The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Caramelized Hazelnut Squares from ABAP

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Caramelized Hazelnut Squares from ABAP

Hello, I have a group of people at work I wanted to bake bread for. I wanted to make them something special - this bread seemed to fit the bill!
It was such a pretty bread, as pictured in Advanced Bread and Pastry. With thanks to Mr. Michel Suas for a wonderful, if involved, formula - there are four separate preferments and I had to create a spreadsheet in order to figure out how to scale enough ingredients for 2000g of dough.
I divided into roughly 250g pieces to create as many loaves as I wanted to give (with one extra to keep, for tasting!). 
I sliced the one that achieved the least height & was surprised but happy to find an open crumb, so I hold out hope for the others. 
The caramelized hazelnuts are fantastically, wonderfully delicious in this bread!!!
Regards, breadsong

Comments

zawacki's picture
zawacki

Those look simply amazing and I'll bet they are just as delicious!  Thank you for sharing.

wally's picture
wally

and some lucky co-workers!

Larry

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I bet your co-workers are going to be well-pleased. c

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello and thank you zawacki, Larry and trailrunner!
My co-workers and I discuss our respective hobbies from time to time.
They have patiently listened to me go on sometimes about bread.
I thought I'd better show up with the goods!  I hope they like these loaves! 
:^)  from breadsong

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Perfect for the holidays!  Lovely crumb shot, looks so delicious!

Sylvia

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello Sylvia, There are so many gorgeous things in the ABAP book, & so much great technical instruction too. This bread caught my eye as I have a weakness for hazelnuts. Goodness, the formulas in this book are fabulous. I've tried making two things from the book so far and have been very happy with the results. Thanks from breadsong

highmtnpam's picture
highmtnpam

Loaves look good enough to eat!  he he  How did you caramelize the hazelnuts??

Pam

 

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi Pam,
These hazelnuts were dee-licious. It took extreme willpower to save them for the bread. I shelled more than I needed, to allow for drydown when roasting.
After roasting, skinning and cooling, I coarsely chopped them and weighed the amount I needed (200g for the amount of dough I made).
I boiled 73g of sugar and 22g of water until 240F, stirred in the chopped nuts and adjusted the heat on the stove down a bit (to med-high)(I was cooking over a gas flame) and stirred constantly until the sugar started to caramelize.
I added 20g of unsalted butter and constantly stirred until it was caramelized to my liking.
I turned the nuts out onto a silpat-lined baking sheet and separated the nut pieces and let them cool completely before mixing into the dough.
At Christmastime I may make these again, for 'gifts from the kitchen'. I might leave the nuts whole and try adding some herbs and/or spice along with the butter. The nuts separate beautifully - caramel sticks to the nuts but the butter keeps the nuts from sticking together.
If you make these I hope you like them!  From breadsong

 

 

highmtnpam's picture
highmtnpam

Hey Breadsong

Thanks for the recipe.

Pam

sagharbormo's picture
sagharbormo

Birdsong,

What wonderful looking loaves& hazelnuts caramalized looks just terrific. Can you post the spreadsheet of yr recipe for 8 loaves for the math challenged & spreadsheet ignorant?
It is about the most beautiful bread I have seen in a long time. Thanks --mo

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello, Thanks so much for your kind words. I've dashed off a quick note to the book publisher requesting permission to reprint the formula (want to respect copyright). Will post as soon as I hear back.  Thanks again from breadsong

breadsong's picture
breadsong

From SUAS. Advanced Bread and Pastry, 1E. © 2009 Delmar Learning, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions

              Total dough weight grams          
              2000          
  Baker's Percentages   Weights
  Dough Levain Sponge Wheat Sponge Rye Levain   Dough Levain Sponge Wheat Sponge Rye Levain Total
                         
Bread flour 0.94 1 1       382 95 316     793
White whole wheat flour 0.06     1     24     103   127
Water 0.9 0.5 0.62 0.7 1.2   366 47 196 72 86 767
Yeast instant 0.004   0.001 0.001     1.63   0.32 0.1   2.05
Salt 0.05           20         20
Malt Diastatic 0.01           4.07         4.07
Levain 0.375           152          
Sponge 1.26           512          
Wheat Sponge 0.43           175          
Rye Levain 0.4           163          
Hazelnuts 0.49           200         200
Med Rye flour         1           71 71
Rye starter         0.08           6 6
Stiff starter   0.105           10       10
                         
Totals 4.919 1.605 1.621 1.701 2.28   2000 152 512 175 163 2000

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Hazelnuts are my favorite nuts - unfortunately they cost a fortune here (in Germany they are dirt cheap) and are hard to come by, too.

Karin

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello Karin, I think this company ships orders for hazelnuts:
http://www.americanalmond.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=57

I just became aware of this company recently so I thought I'd pass this along.
I'm not sure how their prices compare to what you might find at retail.
They seem to have a good selection for hazelnuts though (blanched, etc).

I'm glad you liked my little breads!
Thanks from breadsong

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Dear breadsong, unfortunately I'm absolutely unable to wrap my brain around this formula - I guess I'm not "advanced" enough for this bread...

Karin

 

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi Karin, I apologize if this spreadsheet is not helpful as it's shown!

I included the baker's percentages on the left, in case anyone was interested; weights, in grams, for ingredients are shown on the right.

I set up my spreadsheet so I just have to type in the amount of dough I want in grams at the top of the spreadsheet (total dough weight), then the preferment and dough ingredient weights automatically calculate.
All of the weights in grams of the various ingredients and components are shown in the Total dough weight column, for a total of 2000 grams.
The next four columns show the weight in grams for the ingredients used for the four preferments.

I made the two levains and two sponges at the same time; they all fermented for 12 hours;; then I mixed all four preferments with the water until all was combined; added the remaining dough ingredients, and carried on.
 
I hope this helps...I really needed Excel to help me figure out the math for this one.  Regards, breadsong

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I think I've got it now. But how do you measure those tiny yeast amounts in gram percentages? Can you tell me the baking temperatures and times, too?

Karin

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi Karin, I found a small electronic scale a few years ago, manufactured by Salter, that scales to .1 of a gram.
I checked their website - they don't seem to make one any more.
Amazon to the rescue!
Baking time was 35-40 minutes with steam, 440F, for a 1 pound loaf.
I baked mine for less time as I was baking 250g loaves.
from breadsong

breadsong's picture
breadsong
Chuck's picture
Chuck

What I use for the small ingredients like yeast and salt --and what I recommend-- is a "pocket scale". (Plug that term "pocket scale" into Amazon or Google to access a whole alternate universe:-)

They're dirt cheap. They have the same 0.1 gram resolution as those digital spoons. And I like the form factor better (those digital spoons seem to always want an extra hand to hold them, while pocket scales rest on the counter by themselves just fine).

You'll probably wind up with two scales: one large capacity but with only 1 gram resolution for the large ingredients, the other with 0.1 gram resolution but limited capacity for the small ingredients. Given the low price and easy storage of the pocket scale, having two scales isn't nearly as silly as it probably sounds at first.

In an earlier post I presented more detail about name and price and purchasing.

breadsong's picture
breadsong

I'd linked to a pocket scale on Amazon in my reply above but the link might not be obvious. Thanks for your helpful post.  Regards, breadsong

reddragon's picture
reddragon

I'm really impressed by how open the crumb is in spite of the amount of hazelnuts. Great job!

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello reddragon, Thank you so much. from breadsong