Pane Maggiore Take??? and More
Well I have milled some fresh Kamut for my 100% Kamut loaf and have given a it a couple goes so far. The first resulted in a very flat pancake but round 2 went better. Probably take a couple more goes before I'm ready for the test of repeated success but If my next attempts improve like take 1 to take 2 I'm well on my way. It's a tricky flour with lots of extensability and fragile gluten. For this project I've added a third to the family. Now I have a 100% Kamut levain that is happy and healthy and keeping the rye company (both maintained in smaller quantities than the wheat starter) together they fear not the mother dough.
Well with all this discard of kamut starter (2 feedings a day) why not make a Pane Maggiore but replace the wheat with Kamut? And so I did and with splendid results. I actually used 1/2 Stiff Kamut Levain (65%hyd) and (1/2 rye sour 100% hyd) to raise this bread. I opted to skip the overnight retard of the loaves and proof at room temp while I was at it (mostly cause i wanted some fresh bread). Crust a bit softer as it didn't get the cold to help but the flavor was lovely and sweeter than the previous takes. And the Kamut helped open the crumb maybe more than any of previous attempts. I will make this variation again if Kamut remains in my life.
finally I made some Spelt Croissant Dough and made some croissants and bear claws. The bear claws I totally should have got a picture of the inside but they were eaten to fast. Inside was a piping of almond cream, raspberry jam, and a strip of chocolate cake to sop it all up while baking. They were out of this world. And these are some of the tastiest croissants I've eaten/made to date. The honey and spelt really just made for tons of flavor to go with the butter.
On that note some photos Header photo is some Spelt Croissants, 20% Kamut Sour, Asian Chicken Salad, and a good beer.
Pane Maggiore with Kamut
These are round 2 of my 100% Kamut. Needed a longer proof and maybe a few other tweaks. Gettin there.
This is a 20% Kamut Basic Sour loaf. Extra levain is hard to toss sometimes.
Finally some bad pics of the Spelt Croissant/BearClaws.
Happy Baking
Josh
Comments
VERY NICE PANE MAGGIORE.
I will do my test on this bread, im thinking if i should use toasted corn or barley flour as my multi-grain flour blend
Lots of really interesting baking there. It all looks good from here.
Is Kamut likely to stay in your life? Tell me why I would want to play with it. (As time permits - Your time, not mine. I've got lots, relatively.)
David
It's trademark among other things protects it from GMO and it must be grown organic are some great qualities. Honestly it's a new grain for me (I've used it in blends but never heavily). I'm in love with the smell/aroma of the new mother dough I've made with it. The first two botches....I mean batches tasted really good (the first more so than the second even though it was a frisbee in shape. If I can figure the manipulation out I'll get texture right and then I'll have more of an opinion. I do have high hopes and it has been lovely blended with other flours for its flavor and extensibility.
OH I got a good reason. If you buy the whole berries it'll give you a reason to break out the grinder.
Josh
Okay! I ground enough Winter Hard Red Wheat berries for a couple Pane Valle Maggia and a couple loaves of my SFSD with increased WW. I am going to pre-ferment the rye in the PVM, and, since I'm feeding my rye sour anyway, I might as well make some Jewish Sour Rye loaves.
I am -
a. Inspired
b. Challenged
c. Nuts/Meshugenah/Pozzo (covering all the ethnicities represented by the breads)
d. All of the above
David
P.S. The only beer that suits my plan would be Old Peculiar.
you were talking about here http://cityofpeculiar.org/ Where I hear tell, not first hand of course, that there might be some Old Peculiars making some fine shine at 190 proof for sale in mason jars as cheap as it is not old but peculiar.
I see the Trappist Monks in New England finally got approval to start making beer in the states. Hopefully it won't cost $12 a bottle at Whole Foods like their bretheran's beer from Europe's does :-)
{c}. you have listed the attributes of any true baker. I believe you were a true baker long before today but this confirms it. Gotta be a bit crazy to be a baker.
I really like the Pane Maggiore I made with Rye Starter as half the levain.
I've never had that beer and now I must find it. I know a couple places that may have it or could get it. So much great local(ish) beer I rarely stray with the exception of Dogfish Head's amazing beers.
Josh
I haven't actually had it for some years. As I recall, it's a Yorkshire Ale and is really very good. It's worth looking for.
The Pane Maggiore/Valle Maggia is autolysing. Another cup of coffee, and I'll mix the Sour Rye dough.
David
Impressive efforts, and great results with tricky flours , Josh! Lovely Pane Maggiore! and the idea of spelt in croissants is interesting. I can imagine The bear claws with all the stuffing! Wow, it sure pays to take pastry lessons.
Nice work overall, Josh.
If you ever bother to make croissants I highly suggest the addition of spelt (I did 25% whole grain all in the poolish) Then I decided to use honey in place of sugar. I was basing it off of a croissant formula I already use so i just assumed 20% honey is H20 and made proper adjustments. So Good. Even a bad bear claw is usually tasty. These were super good and the best part was they weren't overwhelmingly sweet like many pastries.
Cheers
Josh
And an even better selection of beer! :)
Pane Maggiore with Kamut. I've never had much luck with a 100% Kamut or even spelt for that matter. Both turn out as flat disks compared to wheat loaves. I think I put too much water in them though and I'm thinking these breads need less water to keep them from spreading so much - even if whole grain? I do like the sweetness and yellow color that Kamut adds to other breads though.
Love those bear claws too. Good luck with the100% Kamut experiments an
Happy baking Josh