trailrunner's blog

 Added crumb shot. A tiny compressed place at top where lid caught when I peaked at before putting in oven😩 have to stop peaking! Taste and fragrance are rich and a deep almost chocolate fragrance. Eating it with butter. Could use a bit more salt. Crumb is like a moist cake very pleasant and not gummy at all. No sour present. Very pleased. 

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/70103/13%E2%80%9D-pullman-rye-yw-levains

previous bake 86% rye

I’ve made this before for Ian’s post . Watching the fermentation is the key to success. I hurried it once before and the texture wasn’t as fine as the first time I made it. This time I watched for the very first pinhole size bubble on the surface and immediately covered and refrigerated it. Perfect so far. The buttery fragrance is intoxicating. It’s wrapped in towels til tomorrow. 

My YW has been wonderful since it vacationed with me at the beach 😊. I made one levain using stored YW starter added stored  YW unrefreshed and t65 for 1/2 the called for levain and used stored Rye SD starter to which I added the same stored unrefreshed YW and fresh milled Danco Rye. 570 grams of levain total. All the rest of the flour is Danco rye milled fresh fine grind unsifted. My Holy Trinity of olive oil/Palmetto honey from Florida/ buttermilk made up 90g of the liquid. This is a batter poured into very well buttered 13” Pullman smoothed with wet spatula. The dough had 8 ridges showing when it was first put in the pan. This is right before going in the oven. When it came out filled perfectly to top. 

Thick slices of Cabot cheddar , buttered Challah and a 100 yr old iron skillet. Nothing could surpass the flavor and fragrance. 

Same old same old. Only new thing is using sweetened 1/2 and 1/2 on the dough pre bake. I love the flavor rather than the egg yolk wash. 

Baking exactly the same formula every 2 weeks. Make a levain with  stored Apple/ raisin YW and flour and another one in equal amounts with a spoonful of stored YW starter and YW and flour. Both tripled in a few hours . Dough rose and puffy and light in 2 hrs. Shaped and it was ready for the oven in 30 min. Beautiful fragrance. 

I have no problems with my stored YW I carried it to Florida for a month and used it 2x there. I’ve  been leaving the sludge in the bottom and keeping large pieces of fresh orange rind in it and only changing the apples and raisins when they sink. Works perfectly no dough deterioration when mixing , rising or shaping. Very happy with this series of successful  YW  Challah bakes so moving on to some other ideas . 

Edited to add : I think my bread is trying to tell me something!!! Huge!!!  Unprecedented! Amazing! Ok enough. No egg wash. I can’t tolerate the smell after having Covid 😩😬. Fragrance and powerful growth . Same flour as I brought it with me as well as the YW so everything is the same. Will bake it probably one more time in 2 weeks. Keep ya posted. 

First picture is YW and flour just the one feeding. 2 nd picture is a “ glop” of YW levain from home and YW and flour just one feeding. They are extremely fresh smelling and huge bubbling. More later. Headed out cycling to the Y via paved bike paths and then swim in the heated saltwater pool. Have to honor priorities! 

tv

 There are pictures in this thread of the YW and levains 

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/70160/yw-challah#comment-505885 

 The crumb is very much like the Hokkaido bread!!! Wow that 10 min intensive mix really worked. So tender and light and so fragrant. Amazing bread

This is more like what I usually get when I bake this decades old ,originally ADY , yeast bread. 

I changed a few things. I used my YW without refreshing it as the fruit was still floating and it was fizzy. I made 2 levains subtracting from the total flour and water of the original formula. The levains were made using YW from the surface for one and sludge with added clear YW for the second. I used YW as the remaining liquid in the formula as well so essentially three forms of  the same rising agent. 

I always autolyse all ingredients for one hour and did so today. I always use my Kitchen aid mixer on 2 for 5 min after the autolyse but today I decided to try what others have been doing and head toward an intensive mix so I did 10 full minutes at level 2. Pulled a lovely windowpane! 

Amazing plush dough. Rising time was 2 hrs to double. Shaped easily and 2 hr rise again. Egg wash baked 350/ 35 min. 

Rich pastry fragrance fat well risen browned braids. I had stopped making Challah as I was pursuing other multigrain breads and techniques. This is how my Challah looked from the 70’s on until recently when I wasn’t really paying attention to details. 

My YW  with fruit and a batch of YW  flour starter in the fridge will both be traveling to FL next week for a month. I’ve never done this before but I want to solidify the things I did today. Guess I will pack the KA mixer too 😩

Bennie started it with his lemon love! This is a mixed up  crust with YW SD whole wheat and a bit of T65 and the rest AP. Toppings are mozzarella and Parmesan and black olive tapenade with pepperoni and homemade sauce. 

I had mentioned previously about converting my Challah recipe that I have been making since the mid ‘70’s to YW. I posted pics of the Apple/Raisin YW that I used on the YW topic . . Freshly fed and fermented it did an outstanding job. The fragrance is intoxicating. Crumb shot in a bit. 

I simply use 2c YW that’s very active and then follow my usual recipe. It’s in cups and measures and I haven’t ever bothered to change it. It’s been perfect all these decades so I haven’t felt the need. 

The beauty of YW is the enriched dough rises so nicely and the bread crumb stays soft and shreadable for days unlike yeasted crumb. 

Same formula. used Danko rye from Barton Springs. Very very happy with all their grains that I have ground so far. . Timing for rise was unfortunately messed up because I fell asleep! Anyway successful as this is a forgiving dough. Fragrance and . Flavor amazing. This rye is very rich. Crumb has a bit of compression. Due to over rising and top catching on it. 

Delicious! I wrapped the finished 13” Pullman loaf in linen towels and left it 24 hrs. Like a tender rich cake. Very cool mouth feel and a lovely crisp  deep toasted crust due to plenty of butter to prevent sticking. This dough was WET! It contained 2 YW levains one white and one Rye . It also contains my trinity of EVOO -honey - yogurt. 

I saw it rising in a VERY uniform fashion as I did the bulk ferment in the pan. I counted the ridges on the pan sides to watch the progress. At one hour I saw one bubble break the surface! Triumph Paul said stop the room temp ferment immediately and I did. It continued to rise in the fridge with the cover on while it retarded till the next morning. Baked at 450 top on 20 min lowered to 400 for 20 min top on then 25 min top off. Couldn’t be happier. Such an easy rye . One bowl one pan stir proof retard bake. Can’t ask for more balanced flavor or a more beautiful crumb. 

Make levains 35g white starter feed with 125g YW 125g T65 ( or other white flour)

                      35g rye starter     feed with 125g YW 125g rye flour ( all rye was ground slightly coarse in Mock Mill) 

ferment till fully developed. Overnight in the microwave with light on produced great growth. 

Dough. I autolysed the the dough ingredients separately from the levain at room temp overnight due to the coarse grind. 

627g coarse rye Mock Mill

557 filtered room temp H2O

90 g total Trinity - 30g each EVOO/honey/yogurt

18g salt

Mix everything together the next AM making sure it is all blended. Easy to do by hand. Butter your large Pullman and lid very very well. Place dough in and smooth top with a wet spatula. Leave in a warm place, I used the radiator in a sunny window. Mine took only one hour to see the " first fermentation bubble". Put lid on and place in fridge overnight. Bake in 450 preheated oven for 20 min covered. Lower to 400 and continue covered bake another 20 min. The slide cover off and say " whoa" as it will be so brown and full to the top and continue to bake 25 min. Remove from pan after about 10 min to let it loosen. Wrap in linen for 24 hrs. Slice and enjoy. c

I adopted multiple tips from this site in order to try and achieve a successful loaf. Paul said “ one bubble” see pic above top right is THE bubble . Dan said bulk in pan . I can’t remember who said make sure and bake thoroughly… will do tomorrow. I made two levain with YW one white one rye. All flour in the dough is Mock Mill ground to a more coarse setting than I usually do, another tip from someone here on TFL. A Community Bake for sure! 

Before bulk in pan : 

Posted a version of this in the past. New improved and updated. Stunning flavor profile and tender crumb. I feed my white YW starter and have it bubbling and super active before using. I don’t keep a discard so always make the “ quick” bread in a regular sourdough fashion . 

Added chopped candied ginger and a heaping TB fresh ground cardamom . Chopped home canned green rhubarb and boiled the syrup down to use for the glaze while the bread was hot. 

This batch came out the best yet.