Blog posts

Still trying to improve my 100% whole grain baking.  In this iteration I changed two things I believe needed to be addressed.  I’ve lowered the hydration and reduced the final proof.  I believe those changes have helped but still not quite where I want this to be, particularly the oven spring.  Despite the dough coming out of the banneton and standing tall, there was still more spread during baking than I want to see.  So it is still overproofed.

Followed Helen Rennie’s focaccia recipe on YouTube but mine lost its rectangle shape during the final proof. 

Any tips on how to prevent this? Many thanks in advance. 

- Christi

Somehow or other I landed on an Italian web page with a recipe for Colomba di Pasqua. Being nearly Easter, it did seem like a good time to make an Easter dove. Besides, I wanted to send my sister a birthday present, having not seen her for a long, long time - like so many people.

This is the recipe, found on the giallozafferano website. I figured that this must be a well tested recipe, since it has well over a thousand comments! It's a yeasted recipe (I used SAF Gold), but nevertheless, fairly complex.

This was an easy one and wonderful with chowder earlier today. 1 hour’s proof after mixing, divide and shape then, baked at 230°C/450°F for 10-12 minutes.
Recipe appears in the books Dough and Crumb by Richard Bertinet

• 500g strong bread flour (I used Canadian AP)
• 350g water
• 3g instant yeast (10g fresh yeast)
• 10g salt
• Olive oil for brushing 
• Optional add-ins: olives, roasted peppers, garlic powder,  rosemary, thyme 
  

 I recently had another birthday tick over,  this one  3 Score and 10 which i enjoyed with a friend who also celebrated his 78th birthday 2 days after mine . We were away fishing on the south coast of Western Australia and did very well catching the daily bag limit of Black Bream each day!

Finally just going to try it and see what happens. Updates + pictures as I go.

Soaker: Combine and occasionally stirred for 3 hours, or until dough is fully cohesive. 

• (500 ± 10) g  CM 12% Red Hard Red Wheat Berries, Twice milled (Mockmill), no sift.
• (400 ± 5) g Tap Water, Lukecold
• AFTER COHESIVE: Knead in (11± 1) g salt.

Leaven: 

So, I was inspired by Dan's post to try a new drug, errr... ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in my baking. And I also did a little bit of reading up on this site and saw that Doc. Dough recommended a much lower amount than was used in Dan's original post - 20-30 ppm of ascorbic acid.

The Community Bake posting can be found here

Perhaps to stimulate some thoughts about what you wish to try, here are five breads I’ve recently baked and which ventured into my own no comfort zone.  Keep in mind that this is my personal version of this CB, and merely here to give examples of what took me out of my own personal comfort zone.   If it provides some ideas for you, all the better.

but I made this in a 8” square pan. 

slight adjustments to Maurizio’s recipe