trailrunner's blog

Another double levain dough. I joined a facebook group that uses only yeast waters for baking. Wow....there is SO much info and amazing pictures of breads etc. Anyway I got my feet wet , so to speak with date water. I took a small amount of my AYW and inoculated it with 6 dried dates. Whoa...stand back !  It was full of bubbles in just a couple hours using the lights in my oven to warm it. I added a piece of orange peel, as I do with my apple yeast water, as I think it keeps it from getting too much  alcohol formation. 

733g unbleached KA

266g Spring WW

266g Durum flour

66g yogurt

66g maple syrup

400g ripe rye levain at 100% hydration

100g date YW

600g filtered water 

26g kosher salt

I got many of these figures for this formula from a post Danni had some time back. I double it and changed some things but I have her to thank for the yogurt. It finds its way into all my breads now. I have Ian to thank for the buns :) he has great ones . 

Bread1965 gave me the idea I used for mixing this dough although I changed up one big part. I mixed everything but the salt till a shaggy moist dough. I then covered and set the dough on the radiator to warm. He lets his set for 5 hrs. I think mine was closer to 3 1/2. It was amazingly puffy . Note I did NOTHING but mix to a shaggy stage with a rubber spatula.....no turns or twists or pinches etc. Nothing. I departed from his method at this point. I added the moistened salt by folding in the bowl. I then left it 30min and did a s&f on the board. Dough was SO extensible and puffy  . I waited 30 min and did another s&f. One more at 30 min and that was all. I had gorgeous gluten development. Since I knew I was making buns I then placed it in a bucket and retarded overnight in the fridge at 34 degrees. Look at that growth overnight !! It was barely at 2L when it went into the fridge . 

I removed gently from the bucket and used scissors to cut 3.5 oz pieces. Shaped gently and let rise 1 hr Brushed with egg yolk/half and half mix and sprinkled sesame seeds. Preheated oven to 500. Baked buns for 3 min at 500 and lowered to 475 for 12 min. Rotated pans top to bottom shelves and baked 5 more minutes at 450. Perfect. 

crumb shot added....tender and wonderfully flavorful...just a hint of the date sweetness. Amazingly fragrant crumb

This is a further experiment with the rye banana SD I posted a week or so ago. I wanted to see what would happen if I got more  and quicker rise out of it and less sticky to work with . I used my AYW and made two levains. I also roasted the bananas as I had read that if they are cooked instead of raw they seem to not inhibit the action of the SD yeasts. I doubled the formula and made 3 approx 700 g boules this time. I also used my really big granite roaster circa 1940. Wow...is all I can say. Two boules fit perfectly. No time at all in the oven to get to 500 degrees. I did two first and then remembered someone on here posted they threw in some icecubes into their roaster. I did it for number 3 and look at the ears !! Will do that from now on as well. Cast iron shall continue to reside in the basement....granite roaster is the way to go , at least for me. 

500 g mixed levain= 400g of 50% unbleached KA and 50% fresh milled rye at 100% hydration with banana yeast water ( made it from my AYW by adding fresh sliced bananas and waited a couple hours for lots of bubbles to appear then fed over a couple hours 2 x to get the 400g. Started with 10 g NMNF ) 

                                 100g AYW levain fed only KA 

440 g AP KA flour

90g freshly milled rye

110 g spring hard wheat flour

500g roasted bananas ( roast in peels at 300 degrees till black. let cool and squeeze out pulp and water ) 

70g date syrup

70g yogurt

18g salt 

mix everything but salt. I place salt on top of resting dough and spray well with water.  Let rest for an hour or so till puffy.  Do 30 turns in the bowl a few times every 30 min. incorporating salt and watching for texture of dough to become pliable. Remove from bowl and begin gentle stretch and folds a few times. Add in the chopped dates and pecans. I don't weigh these I go by how it looks and feels. Place dough in oiled container and let rest in warm place till about 50 % . Yeast water moves fast so don't leave it too long. shape as desired and cover and retard in fridge. I took these out of cold about 30 min before baking to get the YW started again. As dab noted YW loves warmth. Preheat granite ware pot to 500. Place loaves inside and throw in a few ice cubes. Cover and bake 500 for 10 min reduce to 475 for 10 min. Remove cover and cont to bake 475 for 20 min -----if making larger loaves adjust final uncovered time till 205 or so degrees. Amazing bread. Crumb pics added. This bread was impossible to resist. Still a little warm but we had it with " breakfast for dinner" . Those are strawberries with my homemade Meyer Lemon curd....oh yum !!  The bread has a delicious tender crumb. Banana flavor really comes through. Not as heavy as the other loaf as there is less rye. Could have put even more dates...can't have too many dates LOL !   Will not forget the ice cubes ever again. Will cut that loaf on Sunday at our pot luck at our Buddhist center and will see if there is any difference. Definitely a keeper loaf. I will be subbing other fruit for the banana and see what I get. Stay tuned. 

the banana rye date and pecan bread made it to the iron skillet this morning! My maple syrup comes from a friends trees in Wisconsin. He taps each Spring. Delicious. 

how often can a person make and eat pizza before they get tired of it ?  Apparently a LOT !!  I wanted to see how this dough would do after X days in a plastic bag in the fridge. The answer is wonderfully. Very  much improved flavor profile and great holes !!  I used some of my chef son's sweet Italian sausage and it really added to the flavor. Same mode of operation as far as the rest of it. Layered sliced provolone on the bottom crust after it had risen for a while on the stove top. I made sure a put plenty of EVOO in the skillet before I laid the dough in. I stretched it a bit and then went away. When I came back it was nicely puffy. I dimpled and pulled it a bit and then  Layered sliced provolone on the bottom crust . Topped with sauteed red onions and red pepper and then the sausage. Next was crumbled feta and then torn fresh mozzerella. Into a preheated 500 oven for 20 min. Took it out and drizzled the seasoned tomato sauce and then grated parm. In the oven again for 10 min or so still 500. 

Oh my....that's about all I can say. The blue granite roaster is definitely the way to go , at least I will not be using my cast iron anymore. Look at that ear :) and caramelization.  I had extra ripe bananas and I remembered posts from Shiao - ping and txfarmer using bananas and SD. I read and read and came up with a formula. I have several more I am going to try as I get more bananas. The date syrup is from a Middle Eastern grocery in Las Vegas NV. That plus the bananas really make the crust darken but not burn. Smells like I was making candy caramels !  

244g rye levain 100%

220g unbleached flour

45g rye flour freshly milled

55 g Spring hard wheat flour

245g very ripe pureed bananas

35g date syrup + 35g yogurt

9 g salt 

a very wet and sticky dough. Tried folds in the bowl and that worked well. Only way I could do them on the table was with additional flour. Finally called it good and put the dough to bed in the cool mudroom. After 4 hrs it was light but not even 50%. Went ahead and shaped in my own fold/pinch/method and placed in banneton in mud room. After 4 hrs it looked good so I put it in the fridge and went to bed. Preheated oven at 500 with the roaster in the oven. Baked loaf 10 min at 500 lid on and 10 min at 475 lid on. Baked 20 min at 475 lid off. Perfect. Can't get over the spring achieved with the granite wear . Holds in the moisture, quick to preheat pot, not heavy to transfer and can easily bake successive loaves due to fast turnaround. I'm sold .

Took a formula that Ian had posted some time back and made a few changes . He made enriched buns as did I but I had 750 grams leftover so shaped a batard and pinched the bottom with flour in the crack hoping for a burst of creativity !  I got it. 

700g starter- 600g rye and 100g AYW 

600 g unbleached KA bread flour

225g durum

200g spring wheat 

100g soft cheese ( I used Délice de Bourgogne with the blooming crust pulled off) 

100g soft butter

85 g maple syrup

32 g salt

approx 650g water 

autolysed the flours and water a couple hours while at gym. Added everything else and did 50 turns in the bowl pulling the sides up and over with a rubber spatula. Did 5 sets of 50  at approx 30 min intervals. Put dough in bucket and let it rest 2 hrs in warm place. Didn't rise at all. Took it out on floured table and did stretch and folds. Dough is so lovely and easy to work with. Did this a 15 min intervals x 5. Placed in bucket and set in cold mud room area overnight. Placed in fridge at 6 AM. Had risen 50%. Came home from gym and shaped cold dough into 2 doz 3 oz buns and one 750g batard. Let rise about 2 hrs. Baked the loaf first in my Mom's 1940's granite roaster. It is the best for baking !  I just put it in the oven as it preheats to 500. Pan gets hot really quickly. Place loaf in and cover. Baked 10 min at 500 and then reduced to 475 for 10 min all with lid on. Removed lid and had a big smile finished baking for 20 min lid off at 475. Reheated oven to 500 . Had previously brushed buns with egg yolk glaze and put on sesame seeds. Placed baking sheets back in cold mud room to wait for bread to bake. Retrieved cold buns and baked for 10 min at 500.  switched racks and reduced to 475 for 10 min , turned back up to 500 for 2 min to brown a bit more. Amazing fragrance. Will post crumb pic later. 

My grandmother's iron skillets make the best pizza. They are from the 1800's. They are 12" across. We have family getting in later tonight so I made these up so they will have something yum when they get here. Crust is somewhat of a guess and by golly as my Mom used to say. I had a couple levains left in containers and decided to clear them out. They were full of bubbles...one durum and one ww. I added them , about 1/2 c to a regular yeast dough formula. Didn't knead at all just left it on the counter for a few hours while I went to play with my 6 yr old grandson. When I came back I used olive oil and stretched and folded in the bowl a bit. Left it alone while my husband finished baking Biscotti Regina. There is 15 oz dough in each skillet. Let it rise in the well oiled skillets while I cooked onions and peppers and mushrooms. Preheated the oven to 425. Put slices of provolone on the bottom added the saute veg then fresh mozz and crumbled feta  and placed them in the oven for 20 min. Turned it up to 450 and topped each pizza with scant drizzles of spiced up tomato sauce and parmesan. Let it finish for about 10 min. Perfect !! The best pizza to date. The crust is so light and full of flavor and the bottom is nice and crunch from the hot oil and skillet. Of course can't be duplicated as I have no idea what the starters were statistically...but that is all the fun...adventure in the kitchen on a rainy night in Virginia.

sorry pics are mixed up somewhat...still trying to get the hang of the new way of uploading. Suffice to say it is all delicious.  

Boy I thought I was really doing something great. Took several large pieces of fresh pineapple peeling with the meat on it and dropped them into my AYW . It sure did get it to bubble and ferment and smell loverly....but oh boy. I never even thought about the enzymes and protease breakdown. Turned my bread to GLUE....I mean it was almost impossible to get it out of the bucket and into the garbage , never mind trying to get it off of my hands and the counter and the floor....you get the picture. I tossed almost all of my YW and added apples and more water....will do this again and then put some of it in plain flour and wait and see what it does. If I have to toss 8 yr old AYW I will be really bummed. So be warned. Pineapple juice from a can is fine as it has been heat treated but DON'T use fresh. Lesson learned.

Thanks to Danni's  post I got out my starter , fed 'er up and started mixing. I followed most of her formula but used some Winter Wheat from Breadtopia and added 60g brown sugar to the fruit soaker with the 60g of butter. I didnt put any cinnamon due to her experience and I didn't want to do a swirl in the center of the bread. Maybe next time. 

I did my bake in a 425degree preheated cast iron pot lid on 15 min and reduce heat to 375 bake additional 25 min. Perfect finish at 210 internal temp. Got great rise and lovely color and fragrance. Just took out of the oven so crumb pics later on .... if we can wait! This bread smells fabulous! 

What's not to love ? I had to clean out the freezer since we are going away for a year. I found 2 boxes of roasted pumpkin that I had put up last Fall. Enter this bread. What an amazing dough to work with. The key is to drain the heck out of the pumpkin. The rest of the procedure was like working with silk. The rapidity of the rise is accounted for by the AYW. More and more it is giving me results that are really impressive as far as texture and rise time. 

240 gm levain ( 100% hydration mixed rye/white)

600g water and AYW - 300g each

700g bread flour

75g rye

75g kamut

150g Red Fife

300g well-drained roasted pumpkin puree

25g salt

roasted pepitas as desired

mix all but salt and set aside 1 hr. do stretch and folds q 30 min. x 3 . Fold in pepitas on last S/F.  Let dough rest in warm place 45min-1 hr. Will be very puffy and light and easy to work with. Shape in 3 -boules. Place in floured banneton. Set in warm place and let rise 45 min. Retard till next day. Bake in 500 degree pre-heated iron pots 15 min lid on and reduce heat to 460 and bake 20 min.