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Edited to change the photo to 'Fiona ii' with an improved plait and glaze.

My 10-yr-old neighbor came over today to learn to bake bread.  I was very surprised at her kneading skills, developed by making 'slime' at home. We made a sandwich loaf, an enriched plaited loaf, and a crusty batard.

This is the plaited loaf,  which she christened Fiona. It is the Laurels Kitchen Loaf For Learning made with fresh-milled spelt.

The only change to the dough is, instead of the two tablespoons of oil we made a milk and honey scald, and after the dough was fully kneaded we kneaded in the scald along with 4 tablespoons of butter. And by 'we' I mean she did, because she did all the kneading for all three loaves, by hand.

The bulk proof was about an hour and a half,  the 2nd proof was about 35 minutes,  and the final proof after plaiting was about 20 minutes. 

We washed it with a mix of egg white,  water,  and honey,  but it wasn't as glossy as I wanted so next time I'd leave the water out.

Here are some crumb shots.  It came out suuuuuper soft and fluffy, with a hint of tanginess balanced by a honey scent. This bread is spectacular. So tender and springy and delicious. I will definitely make it again.

This one was inspired by the Cheeseboard Collective’s delicious Hobrot, but has been adapted to be more similar to my usual sourdough loaves (eg the original recipe called for an egg and this has none). Love a worker-owned co-op <3

Ingredients:

• 95% T85 flour (I used cairnspring mills trailblazer)
• 5% whole dark rye
• 80% hydration
• 20% levain
• 15% coarsely grated cheese (I had cheddar and pecorino Romano on hand)
• 15% diced onion
• 3% neutral oil
• 3% curry powder
• 2.5% salt

Method:

• sauté onions in oil till translucent, dump in curry powder, take off heat, and mix into a paste
• dissolve salt into water
• add levain into salt water and break up into pieces
• add flours and mix until no dry flour clumps are left
• rest for 45 minutes
• 4 stretch and folds every half hour. Mix in the cheese and the onion-curry paste after the first set of folds.
• bulk till 1.5x in size
• preshape and rest 30 minutes
• shape and place in banneton
• cold ferment overnight
• bake at 450F in dutch oven with lid closed for 30 minutes
• remove lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes

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I felt like baking baguettes this week and decided to do something just a bit different, so I present sourdough baguette noir.  So the colour and flavour of these baguettes do not come from charcoal like baguette au charbon vegetal.  No the colour comes from ground toasted black sesame powder that is added to the well developed dough at the end of mixing. This brings an interesting colour to both the crust and the crumb.  The fat from the sesame seeds also cause the crumb to be softer and the crust to be thinner and super crisp compared to my usual SD baguettes.  The nutty scent is evident as soon as the ground sesame seeds are added to the dough.  Each time I did a coil fold I enjoyed that lovely scent.  There is a nice subtle sesame flavour in the baguette.

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Levain 

starter 15 g

Water 22 g

AP flour 45 g

Final dough

AP flour 451 g

Water 329 g

Bassinage water 20 g

Salt 9 g

Diastatic malt 5.0 g

Ground Black Sesame 50 g

To make 50 g of ground black sesame add 7.1 g sugar and 42.9 g of black sesames to a grinder and grind until a paste develops.  Can make extra but use about 6:1 ratio of toasted black sesame seeds to sugar since black sesame has a drying effect in the mouth that the small amount of sugar can balance out.

Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours

78°F 9 hours to peak

In the morning, to your mixing bowl add water and diastatic malt  to dissolve, then add levain.  Use your spatula to cut the levain into small pieces.  Next add AP flour and mix to combine.  Allow to fermentolyse for 10 mins.  Slap and fold x 100 then add salt and hold back water gradually working in until fully absorbed by massaging and then Rubaud kneading the dough, then slap and fold x 200.  Once gluten well developed add ground black sesame, knead until well incorporated.  Can also use your stand mixer.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.

Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds

Could do cold retard at this point for  up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins

Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 60% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15-30

 minutes for easier scoring.  I often do this for convenience as the oven is pre-heating.

Pre-heat oven 500*F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.

Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment

Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.

Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480*F. 

The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins.  The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam.  Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning and thickening of the bottom crust.  The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway.  The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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My index of bakes

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS). 

It's been a busy week as I've explored a different approach to making panettone. I made Chef Bigot's panettone before, but this time, I've skipped the starter upkeep, pH checks, and avoided all the unnecessary hassle. I can bypass these tedious tasks thanks to CLAS, offering both efficiency and an exceptional flavor profile, distinct from traditional sourdough. This refined approach also involves proving and baking panettone in the bread machine, giving me more freedom to prioritize what truly matters - caring for my loved ones and myself. Using this approach, making panettone is a breeze—I can make it whenever I want, just like baking any other bread, and enjoy it daily. It is also adaptable to any panettone recipe and consistently works well with recipes from chefs like Giorilli, Pepe, and others.

Most ingredient ratios in my formula align with Chef Bigot's, and I'll specify any deviations from the original recipe (marked as 'OR').

Ingredients

Pre-dough

A.

3% WW flour in WW CLAS (OR 12% pre-fermented flour in starter)

59% Beehive AP (OR 62% AP flour)

38% Giusto Ultimate Performer (OR 38% bread flour, including the flour in starter)

4.5% water from WW CLAS

30.5% water

1% gold yeast (OR nil)

B.

39% sugar

add the following gradually and alternately 

C.

44% yolk

D.

17% butter

until a moist and smooth dough forms

Ferment pre-dough

using Zo's "Rise 3"

38C x 100mins 

Dough

pre-dough

E.

9% butter

2% gold yeast (OR nil)

1.5% salt (OR 0.5%)

F.

1% rum

18% raisin

18% candied fruits

nil orange peel (OR 6%)

nil lemon peel (OR 6%)

Total dough weight ~570g per panettone

Mix

in the Zo by programming it for a ten-minute cycle. The paddles stir gently for 3 minutes to combine the ingredients, followed by kneading for the remaining 7 minutes.

First, combine A and B to form a dough, similar to mixing a whole wheat dough. Gradually and alternately add C and D until a moist and smooth dough is formed, typically taking around four cycles for the pre-dough. Combine E in another cycle and F in half a cycle. Mixing the dough in this order helps maintain its temperature below 27C while reinforcing its strength.

Bulk

using Zo's "Rise 1"

28C x 150mins

S&F every 30 minutes until the folds can no longer hold and the dough slips apart immediately after folding.

If baking in the oven, preheat to 356°F and position baking stones on both the top and bottom shelves.

For baking in a bread machine, prepare 3-4 layers of 'foil cups' to insulate the panettone paper mold. Note: The bread machine can only bake one panettone at a time.

Scale 

~570g@

last gentle folds

place the dough in the mold

Prove

using Zo's "Rise 1"

28C x 60mins

beauty makeover - egg wash (optional)

salon treatment - blow-dry with a hairdryer 

score a cross and peel the skin back

sprinkle pearl sugar 

Bake

in the bread machine

Set up trivets and a (optional) stainless steel dish to support the mold with the bottom insulated by foil.

Select the dark crust setting; set the machine to bake for 70 minutes, including preheating the machine in the first 10 minutes. After 60 minutes, check the dough temperature, and if needed, leave it in the bread machine for an additional 15 minutes.

P.S.20240110

I don't use the bread machine for baking very often, so when I decided to try making panettone, I knew the first attempt might not be spot-on. I started with some foil insulation experimentation and considered using a cylindrical cake pan for the bake. But little did I know, I had overlooked a crucial detail until Precaud shared some bread machine wisdom. With that insight, I fine-tuned the plan and sealed the viewing window. The second bake turned out significantly better. Thank you, Precaud!

The updated bread machine baking procedure includes the following:

1. Sealing the bread machine's viewing window with foil.

2. Preheating the cake pan on the stovetop for about a minute before placing it in the bread machine.

3. Setting the Zo to bake for 70 minutes, with the first 10 minutes preheating the machine and the cake pan.

4. Placing a stainless steel dish in the cake pan.

5. Placing a trivet on top of the dish and using an S-shaped hook to connect the trivet to the rim of the pan.

6. Placing the panettone paper mold with the risen dough in the cake pan.

7. Rotating by gliding the hook along the rim after 20 minutes, then after 10 minutes, and again after 10 minutes, followed by rotations after 5 minutes each. Total bake time 50 minutes. 

8. Checking the bread's temperature, removing it from the machine and mold, and hanging it upside down to cool.

For future bakes, I will experiment with the following:

1. Skipping the preheating of the cake pan on the stovetop.

2. Insulating the cake pan with foil.

3. Rotating the dough sooner at the beginning.

4. Checking the bread temperature sooner.

5. Reduce the baking time if needed.

Bake

in the oven

Preheat to 356F with two stones, no steam

lower to 320F after loading

320F x 20

rotate

320F x 20

rotate

320F x 5

rotate

320F x 5

Mixing pre-dough

             +A + B                  +some C and D                          DT25.5C                             +all C and D

Mixing dough

                   +E

                  +F

grease the hands, the container, and its lid 

Bulk

using Zo's "Rise 1"

28C x 150mins

S&F every 30 minutes until the folds can no longer hold and the dough slips apart immediately after folding.

Scale 

~570g@

Prove

using Zo's "Rise 1"

28C x 60mins

beauty makeover - egg wash (optional), salon treatment - blow-dry with a hairdryer 

score a cross and peel the skin back, sprinkle pearl sugar 

Bake in the bread machine

For baking in a bread machine, prepare 3-4 layers of 'foil cups' to insulate the panettone paper mold. 

Set up trivets and a (optional) stainless steel dish to support the mold with the bottom insulated by foil.

The bread machine can only bake one panettone at a time.

Select the dark crust setting; set the machine to bake for 70 minutes, including preheating the machine in the first 10 minutes. After 60 minutes, check the dough temperature, and if needed, leave it in the bread machine for an additional 15 minutes.

P.S.20240110

1. Sealing the bread machine's viewing window with foil.

2. Preheating the cake pan on the stovetop for about a minute before placing it in the bread machine.

3. Setting the Zo to bake for 70 minutes, with the first 10 minutes preheating the machine and the cake pan.

4. Placing a stainless steel dish in the cake pan.

5. Placing a trivet on top of the dish and using an S-shaped hook to connect the trivet to the rim of the pan.

6. Placing the panettone paper mold with the risen dough in the cake pan.

7. Rotating by moving the hook along the rim after 20 minutes, then after 10 minutes, and again after 10 minutes, followed by rotations after 5 minutes each. Total bake time 50 minutes. 

8. Checking the bread's temperature, removing it from the machine and mold, and hanging it upside down to cool.

Bake in the oven

Preheat to 356F with two stones, no steam

lower to 320F after loading

320F x 20

rotate

320F x 20

rotate

320F x 5

rotate

320F x 5

oven-baked loaves

Bread machine loaves

 P.S.20240110

            bread machine loaf                           oven-baked loaf

bread machine loaf on top

oven-baked loaf cross-sections

Crumb shots - The lighting in different rooms caused the color difference in the crumb.

oven-baked loaf

bread machine loaf 

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS). 

I believe in the rewards of helping others. When someone on the forum needed a nostalgic bread recipe, I experimented with one. While it may not be their perfect match, it's become a tasty alternative to my family's beloved cranberry walnut daily bread.

Ingredients

10% WW flour in WW CLAS

90% fresh WW flour, ground in a Vitamix

15% water in WW CLAS

55% water

8% honey

2% salt

0.7% dry yeast

25% toasted sesame seeds

10% toasted sunflower seeds

10% golden flaxseeds soaked in 20% water or milk

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

~10% extra water or milk if the dough can take it

Total dough weight ~ 500g, including the extra 10% liquid

for a 11.5cm x 11.5cm x 10cm pan with lid

Mix

follow the mixing instructions here

Bulk

in the Zo, using "Rise 3"

38C x 70 mins

Scale

~ 500g@

Shape

gentle folds, then

place dough in the mold

Prove

in the Zo, using "Rise 3"

38C x 50 mins

Bake

in the air fryer

no preheat

350F x 20

flip 

350F x 10

check

insulate the excessively dark side with foil

350F x 5 

Bake

in the bread machine

insulate the side near the heating elements with layers of foil

dark crust setting x 30 mins

soaking 10% of flaxseeds with 20% of either water or milk

Toasting up 25% sesame seeds gives the bread such an incredible aroma!

10% toasted sunflower seeds

Incorporating an additional 10% of milk or water into the dough at the end if it can handle it

Bulk in the Zo, using "Rise 3"

38C x 70 mins

scaled and placed in the molds

Prove in the Zo, using "Rise 3"

38C x 50 mins

Bake in the air fryer or bread machine

Air Fryer Loaves

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bread machine loaves

Here is the latest in the 100% spelt Laurels Loaf For Learning series. It's the 2nd one I made with a scald. 

The first I tried (not pictured) used the original recipe hydration of 73%, which gave me a dough remarkably lacking in extesibility. The final bread tasted good but didn't rise well and had a bit of a claggy crumb.

This time I increased the hydration to 75%, keeping everything else the same,  and got a much better result.  The gluten was still very fragile. As you can see, the top surface isn't smooth and there is crumb compression in the lower half of the loaf. But the rise was decent and the mouth texture is excellent. It's tender, moist, and just a touch chewy.  It toasts like a dream.

Next time, I want to experiment with adding the scald at the end of kneading,  after the gluten is developed.  I also want to try adding the oil at the end of kneading after the gluten is developed,  but not in the same bake because I don't want to change more than one thing at a time.

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I've been attempting to make and get familiar with laminated pastry for a while and I’ve hit a certain spot with my croissants.

It seems like I get can’t after two major hurdles, first is the oven spring, I feel like my proofing is fine, but when I put the croissant in the oven they don’t rise at all.

Second is the texture of the crust, I tried to make steam either with ice cubes or a boiling water tray, both options ended up with disappointing results.

I’ve tried to make many experiments with these variables in the past two weeks, changing the oven temperature, proofing time and environment but sadly not much change.

including images of the current state of croissants.

A few days ago I posted about a loaf of bread that included cooked oatmeal and graham flour (see https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/73391/oatmeal-graham-flour-sourdough-pullman-bread). I wanted to try it with buckwheat, and I found a box of Wolff kasha, which are toasted buckwheat groats.  Perfect!

The bread is very good in taste and texture, and the striking feature I want to highlight is how very open the crumb is. I didn't think a porridge loaf could have such an open crumb.  I used less flour for this loaf compared with the earlier oatmeal one, 300g vs 370g, yet it rose as high in the Pullman pan. Otherwise the recipe is the same: 20% (pre-cooking) kasha, 30% graham flour, 65% hydration, 30% innoculation with 100% hydration starter, 2% salt.  The starter was a little old, though, and had gotten somewhat thin.

I used the amount of water the package recommended for the weight of kasha I used.  The cooked porridge had absorbed almost all the water.  I had to hold it covered in the refrigerator over night for timing reasons, and the next day it was very dry and crumbly.  I loosened it up with a little milk, maybe an ounce/30g, and squeezed the porridge between my fingers until it turned into a thick paste.  After all the ingredients were mixed, the dough was a wet, thick paste.  I didn't worry about it since the previous loaf had the same pasty consistency.

One other change was that I bulk-fermented in my proofing box at 76 deg F/24.4C since my work counter was a little cooler, enough to slow down the development.  After I put the dough into the Pullman pan, I increased the proofing temperature to 78 deg F/25.6C.  It rose very well over the next 2 1/2 hours.

I baked with the lid for 40 minutes at 350 deg F/177C.  Then I removed the lid and baked at 400 deg F/204C for another 20 minutes.  As with the previous loaf this was enough to develop a thin but crunchy crust.  I think it would have been good to continue cooking the loaf for another 10 minutes, perhaps, to drive off more moisture since even the next morning the loaf had a very moist crumb.

With the previous oatmeal-graham loaf I found that the bread grew on me as I ate more, and this new loaf with kasha instead of oatmeal has an even richer flavor. And it toasts up so well!

TomP

I gave up doing bran scalds in my whole wheat bread a while back, as it didn't make much difference in my bread and I didn't enjoy all the fiddly sifting and messing about with it.  These days I just mix the dough and let it sit for half an hour to hydrate before I start kneading.

However, if I want an extra tender and soft bread I have started experimenting with doing a flour scald instead, which you can read about here: http://www.wholegrain100.com/making-yeast-bread-blog/converting-your-recipe-to-yudane

And here: https://www.marcelpaa.com/rezepte/tipps-und-tricks-zu-vollkornbroten/ This is in German but if you use the Chrome browser you can tell it to translate the page.

My current working version of how to convert a recipe to use a flour scald:

1. Increase the liquid in the recipe to minimum 75% of the weight of the flour.
2. Then set aside 20% of the recipe flour and an equal amount of the recipe water (by weight) to use in the scald.
   - Edit: 10 to 20% of the flour, based on info from Einfach Backen - Marcel Paa
   
3. Boil the scald water and pour it over the scald flour and stir,  then let it cool before adding it all back into the dough when you mix everything together.
4. Feel the dough after the final mix and add more water if needed or if it is meant to be a higher hydration dough.
5. Let the mixed dough sit for half an hour for the gluten and bran in the dry flour to fully hydrate before you start kneading.

Example of Scald/Yudane Method:

• Your recipe calls for 450 grams whole wheat flour. Multiply by .75 to get about 338 grams total liquid.
• 20% of 450 is 90, so you'll use 90 grams of the flour and 90 grams of the liquid in the scald,
• This leaves 360 grams flour and 248 grams water for the remaining dough.

Porridge/Tanghzong Method:

If using porrige method, make it using 3x the amount of water to flour. Then subtract 2/3 this amount water from the main dough. Overall hydration is increased with this method, but might need to be increased more since the water is so bound up in the porridge. Add some of this water amount gradually back to the dough after mixing if needed to correct hydration. - based on info from Einfach Backen - Marcel Paa

Example of Porridge Method:

Your recipe calls for 450 grams whole wheat flour. Multiply by .75 to get about 338 grams total liquid.

1. Set aside 45 grams of flour and 3 x this amount (135 grams) of the recipe water (by weight) to use in the porridge.
   
   
2. This leaves 203 grams water for the remaining dough.
3. Cook the porridge until very thick and all the water is absorbed.
4. Combine porridge with flour and remaining recipe water, and other ingredients.
5. Also measure out 2/3 the amount of water that went into the porridge, which may be needed to correct the hydration. In this case, 90 grams.
6. Feel the dough after the final mix and if needed, gradually add this additional water, 10 grams at a time, until the dough is soft, not stiff.
7. Let the mixed dough sit for half an hour for the gluten and bran in the dry flour to fully hydrate before you start kneading.

-

Hi everyone,  I'm happy to be back after a year of having a young person with celiac sharing my home.  They have moved on and I can mill and bake again without worrying.

To celebrate, I brought out my barely-used Nutrimill Artiste mixer and started really digging in to try and learn exactly how a fully kneaded,  fully developed 100% WW dough looks and feels.  And since spelt is my favorite-est  most delicious wheat, I've extended the project to 100% spelt.

All the flours are freshly-milled on the finest setting of my MockMill 100. So they're a bit chunky. For these bakes I am not sifting and re-milling or soaking the bran.

And,  you guys! Check it out! Spelt is not nearly as difficult to work with as I thought.  It's just more extensible.  So the funny thing is,  autolysing the dough is done to increase extensibility and flavor. Weel, when you're using spelt you get the extensibility AND absolutely delicious flavor, without needing to autolyse.

For this bake I did rest the flour without kneading for an hour after the initial mix. Because the yeast was in the dough,  it basically did a first bulk rise during that time.  It behaved the same as when I only rested it for 15 minutes,  so I didn't find an advantage in the longer rest. It didn't do any harm though. 

I have been using the Laurels Kitchen Bread Book "Loaf for Learning" formula for these bakes. It is a relatively lean dough,  with the additon of 2 TBSP oil and 1/3 cup of plain yogurt in each 450g-flour loaf.

I haven't been able to find many photos of 100% whole wheat dough at different stages of development,  so next time I'll try to take more pictures.