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I know panettone really does require quite a lot of planning and research as well as knowledge, so my first time doing it and attempting it last minute probably wasn’t going to turn out well for all involved.  On top of that, I didn’t use a well-regarded recipe.  Also, I didn’t create a LM and didn’t get good panettone flour.  So many strikes against this turning out well.

I did want to test out whether using a stiff sweet starter to create the levain could work to reduce the LAB and acidity.  My understanding of what characteristics of an ideal LM are completely lacking, so this is likely the first mistake and will have downstream consequences.  I decided to try this out anyhow, at least as a learning bake and getting my hands dirty in making a panettone.

Gluten Morgen on YouTube has a video that appealed to me because he used his active 80-90% hydration starter rather than a LM, and the panettone he produced looked good enough.  I think in retrospect one issue (I’m sure there are many) is that the primo impasto is only fermented to doubling before cold retard.  Perhaps if I had increased my fridge temperature to 5°C as his was, the primo might have increased to triple in the fridge.  Not that he said to use it once it had tripled, but many recipes I have since read suggest that.  So with the reduced microbial activity of my primo impasto, the final fermentation took an agonizingly long 24 hours.  However, because of the other two bakes I had going, I started the secondo impasto at a low temperature for several hours before putting it into the 84°F proofer.  Then when I had to go to bed, I dropped it down to 74°F in the fear of it overfermenting.  In the morning, I was able to increase the temperature, and it completed a rise to about 1” of the edge of the mold.

The panettone has now baked, and actually looks alright.  However, it feels a bit heavy for its size.  It may only look OK because it has huge tunnels in it though, which could explain its feeling of weight.  It is now hanging upside down and after 30 mins hasn’t fallen out of the mold.  I haven’t decided if I will bring this to a family gathering out of town yet or not.  If it falls out, I certainly will not.

Another issue was when I inverted it to place it upside down in a pot, the skewers weren’t strong enough to support the panettone and one broke and the panettone hit the bottom of the pot.  I was able to get it out and reskewered and inverted.  

I thought I would share my experiences since I am obviously just starting to learn a tiny bit.  I’m not sure I’m ready to go down the route of creating and maintaining a LM yet.

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https://youtu.be/pb6LuJ6Yzvk?si=Keec-WsxS0CjODzu

Recipe makes 1kg dough right size for one of my moulds. 

Day 1 overnight stiff sweet starter build.

Stiff sweet starter build - needs 12 hour at 76-78ºF

Starter 9 g (80% hydration)  (water 4 g + flour 5 g)

white sugar 8 g

Water 11 g

Bread flour 24 g 

Initial pH 4.88 end pH 4.23 at 3x rise at 720 am day 2 morning

Day 2 morning 

Levain build

Stiff sweet starter 52 g

Water 50 g

Bread flour 52 g 

pH 4.93 at mixing. pH 4.1 near 3x rise

For the strong flour I added VWG to Robin Hood Bread Flour to bring it to 16% protein.

Dough weight: 1000 grs

Ingredients:

Primo Impasto - Day 2 afternoon

•⁠  ⁠(33%) First Dough - Strong Flour 16% protein: 95 g

•⁠  ⁠(50%) First Dough - Sourdough Levain: 145 g (80-90% hydration)

•⁠  ⁠(26%) First Dough - Eggs: 75 g

•⁠  ⁠(7%) First Dough - Sugar: 20 g

•⁠  ⁠(11%) First Dough - Butter: 32 g very soft

Secondo Impasto Day 3

- all of Primo Impasto and 

•⁠  ⁠(67%) Second Dough - Strong Flour 16% protein: 195 g

•⁠  ⁠(22%) Second Dough - Butter: 64 g very soft

•⁠  ⁠(26%) Second Dough - Sugar: 75 g

•⁠  ⁠(13%) Second Dough - Whole Egg: 38 g

•⁠  ⁠(16%) Second Dough - Egg Yolks: 46 g

•⁠  ⁠(7%) Second Dough - Honey (optional): 20 g and Vanilla 1 tsp 

•⁠  ⁠(2%) Second Dough - Salt: 5 g

•⁠  ⁠(33%) Second Dough - Chocolate or Raisins/sultanas: 95 g

•⁠  ⁠(9%) Second Dough - Rum: 26  g, will need more if using the raisins.

•⁠  ⁠(22%) Second Dough - Orange: 64 g

The consistency of the secondo impasto was firmer than I expected so I added an unmeasured amount of milk to it.  It is likely I over compensated for the protein and went too far by bringing it up to 16% protein.  Also, there are other characteristics of an ideal panettone flour that go beyond just protein that I don’t have a clue about with this flour.

Honey orange zest.

Zest the orange and add it to a small jar of honey 20 g along with the vanilla, stir and the zest will infuse the honey.  Prepare day before secondo impasto.

Soak the candied peel in rum overnight.

Chop the chocolate into chunks or use sultanas or raisins soaked in rum.

Glaze - prepare near end of final proof 

Powdered sugar 65 grs

Almond flour 32 grs

Corn starch 10 grs

Neutral oil 5 grs - I needed a bit more oil

Egg whites 25 grs - I needed a fair amount more egg whites otherwise it was too thick to spread.

Mix until smooth and use to top proofed dough prior to baking.

Primo Impasto - day two afternoon

For my Ankarsrum Assistent start with egg, then levain, cutting the levain.  Then add flour and mix, then continue as written.

In mixer add levain and flour then mix.  After a minute or two gradually add the egg.  After a minute add the sugar.  Once the gluten is moderately developed add the butter a pat at a time until fully incorporated. Complete with full gluten development.  

Remove dough for aliquot jar. 

pH at this point was 5.27

Shape into a boule and allow to double in size.  4-6 hours at 77°F (I will do 82°F).  Then cold retard until next day at 5°C. I didn’t increase my fridge temperature and left it at 3°C.  

Secondo Impasto - day three

Drain the fruit. Pat dry before adding to dough. 

Primo Impasto pH was now 4.23

Place Primo Impasto into mixing bowl along with the flour. Mix briefly then gradually add whole eggs.  Mix and then add ⅓ of the sugar and the egg yolks one by one.  Next add ⅓ of the sugar.  Mix a few minutes more and then add the rest of the sugar.  Once at least moderate gluten development  add the

 honey, vanilla and zest blend along with the salt.  Then gradually add the butter.  Mix to full gluten development, very important.

Next step will add the inclusions via lamination.  Lightly oil the countertop and stretch the dough out with lightly oiled hands.  Spread the inclusions on the dough.  Fold the dough over the inclusions until you form a mound.  Then do gentle French folds.  Aim to get a nice boule shape.  Next do pirlatura, in which you turn the dough in circles in one direction on a central axis quickly using lightly greased hands (can use butter for this). This tightens the dough giving it more tension to rise upwards. Then place in the mold. Cover with plastic wrap. 

Proof until the dough doubles in size.  It should be within 1” of the edge of the mold.  After final proof in mold - top with glaze using a small spatula and then top with some finishing sugar. 

Then bake 325°C convection for 40-45 mins for 500 g dough.  For 1 kg dough 350°F for 50-55 mins.  Check that internal temperature between 190-200°F. 

Once baking is complete the panettone needs to be hung upside down, so it will need to be skewered just above the base of the mold and can hang inside a large clean pot.  Using a clean pot ensures that you can still eat the panettone if it comes apart or out of the mold. Allow to cool upside down for a few hours or until the next day.

Baking temp 325°C (convection) 350°C no fan

Bake for 40-45 mins (this was for 500 g weight of dough) so may need a bit more time for 1 kg dough.

A friend of mine on Instagram was kind enough to share her formula for sourdough and hybrid sourdough cruffins/croissants.  My first attempt at making a laminated dough was my Danish loaf.  I unfortunately fermented the shaped dough in its pan at slightly too high a temperature so the better melted and was absorbed by the dough.  With that in mind, I chose a season with cooler weather, kept my range hood exhaust fan on, and opened my balcony door a bit to keep my kitchen temperature around 72°F.  I also kept the final proofing temperature of the shaped cruffins down to between 74-76°F instead of 82°F.  

For a first attempt at cruffins, I have to say I’m super happy with these.  They are so crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside with wonderful layers of pastry.  I just love Donna’s idea of coating them with cinnamon and ground black sesame, a flavour combination I hadn’t considered.  I have made some changes to the recipe, but the main things such as the ingredient ratios are all from Donna.  You can follow her on IG @thedonnakim she does a lot of fabulous baking and chocolate treats, really artistic work.

These are a fantastic way to try making a laminated pasty, you can do so many things with them by changing the sugar coating and or filling them with preserves or creams.  Perhaps I’ll try croissants at some point now that I’ve been able to fairly successfully make cruffins.

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BUTTER BLOCK 

• 250g unsalted butter, 82-84% fat, EU butter has minimum 82% fat.

ENRICHED HYBRID CROISSANT DOUGH

• 425g AP flour
• 192g water//or scalded whole milk
• 50g caster sugar
• 28g butter
• 50g egg, 1 large *subtract from water total if over 50g*
• 60g levain
• 5g-10g instant yeast (gold saf) (I’ll use 7.5 g, this moves very quickly so use less next time)
• 10g fine salt

ENRICHED SOURDOUGH CROISSANT DOUGH w/STIFF SWEET LEVAIN

• 388g AP flour
• 126g water//or scalded whole milk
• 50g caster sugar
• 28g butter
• 50g egg, 1 large *subtract from water total if over 50g*
• 170g sweet stiff levain
• 10g fine salt

Stiff Sweet Levain - for hybrid dough

13 g starter

11 g white sugar

15 g water

34 g AP flour 

Stiff sweet levain for sourdough (non-hybrid)

30 g starter

26 g white sugar

35 g water

79 g AP flour

Donna’s Cruffin flavoured sugar coating.

200g sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Around 2 tbsps ground roasted sesame seeds

EGG WASH (for croissants or pain au chocolat, not needed for cruffins)

• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp Whipping cream/milk
• 1 tsp honey

METHOD  

Mix Your Dough

Weigh and scald the milk, if using (needs to get to 180°F - 185°F), then set aside to cool down.  If not, weigh water.

Mix all ingredients together using stand mixer - knead the dough until it becomes cohesive, about 5 minutes. Look for a rough/shaggy dough that forms into a ball.

*Don’t knead for long as you don’t need to develop gluten at this stage*

Set up aliquot jar, form dough into nice taut ball, place into a covered container and proof until doubled.

***First Proof: 80-82°F (I did this at 82ºF )

1.5-4 hours for Hybrid (dependant on added yeast weight + temperature)

10-12 hours for Sourdough (dependant on temperature)

Once doubled, gently degas and fold 4 corners in (a little stretch and fold over). Then work into an 17cm/8”ish square.

Wrap loosely in plastic/in ziploc and chill overnight.

Prep your butter block!

Cut a sheet of parchment so it’s big enough to make a folded over 17cm square. 

Cut the butter while it is cold and place into your prepared parchment square and fold to cover. Allow it to warm to room temperature, approximately 1 hour, and then flatten the butter to fill the 17x17 cm square right to the corners.  Try to get this an even thickness.  Do not allow the butter to get too warm and melt. Refrigerate until needed.

Lamination

Next day, if possible, get your kitchen to a cool 70-72°F. 

Pull butter block from fridge about 10 minutes before starting to roll out dough. Butter needs to warm up a bit first! 

Butter block temp should be about 55°F/13°C for lamination. 

**55 to 61°F (13 to 16°C), butter should be malleable, stiff yet bendy but not overly soft. Should be able to make a finger indent. Ideal dough temperature will be slightly cooler, at 36 to 43°F (2 to 6°C)**

Once it is at 55°F /13°C, grab dough from fridge and quickly start shaping into a 26 x 26 cm square. Lightly dust the counter and the dough with flour.  Once your dough square is prepped, the butter temp should be right in the zone!

Rotate your dough regularly while rolling it out to ensure that it isn’t sticking to the countertop.  Once it has reached the desired size 26 x 26 cm brush off the excess flour.  

Transfer your butter square from the parchment by opening the parchment and placing the butter square so it looks like a diamond in the square.  The edges of the butter square will be at 45° angle from the sides of the dough square.

Next enclose the butter fully with dough by lifting and gently stretching the corners of the dough into the center of the butter square.  Try to avoid trapping bubbles of air while doing so.  It is OK if the dough overlaps a bit.  Pinch the dough closed and your butter should be fully covered by dough now.  

Time to start rolling out your dough!  Aim for a long trimmed rectangle of about 20 cm x 80 cm.

Have a cookie sheet with two sheets of clingfilm ready.  After each fold you can place the dough on the clingfilm, wrap it up and transfer it into the fridge.  You can keep this in the fridge to keep it cold.

First fold is a double/book fold.

Aim for a (trimmed) rectangle around 20cm x 80cm.

Trim dough short ends and (optional) recycle them back into your dough by placing them underneath your folds. They will roll out with your next turn. The trimmed ends can also be used to fill any gaps when doing the first fold of the book fold.  Brush off excess flour.  First fold covers 2/3 of the bottom then the second fold covers 1/3.  This is so the seam isn’t centered under the fold.  Brush off excess flour.  Then ‘close’ the book by folding in half to complete the book fold.  Place your now book folded dough onto your cookie tray and cover it with plastic wrap.  Rest dough for 30 mins in the fridge.

Next, is a single/letter fold.

After the 30 mins rest, roll your dough out with one of the open ends facing you aiming for a trimmed rectangle of 20 cm x 60 cm.  Brush off excess flour.  Then do a single/letter fold.  Place your now letter folded dough onto your cookie tray and cover it with plastic wrap.  Rest dough for 30 mins in the fridge.

While the dough is resting in the fridge, butter you muffin pans.

Time for your final roll out!

Basically will be rolling dough out to a trimmed rectangle 17 cm x 60 cm, hopefully with 4-5mm thickness.  Trim one end and both long sides.  At 2.5 cm intervals, make a mark with a pizza wheel down each of the long sides of the dough.  Next cut from one marked side to the other creating twenty four 2.5 cm x 17 cm strips of dough.

Alternatively you could roll out to trimmed 34 cm width x 30 cm length, 4-5 mm thickness.  Give dough a quick fold in half to mark 17 cm.  Trim the 30 cm sides and one 34 cm side.  Mark dough at 2.5 cm intervals on each of the 30 cm side.  Then cut from one marked side to the other creating twelve 30 cm strips of dough.  Then cut then all at once down the marked centre to create 24 strips of dough 2.5 x 17 cm.

Shaping

Prepare your muffin pans by buttering them. 

Each set of two strips will form one cruffin.  Place one strip lengthwise over another leaving about 1-1.5 cm of the bottom strip exposed at one end.  Pinch the end of the top strip with the surface of the exposed strip to adhere them.  Starting from that same end placed furthest from you, gradually roll the two strips of dough up into a disk.  This doesn’t need to be super tight but it shouldn’t be really loose.  

Once fully rolled, place it down on one of the flat sides.  We will be using the free ends of the dough to close the disk on one side which will become the base of the cruffin.  First pull one of the free ends, just enough so that it covers half of the disk.  Pinch the strip down to the edge of the disk to keep it in place.  With the other free end, do the same to cover the other half of the disk.  Pinch the strip down to the edge of the disk to keep it in place.  Pinch the two strips together where they meet to close it up completely.  Flip the disk of dough over so that the exposed laminated dough is facing up and your newly closed part is facing down on your countertop.  Gently rotate the disk of dough to tighten it and ensure that the ends do not come apart during proofing and baking.  

Transfer your shaped cruffin into one of the buttered spots in your muffin pans.  Repeat with each set of two strips until you have 12 cruffins in their pans.  Finally, using a floured fingertip, press down through the centre of each cruffin until you tough the bottom of the pan.  Still will help keep the cruffin from opening up while baking.

Proofing

Proof at 74-76°F, with humidity. Butter will melt at or above 82°F so it is important to keep the temperature of the final proof well under that, otherwise the butter will melt and be absorbed into the dough.  When baked, they will still taste great but you will lose the layers you worked so hard to create during lamination.  The steam will help them expand and prevent a crust from forming on the skin.  I placed a wet warm cloth inside each bag that I put my cruffins into, that way they would rise without forming a skin.

Proofing times:

For hybrid croissant variations, around 2-6 hours

For sourdough, around 12 hours

Fully proofed cruffins will pass a gentle poke test and have a bit of a jiggle when you shake the muffin tray.  About 30 mins prior to being fully proofed  preheat oven @ 375°, convection.  But will bake at 350ºF convection.  

When ready to bake, drop the temperature down to 350°F convection.  Place the muffin pans on a lined baking sheet to bake since there may be some melted butter especially if they are under-fermented.  Bake the cruffins on the lowest rack preferably on a baking steel for 25-30 mins rotating halfway through.

For Cruffins

Once you put your cruffins into the oven to bake, prep any toppings if you’d like.  No need to egg wash cruffins especially if you are going to cover with flavoured granulated sugar.

It seems the most popular is to toss them in cinnamon sugar, or dust with some icing sugar.

When you take your cruffins are out of the oven let them rest in the pans for 5 mins.  Then carefully remove them from the pan and roll immediately in cinnamon sugar mix (while warm). Then place on cooling rack to fully cool.  The warmth of the cruffin will help adhere the sugar topping to the cruffin.

Let them cool on a rack placed on a cookie tray to catch falling sugar.

They are delicious slightly warm.  Store them in an airtight container.  They can be refreshed by reheating them at 300°F for a couple of minutes.  There is some effort to making cruffins, but it is well worth the effort.

My index of bakes.

This is a follow-up of the recently concluded rye experiments, where it was established that:

1) A straight starter loaf gave a softer texture compared to a levain loaf (PFF 40%, all rye), fermentation time (16 hours) and dough components held constant, but

2) A straight starter loaf had less oven spring and was harder to shape than the levain loaf, though the straight starter loaf had an airier, less tight crumb.

3) The difference in taste was not that discernible. 

I wanted to confirm if the above held true, but this time with a 30% wholewheat loaf, 70% hydration, and lengthening the fermentation time to 19 hours - would the straight starter loaf hold up?

The straight starter loaf used 7g of starter for 240g of flour. BF and final proof 19 hours at DT 19 degrees.

The levain loaf had 30% wholewheat and 15% bread flour in the levain. Levain took 13 hours to mature, BF and final proof 6 hours at DT 19 degrees.

I also added a third loaf that used an overripe levain to see if that would increase the sourness of the loaf without compromising on dough strength, oven spring and crumb. Levain with 30% wholewheat and 15% bread flour; it peaked in 11 hours, and I left it for another two hours to collapse. The pH of this levain was 3.9 whereas that for the ripe levain loaf was 4.15. BF and final proof took the same time - dough strength was not affected. 

Results:

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Here you can see that the straight starter loaf had an equally good oven spring as the others. Like the previous experiment, the straight starter loaf yields an airier crumb.

Notes on taste, sourness, crust and crumb

This time I invited 3 other friends to do a blind tasting.

Straight starter loaf: Clearly softer texture. One taster said it was "mushier, drier, less bite". Flavour-wise: I thought it had a slightly more well-rounded flavour compared to the other two loaves, but not all tasters agreed on this. However, all tasters did place this loaf in the last place. (what!)

Ripe levain loaf: More bite and bounce than the straight starter loaf, but "weaker flavour" compared to the overripe levain loaf.

Overripe levain loaf: Slightly more sour than the other two loaves. Same bite as the ripe levain loaf. One taster had a strong preference for this loaf. 

So it seems the difference in bite and texture is pretty significant, and with my small sample group, more of them prefer bread with more bite. They did agree that the flavour was rather similar, though all discerned more sour notes with the overripe levain loaf. 

An interesting conclusion - a more elastic bite can clearly be controlled with the use of a levain, but the levain also at the same time retains complex flavours of long fermentation. Sourness can perhaps be manipulated by using an overripe levain (I do not know how far this can be pushed) without compromising on dough strength.

My next experiment would involve adding IDY to see if my results would agree with Rob's.

Dec 14

I love adding beer to sourdough bread. I’m not a big beer drinker but the malty flavor it imparts is amazing and Guinness is one of my favorites to use.

The sour cream added extra moisture to the crumb, and the caramelized onions imparted a wonderful sweet onion flavor.

I used King Arthur high-gluten flour since I didn’t have any first clear flour, along with some fresh-milled Danko Rye (milled from Barton Springs Mill berries).

The dough was mixed using my trusty Ankrusrum and open-baked with steam.

The finished loaves had a nice moist semi-open crumb perfect for a hot pastrami sandwich which I had twice for dinner! The pastrami was courtesy of Katz’s Deli which my wife had ordered a while ago by mail-order. You simply take the frozen vacuum-sealed pouch and immerse it in boiling water for five minutes and you have melt-in-your-mouth pastrami.

Formula

Levain Directions 

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Note: I use an Ankarsrum Mixer so my order of mixing is slightly different than if using a Kitchenaid or other mixer. Add all your liquid to your mixing bowl except 50-80 grams. Add all your flour and sour cream to the bowl and mix on low for a minute until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover the mixing bowl and let it rest for 20 – 30 minutes.   Next add the levain, salt, olive oil and remaining Guinness as needed and mix on medium low (about speed 3) for 12- 24 minutes until you have a nice developed dough. 

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl and do several stretch and folds.  Make sure the dough is as flat as possible in your bowl/container and measure the dough in millimeters and take the temperature of the dough as well. Based on the chart from www.thesourdoughjourney.com, determine what % rise you need and make a note. If you have a proofer decide what temperature you want to set it at and what rise you are aiming for. If the dough is fully developed you don’t need to do any stretch and folds, but if it’s not, do several sets 15-20 minutes apart.

Once the dough reaches the desired bulk rise, pre-shape and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Finish shaping place in your banneton, bowl, or on your sheet pan and cover it so it is pretty airtight. You will then place it in your refrigerator so you don’t want the dough to get a crust on it. I usually don’t leave the dough in the refrigerator for more than 12 hours because of all the fresh milled flour but it is possible to go longer. I let this one go 15 hours total and the dough was nicely fermented.

When you are ready to bake, an hour beforehand pre-heat your oven to 540 F and prepare for steam. I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.  Remove your dough from the refrigerator and score immediately. I used some cookie cutters to jazz it up a bit.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees.  Bake for around 35-45 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature of around 200-210 F. 

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a baker’s rack for as long as you can resist. 

I believe I found this recipe in Bake From Scratch if I’m not mistaken.  I love the idea of emulating a jelly filled dough in a cake.  The filling is homemade and although I increased the fruit in the recipe significantly and dropped the sugar by 50%, the filling I think could still be less sweet.  I like making extra jam for my morning yoghurt which is why I doubled the amount of fruit.  I also used frozen fruit since fresh is very expensive this time of year.  I haven’t sliced the cake yet since it is for a dinner party tonight.  However, based on my tasting of the jam, it is sweeter than it needs to be.  I also reduced the sugar in the batter by 10%.  Since the whole cake is coated with cinnamon sugar, I didn’t think the cake itself needed a ton of sugar.

Hopefully this will delicious, we’ll find out tonight and I’ll come back and post the photos of the slices.

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Makes 1(8-inch) cake

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

¾ cup (180 grams) whole milk

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (198 grams) unsalted butter, melted and divided

2 large eggs (100 grams)

½ teaspoon (3 grams) vanilla bean paste or ½ tsp of vanilla extract

Dry ingredients

2½ cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour

1¼ cups (250 grams) granulated sugar (used 215 g)

1½ teaspoons (7.5 grams) baking powder 

1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt 

1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

¾ cup (240 grams) Quick Blackberry-Blueberry Jam (recipe follows)

Cinnamon-Sugar (recipe follows)

1.   Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan; line pan with parchment paper.
2.   In a large bowl, whisk together milk, ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (141 grams) melted butter, eggs, and vanilla bean paste. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Gradually add flour mixture to milk mixture, stirring just until combined
3.   Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spoon remaining batter into a large piping bag. Pipe a ring of batter around inside edge of pan. Spoon Quick Blackberry-Blueberry Jam into centre of ring. Pipe remaining batter on top of jam, and smooth with an offset spatula.
4.   Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour, covering with foil during last 30 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning, if necessary. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
5.   Run an offset spatula around edge of pan to loosen cake before turning out. Turn cake back over (so dome is on top). Brush top and sides of cake with remaining ¼ cup (57 grams I only needed about half of this, so about 28 g) melted butter. Sprinkle top with Cinnamon-Sugar, and press into sides of cake.

QUICK BLACKBERRY-BLUEBERRY JAM

Makes 2 cups

½ pound (225 grams) fresh blackberries (I couldn’t fine blackberries so substituted strawberries)

½ pound (225 grams) fresh blueberries 

2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar (way too much sugar, maybe try ½-¾ cups)

2 tablespoons (15 grams) lemon juice

1.   In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon, and let stand for 2 hours.
2.   Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently and mashing berries with a potato masher, until mixture thickens, 20 to 45 minutes. (See Note.) Remove from heat, and let cool for 1 hour before transferring to a clean jar. Jam will keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Note: The ripeness of berries can affect the cook time of jam. This jam could take anywhere from 20 minutes for very ripe berries to 45 minutes for less-ripe berries. To test your jam for doneness, scrape the bottom of the saucepan with your spoon - if the jam parts for a few seconds, it is ready.

CINNAMON-SUGAR

Makes about ½ cup (I only needed about half of this)

½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons (4 grams) ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt

1. In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients.

My index of bakes.

I loved my last loaf but when I made it, my starter hadn’t been refreshed enough times to rev it up after my time away.  I loved the bread but thought it would be better with a more vigorous fermentation.  Things went much more as expected with this bake.  This took a total of 3 hours less time despite the same temperatures for fermentation. As well, the rise was much greater despite the shorter time, no surprise.  The final rise at the time of baking was 115%.

This bread is enriched only with honey and the toasted sesame oil.  Having said that, the addition of the ground black sesame seed should be considered an enrichment since there is a good amount of fat from the seeds that are released when the seeds are ground.  There is no dairy in the dough at all.  Instead of black sesame seeds in the dough, I used ground black sesame seeds.  I expect the crumb to have that lovely grey tone from the ground seeds and every bite will have the nutty notes from the ground black sesame seeds.  I haven’t sliced it yet, I’ll be back to post the crumb when I do.

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I didn’t update the spreadsheet, if you’re interested in baking this, substitute the same weight of ground black sesame seeds for the weight of the black and golden toasted sesame seeds in the spreadsheet.

For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

Build stiff levain, ferment at 74°F for 10-12 hours overnight.

In the morning add the salt and honey to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds or use your mixer.  Once the dough is well developed, while the mixer is running, drizzle in the toasted sesame oil until well incorporated.  Next gradually add the toasted ground sesame seeds until well incorporated.   Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

Once the dough has risen 40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan.  pre-heat oven at 425°F and prepare for steam bake.

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Vent the oven (remove steaming gear) rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust.

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I didn’t like the prominent hump in my last loaf and wanted the slices of bread to be a bit more even in size.  I slightly modified my batard shaping in that there is less overlap in the initial “letter” fold of the dough prior to rolling it up.  I prefer this more even shape now and I’ll have to remember to do the same in the future.

My index of bakes

More Christmas baking today, I baked a pair of apple cranberry holiday cakes with lemon icing for more gifting.  I had a little extra batter that didn’t fit in the loaf pans so put that in two ramekins so we could taste this cake.

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For two loaf pans - 8 x 4” and 9 x 4 x 4” pullman 

5 cups ap flour

1 ⅔ tsp baking soda

0.833 tsp salt

2.5 cups vegetable oil

5 eggs

2.5 cups granulated sugar

0.833 cups packed brown sugar

1 ⅔ tbsp cinnamon 

0.833 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp rum

1 ⅔ tsp vanilla

5 apples ¼” diced

2 cups cranberries coarsely chopped

Lemon drizzle icing - 1 ½-2 cups of icing sugar and juice from just over ½ a large lemon.

Place a rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350ºF.  Butter and flour the pans.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined.  Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and cranberries.  The batter will feel thick and heavy.  Spoon batter into pans.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  If baking all three loaves at once it may take up to 1 hour 50 mins.  For one loaf about 1 hour 15 mins.  Remove to rack to cool for 30 mins and then remove from the pans and allow to fully cool on the cooling rack.

Make a lemon drizzle icing and pour onto each fully cooled loaf.

My index of bakes.

Following the most recently concluded einkorn experiments, I decided to plunge headlong into levain build experiments, but this time with rye.

One of my usual rye breads is a 45% dark rye bread, 75% hydration, with all the rye fermented for 11 hours in an overnight levain (thus PFF is also 45%). BF and proof the next day for 4-5 hours, baked on the same day.

I decided to bake two other rye breads for comparison. One in which the levain consists of a double build; the other in which I mix my starter (it's a 50/50 rye/AP 100% hydration) directly with all other ingredients, but proof the dough for the same amount of time that it takes for the other levain-built breads. 

All three loaves are identical in terms of composition, i.e. 74% water, 45% dark rye, 55% bread flour, 1.25% salt. (And walnuts and cranberries. I cannot resist.) Total fermentation time was 16 hours at 20 degrees. All baked for 30 mins at 220 degrees.

My initial predictions were:

1) Straight starter loaf would be the most sour, followed by the double build levain, followed by the single build.

2) Straight starter loaf would have the most flavour, followed by the single build, and then the double build. 

2) Straight starter dough would be harder to handle towards end of BF and shaping with more gluten degradation (since the bread flour is also fermented with SD from the start), potentially a soupy mess.

Composition details:

Straight starter loaf: Mixed 30g of starter with 97g of dark rye, 118g of bread flour, 155g of water, and 5g of salt. PFF is therefore 6.5%. Briefly gave this two folds and then went to bed. Two more folds in the morning before shaping. Dough was much looser by the time of shaping compared to other loaves. Baked 16 hours after initial mix.

Single build levain: Mixed 25g of starter with 97g of dark rye and 80g of water to make levain. Autolysed 120g of bread flour with 78g of water overnight. Levain left to ferment for 11 hours. Mixed everything together with 5g of salt to make final dough. Additional 5 hours of BF and proof.

Double build levain: Mixed 11g of starter with 33g of dark rye and 26g of water to make levain. Autolysed 123g of bread flour with 78g of water overnight. Levain left to ferment for 8 hours. To this levain, added 70g of dark rye and 60g of water then left to ferment for another 3 hours to double. Finally mixed with autolysed flour/water and 5g of salt to make final dough. Additional 5 hours of BF and proof.

Note: Both levains had reached the same height (i.e. equal rise) by the end of the 11 hours before mixing DT. I had hoped this would happen and was very surprised it actually happened.

Results:

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 The straight starter loaf spreaded out a little more and had less bloom. The double build appeared to have the most rise.

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Crumb-wise, I think the straight starter's is the most beautiful. What do you think?

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Differences in taste and bite:

The straight starter loaf was only very slightly more sour than the single build loaf. I liked it. The double build levain loaf was the least sour. If this is of interest to anyone: the final pH of the single build levain was 4.11 and of the double build levain 4.55. 

The flavour of the straight starter loaf and single build loaf are really, really close. Extremely good. The double build levain loaf was a little...flatter? The husband who was subjected to a blind taste picked this out immediately. 

The bite. Now, the bite was a little different. The straight starter loaf had a slightly better bite - somewhat more even, tender, a better mouthfeel, compared to the levain loaves.

So all in all, the winner this time was the straight starter loaf. This has really surprised me! 

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Now that I’ve finished my last locum of the year I finally have time to get some Christmas baking done for the people I like to thank each year.  Today’s bake was for the staff in our condo.

I’m using my standing sweet roll dough, which doesn’t have any added sugar to the mix other than that in the Stiff Sweet Levain.  As usual I use a stiff sweet levain in order to reduce the sourness of the bread.  The filling has cinnamon along with Chinese five spice and my homemade miso.  The frosting is a cream cheese frosting with a bit of miso for colour and umami.

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For 12 rolls

Filling

153 g brown sugar

9.31 g cinnamon 

½ tsp Chinese five spice

38 g flour (bread or all purpose flour)

Mix the sugar and flour with the spices

73 g butter softened and mixed with the miso

1 ⅓ tsp miso

Miso Cream Cheese Frosting 

113 g cream cheese softened

73 g softened butter

1 ⅓ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp of miso or salt

170 g icing sugar

Make the frosting. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat all the frosting ingredients (except the sugar) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Sift in the sugar, in increments, and beat until smooth.

Instructions for dough and baking

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium. Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Next add the zest of two oranges, that way they do not interfere with the gluten development. Mix until they are well incorporated in the dough.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2-4 hours at 82ºF.  There will be some rise visible at this stage.

Optional cold retard overnight or just 1.5 hours to chill the dough for easier shaping.

Prepare your pan by greasing it or line with parchment paper.  

This dough is very soft. Act quickly to roll, spread the filling, and cut before the dough warms and softens further. If it begins to soften, place it in the fridge to firm.

Remove your bulk fermentation container from the fridge, lightly flour your work surface in a large rectangle shape, and the top of the dough in the bowl. Then, gently scrape out the dough to the center of your floured rectangle. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 15″ x 18″ or larger rectangle.

Brush softened miso butter on rolled dough.  Then sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon and Chinese five spice  onto the dough, then sprinkle flour on top.  The flour will help absorb any water drawn out of the dough by the sugar in the filling.

Starting at one of the long sides of the rectangle in front of you, begin rolling up the dough as you move across. Be sure to tightly roll the dough by gently tugging on the dough as you roll.

Once finished rolling up the dough, divide it into twelve approximately 1 1/2″ pieces using dental floss. Transfer the pieces to the prepared baking pan and cover with a large, reusable bag, place in a warm spot.  I use my proofing box set to 82°F.  Final proof may take 3-6 hours, be patient and wait until the dough passes the finger poke test.  Using my aliquot jar the dough should reach a total rise of 120-130% or more.

Be sure to start preheating your oven about 30 minutes before you feel the rolls will be fully proofed. For me, the final warm proof time was about 3 hours at 77°F (25°C).

Bake

Preheat your oven, with a rack in the middle, to 400°F (200°C). After the warm proof, uncover your dough and gently press the tops of a few rolls.  The fully proofed rolls will look very soft. The texture of the dough will be almost like a whipped mousse. Be sure to give them extra time in warm proof if necessary. If the dough needs more time to proof, cover the pan and give the dough another 15 to 30 minutes at a warm temperature and check again.

Once your oven is preheated, remove your pan from its bag, slide it into the oven, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes rotating partway through.

The rolls are finished baking when the tops are well-colored and the internal temperature is around 195°F (90°C). Remove the rolls from the oven and let the rolls cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan.

Once a somewhat cooled spread the frosting onto the rolls slightly warm rolls.  Using a spoon or spatula, place a dollop of frosting on each roll.  Then spread the frosting over each roll.

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My index of bakes.