dabrownman's blog

I suppose that I know I am jaded.  I got some half decent bread at City Market in Houston for 5 weeks.  It said it was sourdough and it looked OK on the outside but it wasn’t like any sourdough that Lucy and I make at home.  It didn’t look the same on the inside.  But it wasn’t 25% sprouted 6 grains using a 10% bran levain made from a NMNF rye starter either.

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It also wasn’t even close when it came to smell or taste either ….and that is where the City Market SD really fell short - not even close.  It wasn’t nearly as sour and the 1% red rye malt, that Lucy chucked into the mix, makes a huge difference when it comes to the smell and taste.  It was also 4 times more expensive too at $4 a loaf instead of the $1 Lucy’s set us back.

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But Lucy and I fell way short when it came to the rest of the City Market grocery shopping and food experience no matter how nice the T-Rex slash, blistered and bold baked exterior of our SD loaf.  We can’t get that fantastic Spanish Manzanilla Olive oil to dip our bread in or spread that great butter on like they have for tasting at CM.  It is worth going to Texas just to shop at City Market and a good enough reason to move there too.

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I had refreshed the NMNF starter the week before we left for Houston but had forgotten to do the stage 3 build to stiffen it up to 66% from the 2 stage 100% hydration after it had doubled.  It was fine 6 weeks later but it did take 20 hours to double a new bran levain for this bread in my 68 F kitchen.  After taking out 15 G for this levain I refreshed the NMNF rye starter again and it is back in the fridge at 66% hydration for another half a year of no muss no fuss solitude.

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The 25% of 6 sprouted grains were: red and white wheat, rye, spelt, oat and Kamut.  The 75% dough flour was LaFama AP, the salt 2% pink Himalayan sea salt and the overall hydration was 75%.  We did a 1 hour autolyse. 3 sets of slap and folds of 40, 10 and 6 slaps and 1 set of 4 stretch and folds - all on 40 minute intervals.  We then let the dough bulk ferment for and hour before gently shaping with folds and pulls before dripping it into a rice floured basket for 1.5 hours of proofing.

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We unmolded it onto parchment on a peel, slashed it and put it into a 50 F Combo Cooker for 18 minutes of lid on steam at 450 F.  We then baked it at lid off for 20 minutes at 425 F till it reached 208 F.  The bread sprang and bloomed, blistered and browned well enough.  The crumb was moderately open, soft and moist but the smell and taste were just plain wonderful.

Formula

10% pre-fermented 6 sprouted grain flour using all the bran. 100% hydration using 15 g of 6 week old 100% hydration NMNF rye starter

Dough

75% Lafama AP, 1% red rye malt and 2% PH sea salt

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Got to love the Purple Hybiscus

that are perfectly ripe.  Made a tomato, fresh basil, cracked black pepper, tangerine balsamic vinegar, manzanilla olive oil, mini fresh mozzarella ball and parmesan cheese salad.

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Lucy was more giddy than usual with this week’s baking experiment that actually ended up making bread instead of a scientific oddity – as seen on TV.  The premise was simple enough.  Do as little as possible and then do less than that but still squeeze in moderate glass of wine – in a plastic glass of course.

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They don’t let the Inmates here have real glass and rightfully so and no stainless steel or metal of any kind for that matter.  At least the menu is mainly bread and water and that is where this post gets interesting ….we had to make 2 loaves for all the special ones trying to steal my tooth paste and floss when not using them or even after wards in case of the floss.

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This post also has a bunch of important history in it that goes back, well….. nearly half a week by now which is especially a good thing as I get older, my memory gets weaker and forget what happened during say the Aroostook War of 1838 and 1839 in Maine, where 550 Americans and British died.  There was no combat but the ‘pork and beans’ were apparently very bad.

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A very nice bean pepper jack cheese, potato and beef chorizo breakfast baked smothered burrito with Pico on top.

The history we are trying not to forget was Trailrunner’s post this week on not doing much of anything and making a great loaf of YW/SD combo bread followed up by some No Touch Rolls.  Lucy and I have been banned from Combo YW and SD Bimbo bread after that nasty episode in 2013, that we can’t forget, but that is another story hardly related to this one if I remember right.

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A crown of thorns in full bloom. 

So, we made a separate Fig YW and NMNF sourdough bread that were identical except for the leavening agent.  Each had 10% levain, 10% whole 7 grains, all in the levain, at 100% hydration.  The 7 grains, were oat, spelt, Kamut, rye, red and white wheat and einkorn.  Both were mixed all together including the salt with a spoon to a shaggy mass except for the levain which was added 1 hour later.  The hydration overall was 72% for both.  We did a whopping 10 slap and folds one each and then let each one sit for 4 hours.

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This is the crumb if the darker loaf that looked like it bloomed naturally and not as much

Then we did 3 sets of stretch and folds of 4 stretches each from the compass points - all on 1 hour increments. 30 minutes after the last one we just dumped the dough into rice floured baskets, seam side down, with no shaping at all and let them proof for 2 hours before starting up the oven for 500 F pre-heat and the Mega Steam Lava Rocks on the bottom.

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This is the lighter loaf that looked like it was scored and split right down the middle.

Once hot the loaves were dumped out onto parchment on a peel and slid onto the bottom stone.  2 cups of water were poured on the lava rocks as the oven door was shut.  The temperature was turned down to 450 F for 15 minutes of Mega Steam.  When the steam came out the temperature was turned down to 425 F convection for 24 more minutes of dry baking.

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All the plants with the exception of the cactus are blooming right now in the front yard.   This was the last one to bloom  today

One came out of the oven at 210 F and one read 208.f even though was taken out last but it was the 2nd one loaded.  One looks like it was scored but it wasn’t and one baked up darker even though the temperature inside was lower.  They both sprang and bloomed about equally.  So which one was the SD and which the Fig YW?

 See it is more matt.  I took the picture out to protect the innocent

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With the Blue Blood Full Moon striking this week for the first time in 130 years, which won’t happen again for another 150 years, it was, if you missed it, you weren’t ever going to see it again……. unless if you are young and future medicine cures death for everyone.

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Lucy is a big believer in technology and our future of Meta Verse 2.0 where we get rid of our bodies entirely and move the cloud in the next 50 years or so where you can do and be what ever you want and see a Blue Blood or any other kind of moon whenever you want.

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Personally, I would rather see something else but I am sure there is something each of us would rather see, especially if you saw one this week like most of us did.  Lucy could care less about these moonie things and just wanted me to get off the white bread kick of late and get back to our roots of a more substantial bread that we prefer.  So we did.

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I would like to tell you how Lucy came up with this recipe but that would require me to fib more than normal and I’m already under FISA surveillance as a Dark Side Spy as it is so, I will just note it in a special unbreakable code, using invisible ink, in a double secret memo that the FBI will likely illegally leak to Fresh Loafians later for sport.

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It is my birthday today and the daughter is coming over to pick tomatoes from the garden for her special goat cheese bruschetta made with this bread - grilled.  I’m picking red romaine and salad bowl lettuce from the garden for a salad and making our special garam masala Indian sockeye salmon with saffron rice made with homemade chicken stock and a nice zinfandel.

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This is not a birthday dinner because we are going to Chris Bianco’s Pizzeria tomorrow for that celebration.  But let’s back to this fine bread.  The 10 grains are red and white wheat, barley, rye, spelt, buckwheat, Kamut, emmer, oat and durum semolina.  Whole Foods bins were back in stock for a change and Lucy stocked up her pantry.

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The 12% pre-fermented flour, 2 stage, bran, 100% hydration levain was made with a 12 g of NMNF rye starter, the bran from the whole grains and some of the high extraction flour.  We did a 1 hour autolyse with enough water to get the AP, HE mix up to 74% hydration with the Pink Himalayan sea salt sprinkled on top.  We stirred the salt in and then sprinkled the red malt on and then added the levain.

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After 60 slap and folds everything was seemed pretty up to snuff.  When the autolyse started we took 50 g each of red wheat and oat groats and simmered them for 45 minutes in chicken stock to make a double grain mash.

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We did 3 set of stretch and folds with the mash going in on the first one. Even though we drained the mash and then took some paper towels to it trying to sop up the slimy gel.  It was still going to add too much wet for this mainly AP flour bread so we sprinkled 25 g of potato flakes right on top of the mash when we added it.  This seemed to work pretty well and the dough felt lie it as about 78% hydration – still wet for sure.

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We let the dough sit in the oiled bowl for 40 minutes after the last set of folds before bulk retarding it for 10 hours in the fridge.  The next morning, we let it warm up for 2 hours before we pre-shaped it and let it rest for 14 minutes before the final shape.  Make no mistake this is a wet dough but not too tough if you are used to such things. 

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Wow, great bruschetta - yummy!  Grilled the bread then it rubbed with fresh garlic, my daughter schmered some herbed goat cheese followed by the cherry tomato marinated in fresh basil, onion and garlic powder olive oil salt and pepper and then drix=zzled with a balsamic vinegar glaze and topped with grated Parmesan

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We dropped it into a rice floured basket for a 1 ½ hours of proofing before we fired up the oven to 500 F with the combo cooker inside.  We unmolded it onto parchment on a peel  slashed it T-Rex style and slid it into the cooker for 20 minutes of steam at the 500 F.  A larger bread  that is this wet can take the higher heat for steaming and you will cut the overall baking time while you are at it.

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Lucy says not to forget that salad

Once the lid came off we baked it at 425 F Convection for 24 more minutes till it reach 207.5 F.  It sprang and bloomed well and it baked to that nice deep mahogany color we love so much.  We will get tio see the crumb tonight!

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Every time we make stock in the Instant Pot we make chicken noodle soup.

Formula

12% pre-fermented flour 10 grain HE and bran 2 stage levain t 100% hydration

Dough

12% High Extraction 10 grain

76% LaFama AP FLour

5% potato flakes

2.5% Red Malt

10% dry weight Red Wheat Berries simmered in chicken stock

10% dry weight Oat Groats simmered in chicken stock

2% PH sea salt

It is important to have a good breakfast on bake day.  Here is last week's YW Hokkaido milk bread toasted with pineapple strawberry jam and butter, sausage and pepper bacon Irish white cheddar and and egg on top

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Lucy saw some Hokkaido Milk Bread yeast rolls posted last week that were based on Floyd’s great recipe.  I said at the time we would see if we could make this bread the traditional Japanese way with yeast water and a Lucy twist with her turn.

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First off, we had to find and refresh two different yeast waters, one fig and one apple that have been totally neglected for at least 6 months in the fridge.  We lucked out for sure.  Both revives very easily after refreshing with new fruit some sugar new water and 36 hours on the heating pad.

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Yeast water loves to be warm more than it likes to be refreshed it seems.  I think we have two NMNF yeast waters.  Nice to know that they are so hardy and so hard to kill off – just like a NMNF sourdough starter.  I was pretty amazed at how fast it got back to normal since YW is notoriously pretty slow even when at its peak – even slower than SD.

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It hits the pan filling it about 40% full.  Then into the froidge it goes.

To get the base recipe I searched for Hokkaido Milk Bread and sure enough Floyd’s recipe was the first one to show up on the list.  I like Floyd’s recipes because they are straight forward, pretty easy, fairly traditional and work without fail.  Lucy wasn’t as impressed with it as I was thouigh and had to change some thongs and even some things around.

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The next morning it had proofed quite a bit in the cold.

First off, she went with a 200 g YW levain using 100 g of LaFama AP and 50 g each of both YW’s.  The fig one gave the levain a distinct brown purplish kind of hue.  Oddly in just 4 hours it had doubled – so much for being slow.  This 200 g ended up being an addition to the rest of Floyd’s recipe.

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Yum ........Flatbread!  I was reminded of my mom, probably less than 20 years ago, making leftover short crust with sugar on it when she made pies fs a special treat for her 3 boys....when I was a kid:-) 

We subbed half and half for all of the milk products in Floyd’s mix too.   We cut the recipe in half tomake one bigger loaf and dumped everything, except the salt and butter into the Kitchen Aid mixer bowl.  After 5 minutes on speed 2 we added the butter and sugar and did 5 more minutes on speed 4.

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When I slid the lid off it looked like this and I kind of destroyed the beginning end of the top as a result

The dough was still wet and not actually pulling away from the sides of the bowl so Lucy made a decision to add 25 g of potato flakes to the mix and sure enough after another 2 minutes on speed 4 it seemed plenty beaten to death and ready to bulk ferment.

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We let it sit in the bowl for 3 hours waiting for it to at least look like it was trying rise up and be dough.  It rose about 30% by then so we decided we had had enough of sitting on the sidelines waiting on YW that was back to its old slow self.

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We put it in the counter and did some slap and folds to teach it a lesson and try to wake it up.  We covered it with a stainless steel mixing bowl on an oiled flexible cutting board on ….the heating pad!  YW loves the heat and sure enough it perked up and went to work.  In a couple of hours we did a quick set of 4 stretch and folds and into the pan release sprayed Oriental Pullman that this dough was sized. 

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Then, to make the process as complicated as possible and even more bizarre, we chucked it into the fridge for an overnight retard since it was already 9 PM and past Lucy’s bed time ….which is anytime from my near 14 year recollection of her sleeping habits.

After a 10 hour retard we took it out of the fridge and put it on the counter to warm up for 2 hours and then onto the heating pad it went for 2 hours more before we took a peek under the lid, found it ready to go and turned on the oven to 400 F.  When it hot we put the Pullman in and baked it lid on for 20 minutes at 350 F

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Smoked chicken thighs make for great cheese crisps with home made beans, grilled onions and a variety of peppers, poblano, yellow banana, green chilies and sweet peppers

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When we went to take the lid off we found that the dough had oozed though the open end of the top and down the side if the pan onto the bottom stone.  YW is known for its explosive spring and it was showing its stuff by making something new; Hokkaido Milk Flat Bread, for us to turn over on the stone and finish up to eat warm as the rest of the bread finished up.

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Lucy reminds us to not forget the salad!

We baked it for another 50 minutes at 350 F convection before it read 200 on the inside. We did take it out of the pan 20 minutes into the dry baking to finish on the rack.  This pan is very tall so it takes about 20 – 25 minutes longer than a regular Pyrex loaf pan like Floyd used.  After we took off the lid the bread continued to expand upwards another inch in the middle!

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If I had just baked it with the lid off, it would have been the perfect size for this pan and I could have egg washed the top before baking instead of putting half and half on it when it came out.  If I bake it lid on I will bake it 30 minutes lid on and then 20 minutes lid off before removing it from the pan.  You could also bake it 375 F all the way to cut down the time.

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It helps to have a nice breakfast on bake day especially with a SD blueberry pancake, hot sausage, pepper bacon and white cheddar Omelette 

Since we already ate the bonus flatbread we know what it tastes like.  It is a sweet bread and being a diabetic I would cut the sugar by 25% next time since the YW also lends a certain sweetness to the bread too.  Otherwise it is delicious.  Can’t wait for it to cool so we can see the crumb.  I expect it to be a bit compressed to being confined under the lid and not allowed to expand like it wanted to.

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Then there are always those beautiful Arizona sunsets to enjoy with your favorite libation.

This bread slices easily into 1/4 inch slices like a well rested pumpernickel and the thin slices bend without breaking.  The crumb is tinged a beautiful light beige due to the Fig water which makes look like it has saffron in it.  It has a very soft and shredable crumb.  The smell is intoxicating. Toasted it quit bending and stiffened up and was delicious with butter.  It will make great French Toast!  We know why this bread is so famous.

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A lily is as pretty as an AZ sunset!

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I thought I would make an Italian bead but with the various topping folks out on bruschetta today that might be unnecessary.  Lucy went back and forth and finally decided the toppings should be the star and the bread should be in the background so an Italian durum bread with rosemary, dried tomato, Parmesan and fresh garlic was out – but it sure sounds good to me now.

We came up with a barely Italian note for this bake.  7 whole grains but only 20% of the total with a 10% pre-fermented bran and high extraction, 100% hydration, 12 hour, 2 stage levain made with 20 g of NMNF rye starter that was only retarded 1 week - so it should be nicely sour but not as much as usual.

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We did 30 minute autolyse with the Pink Himalayan sea salt sprinkled on top that brought the hydration up to 74% with the remaining dough flour being 70% Winco bread flour and 10% Lafama AP.  We did 60 slap and folds and then 3 sets of 4 stretch and folds all on 40 minute intervals and then oiled up a SS bowl and put I tin the fridge for a 13 retard.

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The only Italian part of this bake was using semolina to dust the basket and the top of the loaf so i wouldn't stick.

We took it out in the morning and let it warm up for 2 hour before pre-shaping and final shaping 10 minutes later.  We let it proof for an hour and half before firing up the oven to 500 F with the Combo Cooker inside.

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 It looks and smells grand and I will get to cut this open to have a peek at the crumb before letting the daughter take it away or have it delivered by Dad.

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Not too open so perfect to pile bruschetta toppings on when toasted.  The Bruschetta party was delayed a day so it should be at its most sour by then.

The Persians make an enriched flatbread that could be challah’s twin only flat instead of braided.  Sweetener, oil or butter, milk, eggs and saffron.  It is called Shirmall.  The Iranians make all kinds of different breads with most of them the flat variety and they eat a lot of bread too…..if you have ever been there.  Iran is also known for the best saffron in the world as well and..... I just love saffron. 

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I was lucky enough to go there to help build a new wing on the main hospital in Tehran while the Shah was still in power.  It was a wonderful country where you could snow ski in the mountains in the morning and be on the beach in the sand and surf in the afternoon just like Beirut – the pearl of the Middle East.  The food was especially fantastic.

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For us bread makers, Khorasan or Kamut is the famous grain of what is modern day Iran but it is much older, a natural hybrid of durum and another local grass; polonicum, long ago.  We know this due to modern DNA testing but many still refer to Khorasan as an ancient grain which is fine by me.  It is old.

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My daughter works with a fine doctor from Iran where they try to do their best to help cure colon cancers through surgery and chemo.  The kind doctor was gracious enough to give me a big beautiful batch of the best Iranian saffron that her mother brought to her when visiting not long ago.  My daughter was bragging about her dad the closet chef. and poof ....Saffron arrives:-)  She needs to brag more often!

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She has been so kind to my daughter and teaching her everything she needs to be a great surgical PA.  Being a teacher requires the greatest, but hardest, character attribute to have and hold dear – generosity. I thought it was past due for me to give her a loaf of bread in appreciation.   I would have made Shirmall but I’m sure she has had that many times, and mine would not be as good,  so I decided to give her a bread she has likely not had before and neither have I – Persian Saffron Sourdough with Khorasan of course.

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I’m not sure that SD is used much in Iran and SD is not a sweet bread but I hope she likes it.  It turned out beautiful and the color of the crust was tinged yellow from the saffron and the crumb had to be as well from the Kamut and saffron.  It smelled wonderful when the lid came off the Combo Cooker.

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It sprang and bloomed well with some small blisters and browned up beautifully. An update...the Dr said that this was the best bread she has ever eaten so..... maybe they don not east as much bread in Iran as I thought:-)

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Formula

Whole rye and Kamut bran, 16% pre-fermented flour 100% hydration levain using 10 g of NMNF rye starter aged for 1 weeks

Dough

10% high extraction Khorasan

74% Winco bread flour

2% Pink Himalayan sea salt

Enough warm water with a pinch of saffron to get the overall hydration up to 75%

Process

24 hour 2 stage levain with last 12 hour retarded.  1 hour autolyse with the salt sprinkled on top. 1 set of 50 slap and folds and 3 sets of 4 stretch and folds all on 40 minute intervals.  30 minute rest and a set of tretch and folds to place into a plastic covered, oiled, SS bowl for 12 hours of retard.  2 hour warm up, pre-shape and shape and 2 hours of final proof.  Baked in a Combo Cooker preheated to 5000 F and then turned down to 450 F for 16 minutes of steam with the lid on, and then 18 minutes of lid off dry heat at 425 F Convection.  Baked to 208 F on the inside.

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She was back for yesterday’s bake and all seemed well enough until the dough went completely missing at the 1 ½ hour mark into the final counter proof.  It is a short story so I will tell it and it is all Lucy’s fault if you ask me. I’m looking at her right now and she looks very guilty to me.

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Everything was humming along nicely.  This bread was similar to the 2 give away breads I had made earlier in the week for my daughter’s friends.  We upped the whole grains from 7 to 8 and from 20% to 25% and upped the overall hydration from 75% to 78%.  The new grain was emmer thanks to Whole Foods

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See It looks pretty good proofed the 2nd time

All the bran was in the 2 stage, 12% pre-fermented flour levian at 100% hydration.  It was cold with the kitchen at 60 F when I got up to notice the overnight counter levain had not done a thing and looked the same as when I went to bed.  So out came the heating pad, a quick stir and it quickly doubled in 3 hours after doing nothing for 12.  Amazing how getting the temperature up to 80 F makes you speed up if you are a wee beastie with nothing else to do.

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Well, it will be 77 F today but the wee beasties won’t know it since they are back in the fridge where they belong.  We did an hour autolyse with the PHSS sprinkled on top the dough and the dough flour being 100% bread flour from Albertson’s shelves and Winco’s bins – so no Lafama AP in the mix this time.

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We did 50 slap and folds to get everything incorporated once the levain hit the mix and then did 4 sets of stretch and folds all on 40 minute intervals with the rest periods on the heating pad under a SS mixing bowl on an ultra thin, plastic cutting sheet.

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Instant Pot Beef Stew Meat Chili was totally un-effected by the bread gone missing .

We shaped it and put it in the rice floured, oval basket for final proofing and then put the basket in a plastic shopping bag from the grocery store and set my iPhone for a 1.5 hour timer for me to check the dough and get the oven fired up for baking – just like always.  When the timer went off I went into the kitchen to check the dough – and it was gone.

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It wasn’t on the heating pad.  It wasn’t even on any counter at all.  Bag, basket and dough all gone ….vanished like it was a paranormal, scientific oddity.   I immediately looked to Lucy, suspecting foul play from the usual suspect, and she immediately took off to parts hidden from humans before I could even ask ….what’s up apprentice?  She may be old but there was no way a fat, old man, with a limp, was going to catch her any time soon.

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Not knowing what to do exactly, I started putting the baking stuff away and when I went to put the bread flour away in Lucy’s pantry under the counter, low and behold there was the Winco plastic bag with basket inside – yea!  But the dough was not exactly in the basket anymore.  The basket was on its side and the dough was half out of it and stuck to the plastic bag.

Well doggies, another fine mess that Lucy wasn’t going to fix any time soon.   So, I sort of pulled it off the bag and kinda did a quick re-preshape on it and pushed it off to Lucy for the final re-shaping .   Back  into the basket and the bag it went for another final proof on the counter on the heating pad this time  - even though the kitchen temperature was almost 70 F by now - we were in a hurry this time.

When I dumped it out of the basket for scoring it looked pretty good and I was fairly proud of Lucy for saving the day and into the oven with Mega Steam it went for 16 minutes of steam at 450 F.  When I went to pull out the steam and turn the oven down to 425 F convection for 16 minutes if dry baking.  I noticed that there was no bloom and on one side and end, at the bottom where it met the stone, the dough was blown out.

Next time this happens, I will be more careful in watching to make sure the baking apprentice 2nd class re-shapes the loaf properly.  When I finally cut into the loaf this morning, there were some awfully big holes at the top of the loaf too …..little dog houses for the apprentice to sleep in …..also from not shaping the loaf correctly.  Thankfully, the bread tastes terrific, hardly tastes like plastic bag at all and will make fine sandwiches, toast and croutons.

Can’t wait till next week’s bake when the oven might disappear into thin air or maybe the whole kitchen might go missing…..so stay tuned!