Lucy’s Take on Josh’s Version of Pane Maggiore On Valentines Day - 2 Ways

Ever since Josh posted his Market Week 6 of Pane Maggiore, (modified for more whole grains on his week 24 post) we knew Lucy  had to make this bread some way to get a chance to taste it but, since it was Valentine’s Day she decided to make it two ways.  Here are those 2 posts

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33950/farmers-market-week-6-pane-maggiore

 Farmer's Market Week 24 (Pane Maggiore take??? plus Barley/Oat/Flax Porridge Bread)

 The original Pane Maggiore from is here:

 http://www.ploetzblog.de/2013/06/01/leserwunsch-pane-maggiore/

You might wonder what Valentine’s Day had to do with it but it all come down to food and our Valentines.  I decided we were going to really splurge on Valentines Day Dinner this year with a decadent Cioppino - San Franciso Style with lots of seafood including  lobster.  Se we needed some SF style SD to sop up the great sauce from the bottom of the bowl.

The problem is that the girls like a more white and less sour SFSD bread  than Lucy and I do - so we had to make two different boules.  Luckily the original recipe Josh used for week 6 is less whole grain than his week 24 version and, since we wanted to try both, this was the perfect time to take these breads to the top of the bake list.

Admittedly, both of these breads have way more whole grains and are sourer than the typical Boudin SFSD that you would get on Fisherman’s Warf while devouring your Cioppinio   We usually sacrifice tradition and holes for a version of the bread that has better flavor, health and nutritional characteristics – and this bake was no exception.

 The other differences between the two boules was a higher hydration to go with the more whole grains of the larger boule and the various techniques used to bring out more sour in the larger boule.

Even though both breads used the same rye stiff sour starter that had been in the fridge for 3 weeks making itself more sour as time went on, the levain for each bread was built differently, one to bring out sour an the other to minimize it. 

The levain feed for the sourer, more whole grain version consisted of the 22% extraction sifted out portion of the rye and wheat.   We have found that feeding the sifted out bran and the chunkier portion of the home milled flour to the levain makes for more minerals, enzymes and other nutrients being made available to the wee beasties.   This seems to bring out more sour in our previous experience doing this - but it also gets them wet for as long as possible so that they will be less likely to cut the gluten strands later on during gluten development.

The less sour version more white version was fed the 78% extracted portion of the wheat and no rye trying to make the levain les sour.  Both levains were built up over (3) 4 hours stages but the more sour one was kept on the heating pad between 88 and 93 F while the less sour more white version was built at room temperature of 67-71 F.  Cooler room temperatures promote yeast and LAB growth where high temperatures promote LAB over yeast dramatically and make for more sour.

The sourer levain was also refrigerated for 24 hours 1 hour after the 3rd feeding when it had risen 25% in volume.  36 F also favors LAB over yeast and makes for more sour.  The less sour levain was not retarded.   When the levain came out of the fridge to finish doubling in went right onto the heating pad.

We autolysed each dough for the same amount of time but the sourer dough version’s dry and wet ingredients were warmed on the heating pad before incorporation and kept on the heating pad during the 2 hour autolyse while the smaller more white version had to made due with room temperature to keep it less sour.  But we did add VWG , red and white malt to the smaller loaf with less whole grains. 

We did out usual 7, 2 and 1 minute slap and fold sessions 15 minutes apart and then 4 sets of S&F’s 20 minutes apart..  The larger dough with more whole grains and higher hydration felt much more slack than the other dough that had the VWG in it.

The more sour dough was left on the heating pas between these 7 dough manipulations so help the sour some more and the other dough was left on the counter under a bowl.  Then it dawned on me that the VWG went into the wrong dough.

The dough with higher whole grains and way more AP flour was the one that should have had the VWG.  This accounts for it being slacker compared to the other one that didn’t need any VWG but it anyway.  So if you make these recipes, be sure to switch the VWG from one to the other if you use it at all.  The slack dough turned out fine so it is not required and the other one would have been better without it too.

The great thing is that even though the 2 dough were developed and fermented at differing temperatures, it just so happens the yeast reproduce at the same rate at these two temperatures.  This mean s that yeast in both were in sync and the two breads could be baked together at the same time since one was not proofing faster or ahead of the other.

We shaped the dough into boules and placed them in identical rice floured basket other than their size, bagged and placed in the fridge for an 8 hour retard.  I didn’t think this would the enough time to proof the dough to 85% based on past experience but it did get to 80% for both of them.

We took the dough out of the fridge in the morning to let it warm up and continue proofing while we preheated Big Old Betsy to 550 F with top and bottom stones and readied the Pyrex pan with lava rocks and water to go on the bottom rack when the temperature hit 550 F for Mega Steam.

In the 15 minutes it takes for the steam to start billowing the stones have caught up to the air temperature of the oven and their lag time mitigated.  We overturned the baskets onto parchment on a peel and slashed them, one at a time, sliding each separately, largest boule first, onto the stone back left and front right – a tight but nice fit.   As we closed the door, we threw 1/2 C of water onto the bottom of the oven for instant steam.

The great thing about having ciopino for dinner is that it makes a fine soup and salad for lunch the next day. 

On two minute increments we lowered the temperature from 550 F to 525, and 500.  At the 6 minute mark we turned the oven down to 475 F for the final 6 minutes of steam After 12 minutes of total steam for the smaller loaf, we removed the steam and turned the oven down to 425 F, convection this time. 

Lucy looked good with her Valetine's bow and hse feels better after her earlier teeth problems earlier this week

We rotated the bread every 5 minutes on the stone to ensure even browning and in 13 minutes, 25 minutes total, the small loaf was 205 F on the inside and it was removed to the cooling rack.  In 5 minutes the larger loaf was also done.

A baked smothered breakfast chorizo burrito is always appreciated by the girls.

Both loaves sprang and bloomed well but the smaller loaf that had less whole grains actually browned up one shade darker, even though it was in the oven 5 minutes longer and it also had smaller blisters than the lighter colored more whole grain loaf that has a higher hydration.  We are still working on what makes great blisters every time.

Last Firday's bake as a toasted breakfast sandwich of Italian sausage, egg, pepperjack cheese. Minneola marmalade and butter.

When we cut into the inside of each we were immediately stunned how much darker the crumb was for smaller less whole grain bread – the darker color of the crust had carried over to the crumb and then it dawned on Lucy that this one also had the white malt too.  So, it appears that diastatic malt does help with coloring of the crust and crumb by adding extra enzymes to the mix to help release more sugars to brown and caramelize. 

This year's Minneolas are some of the best tasting and some are huge!

Both crumbs were fairly open for these kinds of whole grain bread and the higher hydrated more whole grain bread was slightly more open but neither was nearly as open and Josh’s – but he’s a professional too and a much better baker.  Josh really put a bold bake on his week 24 version too that we didn’t do.

The bread that was bred to be sourer certainly was but it was not overpowering and the bread that was supposed to be less sour was so but it wasn’t mildly sour either.  When you start with a sour starter, then sour carries over a greater degree in bread that was designed to be less sour the rest of the way.

The earlier sunset from the front yard turned into this in back yard a few minutes later,

The less sour version also had a deeper and more complex flavor even though it had less whole grains.   This one was also the one with the red non diastatic malt and they say red malt helps not only the color but contributes greatly to the flavor of the bread as well. 

Can't really see the lighter wholegrain but darker colored version of this bread underneath, but the star of this breakfast is the Spicy Smoked Merguez Sausage.  On the toasted bread is butter, Minneola marmalade and pepper jack cheese with the egg on top with half a banana and half a pear on the side - yummy!  Here is what it looked like underneath but you still can't see the bread:-)

This experiment seems to back this up.  The color and flavor that the malts provided was easily noticeable – a good thing to remember. The next time I cut the amount of red malt we use in the simmering rye berry scald for 100% whole rye pumpernickel…. Lucy can bite me on the ankle.

We understand why Josh likes this bread so much – it is terrific in either version we baked and both will be the perfect foil for tonight’s Valentine Day Cioppino.  Lucy says happy Valentine to Max and his cats I say happy Valentine’s Day to all.

Lucy’s Sour 50% Whole Grain Take on  Josh’s Latest Version of Pane Maggiore

Lucy’s Less Whole Grain and Less Sour Version  of Josh’s Maggiore