Breads to take to dinner
We're invited for dinner tomorrow at the home of one of my favorite high school teachers. He and his wife have become our good friends over the years. I offered to bring bread and decided to bake two different breads that I think they will enjoy: The Miche, Pointe-à-Callière from Hamelman's "Bread" and my own San Joaquin Sourdough. (This version)
My wife thought the miche would be just too much, so I divided the dough and baked two boules of 820 gms each.
Boules, Pointe-à-Callière
Rather a "bold bake" of these, but I expect the caramelized crust to be very tasty.
Boules, Pointe-à-Callière crumb
Here's another photo of the boule that's going to dinner.
And the San Joaquin Sourdough. I think it was a bit under-proofed. The oven spring was ... exuberant.
San Joaquin Sourdough
David
Submitted to Yeast Spotting
Comments
They are beautiful loaves! Your dinner hosts would be so pleased.
Bold...yes... but perfect! Amazing color on these breads!
cheers
Love that color! ...and the detail of the cane!
your artistry is inspiring. did you use a special bannetone for that one?
I used a 1.5 lb capacity brotform from SFBI. See:
http://www.sfbi.com/baking_supplies.html
David
David
A very nice dinner loaf.
Eric
Visually very interesting. I am always curious how your breads appear so dark without becoming burnt.
I also wonder what flour mixture you use on your brotforms (50/50 rice & AP)?
How much do you use when you flour your brotforms? So you spray them with water or oil first?
I never get the patterns to persist as neatly as yours.
Answers to your questions:
The dark color is from baking at a high temperature for a long time. That may seem obvious, but both time and temperature are controllable. Other factors which impact crust color include sugar (freed by amylase action or added as sugar, malt, honey, etc.). Cold retarding the loaves often results in a lovely, dark reddish crust color, also probably due to enzyme action on both starch and protein.
I do use 50/50 AP/Rice flour in the brotforms. I rub in enough so the spaces between the coils are all filled but there is minimal free flour in the brotform. I do not spray the brotforms with anything.
I don't always get such nice, distinct patterns, but I have been more consistent lately.
David
David,
I'm curious if you baked with a cover or not? If so, for how long?
Steaming method for these loaves?
What oven temp and for how long?
With a high-temp and an extended bake, do the bottoms of your bread get burnt at all?
Again, lovely breads...you know you're a breadmaker when 'edible' and 'art' are of equal value.
Hi,
None of these loaves were baked covered.
My steaming method for all these loaves was the same. My stone is on the middle shelf, pushed to the left with an inch clearance from the oven wall. A 7 inch cast iron skillet full of lava rocks is on the bottom shelf, pushed all the way to the right.
The oven with stone and skillet in place is preheated to 500ºF 45-60 minutes before baking.
When the loaves are ready to bake, I do the following dance:
1. Pour about 1/2 cup boiling water over the lava rocks and close the oven fast.
2. Transfer loaves to peel. Score the loaves. Transfer loaves onto stone.
3. Pour 1/2 -3/4 cup boiling water over the lave rocks. Shut the oven fast.
4. Turn oven down to baking temperature. (Generally 440-460ºF).
5. After 12-15 minutes, I remove the skillet. (This "vents" the oven, releasing steam.)
6. Continue baking until loaves are done, adjusting oven temp as needed to get the degree of browning I desire.
The only times I've almost burned the bottom crust was when I forgot to turn down the oven after loading the loaves. If your bottoms are burning, you need to move the stone further from the heat source.
I do bake breads covered sometimes. But I usually bake two loaves at a time, and my stone won't hold two bowls. I do use a disposable aluminum foil roaster at times for two bâtards.
David
We had a marvelous evening last night. Francoise made beef bourguignonne, a lovely potato gratin and sautéed string beans. She served a green salad before and, for desert, a simple butter cake with poached pears. (Yum!)
A basket of sliced bread was on the table. It looked like baguette but had a very cool, moist, open, chewy crumb and a crisp crust. The flavor was marvelous - sweet and wheaty with no perceptible sourness. Running our local boulangerie's breads through my mind, I concluded it must be Patrick's "Pain Rustique," except it seemed better than usual.
I honestly didn't realize Francoise had served my San Joaquin Sourdough until she complimented me on it! It disappeared pretty fast.
I'm expecting a call after Francoise and Paul try the Pointe-à-Calliière. I had some of the loaf I kept for breakfast, untoasted with a slice of smoked gouda and toasted with almond butter and apricot preserves. That sure is a great bread!
Paul is a pretty experienced bread baker, I understand, but I don't think he has delved into sourdough baking. Well, he now has my offer of some starter and private instruction. I really hope he takes me up on it.
David
Beautiful breads, I can't ad to others' comments.
But what is almond butter, please?
Hi, Mary.
Almond butter is a nut butter - like peanut butter, except made with almonds. Like bread, you can make much better almond butter yourself than what you can buy in a grocery.
Place 1 to 1.5 cups of unsalted dry roasted almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the butter is the right consistency for you. (In my 11 cup Cuisinart, I process about 2 to 2.5 minutes, until it is spreadable but still pretty "chunky.")
David
Ah, silly me, of course! Thank you :-)
I once made it accidentally. While grinding almonds (not roasted) for making marzipan I was called away and left the machine switched on. When I came back it had gone' too far' and the oil was making the grains stick together. To use it I 'diluted' it with more nuts but I wish I'd thought of using it as a spread.
I love peanut butter, with golden syrup. But a couple of years ago I decided to lose weight so cut it out. Now I have to watch my husband enjoying it :-(
The bliss of a fresh crust with thick salty butter then peanut butter then golden syrup ... drool!
I started bread baking last February, trying recipes from BBA, Bread and this site. In Sept. I started with sourdough and 2 weeks ago I did your SanJoaquin Sourdough, by far the best loaf I have made. I will be trying to duplicate it again and take it to Thanksgiving next week. Thanks for the inspiration, I always enjoy your posts.
Steve
I'm happy you have enjoyed the San Joaquin Sourdough.
David