The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

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June 2, 2022 - 9:14pm
HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Country Blonde with Feta Cheese and Crushed Cumin Seed

I came across this video while surfing YouTube.  I love the way she degasses and pre-shapes.  Seems effortless.  Besides that, the black cumin and feta cheese combination intrigued me.  Had to give it a whirl and decided to try it with my Country Blonde sourdough recipe.

Final Dough
231g     All Purpose Flour
157.5g  Bread Flour
10.5g    Whole Wheat Flour
10.5g    Semolina Rimacinata Flour (Janie's Mill Sifted Durum)
5.3g      Whole Rye Flour
5.3g      Barley Flour
260.4g  Water
8.4g      Salt
63g       Sourdough Starter (120% hydration white flour)
84g       Feta Cheese (finely chopped)
1.5 tsp  Cumin Seed (crushed)

1)   Mix all ingredients except feta and cumin; assure no dry flour during mix; combine feta and cumin in a separate bowl and set aside
2)   Let dough rest for 60 minutes
3)   Bowl knead until the dough resists (12-20 folds); bassinage in water to desired hydration by wetting hand after each fold; bench rest 10 minutes
4)   Fold in feta/cumin mixture during 2nd set of bowl kneading (bassinage if needed); bench rest 10 minutes
5)   Continue folding in feta/cumin with 3rd set of bowl kneading (bassinage if needed); bench rest 10 minutes
6)   Bulk at room temp (73-74 deg F) until dough is just starting to turn puffy (approx. 10-15% rise) (about 4-5 hours for me)
7)   Cold retard overnight
8)   Remove from refrigerator and bench rest 30 minutes
9)   Degas and pre-shape with gentle bowl kneading
10) Bench rest 20-30 minutes
11) Final proof at 76 deg F for 1-2 hours.  I look for dough to be jiggly.
12) Pre-heat oven at 460 deg F for 45-60 minutes; pre-steam oven with 1/4 cup boiling water
13) Bake at 460 deg F for 1 minutes with steam; drop oven to 400 deg F for 19 minutes; vent oven; bake at 425 deg F for 15-20 minutes (makes a hollow thump)

I like cumin as a spice in chili and other dishes, but I've never had it in bread.  I must say...  I'm a fan!  Made the first slice and then remembered to take pictures.  😁

June 2, 2022 - 8:50am
SueVT's picture
SueVT

Panettone - The Roy recipe

Made my latest batch of panettone using the Roy recipe from Chambelland's Sourdough Panettone and Viennoiserie. This is my third attempt, and my first successful attempt, with this recipe. It succeeded very nicely this time, producing a remarkably moist, light, delicate and springy result. 

Fine tuning this bake will perhaps include slight modifications to the second impasto mixing process. This recipe is different from most, in that it includes both yolks and water added after the butter. This is like lightening an emulsion; it made me think of baking mayonnaise. 

The dough had very good handling qualities. My pH is never in the zone, but always somewhat lower; still, getting very good results! 



June 1, 2022 - 5:44am
Martadella's picture
Martadella

Royal Chakki Atta sourdough sandwich bread

This is a sourdough bread made with chakki atta whole wheat flour from costco. What a nice tasting delicious bread 😋

I used my standard grandma style procedure 🙂

 

Evening:

2 cups rye flour 

2 tablespoons rye starter from the fridge 

Enough lukewarm water to made a relatively stiff ball of dough 

Let ferment overnight,  until you are ready to make dough 

 

Next day:

All preferment minus a small ball of it (goes back to the starter jar)

4 cups atta flour 

1 tbsp of salt

Enough water to make a very soft dough 

 

This dough will behave like it doesn't have any gluten structure in it, but that's ok. Mix by hand until everything is moistened. Try to form a nice smooth ball of dough, I used a silicone spatula for that. 

I put the bowl outside in the shade for bulk proof, it was 79°F, so it went really fast, 75 minutes or so.

Then I plopped the dough in romertopf lined with parchment (this is a sloppy task, as the dough is extremely soft and sticky) 

I only allowed a short (30 min) final proof and then backed in my bbq grill. I started from cold, set the 4 burners on low, let it go for 30 minutes then opened the lid to check how is it going. Turned the heat up a little, let it bake 20 more minutes,  turned the 2 burners directly under the pot off, uncovered the lid and let bake 15 more minutes or so. 

Anyway, when baking on the grill, you have to figure it out yourself and observe your bread very closely. It's easy to burn things!


 

 

I really like the mild, lightly sweet taste of this bread 😋😋😋

May 31, 2022 - 5:08am
yozzause's picture
yozzause

red wheat (aussi)

Going back to earlier on in the year we did some posting on Red wheat which is fairly scarce ihere in Australia, and following up on an article that JonJ  noticed in South Africa  managed to track down a local grower here in Western Australia who was very kind enough to gift us several sacks of two different red wheats that he was growing mainly as a crop in his rotation. We have posted some of the resulting breads and everyone has so far been quite impressed,

Tim the farmer has been following our interest in his Red Wheat and even asked is there anything that he could do to improve the wheat.

Today Tim took Time to post some pictures of this years crop that has been planted and there is 260 Hectares of RGT  Accroc in the ground and it was great to see this years crop already growing, its been planted in the paddock that was used for Canola last year. If all goes well harvest time will be around Christmas!     

i think its just great to see Tim's enthusiasm for our  interest in his Red Wheat for bread making that is classified and sold as a feed wheat.

 

 We look forward to a good growing season and continued interest from our farmer friend Tim  and the growing number of bakers trying this wheat .

Like many people, i think  its nice to know exactly where your food is coming from and there we have it!

kind regards Derek 

May 29, 2022 - 1:53pm
CrustyJohn's picture
CrustyJohn

Rye & Einkorn 50-50 with Carrot, Buckwheat, Flax, & Fennel

While bread dreaming about the pages of TFL, I came across a forum about a rye loaf with carrots.  I loved the idea and still had a few pounds of mini winter carrots needing to be used up, so I went for it.  I don't make rye heavy loaves often enough (though I should because I love them) to have a set recipe.  Rather than do the wise thing and research, I did the lazy, middle of the week thing and just made it up as I went along.

300g dark rye flour

300g water

some ground flax seed

some whole fennel seed

50(ish)g leaven

mixed and let sit ~18 hours @ room temp (varying 60s-80s) 

mixed in 300g Einkorn flour

300g (?) water

a nice pile of shredded carrots

a good bit of buckwheat soaked in whey (toasted first)

 

Tried to gently fold it occasionally while making dinner, but it was too wet to come together and be handled really.  Put in loaf pan with parchment paper

 

put in fridge for ~24 hrs. so I could bake it alongside the baguettes and not waste the oven heat.

 

All in all I'm really happy with how it came out, especially for such a winging it approach.  It tastes wonderful- both rich and tangy from the rye and a bit sweet from the carrots (and maybe the einkorn?). It rose to the brim of the pan, then domed nicely. 

There was one mishap though- while the parchment paper allowed the loaf to come out of the pan easily, all that time sitting with the wet dough in the refrigerator melded the paper to the outside of the dough, and I had to spend 15 minutes peeling it all off bit by bit once the loaf cooled.  It was an imperfect process that resulted in some of the crust being peeled away as well.   

 

 

May 29, 2022 - 1:35pm
CrustyJohn's picture
CrustyJohn

First Baguettes

After a few years of consistently baking bread, I finally pushed myself to make an occasion to try making baguettes.  I've partly avoided it because I usually make bread once a week for toast and/or sandwiches during the week and because don't really work well with home baking equipment.  

When I was back home in February, I borrowed a baguette shaped pan from my mom.  With this sitting around, I finally conceded.

I followed Tartine #3's baguette recipe pretty much to a T except that I didn't have any spelt flour on hand, so I substituted some Rouge de Bourdeaux 85% extraction wheat flour that I just got from Dayspring Farms. 

Result: Well they do have a distinctly baguette-y taste, though maybe I'm conflating commercial yeast taste with baguette taste.  They have (or had upon coming out of the oven) a nice crisp crust, slightly charred in a few spots and a fairly airy crumb.  However, the crumb is not especially open, and it is more soft than chewy (which I think of as an essential aspect). 

The scoring was ok- I think I got a decent angle on most of them, but I overlapped too much, and a lot ran together.  I knew better, but once I started cutting, I forgot to think.  

They're tasty, and there is something very indulgent about just tearing into them fresh out of the oven slathered with butter.  I'll probably attempt again sometime this summer, maybe once the tomatoes start coming on in full in a few weeks.  If/when I do though, I'll not be using the Tartine recipe- two poolishes and a sourdough leaven is too much futzing for a baguette beginner just looking for something crusty, chewy, and airy.  I'll probably give TxFarmer's 36 hour baguettes a go. 

May 27, 2022 - 2:27pm
Benito's picture
Benito

Matcha Daifuku Mochi

I still had some anko (red bean paste) in my freezer from over a year ago and decided it was time to use it up.  Since I hadn’t made mochi in so long I thought it was high time to make Daifuku Mochi again but this time with matcha.  So I followed the same recipe except this time added 5 g of matcha powder.  I forgot how dark the matcha becomes when water is added and would probably try only 3 g next time.  The trade off might be the matcha flavour though which was perfect with the 5 g.


Makes 8 servings

 

Ingredients

115 g glutinous rice flour

60 g sugar

125 mL water

8 tbsp anko

1 tbsp potato starch (preferred by Japanese) or cornstarch

Optional 5 g matcha (use less the mochi was too dark green, maybe 3 g)

 

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, mix together the 1 heaped cup of glutinous rice flour, 4 tbsp of sugar, 3-5 g of matcha powder and 1/2 cup of water until combined.
  • Loosely cover with cling wrap and microwave for 1 minute.
  • With the spoon, give it a quick mix, re-cover and pop back in for another minute.
  • Get a spatula, and wet it in water. Pull the mochi away from the sides and fold it in until it's a rough dough ball shape. It should be sticky and pliable, with the colour turning from bright white to a more translucent cream.
  • Spread the cornstarch on a clean dry surface, and pop the mochi onto it using the wet spatula. Cover it with cornstarch until it's no longer sticky, molding it into a thick and flat disc, and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  • Roll 1 tbsp of red bean paste into a ball, and repeat until you have 8 balls ready to wrap with mochi.
  • Grab the cooled mochi dough and cut into 8 even pieces using a knife or dough cutter (pop a bit of cornstarch on to avoid sticking).
  •             Coat your fingertips in the cornstarch and pick up your first piece of mochi. Flatten and shape into a disc around 10cm / 2 inches wide. Place a red bean paste ball into the centre and wrap the mochi dough around it. Pull up the edges into the centre and pinch it altogether.
  •             Place the mochi seam side down and repeat with the remaining dough and anko.  Serve immediately or wrap in clinch wrap and freeze.

 

  • Filling Ideas:
    • Ice-cream filled mochi takes your dessert to a whole other level. Try vanilla, green tea, strawberry or black sesame!
    • Sweet mung bean paste – like in Che Ba Mau
    • Strawberries covered in red bean paste
    • Fresh cream
    • Speculoos cookie butter
    • Chocolate mousse
    • Peanut butter & banana
  • Glutinous Rice Flour – Traditionally, if you can find Japanese sweet rice flour known as Shiratamako or Mochiko, this would be best. However, the easiest substitute is regular glutinous rice flour. We’ve found it at our local and Asian supermarkets as well as online. Look out for the see-through bag with the green writing – not the red writing (which is regular rice flour and not sticky!). Unfortunately can not substitute with all purpose flour or regular rice flour.
  • Red Bean Paste – We used coarse red bean paste, but you can use the fine bean paste as well, it’s completely up to your taste. Store bought is fine – you’ll find it at your local Asian supermarket, otherwise you can also make your own from azuki beans. In a pinch, you could make a filling with sweetened kidney beans, like in Vietnamese 3 Colour Bean Dessert. Or ditch the beans, and make up your own filling!
  • While cooking, look for the change of colour. You want the bright white to fade to a more translucent cream colour.
  • If it’s sticking, while trying to form the mochi, add a little more cornstarch.
  • Storage: Best enjoyed within 24 hours. If you can, leave it out of the fridge for the freshest taste. If you really can’t eat them all, they will keep overnight in a zip-lock plastic bag in the fridge OR you can freeze them. If freezing, coat in a little extra corn starch so they don’t stick together and pop them in a zip-lock plastic bag. Eat within the month if freezing for the best taste. To thaw, you can either leave them out on the bench for an hour or so, or heat them in 10 second bursts until thawed.



It is very difficult to cut a mochi in half, so the photo of the cut mochi makes my shaping and filling look worse than it actually was 😝

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May 27, 2022 - 9:51am
Benito's picture
Benito

Toasted Buckwheat Millet Gluten Free Bread

My first attempt at a Gluten Free bread.  I used a recipe I found on the net, since I needed somewhere to start and wanted to bake a hearth loaf.  I think I had some success but overfermented a bit.  I would certainly reduce the IDY more than I did already to slow things down.  By the time the oven was ready, there were quite a few holes in top of the dough in the banneton.  The changes I made to the original recipe including substituting millet for brown rice flour, toasting the buckwheat flour and changing the ADY to IDY and further reducing the amount of IDY even after the conversion.



INSTRUCTIONS

 

  • Toast buckwheat flour in a small pan on the stovetop
  • In a bowl, mix together the psyllium husk and 278.6 g water. After about 30 – 60 seconds, a gel will form.
  • In a small bowl, mix together sugar, IDY and 174.2 g water 
  • In a large bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, millet flour and salt, until evenly combined.
  • Add the yeast mixture, psyllium gel and apple cider vinegar to the dry ingredients. Knead the dough until smooth and it starts coming away from the bowl, about 5 – 10 minutes. You can knead by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough hook.
  • Transfer the bread to a lightly oiled surface and knead it gently, forming it into a smooth ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, seam side down, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  • Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface using rice flour, and knead it gently while forming it into a tight ball (see post for step-by-step photos). Flip it seam side down onto a part of the work surface that isn’t covered in flour and rotate in place to seal the seams.
  • Place the dough into a banneton that you’ve dusted with some rice flour with the seams facing upwards. Cover with a damp tea towel and proof in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  • While the loaf is proofing, pre-heat the oven to 480 ºF (250 ºC) set up for steam baking to your preference whether in a dutch oven or open steaming.
  • Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out of the banneton onto a piece of parchment paper and score the top with a pattern of choice (the easiest pattern is a cross, about ¼ – ½ inch deep), using a lame. Transfer the bread along with the baking paper into the oven.
  • Bake at 480 ºF (250 ºC) with steam for 20 minutes – don’t open the Dutch oven or the oven doors during this initial period, as that would allow the steam to escape out of the oven.
  • After the 20 minutes, remove the bottom tray with water from the oven (for cast iron skillet) or uncover the Dutch oven/combo cooker, reduce the oven temperature to 450 ºF (230 ºC), and bake for a further 40 - 50 minutes in a steam-free environment. The final loaf should be of a deep, dark brown colour. If the loaf starts browning too quickly, cover with a piece of aluminium foil, shiny side up, and continue baking until done.






My index of bakes.

May 23, 2022 - 8:18pm
WatertownNewbie's picture
WatertownNewbie

Paul's Simple Spelt -- My Bake

Paul (pnguyen951) recently posted a recipe for a spelt loaf, and I decided to give it a try.

His recipe calls for 100 grams of a 60% hydration levain, and I maintain my starter at 100% hydration.  The evening before the bake I mixed 40 grams of my starter, 25 grams of bread flour, 20 grams of spelt flour, and 20 grams of water.  While he used a stand mixer for the initial mixing, my preference is to mix by hand when possible.  After a brief bit of moving the dough around in my Cambro tub, I went to slap-and-fold (French folds) and felt the dough was ready after 125 of those.  The total bulk fermentation was 5 hours and 25 minutes.  After the twenty minute bench rest I shaped the dough into a batard and put it into a banneton, which went into the refrigerator for an overnight retard that lasted a bit over 15 hours.

Rather than using my Dutch oven, I opted for the baking stone.  In addition, my wife and I like crispy crust, and the bake of 47 minutes produced a darker loaf than Paul's but a similar crumb.  Essentially my bake followed Paul's recipe (same amounts of ingredients, 15 minute rest after the initial combination, three sets of stretch-and-fold at 30 minute intervals, and oven preheated to 475F and then dropped to 430F for the bake).

Here is the loaf,

and here is the crumb.

This bread is really easy to make.  The hydration and bread flour counterbalance the tendency of spelt to spread, so shaping is not a challenge.  The spelt flavor really comes through, and I intend to bake this bread again.  Thanks, Paul, for posting this bread and for providing the recipe.

May 23, 2022 - 3:05pm
Benito's picture
Benito

Polenta Porridge Sourdough

My list of things I’d like to bake keeps getting longer but today I finally struck this one off my list. For some time I’ve wanted to try adding polenta to my sourdough bread. Alfanso has shared Kingdom Bread Tampa’s recipe for polenta bread so I based my recipe on that with some minor alterations (thank you Alan). When there is a small amount of wholegrain in the dough I like to use it in the levain, that way the bran is fully hydrated. I increased the polenta and the percentage of salt I used is based on the flour and the polenta while theirs was based on the flour alone. I also added diastatic malt to ensure that I was able to get a deeply coloured crust.



Cook polenta until thickened and gelatinized in a small pot on the stovetop. Allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight. Remove from fridge in the morning to allow to come to room temperature or if you’re using the stand mixer add cold to keep final dough temperature from getting too high.

Build levain overnight with the aim to be at peak in the morning. At 76°F 3x rise and dome flattening at 11 hours.

Add water and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve salt. Add the stiff levain and break into small pieces. Add the bread flour, mix on speed 1 until no dry flour remains. Rest for 10-15 mins. At medium speed mix to develop the gluten. When the gluten is moderately to well developed add the polenta porridge in small aliquots. Mix until well incorporated.

Bulk fermentation aiming for 40% rise to shape. Perform coil folds every 30 mins until dough is strong and isn’t spreading.

Once the pH has dropped by 1.0 then shape the dough into a batard and then start final proofed shaped and resting in a banneton.

Once the pH has dropped by a further 0.3 it will be time for baking. Place the dough in the freezer when the pH drops by 0.25 and then pre-heat oven at 500°F with cast iron skillet in the oven and set up for open steam baking. 30 mins prior to baking, pour 1 L of boiling water into metal loaf pan with Sylvia towel and place on baking steel on the lowest rack of the oven.
Once oven reaches 500ºF turn dough out of banneton, brush excess rice flour off, score and then brush with water. Transfer to oven. Pour 250 mL of boiling water into the cast iron skillet on a high shelf, high enough that the dough have fully bloom. Drop temperature to 450ºF and bake with steam for 25 mins. Then vent oven and remove all steaming gear and drop temperature to 425ºF. Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed.







My index of all my bakes.

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