One of our Christmas traditions is to have strawberry crepes and bacon for breakfast Christmas morning. Which always results in a whole lot of bacon fat in a tin in the fridge. I've been meaning for some time to try this in bread, and didn't have any baking for customers this week, so this was my chance.
The basic recipe is a fairly simple sourdough:
- 85% bread flour
- 15% whole wheat flour
- 68% water
- 2% salt
- 25% levain (100% hydration)
Just for a twist, I used whole durum atta flour in place of the whole wheat flour.
I mixed the flours, water and levain and let them sit for about 45 minutes, then added salt, some dehydrated minced onion, crumbled Asiago cheese and a good dollop of bacon fat. I didn't weigh any of these so can't really provide the formula, but I'm sure you could use whatever amount you felt was appropriate. The mixing happened in the Ankarsrum with the dough hook, for only 3 or 4 minutes. The dough was quite nice already, and I plopped it into a flat container to ferment. I folded it three times over the next hour and a half, folding in some diced smoked honey ham (couldn't use the bacon, as we ate that for breakfast :) ). It was very strong, but soft and silky dough - lovely!
It fermented for several hours at room temperature (not sure how long; wasn't timing it but rather just keeping an eye on it). At the end of the bulk ferment the dough was absolutely gorgeous - smooth, silky, soft and pillowy. I divided it into two loaves and did two letter folds on each piece of dough, then let it rest for about 15 minutes. There were some large bubbles which I chased to the edges and popped. I gently rolled it into 'chubbs' and let them rise in the bamboo risers while the oven heated up (about 45 minutes with the granite stones).
If you haven't made bread with these ingredients, you're missing an experience. Just the smell of the baking bread is so mouth-watering it's hard to wait for it! There wasn't a lot of oven spring because I think the final proof was close to 100%. It didn't collapse, and still felt lively, but was very pouffy. It was the usual bake - 5 minutes at 475F with steam, then 30 minutes at 425F.
This bread is one of the best I've made. The aroma and flavour are exceptional. The crust is tender and the crumb perfect - soft, moist and open just right. I won't be making this for the customers as I don't usually have that much bacon fat on hand, but it's definitely on my list for baking for us!
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I'm imagining this toasted with fresh tomatoes - and that is pronounced toe-mar-toes ;)
What great oven spring too.
Great bake Wendy.
Toasted with to-mah-tos sounds lovely, but only in summer when I can pick a fresh, ripe one from the garden, warm from the sun and full of flavour. :)
LL and that Bacon Strawberry Crepe sounds delicious and the perfect Christmas morning celebration. It is great when the bread is fully proofed but doesn't collapse in the oven! That is living well. That bread ought to make some fine toast for another holiday season breakfast if some kind!
Well done and Happy New Year.LL
What a great tasty bake! Great combo of flavors.
Happy New Year!
Hi Wendy, I've been catching up on your posts, as I haven't had much time on the site lately. Reading them makes me want to go and bake/create right now! This one sounds so good, being the bacon lover that I am. I have always wondered about safe storage of breads containing meat. Do you refrigerate yours? I also noticed you haven't posted in awhile, and I haven't seen any recent comments either, so thought I would check in to make sure that all is ok with you. (You remember how it was, when not to long ago another of our "regular posters" went missing.) Anyway, thanks for all the great posts, and the inspiration, marybeth
Hi Marybeth. Always so nice to hear from you (and I hadn't heard anything from you for a while either!). I haven't had so much time for posting lately, with some family health issues and also having my grandson (who is a little over a year old) one day a week as well. But still baking! We also just got back from 2 weeks enjoying the sun and warmth in Mexico; back to sun and freezing temperatures here. :)
I didn't refrigerate the bread with the ham and bacon fat in it, and it seemed to be fine. Mind you, it doesn't last more than a few days anyway. :) For the two of us I cut the loaf in half and freeze what we aren't using immediately anyway.
Hope you and Mark (am I right on the name there?) are doing well, and you're still baking.