holds99's blog

I finally got the ingredients I needed to make Norm's onion rolls.  I made them for Thanksgiving dinner and they turned out great.  Everyone enjoyed them very much.  These are the REAL THING!  Thank you, Norm for the great recipe.  I'll be making these regularly.  And thanks to Eric Hanner for his detailed description, in his post, of how to make these rolls and the very helpful pictures.

Howard

First, I want to express my sincere appreciation to Floyd for making this post with images possible on the new TFL system.  It keeps getting better and better.  Thank you!

The following are photos of Mark Sinclair's Portuguese Sweet Bread and Rolls that I made recently.  I divided the dough in half and made 2 loaves of bread and a dozen or so rolls.  Both the bread and rolls are excellent and favorites at our house.  The bread is very good either plain or toasted and the rolls are wonderful as breakfast rolls or as sandwiches. 

Thank you Mark for this great recipe and for your video on roll shaping, which showed me the proper way  to shape rolls.  Hope you're knocking their socks off with your baked goods at your new bakery in Kalispell, Montana.

Howard

I currently use SAF instant yeast.  However, in King Arthur's recent catalog they list a yeast that I haven't seen before; SAF Gold instant yeast (page 11: "yeast", olive colored rectangle).  The ad write-up states: "saf gold instant yeast Specially formulated to provide the very best rise in doughs high in sugar (sweet breads) or acid (sourdough) 15.86 oz. - [item no.] 1457  $6.95"

Has anyone had experience using this yeast in a sourdough?  If so, please post a short note re: results.

Thanks in advance,

Howard

I'm slowly working my way through the bread section of Michel Suas' terrific book AB&P and found this interesting bread with an interesting history. 

The following brief description of this bread, taken from Michel Suas book “Advanced Bread and Pastry”, appears at the beginning of his formula for pain meunier:

“To honor and thank their millers for delivering consistent flour, bakers of old created pain meunier, or Miller’s bread.  The formula was creatively designed to involve all the components of the kernel of wheat in the dough.  As a result, in addition to possessing great flavor, this bread also has exceptional nutritional value."

It's a great bread and fun to make.  I doubled Mr. Suas' "Test" formula and made 4 pounds of dough, divided the dough into three equal part and made three loaves.  I used 2 unlined willow German brotforms and 1 plastic (green) brotform.  The loaf proofed in the green plastic brotform, because of its shape, got a higher rise (photo no. 7, rear loaf) but doesn't have the character or markings that the other two loaves (front two) got from the unlined willow baskets.

I used a K.A. mixer to get the pate fermentee and grain roughly mixed with final dough .  Gave it a 20 minute rest, then did a final mix using the "slap and fold" method (Bertinet) then during bulk fermentation gave the dough 3 stretch and folds at 20 minute intervals.  Let it final proof for another 20 minutes (after the 3 stretch and folds), then divided, shaped and placed it into the brotforms.  It final proofed for 1 hour, then I scored it and into a preheated 450 deg. F. oven with a cup of boiling water into a cast iron skillet for a short blast of stream.  It baked for 30 minutes, turning the loaves midway in the baking cycle.  It's a great tasting bread with great texture (tender with a nutty flavor from the cracked grain) and nice crust. 

Michel Suas' Pain Meunier - Advanced Bread and Pastry 

I have had Susan's recipe for these buns/rolls stashed in my "to bake" folder for quite some time.  Anyway, I finally got around to making them and am kicking myself for not making them sooner.  These are great rolls.  Susan puts sesame seed on top but I prefer them without seeds.  You can check her original post for the recipe.  They're easy and  delicious.  I made these rolls 4 oz. each.   

To quote Susan's original post: "The rolls are quite a bit more substantial than the squishy cottony ones that seem, unfortunately, to be standard cookout fare.  With about 40% whole wheat flour, the crust is chewy-tender, the crumb soft but still hearty and flavorful.  And they're not just for burgers; they work for just about any sandwich.  Sized a little smaller, they would also make fine dinner rolls."

Susan, If you're out there, thank you very much for this terrific recipe.

Susan's Hamburger Buns/Rolls

Caution: Before attempting this exercise be sure you're working with a clean kitchen floor :>)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFdmXH4vHGg&NR=1

Howard

This is Michel Suas version of N.Y Rye from his book Advanced Bread and Pastry.  It's a great rye bread with great taste and texture.  His formula calls for a pre-fermented dough that is made up the night before you bake, left out at room temp. for an hour, then refrigerated overnight and used with the final dough mix the following morning.  This is not a sourdough bread but still has excellent flavor and texture.  I doubled his test recipe and made 4 lbs of dough rather than 2 lbs.  I mixed the preferment into the water for the final dough with my K.A. to break  the preferment up as much as possible.  Then, added the combined flours (equal parts bread flour and medium rye flour), yeast and salt for the final dough, mixing it into a rough mass, then worked it by hand, slapping and folding for about 5 minutes.  Then at the end of the mixing cycle I gave it an initial stretch and fold, then 2 more, at 20 minute intervals during the first hour of bulk fermentation, which took a total of about 1.5 hours.  At the end of bulk fermentation I divided the dough in half and, without letting any gas out of the loaves, carefully shaped them and put them in my proofing baskets.  Yeah, they're weird looking proofing baskets, but they work great.  Anyway. I then baked the 2 loaves in a 450 deg. F. preheated oven, with a blast of steam (1 cup microwaved, boiling water into a cast iron skillet on the lowest rack in the oven).  They baked for 38 minutes in the middle of the oven, turning them around at mid way in the baking cycle.

Here's Mr. Suas description from AB&P: "Rye flour and caraway seeds are a typical flavor combination found in breads from Eastern Europe.  When people from this area of the world immigrated to New York City, they brought their bread making tradtions along.  Rye bread came to be thought of as being native to New York City, where it is particularly associated with Jewish delicatessens."

Here's my first try at Mr. Suas N.Y. rye bread, which I think is a real winner. 

Michel Suas' New York Rye Bread - Advanced Bread and Pastry

After a number of attempts and a good bit of reseach I think I am close to making a decent Pain de Beaucaire.  It's a challenge that's ranks right up there with the baguette.  This was my third attempt.  It's a really good loaf of bread and has very good flavor.  I will continue to experiment with this dough and the special technique required for cutting and shaping and also requires the use of bran flakes sandwiched between the two layers of dough, placed one on top of the other, in order to produce the open effect seen in the photo below, where the loaf appears to be split.  The split is part of the character of the loaf.  I have also included a little history of this bread, which was the predecessor to the baguette.

Howard

Pain de Beaucaire

Description from: Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas. “Named after Beaucaire, a region in Southeastern France, the Pain de Beaucaire is one of the first breads to be made “free form”, or not formally shaped.  The bread is produced by placing two (2) layers of dough on top of each other and then cutting with a Recle a Beaucaire, strips of dough that are baked side by side, giving this bread its unique appearance.  Pain de Beaucaire was very popular until people started to prefer the lighter and crunchier baguette.  However, this authentic regional bread is currently enjoying resurgence as a new generation discovers its many appealing characteristics.”Note: Michel Suas gives no details on mixing or shaping Pain de Beaucaire and no photographs.

The following description is taken from the website: http://les7episbio.free.fr/presentation.en.php “Pain de Beaucaire: It’s a sourdough bread which requires a very particular shaping and which gives him [it] a very alveolus [a little cavity, pit or cell, as a cell of a honeycomb] crumb.  The pain de Beaucaire has been transmitted for the XV century whereas the town of Beaucaire was the site of the second fair of Europe.”  Note: this quoted description is taken verbatim from the website.  Bracketed words were added for clarity. 

The following is taken from Michel Suas' description of mountain bread (page 223, Advanced Bread and Pastry): "Combining rye levain and white flour this bread began as a staple in the mountainous regions of Switzerland.  The long shelf life created by the sourdough process was an adantage in a time and place when bread was baked only once a week.  The hole in the middle of the crown [I didn't make a hole in the middle of the crown because I don't have a clue as to how to do that--will research the issue later] was used to hang the mountain bread to a pole fixed high on the wall to store the bread safely."  Hmmm.  Maybe hanging it from the pole is to keep it away from the kids until breakfast is ready.

Anyway, I doubled Mr. Suas' "test" formula and made 4 lbs of dough (2 X two pound boules).  As can be seen in the photo below I used linen lined bannetons, generously dusted with a mixture of 50% AP flour and 50% rice flour.  This bread tastes great, with a hint of sourness and terrific flavor.

Howard

Michel Suas Mountain Bread (Switzerland) - Advanced Bread and Pastry

This week I tried Michel Suas' whole wheat sourdough bread for the second time.  I made four pounds of dough and divided it into 2 loaves (2 lbs each).  The leavening is an overnight levain.  After reading Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads I decided to take a little different approach and prior to mixing the levain into the final dough I mixed the whole wheat and bread flour (for the final dough) together and mixed in the water and let it stand for 5 hours.  It became very soft and creamy.  Then I when the levain was ready I mixed it into the final dough mixture and let it stand for about 20 minutes.  Then added the salt and gave it a good 8-10 minute hand mixing using Richard Bertinet's "slap and fold" method.  During bulk fermentation I did three stretch and folds at 20 minute intervals.  Then divided the dough into 2 equal sizes, shaped it and placed them into heavily floured (50% rice flour/50% AP flour) unlined willow brotforms.  I belief soaking the combined final dough flour with the water really made a difference.

You might be interested to know that I used a different knife to score each loaf, which are sitting in front of their respective loaf.  The left loaf (right photo, top) was scored with a PureKomachi 5" high carbon stainless steel serated tomato knife.  The loaf on the right was scored with a standard serated 5" kitchen knife.  I think the PureKomachi does a hugely superior job. I also have the PureKomachi bread knife, which is also a great knife.  Hey, I sound like Ron Popeil selling Vegamatics :>).

Anyway, if you like whole wheat bread, well, it doesn't get any better than this.  It has great taste, nice mouth feel with a tinge of sourness after swallowing---and terrific flavor. 

Howard

Michel Suas Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread - Advanced Bread and Pastry