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golgi70's picture
golgi70

In full attempts to make a couple Miche to eat this week I setup and then realized i didn't have my round brotforms.  So I just continue and made small batards.  

50 % Whole Grain Meesh Batards

50.25%% White, 27.75% white wheat, 20% rye 2 % bran toasted
81.3% hydration (Bran and soaking water are both considered flour and h20)


Rye Starter
50 Starter
90 Wheat
10 Rye
100 White
180 H20
------------------
Soaker
22 toasted bran soaked in 75 g h20
------------------------

Dough
{800 Flour Total}
200 Hard White Wheat
200 Rye
400 white

570 H20
21.6 Salt (pink himilayan sea salt)

------------------------------

Autolyse 1 hour (hold out 10% of h20)

Add levain salt and bran soak and mix until a dough is formed rest 10 minutes, 

slap and folds until dough stops giving. rest repeat until medium devlopment.  this took me about an hour.  

Follow with 3 single letter folds at 30 minutes.  rest 1 hour.  

divide at 610 g rest 30 minutes

Shape coat in raw bran and proof in basket. My kitchen was 80 at this point with the oven heating during midday and the dough was between 75-76 the whole way.  Proof 2 hours

bake with steam at 500 for 9 minutes remove steam and lower to 460 bake 15-20 more rotating half way through

cool

Josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

My vacation has begun... with baking.  I've eyed the Arrowhead Mills Sprouted Wheat Flour for some time and decided it was time to use it.  My attempts here were directed at a solid everyday bread.  No fillers besides the 25% Whole Grain addition.  The dough is quite fantastic.  Very smooth and elastic with great strength.  It was so active and happy at the time of divide/shape I didn't dare proof it at room temp at all and went straight to the retarder for 8 hours (maybe a mistake).  Holy Oven Spring.  

Made a big change for my steaming. I went and bought a big bag of lava rocks and filled my roasting pan with them.  Poured about 2 Cups of water in at start of bake and removed after 13 minutes.  This seems to have provided much more steam than the towels/smaller rock tray.  A winner that takes less effort, yes please.  

Formula  (77% hydration)

For 2 loaves @ 

Levain (6 hours at 75 degrees)  77% hydration

205      Sprouted Wheat Flour

147.5   H20

103       White Starter (100%)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Finished Dough:  Autolyse 2 hours  DDT (76-78F)

600       H20

373.3    Malted Bread Flour (11.5 % protein)

350.8   Hi Protein Bread Flour (14% protein)

34         Barley Flour

16.5     Rye Flour

22         Sea Salt

-----------------------------------------------------------------

1)  Mix Levain and let rise 6 hours.  This was quite stiff as the wheat really sopped up the H20 but I wanted the levain to be at the final dough hydration as has been my method of late.  

2)  Autolyse Flours and Water for 2 hours (Hold back 10% of water)

3)  Add levain and mix on speed 1 to incorporate (3-5 minutes).  Add salt and continue until well distributed. 

4)  Turn to speed 2 (I am using a commercial hobart with 4 speeds) so lo medium. and develop dough.  

5)  Once well developed add remaining water and mix on speed 1 until dough comes back together. 

6)  Bulk Ferment 4 hours:  2 sets of French slap @ 15 minutes followed by 2 s + f's at 40 minutes.

7)  Divide and preshape.  Rest 20 minutes.  

8)  Shape into floured bowls.  Cover and retard 8-12 hours

(due to minor underproofing I might give them 30-60 minutes at room temp before retarding.)

9)  Bake at 500 with steam for 12 minutes(10 minutes might be better), then lower to 480 and continue for 10-15 minutes. 

Cool 

Bounty Pictures to come.  I certainly made myself look good and didn't show the blowout scores.  The oven spring and my lack of sleep made scoring pretty bad til the last two sets.  Anyhoo.  

Its quite tasty.  Thin chewy crust with a soft moist crumb and a nice bit of sour.  

 

Josh

 

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So at first I intended to use some local rye to make a Ryeguette.  A few years back in San Fran I believe at the main La Boulangerie I had a light rye baguette with pistachios that I just loved.  I've been meaning to create a rye baguette since and its been a long time coming.  Well I ran out of Central Millings Baker's Craft which I was going to blend 70/30 with the local rye.  I had to go buy more flour (I usually buy from my work at good prices/bakers perk)  I noticed King Arthur's whole white hard wheat and had to go with that.  I changed the whole plan and went with 50% central milling bakers craft, 30% local whole ground rye, and 20% KAF Whole Hard White Wheat.  I hydrated each flour individually as has been the way I find my hydration these days.  So White was hydrated at 69% Wheat at 75% (wasn't sure how this flour acted sure could be 80%), and the Rye at 80%.  Overall i landed at 73.3% hydration.  12 hour bulk ferment in the fridge.  Take out for 30 minutes, stretch and fold, rest 1 hour.  Divided at 350 g and got 6 lovely baguettes.  

My stone measures 20x15 and I really prefer a longer baguette but then I'm loading them sideways which is such a bad thing for maintaining shape.  they like to curl a bit.  I'll have to get over it and make smaller shorter baguettes and load the long way.  None the less only a cosmetic issue.  The bread has a wonderful smell.  A crunchy crust which I'm betting will become chewy.  I also bet these will actually be quite edible for more than just 4 hours and maybe a full day.  

The formula 

For 6 baguettes @ 350g each. 

Levain 

100 g ripe white starter (I like to use it right after a build so essentially this is a second build)  @ 100%

105g  Malted Bread Flour

45 g   Whole stone ground rye

150 g h20

---------------------------------------

4 hours

 

Dough:

450g Malted Bread Flour

283.5g KAF Whole Hard White Wheat Flour

316.5 g Whole Stone Ground Rye

734 g    H20

26 g     Himilayan Sea Salt (the pink stuff)

5 g       Instant Yeast (can be left out if desired and the final proof time may be a bit longer)

--------------------------------------------

1)  "autolyse" flour water and levain for 30 minutes

2)  Add yeast and combine

3)  Add salt and continue mixing on low medium for 7 minutes. 

4)  turn up to medium and devlop dough completely 

5)  Place in greased container and retard overnight (12 hours)

6)  Pull from retarder let rest 30 minutes and then do a good stretch and fold.  Relax 1 hour.

7)  Divde and preshape let rest for 20-30 minutes (this dough was strong so I could have rested longer)

8)  Shape and place on floured couche seams up.  Proof 1 hour in warm room.

9)  Bake at 500 with steam for 10 minutes and vented for 20 more.  

cool and enjoy

 

All in all I might adjust hydration upwards to find the sweet spot.  Fantastic taste. 

happy baking all

josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So last week the cool guy who trades me goat cheese requested the sesame levain I made on week three.  I was hesitant as I didn't intend to go back and replicate or improve any recipes but I reconsidered quickly and thought it would be nice to fulfill a request.  I had to make a few changes though.  I cut the lemon idea entirely as I dont' want to find out how much zest I'd need to actually taste it and the loaf was so good when I couldn't taste it.  Secondly I doubled the levain and reduced the final dough ingredients to keep the formula the same.  Finally I used Kamut in place of the spelt.  It's been nearly 2 1/2 months since I made the first variety which I recall being very good but honestly I can't really compare them as I just don't remember the taste well enough.  As far as the dough goes: This dough came out much nicer.  The previous dough had some lumpy flour which I didn't not have a problem with this time.  I actually backed off and gave 1 less stretch and fold and allowed a 4 hour bulk ferment to help with development.  I think this was achieved.  The dough was soft and smooth with great extensibility   It sprang in the oven very nicely and has a lovely shiny crumb. Looking at the previous pictures and the spelt certainly made the loaf browner than the kamut and the kamut added some more red tones.  

The formula can be found at Farmer's Market Week 3 with few revisions:

1)  Double the levain and remove those numbers from the final dough.

2)  Cut the lemon zest.  

3)  replace kamut for spelt 

4) only 2 stretch and folds at 45 minutes and a 3:45 bulk fermentation. 

Happy Baking

 

Josh

Farmers market is booming with great stuff now.  So they were more giving than usual.  We got sweet corn, brocolli, zukes, carrots, baby cabbage, fennel, variety of pluots, the same most amazing pears (last of em and the new varieties are next), heirloom tomatoes, spring onions, spring mix lettuce, local mushrooms (shitake and maitake), 

Now to build a levain for some 30% ryeguettes to bake tommorrow

Happy baking

 

josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So as all of us who love to make bread, I too, am on the quest to make a perfect baguette.  I've made oodles of variations that are quite good and even great but not "the baguette".  On the same notion I believe there is more than one "perfect baguette".  In fact after working in a few bakeries I've adapted the notion that a well written bread formula can be approached from so many ways.  And in many instances they are all good ways of handling the said formula.  Its in the eye of the beholder and what they are after.  This thought came at a production bread bakery when mixers, bakers, and shapers, although all trained to do things in a relatively specific way, over time adapt "their way".  This is a major problem for me as I believe at a single bakery everything should be approached as close to the same in order for consistency.  Even if it is true that there are hundreds of different ways to approach the same formula.  

This was not my bakery and the changes although drastic at times were mostly unnoticed by the masses.  I was able to learn a great deal from this.  I saw what the minor/major changes brought to the table.  To share some examples: there was the obvious variation of shapes that over time you knew who shaped which loaf.  Not too much variation here as this was one of the few things all did very similarly.  We all shaped following the same technique.  So some of us shaped a bit tighter, some had a specific taper.  All in all not much other than minor cosmetics affected here.  Next the mixer.  This was where things got interesting.  Some stuck with the trained plan (as I called par, and i suggested all go par to be most consistent)  but 1/2 of the mixers did not.  Over time some would adapt.  Some would change yeast quantities slightly based on the state of the levain in the recipe, some would adjust hydration at the autolyse, and others would adjust at the finishing mix.  This played a huge role in variation.  The best results came from those that followed "par".  Boring as it may be this business had multiple mixers, and so much overturn, it was best to follow the formula and procedure as trained.  Finally there were the bakers.  Some liked lots of steam, some less, some like hotter oven, some cooler.  This was a huge play in the final loaves and the most notable from the outside.  It also played a huge role on finished interior.  Since I was trained with all the variation, I too adapted my own style.   

So I too will play this game with baguettes at home.  Maybe not the prettiest baguettes (that can come later).  I'm not used to scoring such little loaves (these are only 250 g each)  In fact next test will just increase the size to 300 and follow same formula and see results.  I wanted an open crumb but not a very high hydration.  Once you get the dough up to 80% the overall finish is a bit like a ciabatta even if formed as a baguette.  There is something missing when I make baguettes this way.  I chose to lower the hydration (69%) and use cold bulk fermentation.  I wanted to go straight to retarder after the mix so I developed the dough completely in my mixer.  I've heard numberous times of cold ferment and chose to start with the most functional time of 12 hours.  This means you mix before you leave and 12 hours later you pull the dough and proceed.  Once pulled I let the dough rest 30 minutes and then gave 2 s+f's back to back, which the dough took with ease.  I let this rest for another 1 and divided.  Preshaped and rested 30 minutes.  Then I shaped.  The first three I proofed at room temp for 1 hour, the second I put in fridge for 1 1/2 hours.  Room temp 1 hour baguettes opened up better ears (although my scoring was poor and I didn't get much for ears on most).  The colder dough was much easier to score and I believe would have opened better had I let my oven reheat a bit longer. 

Anyhoo after all that nonsense heres some pics.  I'm quite happy thus the only change will be scaled dough. Once I am happy with that I will probably play with bulk retarding times in increments and see the differences and where the sweetest spot is.  

Happy Baking

Josh

nicest of them all from looks.  From first set proofed 1 hour at room temp.

First set all proofed at room temp for 1 hour.

Second set proofed in fridge for 1 1/2 hours.  Baked a touch darker.  Didn't open as nicely. 

Crumb photo is from first set.  I will add a second from second set. 

 

Happy baking

Josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So my love for spelt continues to grow.  I loved the poppy baguettes and thought cranberries with be a nice addition. Continued with the intentionally low profile elongated batard which yields more slightly smaller and more crusty slices.  I tried the staggered retard to get through this bake and was mostly successful but saw the dough acting less vigorously towards the last. bake.  Had they all been baked in the first round all would have been quite well with the world.  

CranPoppy Spelt

Makes 1 - 943 g loaf

Build 1 (12 hours)

2 Starter

20 Spelt

20 h20

-------------

build 2 (4 hours)

40 g  First Build

60 g  Freshly Milled Whole Spelt

36 g  H20

---------------

Dough:

190 g  Strong Flour

10   g  Fresh Milled Whole Rye

220 g  Freshly Milled Whole Spelt

300 g  H20

25 g   Poppy Seed

12 g   Sea Salt

50 g   Cranberries

------------------------

Autolyse Flours, Poppy Seed, and H20 for 2 hours

Add Levain and Salt and mix to combine.  

Develop to medium and then add cranberries and stir in on speed. 1

bulk Ferment 3 1/2 hours (4 S +_F) @ 30 minute intervals

Shape/Proof

Bake 480 Steam for 12 minutes

460 for 18-22 more.

 

Happy Baking

Josh

 

And the Bounty.  We got pickling cucumbers (my first small batch of half sours came out really go so I'm gonna make a bigger batch today), brocolli, walla walla and spring onions, goat feta, pluots, pears, asian pears, salad lettuce, local dried herb mix, some sugar snap peas.

golgi70's picture
golgi70

Hey all, I made it to double digits.  And can you believe next week is August.  I'll be trading for pumpkins before long.  

So I had a hard time deciding what to make and kinda through this idea together rather fast.  After the Flax Walnut Rye I knew I wanted more Rye.  I got some local Rye from a friend and intended to use it (forgot it at home) so I used my standard house coarse ground Rye.

 Everytime I hear Corn Rye I get excited only to see its not really about the corn and more of a caraway rye (which is also great) but not what my minds eye/nose see and smell when I hear the name.  So this is my first attempt at My Brains Corn Rye.  First things first, there has to be more than just cornmeal on the crust.  I thought about soaking some whole corn but feared it and didn't want to crack it so I went with coarse corn meal (polenta) that would be part of a soaker.  While seeking this I noticed Organic Barley Flour in bulk and wanted to add it in since I knew I'd be using beer, and I thought it would just make for a nice color.  All in all you may say (or I might say) I've put "too many ingredients in the dish"  But the results are wonderful and I think I'll keep it.  Is the barley necessary???? The Beer???? yeah sure they are. 

Corn Bir Rye
74.5 % hydration + soaker
2 loaves @ 865 g

Soaker
 83.3 g      Polenta (coarse corn meal)
 41  g         Dried Onions
125 g       Dark Beer (I used Deschutes Obsidian Stout from Bend, OR)
    4 g Salt
-----


Levain (75% hydration)
66.6 g   White Starter
150 g    Rye Flour
104 g     h20
---------------

4-6 hours warm

Dough
500 g    Bread Flour
83 g      Barley Flour
66.6 g   Rye (whole coarse ground
487.5g   H20  (save about 10% to loosen up levain before adding to autolyse)
9 g         Low Diastatic Malt
15g        Salt
-----------------

Autolyse for 1 hour.
Add remaining water to levain and mix together.  Add to Autolyse. 

Mix on speed 1 to combine (3-5 minutes)  Add salt and continue until incorporated.  Turn to speed 2 med/low and mix until medium devlopment (starts to come away from bowl slightly.

Add Saoker. combine on speed 1 and continue on speed 2 until
well developed.
Bulk Ferment 3 hours fifteen minutes  with 4 s + f's at 30 minutes
Shape into elongated batard roll in cornmeal and place seam up on lightly flour couche.  
Place in retarder (I baked them 5 hours later as the dough seemed lively)

Preheat oven to 500 

Bake steam for 13 minutes, remove steam lower to 475 and continue baking for 20-25 more.  

 

Off to trade.  Bounty pics to come.  

 

Happy Baking

Josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So local grain has slowly started to make its way back into the market and I chose to use a local Red Winter Wheat grown in Honeydew, Ca about an hour and a half from here.  I splurged and bought 7 lbs to make a 60% Whole Wheat Sour w/ Cracked Wheat.  

I've opted to push the envelope with whole grain with this project and my setup requires retarding of formed loaves so I can get through the multiple bakes.  I have just devised an alternate route in which if final retarding won't work I can shape and preheat my oven (takes 2 hours plus) so that its ready as the bread is.  But I will retard loaves when they are about 75% proofed just to slow them enough to get through the bake.  I will experiment with this maybe next week.  Then instead I can bulk retard the whole dough if desired. 

Back to this loaf.  So I made two builds of wheat on a touch of my white starter.  The first was more to change it to wheat and the second the levain.  The first build was 12 hours and looked really happy and healthy when I fed it again.  I expected a 5-6 rise but it was doubled in 2 hours.  Since I couldn't mix for a few hours I retarded it at this stage.  I autolysed the final dough flour for 6 hours.  I soaked the cracked wheat with hot water 6 hours as well.  The first loaves I baked I pulled from retarder an hour before baking.  Not liking the spring or results so much i followed baking straight from the retarder with much better results   I'm not sure where to place the blame on the spotting of color.  I think I coulda have shortened the bulk ferment and I probably should have added some malt.

Finally on my steaming progress.  I went to the beach and collected a bunch of rocks instead of paying for lava rocks.  This works nicely and you can hear the steam continue for longer.  I need another beach run for more and I think I'll have a good thing going.  

 

Build 1 (12 hours) Makes 1 - 1 kg loaf

30 g freshly milled red winter wheat (actually a few weeks old)

27 g H20

3 g  white starter (100%)

---------------------------------

Build 2 (2 hours for me and then retarded until needed but watch yours)

49  Wheat Starter (90% hydration)

98  Fresh milled red winter wheat

85.75  H20

-------------------------------------

Soaker: Soaked for 6 hours

50  cracked Wheat

37.5  Hot H20

--------------------------

Dough

167 Fresh Milled Hard Red Winter Wheat

200 Bread Flour (11.5 % protein)

323.3 H20 (hold out 10 percent)

11  Salt

----------------------------

Autolyse Dough at least 30 minutes before finish mix.  

(I went for 5 1/2 hrs)

Add levain and mix on speed 1 to incorporate.  (5 mijnutes)

Add salt and continue mixing on speed 1 for until mixed in.

Mix on speed 2 (low medium on my 4 speed machine)

Mix until medium development.  Add grain soaker and additional h20 and mix in on speed 1( This took about 5 minutes).  Finish on speed 2 for a minute.

Bulk Ferment 4 hours with 5 S+F at 30 minutes. 

*this is what I did and I think I would shorten the bulk ferment by at least 30 minutes if not an hour.  Also I'd do the s + f's at 15-20 minute intervals.  

Shape, proof at room temp for 1 hour and retard for 8 hours.  Bake cold with steam.  

Pictures to come after market

 

 

First loaves here.  The ones I pulled from retarder for an hour pre bake. Not great spring very little blooming and no grigne.

Now for the remainder I baked straight from retarder and got great spring.  Good Bloom and some serious grigne

This is the crumb from the first set that didn't pop as much.  I sliced a nicer loaf later and forgot to take a picture but it was even better.

So we got some plums (2 types), local honey, salad mix, breakfast sausage, walla walla onions, brocolli, fennel, kale, zukes, fresh cantelope, and a loaf of 25% wholegrain flax seed cranberry ciabatta.  

Happy Baking 

Josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So I gave PiPs formula a go as I'm interested in upping my whole grain/rye chops.  I did miss the salt he has added to the levain so I came up a bit short on salt which is noticable but nonetheless very tasty.  In addition I opted at the last minute to increase the batch size and needed more seed to build the levain and made it up with white starter so its probably a 95% Rye opposed to 100%.  Along with those changes i used whole Rye opposed to medium Rye. 

I used a machine mixer on speed 1 for about 15 minutes and then finished using wet hands.  I'm not totally sure what I'm looking for as far as development with this type of bread.  Once the dough cohesively gathered together using wet hands I called it done.  divided using flour and then used wet hands to round and flatten.  I think I could have flattened them less during the shape and gotten a slightly higher profile.  None the less it accompanied my tuna salad with wonder.  Great crunch, simple flavor.  And as was mentioned this bread is just great with some high quality butter. 

Any feedback as to mixing, proofing is greatly appreciated.

 

josh

I cut this too soon as I really wanted a taste and needed some bread for dinner.  There are a few more that are uncut. I'll slice and add improved crumb shot tonight. 

Josh

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So 9 weeks later and I'm still with it.  In fact I look forward to this more than most things right now.  It's fun, refreshing, and educational.  I've been wanting to do a Rye and so here we go.  As I've mentioned previously I need to have retarded loaves so i can bake the quanitity without overproofing.  And this quanitty may go up starting next week.  Next trouble is I'll need a larger fridge.  I'm gonna have to get coolers and ice to move our food too for the night and make room for more loaves in the fridge.  

As for the Rye.  I feared even a 40% with the overnight retard but I went with it assuming at worst I fail.  I wanted to add some character and good health in there without overwhelming the loaf.  So i added a small quantity 5% broken toasted walnuts along with 3%flaxseed.  If we're gonna do some wholegrain why not add even more flavor and nutrition.  With the hit and miss of those who care for caraway I steered clear of bread spice and went nuts and seeds instead.   I did 2 builds to get all of the Rye in the levain.  I started the first build off a bit of my white starter.  

 Last weeks attempt at using a handheld steam cleaner was lackluster.  It didn't retain any more steam than towels and ice can provide, In fact it may have been losing some of that precious steam trying to fill the oven with it.  I gave up with that early on last week and stuck to what works.  I've added some small, cleaned river rocks to my cast iron to maybe help generate a bit more steam from that side.  If I can figure out how to seal the vents on my oven I think I may get the steam retention I seek. 

Half way through the bake and things seem promising so far.  Scoring Rye is certainly a different technique and I don't do enough of it these days.  So another goal here with this project is to lose the desire to use a professional oven and really create a love with my home oven setup.  

well i've written too much:

Flaxseed/Walnut Rye (40%)

Build 1 (18 hours)

16 g       Mature White Starter

160 g    H20

160 g    Coarsely Gournd Whole Rye (100%)

----------------------------------------------

Build 2 (hours) (37%)

336 g    First Build

1334 g  H20 

1834 g  Coarsely Gournd Whole Rye (Bit stiff, I'll add moe of the finish dough  water next time) (40%)

-----------------------------------------------

Final Dough:

Rye Sour (all)

2347 g      H20 (77% overall but figured seperately at 85% rye and 72 % white)

3000 g      Strong Flour (60%)

115 g        Salt (2.29%)

275 g        Walnuts toasted (5.5%)

150 g        Flaxseeds, toasted (3%) 

--------------------------------------------------

1)  Autolyse HP and H20 for 30 minutes (hold back 10% of H20 to soften Rye Sour)

2)  Add remaining water to rye sour and break up a bit.  Add to Autolyse and mix on speed 1 (5 minutes scraping bowl)

3)  Add salt and continue on speed 1 for a few minutes.  Turn to speed 2 (medium low on my machine) and continue for 5 minutes scarping bottom of bowl often to release the dough.  

4)  Add nuts and seeds.  mix on speed 1 to incorporate 

5)  Bulk Ferment (3 1/2 hours)  4 gentle S + F's at 30 minute intervals. 

6)  Divide and Shape (These would have been nicer proofed on a couche dusted with corn meal)

7)  Proof 1 hour at room temp and retard ( I was scared and maybe should have extended this a touch)

8)  Bake 480 with steam for 15 and then 460 without for 23-35 more. 

COOL

Notes:  Pull loaves from retarder 1 hour before loading to soften skin and allow better rise.  First set went straight from retarder and the spring showed.  The following I all pulled 1 hour before going in.  Essentially as I loaded I pulled the following from the fridge to get rid of the chill.  

Happy Baking

Josh

 

Photos Coming Soon

 

 

 Some weren't quite so pretty from the scoring side but its quite tasty with a great crunchy crust.  I'll keep pushin the envelope with retarding high % ryes/wheats until I notice problems but this worked more than well.  In fact I coulda proofed these longer at room temp before retarding.  

 

 

Green Beans, Zuke, cauliflauer, brocooli, heriloom tomatoes (first of season), walla walla onions, garlic, local cevre, fennel, a box of peaches (so good), and some braising greens

 

Happy Baking All

 

josh

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