Bread

Slashing the top of the loaf, timing?Submitted by kaleidosoph on May 19, 2013 - 6:51am. Hi all,I make my bread from the basic bread recipe in the River Cottage Bread Book.  You slash the tops before putting it in the oven, & sometimes I can't quite get it smooth/fast enough and it can slightly deflate the bread.  It is possible to slash the tops say after 10 mins in the oven when the dough is warmer & bouncier, & more likely to keep it's shape?  I guess you could slash the tops at any time when the bread is still rising, as it's pointless once the yeast is dead.  Does the bread continue to rise for about 10 mins?Thanks

Rye pain au levain with new Rye flourSubmitted by Mebake on May 19, 2013 - 12:35am. Ever since i started baking bread at home, I have been baking with rye flour quite judiciously. Rye flour sold for retail on the shelves of supermarket chains in Dubai, and the UAE in general ,is mostly exclusively Doves farm organic rye flour. The flour is quite expensive given that it is organic: US$ 3.4 per Kg. I continued baking with it for years, with beautiful results and excellent finished products, until today. The other day, I was restocking on Bread flour (12.6% protein) from the mill , and I was curious whether they mill other grains too. To my delight, they milled Rye too! Non-organic of course, but German rye (t-170 flour - Dark rye flour) nonetheless. I was thrilled with the idea of having Rye flour in bulk, to bake with at will. The flour also was considerably cheaper, being non-organic, and in bulk: US$ 0.81 per Kg! I forgot to take a picture of the flour, but it had a consistency similar to whole rye flour, but with finely milled bran.I was eager to test run this new flour, so I fed my rye starter with it, and let it ferment. Usually, the organic doves Rye flour raises and collapses in 3 hours at room temperature, this one took an hour more. This was my first encounter. I created a sour levain from the ripe starter, and it rose and ripened, but the unique scent of a fermenting Sour was not as potent as I’m used to. That was my Second encounter. I mixed the sour with the flours for the autolyse, added salt , fermented with stretch and folds, shaped, proofed, and baked. The aroma of the finished loves were the usual, nutty and sweet with a hint of rye. The flavor was almost identical to the ones i made with the organic rye, though slightly inferior. I'm partial to the ones i made with organic rye, but the true test will be in a 100%  Rye bread; this is were the the true difference will be revealed.I'm not sure whether the flour being non-organic has to do with it's slower fermentation rate (fewer bacateria and wild yeasts), or it being Dark Rye, but i'm paritial to the first reasonining.Anyway, overall, my new t-170 Rye flour did a good, and i'm very pleased with it.Note: the the Rye flour package says bread mixes, but the sticker shows:T-170 Rye flour, Which, i think, is the german grade for whole grain Rye flour (anyone?) No additives here.-Khalid

Sightings at the MallSubmitted by Toad.de.b on May 18, 2013 - 11:05pm. Whilst casing a new Sur la Table location:Brotforms, Tartine-spec Cambro and a tamis in a mall store.  What's this world coming to?On the shop's classroom calendar:Bakers' percentages go mainstream, for a price.  Spend Cupcakes Khalid?  Who knew?Tom

Strawberry SeasonSubmitted by golgi70 on May 18, 2013 - 8:23pm.

BagelsSubmitted by MANNA on May 18, 2013 - 7:02pm. Had to share some pics of my bagels this morning. Sorry about not posting recently any Bouchon Bakery lately. I have been busy with suppling bread for a CSA and may soon start suppling some pastry to a small cake shop. All this in addition to my regular 40 hr job and family. I'll sleep when Im dead I guess.Make 12 100g bagels730g Flour, Bread420g Water, 75 degrees F37g   Malt, Diastatic15g   Salt, Kosher5g     Yeast, InstantMix it intill moderatly/well developed. It should be satiny but very tight after mixing. Wrap in plastic wrap and rest at room temp for 1 hour to let flour hydrate and yeast/malt to activate. The dough should be soft and supple, I was amazed at how soft it was for 58 percent hydrated. Scale at 100g and quick shape into a short log. Roll out and form into rounds. Sorry I didnt take pics of these steps, next time I will and will add them in to the post. Place on half-sheet pan sprayed with oil and dusted with cornmeal. Cover with tea-towel and put inside plastic bag.Place in fridge overnight.Next morning. Bring pot large enough to hold 4 bagels and 4-5 inches of water to just under a boil and add 4-5 tablespoons of barley malt syrup ( 1 tbsp of malt per inch of water). No malt syrup in your local store? Try using molasses. My opinion here were not boiling bagels were giving the yeast a nice warm bath to wake-up from the cold fridge, just like a nice shower wakes us up in the morning. Add bagels 4 at a time and give them 15 sec per side. Move to a cooling rack to drain while we load 4 more bagels to the water. Move bagels from cooling rack back to sheet pan (now is the time to dredge the tops in seeds or other toppings). Turn bagels over that are in water. Repeat process intill all bagels are done. Place in 450 degree F oven (425 with convection). Bake and rotate pans according to your oven. Remove from oven when they reach the crust color you like. Remove from pan and let cool on cooling rack. Mine actually sing after baking and have a solid crust that doesnt soften after sitting for 5 min. Inside is soft and chewy.

Home Ground 100% White Whole WheatSubmitted by JerseyBaker on May 18, 2013 - 4:08pm. I love this recipe. Super easy and quick. Great taste and nice crumb. This seems to be my everyday go to bread.16oz. White Whole Wheat Flour3/4 cup Fat Free Milk3/4 cup filtered water3 TBSP. Gluten1TBSP instant yeast1/2 tsp. fine sea salt2 TBSP Honey2 TBSP OilI mix this in my bread machine. Liquids and salt first. Flour mixed with Gluten next. Topped with yeast. Mix on short dough cycle. Put it in a greased 9x5 pan and let it rise. Bake 30 mins. at 375 degrees. If I make it with Hard Red wheat I replace the honey with molasses.

Culprit: The Beer or the Diastatic Malt?Submitted by CJRoman on May 18, 2013 - 4:06pm. I figured out that the malt I'd been using was actually NON-diastatic.So for my pretzels, I changed that to 1 tsp diastatic in 540 grams of flour.I also changed my beer from a stout to an IPA.The dough was COMPLETELY different.It rose dramatically faster with large air pockets. The resulting pretzel was VERY soft and was missing its "chew."I need to fix this to bring back my chew!Should I:1. Remove the diastatic.2. Shorten the rise times.3. Reduce the amount of yeast???4. Other

Help Solve My Case Of Moist CrumbSubmitted by ChaChaMan on May 18, 2013 - 3:25pm. Hello,I wonder if anyone can help solve my moist crumb outcomes. The pic is my first attempt for making ciabatta. It's a very tasty loaf. I am trying to get the hang of  baking very slack dough.I use long preferments and ferments (around 12 hours in cool cellar)I cook at 480 F in a dutch oven with lid for 30mins and  at 425 F without lid for 30 minutes. Is this enough time for a 1.5 kg loaf ? Could the baking alone explain the moist crumb? I am confident that loaf proofed well. Does anyone have any insights ?    flourwatersaltTotalStarter  8484  Biga  23097  MultiGrain Flour 548   Unbleached Flour 0   Water   408  Milk   57  Sea + Kosher Salt   30 Total  862646301538hydration 75%2.0%

Chocolate Biscuit - nice and easySubmitted by HokeyPokey on May 18, 2013 - 1:13pm. I woke up this morning determined to make a batch of chocolate biscuits for my late morning cuppa.  Read full recipes and intructions on my blog here

Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Multigrain BreadSubmitted by dmsnyder on May 18, 2013 - 12:59pm. Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat with Multi-grain Soaker May 17, 2013 This is my third version of a whole wheat, multi-grain bread based on my San Francisco-style Sourdough formula. I think this one is a keeper.Compared to the last version:The soaker was hydrated at 100% rather than 125%. Also, it was soaked for less than an hour rather than overnight. This resulted in a very sticky, slack dough but not a goopy one. It behaved like a 75-80% hydration dough, generally.The soaker was mixed into the dough right after the autolyse, rather than being added after the gluten was well-developed. I had some concern that this might compromise the crumb structure, but I am quite happy with what I got. (See photos, below.)I reduced the percentage of honey slightly.I did not retard the dough in bulk but, rather, as formed loaves.I did not leave the loaves in the turned off oven but removed them to the cooling rack immediately after they were fully baked. This step is still a good option, if you want a drier, harder crust. Total doughBakers' %Wt (g)AP flour34192Bread flour1479Medium Rye flour214WW Flour50281Water93528KAF “Harvest Grains”18100Honey317Salt1.911Total194.91222 Stiff levainBakers' %Wt (g)Bread flour9579Medium rye flour511Water5045Stiff starter8066Total230201 Dissolve the starter in the water. Add the flours and mix thoroughly until the flour has been completely incorporated and moistened.Ferment at room temperature for 16 hours.  SoakerBakers' %Wt (g)KAF “Harvest Grains”100100Water (Boiling100100Total200200Just before mixing the autolyse, put the “Harvest Grains” blend in a medium-sized bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Cover.Allow to soak during the autolyse (see below). Final doughWt (g)AP flour169WW Flour274Water350Salt11Honey17Soaker200Stiff levain201Total1222MethodIn a stand mixer, mix the flours and water at low speed until they form a shaggy mass.Cover and autolyse for 30 minutesAdd the salt, honey, soaker and levain and mix at low speed for 2-3 minutes, then increase the speed to medium (Speed 2 in a KitchenAid) and mix for 6 minutes. Add flour and water as needed. The dough should be rather slack.Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly.Ferment at 70º F for 2 1/2 to 3 hours with a stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for the fist 2 hours.Divide the dough into two equal pieces.Pre-shape as rounds and rest, covered, for 10 minutes.Shape as boules or bâtards and place in bannetons. Place bannetons in plastic bags.Proof at room temperature (68-70º F) for 1-2 hours.Cold retard the loaves overnight.The next morning, proof the loaves for 2-3 hours.45-60 minutes before baking, pre-heat the oven to 480º F with a baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.Transfer the loaves to a peel. Score the loaves as desired, turn down the oven to 460º F, steam the oven, and transfer the loaves to the baking stone.After 15 minutes, remove the steaming apparatus, and turn down the oven to 435º F/Convection. (If you don't have a convection oven, leave the temperature at 460º F.)Bake for another 15 minutes.Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack, and cool thoroughly before slicing.  The crust was chewy. The crumb was not at all gummy but was very moist when the bread was first sliced the morning after baking. The flavor was that of good whole wheat. There was little noticeable sweetness. There was a moderately prominent sourdough tang. The bread was tasted plain and toasted with almond butter and jam. It was quite delicious. Probably because I was tasting it about 16 hours after it was baked, the flavor was more balanced than that of the last version which I first tasted just 2 to 3 hours after it was baked. I will be tasting this bread over the next few days. I expect it to stay moist for at least 3 or 4 days.Yesterday, along with these breads, I also baked a San Joaquin Sourdough bâtard.  And I used 400