Bread

Tartine country bread trialSubmitted by MTK on May 17, 2013 - 9:45pm. I had a try on Tartine country bread on Friday night. I saw many videos on youtube about Tartine bread. And I'm curious about the tartine method, high hydration, long time fermentation, with little starter portion. The doughs in those videos are jiggling and the crumb is airy, which attracts me. So I decide to have a try.Recipe adapted from txfarmer's chinese blog:levain:Starter 7.5g (mature)whole wheat flour 50g(I replace 30g with whole rye flour)bread flour 50gwater 100gTemperature: 25C1.mix all those ingredient above. When it passes the floating test, it's ready to use. Final dough(make 2 big loaf):Levain 200gbread flour 900gwhole wheat flour 100g(I replace 30g with whole rye flour)water 750gsalt 20gTemperature: 25CBulk fermentation: 5hoursFinal proof: 3hours1.mix all those ingredient by hands. It's a shaggy and sticky mass. 2.S&F every half hour during the fermentation. Adapt the folding times according to the gluten development. I fold three times during the first two hours. (When I did the first fold, it was already 1:20am. I feel really sleepy. I planed to retard the dough after S&F. However, I'm too sleepy. Then I forgot to retard and fell asleep! ZZZZZzzzz. At about 6:20 am, I woke up. The dough seems to be over proofed. I felt a little bit upset and blamed myself for sleeping.)3. I divided the dough then preshaped. Bench rest for 30minutes. Then final shaping. It's sticky, so I sifted some rice flour onto the work surface. Maybe too much rice flour, excessive rice flour can't be well incorporated into the dough. I used scraper and hands to shape.4. Final proof: 3 hours. 5.Preheat the oven and baking stone to 270C. Pop the dough in then turn the oven to 230C for 40minutes,with steam in the first 15minutes. My scoring and shaping technique needs to be improved. It's crunchy with moist crumb. The taste is sweet and not too sour. I love this bread!I also find a problem that the crumb of the center is not as open as the outer part. How can I fix this problem?Thanks.

Friday Pizza NightSubmitted by dabrownman on May 17, 2013 - 8:56pm. With our daughter coming home tonight we thought home made pizza was in order since she loves it more than taking final exams at college.  We had built a YW levain for it on Monday and stuck it in the fridge to chill till this morning. To give it a boost we also made a 120 g, 100% hydration poolish this morning.  Both were ready to go to work in 4 hours of warm up and ferment This was an all white flour affair which we have not done in years. No autolyse, 10 minutes of slap and folds, 3 sets of SF’s 20 minutes apart where the minced; fresh rosemary, clove of garlic and sun dried tomato were incorporated on the first fold.There was the 30 minutes of counter ferment and then into the fridge for 3 hours to develop.  We took the dough out 2 hours before we formed it into 3 pizzas and one batch of Parmesan and Pecorino cheese, herb and Mojo de Ajo twisted bread sticks. Docked and brushed with Mojo de Ajo before par bakingPizza topping included hot Italian sausage, pepperoni, 3 fresh peppers; jalapeno, Hatch Green and  red bell, 3 cheeses; Mozzarella, Pecorino and Parmesan, caramelized, mushrooms and onions with a garnish of green onion and fresh basil flowers. We par baked the crust for 3 minutes at 500 F between 2 stones top and bottom and loaded the crust up and finished them off in another 5 minutes.  The crust wa super thin and crisp – just the way we like it. Very thin and crsip crust - no bending allowed even when piled high with toppings.The bread sticks happened when we ran out of pizza toppings besides the cheeses.  My daughter sliced the last already rolled out pizza crust into strips with the pizza cutter.   She then brushed on the garlic infused olive oil, put the grated Parmesan and Pecorino cheese on and then the fresh basil flowers. Pizza #2She folded the strips in half to enclose the goodies and then twisted them to make them prettier than normal.  Baked these at 400 F right on the stone and then dipped them I pizza sauce to really top them off – delicious. Pizza #3 and some bread sticks.My daughter said the crust was good but only middle of the road in all of our crust efforts over the years - likely due to not being retarded overnight.  It was easily pliable yet strong enough to work with, easy to roll out very thin without tearing even one hole.   All in all, a good treat on a Friday night. And a salad.FormulaWhole Wheat LevainBuild 1Build 2 Build 3Total%Pinch of ADY00000.00%Yeast Water5000508.20%AP11050502100Water6050301400Total1701008040019.71%      Levain Totals %   Flour23538.52%   Water19031.15%   Hydration80.85%          Levain % of Total36.39%          Dough Flour %   AP37561.48%   Dough Flour37561.48%         Salt101.64%   Water25040.98%   Dough Hydration66.67%          Total Flour610100.00%   Water440    T. Dough Hydration72.13%    Whole Grain %13.93%          Hydration w/ Adds72.18%    Total Weight1,100          Add - Ins %   Olive Oil152.46%   Honey152.46%   VW Gluten101.64%   Total406.56%         I T of chopped fresh rosemary, 1 clove of minced garlic and 2 T of  sun dried tomato was the fold in at the first S&F.

BagelsSubmitted by CB85 on May 17, 2013 - 7:35pm. I did bake a lot of bread in the past week, but nothing impressive...not sure what my problem was. The weather was a lot cooler so I did have to play around with the proofing times but nothing was really right. I did make sourdough rye with light rye flour yesterday, which was my first experience using any rye other than whole rye. I was pleased with that but I got a little carried away with the seeds in it. I liked it but I think i would have to tone it down for others. Today I made bagels. Me and my friend, who lives in another state, decided to make the same recipe this weekend just for fun. The measurments were in volumes and it was not a sourdough recipe so I was a little out of my element but a little excited to make something that would be done in about 2 hours! I did play around a little and add a firm starter I had in the fridge because I wasn't going to bake anything else and I didn't want to waste it, but it was just a flavor thing not for any leavening power. Because of that I should've increased the salt in the recipe, but I didn't think of that until after. The starter also meant that there was a bit of semolina added. I topped a few with sesame seeds, a few with black onion seeds and a few I left plain. The crust turned out ok, but I should've given them a little more space on the baking sheet. They actually puffed up a lot better than I expected. They were ok inside too, and I think they would be better toasted.  I was not wowed by this recipe but I think that was a combination of me changing a couple things not so accurately, and probably just wishing it was sourdough. :) I would like to try bagels again, maybe a recipe with an overnight step or maybe a sourdough version.

Pain au Levain with Whole-Wheat - success eludes meSubmitted by chaspan on May 17, 2013 - 6:07pm. I've tried to make Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Whole-Wheat recipe from "Bread, A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" three times, and I have yet to achieve a truly pleasing loaf.  I also tried a very similar recipe that I found on the internet, with similar results. It's not all bad news.  The flavor of the bread is quite good.  I'm happy enough so far with the degree of openness of the crumb and the texture of the interior. Now for the bad. 1) The crust is too chewy and leathery.  I don't think that is right for this bread.  I think it should be at least a little bit crisper. 2) At the end of the second rise when it's time to go in the oven, the loaf is a puffy, gelatinous mass that wiggles like jello when you touch it.  I can't get it on a peel or board without deflating it, and I can't get it off the well-floured peel and onto the oven baking stone without it sticking to the peel and deforming upon landing.  I've had batards in the shape of a boomerang, and boules that looked like deflated footballs. 3) I don't get much oven spring.  My cuts don't open up very much either.  They just look like the stretch marks on my belly.  :-)  I cannot get an ear. High hydration dough is a new thing for me, and I'm finding it difficult to deal with.  I do stretch and folds in the mixing bowl, but when I go to shape the loaves after bulk fermentation, I find that the dough is still so sticky that I have to use quite a bit of bench flour to handle it without sticking to everything.Here is the process I've been following: 1) Mix the flour and water by hand in the mixing bowl until all of the dry flour is wetted, more or less.  Autolyze for 30 minutes. 2) Put the bowl on the mixer.  My mixer is a Hobart N50 5 quart planetary with three speeds.  Low speed is quite slow, but medium speed is pretty fast.  High speed is not usable for dough.  I mix at low speed while adding the salt first, and then the levain, for about two minutes total.  I switch to medium speed and mix for 4 minutes. 3) Take the bowl off the mixer, cover with plastic wrap, and bulk rise for 2.5 hours with two stretch and folds, in the bowl, at 50 minute intervals.  I haven't tried doing the stretch and folds on the bench because the dough is quite wet, and it sticks too much to my kneading board.  It sticks to everything it touches. I have tried transferring the dough to a wider bowl with more sloping sides to make it easier to do the stretch and folds.  It was easier, but there was no change in the final result.  4) At the end of bulk fermentation, divide and shape the loaves.  I have mostly shaped the dough into batards, but today I used a brotform basket for one of the loaves.  Rise 2.5 hours.  Preheat oven to 440 degrees during the last hour of second rise.5) Pour hot water into a pan at the bottom of the oven, close the door, then quickly, one loaf at a time, move the loaf to a well-floured peel, slash it, and transfer it to the oven onto a Hearthkit oven insert stone.  When I move the loaf to the peel, it feels gassy and jiggly and fragile.  Even if I'm very gentle, it often deflates when rolling it or flipping it onto the peel.  It almost always sticks badly to the peel and ends up in a deformed shape in the oven. 6) Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  I measured the interior temp of the loaves with my Thermapen after 35 minutes in the oven at 440 degrees, and they were 206 degrees.  I have never gotten much oven spring, an ear, or even a well-opened cut, with any of these loaves. I've been very careful to stick to the exact quantities of ingredients specified, and the overall instructions.  I don't think I'm over-hydrating, but I've had to add one or two tablespoons (15 to 30 grams) of additional water during initial hand mixing because there seemed to be insufficient water

Hello from an aspiring amateurSubmitted by chaspan on May 17, 2013 - 3:35pm. Greetings, all. I've been baking bread at home off and on for a few years now, sticking mainly to straightforward general cookbook recipes and techniques for yeasted white loaf breads, sourdough breads, hamburger buns, and the occasional whole wheat bread.  Nothing fancy, but the results are nearly always satisfying. I bake once or twice a week.  I realized not too long ago that I haven't purchased bread at a grocery store in over a year!  Baking and eating my own bread is just so much more satisfying than eating the packaged commercial products from the grocery.  I am still very much a beginner, but I've gained enough experience and confidence to be able to produce consistent results with the breads I've practiced. Recently I started to bake french breads, batards and boules, both regular and sourdough.  My results have been mixed.  Making good bread from just flour, water, yeast and salt, with no fats, sugars, or eggs, ... or loaf pans ..., is more challenging than I thought it would be.  I definitely need a lot more practice shaping and slashing loaves. I'm having frustrating problems with one of Hamelman's recipes from "Bread, A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes."  I'll be posting a new thread about it in the whole and multigrain section shortly.  I hope that's the right place for questions about Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Whole-Wheat Flour recipe. The Fresh Loaf is an amazing site.  I'm happy to be a new member of this wonderful forum.

Photo of Carbondale Community OvenSubmitted by Carbondale Comm... on May 17, 2013 - 3:29pm. More photos on our Facebook page (Carbondale Community Oven) and website (carbondalecommunityoven.weebly.com)

We 3 gmas went Multi-grainSubmitted by gmagmabaking2 on May 17, 2013 - 3:05pm. This week we tossed out the word "Multi-grain" and then got together to see where that would take us. This time it is the youngest of us that was mega-multi-tasking in her kitchen.  Not only was Helen joining us in her bread effort, but she was making some really amazing cookies for a bake sale for her youngest daughter. I am thinking all of those goodies probably sold really fast and were greatly appreciated by the buyers!While doing that she used a great recipe from KA flour for Clay's Multigrain bread... with sunflower seeds and wheat berries ... Her direct quote: "This bread is really tastey! It was fun experimenting with all the seeds and grains :-)" She can comment to this post and tell you exactly what she added... her are her pictures. Nice little dough ball. She said this is the lightest and best whole wheat bread she has ever made. Sure looks good to me. 'Next is Barb's beautiful brown bread. Here is her quote: "I am surprised that this grew with so much stuff in it. SDWW with quarter cup each of toasted pecans, raisins, craisins, 7 grain mixture, and dried plums. I started with Clay's recipe." Now that is a full meal slice of bread! As these pictures will show you.   Just look at all the great stuff in there, almost looks like a fruit cake bread...   Cooked up beautifully... She had to cut and take pictures quickly, as the assistants were standing in line with their paws out, waiting for the first slices.  My dough looks innocent enough. I am the only one that went white with this idea and that is mostly because I spent the day away from home and had to play "catch up" So, I used a great recipe Helen gave me a long time ago, called streamlined white bread...and added my sprouted red wheat berries.  I had planned to use a raisin water recipe, but didn't end up with time to wait for the growth of natural yeasties. The dough was nice and soft and really quite lovely... then... I tried to ease it from the pan and let it finish cooking without the pan... but it was "fatally" stuck on one side... so it tore apart and fell onto the oven door... have I mentioned my brand new shoulders lack gracefulness?... ah, heck, I think I never had that??!!  So, I finished baking this abstract art, that tastes really good... and below is my "chunka crumb!" LOL... makes some odd looking toast but my husband loves it... I think I will use the same recipe for some dinner rolls and gain back my reputation for doing some things well.  We had fun... we spent the day chatting with each other and we all had good things to eat... So, again, our individual bakes from 2 cities in Texas and one is Washington state... all came together for good. My sisters are amazing bakers and I am having fun too.Happy Baking, It is Barb's turn to strike up next week's idea! I wonder what we will be baking? We will entertain ideas if anyone wants to suggest something.Til next week, Barb, Diane and Helen (in birth order) LOL

Bread book review - for bread beginnersSubmitted by HokeyPokey on May 17, 2013 - 2:31pm. A couple of people asked me for bread books recommendations, so I thought I’d do a series of review of the books I own, starting from the very first bread book I ever bought – “Bread:baking by hand of bread machine” by Eric Treuille.This is a great book, and looking at it now writing this review, I am realising how many more recipes I want to try from it.Read a full review with detailed explanation of the book and its recipes on my blog here

Tips on shaping croissant buns?Submitted by Elisabeth on May 17, 2013 - 11:51am. Im making croissants today, and my husband loves them as sandwich rolls (we've only ever bought them, blech). Any tips on how to shape them? Id like them about hamburger bun sized.

Carbondale Community Oven is HOTSubmitted by Carbondale Comm... on May 17, 2013 - 11:32am. Wow--it's been 2 years since we wrote in this blog to ask for advice.  Now, we have a true community oven in Carbondale, Colorado, in which we have been baking for almost two years.  This summer, a beautiful new community garden will surround our Oven, bringing more bakers, tasters and excitement to the site.  Many folks have contacted us for advice on building their own ovens.  Also, local farmers have stepped up to grow wheat in our valley, like their parents and grandparents did 100 years ago-- and we are purchasing a grinder to process it.  In just two years, the Carbondale Community Oven has become a genuine local institution, adopted by everyone who loves good bread, local food, and the joy that comes from sharing such a magical yet elemental act with their friends and neighbors.  On Facebook:  Carbondale Community OvenOn the web: carbondalecommunityoven.weebly.comThank you to the many individuals, organizations and businesses who made the Carbondale Community Oven a reality.