yozzause's blog

 Previously there have been posts regarding GavinC lamenting the fact that there was a lack of different wheat varieties available in Australia, this was followed up by JonJ from South Africa with an article on an Australian farmer growing Red Wheat, it was a very  interesting article and the best thing was it was being done here in Western Australia. I made contact with the company that supplies and buys the grain but didn't really get far, i then did some searching and found an email address for an engineering company that Ray Harrington has and asked them to forward my details to Ray and Tim and my interest in their Red Wheat. Both gentlemen phoned me that evening and we had a good chat although the telephone line wasn't that clear. I managed to get an invite so what follows is a write up i did for our local facebook group of bread enthusiasts Freo Food Bread.   Quest for red wheat took a giant leap forward yesterday with me setting off for the farm at Cordering at 5am just as the pre dawn glow was appearing on the Eastern horizon. The early start was necessary as farmer Tim was wanting to attend Sheepfest in Darkan the local township. Lachie Bisset our fellow FFB member and part owner of Big Loaf was also keen to make this trip but would need to do some juggling of his calendar, but agreed to make his own way there which he confirmed on friday. As i left home the car told me it was 17 degrees outside and after the horrid 39 the previous day was quite lovely to be up and out. As i climbed the Darling Escarpment leaving Armadale in the rear view, dawn officially broke which was good as i didnt really want to be driving through the catchment area and Forrest in the dark. My reluctance for that activity was soon realised with a number of fresh Kangaroo carcases on the roadside, some of which would have caused the Subaru serious problems ! I noticed the temperature drop to 14 which shows the value of the tree canopy. With Curtin FM radio playing some good old songs and being solo i was able sing along loudly, perhaps that was keeping the wildlife at bay. In no time the town of Williams was reached and i turned off the Albany Highway onto the Darkan - Collie rd and a bit further along diverted to the Darkan rd. By this time the Curtin FM was becoming a bit scratchy so the ABC was employed for entertainment the next turn off saw me on a very well maintained gravel road and 80 klm per hour was easily achieved .At the T junction and a bitumen rd my first error turning left, and i soon realised after a couple of ks my mistake as i should have had my next turning coming in a short distance . A U turn soon had us back on track and another dirt rd this on a little more lumpy but still pretty good compared to some i have had to endure. This rd led to the farm and it was great to see Lachie and son Monty already engaged with Tim beside the storage silos. Lachie and Monty had camped out in swags overnight at a nearby small town of Quindanning quite an adventure already!After a good firm farmers hand shake Introduction from Tim we got on to the story of the Red Wheat and Tim showed us both varieties, the RGT Accroc a winter variety and LRPB Beaufort a Spring wheat. we listened to how the wheat had performed for Tim as a crop and how it fitted into the rotation but also how they could be grown further apart in the season so that it spread the risk quite a bit especially with frost. Lachie was sampling the grain for taste which he liked and detected that the Accroc was considerably harder to chew. Tim was quite interested in our enthusiasm and what we could hope to do with some of his wheat and we promised to keep him informed and hopefully produce a loaf made entirely from his own wheat even.Anyway we were conscious of taking up to much of Tim's time so got out the Hessian bags and Tim filled them generously 4 x bags, 2  of each both variety. Lachie presented Tim with some of Big Loaf's produce the famous Cinnamon scrolls the Pane Ancient and their signature Big Loaf. Tim then mentioned Lupins which he also grows and said that we need to get more lupins into the human diet which he and Lachie agreed as they are a great source of protein not the kind we Bakers are usually chasing which is the gluten content of wheat flour. Anyway we were gifted with a bag of lupins to have a play with too. We also stopped  up by the Header that had brought in the harvest and Tim showed off the great invention that his uncle had produced locally the Harrington Seed Destructor. This clever device destroys weed seed at the time of Harvest so that it does not need eradicating with sprays in the next growing season.Tim also touched on Flax growing which apparently was quite wide spread at one time and that it supported a process plant for fibre in WA. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a big market for the seed and other than being a good rotation crop. The benefits of Flaxseeds or more commonly known as Linseeds are great, just look them up. Anyway we were told we could go to another farm that Tim runs and help our selves to a sample from the 7 tonne bin. So we made our farewells and Lachie invited Tim to bring the family to the Bakery for a tour when they were next down in the city. We headed off and went to the other farm where Lachie scaled the bin and remarked on the quality of the linseed. We were both aware of the dangers of grain bins and explained to Monty the dangers of sinking into grain and that people have died this way. I was so pleased that Lachie and Monty had made the trip not just because they are nice blokes but pleased that Lachie had come in his landrover ute and not on one of his motor bikes with six sacks of grain the subaru would not have coped at all well. The day wasn't over though as we decided to visit Darkan's sheepfest and it was one of those great country show / field days with log chopping and shearing competitions and of course sheep showing . i went home via Collie arriving home at around 3pm and 580klm on the clock but a great day out. The next part of the fun will be in the next few weeks when we mill some of the samples and see what we can come up with watch this space.

After seeing a posting of King Arthur Formulas i thought id better try one and i chose the Cinnamon Scrolls with Tangzhong . i did re jig the formula as i wanted to finish up with a dozen 100g scrolls.i can confirm that the scrolls are super light and fluffy, whether they last long enough to report on the keeping qualities is a little in doubt i even made the butter /cream/ vanilla topping too.Tangzhong is 50g flour and 250g water brought to the boil making a roux set aside to cool The rest of the dough consists of 600g flour; 6.5g salt ; 40g butter; 80g sugar; 26 f/c milkpowder; 26g dry yeast; 13g liquid malt : 107g water: i did add a lttle more as the dough mixed Bulk fermentation time was 2 hours. The cinnamon filling was made using 28g melted butter; 214g of light brown sugar :20g of ground cinnamon. all of this went onto the pinned out rectangle of dough which was then rolled up and cut into 12 pieces placed into well buttered deep pans and proved for just shy of an hour baked for 20 minutes at 180 in a gas oven the scrolls were washed with a lime juice and sugar syrup and allowed to cool on a wire rack The icing was made with 42g butter ;170g icing sugar and 20g of fresh cream. Watch out Bigloaf !       

We have experienced some extreme  hot weather over here in Perth Western Australia for the Christmas / New Year  break  record temperatures  with 42 degrees and sustained high 30's for a couple of weeks the only baking was the poor plants in the garden that got well and truely frizzled

Fortunately we have just had a bit of a reprieve which was really good  as i had a bread baking class that was booked through an on line agency this last Sunday, The participants were both newcomers to bread baking and as part of the service i travel to them and we have a baking session in the comfort and familiarity of their own kitchen. i have in the past been able to conduct classes in a technical college which was great with the latest whizz bang mixing machines proovers and ovens etc but i realised that after those classes the participants  went home to a much different environment. So now that the Technical college has closed i  thought what could be better than have someone come to you that could coach you through the process.  I bring along all the necessary bits and pieces as well as the ingredients and we make two doughs by hand so that the sense of feel can be appreciated, but quite happy if they have a machine and want to use that too.  All that is required is some bench space and a working oven.i am able to show them the little tricks that we can employ to achieve desired results in the home setting. i am able to tailor the days class to the participant, from first timers through to more experienced enthusiasts that would like that guiding hand for the day. 

There is a on line booking agency that promotes a range of local and indeed Australia wide experiences, and creative workshops and they take care of promotion and bookings and payments.  They have a huge range of different classes from clay throwing , cooking, sour dough bread baking, candle making, painting, drawing, pasta making, sushi making , cocktail classes and so on. Lots of the classes are held in the larger venues with varying numbers being able to attend where as i offer either 1 on 1 or just you and a friend and  i come to you.       So i have done a couple of these now  and i must say it is a really good feeling when you have been able set people off in the right direction so here a few pictures of yesterdays baking day where newcomers to bread baking Kim and Sophie tackled a 50% Wholemeal  Coopers Stout dough with two loaves being produced 1 with raw onion incorporated and baked off in the Romantoph Clay baker whilst the other was proven on a linen couche  before being hand peeled onto a baking sheet. and scored. A rich fruit dough was also tackled and this was made into Cinnamon Scrolls  

Off to celebrate the Mother in Laws 92nd birthday with the family so i made some bread to share, i thought a Potato and Rosemary would be nice, and a chance to use some of the Italian flours that i have recently purchased. I started with making a sponge @ 8.30am using 300ml of recent rain water that i collected and 280 g of Molisana Farina di Grano Tenaro OO flour and just 1.25g of dried yeast which is a tiny amount, my intention was to have a really slow long fermentation as i had quite a few things to fit in.One of the grand daughters was playing in the Netball grand final at Gibson Park for 10.30 and the won by 2 points. The sponge was well bubbly some 6 and a half hours later @ 2.30, All the remaining ingredients were added. i used the LA TUA Pizza flour 400g, 13.6g salt, 27.2g butter, 68g of Potato, 6.8g of chopped fresh Rosemary and a further 107ml of water. The mixing was also quite leisurely with a number of rests and stretch and folds taking place over an hour period. it was then set aside to bulk ferment and after 4 hours it went into the fridge as is .to complete the BF overnight . In the morning the dough was taken and shaped, i elected to make a 750g loaf via a banneton proof and the remaining 450 was placed in a small baking tin these were placed in plastic bags to final proof and we were off to watch the youngest Grand daughter do a solo violin performance at Penrhos, all the students did an amazing job. When we returned home the dough was progressing well and the oven was fired up. Once the temp was up the smaller loaf tin was placed in the oven with a steaming tray for the first 15 minutes and as the tray was removed the Romertoph clay baker was put in . When it was time for the small loaf to come out the lid was removed from the Romertoph and the loaf allowed to bake out. all cooling now and will be just right in another hour or so for the gathering. if it tastes only half as good as it smells i will be very pleased PS iT WAS!                                                          

Found a little gem at the end of last week on Available for Barter Fremantle and Surrounds and although Frances said she was happy for me to just have it i said i would bake some Cinnamon buns on the Monday, unfortunately she is gluten intolerant but her son and husband are not so i hope they enjoy some of these.

holds just under 2 kgs, perfect for when i have just opened a bag

note the tray is well buttered to prevent sticking and combine with the sugar and cinnamon to make the gooey toffee like bottom

ready for the oven and filling the pan

out and about to be slipped ontothe cooling rack

AS a follow up to the Horse shoe rolls project for a small bakehouse museum

Today i did something i haven't done for 50 years i made some Horse Shoe rolls. Recently i was asked if i might be able to assist the Melville Historical Society with making some loaves to be used as props in their display at Millers Bakehouse. i am hoping to do some loaves later in the week with my friend Nick Agostino from Il Panino Bakery at his Maddington bakery, the ones that are from the era before sliced bread Uprights, Devons, Cobs and Viennas. Anyway i noted that many people in their recollections as kids of Millers Horse and cart delivery was being given the odd Horse Shoe Roll or two on his rounds. So i thought lets make some of those at home. What i have to do tomorrow after drying the rolls out in a warm oven is to seal them with a coat of laquor and then apply a few coats with a brush to preserve them., and they last for quite a few years apparently.

This morning i had porridge left over from breakfast and i wanted to do something a little different so i decided to sort out the cupboard a bit and ended up with these 3 lovely loaves that would be ideal company for a cheese board its ended up being Apricot and Porridge Oat Bread with 26% Wholemeal Spelt. 3 X 510g loaves. it was going to be 2 x 750g loaves but thought 3 x 500g was easier for sharing. I didn't make this a sweet dough , there is not sugar or high fats usually associated with fruit breads. I worked out my dough formula but modified it as i went along as i only had 195g of w/m spelt so instead of 50/50 it ended up being 26% w/m spelt and 74% black and gold plain flour. cooked porridge was 20% and chopped apricots were 20% also butter ,salt, malt, milk powder, and yeast were all 2% each so it was a fast dough 1 hr Bu;k Fermentation the water was added at 50% but more was required which would have equaled another 4%. i was cautious as both the spelt and the porridge tend to give a sticky dough, but i did need to have a reasonably slack dough because of the dried apricots sucking in some of that moisture. Very happy with this stage just the cooling and taste testing to be done, oh and to break out the cheeses!

Yesterday i made a dough with a long bulk fermentation in mind, to achieve this for the single loaf dough of 750g the amount of fresh yeast required would a mere 2.2g. The minute amount was able to be accurately weighed on the set of jewelers scales, the dough was mixed at 8.10am and was ready for the oven at 8.40pm the first slice this morning confirms the theory that long slow fermentation equals enhanced flavour. The flour used was Supermarket Black and Gold Plain Flour that lists the protein level at just 9.5%The dough was slower than anticipated due to the cool conditions in the kitchen and not using warmed water to get the dough off to a good start with the desired dough temperature. but i was pleased that it fitted into my day and was out in time for bed! and even better ready for breakfastFLOUR 100% 440gsalt 2% 9gbutter 2% 9ggolden syrup 2% 9gfresh yeast 0.5% 2gwater 65% 286g       the cats are showing you how to relax on a cold wet wintery day here in Perth and reminding me to come back in the next life time as my wife's cat. They are full brothers from the same litter Jess and Tigger

First day of lockdown stayed home and made some bread, i called these Semi sour dough milk sticks.This was a 3 hour bulk fermentation using fresh full cream milk as the liquid, 1% dried yeast and 20% of sour dough starter this was a case of using up the starter as a flavour boost, being fermented flour rather than for its rising capacity. i also used 100g ofSemolina flour and 545g of Millers Bakers Flour. We have had one for tea tonight with a very nice Pate, and it was excellent!