dmsnyder's blog

Pan de Cristal

David Snyder

September, 2023

Pan de Cristal is a bread that has intrigued me for some time. It is a white bread similar to an Italian ciabatta but of even higher hydration. I was a bit spooked by the anticipated challenge of handling such a wet dough until I viewed the instructional video made by Martin Philip, the fellow who took Jeffrey Hamelman’s place as head baker at King Arthur Bakers.

Here is a link to Martin’s video: Pan de Cristal demonstration video

And here’s a link to the recipe on Kingarthurbakers’ web site: Pan de Cristal Recipe

Pan de Cristal is based on a traditional Catalonian bread. The currently popular version derives from a recipe developed around 2010 by Jordi Nomen of Concept Pa Bakery in Barcelona. The original recipe may have included some sugar and some olive oil, but Martin’s version uses neither.

Versions of Pan de Cristal have been posted on The Fresh Loaf several times in past years. You may find these interesting and instructive.

I have now made Pan de Cristal two times. The second time I used 10% freshly milled hard Spring white whole wheat with no perceptible change in the bread - crust, crumb or flavor. This is a very nice bread. We have enjoyed it particularly for sandwiches. I have not yet used it for panini but plan to do so. Adding some olive oil and maybe some sugar are other variations to try.

Here are some more photos to encourage you to make this bread for yourself:

Happy Baking!

David

I have been aware of Maurizio Leo through his social media postings for some time. He is a home baker, but an extremely serious one who comes from a restaurant family. Eventually, I discovered his blog (ThePerfectLoaf dot com)  and found him to be an articulate and generous mentor for home bakers. More recently, he has published a baking book. It is more on the model of Tartine Bread or Forkish's books than, say, Hamelman"s. But Leo's recipes are very well documented and look really good. His book, "The Perfect Loaf," won a James Beard Award this year. 

Today, I baked his "Rustico." I have baked it once before with some flour substitutes and thought it very good. Today, I had the Central Milling T85 flour Leo uses, along with AP and whole Spelt, and I followed the recipe exactly.

Maurizio's "Rustico" is quite similar to my favorite multigrain sourdough. It is an 80% hydration, 45% whole grain and high-extraction flour loaf. I made it with no mechanical mixing, and it was a very nice dough to work with.

This is good bread. It has less wheaty flavor than my usual multigrain sourdough, but it has a nice sweet lingering flavor. The crust is crunchy and chewy. The crumb is tender and cool. This is a nice recipe, and I enjoyed the experience of making a bread with more spelt and higher hydration than usual for me. My biggest takeaway is that I want to play more with the T85 flour. I think it's good stuff.

Happy baking!

David

Whole Wheat Sourdough

David Snyder

3/19/2023

Back in 2016, I was on a quest for a whole wheat sourdough bread I liked enough to want to bake often. I baked breads from a number of my favorite bread cookbooks, and none were bad. This bread was of my own formulation, and, as I recall, it was the one I liked the best. In spite of my good intentions at the time, I have not baked it again since. I think it just got forgotten. Flipping through my Sourdough Bread looseleaf recipe binder, I came across the formula and decided to make it again.

Originally, I mixed this bread in a stand mixer and baked with steam on a baking stone. This time, I mixed entirely by hand and baked in a cast iron Combo Cooker. The Whole Wheat flour in the Final Dough was freshly milled Turkey Red. 

The previous version of this bread can be found here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45894/whole-wheat-sourdough-bread

1. Dissolve the starter in the water.

2. Add the flours.

3. Mix thoroughly.

4. Transfer to a clean container and cover tightly.

5. Ferment at 76ºF for 6-12 hours (until moderately ripe)

6. Optionally, refrigerate overnight.

Note: My liquid starter is a mixture of 70% AP, 20%WW and 10% Rye at 100% hydration.

 Procedure

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the levain in the water and mix in the flours. Cover the bowl and Autolyse for 20-60 minutes.

2. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix it in using the pinching and folding technique.

3. Repeat stretching and folding in the bowl to moderate gluten development.

4. Transfer to a clean, oiled, large bowl and cover.

5. Bulk ferment at 80ºF for 3-½ to 4 hours with stretch and folds at 30, 60 and 120 minutes.

6. Transfer to a lightly floured board and pre-shape round. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

7. Shape as a tight boule. Place in a floured banneton and place the banneton in a food safe plastic bag.

8. Proof at room temperature for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. 

9. Cold retard for 8-12 hours.

10. The next morning, let the loaf continue to proof at room temperature until fully proofed, if needed. (I proofed for about 90 minutes before baking.)

11. Pre-heat oven to 500ºF with a rack in the lover third and the top (Deep part) of a Lodge cast iron “Combo Cooker” in the oven. (You can substitute any Dutch oven you prefer for bread baking. Also, I have found that pre-heating the Combo Cooker top makes little difference in the result of the bake.)

12. Turn the loaf onto the bottom (shallow part) of the Combo Cooker. (I line the pan with a 9” round silicon pan-liner and sprinkle the bottom of the loaf with semolina before turning it into the pan. I find this results in less chance of a burned loaf bottom.)

13. Lower the oven temperature to 475ºF. Carefully cover the loaf with the pre-heated top, and place the covered Combo Cooker in the oven.

14. After 30 minutes, remove the top of the Combo Cooker and lower the oven temperature to 460ºF.

15. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the loaf is fully baked. (Internal temperature at least 205ºF)

16. Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing.

This dough was lovely to work with. It was soft but not at all sticky and very extensible.

Tasted when (almost) cool, the crust is chewy in part and crunchy in part. The crumb is cool and tender with a delicious nutty wheat flavor and lactic acid tang. It is delicious with a thin spread of sweet butter. I had a slight problem denying myself of fourth slice with lunch.

I must say I really enjoy the particular flavor that fresh-milled Turkey Red wheat imparts to a loaf.

David

Hansjoakim was a regular contributor to thefreshloaf for a long time, He was a physics graduate student at the time, as I recall, and an amazingly adventurous and talented chef and baker. In September, 2009 he posted what he called his "favorite 70% rye." I asked him for the formula and baked it myself a week later. It was easy to see why it was a favorite. It was an easy dough to handle for a 70% rye, and it was delicious to eat.

Over the intervening years, I have made this bread a few times. Every time I make it, I wonder why I have let so much time pass since the last bake. This week, I baked it again, and it is as wonderful as ever. I baked it yesterday. Let it rest wrapped in baker's linen overnight and had some with butter and smoked salmon for breakfast. Seriously yummy stuff!

Looking at my write-up from 2009, I found it could stand re-formatting  and editing. So, here it is ...

55% of flour is pre-fermented.

Mix the rye sour final build the day before you plan to bake. Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl and cover tightly. Ferment for 14-16 hours at room temperature. For example, if you plan on making the bread in the morning, you can mix the rye sour the night before.

Procedure

1. Dissolve the rye sour in the water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours and the salt.
3. Add the flours and salt to the large bowl and mix thoroughly.  If mixing in a stand mixer, mix with the paddle at Speed 1 for 3 minutes. Switch to the dough hook, and mix at Speed 2 for 3-5 minutes. You may need to scrape down the bowl once or twice during mixing. The dough should form a loose ball but remain a thick paste with little dough strength.
4. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover it tightly. Ferment for 1 hour at 78-80ºF. It won't expand much if at all.
5. Transfer the dough to a floured board and pre-shape into a round. Cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
6. Shape into a round and place in a floured banneton/brotform. Note: If you want to dock the loaf (make lots of holes in the top to release steam), put it in the basket seam side up. If you want the folds to open chaotically, place it in the basket seam side down.
7. Cover the loaf with a towel or place the banneton/brotform in a food-safe plastic bag and seal it.
8. Proof for about 2 hours. (Mine usually proofs in about 1 hour, 45 minutes). The loaf will expand by 50% or so.
9. One hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 480ºF with a baking stone and steaming apparatus of choice in place.
10. Dust the bottom of the loaf with corn meal or semolina. Transfer it to a peel. Steam the oven and transfer the loaf to the baking stone. Turn the oven down to 460ºF.
11. Bake at 460ºF with steam for 15 minutes. Then, remove the steaming apparatus and turn the oven down to 440ºF.
12. Bake at 440ºF for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 400ºF. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. Note: If the crust is getting too dark, you can turn the oven down further for the last 5-10 minutes.
13. The loaf is fully baked when the crust is firm, the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when thumped and the internal temperature of the loaf is at least 205ºF.
14. When the loaf is fully baked, remove it to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely (2-3 hours), then wrap it well in baker’s linen or a tea towel, and let it rest for 18-24 hours before slicing.

Happy baking!

David

 I first posted a formula for a naturally leavened  pugliese bread 11 years ago. I fiddled with the formula and procedure a bit over several years, but I haven’t made this bread in about 6 years. Today’s version is different from some of the ones I have made before in a couple respects: First, I use an all-white flour biga rather than a mixed grain liquid levain. And, second, I hand mixed rather than using a stand mixer. 

 The dough had excellent gluten development. It was silky smooth yet quite loose and extensible. It spread a bit when transferred to the baking stone but had very good oven spring.

1. Dissolve the levain in the water.

2. Mix in the flour to hydrate well.

3. Cover and ferment at 78ºF until double in volume.

4. Refrigerate overnight

Procedure

1. Take the biga out of the refrigerator and warm to room temperature.
2. Mix the water and flours to a shaggy mass, cover and autolyse for 60 minutes. (Note that Durum flour absorbs water more slowly than AP flour.)
3. Sprinkle the salt over the dough, then add the biga in chunks. Mix the salt and biga into the dough using the pinch and fold method.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container large enough to accommodate a doubling in volume. Cover the container.
5. Ferment at 80ºF until the dough is almost doubled with stretch and folds at 30 and 60 minutes. (about 4-5 hours)
6. Transfer the dough to a floured board and pre-shape as a ball. Cover and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
7. Shape as a boule and transfer to a floured banneton, seam side down. Place in a food safe plastic bag and proof. (About 2 hours.)
8. 45-60 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500ºF with a baking stone or steel on a middle rack and your steaming apparatus ready to use.
9. Turn the oven temperature down to 460ºF. Transfer the loaf to the stone (seam side up) and steam the oven.
10. After 15 minutes, remove the steam source. Bake for another 20-30 minutes or until the loaf is fully baked. The crust should be nicely colored. The internal temperature should be at least 205ºF. The loaf should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
11. Optionally, leave the loaf on the baking stone with oven turned off and the door ajar to dry the crust further.
12. Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing. 

The crust was chewy. The crumb was cool, moist and soft-chewy. The flavor was not sour in the least but just a good white bread. I did not detect any distinct flavor contribution of the durum flour. Nice bread, but I do prefer one with 30-40% whole grain flour these days. YMMV. 

 Happy baking!

 David

Today I baked a couple loaves of Hamelman's Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon and Raisins. It was my third bake of this recipe. The only modification I made was, while I had used AP flour before, this time I used King Arthur Baking "Bread Flour." The higher-gluten flour was naturally a bit thirstier, and it ended up with a more open crumb. It was a bit chewier, but the flavor was unchanged.

One glitch was that the loaves were about 3/4 proofed when I had to leave for a dental appointment, so I stuck them in the fridge. When I got home about to hours later, I thought the loaves were borderline over-proofed, but after baking, cooling, slicing and tasting, I find no fault with them.

This is a very nice toast bread. We'll have it for breakfast spread with home-made almond butter. Yum!

Here's the formula and process:

Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon and Raisins

from Jeffrey Hamelman’s “Bread,” 3rd Edition

Note: For 8x4 “ pans, scale loaves to 510g. For 9x5” pans, scale to 680g.

Procedures

1. The night before baking, soak the oats in an equal weight of water (from the total water). Rinse and drain the raisins.
2. Add all the ingredients except the raisins to the mixer bowl. Mix for 3 minutes on Speed 1, then for 3-8 minutes at Speed 2 to moderate gluten development.  The dough should be moderately loose and slightly tacky. Note: Don’t forget to subtract the water used to soak the oats from the water added when mixing.
3. Add the raisins and mix at Speed 1 to incorporate them.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board and knead briefly, then form a ball.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover. 
6. Bulk ferment until dough is doubled (90 to 120 min.) Fold dough once after 1 hour. Note: Alternatively, the dough can be cold retarded after mixing.
7. Divide the dough and pre-shape into rounds. Note: Can be divided and shaped for hearth baking or as rolls. Rest pieces for 10-15 minutes.
8. Shape as pan loaves (or otherwise, as desired) and place smooth side up in oiled bread pans. Place pans in plastic bakery bags and seal or cover them with a cloth. Optionally, dampen the loaves’ and sprinkle with rolled oats.
9. Proof at 76ºF until loaves peek above the pan rims (30-90 min.)
10. Bake with steam at 450ºF. After 15 minutes, remove the steaming apparatus and lower the oven temperature to 430ºF (If the loaves are browning too fast, lower the oven temperature another 10-F. Note: 510g loves will bake in 30-35 minutes, total. 680g loaves will take up to 40 minutes total.

* 45.8g water to soak the oats. 127.5g water for the final mix.

** 91.5g water to soak the oats. 255.g water for the final mix.

Enjoy!

David

Today's bake is loosely based on Ken Forkish's "Overnight Country Brown." I increased the levain and did the "overnight" in the fridge after dividing and shaping rather than in bulk at room temperature. Well, the hydration is higher too - 85.5 versus 78%. The result is a moderately sour, crusty loaf with a fairly open, deliciously moist and tender crumb. The flavor is more straight ahead wheaty than my favorite multigrain sourdough, but this is also a spectacularly delicious bread. I had some almost cooled with a light smear of butter, along with a bowl of split pea soup for lunch.

Here is the formula and method and some photos:

Sourdough Bread with 31% Home-Milled Whole Wheat Flour

David M. Snyder

January, 2022

Note: The whole grain wheat,is milled in a Mockmill 100 mill set at its finest setting. The flour is milled immediately before mixing.

1. Dissolve the starter in the water. Add the flours and mix thoroughly.

2. Transfer to a clean container, cover and ferment until ripe. If you don't use it immediately, it can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Procedures

1. Mix the flours with the water to a shaggy mass.

2. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 20-60 minutes. (Autolyse)

3. Sprinkle the salt over the dough surface and add the levain in 4 to 6 portions.

4. Mix thoroughly. (I start by folding in the salt and levain with a silicon spatula. Then, I use the method Forkish specifies – squeezing the dough between my fingers alternating with stretch and folds in the bowl. I wear a food service grade glove and dip my working hand frequently in water.)

5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled, clean bowl large enough to accommodate doubling in volume. Cover well.

6. Ferment at 80ºF for 3 – 3.5 hours with stretch and folds in the bowl at 30 and 60 minutes, then a stretch and fold on the board at 1:45-2:00 hours. The dough should have nearly doubled in volume and be quite puffy.

7. Transfer the dough to a well-floured board. 

8. Divide the dough as desired and pre-shape in rounds. Cover with a cloth and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

9. Shape as boules or bâtards and place in floured bannetons. Place these in food-grade plastic bags sealed with ties and let proof for 30-60 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate 8 hours or up to 36 hours at 40ºF.

10. The next day, pre-heat oven. Let the loaves sit at room temperature while the oven pre-heats. You can bake on a baking stone with steam for the first part of the bake, or in Dutch ovens, as you prefer. The oven temperature and length of the bake will depend on which of these methods you choose and on the weight and shape of your loaves, as well as on how dark you prefer your crust. When done, the loaves should sound hollow when thumped on their bottoms. The internal temperature should be at least 205ºF.

11. Let the loves cool completely on a rack for 1-2 hours before slicing.

I baked in Cast Iron Dutch ovens at 475ºF for 30 minutes covered, then 20 minutes un-covered at 460ºF.

Happy baking!

David

I haven't posted here for a while. I bake most weeks once or twice, usually my favorite multigrain sourdough or a Buttermilk-Spelt Sourdough. I always have some San Joaquin Sourdough baguettes available in the freezer, of course.

This week, I baked a batch of sandwich rolls made with Medium Vienna Dough from "Inside the Jewish Bakery." The plan was to have rolls for turkey sandwiches, but we use these for hamburgers, sausages and tuna salad sandwiches most often.

Sandwich rolls.jpeg

Today, I baked loaves of Hamelman's Five Grain Levain. I hadn't joined the "Community Bake" of this bread. It's been a few years since I've baked it, but I recently restocked fresh ingredients with the plan to revisit this old favorite.

5-grain levain.jpeg

In anticipation of a feast tomorrow, we had a light dinner tonight - a few slices of 5 grain levain with Cotswold cheese and a cucumber salad. This bread is so good!

Here's a photo of the crumb:

5 grain levain crumb.jpg

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

David

Some foods are great made with a variety of breads - different but all good. Some foods really call for a specific type of bread. Cracked Dungeness crab just is wrong IMO without San Francisco Sourdough. You probably have your own biases. Well, another of mine is that Cabbage Borscht is "right" only with a dark rye bread.

David

Number 2 son and his family are visiting. This is the first face-to-face family contact we have had in a year and a half. It's so nice. It's also an excuse to bake. Here's a sampling of what I've offered ...

Jewish sour rye and Berliner Landbrot

San Joaquin Sourdough Baguettes and Epis

Sourdough Pizzas (This is one of four)

Multi-grain Sourdough's (AP, and home-milled Whole Wheat, Rye and Spelt)

I didn't get a photo of the peach crumble my son and dil made while I was working on the pizza. It was pretty yummy with vanilla frozen yoghurt.

You should know that we don't have any sons who didn't grow into amazing cooks and bakers. 

Hope everyone had a patriotic and delicious and safe and sane 4th of July!

David