Recent Blog Entries

 You Often see CHRISTMAS IN JULY themes  which seem to especially appeal to some of us that have moved from cold winter climates to the other side of the Equator. A better time to  enjoy a hot roast dinner and its trimmings rather than December days here  when a salad and an early morning swim at the beach which is more the norm .

Well it certainly seemed like CHRISTMAS IN JULY when this little present turned up, it wasn't wrapped in fancy paper nor adorned with a bow, but i was just as excited as you see the grand daughters when Santa has stopped by their house

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 i purchased an electric  honey spinner from this mob before and it worked perfectly and helped me to harvest 18 kgs of honey fro my first year as a bee keeper (looking forward to the up and coming season with lots of flowers and weeds growing well and the warmer days returning.

i digress the Spiral mixer is 8litre or 3kg dough capacity its fairly basic with a single speed and a non removable spiral and bowl but no problem to clean especially if you do it as soon as you have finished the mix.

I have mixed 2 doughs so far  a Cinnamon Scroll dough where i used  a paste made from dates in the scrolls and the other one was a Toasted Lupin Flake dough i will pot those up soon as soon as i have reduced the picture size 

 So I was up at 5am, starting my polenta sourdough. Bubbly starter, in with flour and polenta from the polenta tin. Hmmmm, dough is really tight, add more water. 30 mins later, dough even tighter. More water. Another wait, then.... yep, more water. Three hours with stretch and folds, tighter and tighter, finally give in and bench rest sad little lumps of partially risen dough.

Puzzled,  check polenta tin. Funny, the label says Powdered Gelatine. So That’s where the water went. 

Well, it’s been roughly shaped into boules and is in the final rise but..... hope springs eternal in the human breast eh? Meanwhile, build another starter and retire, grumbling.

I make a delicious masa harina skillet cornbread.  The masa harina vs cornmeal brings a tasty, subtle flavor. because I like it so much, I've been thinking about trying a sourdough bread with masa harina, and now I've tried it.  I was surprised how easy it was.

There have been some other posts on this site about cornmeal or corn flour bread, and now I'm adding my own.  First, some pictures, then the formula.

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All baker's percentages for this formula are based on the added flour not including flour in the starter. This flour added up to 10 oz, a small loaf but good for experimenting.

- Masa harina: 35%

- KA bread flour: 65%

- starter (white, 100% hydration): 20%

- liquid: about 100% (see below)

- salt: 2%

- beaten egg: 15% (1 US large egg)

- sugar: 3%

The hydration is unsure because I started at 85% (masa harina can really soak up the water) and added "enough" more without actually measuring it.  The added liquid was going to be milk, but I didn't have any so I used a mixture of half-and-half with water (for non-US readers, half-and-half is a near-cream with fat content between  light cream and milk).

The egg is there to provide some extra structure to try to make up for the lack of gluten in the masa harina.

Mix by hand, rest 1/2 hour, initial knead and stretch.  3 S&F sessions during the first part of the 5 1/2 hour bulk ferment.  Form the loaf, proof 1 hour, bake with steam at 450 deg, reducing to 430 after 20 minutes.  Baked 36 minutes to an internal temperature of 208 deg F.

This is basically my standard day-in, day-out sourdough process.

I didn't know how long to proof for since with the masa harina in the dough I knew its properties would be different from a wheat bread. In the end, the load depressed without springing back when I gently touched it with my finger, but I thought it could go a little longer so I gave it another 10 or 15 minutes.

You can see the loaf developed fabulous ears and had a good amount of expansion.  The crumb is surprisingly open, although the loaf is on the dense side.  It weighed in at 18 oz, whereas an all-purpose flour loaf of this size would be about 16 oz.  Maybe it's the 1.5 oz of egg...

The bread slices well. It has a mild pleasant taste with the corn obvious but not overwhelming.  The crust is chewy rather than crisp or crunchy (despite its appearance).  The crumb is very chewy (not tough, but it stays in the mouth as you chew) so thin slices would be best.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out, the dough was pleasant and easy to work with, and I will probably increase the masa harina content next time to (gulp) 50%.

I made up a large batch of my Cheddar/Thyme bread Sunday for customers.  I just love this bread!  I find it fun to mix in the inclusions, as it breaks up the monotony of just folding. :)  I had to add an extra baking day this week, as this formula has become quite popular!  My daughter made sure that I baked an extra for us to have, too. :)

Formula (percentages inclusive of flour/water in levain):

Bread Flour (CM ABC+) 60%

AP Flour (Ardent) 30%

CM Red Spring (fresh milled) 5%

CM White Winter (fresh milled) 5%

Sharp Cheddar, shredded 20%

Thyme, dried .5%

Water 77%

Salt 2%

Levain 20%

I mix together everything except the salt until all is moistened, then let rest for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes I add the salt (pinch in with fingers), then stretch/slap fold about 10 times.  Rest 25 minutes, perform coil folds (usually twice around), then rest again for 25 minutes.  If the dough is feeling strong, I'll add inclusions now, otherwise just coil fold again and rest for 25.  Inclusions go in now if not before.  I add the inclusions by covering half the dough, folding over, flatten a bit, cover half the dough, fold over, repeat until all inclusions are in.  This counts as my fold for this time period.  Perform another coil fold or two on 25 minute intervals as needed.

Total bulk on these loaves was just under four hours with a dough temp of ~80-81° (it was hot.)  Divided @ 1kg and pre-shaped.  Rested while I prepped my bannetons, then shaped, rolled in WW flour/rice flour @ 50/50 mix, rested at RT for 30 minutes, then into fridge.  Baked @ 475° after a 16 hour retarded proof, 15 minutes steam, 25 minutes without.

Man this bread always makes the house smell amazing!  The aroma of the baking cheese and thyme is intoxicating!

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