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Dec. 6, 2021.  72nd bake.

The previous batch of these muffins, #71, came out pretty good. So I scaled it up to four pots from three. And made some slight adjustments, including adding 60 grams of whole rye flour.

Soaker:

• 20.5 g old-fashioned rolled oats, the thick kind. 
• 19.9 g quick oats, not instant. 
• 16.9 g whole dry chia seeds. 
• 8.6 g whole dry poppy seeds. 
• 20.8 g corn meal. 
• 28.2 g shredded coconut, unsweetened. 
• 1 tsp whole fennel seeds, 2.1 grams. 
• 270 g water @ room temperature. 
• added after 20 minutes: 
• 70 g honey. 
• 50 g water, room temp. 
• 25.4 g powdered fat-free milk. 

Dry ingredients:

• 50 g Sher Brar Fiber Wala whole grain durum flour, roller milled. 
• 110 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW flour. 
• 50 g Arrowhead Mill's organic AP flour. 
• 40 g almond flour, blanched. 
• 60 g whole grain rye flour from Lithuania, Malsena brand. 
• 6.6 g salt. 
• 2 tsp pumpkin-pie spice, Kroger brand. 
• 1 tsp ground ginger. 
• 3 tsp baking powder, Rumsford brand. 

Wet:

• 133 g water. 
• 17 g peanut oil. 
• 13 g grape seed oil. 
• 16 g regular olive oil.

Pre-oiled the 4" diameter clay pots. Pre-heated oven to 350 F. Did not pre-heat the pots.

Baked at 350 F for 62 minutes, pots sitting on aluminum foil, shiny side up, until tops seemed brown enough and a knife inserted in the test muffin did not come out gooey.

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Ingredients

Dough

• 
  1 cup whole milk 240 g
• 
  ½ cup unsalted butter melted
• 
  ½ cup granulated sugar 100 g
• ¼ cup water 75 g
• 
  1 (¼-oz.) envelope active dry yeast 7 g
• 
  4 cups unbleached bread flour, divided, plus more for work surface 480 g  (180g, 100 g 200g)
• 
  1 large egg, at room temperature
• 
  1 teaspoon fine sea salt 5.69 g

Filling

• 
  1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
• 
  1 cup pecan halves (Walnuts)
• 
  ¾ cup chopped unpeeled orange (from 1 orange) 
• 
  ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
• 
  ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Additional Ingredients

• 
  1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 
  ½ cup powdered sugar
• 
  2 - 3 teaspoons whole milk, as needed

Directions

Instructions Checklist

Because the dough goes directly into the fridge after mixing start night before.

Step 1 Prepare the Dough: Stir together milk, butter, and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low, stirring often, just until butter is melted. Remove from heat. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 120°F, 10 to 15 minutes. 

• Alternate Step 1:  Melt butter.  Add  milk and ¼ cup water to the bowl with sugar, yeast and 1 ¼ cup flour in the bowl and mix.  Then add egg and another ¼ cup of flour beat until incorporated.  Then add salt, butter and remaining flour and mix until fully developed. 

• Step 2 Stir together sugar, yeast, and 1¼ cups of the flour in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add warm butter mixture, and beat on medium-low speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Add egg and ¼ cup of the flour. Beat until incorporated, about 2 minutes. With mixer running, gradually add salt and remaining 2½ cups flour, beating until mixture forms a stiff and sticky batter, about 1 minute. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Chill at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours. 
  
  Step 3 Prepare the Filling: Pulse cranberries, pecans, and chopped unpeeled orange in a food processor until finely chopped, 10 to 12 pulses. Transfer to a small saucepan; stir in brown sugar and salt. Cook over medium, stirring often, until mixture begins to bubble around pan edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring often, until thick and jammy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool completely, about 1 hour. 
  
  Step 4 Turn Dough out onto a very lightly floured work surface. Divide evenly into 2 pieces (about 1 pound, 2 ounces each). Working with 1 Dough piece at a time, roll into a 14- x 7-inch rectangle. Spread half of the cooled Filling (about 1 cup) on top of Dough rectangle, spreading to edges. Starting with 1 long side, roll up jelly-roll style, and pinch each end to seal. Shape into a ring (about 7 inches in diameter), and pinch ends together to seal. Place ring, seam side down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat process using remaining Dough and Filling, placing ring on a separate greased baking sheet. 
  
  Step 5 Using kitchen shears and keeping Dough ring on baking sheet, make cuts around 1 ring at 1½-inch intervals, cutting from outer edge and in toward center, leaving about ¾ inch attached at the center. Turn each cut section, in the same direction, to lie on its side with the Filling side exposed. Repeat process with remaining Dough ring. Cover rings loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (75°F to 85°F) until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. 
  
  Step 6 About 30 minutes before Dough is finished rising, preheat oven to 350°F with racks in top third and lower third positions. Meanwhile, whisk together egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Brush Dough rings lightly with egg mixture. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating baking sheets between   top and bottom racks halfway through bake time. Do not remove from oven. Cool completely on baking sheets in oven, about 30 minutes.
  
  Step 7 Whisk together powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of the milk in a small bowl. Add remaining 1 teaspoon milk, ¼ teaspoon at a time, if needed to thin glaze to a pourable consistency. Drizzle glaze over rings; let stand 10 minutes. Serve warm.

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https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/christmas-sweet-roll-wreath

This cake, a Jamaican Christmas tradition, came to my attention from a very strange direction.  

Back in October, my wife and I, along with my sister and her boyfriend, spent a long weekend in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula.  That's the “horn” pushing up into Lake Superior at the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  We happened across The Jampot, a bake shop operated by the Holy Transfiguration Skete Society of St. John, a Byzantine Catholic monastery.  Seriously, where else would one go to find out about a cake that is beloved on a Caribbean island?

The Jampot's version is a large, loaf-shaped cake with a $54 price tag.  My interest was piqued, even though my pocketbook was unmoved.  After some on-line research, I settled on this recipe. 

If you look at it carefully, you will note that it calls for just over 5 pounds of fruits and nuts.  Add to that a pound each of butter, sugar, and eggs.  And close to a quart of booze.  Only one pound of flour is allocated to bind all of that together and just 4 teaspoons of baking powder to leaven it.  This is not a dry, light cake.  

The recipe says that the fruit should soak in the rum and wine for at least three days.  I let it soak for close to a month, thinking that it would allow for a better marriage of the flavors.  I’m happy with the results. 

On baking day, I made the caramel color, then ground the fruit and almonds in the food processor as directed.  The rest of the process was fairly straightforward but I was very glad for my 7-quart KitchenAid mixer, since the batter and fruit filled the bowl nearly to the rim.  If you have a mixer with a smaller bowl, plan to combine the batter and the fruit in a large mixing bowl by hand.  

The recipe makes three 9-inch cakes.  I used two regular cake pans and one spring form pan, which turned out well, since it would have overflowed a third regular pan.  These cakes have a long bake time.  The cakes in the regular cake pans took two hours; the thicker cake in the spring-form pan baked for 2.5 hours.  

The cake is very rich and filling.  The flavor is deep and complex, with both the fruit and the booze figuring prominently.  There's lime zest and cinnamon in the mix but those contribute undertones to the flavor, rather than being noticeable as distinct flavors.  The texture is predominantly that of the fruit.  If you will, this is a cake made of fruit rather than a cake that contains some fruit.  Not surprising, considering the ratio of fruit to flour.  

I would make this cake again but I will want to make sure that I have plenty of helpers to eat it.  It’s a lot of cake!

Paul

Borodinsky the Sequel

A couple weeks ago I made a Borodinsky bread with sprouted rye kernels, homemade solod and toasted caraway. Delicious flavour, moist texture and tasted great with homemade mascarpone but pretty strong to eat with anything else.

The second time I do anything I like to change things around and start learning conceptually what happens. This often means I break something the second time around in order to learn from it going forward.

New Solod

Last week I made a big batch of solod and changed the process. First time, I malted rye, fermented at about 45C 12 hours, then saccharified at 55C for 12 hours. I dried it on low, then toasted. It smelled amazing throughout, a combination of sweetness and fermentation,

Last week I doubled both the fermentation and saccharification times, dried it fast and hot, and toasted it. It never had the same strong fermented smell, more of a hint of it. Same with baking.

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Here are my solod and coriander toasting. I decided not to mill my solod until I needed it.

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Varied Recipe

I kept the Rye Baker recipe for Borodinsky but changed some of the ingredients.

1. Last time I sprouted rye kernels, dried them and milled them and used them as all grain flour. The bread was sweet and delicious. This time, I used dark rye flour from Bulk Barn. The bread was missing something. It was never bitter but it certainly had a hint of rye edginess. Conclusion? Sprouted is better. 
2. Last time I used sugar. This time I used honey at the same weight. Not sure if I noticed a difference in anything. It might've softened the rye flour flavour
3. Last time I used toasted caraway. This time I used toasted coriander. I prefer the flavour of caraway for bread on its own or with mascarpone. But coriander was fine when I ate the bread with egg salad on it. No conclusion on this one. Might try aniseed next time.
4. Last time I did 100% rye. This time I subbed in 15% all-purpose white to make it a little more bready for slicing and chew.
5. Last time my scald was allowed to cool at room temp. This time I maintained the scald at 55C for about 4-5 hours before letting it cool inside an insulated box. Not sure it helped anything.
6. Last time I did not dock or slash the top and it kind of separated a bit. This time I slashed a diamond pattern and the bread was able to expand a bit more without popping its lid. Repeat or similar next time.

Breadier Result

While baking, the bread had a lot less intense aroma (vs the solod caraway of the last one). I think I messed up my solod. Perhaps drying it too hot and fast?

The bread texture was a moist but firm sponge that was strong enough for thin slices. It had rye and coriander flavours but nothing as intoxicating as the first. It held up nicely as squares for open faced egg salad. It tasted good with the egg salad.

I wanted to bake up some rye breads to use during the holiday break with a giant prosciutto and mature cheeses. This version may actually work better for that task than the last one.

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A slice of the loaf...

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Conclusions

I loved my first Borodinsky but the labour was a bit crazy. The second one is probably better for putting stuff on it. Interesting dilemma... superior bread with sprouted grain flour on its own, or lower labour bread that is not magical but also doesn't fight with toppings.

I also made a Black Rye from The Rye Baker site. I'll slice it tomorrow after noon.

Someone needs to explain to me why my doughs with only fruit in them move so slowly and feel super heavy? I can add the same quantity of porridge in a similar recipe and my bulk is done within a few hours. Whenever I use fruit, the dough takes forever to rise and feels really heavy. I decided not to rush this one and give it all the time it wanted. It did feel a lot better during shaping but once again, they are not light and airy loaves after baking. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins

220 g sultana raisins

44 g Bourbon

12 g cinnamon

Dough:

740 g strong bakers unbleached flour

300 g freshly milled red fife flour

780 g filtered water (divided into 730 g and 50 g)

22 g salt

250 g levain (done over 2 builds)

The night before:

1. Mill the required amounts of Red Fife berries on the finest setting possible. Add the unbleached flour to it and cover. 
2. Soak the raisins in the bourbon and cover. Let sit overnight.
3. Take 10 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night.  

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, feed the levain 100 g of water, 50 g of wholegrain flour and 50 g of unbleached flour. Place in a warm spot to double (I use my oven with the lights on). This takes about 5 hours.

2. Mix the dough flours and 730 g of the water together in a stand mixer on the lowest speed for a minute or two, and then autolyse for a couple of hours.

3. After the autolyse, add the salt, the cinnamon, the extra water, the Bourbon soaked raisins, and the levain and mix for a minute on the lowest speed. Then mix on the next speed for 9 minutes. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place.

4. After 45 minutes, give it a set of coil folds. Then, 3 more sets, 45 minutes apart. This dough moves very slowly. 

5. Let rise until the volume has expanded by just a bit more than 40%. This took another hour and a half. 

6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~790 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest covered with a tea towel for an hour on the counter. This is a heavy dough so I tried to give it as much fermenting time as I could. 

7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.

8. Place the dough seam side down in rice floured bannetons. Cover, let rest an hour, then refrigerate overnight.

Baking Day:

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Watch that they don’t burn. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Carmelized Golden Potato Bread

The basis for this bake is Hamelman’s Roasted Potato Bread from Bread (2nd Ed.).  This is my second time making it with two tweaks that I thought were minor (but turned out to be a big difference) and also baked at a lower temp this time.  I followed the recipe verbatim the first time I made it and used Mr. Hamelman’s suggestion of oven roasting the potatoes.  The bread turned out very good. 

This time, I wanted to see if I could bring out the flavor of the potato a little more and also wanted to use a little bit of yeast water in the pate fermente instead of just ADY.  I prepared the potatoes using my favorite way of having them: pan fried in butter.  However, instead of using a medium heat and browning/crisping the potatoes, I used a low heat with a covered pan for 90 minutes (turning them every 30 minutes).  With that, the potatoes became more carmelized than fried. 

Whether it was the difference in potato prep or use of the RYW I can’t say for sure (leaning towards potato prep), but the dough was almost uncontrollable.  While going through the same procedure of bowl kneading, the dough was already starting to take off.  After going to bulk, it rose 2.5-3x in 30 minutes.  I punched it down aggressively and pre-shaped, but in hind sight, I should have let it double again.  By the end of the 15-minute bench rest, the surface of the doughs were already bubbling.  I degassed aggressively again during final shape, but they were almost overflowing the bannetons after 45 minutes at 74-75 deg F.

The first time I made the bread, the bottom crust was on the verge of burning from the potato starches (450 deg F during steaming), so this time, I dropped the temps during baking.  Bottom crusts looked great, but I would have liked to get a little more color in the top crusts.  That being said, this bread is one of the most tender and soft I’ve made to-date (based on squeezing the loaves while bagging them) and had a nice potato aroma!  All these loaves were spoken for, but a friend did send a crumb shot.  Bit of a bad angle.  Overall, I think it looks OK but it was unfortunate seeing the large holes.  Not sure if that was the rapid rising or if I didn't fully degas before the final shaping.

SIDE NOTE:  I was shocked how "yellow" the soft white bulbs in our kitchen make everything until I turned them off to try and get an overhead photo without shadows of me in it.  Same photo below with lights on and off.

Makes 4 loaves…

Pate Fermente

480g Bread Flour

160g Raisin Yeast Water

153.6g Water

9.6g Sea Salt

0.5g Active Dry Yeast

Final Dough

800g All Purpose Flour

80g Bread Flour

240g Whole Wheat Flour

662.4g Water (may need to add more depending on residual moisture from potatoes)

28.8g Sea Salt

24.5g Active Dry Yeast

Add-Ins

400g Yellow (Gold) Potatoes

12g Butter

Method

The night before

1)      Prepare pate fermente by combining all ingredients and lightly knead until smooth.  Place in covered bowl and ferment for 12-14 hours at 70-72 deg F

The next morning

1)      Cut potatoes into small cubes and place in covered frying pan with butter on low heat.  Make sure heat is low enough to not brown the potatoes.  Stir ever 20-30 minutes to cook evenly.  Let cool after 90 minutes and then mash them with a fork. 

2)      Add 150g of water to the potatoes and mix thoroughly to create a loose mashed potato consistency. 

3)      Dissolve yeast in remaining water. 

4)      Combine all ingredients including salt and start to mix.  Add chunks of pate feremente while mixing to incorporate it.  Mix until flours are wetted.  Adjust hydration if needed.

5)      Fermentolyse for 20 minutes

6)      Perform 4 sets of bowl kneading with 10-minute rests between sets.

7)      Bulk ferment at 76 deg F until dough has doubled

8)      Punch down dough and pre-shape into boule

9)      Bench rest for 15-20 minutes

10)   Final shape as oval and place in banneton with seam side up

11)   Final proof at 76 deg F

12)   Pre-heat oven at 425 deg F.  Place doughs on oven steel with steam pan on bottom rack.  Bake at 425 deg F (5 minutes); reduce heat and bake at 400 deg F (15 minutes); vent oven; reduce heat and bake at 375 deg F (15 minutes)

North Tower Oatmeal Stout Sourdough

The basis for this bake is the recipe Beer Bread from Bread (2nd Ed.).  I also added a rolled oats/stout soaker.  For the beer, I used North Tower Stout by Earth Rider Brewery.

Rye Sour

44g Fresh Milled Whole Rye

36.5g Water

2.2g Mature Sourdough Culture (I used my White Flour starter)

Liquid Levain

40g Bread Flour

50g Water

8g Mature Sourdough Culture (I used my White Flour starter)

Final Dough

200g All Purpose Flour

80g Bread Flour

16g Fresh Milled Whole Rye

20g Whole Wheat Flour

100g Stout

85.5g Water

8g Sea Salt

1.4g Active Dry Yeast

Soaker

40g Rolled Oats

60g Stout

Method

The night before…

1)      Prepare rye sour and ferment for 12-14 hours at 70-72 deg F

2)      Prepare the liquid levain and ferment for 12-14 hours at 70-72 deg F

3)      Combine soaker ingredients in a covered bowl and refrigerate

The next morning…

4)      Dissolve yeast in water

5)      Combine all ingredients including soaker, rye sour, liquid levain, and salt.  Mix until flours are wetted.

6)      Fermentolyse for 30 minutes

7)      Perform four sets of bowl kneading to develop gluten with 10-minute rests between sets

8)      Bulk ferment in oiled bowl at 76 deg F.

9)      Stretch and Fold at 45-minute intervals until dough is getting “puffy”.  Should be 1 or 2 folds.

10)   Bulk ferment until dough has increased roughly 75-85%.

11)   Degas and pre-shape into a boule

12)   Bench rest for 15-20 minutes

13)   Final shape in an oval and place in a banneton

14)   Final proof at 76 deg F until dough has doubled. 

15)   Pre-heat oven at 460 deg F with steam pan on bottom rack

16)   Place dough on baking steel and pour ¾ cup boiling water in steam pan 

17)   Reduce heat and bake at 450 deg (20 minutes); vent oven; reduce heat and bake at 425 deg F (15 minutes)

Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies

Refreshed my starter this weekend and didn’t want to waste the discard.  Followed the recipe in Sourdough Cookbook for Beginners from Breadtopia.  I like this recipe.  The sourdough and the whole grain seem to take the edge off the sweetness of a chocolate chip cookie and they are not greasy at all.

Amounts are for a ½ batch.  Makes 10 large cookies (used ¼ cup dough per cookie)

100g All Purpose Flour (for 100% hydration discard.  Adjust as needed)

40g Whole Rye Flour

35g Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (can leave this out and use 125g AP and 50g rye)

50g sourdough discard

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

114g butter (softened)

½ tsp vanilla extract

80g brown sugar (I used dark brown)

70g granulated sugar

1 egg

170g semisweet chocolate chips

Method

1)      Combine flours, baking soda, and salt and whisk together.  Set aside

2)      In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugars, discard, and vanilla extract until creamy (I used a stand mixer with paddle attachment)

3)      Add egg and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated

4)      Slowly add flour mixture until fully combined

5)      Fold chocolate chips into dough and mix evenly

6)      Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to hydrate flours and make dough easier to handle

7)      Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F

8)      Place ¼ cup scoops of dough on parchment lined baking sheet.  Space evenly on the sheet.

9)      Bake in center oven rack position for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms are just starting to turn brown and no wet looking dough on their surface 

10)   Remove from oven and let sit for 2 minutes before placing on a cooling rack until fully cooled

This is my second bake using the method I described in my last bake of 100% whole wheat.  In short, I sift out the larger flakes of bran with a #40 sieve, that bran gets scalded and allowed to cool in the fridge overnight while the levain ferments.  In the morning the dough is mixed and the gluten is developed before adding the bran.  The major difference with this bake is that I increased the hydration to 90%.  Despite that I believe that this flour could still take even more which I’ll do next time.

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After the bran is added through a series of stretch and folds in the bowl, the dough was given an additional 100 slap and folds to ensure that the brans is well distributed.  The pH at this point was 5.51.

Target pH drop of 1.0 for shaping and an additional 0.3 pH drop for baking.  Because I found the dough challenging to score and I wanted to try something different with the crust when the dough reached 4.22 and had a rise of 59% I placed the dough in the freezer for 20 mins and then 10 mins in the fridge.  By the time the dough came out of the fridge the pH had fallen past the target 1.3 pH drop and had fallen all the way down between 4.1-4.15.  The pH meter had a difficult time locking into a reading likely because of the varying temperature of the dough the exterior being colder and then warmer the deeper into the dough.

So I wanted to do a decorative dark crust, something I’ve seen on IG by Aggie of @aggie.chronicles. Essentially it is a simple but slightly messy method of applying dark cocoa to the crust.  After the dough is turned out of the banneton onto parchment the rice flour is brushed off.  Next the dough is misted with water.  Then dark cocoa is sprinkled on the dough trying to fully cover the dough.  Any Excess cocoa is dusted off.  Next the the cocoa layer is misted again with water and then rubbed into the surface.  The coating should be a thin paste.  Finally score as you like then bake.

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This is an interesting cake, as it isn’t particularly cakey, instead it bakes up to be a firmish custard that is sliceable and made all the more tasty with a scoop of ice cream.  I’ve posted a fair number of rhubarb desserts here not only because I love tangy desserts but also because I’m lucky enough to have a close friend who has a large rhubarb patch and FedEx me rhubarb each year for the past couple of years.  So of course when we have them over I have to make a rhubarb dessert.  I didn’t have the time to make pie pastry so thought I’d try this Bon Appetite recipe instead.

Now my rhubarb is frozen and was sliced to 1.5-2” lengths.  This recipe calls for much longer lengths but this worked out none the less.  I allowed my rhubarb to defrost in the fridge overnight and because the rhubarb needs to stay at the top of the cake, I discarded the rhubarb water that came off the defrosted rhubarb but didn’t squeeze the rhubarb to remove anymore.

Ingredients

8 servings

For 9” springform pan

4 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter, cooled, plus more room-temperature for pan

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

¾ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1½ cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling

¼ cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. dark rum

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

13 oz. rhubarb stalks, halved lengthwise if thick

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour pan. Whisk baking powder, salt, and 1 cup all-purpose flour in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, egg yolk, and 1½ cups sugar in a large bowl until very pale and thick, about 1 minute. Whisk melted butter, sour cream, rum, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Whisk butter mixture into egg mixture just to combine. Add dry ingredients and fold in until batter is smooth; scrape into prepared pan. Chill 10 minutes to let batter set.

Step 2

Arrange rhubarb over batter however you like, trimming as needed. Don’t press fruit into batter—just place over top and let it rest on the surface. Sprinkle with more sugar and bake until cake is golden on top and browned around the sides, 45–55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 10 minutes. Slide a knife around sides of cake to loosen and unmold. Slide directly onto rack and let cool completely.

Do Ahead: Cake can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/rhubarb-custard-cake

The grandfather of the husband of one of our nieces (nephew-in-law?) died recently and my wife made a meal for his family.  I pitched in with ciabatta bread, using Reinhart’s ciabatta with poolish formula from BBA.  Since each loaf was a different size, we gave them the Papa Bear and Mama Bear sized loaves.  

I did run into one snag with the formula.  The final dough calls for 22.75 ounces of flour, which I dutifully mixed in.  And immediately began to wonder if I had strayed into a bagel recipe, since the dough was so stiff and dry.  A second reading confirmed that I had read the weight quantity correctly but then I noticed that the volume quantity called for 3.5 cups.  I suspect a typographical error occurred and that the weight should have been 12.75 ounces, instead.  

Cue the addition of water.  And more water.  And more salt.  And more water until, eventually, the dough was the sticky, slack blob that it should have been.  Fermentation proceeded pretty much as expected.  As much as possible, I avoided degassing the loaves while shaping but I did flip them (deliberately) while transferring them from the couche to a baking sheet.  They showed good oven-spring while baking.  

The bread was well received.  To quote our niece’s husband, “The bread you made is freaking insane.”

Since I haven’t cut into the third loaf, I don’t know what the crumb looks like.  It wouldn’t surprise me to find that the texture is closer than a typical ciabatta because of the additional mixing/kneading to incorporate the added water.  

Paul

Today's bake is again the Valais Rye   Walliserbrot (Switzerland) 2nd Time - The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg.

This time with the adjustments suggested by my fellow TFL bakers (reduced proofing time and smoothing the top with a wet spatula).

I used a parchment paper lining  which made removal from the pan easy and had the added benefit of a vastly softer crust.

Tasting Notes: this time the crumb was a little moister and has a delightful sour tang. As I mentioned above, the crust is much softer and thus less chewy with a roasted taste reminiscent of a dark coffee.

For those interested the recipe and process are included below.