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Dec. 1, 2021. Bake #71.

The taste of the previous batch of muffins was good, though perhaps a little too sweet. But they were way too dense, with no oven rise except for some tunneling because I added baking powder to the batter instead of dispersing it well in the dry flour.

This has less flour (therefore higher hydration), less honey, less oil, more baking powder, and the BP was properly dispersed in the flour. Other ingredients just had minor tweaks.

These were baked without a baking stone, higher up in the oven, and on aluminum foil shiny side down. The center of the bottom was a bit pale, while the side crust was well browned, so I will bake with shiny side up next time.

More photos of the clay pots and the instruction/recipe booklet at: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69351/clay-flower-pot-baker-recipes

Soaker:

• 15 g old-fashion rolled oats (the thick ones). 
• 15 g quick-oats (not instant). 
• 12 g whole dry chia seeds. 
• 6.7 g whole dry poppy seeds. 
• 15 g yellow corn meal. 
• 20.7 g dried shredded coconut, unsweetened. 
• 200 g bottled water, at room temp. 
• After 20 minutes, added: 
• 53 g honey. 
• 25 g powdered fat-free milk, Kroger brand. 
• 50.4 g more bottled water at room temp. 
• 1 tsp whole fennel. (Maybe should have used 3/4 tsp, and put it in at the beginning.) 

Dry:

• 50 g roller-milled WW durum, Sher Brar Mills Fiber Wala. (I had used up my Patel stone ground WW durum.) 
• 110 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW flour, from red wheat. 
• 50 g Arrowhead Mills organic AP flour. 
• 5 g salt. 
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice. 
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger. 
• 30 g almond flour, blanched. 
• 3 tsp baking powder. I remembered to stir it well into the flour! Could have gotten by with 2.5 tsp. 

When combined, added:

• 93.5 g bottled water at room temp. 
• 23 g peanut oil. 
• 13.5 g grapeseed oil. 

When using WW, I like to add oil last, so that the bran, and the larger particles of the stone-ground flour get the water first before any oil. When it gets oil too soon, that seems to interfere with water absorption.

Baking: 

Pre-heated oven to 375 F.  No baking stone was used. Clay pots were freshly oiled on the inside, and not pre-heated.  3 pots were used, and were filled about 50%. Baked at 350 F, for 44 minutes.

Results:

Great!  The batter wasn't as sticky as before. Good oven rise, muffins came out soft, but well browned.  No sticking at the bottom of the pot. Waiting for them to cool, then running a knife around the sides did the trick.

The shredded coconut was softer this time because it was pre-soaked, and the coconut flavor did not dominate. The fennel, pumpkin pie spice, and ginger came through.  The fennel should have been in the soaker from the beginning, and dialed back a bit.

Adding water to the clay pot immediately after removing the muffin, allowing it to soak a bit, makes for easy cleanup.

Undersides:

It's the last day of November. How time flies! :D I've been meaning to update my lil space here with my recent bakes but I never got to touch my laptop while I'm managing books (so many!), household stuff, (very late) knits, and some spinning and yoga. But, there are some bakes, of course.

Ah, a citrus-y sourdough loaf! I made a second batch of candied citrus peels as a bunch of them were included in the dark fruit cake that is now getting sloshed in the fridge - hopefully it turns out edible for Christmas.

Made two of these loaves, first one without walnuts and I haven't got a clue why I bothered making it the hard way - with a separate dough made a very light blue. The second version of this citrus loaf has more candied peels and walnuts, a much easier and nuttier loaf:

Sourdough loaf with candied citrus peels & walnut
60g starter (100% hydration)
100g water
100g orange juice
15g honey
75g spelt flour
225g all purpose / bread flour (75%)
6g salt
5g coconut oil

Add-ins
30g mixed citrus peels, chopped
20g toasted walnuts, chopped

Total bulk ferment: 5.5 hours at 23 - 24°C.
Final proof: 1 hour at 23-24°C, cold retard 5 to 16 hours at 4°C.
Bake at 230°C Dutch oven lid on 20 minutes. Lid off, with baking sheet below DO, 20 minutes.

(I think at this bake temperature with the DO, my loaves are getting really dark bottoms, I should place something beneath it next time)

Tedious loaf below, the plain one above looked and tasted better with walnuts and more peels!


Here's the tedious loaf again, looked on by Prune the starter on the left.



Next make/bake: cevapi together with somun and ajvar. I made these just because they sound so fun. Of course, I had to make sure the flatbread turned out right before the cevapi and the ajvar (seeing how I made fat buns instead of Barbari bread before). After the second batch of these flat breads, I was happy to make the rest. Oh, these made a lovely meal!

For somun, I like them plain or with a little bit of cumin/jeera seeds.

Adapted from: https://www.chasingthedonkey.com/balkan-bread-how-to-make-somun-bread-for-cevapi/ and I let the dough proof twice before shaping.



Somun
with yogurt and sourdough starter - makes 4

Starter
120g plain Greek yogurt
100g all purpose flour
20g sourdough starter
5g sugar

Dough
All of the starter
65g all purpose flour
75g atta / whole wheat flour
1g instant yeast
5g salt
5g sugar
75g water
5g ghee or olive oil
Ghee or olive oil to grease shaped dough

Somun
without starter - makes 5

Dough
120g plain Greek yogurt
10g sugar
150g water
280g all purpose flour
70g atta / whole wheat flour
2g instant yeast
7g salt
5g ghee or olive oil

Optional topping: cumin, caraway, sesame seeds

Prepare the dough as you would any bread, adding oil and salt last. For the first proof, let the dough rise for 60 minutes at 25-28°C (I used the oven)

Then, transfer the dough to a lightly wet counter. Stretch and fold the dough on all sides and then form a boule. Return the dough to its proofing bowl, let it rise again for 60 minutes at 25-28°C.

Transfer the dough to a floured counter and gently divide the dough into 3 to 5 equal pieces (or 2 for larger breads), then gently stretch and fold each piece of dough into a boule.

Grease hands with ghee or oil, then gently grease each shaped dough ball before transferring it to a lightly floured parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough, leaving 3-4 inches between each dough ball.

Cover the dough balls with two layers of damp tea towels for about 45 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 250°C about 30 minutes into the second rise.

Flatten each dough ball gently with wet fingertips into a disc, without deflating the middle of the dough too much, keeping the thickness to about 1cm or 0.5inch.

Optional: Make a criss-cross patterns over the top of the dough with the wet blunt edge of a knife or lightly floured silicon dough scraper. Cover with and let the shaped dough rest for 10 minutes.  

Spritz the tops of the dough once or twice with water, sprinkle cumin, caraway or sesame seeds over the top (if using).

Place the dough in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 230°C and bake for 8 minutes. Then, lower the heat to 200°C and continue baking for another 5 to 10 minutes.

As a shortcut, I've also baked these at 230°C for 13 to 18 minutes.

The bread will puff up, turn a golden brown with dark brown spots and the internal temperature should reach between 96 - 99°C.

Remove from the oven, and then transfer the loaves onto a cooling rack, cover with a tea towel and let the loaves cool (this softens the crust).  

For crusty loaves, return the loaves to the middle rack of the oven as the oven cools down, leaving the oven door slightly ajar.

I'll also include how I made cevapi and ajvar here as a reference. There are many ways to make these and I'm pretty sure the next batch I make will have other spices in the cevapi. For this batch, I tried to stick with a simpler recipe.



Cevapi, (or ćevapi or ćevapčići)
Makes about 28-30 little sausages

Adapted https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/cevapi/
https://www.cooklikeczechs.com/cevapcici-sausages/

50g bread crumbs (from my leftover whole wheat sd)
1 large egg
2 tbsp milk
250g minced pork
250g minced beef
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
3 - 5g salt*
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped raw onions, to serve

In a large mixing bowl, mix bread crumbs with egg and milk. Cover and let the breadcrumbs hydrate for about 15 to 30 minutes.
Stir fry onion and garlic with olive oil until lightly golden. Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding to the breadcrumbs.
To the breadcrumbs, add the rest of the ingredients, starting with 3g salt. Mix by hand or with a large spatula until evenly combined. Cover and let this chill for about 30 minutes.
*Taste test: remove about 1/2 tbsp of the mixture, gently flatten into a small patty and cook over medium heat on a frying pan until cooked through. Taste test the cooked patty. Season the rest of the mixture with additional salt, pepper or spices, if needed.
Cover and chill the mixture for at least 2 hours to overnight.
Shape into sausages about 6 to 7.5cm (about 2.5 to 3 inch) in length 1.5cm (about 1/2 inch) thick, either by hand or through a disposable piping bag. I used a piping bag at first, but found out after 20 sausages that it's actually easier by hand.
Place the shaped sausages in the fridge or freezer until ready for cooking (I baked these, there are recipes for grilling these)
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush oil or melted butter on the grill insert of a baking sheet. Place the sausages about 5cm / 2inches apart on the grill.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until they are cooked through and lightly browned on the outside, or until the internal temperature is at least 77°C (170°F)
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Ajvar
2 red bell peppers
1 medium eggplant
3 to 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Virgin olive oil
1 tbsp garlic oil (or more)
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
paprika, to taste

Prepare the garlic oil first; this is the same method used while preparing garlic and garlic oil for garlic fried rice. :)
Add enough olive oil in a small saucepan to cover the chopped garlic. Fry over medium low heat while stirring continuously so the garlic pieces brown evenly.
When the garlic becomes lightly golden, remove the saucepan from heat. Let the garlic continue to cook in the hot oil until golden brown.  Pour the garlic through a wire mesh strainer. Set both the garlic (now crispy) and strained garlic oil cool until ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 230°C (450°F).
Line a quarter baking sheet with baking/parchment paper.
Cut the eggplant into large pieces and red peppers in halves. Arrange these on the baking sheet.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes ensuring that the peppers and eggplant pieces have softened completely and their skins slightly charred.
Transfer the eggplant and pepper pieces into a large bowl. Cover the bowl with clingfilm, prick a few holes with a needle or fork and set aside for 30 minutes.
Once cooled, remove and discard the skin from the eggplant. Peel the peppers, discard the core and seeds.
Transfer the remaining pepper and eggplant into a food processor

Add the half of the fried garlic, 1 tbsp garlic oil and rice vinegar to the food processor.
Pulse the contents of the food processor until smooth. Taste test and add more fried garlic and oil, if desired.
Then, transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan.
Over a medium-low heat, simmer the sauce for around 30 to 45 minutes, while stirring continuously. The sauce should thicken slightly as it simmers.
Season with salt, ground black pepper, paprika and more garlic oil (if desired).
Remove from the heat and allow to cool before serving.
To serve, drizzle or spread ajvar in a halved somun, add a few cevapi go with chopped raw onions and more ajvar, stuffed into a somun. I added chopped lettuce to the mix on one occasion and a bit of kimchi with the ajvar on another. :D




The next bake is something I make only once or twice a year, probably because it disappears faster than the process of making it. This bakes in a 1/8 sheet pan, just enough for 2 - 3 people. This batch was topped with coconut and coconut oil was used in the batter.

Mini chocolate sheet cake

Cake
90g all purpose flour
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
25g dark chocolate, chopped
50g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
90g buttermilk or plain yogurt
40g unsalted butter, melted
30g coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
90g strong brewed coffee, hot

Chocolate Glaze
30g unsalted butter
10g cocoa powder
40g semisweet/dark chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp milk, more if required
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
25g powdered sugar (optional)
A pinch of salt
Optional: 2 tsp coffee liqueur or rum, 1/4 tsp instant coffee, 2-3 tbsp chocolate chips or toasted walnuts/pecans, shredded coconut


Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 1/8 sheet pan. Set aside.
Dry ingredients: in a large mixing bowl, sift together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and whisk in chopped dark chocolate, sugar and salt. Set aside.
Wet ingredients: in a medium bowl or measuring jug, whisk together egg, buttermilk/yogurt, melted butter, coconut oil and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined with a spatula. A few streaks of flour is fine at this time.
Add in the hot coffee and whisk the batter until smooth. The batter will be thin.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 13 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs.

While the cake is baking, prepare the chocolate glaze.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, milk until the mixture is well-combined, smooth and pourable. Adjust with 1/2 to 1 tbsp of milk, if necessary - the glaze will set as it cools.
Remove the pan from heat and whisk in vanilla extract, powdered sugar (if using) and optional toppings.

Immediately when the cake is removed from the oven, prick holes all over the top of the cake with a tooth pick. Then, pour the glaze all over. Use an off-set spatula to spread the frosting to the edges of the pan.
Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before serving or let it set completely for 1-2 hours in the fridge.

Use a plastic disposable knife or a warm knife (run a sharp knife under hot water and dry it) to cut the cake for clean cut edges.

Other bakes include these two snack cakes:

(do not open the oven to spy on the cake, like I did! My cake slices had waists!)



Coconut & matcha swirl yogurt cake

Cake
180g all purpose flour
20g cornstarch
1/4 1/2 tsp baking powder try 1/4
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
100g sugar
60g unsalted butter, cubed, soft
60g coconut oil, soft or melted
1 large egg
80g Greek yogurt
100g coconut milk/buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
20g unsweetened desiccated coconut

Matcha batter
10g coconut milk/buttermilk/soured milk
2g matcha powder

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for glass). Grease and line a loaf pan.
Egg mixture: in a medium measuring jug, whisk together the egg, yogurt, buttermilk/soured milk and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk in salt and sugar. Add soft or melted butter, melted coconut oil to the dry ingredients and mix on low for 30 seconds.
Add roughly 1/4 of the egg mixture and mix on medium low to medium speed until the batter is pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl and to turn the batter from the bottom with a spatula.
Next, add half of the remaining egg mixture with desiccated coconut (if using) and mix on low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Then, add the last of the egg mixture and again, mix on low for 20 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in from all sides with a spatula until the batter is smooth.

For matcha swirl batter:
Transfer 1/3 or 1/2 of the mixed batter to a separate bowl.
Mix coconut milk (or the subs) with matcha powder in a small bowl until a paste forms. Mix about a tablespoon of batter with the paste. Then, add this to the batter and mix until it achieves a uniform green color.

Mixing plain and matcha batters, a few ways:
- Alternate adding dollops of each batter into the pan. Run the back of a knife or skewer through the batters.
- Add the plain and matcha batter alternately from the same spot to create zebra effect.
- Pour matcha batter into the plain batter and swirl the bowl around before pouring the mixed batter into the prepared pan

Carefully tap pan on folded tea towels twice to release any large air bubbles.

Bake at 180°C for 45-50 minutes (for metal loaf pan, 180°C), 45 to 50 minutes (for glass pan 160°C), until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, or with the slightest crumbs clinging to it.
1/8 sheet pan: 180°C 16 to 20 minutes.

Remove the loaf pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then, lift the cake from the loaf pan with the parchment overhang to a cooling rack.


Light fruit cake

Cake
90g all purpose flour
10g cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
50g sugar (60g too sweet)
50g unsalted butter, melted
30g coconut oil, melted
1 large egg
10g molasses
50g plain yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla/lemon extract

Mixed fruits
50g pineapple juice
100g pineapple, chopped
30g raisins
30g candied mixed peels, chopped
30g unsweetened desiccated coconut
Optional: a pinch of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg

Syrup (optional)
12g sugar
20g pineapple juice

Icing sugar glaze
5g pineapple juice, strained
20 - 25 g icing sugar
1g unsalted butter, melted

Mix and soak the fruits in pineapple juice for at least 4 hours to overnight in the fridge.
Be sure to let all ingredients reach room temperature before preparing the batter.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 1/8 sheet pan or 9x6” casserole, leaving overhang of parchment on the sides of the pan for easy cake removal later.
Flour mixture: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Yogurt mixture: In a small measuring jug, whisk egg, molasses, yogurt and vanilla/lemon extract together.
Fold in melted butter and coconut oil into the flour mixture, for about 20 seconds.
Add yogurt mixture with about 1/2 of the fruit mixture to the batter. Fold into the batter for about 15 seconds.
Add the rest of the soaked fruits including any soaking liquid. Fold in until there are no more flour steaks visible and the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean (begin testing at 28 minutes). Tent the cake with foil if browning too quickly).
Optional syrup: While the cake bakes, heat pineapple juice with sugar the microwave or over the stove on low until all the sugar dissolves.
Remove the cake from the oven and gently prick holes all over the cake with a tooth pick. Spoon or brush syrup all over over the cake.  
Leave to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before lifting it out from the pan (with the parchment paper overhang) and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Optional glaze: Add pineapple juice and melted butter to 20g icing sugar. Gently mix until evenly combined. For a slightly thicker (and whiter) glaze, add the remaining 5g icing sugar and mix until evenly combined. Transfer glaze into a small ziplock bag. Cut a small tip in one corner and drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. Let the drizzle set for about 30 minutes before slicing the cake. 


Almost did another 4-recipe post, didn't I? tee-hee

- Christi

Nov. 29, 2021.  Bake #70.

More photos of the clay pots and the instruction/recipe booklet at: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69351/clay-flower-pot-baker-recipes

WARNING: Do not follow this recipe, #70. It did not turn out well. See my next blog entry, #71, for a much better batch: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69373/71st-bake-120121-more-sotsot-clay-pot

--

Soaker: 

• 11 g old fashioned (thick) rolled oats. 
• 11 g quick oats. 
• 20 g whole chia seed. 
• 5 g poppy seeds. 
• 11 g corn meal. 
• 200 g bottled filtered water, at room temp.
• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) (82 g) honey. 

Dry ingredients:

• 28 g Patel brand stone-ground WW durum flour. 
• 22 g Sher Brar brand roller-milled WW durum flour, "Fiber Wala." 
• 25 to 30 g (forget the exact amount) durum semolina, Swad brand.
• 112 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW flour. 
• 50 g Arrowhead Mills organic AP flour. 
• 56 g Sharbati Gold WW flour, Swad brand.
• 5.3 g salt. 
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, Kroger brand. 
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger. 
• 1/2 tsp whole fennel seed. 
• 1/2 cup (45 g) fat-free powdered milk, Kroger brand. 
• 25 g dry shredded coconut. 
• 25 g almond flour (blanched).
• 2 tsp baking powder (After cutting one open, I think it would have been better to use 3 tsp.) 

Wet:

• 150 g bottled filtered water at room temp.  (After cutting one open, I think it could have used 50 to 70 g more water.) 
• 30 g peanut oil. 
• 20 g grapeseed oil.  

Mistakes: I forgot to add and disperse the baking powder in the dry ingredients. I slowly folded it in after mixing the soaker, the final water and the other dry ingredients, but before adding the oil.

 --

Baking:  Pre-heated the oven and a baking stone to 375 F.  Did not pre-heat the pots. Placed aluminum foil (shiny side up) on the baking stone. Placed pots on the foil. Baked at 350 F for 48 minutes.

This was removed from pot and cut open before it cooled:

 

This one was allowed to cool first (3 photos), bottom:

 

Allowed to cool first, ran a knife around inside, and pryed the knife tip against the bottom of the muffin. It did not leave too much residue:

The rye had amazing spring. I subbed my very active raisin yeast water but otherwise followed the gluten development and bake times exactly. Dough was fantastic to work with. Will post crumb when cool. Just took it from the oven . 

Nothing new to add about my t65 bake except it gets better and better. I made 2 baguettes without a retard  and 2 boules with retard.  The baguettes were shorter and stubby but oh my the crumb. Perfect holes . They got eaten right away but pictures next time . Boules just came out of oven . Unlike my usual self I have actually been doing the same formula every bake. Haha. Crumb pics  when they are cut.

t65 boules

rye bread 

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Having always been envious of the incredible loft of the humongous croissants at Pavel's Backerei in Pacific Grove, California, I challenged myself to see if I could approach Pavel's great result for post-Turkey breakfast. I made several deviations from textbook croissant dough including buttermilk (instead of milk) , a poolish (instead of pate fermentee) and liquid sourdough levain in my 2.7 kg dough batch. I've been kicking the tires on the unexpected(!) steam injection function that came with a newly installed German oven so I baked the croissants with an initial burst of steam. The results were quite good though, in retrospect, I could have proofed for 3 or even 4 hours instead of just 2 1/2 to coax maybe another 1/2 inch of loft from the dough. The new oven's proof function was a huge improvement over my usual counter proofing which goes much slower since our kitchen tends to run to 65-68 degrees in cool weather.

Half of the dough went into a dozen croissants so I used an average of about 110 g of dough per croissants. I suspect Pavel is possibly getting as much as 150 g into one of his. Will have to ask next time we visit the Monterey peninsula.

With the other half of the dough I made a dozen Kouign-amann, which are constructed of danish dough rolled out in a lot (as in 25% of dough weight!) of sugar for the last lamination fold. The result was quite good, caramelly and a bit sticky, though the dough browned more than I would have liked. Rose Levy Beranbaum uses no milk in her tediously meticulous version which I have followed in the past...apparently to avoid this browning problem. Not wanting to prep multiple doughs, I took the path of least resistance and still came out with a decent product, but I now better understand her caution. I think this dough could have also benefitted from a longer proof than the 45 minutes suggested by RLB, though I'm not sure that the sugar content does not inhibit dough rise. Weill have to test that next time around.

Altogether a fun Thanksgiving distraction. And if you have the good fortune to visit Monterey, don’t miss Pavel’s for great croissants and beautiful artisan breads.

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For this loaf I wanted to try sifting out the larger bran flakes.  I finally purchased a #40 sieve.  Taking all the flour, I sifted it through the #40 sieve extracting about 46.5 g of large course bran flakes from 492 g of the stoneground organic whole wheat flour.  I intended on scalding the bran, but made an error adding an equal part by weight of room temperature water then remembering that I wanted to scald so added the second equal part by weight boiled water.  The bran was mixed to ensure it was fully hydrated and then cooled overnight in the fridge to avoid any microbial activity.

The stiff levain was built and left to ferment overnight at 74ºF.

The next morning the pH of the levain was 4.17 and was then broken down in water, then the sifted flour was added for a fermentolyse.  After 10 mins of rest I started gluten development with slap and folds then gradually added the hold back water in several aliquots using Rubaud to fully incorporate the water well.  During the addition of the second aliquot of water the salt was added.  In total at this point 250 slap and folds were done to develop the gluten in anticipation of the bran interfering with the gluten sheets.  After a rest of 20 mins the hydrated bran was added through a series of stretch and folds in the bowl followed by slap and folds until the bran well well incorporated.  The pH was 5.55 at this point.

30 mins one bench letterfold

Then at 30 mins intervals coil folds x 4 done

A pH drop of 1.0 was targeted for shaping

When pH 4.55 reached rise was 42%, shaping was done.

Warm final proof done targeting a pH drop of a further 0.3 at which time baking was started.

Pre-heat oven with cast iron skillet in the oven and set up for open steam baking in anticipation of pH targeted baking.

30 mins prior to baking, pour 1 L of boiling water into metal loaf pan with Sylvia towel and place on baking steel on the lowest rack of the oven.

Once oven reaches 500ºF turn dough out of banneton, brush excess rice flour off, score and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven.  Pour 250 mL of boiling water into the cast iron skillet on a high shelf, high enough that the dough have fully bloom.  Drop temperature to 450ºF and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Then vent oven and remove all steaming gear and drop temperature to 425ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed.

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As you can see from the aliquot jar, this dough had about 75% rise at the time of baking.

Time lapse video of the oven spring first 25 mins of open steam baking.

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I’m quite pleased with this bake especially considering the issues I’ve had with baking 100% whole red fife in the past.  For a first try on my own recipe, I’m quite happy.  Now the bloom could be better and I know that the hydration despite a calculated 86% approximately should be higher.  I wasn’t sure how much extra water the scaled bran would contribute to the dough once it was added.  In the end, I don’t think it added much so next time I’ll have to bassinage even more water into the dough.  I’ll know more about how this turned out once it is sliced.

We had lots of good food yesterday for Thanksgiving, but I was especially happy with the dinner rolls that I made using Maurizio's Super Soft Sourdough Rolls writeup.  As promised, these were soft, fluffy, baked up nicely tall, and just downright tasty.  Perfect with a little butter, and to mop up whatever was left on my plate!

I followed Maurizio's instructions to the letter with two mods: (1) I only have AP flour on hand, so added some VWG to boost the protein content, and (2) I don't have a Lloyd pan, but my 12" CI skillet was a perfect substitute.

I snapped a few pics along the way on a busy day......

Dough portioned:

Rolls risen:

Baked and resting:

Today’s bake is a new recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman in Bread 3rd Ed.

The recipe includes 25% whole-spelt flour that I stone-milled the day before baking. I recalculated the recipe for two 680-gram doughs.

I oven-roasted the butternut pumpkin and toasted the pumpkin seeds the evening before the bake and allowed them to cool at room temperature overnight. I also prepared the poolish and let stand for 14 hours at 21C.

The next morning, I hand mixed all the ingredients except for the seeds, and I held back 10% of the final water (bassinage). Once moderate gluten development was obtained, I gradually added the bassinage water until incorporated. The seeds were incorporated last.

The bulk fermentation is 3 hours, folding at 45-minute intervals at 24C. I pre-shaped and once rested, shaped into bunt cylinders, and placed them into 23 x 13 cm loaf pans. Final fermentation for 60 minutes.

Baked in a 232C pre-steamed oven with steam for 15 minutes. 215C for 20 to 22 minutes. The use of the bread pans ensures less crust and hero the crumb.

Hamelman notes: “This bread hits a lot of flavor bases – it is smooth and moist thanks to the squash and the honey; the roasted pumpkin seeds are a nice flavor addition; and visually it is pretty to look at – the crumb has an attractive golden hue and contrasts well with the pumpkin seeds studded throughout.”

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We all seem to not have enough time in our lives lately. And it is worse when it comes to finding time to fit natural fermentation into our days! One thing I've been loving about the yeast water bakes is how quickly fermentation takes place. A lot of that speed is due to the sheer amount of levain that is added into the final dough with a large part of the flour coming from the preferment.

So, I've also been experimenting lately with high inoculations to see if I can also make sourdough bread in a way that is more convenient for me. I know that there are some bakers (like Peter Reinhart) who have many recipes with a large amount of pre-fermented flour. This bread was made with 48% pre-fermented flour (153% inoculation).

To get this high inoculation I needed a lot of levain. So, I took the approach of emulating what I do with the yeast water - build up the levain in two steps at a hydration of about 63%. When I looked at my starter in the morning it looked like it had gone past its peak, so I added an extra third preferment step at 100% hydration just to commence with a starter at peak. All of this levain building does kind of defeat the purpose of making the bread in a convenient way, but hey this one was another experiment! Preferment #1 had 2 hours in the proofer, then was all used to feed #2 which had 2.5 hours, and the final preferment also had 2.5 hours, so they were all fairly young when they were used. I took care to feed with warmer water - at 36°C (97°F) - and the proofer was set to 27°C (80°F).

The bulk ferment time was a little like the yeast water - 2.5 hours of bulk proofing, followed by 1.5 hours final proof and then immediately baked. The aliquot was at 38% volume increase at the time of shaping and 105% at the end of final proof.

The rustic look was quite lovely (thanks to seam side down in banneton).

This was quite a flavourful bread - the parmesan, olives and especially the origanum (sweet marjoram) bring a lot of flavour, and I might halve the origanum next time. It is also quite difficult to tell if the bread was lacking a sourdough tang because of the strong herb taste.

I'm not completely convinced any more that a 20% innoculation, as is the default in so many recipes, is actually my ideal anymore. Although, my baking notes do testify that high innoculations, like this one, do involve  some work in feeding the preferments.

-Jon

I haven't posted here for a while. I bake most weeks once or twice, usually my favorite multigrain sourdough or a Buttermilk-Spelt Sourdough. I always have some San Joaquin Sourdough baguettes available in the freezer, of course.

This week, I baked a batch of sandwich rolls made with Medium Vienna Dough from "Inside the Jewish Bakery." The plan was to have rolls for turkey sandwiches, but we use these for hamburgers, sausages and tuna salad sandwiches most often.

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Today, I baked loaves of Hamelman's Five Grain Levain. I hadn't joined the "Community Bake" of this bread. It's been a few years since I've baked it, but I recently restocked fresh ingredients with the plan to revisit this old favorite.

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In anticipation of a feast tomorrow, we had a light dinner tonight - a few slices of 5 grain levain with Cotswold cheese and a cucumber salad. This bread is so good!

Here's a photo of the crumb:

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I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

David