I finally got around to purchasing a container of food grade lye . I had tried to find info on lye baths for bagels but there is very little out there and the percent of lye to water that was used seemed way off. I am glad that I pursued this and have some data that I hope will help others. I purchased the lye on Amazon here . Will likely last me a good long while. I used 5 grams in 1 gallon of filtered tap water. This is approx. 12-12.5 % alkalinity. Baking soda is only 9 if fully saturated so can't get the water where I wanted it to optimize the crust . I will use a bit more next time and get it up to the full 14% that is possible if fully saturated. . I am VERY pleased with how these came out. I added the lye to the cold water and brought it to a boil. Just to be on the safe side ( my husband is a chemist and insisted) I wore goggles and had some vinegar in a dish off to the side to neutralize any splash on the skin. I had no problems.
I bathed the bagels for 10 seconds on a side...lifted out and drained, replaced on the sheet pan dusted with semolina where they had retarded. I baked them as always in 400 degree oven approx 22 min. rotated pans at the 1/2. Formula I use is here. I used whey instead of water as I had a lot from my kefir cheese making. I also used half white and half rye starter.
The crust is amazing. So crisp. Beautiful blisters and a nice glow to the crust. Perfect chewy crumb. Lovely fragrance. Any residue of lye is hydrolyzed by the proteins in the bagel dough and is neutralized so you don't need to worry about rinsing the bagels after dipping.
Here are some pics.
note the difference in the boiled vs unboiled bagels: baked : crumb ( small flaw from rolling/shaping )
I had several of these ordered so couldn't cut them. I made one more for our cookout tonight. Wonderful family dinner by the pool. The Challah was so tender and slightly sweet with the addition of some extra honey and the golden raisins.
before glaze: glazed with a mixture of egg yolk/honey/1/2and 1/2: just out of the oven: crumb:
David said he had not tried this so I decided to give it a shot. I do it with every SD I bake. I remove from baskets and bake right from refrigerator. It worked fantastically well ! I did 4 loaves as a test one day and then the other 12 the next. I mixed the formula in batches of 4 loaves in my KA for one minute to moisten the flour and transferred them one batch on top of the other to my 13 qt bowl to autolyse. I then did "in the bowl" s and f for 3 turns...this is 6 kilo of dough ! ( I am 5'2" and 115 # :) ) Did 2 s and f on the board. To facilitate handling I changed the formula by 100grams of water/per 4- 500 gram loaves. Such a tiny amount of water per loaf but a huge difference in handling.
Only thing I lack is a crumb shot...hope I can get my son to take a pic as these ALL went to him . Here are some pics to show the process. I preheated the oven on convection at 500 with a shallow pan of lava rocks under the steel plate for 45 min. Loaded 4 loaves on a thin baking sheet and poured in the boiling water to make steam. Have finally got the water figured out so that it is all gone about 9-10 min into bake...I also mist a couple times from a sprayer. I leave the oven at 500 for those first 12 min to make up for any drop in temp. As it happens the oven drops 6 degrees and that is it. Consistently....the steel really holds the temp and also starting with boiling water at 212 into a 500 degree oven doesn't cause as much thermal loss. But LOTS of steam !! I then lower to 460 and finish the bake..internal temp is 210-212.
The loaves sang and cracked like crazy...love the cracks on the crust. The bottoms are gorgeous from the steel...the thin pan makes no difference to the hot steel . OK..enough talk...here are the pics.
s&f in 13 qt bowl x3 q 30 min.- ready for 1st s&f on board: after 2 s&f's on lightly floured board: shaped and ready to rise 1 1/4 hrs before retard: puffed up nicely ! : whoa...no room in the fridge ! slashed and ready to go : nice : tried 2 different slashes...keep it simple :) bagging and ready for delivery !: Home ovens are for home baking...even with great convection and a pan of rocks there is nothing that will replace the wonders of a steam injection commercial oven. I think I already knew that LOL ! I sure enjoyed the process. This was the second time in 2 weeks that I have done 16 loaves of SJSD for my son. I learned a LOT !! Will I keep doing it ??? Hm...probably not....only for special occasions. But I sure am grateful that I had David's formula to work from and so many tips from TFL on steaming with a pan of rocks..I have read every post I could find on steaming . Things that were way easier than I thought they would be....s&f in bowl of 6 kilo dough and on the board...piece of cake !! Shaping...by the time I had finished I had really improved my technique..I can look at each loaf and tell you which was the 1st I did and which was the last. Steaming once I got used to the initial BLAST ! So there you have it...for what it is worth. c
Have been baking up a storm for 2 days. All is preordered so no guess work as to what to prepare. Orders have grown like crazy ! I have converted my sunroom that is adjacent to my kitchen into a kitchen annex. Added a large maple table that I already had and a bookcase from the used furniture store to hold supplies. So far it is working out great. Here is some of the bounty. My husband is making his pasta also for sale by order.
sourdoughs...Norwich and SJSD, Challahs , Oatmeal bread and rolls, bagels, dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. new storage: dinner rolls: Challah: more Challah: pasta: cinnamon rolls: 16 loaves of SJSD ! where is the dishwasher ????? he is fired !
In my other post I showed the lasagna that I made from sourdough pasta. My husband is the pasta maker and I turn it into dinner...so it is a joint effort. It makes the most remarkably tender and flavorful pasta. I use what ever white starter I have . Mine is usually at 100% hydration. One very nice thing about the SD pasta is its keeping quality in the fridge after you let it dry on the counter. It will last easily for a week if you wrap it well. We make extra and then dry on the counter on cloth towels and then store in fridge to be eaten with various toppings. Do cut to desired shape though before you dry it.
286 g "00" flour ( if you only have AP that works also) or use 1/2 and 1/2 semolina-AP
3 large eggs
1T EVOO
1/4 c starter
4g kosher salt
this made 17 1/2 oz pasta. Depending on starter hydration you made need a few drops of water but you don't want the dough too wet. Should just hold together. R puts the flour on the cutting board and stirs all the liquid into a well in the center. He then uses our pasta machine to knead and roll it out and to cut the spaghetti..he cuts the lasagna by hand. Next time he makes it ...which will be this week as we have company coming I will get more detailed pics..the ones I had are in a different computer iphoto that is with my daughter who is out of town. c,
I had enough orders this week so I have some crumb shots and some not as most was going toward orders. I made my usual 100 % sourdough bagels from Wild Yeast blog but I used whey from my kefir for all of the liquid including feeding the staters..I use 1/2 rye starter and 1/2 white staters for the formula. They were all spoken for but the fragrance and shape are lovely so I have high hopes for the reviews on texture and flavor . I also had more orders for the Oatmeal Bread. I made 2 5 oz rolls from the extra dough...Grand son and his Momma and Papa ate those with peach jam we made this afternoon ! Made 8 Challah seeded buns and 2 Challah braids, a huge batch of peanut butter granola and 3 semolina sourdough boules. I ran out of semolina so added a touch of spelt. They turned out beautifully...baked in my DO's. That's it...oh and I made a small pan of lasagna from the last of my husbands sourdough pasta. We have always made our own pasta dough but have just lately started using starter for the lasagna. It gives a wonderful texture and lightness to the whole dish.
oatmeal loaves and 5 oz oatmeal buns, Challah and Challah seeded rolls: semolina crumb: big ears ! : retarding in the "all fridge" boules and bagels: boiling bagels: baked and ready to go : granola : lasgana:
I keep noting the folks on here that are milling their own flour from whole grains. I have never tried it and would like to get my feet wet. What did you buy ? Do you like it or do you have misgivings and think you would prefer another one ? A general overview and review would be great and help me make a selection. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.
As an additional piece of info where do you get the grains you mill ? Online or local ? Thanks in advance. c
This is a straight dough. Old recipe..regular cup/tsp measures. Sometimes the tried and true is the best. I did wet the shaped dough and pressed the top into the oatmeal,read about it here on TFL ..worked like a charm ! The bread is for a customer so no pic of crumb.
Here is the dough just before going in the oven. c
It is hard to keep up on the forum lately. So many innovative techniques being used . I decided to combine several things that I have wanted to try . So far noone else has done this particular set of combinations so hopefully it will be informative. First I made a sourdough focaccia. I used my kefir whey for all of the liquid. I added some sun dried tomatoes and topped with dried orgeano and New Orleans olive salad from our favorite place Central Grocery. It was wonderful. The crust top and bottom was crisp and browned...oweing in part to the black steel pan . We had it with Conchiglie tutto Giardino..and ate in the garden too . The only thing I will change next time is increase the liquid to perhaps get a more open crumb. 200 g starter 590 g "00" flour 300 g kefir whey or water ( I will add more next time) 10 g salt mix,autolyse 30 min. Knead gently 5 min. Fold q 30 min x 2 hrs . add in 50 g sundried tomatoes coarsley chopped. Press into greased 15x10 pan. Let rise 3 hrs. brush with olive oil and top as desired. I used 100g olive salad drained and dried oregano. Bake at 450 for 30 min Next I started with Ian's tang zhong roll formula and changed it up some. I used 1/2 white and 1/2 rye starter. I used all "00" flour for the white flour. I subbed semolina for the rye. When I made the tang I used 20g durum and 30g white with 250 g whey/potato water. I cooked the potatoes in the whey and then drained and cooled and added. I didn't add any onions so the rolls could be used in more ways. 426g starter 417 g "00" flour 50g spelt 50g semolina 16 g salt 150 g 2% milk 25 g olive oil cook tang zhong using 20g semolina, 30g "00" and 250 g whey potato water 125 g mashed potatoes cooked in whey I autolyse flours, milk, tang zhong, starter and olive oil. Let it all set for about an hour. I then added the salt and the potatoes. I followed Ian's advice on mixer times. Beat the heck out of it like a ciabatta ! It is a very soft dough. Did the s and f's for about a half dozen on a lightly floured counter. Brushed off any extra flour but it makes it come together much better , I think. Rest covered 1 hr and then into fridge overnight. Take out next AM and shape while cold. I never shape at room temp. Much easier when cold . Now only need to rise for 1 1/2 hr and then bake. Great oven spring ! Wonderful crust...I brushed with beaten egg white and topped with roasted sesame seeds. I will use only egg white from now on. Much nicer crust and tastes better too. I spray water into oven a couple times and find that is plenty of steam . Preheated at 500 and lowered to 460 baked for 20 min to 210 degrees. The crumb is more open and the texture is soft...but...they are more like bread...chewier and the crumb is cool tasting. I can't say that I am as fond of theses rolls as I am the other ones. sourdough buns. These the the ones I have made before that Ian also posted. I made them this time with all whey and I also only used my kefir cheese. I doubled the recipe. I used 1/2 rye and 1/2 white starter. Otherwise I used the same method as above. Autolyse...mix with the salt. s and f's and then in the fridge...shape cold and rise 1 1/2 hrs. Bake with a couple mists. Brushed with egg white and sesame seeds. SUPERIOR ..these are like fine pastry. Amazing. even better than the last time I made them. The whey makes them smell and taste like they are full of butter :) But they aren't..only 100 grams for 2 doz rolls. note the finer texture: yum..lunch by the pool ! clematis and jasmine more jasmine and roses...the fragrance is amazing ! more jasmine :
Wowzer....today at church a member brought a huge bag of extra grapes . Hmm...I had a 1/2 batch of semolina pizza dough at home just waiting for something creative to happen. Voila ! This is SO yum !! I can't even describe how good it is. I used raw sugar and EVOO on top and sprinkled with Herbs de Provence...lots of lavender. Whoa...we have devoured a 1/2 loaf ! Made Conchiglie con Salsiccia e Peperoni as well. Grated parmagiano reggiano ..what a Sunday night feast. Will share recipes if you are interested...will have to wait till tomorrow :) Vino also very nice...