At some point I imagined that a sourdough bread made with mostly cake flour would have a delectable soft sweet crumb texture. Or at least a better 'bite' than loaves made with bread flour. Perhaps softer on the tongue, with a good sweet flavour! And without the chew or bounce that I've come to expect with lots of gluten.
I've been baking more panettone than usual this season, mostly classic candied orange and raisin, but also chocottone and caramel apple flavors.
Each one is a bit different, and each bake presents its challenges. It's important to adapt to the context of each bake. Factors like the activity level of the LM, the ambient temperature, the type of ingredients must be considered.
But every time they go into the oven, it's exciting to watch them become grandi lievitati..
I made a couple different versions of this bread several years ago and decided to change it up a bit using a Tangzhong. Making a Tangzhong is simple and it really helps make a super soft crumb.
I made a version of this before but never posted it. It is a pretty wet dough, but not so wet that you couldn’t do a traditional braid. I made one of these plain to use for stuffing, and the other one was a request for one of my friends’ families.
Most of the flour used was KAF bread flour and I mixed in some fresh milled Butler’s Gold whole wheat and spelt both from Barton Spring Mills.
I used dark chocolate chips and Chukar brand air-dried Rainier cherries which were rehydrated in water before adding to the dough.
I know panettone really does require quite a lot of planning and research as well as knowledge, so my first time doing it and attempting it last minute probably wasn’t going to turn out well for all involved. On top of that, I didn’t use a well-regarded recipe. Also, I didn’t create a LM and didn’t get good panettone flour. So many strikes against this turning out well.
A friend of mine on Instagram was kind enough to share her formula for sourdough and hybrid sourdough cruffins/croissants. My first attempt at making a laminated dough was my Danish loaf. I unfortunately fermented the shaped dough in its pan at slightly too high a temperature so the better melted and was absorbed by the dough. With that in mind, I chose a season with cooler weather, kept my range hood exhaust fan on, and opened my balcony door a bit to keep my kitchen temperature around 72°F.
This is a follow-up of the recently concluded rye experiments, where it was established that:
1) A straight starter loaf gave a softer texture compared to a levain loaf (PFF 40%, all rye), fermentation time (16 hours) and dough components held constant, but
2) A straight starter loaf had less oven spring and was harder to shape than the levain loaf, though the straight starter loaf had an airier, less tight crumb.
3) The difference in taste was not that discernible.
Dec 14
I love adding beer to sourdough bread. I’m not a big beer drinker but the malty flavor it imparts is amazing and Guinness is one of my favorites to use.
The sour cream added extra moisture to the crumb, and the caramelized onions imparted a wonderful sweet onion flavor.
I used King Arthur high-gluten flour since I didn’t have any first clear flour, along with some fresh-milled Danko Rye (milled from Barton Springs Mill berries).
I believe I found this recipe in Bake From Scratch if I’m not mistaken. I love the idea of emulating a jelly filled dough in a cake. The filling is homemade and although I increased the fruit in the recipe significantly and dropped the sugar by 50%, the filling I think could still be less sweet. I like making extra jam for my morning yoghurt which is why I doubled the amount of fruit. I also used frozen fruit since fresh is very expensive this time of year. I haven’t sliced the cake yet since it is for a dinner party tonight.
I loved my last loaf but when I made it, my starter hadn’t been refreshed enough times to rev it up after my time away. I loved the bread but thought it would be better with a more vigorous fermentation. Things went much more as expected with this bake. This took a total of 3 hours less time despite the same temperatures for fermentation. As well, the rise was much greater despite the shorter time, no surprise. The final rise at the time of baking was 115%.
