PiPs's blog

To be honest, I hadn’t a clue what I felt like baking this weekend. My mind wandered over many possibilities. In the end my inspiration for this bake came from Nat. Though she is an avid admirer of all things bread, when I put the question to her about this weekend's bake, the answer came swiftly …

Olive bread!

Of course…

…  how could I have forgotten Nat the Rat’s most favoured of all loaves.

The strange thing is, I can’t remember the last time I made an olive bread …

I do however, remember the last time I ate olive bread. While we were on holidays in New South Wales, we took a day trip to a small town called Bellingen. In this beautiful little hideaway I tasted my first EVER woodfired sourdough. It was an olive bread, baked by a small organic bakery called Hearthfire …. It was the  most amazing olive bread I have ever tasted. A crumb that melted in your mouth, flecks of herbs throughout and large chunks of olives. We almost finished half of it with a spicy pumpkin hummos whilst picnicking by a small creek. On my return to Brisbane I even called the owner of the bakery to thank them for the amazing bread …

I think that delicious experience has scared me off making my own olive bread … until now.

When it came time to start prepping and sourcing ingredients to compliment the kalamata olives in my own bread, I needed to look no further than our front porch to find inspiration. Growing in small pots we have sage, rosemary, basil and thyme. Only a few hours later the dehydrator filled the kitchen with the aromas of drying herbs. Some lemon zest, (courtesy of the Tartine olive bread formula) and I had everything I needed.

Olive and Herb Levain

Formula

Method

   1. Autolyse flour and water 45 mins

   2. Add levain and knead 5-10 mins. Add salt and knead a further 5-10 mins. Gently mix in olives, herbs and lemon zest.

   3. Bulk ferment 2.5 hours with two stretch and folds at 30 mins in the first hour.

   4. Preshape and bench rest for 20 mins

   5. Shape and proof for 2.5 hours

   6. Bake in steamed oven for 10 mins at 250°C then 30 mins at 200°C

As you can imagine our kitchen smells heavenly this afternoon.

The crusts chorused loudly when they were removed from the oven while I fought the growing temptation to pick at protruding olives.

The crumb is soft and anything but chewy with olives nestled and peering out of every slice.

For me it won’t surpass the olive bread from our holidays but I am pretty sure I have made Nat’s weekend.

All the best,

Phil

Saturday

What better reason to bake than catching up with family and friends for lunch. On a hot humid Saturday we drove down to Nat’s parents for a lunch with old family friends from her childhood. In our possession was our contribution to lunch … bread. A bread based on Gérard Rubaud’s formula for Pain au Levain.

It’s a bread at 75% Hydration with 15% of the total flour in a stiff 50% hydration starter. Gérard uses a flour mixture of 70% AP flour, 18% fresh milled wheat, 9% fresh milled spelt and 3% fresh milled rye for both the starter and final dough.

Much has been written about Gérard Rubaud so I will not delve into this further. I will say this though … I love this bread! His story has been an ongoing inspiration for me.

Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain

I made two of the Pain au Levains at one kilogram each. I left one with our landlord and the other travelled with us to lunch. The friends we met (one of whom is Sicilian) reside in a northern Queensland town with a large Italian community. He was eager to try the bread and soon our conversation turned to pizza and woodfired ovens. His son has a small business running a pizza oven on a trailer at local events … we had lots to talk about and the lunch was lazy, delicious and full of laughter. The bread was very well received. Sorry no crumb shot as the bread disappeared fast.

Sunday

Today I woke early to beat the heat and humidity we have been experiencing. The bake was to be nothing new ... 3 grain country bread with two starters ... Consistency was the aim. The night before I spent milling, sifting and preparing starters. Also on a happy note, I have sourced some rye grains that are performing well compared to the previous batch.

I doubled my usual formula as I was making two x 1kg batards and a 2kg miche.

Slap and folding 4kgs of dough was lively start to my day. The dough came together smoothly and with a little help from some icebricks and a cooler bag I was able to control the temperature through bulk ferment while watching it like a hawk.

I proved the miche for 1 hour 45 mins while the batards went straight into the fridge to wait patiently…

The miche was baked first … slightly underproved … damn.

The batards came next … very pleased. Lovely gringe and a dramatic look … happy.

I sliced open the miche in the afternoon and was greeted with plenty of flavour and aroma that will only improve as the days go on.

The evening is around us now and a quiet night waits. The oven is cool and I need a rest.

All the best,
Phil

Formula

Method

1. Autolyse 45 mins
2. Knead 5-10 mins
3. Bulk ferment 1.5 hours with stretch and fold at 45 mins
4. Preshape and bench rest for 15 mins
5. Shape and proof for 45 mins
6. Bake in steamed oven for 10 mins at 250°C then 30 mins at 200°C

I have come to the realisation that I don’t enjoy working with large proportions of spelt flour in dough.  The flavour of the bread was ok, but considering it contained 75% sifted spelt flour I found it rather bland, left me wanting more from it. As the temperatures continue to climb here (yesterday was a hot and humid 32°C) I am finding the spelt breads ferment way too fast for my liking even when using cooler water.

I think I will stick with wheat breads and smaller proportions of spelt (30% is a favourite of mine)

… also looks like a busy weekend of baking coming up … and with Christmas fast approaching it seems just about all of our upcoming weekends have social events hopefully requiring bread :)

Cheers, Phil

Nat has booked us a well deserved weekend away from the city rat race in the hinterland north of Brisbane as part of my birthday gift. This means a weekend away from the kitchen and the endless washing up I seem to create. 

Nat adores the Rye and Caraway loaf from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. So I have baked it for her/us so we may take it away with us for picnicking and the like.

While in Sydney earlier this year we found the bakery on Bourke St on the rainiest, windiest, coldest, most miserable day imaginable. It is tiny, really tiny. This particular day all the seating was taken, leaving us standing outside huddled under an umbrella with no room for coffee or a yummy tart. I was already holding a bag full of bread from other bakery visits (Sonoma and Iggy’s Bread of the world) so I had no room for further, so alas I have never tasted the original that this bread is based on. 

 
Desem to batter

As we are away, I refreshed my desem starter a day ago for another week in the fridge and used the discard to build a 100% hydration white flour starter which the formula calls for. Two feeds later the starter was bubbling, active and ready for use.

With my rye grain supplies sorely depleted I chose to use quinoa as the alternative grain soaker mentioned in the formula. The morning before mixing I soaked the quinoa in an equal weight of water.

Toasted seeds and sprouting quinoa

… Surprise …When I arrived home the quinoa had sprouted. I had no idea this was going to happen and it brought a rather big smile to my face.

I won’t publish the formula (for copyright reasons) as I didn't deviate from the original apart from using freshly milled whole wheat for 20% of the total flour. Lets just say it’s a sourdough at around 60%-65% hydration with a large proportion of liquid starter. It has aromatic additions of caraway seeds, cumin seeds, toasted sunflower seeds, rye starter and in my case sprouted quinoa grains.

caraway seeds, cumin seeds, toasted sunflower seeds and sprouted quinoa grains

It has been a while since I have had to knead dough at this hydration level. On a hot and humid Brisbane night, it was a 20min workout….but the work pays off for a beautiful silky dough leading to a soft crumb after baking. I cut the bulk ferment short by half an hour and gave the dough a nice long bench rest so shaping would be relaxed and agreeable.

Into the fridge straight away for a nine hour proof.

Waiting to load and steam

Upturned

One loaf will travel away with us for the weekend, while the other has come to work with me….half of it is gone already with lots of happy work colleagues.

Crumb is soft , aromatic and savoury…I heard someone sniffing all the way down our corridor at work before arriving in our room with a smile.

Best wishes to everyone spending time in their kitchens this weekend … See you all next week.

Cheers, Phil

Formula

Method

1. Autolyse 20 mins
2. Knead 5-10 mins
3. Bulk ferment two hours with two stretch and folds at 30 mins apart in first hour
4. Preshape and bench rest for 10 mins
5. Shape and proof for one and a quarter hours
6. Bake in preheated covered pot for 10 mins at 250°C then 10mins at 200°C. Remove bread from pot and bake a further 20 mins at 200°C

___

This bread will be taken to work for a lunch gathering so I have no crumb shot to show nor time for photos this morning or I will miss my bus :)

Cheers, Phil

What do you do with the fruits of a couple of less than successful attempts at a Dark 100% Rye bread?

Altus!

What is altus you ask?

Old bread …namely, ground up leftover rye bread usually soaked in water.

In my case its old (ugly) dark sour 100% rye bread that is soaked overnight in water. I also crumbled dry altus and fed my rye starter portions of this along with normal rye flour.

Old bread, blended, coffee and soaker

I baked three different breads this weekend, all of them utilising altus. First was the “any grain” sourdough, this time in tins, another dark sour rye and the country bread with two starters.

The night before I prepared soakers, starters, milled and sifted the necessary flours so as to make the morning as peaceful and smooth as possible.

Any Grain Sourdough in tins (grains included in total flour)

Formula

Method

1. Autolyse bakers flour and water for 30min, then stir with wooden spoon for 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix 5-10mins. I use a scraper in my right hand to pick up and turn the dough and keep my left hand wet enough to avoid excessive sticking.
3. Allow bulk ferment for 15-30mins.
4. Shape and roll in rolled oats. Place into greased tins (mine were Pullman) seam side down.
5. I proved these for one hour and 45 minutes before placing into oven with lids on for 15 minutes at 270°C  then a further hour at 200°C

Country bread with two starters

I deviated from the procedure described in a previous posting on these breads in two ways.

The rye starter build was a fed a portion of altus crumbs and the final dough had a 200g altus soaker consisting of equal weights of water and dark rye bread.

The altus soaker was blended with water before adding the flours for the autolyse.

I have again tried my hand at a 100% Sour Dark Rye. I had to alter several things for this bake. I am out of rye grains for milling so for this bake I used Four Leaf Millings biodynamic rye meal flour. I also used the altus as a soaker instead of cracked grains.

Dark Rye Bread Ver 3

Formula

Method

1. Soaker is blended with warm water before the rest of the ingredients are added.
2. Mix until well combined.
3. With wet hands shape and place into greased pullman tin.
4. After my previous cases of overproving I watched the dough like a hawk and it seemed ready after one hour. I docked and placed into a 270°C oven for 15 minutes then a further two hours at 200°C.

__

The altus gave the breads a serious flavour kick and moistness to the crumb. The country bread’s crumb was significantly darker from last weeks bake due to the added altus and it was a delight to see the dark flecks of past rye failures given a new life.

… and again I wait with trepidation for the opportunity to cut the dark rye and peer inside…

cheers, Phil

p.s. A little side story ... My partner managed to create her own version of altus unbeknownst to her when she put a rye crust wrapped in a tea towel through the washing machine. Lets just say with toilet training children in the house a rye crust wasn't the first thing that came to mind when she saw the brown lump amongst the towels.

I have returned to last weeks Dark Rye formula with a test bake to determine if the rye flour I am milling is creating havoc with the 100% rye formula.

Two batches of dough were prepared using different flour in each.

For one I used organic wholegrain rye flour from Kialla Pure Foods and for the other I milled organic rye grains from the same company in my Komo Fidibus XL mill.

I didn’t mill the flour quite as finely as previous after reading about starch damage and the issues it can cause with 100% rye breads.

Two separate sours were built using the different flours and then kept at 28C for 18 hours.

The night before, a soaker (the only common ingredient between the two doughs) was prepared containing all the salt, cold water, rye flour and coarsely milled rye grains. This was kept at a 20C for 15hours.

The sours felt quite different when first mixed. The fresh milled sour felt a little drier and I would have been inclined to add water. I didn’t though.

Two sours

Bought flour on left, fresh milled sour on right

On the following day I observed that the sour built with store bought flour had risen higher and had an even distribution of bubbling while the home milled sour had not risen as high (it was certainly active) and the bubbling seemed uneven with larger bubbling.

Mixing

Incorporating bought flour sour on left, fresh milled sour on right

When it came to add the sours the difference was dramatic. The store bought sour was “poured” out and was extremely runny. I had to spoon out the majority of the fresh milled sour with only a small proportion being runny.

The same temperature water was used in both to achieve common dough temperatures and then placed immediately in greased tins. I did not bother bulk fermenting the dough this time.

Again the fresh milled flour dough felt stiffer and was much easier to handle while the store bought dough proved a challenge to place in the tin in one piece.

Proofing took 1.5 hours with the fresh milled dough rising slightly higher (it may have had to do with hydration of dough)

They were docked and placed in a very hot oven (270C) for ten minutes before being baked for a further two hours at 200C and another hour at 150C. Again the oven was set to auto off and bread cooled in oven for a further two hours.

Breads were wrapped before slicing 36 hours after baking.

The first difference came as soon as I cut the breads. The fresh milled bread is a nightmare to cut. Takes a lot of muscle and the cuts are not clean, while the knife easily carves through the bread with store bought flour.

The fresh milled bread has lost its roof again. The other bread is intact, though is showing some signs of separating in some of the corners.

Fresh milled flour rye having lost its roof

The flavour is quite distinct between the two. The store bought flour bread is not as sour. They both are delicious, but the store bought flour has a nicer mouth feel.

Bought flour rye

Side by side

 
Breakfast

I have no idea if it is traditional at all, but one of my favourite ways to eat this is with marmalade. We made this marmalade a few months ago using lemons from my tree, grapefruits from my grandfather's tree, oranges from a friend of ours and mandarins from my partners sisters.

Well rye aficionados?...

Would love to get some feedback and advice on this seemingly ongoing project ... problems solved, problems found ...

Cheers, Phil

Saturdays are my day of play in the kitchen. I rise early in our quiet house to bake bread for the week. A boiled kettle, a cup of tea, then I start mixing and planning my day just as the sun pokes through the kitchen window. After mixing, we enjoy a lazy breakfast while I watch the dough and wait. By midday the baking is done, enticing me to cut a slice (or two) for lunch.

Last weeks Dark Rye disappointment also fuelled a rye test bake, but I will save that for another post in the next few days as I am waiting for the crumb to set.

With the rye bake keeping me busy both mentally and physically in the kitchen, I decided to be kind on myself and bake a simple adaptation of the country bread with two starters by using a proportion of wholemeal spelt in the final dough. I think I have found a winner both with flavour and texture.

Milling and Sifting

While last weeks light rye was certainly delicious and moist (with the soaked cracked rye) I found the sharp flavour of using only the rye starter too assertive. The overnight rise in the fridge compounded this further and the sourness became quite pronounced a few days after baking. Using a combination of the two starters and a room temperature proof seems to restore a balance that I felt was lacking in last weeks bread.

I prepared the flour the night before. The wheat was milled and sifted. The caught material was remilled and sifted again before being used in the final flour with the caught bran set aside. The spelt was milled and then added to the final flour mix without sifting while the rye grains were milled coarsely and fed to a hungry rye starter for use in the morning. My usually wholewheat starter was fed sifted wholewheat and 30% wholemeal spelt before being mixed to a 50% hydration and placed in a cool spot overnight.

3 grain country bread with two starters

Formula

Last fold, shape and proof

Method

1. Autolyse flour and water for one hour.
2. Incorporate starters by squeezing into dough with wet hands until smooth and feel no lumps then knead for 5 mins (I used a gentle slap and fold because of the amount of spelt). Rest dough for five mins. Incorporate salt and knead for a further five mins.
3. Bulk ferment three hours with three stretch and folds 30min apart in the first 1.5hrs.
4. Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.
5. Final proof was roughly two hours at room temperature (23°).
6. Bake in preheated dutch oven for 10 mins at 250°C then a further 10 mins at 200°C. I then removed it from dutch oven and baked for a further 25 mins directly on stone for even browning.

 This is such pleasant dough to work with. Spelt and rye bran are flecked throughout. The kneading and folding gives strength so the shaped loaves hold themselves proudly before being placed in bannetons.

I had massive oven spring considering the amount of freshly milled wholemeal flours … the “Pip” was very pleased.

I played again with the scoring this week. My partner’s nickname is “Rat” so in her ratty honour I scored one of the loaves with a giant “R” … the “Rat” was very pleased.

The flavour for me is a balance between the tang in the rye and subtleness of a wheat starter. This not a boring bread, but it does not dominate the senses either.

… and after a busy day in the kitchen I prepared a simple lunch before we headed outside to continue the rest of our day in the spring sunshine.

Cheers, Phil (and the Rat)

One of the foremost incentives for purchasing my own grain mill was rye.

From coarsely milled rye grains soaked and added to wheat dough, to freshly milled flour and a thriving rye starter.

Rye has been on my mind this week … probably a little too much to be called healthy. So with some free time available last night, I shifted thinking into practise.

Rye and Mixing

The first bread is a Dark Sour Rye. The formula is kind of pieced together from bits of knowledge and tips gathered from around the web (namely Danubians formula) This was the first time baking rye in my 8x4x4 pullman pan so quite a bit of guess work went into the amount of dough required to fill it…this will be an ongoing process as I was a still little short on the correct amount.

Dark Sour Rye

Total dough weight: 3kgs
Hydration: 85%
Prefermented Flour: 35%w
DDT: 29°C

Day before
Rye sour (20hrs @ 28°C)
Starter: 30g
Freshly milled rye flour: 612g
Water: 690g

Morning before
Soaker (12hrs @ 20°C)
Cracked rye: 525g
Water: 525g

Final Dough (29°C)
Rye sour: 1224g
Soaker: 1050g
Freshly milled rye flour: 613g
Water: 275g
Salt: 35g

Bulk ferment for 30 mins. Using wet hands, divide, scale, shape and then place into greased tins seams down dusted on top with flour

Prove for about two hours

Bake in steamed oven at 250˚C for 10 mins then turn down to 190˚C and bake for a further two hours. Turn down to 150˚C bake for one hour. Turn down to 100˚C and bake for a further two hours with oven set to auto shutoff and allow to cool in oven until morning.

We went to bed with the heady smell of caramelised rye pervading the house … it seemed like it was even throughout my clothing.

Oiled and wrapped

When I arose in the morning the tins were still warm and the bread was a heavenly dark chocolate colour. I brushed them with grapeseed oil after cooling, wrapped them in paper and set them aside for the excruciating long wait until cutting. I also  realised late into the bake that I had neglected to dock the larger loaf so I am expecting a flying crust … to be continued ….

The second dough was an experiment in using my rye starter on a sifted wheat bread and overnight rise in the fridge. It was time to get out of my comfort zone as I have been hesitant to retard the dough for fear of over proving. I also used a fair sized portion of soaked cracked rye for some added texture to the crumb.

Quite Light Cracked Rye

Total dough weight: 1kgs
Hydration: 82%
Prefermented Flour: 15%
DDT: 24°C

Soaker
Morning before (12 hrs)
Cracked rye: 66g
Water: 66g

Final Dough
Freshly milled rye starter @ 110% Hydration: 173g
Sifted freshly milled wholewheat flour: 467g
Soaker: 132g
Water: 293g
Salt: 12g

Milling Wheat

Autolyse flour and water for one hour.

With wet hands squeeze and incorporate starter into dough until smooth and feel no lumps then knead for 10 mins (I use slap and fold). Rest dough for five mins. Incorporate salt and soaker and knead for a further five mins.

Bulk ferment three hours with three stretch and folds 30min apart in the first 1.5hrs.

Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.

Final proof was roughly 30 mins at room temperature (23°) then into fridge for eight hrs.

Bake direct from fridge in preheated dutch oven for 10 mins at 250°C then a further 20 mins at 200°C. I them removed it from dutch oven and baked for a further 30 mins directly on stone for even browning.

When my daughters arrived home after school and spotted this loaf I was quickly instructed to cut them a slice. The cracked rye was hidden away in the crumb from there prying eyes. It was demolished. Best crust I have had made for a while.

This bread has tang. Not overpowering, but lingering. The cracked rye is soft and barely registers in the mouth.

On a side note...with the formulas, would everyone prefer I use bakers percentages, weights or both. I am writing these the way I construct them, which I understand may not be the best for all people.

Cheers, Phil

** Update

Well as expected my undocked loaves "lost their roof". If any experienced rye bakers have any clues that would be greatly appreciated. I know when I did this bread a few years ago I had the same issue and I think docking fixed it....thoughts?

Tastes fantastic. Dark, rich and quite sour ... but I am not happy with flying crust and I will bake for less time. Crust is not tough just too much colouring on outside of the loaf while lighter inside.

Cheers, Phil

How to cheer up sad, sick children?

Chocolate chips!

We have a case of glandular fever in our house at the moment making for a worrying week. Several trips to doctors, blood tests and we finally seem to have a boy with a smile and energy again.

This bake was in fact planned for a 40th birthday party in a park today, but the party was cancelled due to the increasing number of storms we have been having. We had another storm this morning, similar to last Saturday.

I had decided to play with the Tartine bread formula using my freshly milled rye starter and finishing a bag of bakers flour I had in the back of the cupboard. (Much to the delight of my partner) I mixed on a Friday night and baked Saturday morning….fresh bread to take to a party. Oh well…now we have fresh bread for lunch instead.

After the bread came out of the oven this morning and with the day free it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put through a batch of banana and choc chip wholemeal muffins. Perfect comfort food for a sick kid.

The muffins are loosely based on a Gordon Ramsay recipe for blueberry wholemeal muffins and while they are delicious with blueberries I used choc chips for kid appeal. I also substituted yoghurt and milk instead of buttermilk.

The muffins melt in your mouth when still warm from the oven leaving little smiling faces covered in chocolate. Not surprisingly it doesn’t look like they will last long.

Rye Starter Tartine loaf
Total dough weight: 2kgs
Hydration: 77%
Prefermented Flour: 10%
DDT: 26-27°C

Freshly milled rye starter @ 100% Hydration: 200g
Bakers Flour: 800g
Freshly milled wholewheat: 200g
Water: 750g
Salt: 23g

Dissolve starter in 700g of the water, then mix with flours. Autolyse for 30 mins.

Add salt and final 50g of water. Fold through the dough.

Bulk ferment three hours with four stretch and folds 30 mins apart in the first two hours.

The dough was racing, so after a 20 mins bench rest I shaped it and placed in the fridge for an overnight rise.

Final proof was roughly eight hours in the fridge.

 It was baked straight from the fridge with steam on stone for 10 mins at 250°C then a further 35 mins at 200°C.

After a few months of wholewheat , sifted wholewheat breads and last weeks grain bread these breads are such a treat, so soft they are hard to cut. The humid air has now softened the crust, but it was thin and brittle when freshly baked. What appeals to me most about this bread is the bran flecks contrasting with the translucent crumb. The flavour seemed a happy balance between tang and lightness … it dissolves in the mouth … but …

… it was too close to overproofing for my liking and the oven steaming is still not as consistent as a dutch oven.

Lunch ended up being a generous slice topped with avocado, lemon and cracked pepper…

… as another afternoon storm rolls in across Brisbane.

Phil