August 20, 2011 - 10:42pm
Today's baking 8-20-11
Pain au Levain from Hamelman's Bread (So what if I baked it umpteen weeks in a row? It's really good!)
Pain au Levain Crumb (the real reason I'm posting on this bread again)
They say "Man cannot live by bread alone. You need side dishes."
A bit of petrale sole, a stuffed baked tomato and some Italian broad beans. Navarro Reisling, not pictured. (Tomato is stuffed with bread crumbs from Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Two Starters, garlic, etc.)
And, to clear the palate and fill any empty corners ...
Susan baked a plum cake.
Hmmmm .... I think I need another slice.
David
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Comments
Excellent looking bread, David and what a delicious looking meal, too. I am going to have to try that recipe soon. Lovely shaping, as usual.
Best,
Syd
Gorgeous bake, David! It's perfect. I can see why you bake it often. Look at that crumb, crust, color and form. I can just taste it.
The sole filet dinner is lovely, mouthwatering and healthy. I've been trying to eat a fish meal at least twice a week so ate fish 3 times this week..but I don't think todays battered cod sandwich counted...though delicious.
Susan's plum cake is a perfect finish to your gourmet meal.
Sylvia
Swooooooon to your crumb! That's simply gorgeous! I've made Hamelman's Pain au Levain several times, but my crumb's never been as open as yours.....::sigh::
And your dinner plate and Susan's plum cake look very yummy, too!
Never heard of Italian broad beans. I wonder if it's similar to/same as what we call 'sugar snap pea' here.
lumos
Sugar snap peas are very different, although delicious also. The broad beans are also know as "Romano Beans." They look like this before being cut:
David
Ah, that's what we call helda beans here, a bit like runner beans without fluffy hairs. They were chopped up smaller in your photo, so I thought they were small kind like sugarsnap.
Love helda beans, too!
Thanks, David.
From what I can find, Helda beans appear to be one of several varieties of Romano beans. I'll have to ask the farmer from whom I bought mine what variety she grows (if she knows).
David
Yeah, it seems to be. According to this site, it's sometimes called 'Helda Romano beans' and this site says Helda beans is Romano beans. To complicate the matter even more, it's called 'Morocco Ingen' in Japan. (ingen = 'green beans' in Japanese)
But whatever they call it, 'Helda beans by any other name taste as good,' according to Shakespeare.....or was it? :p
lumos
David, the pain au levain I bet was nice and creamy? The times I have baked Hamelman's pain au levain with no retardation I have found the crumb to be rather excellent with that creamy feel to it. Though I must admit, not the same crumb results as yours, but close.
The dough was wetter than usual, even though the ingredients weighed precisely the same as always. I can't explain it, unless the CM "ABC" flour absorbs less water than the KAF AP and 365 Organic AP (also a CM flour) I've used for this bread in the past.
This bake had the crunchiest, most flavorful crust and creamiest, most open crumb of any I've baked. I hope it was the flour and not some random, unreproducable varaiable. I'd like this Pain au Levain to always turn out this way.
David
Beautiful, bold bake, as usual david!
The cake looks mighty delicious, too!
Why have your loaves been opening with double grignes of late? you used to have one grigne, have you change your scoring pattern / steaming techniques.. iam intrigued..
They are just happier?
Seriously, I'm not sure what you mean by "double grignes." If you are commenting on the way the dough seems to separate in layers on the opposite side of the grigne from the ear, I think this is from how the loaves are shaped. I think the layers of dough created might not be sealed together completely and separate during oven spring. But this is just a guess.
I haven't changed my scoring or steaming.
David
That crumb shot is totally bread porn.
Nice fish, too.
Glenn
Hi David,
Maybe you are trying to disprove the theory?
Man can live by this bread alone?
Lovely, as always
Best wishes
Andy
Are you suggesting I under-proved the theory? ;-)
David
Enjoyed your pics. Dinner looks terrific, and that plum kuchen looks yummy. I just started baking Hamelman's pain au levain with two starters. Isn't that the best bread ever? It's my new "regular." The fragrance is a knockout. I like to top it with a potpourri of seeds. It's way too late for me to post pictures (it would take me hours I'm afraid), but that really does make the post interesting. Yours are great.
Joyful
It really is a knock out bread. I used a liquid levain instead of a firm one, and I autolyzed (with levain) for a good two hours (out of necessity not design). I, immodestly, would give the bread an A+ (creamy tangy crumb, crispy, chewy flavorful crust). I'll have to try it with a firm starter and see what sort of difference (if any) it makes.
BTW David, your photo of the fish reminds me of something I did the other night that I think would be right up your alley. Working off of Judy Roger's recipe in her Zuni cookbook, I made a bread crumb salsa and served it over some cod. It added delicious crunch and flavor (and would be great on vegies, pasta, etc). Basically, you bake fresh bread crumbs at 275 for maybe 30 minutes until very golden and crisp. Then toss with oil/vinegar, capers and anchovy (both rinsed and chopped), shallot, fresh thyme, S&P.
One of these days I'm going to start a post inviting folks to share ideas about the wonderful uses for bread crumbs . . .