gavinc's blog

Inspired by Tony’s (CalBeachBaker) last week, I couldn’t wait to give the Hazelnut and Fig Levain a try. Last night I made the stiff white levain and this morning I hand mixed 1400-gram dough and found the dough a bit sticky to start with but soon smoothed out as the gluten developed. I thought that the number of figs and hazelnuts were a lot, but I was surprised that I got them combined into the dough. Bulk proofed at 24C for 2 hours, divided and shaped into two 700-gram oblong doughs. Final proof at 24C for 2 ½ hours in a Couche seam side down.

I just prepared my rye starter for an 8 week holiday. I took 10-gram of my ripe stiff rye culture and crumbed it using 100-gram whole rye. Air dried for a couple of days and stored in a clean old sock. It's now laid to rest in the cupboard.

When I get home in November, I'll rehydrate it into a paste and feed for a couple of days. Should be good to go :)

Cheers,

Gavin

I was lucky to get some winter red wheat (RGT Accroc) directly from the farm. I cleaned and stone milled enough berries to bake Debra Wink’s 100% whole-wheat sandwich bread. I had made this before with white wheat and wanted to get a better taste. I made two adjustments for this bake; use the red wheat and replace cold pressed walnut oil with toasted walnut oil. The difference is remarkable, a richer whole-wheat crumb, texture, aroma, and flavour. The crumb is soft for use in sandwiches. The loaf was baked in a 330mm Pulman pan sans lid.

This is Debra Winks 100% whole-wheat sandwich loaf. I've previously baked this in the Pullman pan sans lid, but my family prefers the square cut of the lid version. Increased weight from 800-gram to 900-gram and test baked. I'm happy with the result. Shaped into a blunt cylinder, I let the dough rise in the final proof to about 1.25 cm (1/4 inch) from the rim and slid the lid into place.

Pullman Bread baked today, 4th Feb 2022.

This is Hamelman’s Pullman Bread, a straight dough that can be mixed and baked the same day with no pre-ferments. It is perfect for sandwiches. I mixed a 1 kg dough suitable for my 330-mm (13-inch) pan with the lid. The entire process took about 5 hours. Very happy with the result. I’ll let it cool and slice it later tonight.

Background

My first attempts at this bread were flawed in that I got very little rise. Debra Wink (DW) contacted me and suggested some tweaks. As a result, I introduced some Vital Wheat Gluten (VWG) to increase the protein percent of my whole-wheat flour. I also pre-fermented 5 percent of the flour in a stiff levain. I wasn’t sure what effect the levain would have; rise, flavour enhancement, crumb or all. I’ve had a great result by incorporating both the VWG and the levain now for many weeks.

Today’s Experiment

Summer here where I live. Family favourite; Base is Neapolitan pizza dough. 

Margherita pizza from our backyard brick oven. Hard to beat.

Today’s bake is a new recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman in Bread 3rd Ed.

The recipe includes 25% whole-spelt flour that I stone-milled the day before baking. I recalculated the recipe for two 680-gram doughs.

I oven-roasted the butternut pumpkin and toasted the pumpkin seeds the evening before the bake and allowed them to cool at room temperature overnight. I also prepared the poolish and let stand for 14 hours at 21C.

I saw a picture of your Debra Wink’s 800-gram loaf in a 330 mm / 13 inch Pullman pan. It looked terrific, so I ordered the pan from the USA. It arrived this week, so today I baked using the pan and was very pleased, apart from a shaping mistake (I shaped as per a batard out of habit instead of a blunt cylinder). I’m learning with each iteration of this wonderful bread. It’s such a beautiful taste that it is now has a place in our weekly breadbasket. A nice light soft crumb.

Cheers,

Gavin

I was prompted to make a time lapse of my sourdough during the oven spring. This is the start of the bake condensed into 37 seconds. Sorry about the background reflection, but you’ll get the gist. They are 750-gram oval loaves, Vermont sourdough with 10% whole wheat.

You can view the video on my YouTube https://youtu.be/c90Yqi3gLBE

Cheers,

Gavin