Sweet levain, yeast water Pulla!
I was quite a bit more patient this time, letting the dough tell me when it was ready and this is the best pulla I have ever baked! I topped it with the egg wash, sprinkled liberally with sugar, ground almond and slivered almonds. I totally forgot I was going to bake this as a chacon and went in to auto pilot and divided the dough into 2 balls then one ball into 3 for braids . . . Next time I will try a chacon pulla! A skibum moment!
I scaled this recipe to 2/3 my grandmothers recipe posted in varda's Pulla post, with weights.
280 grams milk scalded
6 cardamom pods, hulls removed and seeds ground, infuse in hot milk
140g sugar
188g strong bread flour, next time I will mix AP and BF, just to see
1 egg, 50g
50g sweet levain
50g YW levain
The levains were fed a day before and left on the counter to double or more and collapse.
When the milk has cooled to 80F make a sponge with the above ingredients and let it go for a couple of hours or more until nice and bubbly.
Next add 1 cup, 135g flour and mix until smooth.
2/3 tsp coarse sea salt, forgot to weigh
80g melted butter, beat the dough until it is smooth and glossy and all the butter has been combined.
175g or more flour, gradually add this until you have a firm dough that is not sticky.
Rest 10 minutes once all the flour is combined. Knead 4 minutes, rest 10 and knead 4 minutes.
The first bulk rise took about 6 hours and it more than doubled, nearly 21/2. Degassed and did a couple of S&F's, then bulked it a hour on the counter then into the fridge for 16 hours at which point it was again 21/2 times bulk.
After an hour on the counter to warm up, I divided the dough into 2 batches, one for pulla and one for cinnamon buns. After pre-shaping, resting rolling out the dough and braiding the loaf, I let it proof for about 2 hours and baked 20 minutes 400F convection, turning once and finished at 400F no convection for 4 minutes turning once.
I had this apre ski with beer and can't wait to have it for breakfast with strong coffee! Great pulla! I think my granny is smiling right now.
Happy baking, Brian
Comments
Very nice.
Thanks Floyd! Definitely one to try. I was raised on the stuff and love it!
pulla ! Thank you for posting your formula. I have never made pulla...it has some similarities with Challah. I will bookmark and try it over the holiday. Have a wonderful holiday,Brian.
Happy holidays to you and your family as well Cheers! Ski
Great bake
This loaf really tasted good! As I said, the best ever. As this is a sweet bread I will experiment next time just using the YW levain and I may have to start that mix tonight, because this loaf is just about gone -- OINK!
That is just gorgeous, I love the crumb.
Even the yeasted version of pulla makes an easy and excellent bread!
Looks gorgeous. Thanks so much for posting the weight measurements. -Varda
Please post your results! I am glad to see other fresh loafers baking and enjoying this bread! Cheers! Brian
to ski for a hard core skibum then baking is warm release. Your pulla braid looks great, Has to taste just as good too! I haven't made pulla and can imagine the same YW /SD dough being used as cinnamon rolls too. We make cinnamon rolls with YW only around here using a Japanese enriched and sweetened white bread recipe. Will have to give this a go and see what the cardamon does to the flavor
Well done and happy baking Ski
Hi Brian,
Very nice results. A question about soaking the cardamom….Varda just posted a bread using cardamom and someone recommended soaking it with the milk overnight. I am wondering what difference it makes to soak compared to if one does not soak…..
I just made a loaf, Fruit and Nut, with cardamom in it and I did soak the spice but mine was already powdered and I bulk ferment all of my doughs overnight so I am wondering if that extra soaking made that much of a difference in the final loaf….
So, what is your experience with soak vs no soaking? I would love to know.
Thanks for the post and your comments.
Take Care,
Janet
I don't think you need to soak overnight. I used to just add the ground cardamom to the dough mix, but I have found the adding the ground cardamon to the scalded milk a big flavour boost. I scald the milk stove top until nearly boiling and then toss in the cardamom and wait until the infusion drops to 90F before mixing. This produces great pulla flavour! I think the overnight bulk retard in the fridge also helped. The bulk and proof times were definitely a lot longer than the yeasted version, but well worth the wait!
Happy baking, Brian
Thanks for the response Brian. I wonder why it makes a difference to soak flavor wise…..Must be some chemical boost like a scald with flour….Something I will have to look into further.
Soaking is no problem for me so if you say it enhances the flavor I will do it. On these cold days I simply put my milk out on my 'work' table under a halogen light mid afternoon to warm up for an early evening final mix when my leaven is ripe and ready - I don't heat milk anymore because it didn't make any difference in final outcome of my breads and was just extra work - I will add the cardamom then. In fact tomorrow I am making a bread that combines cardamom and saffron….I always soak saffron so these will go hand in hand.
Thanks for your help!
Janet
If you enjoy sweet breads, you will definitely enjoy the flavour the cardamon brings to the party! I baked the cinnamon buns today and filled with melted butter, a liberal amount of sugar and cinnamon, ground almonds, slivered almonds and candied fruit. I topped this with a left over pulla egg wash and again liberally sprinkled hole trinity listed above and omitting the candied fruit. Fresh out of the oven, I also gave a liberal glazing of maple syrup on top and all I can say is OH MY!
Happy baking and eating friends! Ski
I could eat that whole thing right now! What an evil Ski you are to tempt us with this plate of sticky goodness!
Well I guess my pulla dough just became my go to sweet dough recipe. Man, these buns turned out fantastic -- the best cinibuns I have ever produced and I have supporters.
I have another single batch of pure YW pulla going side by side some Forkish style pizza dough done with my sweet levain. The YW dough is about 25% ahead in bulk rise at this point. I will post the results.
Again thanks and happy baking! Brian
PS my new go to office look . . .
Yes, I really am an old skibum!
Happy baking! Brian
Hey, I'm liking that helmet...you have to protect that noggin at all costs :).
HI :-) This post is quite old but hopefully still active(?). First of all, the bread looks amazing. Second, how do you prepare your starters:
Is the yeast water levain just made out of 25 g YW and 25 g flour (left to ferment at room temp.) or do you feed it several times?
How does a "sweet levain" differ from a "normal" 100% white starter? How is it prepared and maintained?
Thanks in advance!
Hi armato, The yeast water levain is equal parts YW and flour. I am no longer using yeast water, finding it easier to just keep a sweet levain.
My sweet levain is just a 100% hydration starter. I refer to it as sweet as opposed to a very sough starter. Generally higher hydration and higher temperatures yield a sweeter starter than colder lower hydration starters. Ken Forkish discusses these concepts in detail in his excellent Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast
Happy baking, Ski
Thank you for your quick reply! I hope it okay to ask some more questions generated by your answer :-) : Do you feed your sweet levain twice like Forkish do with his double fed sweet levain or just once? And may I also ask which kind of fruit you have preferred when making YW?
Happy baking to you too!
Hi! I feed my 100% hydration levain at a 1:1:1 ratio. For my baking volume that is 50g old levain, 50g water 85F and 50g strong bread flour. I try to use the discard and will keep using the same levain container for a few weeks. After mixing, I leave it on the kitchen counter overnight and up to 24 hours. After it has doubled and fallen it is ready to use. the rest goes into the fridge and is usable to leaven for a couple of days. I always refresh this within 7 days.
For the yeast water, I used a half organic apple, unwashed, but cored and diced and a few pieces mushed and Organic dark raisins. I have had some spectacular results with YW levains, but like my sweet levain, needs love and caring to get good results.
Hope this helps, Ski