well incorporated. Cover and let ferment at room temperature (68 to 77 degrees), about 15 hours.
2. MAKE THE OLD BREAD SOAKER: In a small bowl, combine the ground bread and water. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. Drain away excess water.
3. PREPARE THE SCHAUMSAUERTEIG (second stage rye starter): Preheat the oven to 200 degrees for 5 minutes. Turn off the oven. In a small bowl, combine the grundsauerteig, warm water, and rye flour. Stir to combine. Cover and let ferment in the warm oven until bubbly and soft, like a poolish, 3 to 4 hours.
4. MAKE THE FINAL DOUGH: Combine the schaumsauerteig, rye flour, Type 55 flour, old bread soaker, salt, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir with a rubber spatula a few times to combine. Mix on the low speed (2 on the KitchenAid) for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer to medium-low (4 on the KitchenAid) and mix for 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gather the dough into a ball.
5. FIRST FERMENTATION: Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let stand until the dough increases in volume by about 50 percent, becoming porous and with small bubbles on the surface, 1½ hours.
6. FINAL PROOF: On a lightly floured countertop, shape into a loose boule (see this page). Dust the inside of a 10-inch round banneton with rye flour. (Alternatively, use a bowl lined with a kitchen towel and dusted with flour.) Place the boule, smooth side down, in the banneton. Lightly dust with more flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let stand until very active and puffy, another hour.  Alternatively shape into a batard/roll and place it a greased pullman pan.  Roll on a pan with oat flakes to coat.
7. BAKE: About 1 hour before baking, position an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and set the Dutch oven (with the lid on) on the rack. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees for 1 hour. Wearing oven mitts, carefully remove the Dutch oven to a heatproof surface and take off the lid. Tip the dough onto a peel or your hands and put in the Dutch oven. Put the lid on and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the loaf is a warm brown, another 25 to 35 minutes. Carefully turn the loaf out onto a wire rack. Cool completely. Store in a brown paper bag at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

I questioned the huge amount of instant yeast, but I followed the quantities of all the ingredients since I try to follow most recipes the first time I try them.  In the end, this dough fermented much more quickly than described in the recipe so if I try this recipe again, I’d reduce the instant yeast by ⅔.

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I suspect that my dough over fermented.  The dough practically grew before my eyes when it was placed in the pan.  I couldn’t get the oven heated fast enough and even had to refrigerate the dough until the oven was ready.  The dough actually didn’t grow in the oven, it actually lost a bit of height.

Having friends over gives me an excuse to bake dessert.  Bags of lemons were on sale so I decided to bake a lemon tart.  I hadn’t tried lemon curd with chocolate before so decided to bake my chocolate pate sucrée for this tart.  Since the curd recipe leaves me with 4 egg whites I decided to make Bravetart’s marshmallow meringue to top the tart and then torch the meringue for a nice finish.  The eggs were farm fresh free run chicken eggs from our friend’s country home, so most of the yolks were such a beautiful orangey yellow, it was almost a shame to cover the curd with meringue!

The lemon curd is nice and sharp without being to sweet.  The curd goes extremely well with the chocolate pastry.  I reduced the sugar in the meringue because I always find meringue too sweet, this meringue was good.

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For the pastry - pate sucrée

75g icing sugar
250g plain flour 
125g butter
1 large egg, beaten (plus 1 large egg white, depending on consistency)

Cocoa powder variant - add 4.5 tbsp cocoa powder 31 g

Pinch of salt and 1 tsp vanilla 

Put the icing sugar, flour and butter into a food processor and blitz to breadcrumbs. Continue to blitz, and gradually add the whole egg until the dough comes together. You can check to see if it is hydrated enough by carefully picking a small amount up and compressing it to see if it forms a cohesive dough, if it does not, you may need to add a little of the egg white. Form the dough into a little round, cover with clingfilm and rest in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough out to 12” diameter between two sheets of parchment paper (keep one for later).  If cracks form during rolling, just dab a bit of water on the cracks and bring the edge back together.  Remove the top parchment paper and transfer to the tart pan.  Gently press the dough into the pan ensuring that it goes into every nook and cranny.  Avoid stretching the dough as that leads to excessive shrinkage during baking.  If there are cracks just use excess dough that is above the pan edge to fill the crack smoothing it out quickly with your fingers trying not to melt the butter.  Dock the dough.

Chill it for 30 minutes in the freezer, this helps avoid shrinkage. Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) while the tart dough is chilling in the freezer.  Once the oven is ready line the top of the crust with foil or parchment paper and place pie weights or dried beans to keep the pie crust from puffing when baking.

Bake the pâte sucrée for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper filled with weights and bake for 15 more minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden.  (I needed an additional 5 mins so bake for 20 mins once the pie weights are removed)

Set the tart shell aside to cool (still in the dish). Leave your oven on at 350F/180C.  Since we’re adding a partially cooked filling, the tart shell doesn’t need to be fully cooled.

In the meantime, make the lemon filling.

Grab a fine-mesh strainer before you start and have it ready within arm’s reach.

For the lemon filling :

1 cup (250ml) lemon juice (about 4 lg lemons)

Zest of 2.5 lemons (organic lemons)

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1/4 tsp salt

¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, cubed.

4 large eggs + 4 large egg yolks

In a medium saucepan (no heat yet), whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, salt, egg yolks and eggs. Add the cubed butter and turn the heat to medium. Whisk slowly until the butter is all melted. Continue whisking steadily until the mixture thickens to a thin custard consistency.  This took about 20 mins.

Immediately pass the lemon filling through the fine mesh strainer, directly into the tart shell. You may require a third hand to help get all the curd out of the pot into the strainer.  Gently tap the tart on the counter a couple of times to eliminate air bubbles.  Using an offset spatula (or back of a large spoon), smooth out the top of the filling. Bake the tart for 5-6 minutes, until the filling has slightly set and turned slightly deeper in color.

Set aside to cool for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy slightly warm or chilled.

Marshmallow Meringue

halve the ingredients to use the 4 egg yolks left over from the lemon curd.

1 cup | 8 ounces egg whites, from about 8 large eggs

1¾ cups | 12 ounces sugar or Roasted Sugar (page 102)

Consider reducing sugar as the meringue is very sweet.

½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much if iodized)

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon rose water, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean (optional)

Key Point: With gently simmering water, the meringue should cook fairly fast. If you find the temperature climbing too slowly, simply crank up the heat.

Fill a 3-quart pot with 1½-inches of water and place over medium-low heat, with a ring of crumpled foil set in the middle to act as a booster seat. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and rose water or vanilla bean (if using). Place over steamy water, stirring and scraping constantly with a flexible spatula until thin, foamy, and 175°F on a digital thermometer, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high until glossy, thick, and quadrupled in volume, about 5 minutes. Use immediately.

Pipe on to the lemon curd, then using torch, burn the meringue.

My index of bakes. 

So I’ve discovered that most people prefer white bread to wholegrain, at least it seems that my friends do.  So in planning for a dinner party I decided I’d do my milk bun recipe but using only bread flour and no wholegrain other than the rye in the starter.  They turned out really really well especially when finished with some melted butter and some Maldon flaked salt.

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Levain 

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

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

At 75°F, it typically takes 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on med heat with about 1.5 cm of water, place the bowl of your stand mixer creating a Bain Marie, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 5 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 flour.  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 drizzling or adding in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium.  Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  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 4.5-6 hours at 82ºF.  Aim for about 20-25% rise.

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 pan by greasing it or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into 12 (you can first divide the dough into 4 equal portions and then divide each of those further into 3 to get 12). Shape each tightly into boules.  Place them into your prepared pan.

Cover and let proof for 6-8 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You may need longer than 6-8 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the dough passes the finger poke test.

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 rolls for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your buns if they get brown early in the baking process. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the buns are still hot and sprinkle with flaked salt.

For 12 buns baked in a 9x13” pan, I think I would increase the weight of each bun to 60 g from 50 g pre-baked.  I’d also increase the pre-fermented flour to 25% to get these moving a bit faster as well.

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My index of bakes.

I find that if I don’t make baguettes often enough I get very rusty. I haven’t made baguettes in about 4 months so was really very overdue. I’ve always thought that epis look really nice and never tried making one, so here is my first effort at an epi. I also hadn’t done a seeded crust in quite some time so that was also overdue.

For this bake of my favourite all white flour baguette I’ve increased the hydration to 75% which I have found helps with extensibility which is essential for shaping baguette. I’ve also pushed final proof by accident to 40%. I say by accident because I usual cold retard the dough when the dough has risen to 20% but because I was out and didn’t expect the dough to be so fast, it was up to 22%. You wouldn’t think that 2% would make much of a difference but it does. So when I took the dough out of the fridge today and started to do the divide, pre-shape and shaping the aliquot jar already showed 35% rise right after I shaped the third baguette. So I left them to proof at room temperature until 40%, then started pre-heating and cold retarded the dough once more while the oven pre-heated for an hour.

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Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours

When levain at peak, mix 28 g water with all the levain mixing to loosen.

In the morning, to your mixing bowl add 353 g water, salt 12 g and diastatic malt 5.8 g to dissolve, then add 527 g AP flour to combine. Allow to saltolyse for 20 mins. Next add the loosened levain, pinch and stretch and fold to combine in the bowl. Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 23 g gradually working in until fully absorbed then slap and fold x 100.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.
Do folds every 20 mins doing 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
Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 40% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.

Pre-heat oven 500F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.
Transfer baguettes from couche 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 480F.
The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins. The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam. Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning of the bottom crust. The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway. The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

To apply the seeds to the dough, place the shaped dough on a damp towel to moisten the dough. Transfer it to a cookie tray that has been loaded densely with the seeds. I like using a cookie tray with sides that way I can push the dough up against the sides to get some seeds on the sides of the dough.

For those who are interested in pH. The pH of the levain was 5.06 at mix and 4.07 at 3x rise and peak.

The pH of the dough was 5.44 after initial dough development was completed. At 22% rise and start of cold retard the pH was 4.56. Finally at the time of bake the pH was 4.37.

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My index of bakes.