TAKING A BREAK FROM THE WILD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I’ve always been fascinated by bread baking. For years I would read books and blogs, but get discouraged because the breads I fell in love with were all made with a sourdough starter. You know, that wild yeast thing. I would close the book, click away from the site, telling myself “why can’t they bake bread with regular yeast, like normal people?” It was so frustrating! Of course, if you follow my blog, you’ll know that now I love to walk on the wild side… 😉 Like many bread bakers, using commercial yeast almost feels like cheating. But, a bread leavened just with instant yeast can be amazing too. In this recipe, 80% of the formula comprises flour fermented overnight with a small amount of yeast. It comes from Flour Water Salt Yeast, by Ken Forkish.

WHAAAT? NO RECIPE?

Here’s the deal: I sent a couple of messages to Mr. Forkish asking his permission to publish the recipe, but got no answer. Of course, it’s quite possible he never checks his Facebook account. I know many people who don’t even remember having one! 😉 Without his permission, I don’t feel it is right to include the recipe. You can read more about this subject at the end of my post.

If you want to try his method, you can click here for a great variation on his recipe that includes barley flour in the formula. The technique is exactly the same, though. I intend to make it myself soon, as I am quite fond of barley flour.

Comments: Of all breads I’ve made, this one was by far the loudest singer. The noises it made while it sat on the counter, cooling, were unreal! Interestingly, Jane, the blogger behind The Wayward Oven, had this to say about her version of Forkish’s White Bread with 80% BIGA:

“It had a wonderful aroma and the crackling as it cooled was so loud I could – no exaggeration! – hear it across the room.”

Yeah, that was exactly the case! I also loved Forkish’s approach of letting the bread rise with the seam side down, and then invert it for baking, without scoring the crust. The bread opens in a natural, more rustic-looking way. This bread has a double personality: the taste and crust of a regular sourdough, and a crumb with the softer texture usually found in breads made with commercial yeast. Quite an interesting combination!

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…

And now, for something completely different…

When I started blogging, I did not give too much thought about publishing recipes from cookbooks. I changed the wording around, gave credit, and felt it was good enough. As time passed, my views on the issue started to change, in part because I learned that some cookbook authors are completely against having their recipes out in the blogosphere, even if proper credit is given. Then, my virtual friend Joanna published a thoughtful article on her blog, and that pretty much did it for me. Ever since I read her post, I decided not to transcribe a recipe from any cookbook here, unless I get permission from the author, which unfortunately is not always that easy.

If I adapt a recipe, I will publish it and link to the “inspirational source”. In fact, that is a practice considered ok by copyright laws. A very good article on the whole subject was written by David Lebowitz and is available here. As to recipes published in food magazines, Fine Cooking editors told me they do not mind their recipes being published as long as a link is provided to the source. And other magazines – such as Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, Saveur, Cooking Light – have their content online for public access, so it is not a problem to blog on them.

ONE YEAR AGO: Zucchini-Spinach Soup

TWO YEARS AGO: Pollo en Mole en Cacahuate

THREE YEARS AGO: Thom Leonard’s Country French Bread

28Mar2013

SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH WALNUTS AND DATES

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Another example of inspiration coming from The Fresh Loaf. David is a regular contributor to the forum, and every bread he makes is a work of art. He is the type of baker comfortable enough around sourdough starter to devise his own recipes, having recently come up with a fig and walnut concoction. David had access to fantastic figs, but when I went to the store I was not particularly impressed with what was available. Since I am no longer afraid to improvise ;-), I used dates instead. This bread is perfect to practice mindful eating. Don’t devour it. Instead, savor each bite as slowly as you can. Awesome bread, very complex taste.

SAN FRANCISCO-STYLE SOURDOUGH WITH WALNUTS AND DATES
(adapted from David, at The Fresh Loaf forum)

for the stiff levain
41 g water
66 g sourdough starter
78 g all-purpose flour
4 g rye flour

for the final dough
337 g water
416 g all-purpose flour
46 g whole wheat flour
11 g salt
189 g levain
98 g dates, diced fine
98 g walnuts, diced and lightly toasted

Dissolve the starter in the water. Add the flour and mix thoroughly until the flour has been completely incorporated and moistened. Ferment at room temperature for 16 hours.

In a stand mixer, mix the flour and water at low-speed until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover and autolyse for 30 minutes. Coarsely chop or break apart the walnut pieces and toast them for 8 minutes in a 300ºF oven. Allow to cool. Coarsely chop the dates, rinse in cool water, drain and set aside.

Add the salt and levain to the autolyse, and mix at low-speed for 1-2 minutes, then increase the speed to medium (Speed 2 on a KitchenAid) and mix for 5 minutes. Add flour and water as needed. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl but not the bottom. Add the walnuts and the figs to the dough and mix at low-speed until well-distributed in the dough. (About 2 minutes).

Transfer to a lightly floured board, do a stretch and fold, and form a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly. Ferment at 76º F for 2 1/2 to 3 hours with a stretch and fold at 50 and 100 minutes. Shape as a large ball (or divide the dough in two and shape as two smaller loaves) and place in banneton. Proof at room temperature (68-70º F) for 1-2 hours. Cold retard the shaped dough overnight.

The next morning, proof the dough at 85º F for 2-3 hours. Heat the oven to 480º F. Score the bread as desired, and bake with initial steam, reducing the oven to 460 F when the bread goes in. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, and cool completely on a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I am still having issues with our oven, the temperature shoots up and down, making it hard to control proper baking. At some point in the future we’ll change our kitchen appliances, but for the time being we dance according to the music. That’s the proper Zen attitude. Or so I am told… 😉

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting.

ONE YEAR AGO: Braised Brisket with Bourbon-Apricot Glaze

TWO YEARS AGO: The Real Vodka Sauce

THREE YEARS AGO: Pork Tenderloin and Blue Cheese

10Mar2013

RED WINE SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH CRANBERRIES

Posted in Breads by sallybr

The Fresh Loaf Forum is a virtual paradise for bread bakers, as not only very experienced folks share their best recipes, but you can also get feedback in case problems arise with a recipe. Last week I stopped by the site and the thread right at the top had the following title: Sourdough Wine Bread. That got my full attention. I clicked on it, and was blown away by the gorgeous photos, and the unusual color of the bread’s crumb, given by the wine and the dried cranberries. I revived my starter that same day, and started this bread on a Friday night. Sometimes you should not wait to chase a dream.RED WINE SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH DRIED CRANBERRIES
(adapted from The Fresh Loaf Forum, bread by Yuko)

102 g sourdough starter (at 100% hydration)
288 g all-purpose flour
80 g water
123 g red wine
6.7 g Salt
80 g dried cranberries

In a bowl, mix flour, wine, and water roughly, cover it with plastic and keep for 12 hours in the fridge (autolyse).

Add sourdough starter and mix by folding dough in the bowl. Add cranberries and mix by folding dough in the bowl. Add salt and slap & fold for 3 – 4 minutes or until the dough becomes a ball. Bulk fermentation at room temperature, folding the dough every half and hour until it develops enough strength (I did 4 sets of folds).

Let it rise until the dough starts showing the yeast activity. It takes about 6 hours total depending on the temperature of your kitchen (I used my bread proofing box set at 78 F). Shape the bread as a boule (or 2 baguettes), place in a banetton or other appropriate container, and let it proof in the fridge for 16 to 18 hours.

Pull it out of the fridge and leave it out for one to three hours (see comments). Slash the bread and bake in a 450F oven with initial steam for a total of 40 minutes (for a boule), or 20 to 25 minutes for baguettes.

Cool on a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Preparing this bread had me worried up until the point I finally sliced it. Something seemed terribly wrong, as I detected very little fermentation, even though I kept the dough for almost 7 hours at 78 F. The original recipe called for retarding the dough in the fridge and shaping it next day, but my dough seemed so…. slow! I decided to shape it on the same day, and retard the dough in its final form, ready for the oven. Ideally, you should remove the bread from the fridge and allow it to almost double in size. That was not happening, so after a couple of hours I simply had to bake it.

Now, a little tangent. I usually wake up several times during the night, and tend to think about our experiments while trying to go back to sleep. Sometimes (unfortunately not that often), when I wake up again an hour or so later, I have a new idea to solve a problem or at least approach it. Almost as if during my sleep something goes to work “behind my back”… 😉 That Saturday night, I went to bed thinking about the red wine sourdough and why it seemed so weak. Exactly at 2am I woke up with one word blinking in my mind: SULFITES! All wine these days is preserved with sulfites! Maybe some batches have a higher concentration, maybe some of the bacteria or yeast in my starter was particularly sensitive to it. At any rate, one thing is certain: when you add red wine to make the dough the pH will be lower (higher acidity) so that will affect the efficiency of fermentation. Add to that the sulfites, and things can get trickier. Discussing these points in The Fresh Loaf forum, one of the bakers mentioned that when he adds wine to the dough the crumb of his bread gets tighter (indicating lower production of gas). For that reason, he normally tweaks his recipes to lower the alcohol and increase the water. Since in this case we are hoping for a nice red tint in the crumb, compromise is in order. I’d say keep the recipe as it is, and see how your starter behaves with it. Just for fun, I’ll try to find an organic red wine for my next “experiment”. Organic wines cannot have extra sulfites added, so the levels of the chemical will be low, ranging from 10 to 20 ppm (parts per million). Non-organic red wines often reach 125 ppm of sulfites or higher.

Even if the fermentation was not at its peak, this bread was delicious! I love the slightly sweetness given by the cranberries. My favorite match for the bread was a Maytag blue cheese, sharp and salty. Next day, slightly toasted, it seemed even better!

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting…

ONE YEAR AGO: Award-Winning Sourdough Baguettes

TWO YEARS AGO: Country Rye (Tartine)

THREE YEARS AGO: Penne a la Vechia Bettola

18Dec2012

LET’S BRAID IT ON!

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Joanna from Zeb Bakes is a constant source of inspiration. She always comes up with the most amazing breads, just because she got up one day in the mood to play with an idea, or try to mimic something from a fancy bakery. Not too long ago she shared with her readers a gorgeous bread with a crown, looking like a Roman Emperor, perhaps Julius Caesar on his golden days. According to Joanna, the Emperor had indulged a tad too much on vino the evening before, so his crown was tilted to one side. Granted, we’ve all had our days of overindulging, so let’s not be too critical. Here is my attempt at crowning a sourdough:

HAIL CAESAR SOURDOUGH
(adapted from Joanna, at Zeb Bakes)

Mix together:
25 g of active sourdough starter
100 g bread flour
125 g water

Leave for 12-16 hours in a cold kitchen; 6-10 hours in a warm one.

The following day, make the dough:
225 g of the above mixture
200 g water
175 g bread flour
150 g regular bread flour
75 g dark rye flour
1/2 tablespoon of dark malt dissolved in water
3 g dry yeast
10 g sea salt

Mix all ingredients together, except the salt. Leave the mass of dough to rest for 20 minutes, sprinkle salt on top and knead it in for a couple of minutes until smooth. You can use a KitchenAid in low-speed if you like.

Ferment the dough for 3 hours, with two folds (at 60 and 120 minutes). Leave the dough rise undisturbed for the last hour. Weigh the dough and separate a small amount roughly 10% of its weight for the braid. Divide that portion in three, make long strands with it, and form a braid. Place the braid at the bottom of a well floured banetton, form the remaining of the dough as a ball, and place it, seam side down over the braid.

Ferment the shaped dough for 2 hours, invert it on a piece of parchment paper, and bake in a 450 F oven with initial steam for 20 minutes, reduce the oven to 420 F and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more. Cool completely on a rack.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I loved making this bread! When Joanna posted her article, she got a comment from the baker who originally designed this recipe, and he advised her to use less dough (5 to 8% from the total weight) to make the braids. I used 10% because it already seemed like a very small amount, but I ran into some difficulties. I should have rolled my strands a little longer, and glued them better to the rest of the dough. Still, it is a nice touch to embellish a sourdough boule. I will not lie to you, though. My Emperor was also vino-happy the previous night, as these (more revealing) shots will demonstrate. 😉

This was a nice loaf of bread, with the delicious flavor of rye, and a golden brown crust, boosted by the inclusion of malt. I baked it inside a large roasting pan with a lid, after a nice comment left by Donna on my sourdough mini-rolls post. It worked extremely well, thanks for the great tip, Donna! I did not add any extra water inside the pan. I just poured some inside the lid, emptied it leaving a little water clinging to the surface, and inverted it quickly to close the roaster. At the end of 20 minutes I opened the roasting pan and continued baking uncovered.

Joanna, thanks for another great recipe! This one goes straight to Susan’s Yeastspotting…

ONE YEAR AGO: In My Kitchen, December 2011

TWO YEARS AGO: Festivus Dinner Rolls

THREE YEARS AGO: 100% Sourdough Rye

16Oct2012

OCTOBER 16: WORLD BREAD DAY!

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Six years ago, Zorra started an event called “World Bread Day“. Bakers from all over the world would bake a loaf of bread and blog about it. This year I am thrilled to participate and chose my favorite type of bread to join the party. The recipe comes from a very nice book, Artisan Baking, written by Maggie Glezer. A country French-style loaf called Essential’s Columbia. The formula comes from George DePasquale, from Seattle’s Essential Baking Company.

The perfect Sunday starts with a batch of sourdough starter all puffed up from getting fed 12 hours earlier. Before I even have my morning capuccino, the kitchen still dark, I look at my ingredients waiting, and get all excited anticipating the thrill of getting a nice loaf of bread from our oven. It does help a lot to weigh it all the night before, all you have to do is heat the water in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, and you are ready to go…

In Glezer’s book, this bread is listed as “advanced”, but it’s actually quite simple to prepare. It calls for all purpose flour, bread flour, whole wheat, and a little rye. Also in the formula a small amount of toasted wheat germ, and barley malt syrup. It uses a very firm starter, probably the firmest I’ve ever seen in a recipe, it is actually more like a dough that ferments for 12 hours and then is incorporated in the mixture of flours, salt, and water. A very slow and long fermentation, with the help of my bread proofing box. Amazing how the two banettons fit just right inside!

After shaping, the oblong loaf proofed for 3 hours, and the round one for almost 4 hours, as I could not bake them at the same time. Not much difference in the crumb, which was a bit surprising to me. I expected the round loaf to have a slightly more airy inner structure. But bread is bread, its temperamental nature one of the things I love the most about it.

I could not find a way to contact Maggie Glezer to get her official ok to publish the full recipe, but it is available online in a couple of blogs, so you can find it. But the book is a must-have for anyone with a passion for wild yeast, so consider providing that little boost on the economy.

My batard shaping was a little better than usual, but still needs improvement… gotta keep going at it!