Blogs

Once in a while, i guess i have to make a breakfast treat for myself. But every breakfast's a treat to me being a breakfast lover. :P
Though more suited for tea time, i decided made some Austrian or German (not too sure which one) jam filled yeast dumplings. But somehow, i forgot to include eggs in the dough. Nevertheless, it still was soft and moist (with flowing hot jam) and i dun think the eggs would make a significant difference.

I think i'd like to have it chilled better, thanks to the everlasting summer in the tropics.. haha

Been busy...but watching, and i'm back with goodies.

It's been a long time that i've wanted to try this (from Reinharts BBA).
The recipe asked for a small portion of pumpernickel grind flour, but i can't find that, so i used a small percentage of wholewheat.

Couronne crease/ cracks didn't came out so well thanks to not making it deep enough. Flavour was great! Tasted mildly sour and of toasted sunflowers.

With my exams over, i just had to test the BBA's pizza recipe method.
I made Pizza Magherita but with Romano and Mimolette cheese . I guess mimolette isn't a good melter, as u can see the lil orange bits.

Also, dough hydration was way too high to toss. Just had to fold it and press it down on the pan.

Made a supposedly Dutch kinda breakfast cake last saturday. But internet's down for the last 2 days.

Groninger Koek? that's the name.. lol
It's made with rye flour, and it contains no eggs or fats. Very spicy smell.
Also, an excuse to meddle with my dad's new camera ;)

Banana Bread, Struan Bread, and Rustic Bread.

The banana bread was plain and simple, not even with nuts or chocolate chips. With the holiday's coming on, it didn't seem necessary.

For the Struan Bread, I used a sample packet of Bob's Red Mill's Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal as my soaker instead of mixing together my own grains. It worked well, tasting slightly different than normal Struan Bread but quite good all the same.

For the Rustic Bread I used the same dishwasher proofing technique I used last weekend. I was so wiped out after a long week that I crashed at 9 o'clock last night before I had a chance to start a sponge. Alas.

I haven't tried the rustic loaves yet, but I shall for breakfast. I kept the dough slack again and proofed them in a flour covered basket. Hence the rings. I expect them to be quite good.

I baked pitas for lunch today. They were great. I did 1/2 cup of the flour whole wheat, which is 1/6th of the total flour in the recipe. That is just about right for my taste.

Making them fit very nicely into my morning schedule: had breakfast, prepared the dough, ran errands while it rose, came home 11:15ish and shaped and baked them. Simple, cheap, and totally rewarding.

After some time, several months, I am finally able to download pictures from my camera to my Linux system. Today I have sent you my first picture from Malaysia. The picture shows our Baguettes, Nutty Mardia Bread, White Unyeasted Bread and some coconut filled buns. The latter are filled with fresh coconut which we buy just up the road from our house.

The coconut is split in half and the meat is grated out on a quite vicious machine that you do not want your hands to get near. We lightly toast it and mix with some Sunflower Oil and
Icing Sugar (powdered sugar), just enough so it will form a ball. When we have bits of dough left over we divide it into 80 gram pieces and place the coconut mixture inside. They are quite popular.

I forgot to mention that when I made the Couronne this weekend I found myself without a poolish, something I rarely forget to do.

I decided to start one at 8 AM. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water, and 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast, which is a bit more yeast than I'd do in an overnight pre-ferment. I then placed the covered bowl in the just-run dishwasher which, being warm, moist, and clean, is about as close to a professional proofbox as one can find in one's household.

I left the pre-ferment in the dishwasher for 4 hours or so, then I used it as the base for my final dough, which had a tablespoon of salt, 3 more cups of bread flour, another teaspoon or two of instant yeast, and a cup or so more water. I totally winged it, adding more flour and water until it felt right. The dough was quite slack, but I didn't want to end up with a whole grain brick, so I decided to push my luck.

I gave it 3 folds a la the Hamelman method, then a final shape and rise. It was probably the tastiest wheat bread I've baked. I definitely will be trying the dishwasher method again.

I tried baking a Couronne this weekend:

The bad news: the dough was too slack for me to shape very well, so it didn't turn out terribly pretty.

The good news: the slack dough made wonderful bread. Even with a quarter of the flour whole wheat, it was light and airy. We gobbled it up.

The recipe was roughly the rustic bread I've baked many times. I think I went a little heavier on the whole wheat than usual, but I wasn't paying close attention.