WW Batter Bread-Sandwich Style-not bad!
I just sliced my first loaf of a batter bread whole wheat sandwich bread and it's not too bad.I'm working on some way to have homemade bread while I have limited use of 1 hand and soon will have limited use of both hands due to surgery. I came across a chapter in a Red Star Yeast company cookbook on batter breads and thought it may be interesting. So here is the story,recipe and pictures.
The original recipe came in volume measurements. I weighed as I went along, so these are my measurements. Flour container was shaken to loosen then the scoop and sweep method was used for a level cup/tablespoon/teaspoon.
PREFERMENT:
1 3/4 c/386g warm water
2 C/265 g Whole Wheat flour
2 TBSP/12 g ground flax
2 TBSP/14g Rye flour
1/8 tsp/ pinch instant yeast
Mix well and beat for 2 minutes in a stand mixer using the mixing paddle. Let sit for 2-4 hours at room temp in the mixing bowl,covered. (I definitely recommend at least 2 hours but next time I might do an overnight to improve the flavor)
Then mix in yeast with just a few turns of the paddle:
2 tsp/7g instant yeast
Then add:
2 TBSP/60g Honey
2TBSP /28g oil
1 tsp/8g salt (needs a bit more)
1 c/125g AP flour
It looks like a thick,creamy batter.
Cover and let rise until double-mine took 2 hours in a 68 degreeF kitchen
Stir down,briefly.
You can see there is some gluten formation:
Pour into a greased 9x5x3inch pan
I covered the top of the dough with sesame seeds:
Cover loosely and allow to rise til it is at the top of the pan.
It took another 2 hours-kitchen was 68 degrees F:
Do not allow cover to touch top of dough!It will deflate when the cover is removed.
Preheat the oven to 400F
Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes (My loaf took about 1 hour)-I turned the temp down to 350 after 30 minutes.
Cool in pan for 25 minutes (I won't do this next time-left the sides too wet)
Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Here is a picture of the crust and crumb after the loaf reached room temperature:
The crumb was still a little wet, for my taste and the flavor was rather bland. I am used to full flavored,long-fermented loaves but I believe I'm on the right track.
Next time, I will probably use a 12 hour preferment in the refrigerator or even an overnight retard. I also may incorporate sourdough, somehow.
This is a fascinating way to make bread that doesn't have a lot of handling or shaping issues.
I agree; a preferment will add some bacterial flavor.
As an aside; should we call you lefty or righty? :-))) Or one armed bandit? ;-)))
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Jim
It's the next morning and I had a piece of this loaf,toasted, for breakfast. The crumb is still quite moist,slightly chewy but the flavor has not changed. Sometimes I find bread (esp rye) "ages" and the flavor develops more in the following days. This bread still tastes very much like fresh, unfermented flour. A bit heavy for a sandwich bread unless it is thin sliced.
I wonder if docking this dough would help create a drier internal environment? It was not underbaked- the internal temp was 208F. I thought it was going to be too dry. The oven temp needs to be adjusted, also, but I wanted to see where the original instructions got me. After 30 min at 400F, the internal temp was only 166F-crust was tough,not crackly.
I wonder if treating this dough like a rye dough would work. The crust and crumb both resemble a high percentage rye that has some wheat or VWG as there is some gluten structure in the crumb.
Would appreciate some rye expertise and thoughts, perhaps.
I just found (again) "Mini's Favorite 100% rye" post form 2010. Her pictures and description of the crumb look very much like this loaf of 100% WW by the Batter method. I will take note of her technique and see what the next loaf brings!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15736/mini039s-favorite-rye-ratio
I would try a higher, say 450°F initial oven temperature to warm up the Corning Ware faster. After say 5 minutes, reduce to 400°F.
Jim
Her recommendation for the 100% rye was to start in a cold oven and calculate the first 30 min as part of the proofing time.
I don't have a convection oven but I can add a bottom stone and cover the loaf.
So far the plan is:
Use a preferment for flavor
Mix longer for a little more gluten development (it is a sandwich loaf texture-not looking for big holes)
Dock with a toothpick? (Slashing does NOT work with the batter technique).
Bake-start in a cold oven,covered for first 25 min. Start with oven setting at 400F and turn down to 375F (these are the setting I usually use on whole wheat)
Remove from pan immediately after removal from oven. ( I'm not sure why the original recipe instructed to leave in the pan for 25 min while cooling. I thought,perhaps, it would fall like a pannetone but the loaf has a sturdy structure)
We'll see what happens!
Only a slight change in texture and flavor. The flavor change is harder to detect because I made a loaf with our breakfast bread flavors that have spices,craisins,raisins and walnuts in it.I do know the flavor of that bread well and it did not have the grassy,red wheat flavor it usually does.Why try another recipe altogether? I need a serviceable recipe by Monday so I'm making more precipitous changes than I usually do.
So the changes-I cannot edit the original post so they are listed here:
PREFERMENT-I used 2 tbsp/50g of my active sourdough starter (125% hydration)-fermented overnight
DOUGH:
Decrease instant yeast to 1 1/2 tsp/5 g
I only had bread flour in the house so the last ingredient was Bread Flour 1 cup instead of AP flour
SALT:
Increased to 1 1/2 tsp/12g but more impotantly, I held the salt back and added it on the stirdown after the bulk rise to almost double.
Additional ingredients to make Breakfast bread (I didn't weigh these). These were added at the final stir.
Gr Cardamom-1/2 tsp
Gr Coriander 1/2 tsp
1/2 C ea: golden raisin,craisins,chopped walnuts
TECHNIQUE DIFFERENCES:
Inital beating was 5 min on speed 2 of KA to encourage more gluten formation.
Initial rise to double took about 2 hours in a 67F kitchen (no salt in dough-salt added when stirred down)
Panned and proofed about 2 hours
Docked with a wet toothpick but the dough was wet and filled in right away so I'm not sure how effective they were.
Placed in a 200F oven (I had it on warm for something else) ,covered and turned oven on to 400F
Baked for 30 minutes this way,removed cover and then turned oven down to 375
Removed from oven with internal temp of 204F and taken out of pan
Immediately docked on 3 sides (loaf was very wet as indicated by dough on the thermometer tip)-several steam jets came out!
And here are the 2 loaves side-by-side:
And the crust of the Breakfast bread:Notice tiny holeS (lighter colored dots) are where I docked immediately after coming out of the oven:
So the texture reminded me of something and I think I finally came up with it. It reminds me of a steamed bread-like a bagel. It has a smooth,almost tough crust and moist,dense interior.Not a bit of fluff.
So if I have time (and energy) I will try to dry it out a bit and pump up more flavor.
NEXT BAKE:
Perhaps a bit drier on the batter-slightly less water?or a mix of milk and water?.Pouring it into the pan is still do-able but challenging.Everything else works with 1 hand or hopefully 1 weak hand.
Go with a longer fermentation (less yeast?) Wheat flour can handle an overnight retard in the refrig.
Use some more enrichment? I do use milk in some of my breads.
Continue with the preferment.
More delicious experimentation ahead.
All suggestions welcome!