The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

PiPs's blog

PiPs's picture
PiPs

I bought a new book. Yes! another bread book. I wasn't planning to ...  and thinking back I'm not completely sure where the inspiration came from, but sometimes inspiration just happens. (or in Nat's version of events ... self indulgence just happens...)

A week ago a second hand copy of ‘The Taste of Bread’  by Raymond Calvel, Ronald L. Wirtz and James J. MacGuire was delivered to my doorstep and I have been trying to absorb as much from it as I possibly can. I find it such an interesting read─on so many levels─from heavy discussions on the effect mixing has on dough maturity to small soulful snippets on French bread.

The chapter that captured my attention most and had me obsessively re-reading it was the chapter on flour. The classification and choice of flour available in France intrigues me. Finding such depth within a seemingly simple ingredient as white flour was something I wanted to explore and as luck would have it I had recently been given the name of a bakery─‘Uncle Bob’s Bakery’ that was stocking imported French flour.

Not only that, but the owner of ‘Uncle Bob’s Bakery’, Brett Noy was recently given the honour of being a jury member for the 2012 Coupe du Monde del la Boulangerie─the Bakery World Cup!!! … mmm … another French connection to this story it seems.

In France the purity level of flour is determined by mineral content measured by the ash level. So at different extraction rates you may have different ash content depending on the type of wheat, procedures used, mill equipment and the skill of the miller. As the ash level rises you will have flour that is richer with bran particles and darker in colour.

Choosing flour was the easy part but trying to make a final decision on what to bake was a bit trickier and in the end the flour dictated the final choice.

T45

This flour is normally associated with viennoiseries such as croissant, brioche and specialty breads containing high fat, sugar and eggs. As winter is slowly creeping upon us, it was time to revive one of my favourite traditions over the cooler months─brioche for weekend breakfasts with café au lait. 

The formula I worked with was Raymond Calvel’s ‘Brioche Leavened with Sponge and Dough’. It has a butter content of 45% (I used a cultured butter) and a small sponge of flour, yeast and milk which is mixed into the remaining dough after 45 mins of fermenting. As is usual when mixing this type of bread by hand I was kneading at the bench for at least 30 min by the time the butter was fully incorporated smoothly into the dough. Day-by-day a mixer looks increasingly tempting! (only if Nat gets to pick the colour!)

The dough was rested in the fridge overnight and shaped in the morning for the final proof. Oh, it has been such a long time since we have had brioche around our house. The  soft golden crumb teared so easily and when dipped in coffee─made my soul smile.

 

 

T130 Rye

For my experiments with this medium rye flour I took inspiration from photos of the amazing crusts of the tourte de seigle found in the boulangerie windows of Paris. It’s the contrast I love─the dark well baked crust scattered with flour coated islands.

Tourte de Seigle adapted from Denis Fatet’s formula at www.cannelle.com

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Total dough weight

1200g

 

Total flour

678g

100%

Total water

522g

77%

Total salt

13g

2%

Prefermented flour

319g

47%

 

 

 

Sourdough build: 1h 30 @ 35°C

 

 

Levain at 60% hydration

240g

141%

T130 rye flour

170g

100%

Water at 70°C

170g

100%

Salt

5g

3%

 

 

 

Final Dough: 1h 45 @ 40°C

 

 

Rye flour T130 sifted or T85 rye

358g

100%

Water at 70°C

262g

73%

Salt

8g

2%

Sourdough

580g

162%

 

Method

  1. Prepare sourdough: Stir hot water into rye flour then add levain and mix until smooth. Sprinkle with rye flour and allow to rise for 1hr 30 at 35°C. Cracks will appear on the surface of the sourdough. 
  2. Prepare final dough: Stir hot water into rye flour and salt then mix in sourdough until smooth. With wet hands round the dough and flatten into a round disc. Set to proof seam side down on floured parchment paper. Dust with flour and smooth with hand to ensure an even coating.  Proof uncovered and away from draughts.
  3. Proof for 1h 45 at 40°C. Cracks will appear on surface during proofing.
  4. Load into oven with steam at 270°C for 10 mins then reduce temperature to 250°C and bake a further 60 mins.

I have to be honest, I was a little nervous about the idea of mixing the levain into the hot water and flour mix. But my worries were unfounded. The hot mix cooled as I stirred it and cooled even further when I added the levain creating a warm sourdough sponge that really went off fast.

I have heard that keeping a correct proofing temperature greatly assists with even cracking over the surface so the tourte de seigle proofed in our tiny bathroom under the heat lamp. I pushed the proofing to two hours but think next time I will reduce it to the specified time as the crumb shows some signs of slight over-proofing.

This is a crust lovers bread. The crumb is smooth and mild with only a hint of sourness. After many bakes of whole-grain ryes this bread is a pleasant change─A perfect balance of flavour and texture. But most importantly I love the way it looks. Dramatic bread! Breakfast during the week has been slices of this slathered with cultured butter.

 

 

T65

The classic French bread for a classic French flour. Looking again to ‘The taste of Bread’ I used Raymond Calvel’s Pain au Levain formula substituting the T55 flour with the T65 I had on hand. At 64% the hydration was quite a bit lower than what I have been mixing recently but after an autolyse and solid 15 min mix by hand it produced a smooth and silky dough. It certainly felt different to the Australian flours I have been using but I am not sure how to put it best into words. Softer to the touch perhaps?

While the book uses a spiral mix followed by a 50 min bulk fermentation I was mixing by hand so opted for a gentler mix followed by a longer three hour bulk ferment to build strength and maturity in the dough. The final proof stretched out through the afternoon as the temperatures dropped but all the time increased the flavour of this delicious bread.

Nat is torn. She loves the flavour and texture of this bread, more so than the some of the Australian organic flours I have been using …  but it has come all the way from France … sigh. We are mindful of our footprint ...

I love the flavour as well so I am keen to keep experimenting with it … for the time being anyway.

Cheers,
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

... Continued from the previous postChalala's Felton Miche - Wood-fired baking for a food festival - Part 1

I have heard a wood-fired oven being likened to a battery. You store energy, use it and then store it again. I still find it completely captivating watching the flames dance across the roof of the oven. Watching the black walls turn clear of soot and start to burn clean. Laurie and I stood in front of its solid heat marvelling at the flames while discussing heat retention and oven management. Laurie still finds it as fascinating today as when he first built it. The night after the food festival we were refiring the oven for Laurie’s wholesale customers. These breads would be delivered to cafes and households in and around the Toowoomba region. It was a modest bake in comparison to the Food Festival bake – approximately 170 loaves.

We were better prepared for the cooler temperatures and thus increased leaven quantities and paid even more care to the dough temperatures. A day of continual dough shaping was beginning to pay off for me. It gave me an increased awareness and I was able to react to subtle differences each dough that came off that wonderful diving arm mixer. Laurie bakes more tin loaves for his wholesale customers and he is obsessive in his quest for lofty bread proofed ever so carefully to the top of a tin. We worked well into the day, shaping and baking and shaping and baking. Towards the end of the day I was shaping and loading the oven by myself with Laurie keeping a careful eye and giving me gentle encouragement on the best order to fill the oven. Loading an oven loaf–by-loaf on a peel really is an art in itself.

As the afternoon approached we spent a few hours giving the bakery a thorough scrub down from top to bottom as the last load of fruit bread baked in the cooling oven. We were finished for the day. Rhonda had a prepared a dinner fit for kings and we slumped into chairs with a glass of red in hand. The following day I floated back to Brisbane and delivered bread for friends on my way home and that night Nat listened patiently to my stories of diving arm mixers, wood-fired ovens and shaping bread.

Cheers,
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

It is a stunning Autumn morning – crisp and clear. Outside a container of dough gently rises and for the first time all week I have a chance to sit and write a post for the blog.

I spent last weekend with friends near the small township of Pittsworth helping in their micro-bakery as they prepared for a food festival in a nearby community. Laurie and Rhonda started Chalala Micro-Bakery a few years ago with the vision of producing quality breads in a masonry oven. This has been expanded to include a range of stunning wood-fired mueslis, nuts and gluten free cookies.

I contacted Laurie a year ago with hope of gaining some experience in the operation of a small bakery and the use of a wood-fired oven. From that moment on they opened their home and hearts to me and have given this raggedy home-baker (I love that term Pat) some incredible hands-on experience.

Their bakery is based around an Alan Scott built oven and a recently purchased diving arm mixer affectionately dubbed baby Huey. Previously Laurie was mixing all the dough by hand in plastic tubs and I can tell you this is hard work – needless to say everybody was very grateful for baby Huey’s arrival.

Finishing work early on a Friday afternoon I drove west from Brisbane for two hours. After leaving the close confines of the city you start to notice the horizon and feel distance in all directions. The roads widen and lengthen before you.

I was heading out to assist Laurie with the bake and market stall for the Felton Food Festival. Felton is a farming district on the inner Darling Downs about 30 km south west of Toowoomba and in recent years has seen plenty of conflict between the mining industry and the local community over the development of an open cut coal mine. A month ago it was announced that the newly elected state government would rule out the proposed coal mine. The community had won and now the food festival was a chance to showcase the beauty and productivity of the Felton region.

Preparation for a bake is always a busy time. Flours are scaled and placed in boxes, ingredients are prepped and finally the leavens expanded. Along with this busy activity I milled flour in preparation for a batch of Country breads and Miche. My little mill had its work cut out for it and so did I as I sifted through a few kilograms of flour. This was to be a specialty one off bread for the food festival and Laurie was kind enough to allow me to develop a formula and mill the required flour. By the time I had prepared the flours I looked white as a ghost :) – covered in flour.

The plan was to bake an oven-load of country breads (Campagne) that included 3 x 2kg miche scored with the Felton Food Festival logo. The formula used Laurie’s organic white 100% hydration starter, a mixture of organic plain white flour, milled and sifted wheat flour, whole-grain spelt and whole-grain rye flour. Some final wood was placed in the oven and a draft door set in place until bake time. It was time to try and sleep.

 

Chalala’s Felton Miche 3 x 2kg Miche (Original formula was for 20kg)

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Makes 3 x 2kg Miche

 

 

Total dough weight

6000g

 

Total flour

3488g

100%

Total water

2512g

72%

Total salt

70g

2%

Prefermented flour

348g

10%

 

 

 

Leaven build – 10 hrs 23°C

 

 

Starter

77g

22%

Organic Plain flour approx 13% protein

348g

100%

Water

348g

100%

 

 

 

Final dough

 

 

Leaven

696g

22%

Organic Plain flour approx 13% protein

1256g

40%

Freshly milled and sifted wheat flour

1256g

40%

Freshly milled whole-grain spelt flour

471g

15%

Freshly milled whole-grain rye flour

157g

5%

Water

2164g

69%

Salt

70g

2%

 

Method

  1. Mix starter and leave to ferment for 10–12 hours at 23°C
  2. Combine Leaven, water, flours and salt and mix on slow for 15-20 minutes
  3. Bulk ferment 2.5–3 hours with two stretch-and-folds 30 mins apart in the first hour.
  4. Divide. Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.
  5. Proofing took two and half hours
  6. Bake in woodfired oven for 30 minutes at 250°C

 

On bake day we were a little surprised by cool bakery temperatures but by midway through the bake we had caught up and were back on schedule with the oven performing better than expected. By the end of the bake we had produced 300 loaves made up of 13 varieties of breads – 11 of them sourdoughs.

Ciabatta, miche/country bread, struan multi-grain, sprouted wheat bread, Irish brown/beer bread, olive bread, onion and rosemary bread, flaxseed rye tin loaf, spelt and teff tin loaf, fig and roasted walnut boule, banana sourdough tin loaf, fruit sourdough tin loaf and cinnamon scrolls.

Market day had arrived. We watched the weather with some nervousness and crossed our fingers hoping for a good attendance being it was the inaugural food festival for Felton. The organisers had been hoping for an attendance of 500 people, in fact there were many thousands – possibly 5000 or more.

We were fortunate to have a stall right by the front entrance and thus we didn’t have a moments rest until the last loaf of bread was sold only two hours after the gates had officially opened. Laurie and Rhonda then continued to sell muesli throughout the day.

Celebrity chef and owner of Tank and Bretts Wharf Restaurants in Brisbane, Alastair McLeod provided cooking demonstrations and utilised one of the miche in his dishes. He is a strong supporter of locally produced foods and some of his chefs have even travelled from Brisbane to spend time in the bakery with Laurie.

The festival was held on a property on top of a gentle hill overlooking farming land in all directions. Hay bales were scattered around under trees for people to sit and enjoy the local food while taking in the scenery. Some rain did drop for minute or so during the day but was welcomed happily by the farming community.

At the end of a long but rewarding day we headed back to the bakery to re-fire the oven and prep for Laurie’s Monday wholesale bake. It was time to try and sleep again.

… to be continued.

PiPs's picture
PiPs

The idea of honest bread and its making found its way into my thinking over the weekend. I find myself slipping more and more into this way of baking. Using less but wanting more from it. I didn’t bake any differently to past weekends yet I felt more connected and relaxed throughout the process. The slightly cooler temperatures certainly helped both my peace of mind and the resulting bread. The kitchen felt less frantic.

 I haven’t been pushing the envelope. Just practising consistency while noticing and adapting to the subtle differences the change of seasons is bringing. Perhaps this might be seen as boring or lazy … nevertheless I enjoyed it thoroughly and it keeps us well fed.

I baked two small batches of 100 per cent whole-wheat desem bread and country breads on the weekend. This will feed the family during the week and left us with a loaf to take away on a picnic to a country market in the northern New South Wales town of Bangalow. We had the best handmade organic doughnuts while wandering through the markets. One of the country breads was given to Nat’s parents on our trip home to help ease their struggling brought on by home renovations.

I have been trying a new method of milling where the flour is constantly stirred and moved around in the bowl as it falls from the mill. I want to disperse the heat as quickly as possible and noticed a definite improvement in the time it took for the flour to cool. Whether this translates into the final bread I really have no idea. Any ideas? I sifted the wheat flour for the country bread as normal and retained the bran for coating the desem loaves.

Mixing the desem starter

Autolyse and desem starter

Squeezing in desem starter

Stretch-and-fold

 

100% Whole-wheat Desem

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Total dough weight

2000g

 

Total flour

1081g

100%

Total water

919g

85%

Total salt

20g

1.8%

Prefermented flour

162g

15%

 

 

 

Desem starter build – 10 hrs 18-20°C

 

 

Starter

61g

50%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

122g

100%

Water

61g

50%

 

 

 

Final dough

 

 

Desem starter

243g

26%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

919g

100%

Water

838g

91%

Salt

20g

2%

 

Method

  1. Mix desem starter and leave to ferment for 10-12 hours at 18-20°C
  2. Mill flour and allow to cool to room temperature before mixing with water (hold back 50 grams of water) and autolyse for a minimum of one hour.
  3. Add levain to autolyse then knead (French fold) 5 mins. Return the dough to a bowl and add salt and remaining 50 grams of water and squeeze through bread to incorporate (dough will separate then come back together smoothly) then knead a further 10 mins.
  4. Bulk ferment two and a half hours with three stretch-and-fold 30 mins apart.
  5. Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.
  6. Final proof was for 1.5 hours at 24°C
  7. Bake in a preheated dutch oven at 250°C for 10 mins then reduce temperature to 200°C and bake a further 10 mins. Remove bread from the dutch oven and continue to bake on a stone for a further 20mins to ensure even browning.

 

 

I am continuing to expand the desem starter with one build straight from the fridge and as the overnight temperature continues to cool the desem starter is achieving a more controlled fermentation and sweeter aroma by the following morning. I have been looking forward to this kind of weather all summer and it is so nice to not have sweating dough racing away from me into a sticky mess. I even had to increase proofing times by an extra half-an-hour for this bake.

For an aesthetic change to previous desem loaves I baked these without slashing in a dutch oven after coating them in bran sifted from the country breads. I was really surprised with the increased oven spring … quite possibly the best I have had with this form of bread.

Country bread baking

The most telling tale that the cooling temperatures are affecting the bread came with the cutting and tasting. Nat took a bite and then looked at me and asked quite seriously, ‘Have you added anything else to this … it tastes sweet?’ Not only does it taste sweet, but you can smell the sweetness in the kitchen while slicing through a loaf. The crust is delicate with the bran coating adding a crunchy contrast to the soft crumb within.

So far we have eaten it with Nat’s special ‘sick soup’, with honey and ricotta, toasted with peanut butter, with plum jam, with apricot jam … and the list goes on and on.

Happy baking all ...
Cheers
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

Mornings appear a little darker here after we quietly slipped into autumn with little fanfare or apparent change in day-to-day weather. Both Nat and I have been waiting so impatiently for the cool change of a winter’s day. And although we don’t get the biting cold and snow here in Brisbane, it will make such a refreshing change from the sticky humid weather of late.

While initially my baking centred on our home life, there has been an increasing amount of bread being baked for friends. And with each bake I am becoming less and less interested in baking with white flour. For me, one of the most exciting aspects of these bakes has been the opportunity to bake bread for our friends using wholly fresh milled flour.

Saturday was an example of one of these baking days … a bake day that started a few nights earlier. The bake list for Saturday included a batch of Wholewheat banana and choc-chip muffins, Desem Wholewheat x 2, Country Bread x 2, Walnut and Sage Wholewheat x 2 and a Vollkornbrot.

For our desem bread this week I wanted to use the white wheat fresh from my aunt’s farm near Dalby. This meant spending an evening during the week sorting through a kilogram of wheat picking out impurities and non-wheat material. My eyes were certainly a little blurry by the end of this process.

 

 

Something I have noticed is the correlation between the how well planned a bake is and the amount of mess I seemingly generate. Let’s just say I am rapidly improving on both counts! And as seems to be my usual process, Friday afternoon was spent milling, sifting, soaking, building starters and then cleaning up. The desem dough was soaked overnight with the salt added ready for mixing first thing in the morning.

When Saturday arrived it felt hot and humid though Nat assures me it wasn’t that bad. The morning sun poured through our kitchen window bumping up the temperatures into the high 20s by breakfast time. This was going to be fast paced day. I mixed the doughs cool but found everything fermented quicker than normal and it was safer to prove the shaped bread in the fridge for and hour or so before baking. My oven is still proving to be a bottle neck in these situations.

It has been sometime since we have cut a loaf still warm from the oven and stopped for lunch to enjoy it. We cut open one of the desem loaves, enjoying one of the best bread experiences we have had in a long time – a simple fresh lunch with many sighs and nods of approval.

By mid afternoon the Vollkornbrot was baking in the slow oven while friends arrived to collect cooling breads. With the kitchen clean, we stopped, sat outside, enjoyed a cup of tea and watched the world race around us for a change.

Cheers,
Phil

 

 

 

PiPs's picture
PiPs

Saturday morning ... kids rise early and greet a sunny new day. And while they busy themselves with play and squabbles I defrost some slices of Tartine Country Bread. We rarely have leftover bread in our freezer so French toast feels like such a treat. Little faces light up and impatiently circle the kitchen as the soft crumb of the Tartine Bread slowly absorbs the milk and egg. 

Then a patter of feet to the table as the frypan starts sizzling while calls are made for more cinnamon sugar than ever before. We politley respond in the negative. We like sweet French toast in our house. Simple and slightly sweet.
A light dusting of cinnamon and sugar. Perhaps a dollop of natural yogurt and blueberries.

Energy for a big blue day outside ...

Best wishes for the upcoming weekend ... looks like a rainy one here,
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

I still find it a funny experience to bake and then display small snippets of my life. Over the past fortnight I have perhaps pondered too deeply on this and my relationship with baking and bread … driven poor Nat to distraction I am sure.

So what do I want my bread to be like?

This question only found its way to me at the end of a long week. A long week with too much time spent looking at what other bakers/bakeries were doing. A week with too much time spent on other people’s lives and not my own. A week with too much time spent on wondering what I could possibly bake for the blog … and of course this is an endless ever-growing list.

For me, this seems to be the wrong way to go about it. Better to bake for my life and show the results, whether they are same and mundane or new and exciting. Even the same and mundane is never really the same and can be quite a challenge as we all know.

As the week finally came to an end, everything fell into place for a Saturday bake. I would bake and deliver my favourite bread, the Country Bread with two Starters to a small group of friends. This gave me a purpose, a timeline to stick to and just the right amount of pressure. And with any luck we would have a loaf left over for us to enjoy on a picnic the following day.

Along with the Country Bread I wanted to bake a 100% Rye Vollkornbrot with a meal so coarse that with every two grains into the mill I wanted three pieces out. This meant an afternoon of milling and preparation the day before. I took my time and approached it all a little differently. The wheat was milled finely and sifted once catching approx 17% of its weight with the caught material set aside for dusting peels and baskets.

The rye grains went through the mill with the stones set a wide distance apart which produced lovely cracked grains and also a proportion of fine flour. Throughout the milling process I had to manage the mill so the stones had time to cool between passes. The desem starter was then expanded directly from the fridge and left outside in the cool night air. The rye sour was built for both breads using very coarsely milled meal … this would be an interesting inclusion to the Country Bread formula.

The next morning I woke early to beat the heat and keep to the timeline. As the Country Bread autolysed the vollkornbrot was mixed and mixed and mixed. With a few minutes to spare I sat quietly as the oven preheated and sipped a cup of tea in apricot light amidst the chatter of morning birds. Two hours later the Vollkornbrot was in the oven as the Country Bread bulk fermented and I spent a morning making french toast for the family.

The Vollkornbrot was removed from the oven in time for me to boost up the heat in preparation for the two loads of Country Breads. A warm day greatly assisted their final proofing with fridge doing the opposite for one of the batches as they waited for the oven. The warm loaves were soon bundled into a basket for an afternoon of deliveries and errands in a glorious sunny day. Perfect!

The day after I finally had the chance to slice into and taste both of the breads. The Country Bread was brought to a family picnic by the water where it was topped with mashed banana … a treat for kids and adults alike! So many childhood memories tied up in that flavour combination. The translucent crumb was softer than I remember from past bakes which was most likely from the different sifting method used and possibly the cracked rye used in the starter. The flavour was mild and fresh and even with the rye starter there was very little hint of sour. … plus it has my favourite coloured crust!

I had to wait for breakfast the next day before slicing into the Vollkornbrot. I think the crumb is still setting but it held together well for thin slicing. The flavour is smooth and deep with a creamy texture. The grains are apparent but not chewy or uncomfortable. I would love to bake this even longer next time and perhaps ferment the sour a little longer … I am just a little cautious knowing how fast the fresh milled grains seem to ferment.

 

Vollkornbrot

Overview

Weight

% of total flour

Total flour/grain

915g

100%

Total water

730g

80%

Prefermented flour

320g

35%

Desired dough temperature 24°C

 

 

 

 

 

1. Rye sour – 12 hrs 24°C

 

 

Starter (Not used in final dough)

32g

3%

Coarsely  milled cracked rye

320g

35%

Water

320g

35%

Total

640g

 

 

 

 

2. Soaker

 

 

Coarsely  milled cracked rye

100g

11%

Altus

40g

4%

Water

200g

22%

Salt

14g

1.5%

 Total

354g

 

 

 

 

3. Soaked grains

 

 

Ryegrain

70g

8%

Spelt grain

70g

8%

Honey

2 tbsp

 

Boiling Water

272g

30%

 

 

 

Final paste  @ 24°C

 

 

Sour (1.)

640g

70%

Soaker (2.)

354g

39%

Soaked grains drained (3.)

160g (approx)

17%

Coarsely  milled cracked rye

322g

35%

Water

210g

23%

Total

1680g

 

 

Method

  1. 5:30pm the day before prepare the rye sour (1.) soaker (2.) and soaked grains (3.)
  2. 5:30 am the following day. Drain soaked grains and combine with rye sour, soaker and remaining cracked grains and water.
  3. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon for 20-30 minutes (basically stir/mix until tired. Rest then begin stirring again)
  4. Shape and place into greased tin (mine are 8 x 4 x 4 pullman) seam side down.
  5. I proved it for one hour before docking, covering with lid and placing into oven preheated to 270°C on a baking stone. I immediately dropped the temperature to 200°C  for one hour. I then reduced the temperature to 150°C and baked a further hour before removing from the oven.

 

So this is what I baked on my weekend … and now the starters are happy and well fed, we are happy and well fed and it’s nice to have found my path and purpose.

Cheers,
Phil

 

PiPs's picture
PiPs

I have wanted to bake the Semolina sourdough from Tartine Bread for some time now. The heady mix of toasted fennel and sesame seeds held within the golden crumb sounded like a delicious combination beneath a crunchy encrusted exterior.

Finding the durum flour proved to be quite a challenge though. It took me more than a few visits to organic grocery stores until I discovered a small bag tucked away on a low shelf from a New South Wales company specialising in pasta and durum based products.

It has been some time since I last baked with durum flour and I was a little nervous with the amount of water that the Tartine formula called for … 80% Hydration! … however the dough developed strongly over a three hour bulk ferment and shaped easily into batards. The seed coating looked beautiful as they quickly rose in cloth-lined baskets … it is hot and humid again in Brisbane.

The hot oven in the hot kitchen punched the wet dough upwards and I couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief as watched the oven spring unfold. This is aromatic bread. The crumb is full of vibrant fennel seeds with the sesame seeds playing a much smaller role in the flavour profile.  The crumb is sturdy but not tough … the fennel flavour is sturdy also - bright and savoury. I would be inclined to reduce the amount of fennel seeds just to allow the sesame flavour to show through a little more.

By the end of a week in the fridge, my desem starter is keen to step out and stretch it’s legs after pushing its bed of flour upwards to a cratered top. Keeping the ideal cool temperatures is an impossible dream at the moment so my next best option is to feed sooner and watch its development closely.

The idea for the Walnut and Sage bread surfaced during a week of afternoon bus trips home. I knew I wanted to bake a whole-wheat desem bread studded with walnuts and I loved the idea of incorporating a sweet honey walnut paste similar to a concept used by Dan Lepard. The idea of sage came after … to balance the added sweetness brought by the honey.

 


Walnut and Sage 100% Wholewheat

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Total dough weight

2140g

 

Total flour

1081g

100%

Total water

919g

85%

Total salt

20g

2%

Prefermented flour

162g

15%

 

 

 

Desem build – 4 hrs 26°C

 

 

Starter (50g not included in final dough)

75g

50%

Freshly milled wheat

150g

100%

Water

75g

50%

 

 

 

Walnut Paste

 

 

Walnuts

50g

 

Walnut oil

20g

 

Honey

20g

 

Water

50g

 

 

 

 

Final dough

 

 

Desem starter

243 g

26%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

919g

100%

Water

788g

85%

Walnuts lightly toasted

300g

32%

Walnut paste

140g

15%

Chopped fresh sage leaves

1/2 cup

 

Salt

2og

2%

 

Method

  1. Mix desem starter and leave to ferment four hours
  2. Mill flours and allow them to cool before mixing with cold water (Hold back 50g of water) from fridge and autolyse four hours.
  3. Combine walnut paste ingredients and mix till smooth with motar and pestle.
  4. Lightly roast remaining Walnuts and allow to cool.
  5. Add desem starter to autolyse then knead (French fold) 5 mins. Return the dough to a bowl and add salt and remaining 50 grams of water and squeeze through bread to incorporate (dough will separate then come back together smoothly) then knead a further 10 mins. Add Walnut paste, roasted walnuts and chopped sage leaves and squeeze through dough until combined.
  6. Bulk ferment two hours with two stretch-and-folds 30 mins apart.
  7. Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.
  8. Proof for 1 hour at 28°C
  9. Bake in preheated dutch oven at 250°C for 10 mins then reduce temperature to 200°C and bake a further 10 mins. Remove from dutch oven and bake on stone for a further 20 mins.

 

After allowing them to cool I couldn’t wait any longer to try a slice. The knife sliced through the delicate soft crumb with ease. The walnut oil and walnut paste softened the crumb and coloured it the lightest purple. There were some lovely walnuts protruding from the crust but Nat’s quick fingers saw to them … I am sure they would have been distracting for the photos anyway :)

The sage flavour sits at the back of the palette complimenting the walnuts – you breathe it in - a perfect balance. So much so that the bread moves effortlessly between sweet and savoury settings. Perhaps a late breakfast with honey and ricotta or a slice toasted with blue cheese and glass of red to accompany one of our favourite pizzas on a Saturday afternoon watching the sun slowly set.

… our version of Jim Laheys Zucchini Pizza – with added red onion and pine nuts.

Cheers,
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

It has rained and rained and after a week of soggy grey we finally have a glimmer of sunshine. And with all the rain and cooler temperatures I have really noticed how intertwined my bread making is with the weather. Every feeding and levain build is a unique decision – the balance between the temperature and feed ratios.

Wandering through the kitchen I throw a glance at the thermometer resting beside my rising levain and through the day I feel subtle change of temperature between rooms in the house. I notice this most among the quiet and peaceful times for me, scattered and far between though they are.

After arriving back home from my parents we had a house emptied of bread and I left it that way until the weekend. We have all been settling into the routines of a new year. Nat and I both back at work, plus we have had two new school milestones for the kids with one starting grade one and another starting her first year in high school.

With cool morning air and some time free on a drizzly Saturday I prepared my desem starter plus milled and soaked the fresh wheat flour. To me this is the simplest, purest form of bread - whole flour, water and salt. Later that day the dough was developed using stretch-and-folds over a three hour bulk-ferment before a quick final proof and bake. There is a fascination for me by using a longer bulk-ferment and developing the dough slowly and carefully - subtle changes over time – slowly becoming alive. It slots nicely into the rythem of a rainy day at home. Relaxing ...

After a long hiatus I finally baked some whole-wheat Fig and Anise loaves. Again these were raised with the desem starter with the chopped figs and aniseeds incorporated early in the bulk ferment.

These are a special treat for us and are consumed with utter joy - toasted, with a drizzle of honey, topped with ricotta cheese. We sit at breakfast with a slice or two and appreciate our morning amongst the din of school preparations and children slurping down breakfasts.

The sun is shining again ... all the best
Phil

PiPs's picture
PiPs

The past week has been spent under big skies. I had travelled to my families home overlooking the small township of Warwick which is two hours drive south-west of Brisbane. As I left the city outskirts and watched the land open up before me, my hands relaxed on the steering wheel and I breathed in the space … up above the skies felt bigger.

This was a belated Christmas trip and the amount the garden had grown and developed showed how long it had been since my last visit. Apples hung heavily and tomatoes had self-sowed everywhere you looked. My parent’s garden is such an inspiration for Nat and I, and what a joy to see my youngest daughter pulling carrots, picking tomatoes, grasping flowers while asking endless questions.

Recently I discovered that my aunt and her husband grow wheat on their farm situated near the small town of Bell, 260 km north-west of Brisbane. I have many fond memories of Christmas holidays spent there playing with my cousins, watching cricket on hot summer days and exploring the farm at the foothills of the Bunya Mountains. It had never occurred to me that they grew grain and on a recent trip to my parents, my aunt left a bag of wheat for my father and I to use in our grain mills.

A data sheet left with the bag indicated that the variety of wheat we had been given was Kennedy - a prime hard wheat with high dough strength, a long mixing time and excellent baking qualities. Interestingly the data sheet also indicated the wheat had a protein level of 9.5% which did not seem particularly high so I planned a cautious bake.

This was fresh wheat from a farm … there were bits of stray material, wheat heads, damaged grains and over breakfast my daughter, father and I chatted and laughed while we sorted through a kilogram of the grains picking out the unwanted material. The grains are smaller and lighter in colour than wheat which I have milled previously. It milled beautifully in my father's Hawos stone mill.

 

Not long after purchasing my Komo mill, my parents had visited and become fascinated with the idea of milling fresh flour. This led my father to purchase a Hawos Billy 100 stone mill for use with his bread machine with excellent results. Although the Billy 100 is a physically larger mill using a wider millstone it contains a smaller motor than the Komo XL leading to slower and quieter milling. I was really impressed with the quality of the flour and was a little envious of the lovely pieces of bran the mill seemed to produce.

Before mixing a bread I wanted to get a feel for the flour so I asked my mum to bake us a fantastically chewy slice that is packed full of fruit and flavour. My mum does not measure when she cooks so it was a challenge to slow her down so I could take a few rough measurements.


My Mum’s Super Chewy Fruit Slice (featuring freshly milled family flour)

Ingredients

200g Butter

70g Honey

250g Freshly milled wholewheat flour

2 ½ tsp Baking powder

2 eggs

180g Mixed fruit

180g Chopped dates

60g Craisins

70g Dried blueberries

½ cup Brown sugar

1 cup Desiccated coconut

2 cups Special K breakfast cereal

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160C
  2. Line a slice tin with baking paper
  3. Combine butter and honey in a saucepan and melt over a low heat
  4. Mix baking powder with the flour and sift twice to incorporate
  5. Lightly beat eggs
  6. Transfer melted butter mixture to a large bowl with all remaining ingredients and stir until combined
  7. Press into prepared tin and place into oven for approx 30 mins or until golden brown.
  8. Allow to cool before slicing

 

 

During the day I built up the levain and pondered how to treat this unknown wheat. With a seemingly low protein level I was reluctant to soak the flour for an extended period so I opted for a one hour autolyse with cooler water. I also chose to preferment 25% of the total flour to help strengthen the flour. I usually aim for a hydration level of 85% for my fresh milled wholewheat breads but with the expectation of weaker flour I dropped this to 75%. 

After the autolyse I was surprised to find a firm and resilient dough and as soon as I began mixing I knew I would need a higher hydration. By the end of mixing I had increased the hydration to my usual 85% and had dough that felt strong and extensible. A stretch-and-fold at the 30 min mark confirmed the dough’s strength and I left it untouched for the remainder of the two hour bulk ferment.

After straight forward shaping and proving, getting results from my parent’s oven would remain the biggest challenge as I tried to add steam without my usual cast iron steam pans. A few ice cubes and a raging hot baking stone worked well but not to the usual standard of my oven at home.

The resulting bread had expanded boldly in the oven with a sweet caramel flavour to the crumb and light golden crust. It was slightly denser to my previous wholewheat breads and I am keen to mill this wheat at home in my Komo to see what results I get.

… and what better way to enjoy bread than with home grown tomatoes still warm from the sun, fresh picked basil, olive oil and sprinkle of cracked pepper.

 

Cheers,
Phil

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - PiPs's blog