Benito's blog

Pandan coconut milk sourdough

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This was a partially successful experiment using pandan extract and coconut milk.  The final bake leaves something to be desired, but my first attempt was a major fermentation fail.  In the first attempt, I failed to account for the reduction in hydration caused by replacing all the skim milk with full fat coconut milk.  The increased enrichment and decreased hydration caused fermentation and rise of the dough to go extremely slowly.  At first I thought that something must have gone wrong with my levain but in the end I don’t think that was the primary problem.

50% Whole Wheat Sourdough with Tangzhong Pullapart Buns

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This is the same recipe as the recently posted 50% whole wheat Hokkaido sourdough milk bread except that the total dough weight was reduced to make 8 buns in a 9” cake pan. These are going to my sister’s house for our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner tonight, the first time having a family dinner since the pandemic started.

 8 rolls in a 9” round pan or

9 rolls in a 8” square pan

Ingredients

Sweet Stiff Starter 

60% Whole Wheat Sourdough

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Working with a new whole wheat flour now, this is a local organic stone ground flour that I’m hoping will taste great. I’m also hoping that the thinner crust I achieved recently by not baking in my dutch oven wasn’t a fluke so I’m baking open in my oven with steam using the Sylvia towel and a cast iron skillet again.  

Miso Sourdough and Five minute score.

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You might recall that I made homemade miso that completed its 1 year fermentation in August.  I finally got around to using it in a sourdough bread.  I’ve made miso sourdough with various inclusions in the past but hadn’t made one in some time now.

80% whole grain sourdough

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This is a modified bake that I last did in the winter and wanted to do again now that I have a good pH meter.  40% whole Kamut, 40% whole spelt and 20% bread flour, so lots of whole grain.

Black Sesame Yorkville Sourdough Baguettes

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I’ve made this recipe for baguettes before with the seeds on the crust, this is the first time I’ve made baguettes with inclusions, so black sesame seeds in the dough.  It is a much tidier way to add the sesame seed flavour so you don’t cover your floor with sesame seeds when slicing the baguettes.  

100% Rye, Tourte de Seigle - Stanley Ginsberg

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Apparently this bread is also known as tourte Auvergnate.  It is a 100% whole rye loaf and mine was made without any commercial yeast although I’ve seen recipes that use it in as a sponge along with the rye sour.  Those who are familiar with baking rye sourdoughs know that they ferment very quickly.  From building the first stage of the rye levain until the loaf is out of the oven only took 18 hours.  However, you’re also likely aware that rye breads need time to “cure” after baking so I think they are best if you wait 24-48 hours before slicing.

Whole Red Fife Hokkaido Sourdough Milk Bread

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I wanted to see how replacing 25% of the flour with whole red fife might affect the rise and the quality of this milk bread compared to my previous recent bake.  I thought 25% was a good place to start and if this is good I’d consider increasing that whole grain portion to 50-75%.  Whole red fife is actually a nice mild whole grain flavour without any of the bitterness I associate with some whole wheats.  Although it has good gluten potential, which you can feel while doing folds during bulk, it is fermentation intolerant.