IT’S SOURDOUGH, WITCHES!

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Once again I put a little wafer paper to work for some bewitched sourdough bread. I used just a basic recipe with my default method described many times in this blog of mine (click here). I lowered the hydration a bit to try to control the expansion of the design (for 500g total flour I used 335g water).

I was inspired by a Halloween bread from Kelsey (@3catsandapig) to come up with my design.
She is an incredibly talented bread artist.

It all starts with cutting the wafer paper in the spider web shape, and painting a little witch’s design (I used a stencil and air-brushing). Make sure to cut the wafer paper shape twice, as you will use one of them to cover the dough as you either rub cocoa powder or air-brush with black all over. Then you will peel that off and place a clean one on that spot, proceeding with the scoring around it.

After covering the surface with black, score the design with a razor blade, and then immediately spray some orange (or red) air brush color in the cuts. That will give a nice contrast, but of course you can omit this step.

Bake the bread normally, I do 30 minutes with the lid on, and 15 minutes without the lid. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

I find that air-brushing the whole surface makes the crust a bit soft, so depending on how you like your bread, rubbing with cocoa powder or charcoal might be better. What I dislike about those options is that they rub off on your hands as you cut the bread later. But it is not a big deal, really.

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9Oct2023

POLKA DOT LOVE SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Once again I played with wafer paper to decorate sourdough bread, but this time I coupled it with a few strings to generate a cute shape, often used to turn the bread into pumpkin shape, but I opted for a more romantic outcome… Nothing personal against pumpkins, I do love them and honored them in the past (click here).

Start by cutting wafer paper in small heart shapes…. You will need three, and three long strings that you should rub very lightly with oil to facilitate removing later.

Place the strings equally spaced over the proofed dough, flip the dough over parchment paper, and tie the strings on the top, trying to hit the center as closely as possible. Gently insert the paper, coat the surface with flour and score the bread in any design you like. I used the Sonic blade and small scissors, as I often do.

Bake as you normally do, I keep the lid for 30 minutes and remove it for a final 15 minutes, all at 450F. Remove the strings, and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

You can use different patterns for the small hearts, or cut plain wafer paper and paint it yourself.

It is really amazing how well the colors in the wafer paper stay pretty much unchanged with baking, much better than air-brushed or gel colors. I hope you give this technique a try and have as much fun with it as I am having…

ONE YEAR AGO: Plum Sorbet

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5Jul2023

SONIC BLADE SOURDOUGH SCORING

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I am so excited to share this new method with you! Perhaps you’ve noticed that I talked about a little mysterious gadget in my previous post, and today I explain what it does. It is an adaptor for a razor blade to be used with a Sonic type toothbrush, You need to have the right model, in which the head is pushed into the toothbrush, not screwed in. I’ve had a Phillips Sonic toothbrush for many many years and was quite intrigued about using it to slash sourdough. Works like a dream. As one user described, “it is like having one of those lightsabers from Star Wars”. It does feel very smooth and efficiently goes through the surface without ripping the dough. You can read all about it here. Nicola, the person behind the invention is super nice and responsive, plus she is amazing at making all sorts of designs on her bread, available on youtube or IG. The website I linked has all the info to her social media.

Here is a little video of one of my recent adventures with Sonic scoring… It is 8X faster than real time. I followed one of the designs by Nicola to make this particular one.

TO ORDER YOUR SONIC BLADE ADAPTER, CLICK HERE

As to the breads, I will share just one recipe because I used olive oil infused with fresh oregano to flavor it, and a little bit of dry oregano in the dough. It turned out absolutely delicious.

FRESH OREGANO SOURDOUGH
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

1/3 cup olive oil
fresh oregano leaves, a big bunch
475 g bread flour
25 g spelt flour
60-70 g sourdough starter at 100% hydration
340 g water
10 g salt
1 tsp dried oregano

Make the infused olive oil by heating the oil in a small saucepan, adding the fresh oregano and simmering for a minute or so. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and let the oil sit for half an hour. Pass through a sieve to remove the leaves, pressing them well. Reserve the oil, allowing it to cool to room temperature or barely warm.

Mix all the ingredients and 2 to 3 tablespoons of the infused oil in a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook.

Turn the mixer on with the hook attachment and knead the dough for 4 and a half minutes at low-speed all the time. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour, you want the dough to start clearing the sides of the bowl, but still be sticky at the bottom.

Remove from the machine, and transfer to a container lightly coated with oil. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 4 hours, folding every 45 minutes or so. After four hours bulk fermentation, shape the dough as a ball, and place, seam side up, in a lightly floured banetton. Leave at room temperature one hour, and then place in the fridge overnight, from 8 to 12 hours.

Next morning, heat the oven to 450F. Invert the dough over parchment paper, rub gently tapioca flour on the surface. Score with the pattern of your choice and bake at 450F for 45 minutes, preferably covered for the first 30 minutes to retain steam. Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

It is quite amazing to use that blade, you just need to be careful when placing it in the adaptor, for obvious reasons, it is sharp, very sharp. I like to add the adaptor to the toothbrush first, and then screw the bade in, because I find it safer to do it this way.

I love the clean cuts the blade does, and will be using it often in future breads, so stay tuned!

ONE YEAR AGO: Happy 4th of July!

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy 4th of July!

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13Jan2022

DOUBLE PEANUT SOURDOUGH LOAF

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Of all the nuts out there, the peanut is the ugly duckling. Simple, humble, affordable, available everywhere. It does not have that majestic feel of a macadamia, or the sexy aura of a hazelnut. Most sourdough breads include walnuts or pecans, leaving them once again neglected. Not in my kitchen, though. This bread gets a double load of peanuts. Peanut butter, and roasted peanuts joined together with flour, salt and a wild bunch of yeast and bacteria aka sourdough starter.

DOUBLE PEANUT SOURDOUGH LOAF
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

370g water
70g active sourdough starter at 100% hydration
470g bread flour
20g spelt flour
10 g rye flour
30g peanut butter (smooth)
30g roasted peanuts, unsalted
10g salt

Place the water in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer and dissolve the starter in it, mixing with a spatula briefly, then add the three types of flour, the peanut butter and the salt.
Turn the mixer on with the hook attachment and knead the dough for 2 minutes at low-speed all the time. If the dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup flour, you want the dough to start clearing the sides of the bowl, but still be sticky at the bottom.
Add the peanuts and continue kneading in low-speed for 2 and a half minutes more.
Remove the dough from the machine, and transfer to a container lightly coated with oil, cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 4 hours, folding every 45 minutes or so.
After four hours bulk fermentation, shape the dough as a ball, and place, seam side up, in a lightly floured banetton. Leave at room temperature one hour, and then place in the fridge overnight, from 8 to 12 hours.
Next morning, heat the oven to 450F. Invert the dough over parchment paper, rub gently white flour on the surface. Score with any pattern you like.
Bake at 450F for 45 minutes, preferably covered for the first 30 minutes to retain steam. Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: If you follow my blog, you know that my default method for sourdough involves the Kitchen Aid initial kneading and never heating the Dutch oven before dropping the bread inside, over parchment paper. Those two details make life a lot easier in terms of clean up of bowls, hands, and lack of burning marks in forearms and fingers…

I add the peanuts after 2 minutes kneading with the KA, and run the machine for one additional couple of minutes or so. That is enough to incorporate the nuts in the dough, which will continue to happen during the subsequent foldings. You can slash the dough in patterns or just do a simple slash. Below I show you another type of pattern, a kind of geometric flower.

We loved the subtle peanut flavor of this bread, and biting into a little peanut here and there was also very nice. The peanuts will end up softer than other nuts normally used in breads.

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17Nov2021

CHARCOAL PAINTED SPELT SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Something new that I’ve tried last week… Use any sourdough recipe you like, I am sharing my default version with a touch of spelt. Once the bread is ready to go into the oven, add some water to a little charcoal powder and brush the surface of the dough. While it’s still wet, place a stencil on top and shower it with white flour (all-purpose is fine). Rub it gently so that the design is as sharp as possible. Carefully lift the stencil, slash the bread and bake.

CHARCOAL PAINTED SPELT SOURDOUGH
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

480g bread flour
20g spelt flour
10g salt
370g water
80g sourdough starter at 100% hydration
1 tablespoon activated charcoal powder
a little water
all-purpose flour for stencil detail

Make the levain mixture about 6 hours before you plan to mix the dough. It should be very bubbly and active.

When you are ready to make the final dough, place the water in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer and dissolve the starter in it, mixing with a spatula briefly, then add the two types of flour, and the salt. Turn the mixer on with the hook attachment and knead the dough for 4 minutes at low-speed all the time. If the dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup flour, you want the dough to start clearing the sides of the bowl, but still be sticky at the bottom.

Remove from the machine, and transfer to a container lightly coated with oil, cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 4 hours, folding every 45 minutes or so. After four hours bulk fermentation, shape the dough as a ball, and place, seam side up, in a lightly floured banetton. Leave at room temperature one hour, and then place in the fridge overnight, from 8 to 12 hours.

Next morning, heat the oven to 450F. Invert the dough over parchment paper, make a paste with the charcoal powder and water, and paint over the surface. Immediately place a stencil on top, and shower white flour over it, rubbing it gently to get the design to stick well. Next, use a brand new razor blade to score around the design, to coach the bread into opening without ruining the pattern.

Bake at 450F for 45 minutes, preferably covered for the first 30 minutes to retain steam. Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I know that one should never complain about excessive oven-spring when bread baking, but for some designs it would be better to have a less “explosive” loaf… I intend to play with formulas with higher whole-wheat content to try and tame the loaves with patterns and more elaborate scoring. Still I like the way this turned out, and it is much better than rubbing the powder over the loaf.

You can brush the excess flour once the bread is cold. I need to play a bit with the placement of the stencil and the amount of flour to add to it, but overall I am quite pleased with the overall look.