A winemaker wants to be a wine-baker....
Hello, everybody!
So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard. My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems... Like so:
Naturally, in gratitude I've baked him lots of bread. We're not quite done, but in approximately two weeks we will have (for $50) 150 litres of red wine! Which leads me to my question:
I've seen and read a number of beer bread recipes. But obviously, we've got plentiful wine... Are there any breads which call for a splash of wine in the dough? It seems like it would be possible, but I've never seen any; I'm still a student baker, so I don't know if there are any chemical or taste-related reason for this. Does anybody know, and if wine bread exists, any ideas?
Thanks!
Erzsebet
Also, if anybody is interested in other pictures and a diary of our winemaking process, it's on my blog -http://erzsebetgilbert.blogspot.com
Hi Erzsebet,
I've made cabernet bread in the past, using cabernet wine as well as cabernet grape flour, detailed here.
The flour is a little hard to come by, though the various sources from which it can be bought were listed in the comments section of the blog.
ben
p.s. I'm jelous of your wine making extravaganza!
Wow - I didn't even know they made wine flour! I took a look at the Vinifera website via the link on your blog (purple bread! fabulous), and I'm wondering if there's anything like that in Hungary. I'll certainly ask our neighbor....
Thanks!
just stumbled apon this:
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2008/02/08/red-wine-pine-nut-fig-loaf/
This recipe looks fantastic! And figs are my favorite fruit! Thank you so much - I'm trying this as soon as our wine is ready - maybe sooner! Oh, thanks!
There is a tradition in France of a bread wine with nuts - I think it originated with Beaujolais wine and is from the famous chef Joel Rebuchon. I have some information and a recipe. Also, in the UK, Dan Lepard has a couple of recipes, one using an Alsacian wine and another red wine with figs, a take I think on the Rebuchon recipe.
The Canadians make a red wine flour or powder as they call it sometimes which is to be used to make bread with great success.
If you want to contact me directly through this site, my name is CFMUIRHEAD, I shall send you a lot more information.
Sante!
It's lovely to know that such famed chefs really do combine the two kinds of fermentation! I saw that you listed the Dan Lepard book on your homepage. Have you ever tried a wine bread? Do you have any recipes? Thank you so much!
By the way, we're making semisweet dry Kek Zweigelt wine (or according to our neighbor, who knows far more than I! and I imagine you do too); I'm not sure if the type of wine makes a difference or not... do you know?
Hi Erzsebet
I have made bread for a winemaker here in western australia the owner of ALKOOMI WINES from FRANKLAND in the GREAT SOUTHERN wine region.
I too was impressed with the dramatic colour that persisted in the finished product and i believe many of the characteristics of the wine transfered across too.
By adding the wine I did find that it slowed the fermentation process down quite a lot but that is of no great consequence unless you are restricted to a time table.
Upon mentioning to the vignerons daughter that her dad need never again throw away any half empty bottles left from wine tastings. she said i was not to encourage him.
The video link was great for VINE FLOUR
What excellent news... thanks! I may botch my own first experiments, but I'm just so glad to know it can be done! But I'm quite grateful to you, especially with the tip about the slow fermentation process (which would have terrified me otherwise!). Do you suggest anything like an overnight biga? Or a particular favorite recipe? Really, again I must thank you so much! Blessings,
Erzsebet
I found the link to the Cabernet Powder thanks to some help that I can't find now....but you know who you are!! The link is below....the powder IS pricey at $12 Canadian dollars for 400 grams, but the shipping is pretty expensive as well. There doesn't seem to be much of a price break with it either when you order 2 packages. We will see!! Anyway, I cannot WAIT to give this a try!!!
Jannrn
http://www.viniferaforlife.com/
I've looked several times at the Vinafera website, and it looks fascinating, but the postage fees from Canada to here in Europe are scary! However, today we are pressing the grapes, and I'm going to ask our sweet neighbor whether anybody here in Hungary makes wine flour... We'll see! Thanks,
Erzsebet
Hi again Erzsebet
I think the best thing is to use a basic recipe that you are familiar with and add your wine in increments say start with a 10% addition or should i say substitution of wine for water and note the characteristics that this has on the end product and then try 15% and even more.
I think that an overnight ferment / poolish is a great idea as it allows the flavour to develop it also allows lots of complex changes to take place in the flour.
I'm starting to think of doing one myself now, So lets see we will use all the liquid and a small amount of yeast and half the flour.
This ferment can go in a plastic bucket with enough room to at least double, put a mark on the outside of the container and check after a couple of hours and mark again as the evening goes on it will give you an idea of how the ferment is progressing, it will be slower at the start and speed up a bit more toward the latter end.
Next morning note if note the ferment has peaked whilst you slept and has fallen back, it will enable you to adjust that initial amount of yeast in the future. if you can take temperatures then note them too.
Add the rest of your ingredients and mix your dough. You can add more yeast if you wish or go with what you have grown overnight its up to you and how quick you want the dough to move along. an addition of 1% yeast is likely to give you a dough that will be bulk feremented in about 2 to 3 hours depending on the dough temp.
anyway good luck and we will both see what we come up with both here in Western Australia and there in Hungary. i hope to have a new camera this week so will take pics and post the story here.
regards yozza
Wow! You're braver than I, at the moment... You have a good idea, with the poolish, although I shamefully have to admit I've always had terrible luck with overnight fermentations. I think I will try to replicate what you're doing, too - somebody also suggested I burn away the alcohol first - what do you think? Our wine isn't ready yet, but I think I may try this with one of our neighbor's homemade vintage (by the way, he makes wine every year and his own whiskey from rotted pears, and he looked at me like I was crazy when I told him about wine bread!). Let me know how your experiment goes, and I will keep you posted on mine! Thank you so much!
Erzsebet