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I just finished reading an advance copy of Eric Pallant's Sourdough Culture, which is coming out in a couple of weeks.

There are a few different threads to the book. One thread is an attempt to trace the lineage of the Cripple Creek starter he was gifted and which sparked his emthusiasm for sourdough. The other works forward in time from the earliest known evidence of breadmaking in Egypt, through the Roman Empire into Europe, and eventually from Europe to North America. It includes quite a bit of recent research including information on the industrialization of breadmaking and the move from sourdough to commercial yeast, something Professor Pallant won a Fulbright scholarship to study.

The last history of bread I recall reading was 6000 Years of Bread, which was originally published during World War II. A lot of research has been done since then. Professor Pallant's book brings that history up-to-date with recent scholarship and science to provide a much more complete picture of the evolution of bread. If that sounds like your kind of thing, check it out!

Found a little gem at the end of last week on Available for Barter Fremantle and Surrounds and although Frances said she was happy for me to just have it i said i would bake some Cinnamon buns on the Monday, unfortunately she is gluten intolerant but her son and husband are not so i hope they enjoy some of these.

holds just under 2 kgs, perfect for when i have just opened a bag

note the tray is well buttered to prevent sticking and combine with the sugar and cinnamon to make the gooey toffee like bottom

ready for the oven and filling the pan

out and about to be slipped ontothe cooling rack

Have been loving the yeast water. 

I've recently made Hamelman's Swiss Farmhouse bread from the community bake. So interesting and it surprised me that my somewhat fizzy water has such great leavening power.

Since there was leftover yeast water from making the CB bread I wondered what a yeast water bread would taste like without the raisins and if it would still have as strong a raisin flavour to it. And I do like what seeds and nuts as inclusions bring to a bread, so made this loaf, replacing the walnut and raisin inclusions with 50g of a seed mix of my own (pumpkin, sunflower, brown and golden linseed, sesame) and another 50g of nuts (almonds, pecans and walnut).

Other than that most of the method followed was as per Hamelman's recipe.  The nuts and seeds were laminated in. This time around the fermentation, although lightning fast compared to sourdough was slower than with the Swiss Farmhouse, possible because of the lack of raisins. Bulk fermentation was 2.5 hours and final proof just shy of 2 hours, with the aliquot showing 120% increase at the end. With the original recipe the aliquot grew even larger - to 167% and perhaps I should have let it raise even higher, but still learning what I can get away with with the yeast water!

I did err on the side of caution and popped the banneton into the freezer while the oven was warming just in case the dough would spread when it came out. I never know how long you can get away with the freezer for, but it seems to be longer than I expected and up to an hour has been fine. For this bread it was around 50 minutes.

Taste was exceptional. The pecans really came through (most of the nuts did, actually). There wasn't a raisin taste either, although there was certainly no sour taste as you'd get with sourdough. It was especially lovely to eat with a nut butter, but we went to town and also tried it with avo, a 'Labneh' cream-cheese and Speculoos spread.

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So I had two different kinds of raisins that I tried. Ended up using the jar on the left which had the larger raisins made from Hanepoort grapes. Raisins are seeded and still have stalks.

Simple but delicious. One of my most popular loaves. 

Like last week, dough was moving really fast and it got 3 folds rather than 4. It also spent more time in the fridge than usual. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Porridge 

100 g rolled oats

200 g water

45 g honey

40 g butter

Dough

700 g unbleached flour

200 g freshly milled whole grain Red Fife flour (200 g Red Fife berries)

100 g freshly milled whole grain Einkorn flour (100 g Einkorn berries)

50 g flax, freshly ground

700 g water +25 g

23 g salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain flour of your choice for feeding the levain

The night before:

1. Mill the grains and place in a tub. Grind the flax seeds in a bullet and add to the tub. Add the unbleached flour to the tub as well. Cover and set aside.

2.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. Early in the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g of strong baker’s flour and 50 g wholegrain flour. Let rise until doubled (about 5 hours). However, today, my levain peaked at 4 hours and 30 minutes. I caught it just as it flattened and was about to head back down. 

2. About two hours before the levain is ready, put 700 g of water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 

3. Make the porridge: Add the water, the butter and the honey to the rolled oats and cook on medium heat until the liquids are absorbed and porridge is very thick and creamy. Let cool. 

4. Once the autolyse is done and the levain has doubled, add the salt, the yogurt, the porridge, and the levain to the bowl. My dough needed an extra 25 g of water. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 9 minutes.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 45 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 45 minute intervals and then 1 more set after 30 minutes. Let rise about 30%. This dough was moving fast so I skipped the fourth fold I would normally do. This is the second week this has happened. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just have a super happy starter these days. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~810g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by 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 cross 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 a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice flour and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. I try to keep proof under 12 hours, however, due to life happening, the first batch went in after 14 and a half hours and the second after almost 16 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, 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 20 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I love the rich flavor Guinness adds to bread. The combo of fresh milled Barton Mills Danko Rye and Ruby Whole Wheat was a winner. The maple syrup helped add just the right amount of sweetness and the ricotta cheese helped create a moist open crumb.

I added some toasted onions to the top of the loaves by adding them to the inside of the bannetons. I love onions so this really took this one over the top.

This bread made excellent pastrami sandwiches with melted cheese and it was pretty good toasted for breakfast as well.

Levain Directions

Mix all the levain ingredients together  for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.   You can use it immediately in the final dough or let it sit in your refrigerator overnight.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flours and the Guinness together in your mixer or bowl for about 1 minute.  Let the rough dough sit for about 20 minutes to an hour.  Next add the levain,  ricotta cheese, maple syrup and salt and mix on low for 10 minutes.  (Note: I used my Ankarsrum which mimics hand mixing so if you are using a different mixer 4-5 minutes may be sufficient).  You should end up with a cohesive dough that is slightly tacky but very manageable.  (Note:  if you are not using fresh milled flours you may want to cut back on the water). 

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.  (Since I used my proofer set to 79 degrees F. I only let the dough sit out for 1.5 hours before refrigerating).

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours.  Remove the dough and shape as desired.

The dough will take 1.5 to 2 hours depending on your room temperature and will only rise about 1/3 it’s size at most.  Let the dough dictate when it is read to bake not the clock.

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 540 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right before you are ready to it in the oven, score as desired and then add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

Lower the temperature to 455 degrees.  Bake for 35-50 minutes until the crust is nice and brown and the internal temperature of the bread is 205 degrees.

Take the bread out of the oven when done and let it cool on a bakers rack before for at least 2 hours before eating.

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This babka recipe is by Maurizio Leo I’ve made few changes to it except that I added a small pinch of IDY because this dough can be very very slow to ferment and I didn’t want the dough to be too sour if it took that long to proof.

I did not do an overnight cold retard instead retarding only for about 1.5 hours to make the dough cooler for ease of rolling.

Vitals

Total Formula

Dough Mix

My final dough temperature for this dough was 76°F (24°C).

2. Mix

Before mixing, take out the butter called for in the recipe and cut it into 1/2″ pats. Let it sit at room temperature until called for.

I used my KitchenAid stand mixer to mix this dough. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the mature levain, flour, whole milk, large eggs, salt, and half of the sugar. Set the mixer to low and mix until everything is incorporated. Let the dough rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minute rest, turn the mixer up to medium and mix for 5 minutes until the dough starts to pull from the sides of the mixing bowl. At this point, slowly stream in the remaining sugar while the mixer is running. Mix for another 1-2 minutes until the dough comes back together.

With the mixer still set to medium, add the room temperature butter, one pat at a time, waiting to add the next until the previous is absorbed into the dough. It might take around 5 minutes to mix all the butter into the dough. After all of the butter is added, continue mixing for another few minutes until the dough smooths out and once again begins to cling to the dough hook. The dough should be almost fully developed at this point (it won’t completely pass the windowpane test, but almost).

Transfer the dough to a container for bulk fermentation, cover, and keep somewhere warm—78-80°F (26-27°C)—in your kitchen for bulk fermentation.

3. Warm Bulk Fermentation – 2 hours. (or longer, as needed)

During this time, give the dough 2 sets of stretch and folds where the first set is 30 minutes after the beginning of bulk fermentation and the second set is 30 minutes after the first. After the second set, let the dough rest, covered, until the next step.

4. Cold Bulk Fermentation – (next day)

Assess the dough: has it risen a little in the bowl during the warm bulk fermentation? It should be a little puffy and smoothed out. If it looks like there’s no activity at all, give the dough another 30 minutes to 1 hour and check again.

Once you see some rise in the dough, place the covered bulk fermentation bowl into the refrigerator overnight.

Same day option: 

I much prefer making this over the course of two days, but you could make this all in one day: let the dough finish bulk fermentation for 2-3 hours on the counter. When the dough has risen around 50% and feels puffy, proceed with the rest of the steps below. However, I do recommend placing the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour after this warm bulk fermentation to chill before rolling out!

5. Roll, freeze, cut, and shape 

Before taking the dough out of the refrigerator, make the fillings, if making jam prepare a day ahead to allow it to cool.

Divide the dough into two, shape tightly into balls.

On a lightly floured surface roll one dough ball into large rectangle 16” x 12”, first spread half of the jam, cocoa, butter mixture on, then sprinkle half of the chopped chocolate sugar mixture.  Roll into a tight roll then transfer onto a cookie tray.  Repeat for the other dough.

Important: 

Place the rolled-up log on a baking sheet and place it into the freezer for 15 minutes (this makes it much easier to cut and braid).

After the 15-minute freezer rest, take the baking sheet out of the freezer and return the dough log to the counter. Using a sharp knife, cut the log to split open the log from one side to the other. Pinch the two top halves together and braid the dough one strand over the other. At the bottom, pinch the two halves together again. Don’t worry if filling spills out or things get messy — it’s all good.

After the dough is braided, pick up the braid and place it on the parchment right in the middle, then pick up the sides of the parchment and lift the dough up and drop it into the pan.

Cover the pan and place it somewhere warm, ideally, 78-80°F (26-27°C), to proof.

6. Proof 

This dough can be slow to rise at this point. Give it the time it needs to rise up to about 1/2″ below the rim of the Pullman pan. For me, at 78°F (26°C), it took about 3.5 hours. See the image below for how high my dough filled my pan.

7. Bake 

Preheat your oven with the rack in the middle to 350°F (176°C) — no fan assist (no convection). When the oven is preheated and the babka dough is fully proofed, place the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (to catch any sugar spilling over). In a small bowl, whisk together one whole egg and 1 Tbsp water and brush a thin layer of the egg wash on the top of the dough. Then, slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 55  minutes until the center of the babka reaches 200°F (93°C) then leave in oven with the oven off for another 5 mins.. Keep an eye on the babka in the last 10 minutes of the bake, if it’s coloring too quickly drop the temperature to compensate.

Once out of the oven brush a layer of the raspberry syrup on the babka.

Raspberry Jam

400 g frozen raspberries

425 g sugar (should reduce a bit more still very sweet)

½ lemon juice

Mash together raspberries and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat.  On sugar dissolved add juice of ½ lemon.  Gradually bring to a boil.  The jam should reach 221ºF for the pectin in the lemon juice to thicken the jam if not using jam sugar.

For the Filling 

• 3/16 cup raspberry jam
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 oz. 113.4 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 
• ⅛ cup sugar

Syrup

• 1⁄8  cup sugar
• ½ cup fresh raspberries, mashed
• 1 tbsp water

Make the filling: 

Combine jam and cocoa powder in a small bowl; using your fingers, add butter until moist and crumbly and set jam mixture aside. Combine chocolate and 1⁄8 cup sugar in a bowl; set chocolate mixture aside.

The jam mixture is the first to be spread on the rolled out dough, then the chocolate sugar mixture is sprinkled on top.

Make the syrup: 

Combine raspberries, remaining 1⁄8 cup sugar, and 1 tbsp. water in a 2-qt. saucepan over high; reduce heat and simmer until sugar has dissolved, 1–2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes; strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding solids

This is a 60% whole Kamut 80% hydration sourdough loaf I put together testing what I believe works well for pH guided dough development.

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Because I didn’t do an overnight saltolyse I did add 0.5% (2.48g) diastatic malt to the dough at the time of wet aultolyse.  By wet autolyse I mean I mix all the water with all the whole Kamut and diastatic malt without the salt, bread flour or levain.  The idea here is that I want to quickly hydrate the bran while also making it easier to add the stiff levain to this 1 hour later.  I believe this is working well for me although this bake is just the second time trying it.

The overnight levain was cool room temperature fermented with a low hydration of 60% to ensure that it wasn’t overfermented by the morning.  The pH of the levain at the time of use was 4.04 and had risen almost 4x.

After the 1 hour wet autolyse I added the levain and salt mixing it in the wet batter like slurry of the dough.  Once well incorporated which took like time, I add the bread flour and mixed until no dry flour remained.  After a ten minute rest I reassessed the dough and added the hold back water and mixed.  After another ten minute rest slap and folds were done to moderate gluten development (700).  pH at this point was 5.42

At 30 minute intervals first a bench letter fold was done, then three coil folds until the dough felt strong and wasn’t relaxing.  This was done at warm room temperature of around 78-80ºF.  Bulk was ended at a pH of 4.47 corresponding to an aliquot rise of 50% and the dough was shaped and placed into a banneton and left to ferment further until a pH of 4.07 was reached.  At this time the aliquot jar showed >90% rise.  The dough was then placed in a 3ºC fridge and left to cold retard for 20.5 hours.  

The next day (19.5 hours later) the oven was preheated to 500ºF with the dutch oven inside.  After 1 hour when the oven was up to 500ºF the dough was removed from the banneton onto a sheet of parchment.  The pH at this point was 3.97 using my automatic temperature control pH meter.  Some of the rice flour was brushed off and the dough was scored.  The dough was transferred to the dutch oven and baked as usual.  20 mins at 450ºF lid on, then 10 mins 420ºF, then lid off 15 mins 420ºF.  

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August 27, 2021. 56th bake. 100% WW tortilla / focaccia dough.

I usually don't blog my tortilla "bakes," but this came out good enough to document so I can remember it and share.

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53 grams Patel brand stone-ground whole grain durum flour, product of Canada. 25%

53 grams Swad brand Sharbati Gold whole wheat flour, product of India. (I have some doubt as to whether this is 100% whole grain.) 25%

106 grams Bob's Red Mill stone-ground whole wheat (hard red wheat), product of USA.  50%

Total flour: 212.

4.6 grams Himalayan pink salt.  2%

1/16 tsp instant dry yeast, Fleischmann.

1/4 tsp baking powder, Rumford.

143 grams bottled spring water.  143 / 212 = 67% hydration.

Mixed and then kneaded for about 3 minutes. Finished kneading at 5:50 pm.

Let it rest 1 hour 15 min.

7:05 pm, worked/kneaded in 6.3 grams of grape seed oil. 3%  

The reason I let it rest before adding oil is that oil interferes with how the whole grain durum absorbs water.

7:12 pm, covered bowl with cling film and placed in fridge.

Left it in fridge overnight.

Next day, 8:00 am. Weighed out a 50 gram piece of dough.

Flattened it a little by hand, dusted both sides with AP flour to keep things from sticking, and rolled it out to about 7.5 inches, or 19 cm.

Cooked it on a cast iron griddle at medium-low heat,  until brown spots appeared, flipped, and cooked 2nd side until brown spots appeared.

Put in a plastic tortilla warmer for moisture to equalize and for it to soften.

After about seven minites, it was nice and soft.

I forgot to take pics.

This combination of baking powder and yeast seems good for flat bread.

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