My grandmother's iron skillets make the best pizza. They are from the 1800's. They are 12" across. We have family getting in later tonight so I made these up so they will have something yum when they get here. Crust is somewhat of a guess and by golly as my Mom used to say. I had a couple levains left in containers and decided to clear them out. They were full of bubbles...one durum and one ww.
Boy I thought I was really doing something great. Took several large pieces of fresh pineapple peeling with the meat on it and dropped them into my AYW . It sure did get it to bubble and ferment and smell loverly....but oh boy. I never even thought about the enzymes and protease breakdown. Turned my bread to GLUE....I mean it was almost impossible to get it out of the bucket and into the garbage , never mind trying to get it off of my hands and the counter and the floor....you get the picture.
Thanks to Danni's post I got out my starter , fed 'er up and started mixing. I followed most of her formula but used some Winter Wheat from Breadtopia and added 60g brown sugar to the fruit soaker with the 60g of butter. I didnt put any cinnamon due to her experience and I didn't want to do a swirl in the center of the bread. Maybe next time.
What's not to love ? I had to clean out the freezer since we are going away for a year. I found 2 boxes of roasted pumpkin that I had put up last Fall. Enter this bread. What an amazing dough to work with. The key is to drain the heck out of the pumpkin. The rest of the procedure was like working with silk. The rapidity of the rise is accounted for by the AYW. More and more it is giving me results that are really impressive as far as texture and rise time.
240 gm levain ( 100% hydration mixed rye/white)
600g water and AYW - 300g each
700g bread flour
We love Ian's take on this bread. So much so that I had to make it again this week as we were out and I had roasted a turkey breast and we needed something yummy for sandwiches. This bread is a delight to work with. I changed a couple things . My starter is always 100% hydration so I use less water in the final dough. I also " autolyse" using the levain with the flours and water since my levain is s major source of the water in the dough and without it there isn't any way to autolyse the flours. I subbed in 200g of AYW for part of the water.
then you make your crust and top it and bake and eat...pretty simple...when you have all the right "stuff". I am so lucky that I have my Mom and Grandmom's iron skillets...nothing cooks like old iron. This one is 12" across the top and 3" deep. It is paper thin in the middle...Momma called it her chicken fryer. Her Mom used to put bread to soak on a back burner with warm milk and butter and sugar. This was during the depression .
Ian's post on Durum Rye SD got me going and I had a great time with my version. I used whey for all of the liquid. We make yogurt and had a batch not set up so I had a qt of whey frozen. My starter is a rye so went with that. I followed all the other particulars except timing. I always retard shaped loaves and let them rise for 1 -2 hrs before I place them in the fridge and then bake directly from the fridge in 500 degree pots. Worked like a charm. These loaves are SO fragrant and the crumb is delightfully tender.
I started to make this from Bread but then looked at my notes and saw an old post from another TFLer who cited Shiao Ping's version. Since her adaptation fits with my usual procedures I decided to carry on with her ideas. Everyone comments on how wet this formula is. I always have my levain at approx 80-100% hydration. Again I carried on. I used equal parts Red Fife and Kamut and finished with organic bread flour.
What a great bread. I am a big fan of fruit and nut breads. I made a couple changes and am pleased with the result. I doubled the formula so have two huge boules. I added 2 scant tsp. diastatic malt powder to the mix. I used 250 g diced Turkish figs and local pecans. I subbed in 200 g of my very active AYW for part of the liquid. I have a white starter at present that was converted the day before from rye so used that. This is a great dough to work with. I got massive oven spring.
