BBA#23: PANE SICILIANO

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

I’ve made this bread about a year ago, and it didn’t turn out very good, so I was not exactly thrilled to make it this weekend for the BBA Challenge. It takes three days from beginning to end, on the first day you make a pate fermentee, on the second day you make the dough and shape the bread, put it in the fridge overnight and bake next morning.

My pictures tell you two things: first, I had problems shaping the dough, instead of a nice S shape, it got kind of bulky. Second , the bread had almost zero oven spring (a term used by bakers referring to how much the bread rises during baking). My loaves ended up quite small, a problem that also happened to Paul (you can check his website following a link at the end of my post).

It tasted ok, but not great, a little too dry for my taste. I don’t think I’ll be making it again.

Check out the loaves made by my virtual friends ahead of me in the BBA Challenge:

Paul….

Carolyn…

Oggi…

Joelen…

Mags…

and TxFarmer

Next in this baking journey: panettone! Looking forward to it…

16Oct2009

OCTOBER 16th is WORLD BREAD DAY

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Sometimes I wonder if I could live without certain foods. Rice….potatoes…. pasta? Possibly. Cheese? The thought makes me weak in the knees. Bread? That’s preposterous, NO WAY!

I love baking bread almost as much as eating it, so I had to bake bread on World Bread Day. Bakers around the world bake or buy their favorite bread and talk about it.

Please read all about it here

To celebrate this event I chose a sourdough loaf I’ve been contemplating for the longest time… “Pain de Campagne” from a recipe adapted by David, a great baker who shares his knowledge at the forum “The Fresh Loaf”

PAIN DE CAMPAGNE
(adapted from David’s post )

100 g active sourdough starter
450 g bread flour
50 g rye flour
370 g water
10 g salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast

In a large bowl, mix the sourdough starter with the water to dissolve it. Add the flours and stir to form a shaggy mass. Cover tightly and let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the yeast over the dough and mix by folding a few times. Then sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix.

Stretch and fold the dough 20 times, rotating the bowl slightly between each fold. Cover tightly. Repeat this stretch and fold procedure 20 minutes later and, again, after another 20 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled container and rest it in the fridge for 21 hours.

Take out the dough and scrape it gently onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently pat it into a rectangle. Pre-shape for a loaf by folding the near edge up just past the center of the dough and sealing it pressing with the heel of your hand. Then, bring the far edge of the dough gently just over the sealed edge and seal it again the same way.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30-60 minutes, with the seams up. Finish shaping the bread by folding the near edge of the dough and sealing it again, then taking the far edge of the dough and bringing it towards you all the way to the work surface, sealing the seam with the heel of your hand. Gently rotate the loaf toward you 1/4 turn so the last seam formed is against the work surface and roll the loaf back and forth, to finish sealing the seam.

Place a baking stone (or baking tiles) on the middle rack of the oven and heat it to 470F. Fill a large roasting pan with hot water. Once the shaped loaf is just 1.5 times bigger (not quite doubled in size), slash the top with a single cut all the way along the bread, and place it over the tiles. Mine proofed for only 35 minutes. Empty the roasting pan, leaving the residual hot water just clinging to it, and flip it over to cover the dough. Bake covered for 30 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 10-15 minutes more, until the internal temperature reaches at least 205F.

Remove the bread to a rack and cool it for 2 hours before slicing.

ENJOY!

This bread is simply perfect. The crumb is, as my husband described it ” hearty but at the same time silky in your mouth “. David, thank you so much for a great recipe!

Let’s hope that everyone can enjoy a nice piece of bread today, World Bread Day…

Here are some photos of this loaf in the making.

The dough, after 21 hours in the fridge is airy, all bubbly… (21 hours in the fridge make this a perfect bread to bake during the work week: prepare it the day before, put it in the fridge and finish when you arrive from work the next day).

The shaped loaf …

Slashed….

After removing the cover at 30 min ….

Cooling…. (the hardest part is the waiting…. 😉

12Oct2009

BBA#22: PAIN DE CAMPAGNE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

“Pain” in French has nothing to do with “pain” in English, but this bread gave me plenty of pain. Let’s start with the good news: the crumb.

I’d be embarrassed to meet Peter Reinhart after BBA#22. I managed to mangle the “epis” shape. In my defense, I couldn’t resist the challenge of shaping it, as one of our favorite boulangeries in Paris is called “Pain d’Epis“. I’ve now developed an increased sense of respect for their wonderfully shaped breads, baked to perfection, day in and day out.

Back to the recipe. It calls for pate fermentee, made the day before and refrigerated overnight. In the morning add all the other ingredients (I used rye flour as the whole wheat component), and complete the recipe. I folded the dough (3 times) instead of kneading.

To make the “epis” shape, first form a baguette-type loaf …

then make scissor-cuts in opposite directions.

After one more hour of rising, into the oven it goes….

Well, well, well … hmmmm, something went wrong. I guess the cuts should be more parallel to the surface, and deeper. When properly cut, the lobes of dough can be moved further apart, because if not the dough will rise and join the “epis” together again.

I lost the battle, but not the war, because the bread was very tasty, with a good crumb, nice crust, not as as hard as a sourdough’s crust, just right… I want to perfect this shaping of the epis, though, and if anyone has advice, ideas or suggestions, I’m all ears!

Twenty-two breads down, twenty-one to go!

Check some of the “pain de campagne” made by my fellow bakers (maybe they can give me some lessons!):

Carolyn, from Two Skinny Jenkins

Joelen, from “What’s Cookin’ Chicago?”

Oggi, from “I Can Do That” (and evidently she can do a fantastic job!)

Mags, from “The Other Side of Fifty”

Paul, from “Yumarama Artisan Bread”

Txfarmer from sina.blog (very nice step by step photos)

10Oct2009

BBA#21: PAIN A L’ANCIENNE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Among the breads in Peter Reinhart’s book, I put this one in my “top-five-list”! Having lived in Paris for several years, I always crave the amazing baguettes that we found in every corner of the city…

The recipe for “Pain a l’ancienne” is deceptively simple: flour, water, salt and yeast, followed by a brief kneading, and then into the fridge for several hours. But, if making the dough is easy and simple, shaping the bread is another story! This is a high hydration dough, that must be gently handled. It takes an expert baker to balance the gentleness and assertiveness needed to coax such a soft dough into the correct baguette shape. Maybe you can get an idea of how tricky it is from the photos…

This is the dough after spending the night in the fridge. Next morning it will slowly “wake up” at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours (mine took about 3 hours and 15 minutes to double in size).

Once it doubles, gently “pour” it out of the bowl, open it in a rectangle, and cut the dough in three “bread-like” pieces (the full recipe makes 6 baguettes, I made a half-recipe). Then they will be slightly stretched and placed in a very hot oven.

I need more practice with shaping baguettes, and not to mention the “slashing”. I didn’t slash two of them, and only practiced my skills with the blade on the third. Indeed, need more practice is a kind way to put it 😉

My baguettes had a “boat shape”, both ends rising up, which, according to Susan, from Wild Yeast, it means the oven was too hot. Note to self: bake at 475F instead of 490F next time!

But, even if they weren’t the best looking baguettes, the crumb and the crust were just the way we like them; they were delicious!

With this bread, we arrive at the midpoint of the “Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge“! Lots of great breads ahead, but I am starting to feel a bit nostalgic. It’s a lot of fun to “bake a book” like this, with so many other bakers doing the same. I’ll be a little sad when it’s over, but, for the time being, check out some other bakers’ pain a l’ancienne

Carolyn of Two Skinny Jenkins

Joelen, of “What’s Cookin’, Chicago?”

Oggi, of “I Can Do That”

Mags, from “The Other Side of Fifty”

Paul, from “Yumarama’s Artisan Bread”

Txfarmer from her gorgeous Chinese blog…

4Oct2009

BBA#20: MULTIGRAIN BREAD EXTRAORDINAIRE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Hard to believe it’s number 20 already!

This bread is made with commercial yeast and a mixture of water-soaked grains. Two things to remember: soak the grains, and cook some brown rice the day before. Or, as Carolyn (on Two Skinny Jenkins) and I did, find yourself in full panic mode when it’s time to make the dough, realizing too late that brown rice takes AGES to cook! However, she pulled it off nicely by cooking the rice in the microwave. My own saga didn’t have such a happy ending. Let’s just say that I had some issues yet again. But, first, here’s the final product, the loaf of multigrain bread extraordinaire….

As usual, we can’t post the recipes for breads made in the “challenge“, but here are some photos of the process.

Soak a mixture of grains (cornmeal, rolled oats, and wheat bran) overnight in water, and then added them to bread flour with the other ingredients (yeast, salt, honey, brown sugar, and water).

My mixture lacked…. cooked brown rice… my apologies once more to Peter Reinhart, but after my initial panic I attempted to use the microwave, got “slightly distracted” and by the time I felt a strange smell coming from the kitchen, this was the state of my brown rice.

Needless to say, I skipped the rice. Instead of kneading in the KA, I folded the dough three times at 20, 40, and 60 minutes, formed into a loaf, sprinkled poppy seeds all over, allowed it to rise one more time, and sent it into the oven ….

The bread is just a little too sweet for my taste, so next time I would reduce the amount of honey, or maybe skip it altogether. For a multigrain bread I prefer a sourdough base. Still, my husband liked this bread quite a bit: “great flavor and succulent crumb” were his comments. I probably shouldn’t have slashed it, but I’ve been practicing this skill at every opportunity.

I wonder what the brown rice would bring to it in terms of taste or texture – I guess the only way to find is to make it again… 😉