My Nutrimill came in yesterday and I decided to try it out on my weekly sandwich loaf. Yumminess ensued. As compared to the coarseness of the flour I was willing to produce with my hand-cranked mill, the flour from the Nutrimill produced a much better dough consistency/plasticity. Better gluten development, and an increase in the oven spring.
It also sounded like a jet winding up.
ooo... shiny
Couple Notes on the bread:
The shiny black top comes from a pure egg-white wash that also adds interesting crispness and flavorings.
I adore the side & bottom crust on these, which I believe comes from the cast-iron bread pans I'm using.
I need a new bread knife... they're just too soft to cut :)
crumbtastic
Great looking loaves! What kind of flour mix is it?
Eric
Zigs,
That's a really beautiful crust! Tell us how you made these loaves, please?
Did you grind all the flour in your Nutrimill?
Soundman (David)
This is a modification of Reinhart's Whole Wheat Challah. p.144 in Whole Grain Breads.
Flour was a 2:1 Hard White Spring to Hard Red Winter. Everything ground in the Nutrimill
Soaker:
Mix, knead ~ 5 minutes and cover. I left it out as I was trying for "seed to bread" in one day. If I go for a two day process I'll put this in the fridge.
227g flour
4g salt
170g buttermilk
Biga/Poolish/Preferment:
I call this a "poolish" as it's far too wet to knead (Reinhart calls for kneading, but it's really just not possible). So instead I just mix it all together until uniform consistency and toss it (covered) in the fridge until I'm ready for it next day or next couple hours. I've had a discussion here before about eggs in a preferment. I'd like to leave the eggs out of the preferment as they oxidize even if covered. But I haven't gotten the recipe pefected when I do.
227g flour
1g yeast (I use breadmachine instant)
113g H2O
28g Olive Oil
1 egg
2 egg yolks
Final Dough:
Soaker & Poolish
60-65g Flour
5g salt
5g yeast
25g Honey
A bit of Brown Sugar to taste
25g Shortening
Tried the french fold for awhile, went terribly (I'm not very good at it). So I went to a regular knead for ~ 10 minutes. A very wet and sticky process, added some flour at the end so I could form it into a ball.
Ferment for 45minutes, then a stretch and fold. Back to fermenting for 45 minutes. Cut in half, shape, into cast iron loaf pans, and score right away. Scoring early has given me great results for home ground whole wheat, the dough is _VERY_ fragile when risen.
Proof in the pans until ready (this time was ~ 30 minutes), then into a 400F oven (preheated to 450F) with a steam pan. I use a fairly weak steam pan so I have to add water 10 minutes before the dough goes in to get a good steam going.
I attribute the crust to two things, the egg-white wash and the cast-iron loaf pans. The wash is egg-whites and whites only (no water, no yolks) that are leftover from the poolish. Just whip these until runny and apply before last proof and right before baking. It gives the top that amazing shiny black carmelization. I don't know how to describe the difference between the cast-iron and glass pans, but if you get the chance to try it out... I certainly recommend it.