yozzause's blog

Hi Folks

i was reminded by work colleauges that i had not baked for a little while and that they were feeling deprived of some nice bread. So with that thought ringing in my ears and the thought that i hadn't baked since i had changed my feeding regime for the sourdough culture  where it now spends more time in the cool room than out, coming out for a couple of days for a few feeds and going back in the fridge for a longer stay.

I decided to come in early to work and put through a white dough 3kg flour 2 litres of water and 1 kg of culture(100%hyd) 75g salt 1x 50g egg and 150g of butter.

The dough was mixed well as i had decided that it would get no stretch and folds just a bulk fermentation which lasted for 4.5 hours so the dough was scaled and shaped after my lunch and placed on linen couches for an overnight stay in the cool room. 4 @750g 5 @ 500g 4 @ 250g 

Again i came in early and baked off the dough before my scheduled 7.45 start 

I managed to get a cut shot just before the loaf was eaten at lunch time, please disregard the cutting board with coffee stains  

I have also included a couple of pictures of bread that was made recently during a visit from fellow TFL follower Betsy Teo, im sure she is about to do her write up  about her Aussie Aventure whilst on holiday from Malaysia ( the pressure is on)

Home brew stout with torrified wheat sourdough to the left,  with cottage loaf and stick made  from black sesame white dough (No time dough)

Turmeric with Haloumi Cheese and Spring Onion Sourdough loaf inside and out.

Kind regards Derek

I invited friends for dinner  tonight Friday, I promised them a roast tomato soup and  fresh bread, and followed by a (home brew) guiness  and steak pie with fesh veg from the garden. Anyway we had got to Friday morning and i couldnt see myself getting a chance to knock up a batch of bread at work so i decided to call at a relatively new sourdough bakery in South Fremantle The Wild Bakery on my way to work.

The bakery was open before 8.00am and as i parked the car and walked towards the doorway there was a waft of bread in the air, and could i detect the faint smell of slightly over baked bread a faint smell of burning  any way as i got in the doorway there were a few different loaves to choose from,  i chose the top shelf loaf which had caught a bit of colour but would be nice and crunchy with the soup   

It was lovingly wrapped and taped and handed to me, i had a pocket full of change and was sorting the gold coins from the silver and asked the price,   $12.00   was the reply  which was about half as much again as i was expecting , Oh well perhaps i wont buy a danish for my 2 work colleagues after all.  As luck would have it my trousers were being weighed down with coins so i had enough in small change and was still able to put a couple of dollars back. This had to be my most expensive loaf of bread  ever purchased it will have to be good! 

Once At work i took the loaf to fellow enthusiasts that usually benefit from the free loaves that i hand out from  baking sessions,

We had 3 people that proposed a price of $8.00 which was in line with my thoughts.

 I had to cut it and have a look and a small taste, verdict of my close colleauges not as good as mine, i will have to reserve my opinion till after dinner tonight.

Our dear friends Bob and Joan have just recently clocked up 49 years of marrige together. i have been able to find a wine that we enjoyed greatly in the past, a bottle of 2009 Mudgee Black Shiraz @ $25.00 for the toast , let us hope that this bread has similar qualities.

Fremantle has 2 x recently opened sourdough Bakeries another actually in the city which i briefly had a quick look at but will go and do a proper reconaissonce on it soon.

Just to finish a picture of our 2  cats Tiger and Jess named by the grand daughters, they have Garfield and the 4th brother another ginger cat Harold Holt  is with the mother in law. IF we DO come back in another life  come back as one of my wifes pets,

Brothers in arms showing contentment.

kind regards Derek

Following on from the visit by Ross and Janice to Challenger Institute for an evening "Introduction to Sourdough" i had asked Ross to bring me a sample of his sour dough culture  so that i might give it a run.

The dough was a 5O% Wholemeal dough that i mixed and allowed a bulk ferment in the cool room overnight and took around 24 hours after mixing,  No stretch and folds  were administered any way it felt good to  quite good to handle although a little sticky but a bit of semolina and flour took care of those problems.

i decided to make 12 baguette shapes and a couple of loaves these were quickly handled and put on couches for another night in the cool room. i came into work early the next morning to put the dough through before my normal start time of 7.45 am. So shortly before 6.00 am the ovens were fired up the dough pieces brought from the cool room  and in the time it took to make a coffeee and the cornflour wash for the dough pieces the oven had reached 220, i chose that temp because as the water is injected the temp drops  about 20 degrees.

i have a long piece of thin ply that i use to peel the dough pieces off the couch and onto the trays, the  3 trays were then washed and seeded and then slashed and into the oven. the other two loaves were then similarly treated and into the oven . the water/steam injection is kept on until the loaves have set and the first signs of any colour appearing the temp  was set to 200 for the rest of the bake. i even used the exhaust facility on these ovens to try to get a really crisp crust and it does seem to have done the job

on the couches on the boards out of the cool room

All in all  quite pleased with the sample there Ross It made some good bread and i will probably use it again soon, my one tomorrow though!

kindest regards yozza 

i decided to make a sour dough in preparation for a promotional baking class in a couple of weeks.

So in the morning i fed  the culture with some whole rye flour so as to have the right amount for a mid day mix, 400g of culture 400g of ryemeal and 800 ml of water this was part by error but also i reckoned that it would allow a quicker fermentation.

At lunch time i went to mix the dough and  found the whole meal bin almost empty  but managed to get 600g and to this i added 3,000g of flour for a  total 3600 (3) then i added  2000ml of water as i had already 400ml extra in the culture build (2)   and then the prepared culture 1200g (1)  

The salt was @ 2% 72g, butter was 2% 72g, 2 eggs =100g  the dough was mixed well and finally the addition of 150g black sesame seeds into the mix, dough finished at 12.00. The dough was allowed to rest in a large plastic container and given stretch and folds @ 1.00pm, 2pm and 3pm the dough was then taken at 4.00pm scaled and handed up loosely.   12 pieces @ 500g and 2 pieces @ 750g.

The dough was then moulded put onto linen couches and into the fridge by half past 4, knock off time is 4.00!

Next morning i got into work early to bake off  before 6.00am the ovens were turned on the dough pieces brought out and transfered to baking sheets they were washed with a boiled cornflour wash white sesame seeds applied and slashed ready for the oven. the steam was applied for the first 6 or 7 minutes and then evacuated.  The bakeing time was about 35 minute  at 200 degrees. the bread can be seen cooling on wire racks. The only thing left to do was the bread delivery run and all done and ready for work in my office by 7.45  with the first loaves already being cut buttered and tasted.

i have my one loaf to take home this evening (1 more hour to go) that will go nicely with the lentil soup that was over from the restaurant at lunch time.   

 Another good day at work! 

Kind Regards Yozza

So whilst i was waiting for the 50% Wholemeal feta and olive to bake i thought i could easily make another dough so i decided to try something different i would make this dough and do a bulk ferment with no stretch and folds  and see what we ended up with.

 3 kgs of Flour,  2 litres of Water , 1 Kg of SD/Culture  and to this i added 60g of Salt, i also decided to take a wetter step forward and added an additional 100g of water. i mixed the dough in the big Hobart mixer and stopped  and gave the dough a spell for 5 minutes  twice during the mix.

The dough went into a big plastic bucket with a lid similar to those Nappy buckets (do they still have them) at 7.00AM and came back to my office after i had distributed the bake, all before most of the other staff  had even turned up for work.

i checked on the dough's progress through the morning and not long after lunch determined it was ready,it had visually almost trebled insize,and the poke test showed that it was holding the shape of the indent of my index finger. it was also perfect timing that the lunch service at the training restaurant was almost finished  so i would be able to scale off the dough and shape it onto the boards.

I decide to make my very first Miche so weighed off a 1 Kg dough piece followed by   most other pieces at 750gms and two smaller pieces that i was going to try in some wicker baskets that i had picked up but never used before. The miche was destined to be tried in a fine plastic colander that was sprayed with oil and then dredged with Rye Flour.

Following  a quick hand up and short recovery the loaves were shaped those that had their makeshift bannetons were then placed inside plastic bags and put into the cool room, the others were placed onto linen tablecloths that i had saved from the mornings bake and previous night in the coolroom for another  shot all tucked up an put to bed.

Same old story get to work early  hit the buttons fire the oven   bring out the dough pieces transfer to the baking trays 

In the wash up the wicker baskets let go of their cargo readily the colindar had to have some persuasion not a lot but didnt drop out. when first asked The bulk fermentation period was 6 hours and no stretch and folds cold  proof was 16.5 hours. 

Unfortunately i didnt get any cut open shots. Happy with the result though

kind regards Yozza

Last week it was time to bake again time to use the culture that i look after at work, to be in readiness for an evening class "Introduction to Sour Dough"

The dough itself was the simple 3:2:1 Flour : Water :Culture the only difference was to step up the water by a further 100ml the salt was 2% other additions were Butter 2%,Turmeric powder @ 0.25% i decided on the Turmeric to possibly contrast the Feta cheese @ 4%  and black olives @ 2% 

The Feta and the olives were folded in in the last couple of fold and stretches. The dough was made first thing in the morning as it would be done for my class, i went back religiously every hour to do the stretch and folds  three repetitions in all  the last one incorporating the cheese and olives , i had prepared more chess but found that there seemed to be plenty. on my lunch break i went and shaped the dough pieces and got them onto the couches and into the cool room.

The following morning i got into work early in order to bake off the bread. Our  new ovens  heat up very quickly    

 so that after you have programmed in the time, temp, fan speed with moisture to go once the temp is up  

and then place your loaves out onto trays for any further preparation  it is almost time to get them in. on this occasion i was not washing them with a cornflour starch wash a is my usual practice especially if i am adding seeds. So it was just a matter of the slashes. 

In my evening class this is one of the things that the students will be doing. i have a sequence of pics now that were taken every 5 minutes  and you should be able to see the changes that take place when the dough pieces are subjected to the heat of the oven, theses Unox ovens allow you to witness this wonderful event that is so often out of site for many of us.

 The dough pieces are out from the cool room  after  some 17 hours  fortunate to have the luxury of laundered linen

table clothes for my couches

 all in the oven with the water injection happening

So there we have it, i also made another dough while i was waiting for this one to come out of the oven but will post that one later 2 doughs in 2 days

kind regards Yozza 

The other week I mentioned the fact that we were having a fund raiser for the Cancer Council under the Australia's Biggest Morning Tea whereby you host a morning tea and raise some money for the Cancer Council.

At work the team from student services had arranged a function at another campus where they were going to have a morning tea and cup cakes, i suggested we hold one at our campus and voulunteered to make cinnamon scrolls for the morning tea. With permission granted from the relevant  managers it was just a matter of coming in early that day, 3.00am start instead of the usual 7.45 or should I say prior to my 7.45 start.

I had a voulunteer to get out of a warm bed to assist in production , it was really good because Michael is the Hospitality technician and had all the keys for all the doors.

So on the designated May morning i awoke before the alarm (funny i always seem to be able to do that)  so off to the workplace  just after 2.40, i do live nice and close, i was let in by one of the cleaning ladies who got a little bit of a fright when i looked through the window. Michael arrived soon after  and we got stuck in, the first dough was soon made which was a 5kg timed dough for about 90minutes bulk fermentation. Immediately followed by a second 5kg dough  with a little less yeast for an estimated 2 hour bulk fermentaion.Then thirdly we made an instant 2.5kg dough with no fruit as we were told that some people dont like fruit, and we wanted to cater for everyone that would come along.

The instant dough was scaled and preshaped and given a short rest on the bench whilst we enjoyed a coffee. from then on it was me rolling out the 1.2kg dough pieces  washing and applying the cinnamon sugar and rolling up with Michael cutting the logs into 12 x 100g divisions and placing on the trays and into the prover.

The first timed dough was now ready and we followed the  previous pattern, we were hitting our straps.  We soon had the proover full so we utilised the secon Unox oven as a proover as it could be set very low, the first lot of scrolls soon were ready for the oven,  time for another quick coffee and prepare the bun wash.

The first batch were out and washed the second batch were proving nicely, however we were going to need the second oven, fotunately these heat up at the rate of a degree per second  so in less that 4 minutes were good to go.

The second timed dough was now ready for  turning into buns  same process me shaping and Michael cutting.

any way we finished up with 21 dozen scrolls  all ready for morning tea and me showered and  back behind my  desk  for my normal duties.

The girls from student services did the rest so at morning tea time we made our way back to the training restaurant for a cuppa and a fresh buttered cinnamon scroll with a raffle ticket and cancer council merchandise and all for a gold coin donation. By the end of the day over $600 was raised for a most worthy cause, which i was very pleased to have been able to help with.  

       Michael washing the scrolls straight from the oven

Pleased with the mornings effort

Hi FOLKS

I responded to a post by Khalid the other day that started with reference to flour bags  and a job as an apprentice of cutting up the heavy hessian bags that the rye flour and rye meal used to come in, they were 150lb bags in those far off days.The hand mits are used by the men working the 40 - 50 tray travelling ovens also the 40 tray peel ovens for protection from the hot tins or trays but also needing to have their hands and fingers free for alternately loading the oven.

hands free to pick up things  tins or trays  to load ovens

 ready for action flipped  ready for the hot stuff

 these ones are purchased from a supplier of bakery and butchers supplies made from terry towelling far better than using tea towels that the students tend to use,( must be a chef thing ) but can be quite dangerous if the tea towel has been used on anything damp as the heat quickly starts to produce steam that then makes the tray get so heavy that i have seen them drop the goods on the floor.

i think i could easily make these myself too right tool for the right job  

kind regards  Yozza (Thats me just in case there are talent scouts out there)

Hi folks 

i recently wanted to test the amount of yellow colour that i could obtain from a natural source for a future bake , We are going to host a Cancer Council fundraiser  Australia's biggest  cuppa and the Cancer Councils colour is yellow!

i decided to try using Tumeric  so i mixed my usual sour dough  3-2-1 flour- water - culture with 2% salt and 1% tumeric the results are seen below the idea was to also see if the tumeric was detectable as on the day i am making cinnamon scrolls and some fruitless sweetbuns.

The day is next MONDAY 27th May,  with a come in early 3.00am start, i even have a volunteer to come in to help with bun production, the idea is for staff and students to give a gold coin donation for a cuppa and a fresh cinnamon scroll for Cancer research. It is particularly poinyant for the Hospitality area as we have recently lost a goood friend to skin cancer that was particularly agressive  and cut down the technician  who was just 50 odd years of age from a little mole that was behind his ear.

So firstly there is the new ovens and proover set up 

thats one of the ovens sitting atop of the proover with the second oven alongside

the dough was given the usual mix stretch and folds every hour x 3  shaped and put on the couches and placed in the retarder overnight . Next morning brought out placed onto trays and washed with a boiled cornflour wash  seeded and slashed 

 you can see my little transfer board on the bench

Placed into the oven at 200 with steam for the first 5 to 10 minutes until the loaves have set . 

you can see through the glass doors how the oven spring has picked them up nicely

the steam comes off when the loaves have set 

out of the oven and starting to cool

sorry didnt get any cut open shots 

So there we have it  another successful batch for my tasters verdicts which were  very yellow inside and most could not detect any flavour from the Tumeric. i think i could cut the tumeric to 0.5% and still get the yellow i was after

However on the day i have been told i can use Safron so that will be good. i anticipate making a couple of 5kg batches  and the buns scaling off at 100g.  

 so if you are down Fremantle way call in between 9.00 and 11 for a big cuppa and a nice fresh cinnamon bun all for a gold coin donation.   

I will try to record the day for those of you who cannot make it !

kind regards Yozza

hi folks these pictures were sent in by the students from the class that i assited with bread making at work see  previous blog "a great day baking at work 27 march"

5KG Hot Cross Bun Fruit dough

14 piece hand bun divider at the ready

A 5KG Fruit Bun Dough with 1 hour bulk fermentation ready to take this dough was made into cinnamon scrolls

and back to a picture of some of the hot cross buns

 A great time was had by all with 4 different doughs being made and processed, two 5 kg bun doughs a 4.5kg sour dough with black sesamee seeds and hand made dough on the bench

HOT CROSS BUN DOUGH

FLOUR               5,000g  100%

butter                       400g   8%

salt                             50g     1%

sugar                       800g     16%

brewad improver        25g  0.5%

mixed spice                100g  2%

milk powder               125g  2.5%

yeast dry                    200g    4%

eggs                             250g   5%

water                          3000ml 60%

fruit

sultannas                   1500g   30%

currants                      750g    15%

mixed peel                   100g   2%

total yield     12300g  (26%)   164 buns @ 80g ea

the timed dough was similar minus  bread improver and bun spice

Sour dough  black sesamee

flour 4.500 g flour

water 3,000ml

s/d culture 1,500g

salt 60g

sesamee oil 120ml

black sesamee seed 150g

we ended up with 18  x 500g loaves which were retarded and baked the next day

 Kind regards yozza

and thanks to the students for the pictures