CRACKED-WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

My original idea was to do a sourdough cracked-wheat bread, I had the recipe printed out, and my starter going. Woke up on Saturday bright and early, in great spirits to attack the preparation. Surprise number 1: recipe called for a whole-wheat starter. Mine wasn’t. Surprise number 2: recipe suggested an overnight fermentation in the fridge before baking, but I absolutely had to start and finish the bread on the same day. Not sure how many times in my life I’ve made the mistake of NOT reading a recipe carefully enough before baking day, and/or before shopping for ingredients (sigh). Plan B had to be set in place, and quickly. I found a recipe for cracked-wheat bread with a very interesting technique: spreading a dry mixture of flour, sugar and yeast over a fermenting “sponge”, forming a sort of a protective blanket over it. All of a sudden my Saturday was bright again, and the best was that the bread turned out fantastic!

CRACKED-WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD
(adapted from The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum)

To make the sponge:
1/2 cup bread flour (78 g)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (72 g)
3/4 tsp instant yeast (2.4 g)
1/2 tbsp sugar (6.2 g)
1 tbsp nonfat dry milk (8 g)
1 tbsp agave nectar (20 g)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp water at around 80F (266 g)

Flour mixture for topping the sponge:
2 cups bread flour (312 g)
1/2 tbsp sugar (6.2 g)
1/4 tsp instant yeast (0.8 g)

For the final dough:
1/2 cup cracked-wheat
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 + 3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp melted butter

In a medium bowl combine the sponge ingredients and whisk until very smooth, about 2 minutes, trying to incorporate as much air as possible as you stir.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour mixture ingredients. Sprinkle on top of the sponge to cover it completely. DO NOT MIX TOGETHER. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 1-4 hours at room temperature. The longer you allow it to ferment, the better. I fermented mine for 2 hours.

Place the cracked-wheat in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in the water until all the water is absorbed, about 1 hour.

With your stand mixer, add the bulghur and the oil to the bowl and then add the dough and starter. Mix with the dough hook on low speed for a couple of minutes, until no dry bits remain, but do not overmix. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Sprinkle on the salt and knead the dough on medium speed for 12 minutes. The dough should be very elastic but still slightly moist.

Scrape the dough into a greased container. Lightly spray or oil the top of the dough. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours (mine took 90 minutes). Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and press down very gently to form a rectangle, don’t try to get all the air out of it. Give it a business letter fold, turn it 90 degrees and do another business letter type fold. Smooth the edges and return the folded dough to the bowl. Cover, and rise until doubled, 1 to 1.5 hours (mine took only 45 minutes).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it as a loaf. Place into oiled loaf pan. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise until the center is about 1 inch higher than the rim of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees for 30 minutes before baking. Place oven rack at the lowest shelf and place baking stone on top. Place a sheet pan on the floor of the oven and have some ice cubes handy.

Once the dough has risen, brush the top with the melted butter, then cut a 1/2″ deep slash down the middle of the dough. Quickly set the load pan on the baking stone. Take a 1/2 cup of ice cubes and quickly throw them onto the sheet pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature is 200 F. Remove pan from oven, remove bread from pan and set on wire rack. Brush with remaining melted butter. Let it cool completely (yeah, right… 😉 before eating.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Cracked-wheat (an ingredient similar, but not exactly the same as bulghur, for a nice explanation click here), gives this bread a perfect texture, and just the right amount of ‘grain-feel’. You can substitute bulghur if you have trouble finding cracked wheat.

It is a very easy dough to handle, as most of the kneading is done with a mixer. It would be possible to knead by hand, but it would take a lot longer and you must develop the gluten fully to get the right texture – go for the Kitchen Aid, is my advice. It is fun to make, the photos below show the sipping of the fermenting sponge after 1.5 hours, the addition of cracked-wheat, and the amazing first rise, probably due to the temperature in our home these days.

If you make this bread during warm weather, as soon as you shape the dough start heating your oven, because mine took only 35 minutes to fully rise. You don’t want to risk overproofing, so that the bread will still rise during baking. Catch it around this stage, brush it with butter, slash the top and place it in the oven.

Sandwiches with cheese, ham, lettuce, a light touch of mustard were absolute heavenly!

I’m submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting event… Nice to be able to join that party after what seemed like too long a break! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Au Revoir, My Bewitching Kitchen (hard to believe it’s been one year already!)

TWO YEARS AGO: Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

28Jul2011

A TALE OF TWO CRUMPETS

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I’ve wanted to make crumpets from scratch for the longest time! I love the fact that they are full of tiny holes, smoother and creamier than regular bread, perfect to slather with butter or jam, or top with a poached egg and indulge… Recently I took a major step in the right direction, by getting crumpet rings (remember?). And tried not one, but two recipes, one leavened by sourdough starter, and the second a more authentic version, with commercial yeast and baking soda. Both methods produced completely different types of crumpets, and I favored the non-sourdough version. I know, who could imagine that? 😉
(click to enlarge)

TRADITIONAL CRUMPETS
(From Andy’s blog at The Fresh Loaf forum)

250 g bread flour
5 g salt
15 g yeast
275 g water
0.75 g bicarbonate of soda
70 g water

Add the flour and the salt to the bowl of an electric mixer, and mix on first speed for a minute. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Combine the yeast with the flour/salt and beat on first speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl, and beat on second speed for 6 minutes. Cover the bowl and let it sit on a warm place for 1 hour.

Heat a griddle to 390F (200 C). Dissolve the bicarbonate in the cold water and mix this solution to the batter. Use right away, pouring a small amount of batter in well greased crumpet rings. Cook for about 8 minutes on the first side, until bubbles form and the batter seems almost dry on top. Remove the rings – carefully, they are hot! – and flip the crumpets, cooking for no more than 2 minutes on the second side. Cool on a rack, and enjoy!

to print the recipe, click here

SOURDOUGH CRUMPETS
(from The Sourdough Companion)

Preferment
125 g all purpose flour
175 g water
12.5 g sourdough starter

Batter
125 g all purpose flour
175 g milk
300 g preferment (all the amount made)
5 g salt
5 g bicarbonate of soda

Make the preferment and let it sit at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours.

Next day, mix all the ingredients for the batter, and let if sit for 4 hours undisturbed at room temperature. Heat a griddle to 390 F (200 C). Pour small amounts of the batter in greased crumpet rings, and cook for 8 minutes on the first side, remove the rings carefully, and flip them to cook on the second side for a couple of minutes. Cool on a rack, and enjoy…

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Both recipes are pretty straightforward, with little hands-on time required. The traditional method allows you to have crumpets ready in about 1.5 hours, versus a little over 4 hours for the sourdough variation (not counting the pre-ferment prepared the day before). The next sets of photos give you an idea of how different the batters looked right before cooking, and how the authentic version gave a more hole-y texture in the crumpets already during cooking.

A few pointers for success:

1. Do not fill the rings more than halfway, because if you do, the holes will close when you flip the crumpets. It is tempting to add more batter, but resist the urge to do so. Also, it will be harder to cook them through if they are too thick.

2. Do not cook them on a griddle that is too hot, or you will have a hard crust at the bottom and the crumpets won’t cook uniformly. Better to keep a lower temperature and cook longer.

3. Do not cook the second side longer than 2 minutes, or you might end up with an English muffin! 😉

4. Grease the rings again for each batch of crumpets, so that they are easily removed. Crumpets are fragile, if they stick to the ring their shape can be compromised.

5. The rings are hot, and stay hot for a while once you remove them from the griddle. It is easy to forget about it as the second batch gets going (sigh).

In my second attempt – the traditional recipe – things worked a lot better, and even the crumpets that were a bit too thick and “lost the holes” on the surface after flipping, revealed a wonderful crumb structure…

You don’t need rings to cook English muffins because they hold their shape well, but they are a must-have for crumpets. You can of course improvise using empty, clean cans of appropriate diameter. This would be a fun weekend project, kids would love to help you out…

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…

ONE YEAR AGO: Sweet Emergency

TWO YEARS AGO: The Bread We Love

14Jul2011

HOEGAARDEN BEER BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I don’t regret that many things in my life, but if I could go back to the period that I lived in Paris, I’d take some time to travel to Belgium. I was so close to that beautiful country, but never saw it in person… it’s a shame and it’s sad. Plus, I’ve never met a person from Belgium who wasn’t super-nice! All my Belgium friends have a great sense of humor, a great appreciation for the fun side of life, and many positive things to say about their home country, that excels in so many things. Two of their special delicacies are chocolates and beer! The very best of both are produced in small quantities and not exported, but some excellent Belgium beer makes it all the way to the US, examples being Chimay, Leffe, and Hoegaarden, the latter of which is a beer that brings fond memories of my days as a single woman in Paris… 😉

I don’t drink beer anymore, but I still like to cook with it, or include it in breads- for a quick flash back, click here. So, when I saw this post not too long ago, I changed all my baking plans for the weekend, to accommodate a little Hoegaarden sourdough, and take the Bewitching Kitchen on a virtual trip to Belgique!

HOEGAARDEN BEER BREAD
(adapted from Fab Food Blog)

For the sponge:
120 g 100% hydration sourdough starter
60 g bread flour
45 ml Hoegaarden white beer

For the final dough:
235 g bread flour
65 ml Hoegaarden white beer
40 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Mix all the ingredients for the sponge in a small bowl, mix well and leave it overnight at room temperature. It should be very bubbly and more than double in size. If it rises too much and collapses, it’s fine.

Next morning, place the sponge, flour, beer and water in a large bowl. Mix for a few minutes until barely combined, then let it sit for 20 minutes undisturbed. Add the salt, fennel seeds, and rosemary, and mix by gentle kneading. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes, knead again (20 seconds cycle), let the dough rise for about 40 minutes. Do one more cycle of quick kneading and let the dough rise for another 40 minutes. Knead one final time and let the dough rise undisturbed for 1.5 to 2 hours, until almost doubled in size. Shape as a ball, and place with the seam side up inside a well floured banetton type container.

Let it rise undisturbed for 2 hours. Heat the oven to 450 F with baking stones or tiles inside. Invert the dough on the tiles, quickly score the surface, and bake with initial steam. If covering the dough, remove the cover after 30 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 425 F and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden brown. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This recipe makes a small boule, so if you want to serve it in a dinner party for several people, consider doubling the recipe and baking two loaves. The bread smells wonderful during baking, and fennel is the dominant flavor. As to the beer, it would be interesting to bake two loaves side by side, substituting water for beer in one of them – I imagine that there will be a slight difference in sourness and complexity of flavor, but it’s hard to know for sure with the competing taste of fennel and rosemary (which, by the way, I increased a bit from the original posted recipe). In my experience, fresh rosemary has a tendency to lose its punch once it’s incorporated in bread dough, so I now use it with more abandon.

Fennel lovers: pair this delicious bread with some hearty Italian type sausage, for a double-fennel kick… Don’t like fennel? Simply omit it, the bread will still be delicious with a nice crust and moderately open crumb.

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting event… stop by and visit her weekly showcase of breads.

ONE YEAR AGO: Ancho-Chile Marinade: Pleased to meat you!

TWO YEARS AGO: The Handmade Loaf (the book that got me into sourdough baking!)

Spicy Kalamata Sourdough (bewitchingkitchen.com)
Bread Winner (Part 1) (tienunscripted.wordpress.com)
Pane De Casa & Crostini (bewitchingkitchen.com)
Homemade bagels! (kerrycooks.wordpress.com)

30Jun2011

PANE DE CASA & CROSTINI

Posted in Breads by sallybr

We were invited for a dinner party last Saturday, and I asked the hostess if I could take some homemade bread. Keep in mind that she had just returned from Paris and would be serving us, her lucky guests, an assortment of cheeses brought straight from the City of Light. My mind was already set on this great post by Celia with a step-by-step tutorial for making her “pane de casa,” a variation of ciabatta. It seemed like a perfect option for the occasion. Celia experimented and optimized a recipe that includes semolina flour in the dough with great success! All I had to do was to follow in her footsteps… 😉

CELIA’s PANE DE CASA
(from Celia, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial blog)

500g (3½ cups) bakers/bread flour
500g (3½ cups) fine semolina (durum wheat) flour
7g (1¾ teaspoons) dried/instant yeast (or one sachet)
18g (2¾ teaspoons) fine sea salt
750g (3 cups) fridge cold water
rye flour, for dusting

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, yeast and salt.
Add the cold water, and mix the ingredients together to form a sticky dough. Really squelch the mix through your fingers until evenly combined. Scrape off your hand and cover the bowl with a towel. Allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Give the dough a quick knead in the mixing bowl – after the short rest time it will have relaxed a little. Just fold it over itself a dozen or so times, and then scrape your hand off again and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to prove until well risen – this might take up to three hours depending on your kitchen conditions. In our kitchen the dough was ready in a little over 2 hours. It should be very airy and full of bubbles, almost fully doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 480 F (220 C). If you are using pizza stones, place them on the racks to heat up, and tear off four sheets of parchment paper. If you do not have pizza stones, line a couple of baking trays with parchment.

Heavily dust the bench and your hands with rye flour, then scrape the dough out gently – be careful not to knock all the air out of it. Fold the top of the dough into the middle, and then fold the bottom over to enclose it, forming a long rectangle. Keep your hands well dusted with rye flour, and use your scraper if necessary to help you handle the dough. Dust the top of the dough with more rye flour, then using your scraper, cut the dough into four roughly equal pieces. Dust your hands again with rye flour. Pick each piece of dough up by the ends, give it a little stretch, and then place it on a sheet of parchment to go onto the pizza stones, or onto the lined baking tray.

Spray the top of each loaf with a little water. Turn the oven down to 425 F (220 C) and put the loaves in to bake for 20 minutes. Then rotate the loaves (if you’re baking on stones, remove the parchment now) or the oven tray, and lower the heat to 350 F (125 C). Bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the loaves are crusty and hollow-sounding when tapped.

To make the crostini:
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch of dried herbs of your choice (I used herbes de Provence)

Mix the olive oil with the herbs. Once the bread is completely cold (or next day), cut it in slices 1/4 inch thick. Brush the oil very lightly on both sides of the bread, and grill each side until nice marks form. Give each slice a slight turn after a couple of minutes to produce a crisscross pattern.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: As you can see in the photo, two of my loaves ended up lighter and the crust opened almost as if the bread had been scored (it had not). Those were baked exactly as Celia did, spraying a little water on the surface. The other loaves were baked under an inverted roasting pan previously filled and empty of hot water to generate steam in the initial 20 minutes of baking. The difference in the crust was quite amazing! For this type of bread, I prefer the ones baked uncovered. Their taste was very similar, and so was their crumb structure.

In theory, crostini is simply a toasted bread and could be made in the oven, but for me nothing beats the taste and texture provided by grilling. The use of herbs is optional, I made half of our crostini plain, so we could have some flexibility with the different cheeses.

This is a wonderful bread, with a beautiful yellowish tint due to the semolina, that also makes it last longer than regular ciabatta. Even if you are a novice in bread baking, with Celia’s detailed instructions and photos, you’ll be able to bake it without problems.

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting

ONE YEAR AGO: Down-Home Dig-in Chili

TWO YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Rolls

15Jun2011

SPICY KALAMATA SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I cannot think of a better way to re-open the Bewitching Kitchen than a loaf of sourdough bread! My sourdough starter was refreshed the day before we left L.A., and a small amount came with us in the car. One more refreshment once we arrived, and I was back in business. Instead of using a recipe from a book, I adapted a basic formula, adding three ingredients that remind me of our times in L.A.

1. Kalamata olives, because we went through countless bottles of the very affordable and delicious Trader Joe’s pitted Kalamatas. We brought a bottle with us, it will be a sad day when it’s finished now that we don’t have a Trader Joe’s 3 miles from home.

2. Red pepper flakes, because quite a few of our friends in L.A. were heavy into hot and spicy food (and drinks!). The more we hang out with them, the more we got into pepper ourselves.

3. Fresh rosemary, because it grew wild around our neighborhood. In fact, on our second week in L.A., I was staring at a huge plant near our house, when the owner of the home came out and said hello. I asked, in disbelief – “Is this rosemary”? – she smiled, and told me to get some whenever I wanted, as evidently the plant was threatening to overtake her property! 😉

So, here is my take on a sourdough to bring a little of L.A. into our kitchen.

SPICY KALAMATA SOURDOUGH
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

200g (ml) water at room temperature
142g sourdough starter (at 100% hydration)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
280g bread flour
85g dark rye flour
9 g salt
3/4 cup kalamata olives (cut in half)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Dissolve the starter and the instant yeast in the water in a large bowl. Add the flour, mix to incorporate (or use a Kitchen Aid type mixer for a couple of minutes on low speed), then cover with a plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 20 minutes undisturbed.

Sprinkle the salt on top, and mix by gentle kneading or with the mixer for a few more minutes. Once the salt is incorporated, add the olives, red pepper, and rosemary, and knead by hand or with the mixer (again in low speed).

Let the dough rise for 3 hours, with quick kneading cycles at 40 min, 1h 20 min, and 2 hours (timing is pretty flexible, no need to pay too close attention to it). Shape the dough into a round, place in a banetton or other appropriate container with the seam up. Let it rise for 3 hours, until almost doubled in size, and with an airy feeling as you gently press the surface of the dough.

Bake in a 450F oven, covered for the first 30 minutes, then uncover and lower the temperature to 425F for the remaining time. If you have a favorite method to create steam, use it in the initial baking. I prefer to use a roasting pan previously filled with water, emptied of the water and quickly inverted on top of the loaf as my steam source.

Let the bread completely cool on a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Wild yeast purists, forgive me, because I cheated. Yes, I admit, I added commercial yeast to this bread. It turns out that I baked it the day after arriving home, and my schedule for that day was a bit iffy. I wanted to make sure the bread would be ready to bake before too late. Also, I was hoping for a crumb a little more tight, to use the bread for sandwiches, so I proofed a little less and reduced the number of kneading cycles.

The bread has intense olive flavor, and a nice hint of heat every now and then. The rosemary flavor was not as strong as I had hoped for, so next time I’ll increase that amount. A delicious bread, fantastic as an open face sandwich with a slice of ham, cheese, tomato slices, and a run under the broiler.