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Hi everybody,

I joined TFL only a few months ago, this is my first blog entry. I am a musician by profession, baking is my hobby. Recently I have been obsessed with ciabattas. This is the last one I baked today. It was all hand mixed (I don't have a mixer), containing 80% biga. After reading Alan's blog entry about his fabulous results (see here), I needed to try it myself. However, I had to make a few changes to the formula due to the absence of a stand mixer. I reduced the yeast significantly to 0.14 percent, so the dough was allowed to have a longer fermentation and develop gluten through time. I like to experiment a lot in baking, so I thought I would raise the hydration up to 85% and see what happens. I didn't include oil because prefer 100% lean ciabattas. So, I ended up with this formula:

100% KA AP flour

80% prefermented flour in biga (60% hydration, fermented overnight with 0.06% IDY)

85% total water

2% salt

0.14% total IDY (including yeast in biga)

3-hour bulk fermentation, 2 stretch & folds during bulk at 45 and 90 minutes

1-hour final proof on couche

In order to incorporate the biga into the final dough by hand, I cut it up into small pieces with my bench knife. The incorporation took about five minutes of intense mixing. Then, I kneaded it for about 15 minutes using the Rubaud method. The result was a smooth dough, although it didn't demonstrate a lot of strength. But I hoped time and folds would develop the gluten further.

After the second fold, the dough felt much stronger than the beginning. It more than doubled in three hours.

By this experiment, I was surprised by two things. First, the dough moved surprisingly fast, given that I used only 0.14% instant dry yeast in the entire formula. My kitchen temperature was not crazy hot either, it was only around 74 degrees. Second, I wouldn't have thought that I could actually get away with 100% AP flour at 85% hydration, let alone the hand mixing! I know that King Arthur's All Purpose Flour is a high-end AP flour, but still. In retrospect, I think maybe keeping it down at 80% would have worked slightly better, as after the 1-hour final proof the dough felt kind of week and spread out a little, but I might have also overproofed it a little bit. Next time I might try it with only 80% water and maybe a slightly shorter final proof.

Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated!

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Made two loaves using the method of spacing out bowl kneading and slowly developing gluten.  For one loaf, did the 3rd and 4th sets of kneading at 15% and 30% on the aliquot.  For the other, did them at 25% and 50%.  Wanted to see how far I could push fermentation with this method (starting with a low inoculation).

Unfortunately, the 2nd loaf (on the right) stuck in one end of the banneton a bit.  It slowly stretched on that end as it fell out.  That end of the loaf was degassed quite a bit and was starting to spread before scoring.  You can see the effect it had on the bloom (left hand side of the overhead picture).  So, not sure if the spreading was due to sticking in the banneton or the extra fermentation time.  Will see if it's over fermented tomorrow when I cut into it.

The 1st loaf is for a friend, so I won't get a crumb shot on that one.

1st Dough:

2nd Dough

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Those who know me know that adding seeds especially black sesame seeds is one of my favorite inclusions to add to my sourdough breads.  For this loaf I’ve added poppy seeds, toasted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  I’ve used my country sourdough recipe except that I’m trying a new flour which as you know is always a challenge.  I’m using Anita’s Organic All Purpose Flour for all of the white flour in this loaf.  It has a protein of around 12% so it should be up to the challenge of a bread.  As you know, Canadian flours are pretty strong so even most of the AP flours are strong enough for bread.  I also did a gluten test on this flour and found it more extensible than the bread flour I usually use but less absorbent of water.  I’ve reduced the hydration to 78% because of that change, but otherwise it is my usual country loaf with 15% whole red fife and 5% rye.  The pre-fermented flour is 9% and the seeds totaled 10%.  Because I’ve been overproofing lately I didn’t go for quite as much bench proofing before cold retard especially since I’m not that familiar with this flour, so I only allowed a 45 min bench proof.  Given the size of the baked loaf I’m thinking it won’t have my coveted lacy crumb that I so elusive to me.  I hope over time with this extensible flour that I’ll find the sweet spot for lacy crumb.

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I had never heard this origin story for baguettes: that they came about as an attempt to cut down on knife fights in Paris by creating a loaf that met weight requirements but didn't require a knife to cut like boules and miches do.

Wikipedia lists a few other possible origins. Regardless, it makes a good story!

This is my submission to the Community Bake - The No Comfort Zone Bake.

The write up is here: 

Community Bake - The No Comfort Zone Bake | The Fresh Loaf

Cheers,

Gavin

In my quest to make a perfect, consistent, large miche (~2kg), I have made a slow transition from partially yeasted to my current formula, which is sourdough only, 80% hydration. I'm learning that different flours behave very differently, and many of my experiments have resulted in mud, pancake-flat loaves, giant air chambers, flying saucers etc. 

I have a good formula; no question about it. Problems arise from things like shaping technique, insufficient folding, excess hydration for a specific flour, and a biggie: insufficient steam while baking. I've found that even if I do everything else right, lack of steam defeats me, sometimes turning the miche into a basketball, or a strained sofa-cushion shape. 

I just bought the Camp Chef 14" Deluxe Dutch oven, after many attempts with baking stones and steam pans, inverted hotel pan, Le Creuset, clay bakers etc.  Nothing gave me the results I was looking for.  This inexpensive dutch oven had two qualities that make it uniquely suited to my needs: it has a lid which is designed to be a frying pan surface, so it has a raised edge and flat interior. My largest banetton can be flipped into this lid with room to expand. Second, it has a relatively deep pot, which provides enough room for the expanding miche plus steam all around it.

I preheated the dutch oven for about 40 minutes at 450F. Handling with heat-resistant silicon-covered gloves, I put the base on the stove top, inverted the miche onto a peel, then slid it into the frying-pan-lid. Quicky slashed, covered (carefully) with the inverted hot dutch oven base, then back in the oven to cook for 20. Then removed the inverted base and baked for another 30 minutes.

Contrary to my usual practice I left the oven on Convection. My reasoning was that air can't get into the dutch oven, but the convection would heat the iron all over more effectively. This worked out well. I should mention that I put a flat baking sheet under the DO so that it could sit on the oven rack properly. This also helped prevent over-baking the bottom crust.

I got very good oven spring, similar to what I get with a 2 lb loaf in a clay baker or le creuset. Blistering, indicating steam, good secondary expansion in the slashes. Very caramelized crust due to keeping the convection on for the entire baking cycle. 

I am happy with the openings, I think they are good for a 45% whole wheat loaf at 80%. I compared to a Red Hen miche, which I consider to be excellent, and they are very very similar, except my loaf is twice as big. I've included a photo that shows side-by-side comparison with a Red Hen Vermont Miche. Difference in color and ingredient list indicates that they use less  ww flour %, and also lower hydration than my loaf.  

The ww flour I am using (Bronze Chief) is outstanding IMHO.

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•  To learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS), please see here and here. 

Ingredients (pre-warmed and maintained at 30-32C/86-89.6F throughout the process):

50% freshly ground, unsifted whole wheat (All the whole rye/wheat flours I bought are rancid.)

42% freshly ground, unsifted whole rye

8% whole rye CLAS

30% + 9% water

50% home-made yogurt, full fat

8% honey (recipe calls for 1.3% sugar)

2% salt (recipe calls for 1.3%)

0.3% instant yeast (recipe calls for 1%)

sunflower seeds as needed

I decided to change the sweetener to honey and increased its amount to 8%.

Still using my Vitamix to grind the flours since I am not ready to play with my new toys yet. 

whole wheat

whole rye

I autolyzed the whole wheat flour with yogurt; gluten was quite well-developed after ~2 hours. 

I added some rye flour to the wheat-yogurt mixture and mixed them in my Zojirushi bread machine for ~10 minutes to strengthen the gluten. Then I added all the remaining ingredients and mixed for another 10 minutes, and added more water during the mix until the dough couldn't take in any more. The dough looked like this when mixing was complete:

I halved the recipe to 523g total dough weight, which fits perfectly in a 8x3x3 pan. 

Proof: 32C/89.6F x 60mins

My bread machine "hack". 

Baked in my Zo x 70mins, dark crust. 

Baked loaf. 

Crumb shot (click to enlarge). 

 P.S. 20210601

Since my family likes this bread, I want to share it with my friends, too.  This time I pre-fermented 100% of the flour and increased the amount of CLAS to 10%.  The bread turned out even more flavorful and was slightly tangy. If time permits, I think I will continue to make a pre-dough in the future. I made this bread with a 9x4x4 tin, so the slices are standard size.  I used organic white hard wheat berries to grind flour for one of the loaves because I ran out of red berries.  

I kept the loaf that was made with white whole wheat.

Sent this loaf (made with hard red wheat) to my friend with kumquat and homemade marmalade.

Harvesting kumquat makes me happy!

Here we report an experiment designed to increase a levain's natural yeast titre.  Possible* novel aspects are (1) an "Overnight" version of Raisin Yeast Water (ORYW) and (2) growing SD levain in undiluted RYW.  (*nihil sub sōle novum when it comes to bread baking but I don't recall seeing exactly this described before)

Materials & Methods

The day before preparing a dough, the water destined for the levain was measured into a pint Mason jar.   1 tsp honey and 1 Tbsp raisins were then added.  The jar was sealed, shaken periodically and incubated @ RT (~60-65˚F) over the following ~24h.  Next day, the raisins were removed and refreshed SD starter and flour were added.  The levain was grown to youthful maturity and used to make a 2kg, 60% whole wheat miche by our standard formula and process.

Results

Overnight Raisin Yeast Water was pre-tested as a SD inoculum diluent by inoculating some with leftover starter and flour.  A water diluent control was included (an ORYW + flour control [i.e., minus starter] was unfortunately omitted).  The ORYW treatment ("RW" in the three time points shown) expanded faster and ended higher than the control.  This wasn't replicated or precisely quantitative (I now have Fermentation Tube envy, Benny), but confirmed that the ORYW doesn't negatively impede starter performance in terms of expansion (CO2 production).



When ORYW was then used to dilute ripe SD starters for bakes, the resulting doughs rose abundantly and produced loaves with satisfyingly soft and lacy crumbs (first row below: last week, second row: this week).

Spring has sprung here in New England and our household temperatures have climbed into the 60˚'sF.  The second week's ORYW trial was somewhat over-fermented owing to this compounding factor.  It would have been more timely to test ORYW+SD two months earlier when kitchen temps were ~10˚F lower and Messrs. Brod &  Taylor were struggling to keep the children warm.  That's when our doughs need extra encouragement.  To paraphrase the proverbial bottom line: Whenever one manipulates fermentation conditions, mindful vigilance of the dough's progress is essential.

These loaves' flavor was normal/excellent for our weekly 60% fresh milled whole wheat miche.  If I use my imagination, they are less sour, but perhaps only because I expect the added yeast to have competed with the flavor- and acid-producing bacteria.  Sourness normally builds over days but hasn't seemed as pronounced in these breads, which suits us fine.

Conclusion and Discussion

ORYW can be effectively used as a SD starter diluent to build a levain, with salutary effects on loaf volume, texture and (if maximal sourness is not an objective) flavor.  Beyond the tests reported here, the outcome of this manipulation will be subject to many variables including starter, honey and raisin amounts and diversity as well as ORYW incubation time and temperature.  It is entirely possible that the yeast provided by another honey, raisin or fruit source (e.g., a higher titre, long-term RYW culture) would vanquish SD microbes in a starter, resulting in effectively a pure RYW levain.

Happy Baking.

First loaf-bread bake with Patel's house brand 100% WW stone ground durum. For a picture of the bag, see here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/469299#comment-469299

It was $7.99 for a 20-pound bag, $.40/pound.  Ingredient list is just "durum whole wheat."  No enrichments.

I've done tortillas, pizza crust (didn't let it autolyse/soak enough), and noodles, but this was the first loaf bread with this flour.

I learned from using the Sher Fiber Wala (from Brar Mills) 100% whole grain roller-milled flour, that WW durum takes a while to absorb the water -- and now even more so with the grittier stone ground flour.

Patel brand stone ground WW durum is not as gritty as semolina. Semolina has bigger particle sizes than this: and semolina is only about .8% ash, whereas whole grain durum is about 1.6% ash.

So I planned a long autolyse/soak, with salt, but no yeast/levain. It ended up being 4 hours and 50 minutes before I added instant dry yeast. This was at room temp, about 72 F.

I started out with 520 grams of the stone-ground WW durum, 2% salt, and 70% water.

After 2 hours I slowly added more water, 2% at a time, kneaded it in, until I got to 88% hydration.

I could still feel some mild grittiness, so more autolyse could have worked.

Then I added the 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast, folded it in, and added 1% more water for a total of 89%.

Bulk ferment (first rise)  was about 3.5 hours. I did a few stretch and folds. 

At some point during bulk ferment, the grittiness was gone.

I folded it and put it in a lined and dusted 8" inner-diameter banneton for final proof.

Final proof was about 1 hour, sitting a few inches above the stove-top while oven preheated. Noticeable dough expansion.

Preheated oven and Lodge 3.2 qt combo cooker to 465 F.

Oiled deep pot part of combo cooker and sprinkled in some semolina.

Put a round piece of parchment paper over the dough in the banneton. Inverted the Lodge pot over the banneton and filpped them both over. Then removed banneton.

Scored dough with a bare razor blade.

Baked covered at 450 F for 10 minutes.

Baked covered at 425 F for 10 minutes.

Baked covered at 400 F for 10 minutes.

Uncovered. Only mild oven spring and expansion of the score. Crust was already kind of dark.

Baked uncovered at 400 F for 10 minutes.

Internal temp 209.5 F.  Thump sound on underside was good.  Heft indicated if was not overly dense.

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You can tell from the look of the crust that the dough was wet.  I let it cool one hour, before putting in a sealed plastic bag. 

By the next morning, the crust had softened up beautifully.  There is a slightly sweet burnt taste to the crust. And the crumb is kind of bland tasting, but is very soft.

This is a wonderful dipping bread, or to flavor with toppings. 

I'll have to think what kind of bread spices or flavoring to make the crumb taste better next time, or whether to leave it bland, or to mix with other flour.

This should be a good pizza crust flour if you have time for a long autolyse/soak.

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