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Fermentation is everything.Photo is of dough right out of fridge after 48 hrs. Amazing movement still after that length of time. Formula has 40g of levain in 400g of flour. TDW 700g. Fed old rye starter from cold storage 2 feedings of T80. Let ferment 24 hrs. Stirred up usual formula with 1 hr fermentolyse and 3 folds in 90 min. Bulk ferment went over but will be a habit from now on! They just get better and better. Amazing crumb and crisp crust with beautiful crumb color due to the bit of rye and wow the flavor. Dough handles so beautifully. Can’t get over this flour. L’Epicerie has been amazing to work with. Give them 5 ⭐️
Glistening crumb

Roosterkoek (or roosterbrood) are a traditional bread or bread rolls cooked over the braai (BBQ). The name is Afrikaans for rooster ("grilled")  plus either koek ("cake") or brood ("bread"). They are usually eaten piping hot together with the meat.

Many of the recipes are fairly similar and usually include sugar and oil in the dough. Where I differ a little is I like to give mine a little bit of shaping and bake them as pull apart rolls. Also, I'm not a great fan of them if they're cooked directly over the coals, which is the traditional way.

My method is to mix all the ingredients except the oil, with a Danish dough whisk, usually I mix the yeast, water, and sugar together and then add the flour and sugar to that. Then olive oil is kneaded into the dough after about 20 minutes. About 40 minutes after the initial mix the dough is weighed and divided into 9 balls that are shaped into rolls and placed on the dutch oven lid. About 1h15m - 1h30m after the initial mix they have normally puffed up enough to be baked. I like to bake 20 minutes on the cast iron base in the Weber with coals to the side and parchment underneath. Might turn it every 5 minutes so that it bakes evenly.

The lovely thing about them is that not only are they enjoyable to eat, they're also super convenient. If you forget to buy rolls. Or have run out of potatoes, they'll still be there for you.

Inspiration for this loaf came this fall while canning up some of the many cucumbers we grew this year.  Garlic dill pickles are something I really enjoy and felt that combination had potential as a bread as well.  Happy to say that it turned out quite well.  A friend tried it this morning as buttered toast for breakfast and then again as avocado toast for lunch.  He's tried many of my breads and said he thought that this was one of my best.  I'll run with that for now...  :-)

For this bake, I wanted to do something to really bring out and blend the dill and garlic flavors.  To do that, I added both of them to the whole wheat mash.  The mash helped to both increase the sugar content in the whole wheat as well as fully hydrate and soften the bran.  It also helped bring out the dill and garlic flavors and give them time to meld.  In my mind, it's similar to how a soup just seems to taste better the next day after the flavors have had a chance to combine.

For the last 5-6 months, I've been trying both Wheat Montana and KAF flours for my All Purpose and Bread.  To me, the Wheat Montana feels finer and has more flavor (the flour itself is noticeably more yellowish), but the KAF is stronger and forms better gluten.  Over time, I've started blending them 50:50 on many of my bakes and that's the case with this loaf.

Levain
67.5g   Bread Flour (WM/KAF)
67.5g   Water
13.5g   White Flour SD Starter

1)    Combine all ingredients and ferment at 68 deg F for 12-14 hours

Mash
45g    Whole Wheat Flour (freshly ground - Janie's Mill (Blend of Glenn, Red Fife, Turkey Red, and Warthog)
90g    Water
9g      Whole Dill Seed
13.5g Garlic Cloves, minced

1)    Preheat mash equipment to 150 deg F (I use Crockpot with water bath and an Inkbird controller)
2)   Combine flour, dill seed, and minced garlic in a bowl.
3)   Preheat water to 165 deg F.  Add the water to the ingredients from Step 2 and stir.  Immediately cover and place in Crockpot water bath.
4)   Cook the mash for 3-8 hours.  I went for about 6 hours overnight.
5)   Heat the mash to 180 deg F to denature the amylase.  (This step took about 90 minutes for me.  After 1 hour I checked and the mash temp was at 180 deg F.  I held that for another 30 minutes)
6)   Remove from water bath and cool to room temperature.

Final Dough
247.5g   All Purpose Flour (WM/KAF)
90g        Bread Flour (WM/KAF)
247.5g   Water
67.5g     Blueberry Yeast Water
9g          Himalayan Pink Salt

1)    Combine all Final Dough ingredients but salt with the levain.  It will be stiff but workable
2)    Fermentolyse for 15 minutes
3)    Add mash and salt in small amounts and fold into the dough.  After all the mash is folded in, pinch and squeeze dough until the mash is mixed in and the dough is uniform.
4)   Perform 4 sets of bowl kneading with 10 minute rests to form good gluten.
5)   Perform bowl stretch and fold every 45 minutes until dough starts to feel puffy.  Let dough rise 80-100%.
6)   Pre-shape and shape.
7)   Pre-heat oven to 465 deg F for 1 hour.  Immediately steam the dough after loading into the oven.  Bake at 465 deg F for 1 minute and then lower temp to 400 deg F for 19 minutes.  Vent oven and remove steam sources.  Increase oven temp to 440 Deg Fand bake for 20-25 minutes more until you have a hollow thump. 

These are the perfect buns to have with your Thanksgiving dinner which we just had this year in Canada.  At 30% whole wheat they have that extra flavour without being too whole wheat for those in your family who don’t like 100% whole wheat breads.  The tenderness achieved by the tangzhong, butter and milk make these so soft and fluffy and delicious, everyone will love them.

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450 g for six or 900 g for 12 buns baked in cupcake pan

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 50% growth.

Press down with your knuckles to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At room temperature, it typically takes 7-9 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on med heat with about 1.5 cm of water, place the bowl of your stand mixer creating a Bain Marie, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 5 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before drizzling or adding in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium.  Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  This is a good time to add inclusions such as my favorite black sesame seeds, that way they do not interfere with the gluten development.  If you add inclusions mix until they are well incorporated in the dough.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2.5-3.5 hours at 82ºF.  There may be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into 12. Shape each tightly into boules, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then shape tightly into boules.  Place them into your prepared pan.

Cover and let proof for 6-8 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 3-4 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. Proof until the dough passes the finger poke test.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the buns for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your buns if they get brown early in the baking process. You can brush the top of the buns with butter if you wish at this point while the buns are still hot and sprinkle with flaked salt.

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My index of bakes.

So pleased!!! 36 hr cold fermentation and boy did the dough respond. Flavor is terrific as well. Really enjoying this flour… good thing since I have 22 kg! 

Two of our close friends have birthdays this month. We decided to host a brunch for them, in part to give me an excuse to bake a challah loaf again. I thought I’d make a couple of changes to Maggie Glezer’s SD challah. Mostly I thought it needed more egg, so I increased the egg from 3 to four and reduced the water to compensate for the 72% of the egg which is water. I needed the challah to make a peach and blueberry strata. Basically this is a type of French toast that you bake in a pan using cubes of the challah. This makes for an easy meal that you prepare the night before and then bake the morning of the brunch.

I decided to coat only three of the strands of this six stranded challah for a different look.  It didn’t quite turn out the way I thought it might.  I started with the seeded vs unseeded strands in alternating positions.  I wonder if I’d started them three seeded on the left and then three unseeded on the right if it might have ended up looking more random.  I’ll have to try that next time and find out.

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Procedures

1. The night before baking, mix the starter and ferment it at 76°F for 8-12 hours.
2. In the morning, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the starter in the water, then mix in the 4 eggs, salt, honey and oil until completely combined.
3. Mix in all the bread flour until it forms a shaggy mass.
4. Knead the dough on the bench or in a stand mixer until it is smooth and there is moderate gluten development. (Add small amounts of water or flour to achieve the desired consistency, better if you do not have to) The dough should be quite firm.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover it tightly. Ferment for about 2 hours. It may not rise much.
6. To make one loaf, divide the dough into two equal portions, and divide each portion into the number of pieces needed for the type of braiding you plan to do, so divide each by 3 to make 1 six strand braided loaf.
7. Form each piece into a ball and allow them to rest, covered, for 10-20 minutes to relax the gluten.
8. Form each piece into a strand about 14” long. (I like Glezer’s technique for this. On an un-floured board, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to about ¼ inch thickness. Then roll up each piece into a tight tube. Using the palms of your hands, lengthen each piece by rolling each tube back and forth on the bench with light pressure. Start with your hands together in the middle of the tube and, as you roll it, move your hands gradually outward. Taper the ends of the tube by rotating your wrists slightly so that the thumb side of your hand is slightly elevated, as you near the ends of the tube.)
9. Braid the loaves. Braiding somewhat loosely, not too tight.
10. Place each loaf on parchment paper on cookie trays. Cover well with plastic wrap or place the pans in a food grade plastic bag, and proof at room temperature until the loaves have tripled in volume. In my oven with the light on and door cracked open, it takes 4-6 hours, be patient.
11. If it’s almost tripled and when poked the dough only springs back a little, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Gauge the dough again. Stick a finger lightly in the dough. If it makes an indentation that doesn’t spring back, the dough is ready to be baked. If not, wait a bit more.
12. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF with the rack in the lower third of the oven about 30 mins before final proof is complete.
13. Brush each loaf with an egg and some milk, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt.
14. Optionally, sprinkle the loaves with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds.
15. Bake until done – 25-40 minutes rotating half way, shield from above to slow browning… If baking as one large loaf may take a bit longer, bake until sounds hollow or reaches 190ºF in the middle.
16. Cool completely before slicing.

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My index of bakes.

I've been needing to re-stock on whole wheat flour for a while, but I haven't been able to a good a good whole wheat flour from a local or regional small farm/mill.  After a number of weeks getting by without, doing a lot of porridge loaves for something interesting, I caved and bought a bag of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat to tide me over.  It seemed a good occasion to try another whole wheat heavy loaf.

I've heard that spelt ferments fast, so I though perhaps adding it in later might be a good idea.

300g (50%) Bob's Red Mill hard red whole wheat

150g (25%) Redtail Grains Sungold Spelt

150g (25%) bread flour

480g (80%) water

55g starter (9%)

4 tsp salt

1 tbsp fennel seeds

2 sprigs of tarragon

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1. mix all of whole wheat flour with 280g water, autolyze 1.5 hr (room temp. high 60s/low70s)

2. mix starter with 100g water, mix in all of bread flour, pinch bread flour into whole wheat flour. "autolyse" 1 hr.

3. pinch in salt- stretch and fold every 30min, 1.5hr

4. mix all of spelt with 100g water.  stretch out whole wheat + bread flour dough, spread spelt dough over it, fold 

5. stretch out dough sprinkle fennel seed and tarragon over dough, fold.  continue stretch and folds over next 1.5 hr

6. continue bulk ferment overnight 9 hrs. (temp. low 60s) 

7. shape

8. retard in refrigerator 12 hrs.

9. Bake: 500 20min., uncovered 10 min., 450 40min., let cool in turned off oven

It's been quite a while since I've worked with a mass market whole wheat flour. I was surprised at how strong of a dough it formed just by itself, even before adding the bread flour.  I guess I've gotten used to lower gluten content stone milled flours that are a bit more finicky to work with.  I was pleased with how manageable this dough was.  

Had to wait for the flour which was in a shipping container on its way from France. Worth the wait! Gorgeous flour with flecks of brown . Same formula as before. Absolutely lovely to work with and great flavor and crumb. These are 20% Semola . 

White Bean Marcella soup beans from Rancho Gordo, worth the price they are incredibly tasty with baggie

That’s a mouthful to say and a delicious mouthful to eat.  I have just retired from my full time practice of medicine at the end of last week.  My colleagues long complained that I didn’t bring enough baking into the office.  As you know, it can be challenging to bake during the work week so you can bring it something that is freshly baked.  Well since I’m now retired (I’ll return to work part time next year doing locums) I have time to bake during the week.

I know my staff and colleagues have a sweet tooth so I wanted to try a different sweet roll that I haven’t made before.  My source of organic stoneground whole wheat flour was totally out so I couldn’t bake with very much whole wheat so adjusted my recipe for this entirely bread flour version.  Since it is fall now, I thought what better to fill the rolls with but spiced apple and browned butter.

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9” square pan

For the Filling:

1 stick unsalted butter

3 pounds Granny Smith Apples —peeled, cored and chopped into ¼-inch pieces

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1-2 pinches of nutmeg 

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Make the filling: In a medium Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat and cook until it just begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining filling ingredients and cook, stirring often, until the apple are caramelized and the liquid has reduced to a thick syrup, 25 to 28 minutes. Let cool completely.

Method

1. Pre-cook Flour (Yudane) – 8:00 a.m. or night before and cover tightly.

Be sure to make the yudane ahead of time to give it time to cool before mixing. The texture of the mixture seems to improve if left to rest for at least one hour.

 Do ahead:  Alternatively, you could make the yudane the night before, let it cool, then cover and place it in the fridge. The next morning, let it warm to room temperature before mixing it into your dough.

Boil the water and pour it over the flour in the Kitchenaid mixing bowl. Stir with spatula (not a whisk as the Yudane will get stuck in the tines) until the mixture tightens up and all dry bits are incorporated. Let the pre-gelatinized flour cool on the counter until you mix the main dough. 

2. Mix 

To the cooled yudane, add milk, eggs, sugar and salt.  Mix to breakdown the eggs.  Add levain using your spatula cut the levain into small pieces.  Add bread flour, mix with the spatula until no dry flour remains.  Fermentolyse for 20 mins.  Using your KA mixer knead the dough until you can almost get a windowpane.  Then add the butter gradually to the dough in the stand mixer waiting until the previous addition is fully absorbed. 

The dough should be strong and smooth at the end of mixing with a good windowpane.  

Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.

3. Bulk Fermentation

At warm room temperature, around 82°F, bulk should take about 3 hours.

Give this dough three sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals

After the third set, let the dough rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation.

4. Chill Dough

At this point, your dough should have risen in your bulk container, be puffy to the touch, and have smoothed out. If the dough still feels dense and tight, give it another 15 minutes and check again.

Place your covered bulk fermentation container in the refrigerator for at least one hour to fully chill the dough.

5. Roll and Shape

Before removing your dough from the refrigerator, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, combine the following. It may seem like it's not enough filling to cover the entire surface of the dough—spread it thin.

The dough should be cold and firm to the touch; give it more time to chill if necessary.

Next, butter your baking pan (even if it’s nonstick) to ensure the rolls remove cleanly after baking or line with parchment paper.

This dough is very soft. Act quickly to roll, spread the filling, and cut before the dough warms and softens further. If it begins to soften, place it in the fridge to firm.

Remove your bulk fermentation container from the fridge, lightly flour your work surface in a large rectangle shape, and the top of the dough in the bowl. Then, gently scrape out the dough to the center of your floured rectangle. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 15″ x 15″ square.

Spread the apple cinnamon filling over the dough, leaving a one cm border on all sides.  Roll the dough into a tight log and pinch to seal the seam.  Using dental floss, cut the roll into 9 equal pieces.  Place them into the prepared pan, cut side up.  Cover the pan to prevent the dough from drying out.

6. Warm Proof

Place the pan back in the 82°F proofing box.  Allow the rolls to fully proof, they should fill the pan and the spaces between them fully.  The dough should be marshmallowy soft.  This may take 5-7 hours.

Be sure to start preheating your oven at 400°F about 30 minutes before you feel the rolls will be fully proofed.

Bake

Preheat your oven, with a rack in the middle, to 400°F (200°C). After the warm proof, uncover your dough and gently press the tops of a few rolls. The fully proofed rolls will look very soft. The texture of the dough will be almost like a whipped mousse. Be sure to give them extra time in warm proof if necessary. If the dough needs more time to proof, cover the pan and give the dough another 15 to 30 minutes at a warm temperature and check again.

Once your oven is preheated, remove your pan from its bag, slide it into the oven, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

The rolls are finished baking when the tops are well-colored and the internal temperature is around 195°F (90°C). Remove the rolls from the oven, remove them from the pan and place them on a rack. Let the rolls cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan, then serve.

These are best the day they're made, and certainly fresh from the oven, but can be reheated in a warm oven a day or two after.

Prepare the Glaze

For the Glaze:

½ cup confectioners' sugar

½ cup honey

1 tablespoon whole milk

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Once the rolls are fully cooled out of the oven and on a rack, drizzle the glaze on the rolls. 

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So these were a hit with everyone who had one.  The apple cinnamon with a hint of nutmeg tasted like autumn and was complimented by the honey glaze and buttery bread.

 My index of bakes.

I’ve spent almost half my life now trying to understand  this one recipe. I’m 64😱 so that’s a few years.  I’m probably going to my grave with this one but here are  a few new things I’ve learned recently. Click on the link for the video! 

Focaccia Genovese

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