The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

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April 2, 2022 - 4:43am
Benito's picture
Benito

Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Layered Pie

I love pie, it is my favourite dessert.  The pie I made last week was great and the pastry was the best most tender all butter pastry for pie crust that I’ve ever used.  If you’re interested in that recipe I shared it here.  This recipe I’m making this week is from The Book on Pie by Erin McDowell.  If you haven’t seen her book yet, it is very good with lots of unique pie ideas.  This once caught my eye because it uses cream cheese in the pie in the base layer and then on top of that goes the cranberry filling.  Hopefully when sliced you can see the two layers, we shall see if it works out as well as the pie goddess’ pie.



MAKES ONE 9-INCH / 23-CM PIE | DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

I love sour flavors, so cranberries have a special place in my heart. Because they are high in pectin, they make a naturally thick filling on the stovetop. A thin layer of silky cream cheese filling, spiked with orange zest, helps temper the tartness and round the whole thing out with a little creaminess (the perfect pairing in my book).

  • CRANBERRY FILLING
  • 906 g / 2 pounds cranberries (fresh or frozen, no need to thaw)
  • 113 g / ½ cup fresh orange juice
  • 99 g / ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 106 g / ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 3 g / 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 g / ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
  • Scant 1 g / ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 g / ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 g / ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FILLING
  • 226 g / 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • Grated zest of 2 medium oranges
  • 56 g / ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 56 g / 1 large egg, lightly whisked
  •             2 g / ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 g / ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • One 9-inch / 23-cm pie crust (see Recommended Crusts), parbaked, brushed with egg wash, and cooled completely

1. Make the cranberry filling: In a medium pot, mix the cranberries (and any juices from thawing), orange juice, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt to combine. Cook over medium heat until the cranberries begin to soften or break down, 12 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened, 6 to 8 minutes; some of the berries will break down and become jammy, some will be whole or in chunky pieces. Stir in the vanilla. Cool completely.

2. Prepare the cream cheese filling: In a medium bowl, using a silicone spatula, stir the cream cheese until smooth. Add the orange zest and mix well, then add the powdered sugar and mix until fully incorporated. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and salt and mix to combine.

3. Place the cooled pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour in the cream cheese filling and spread into an even layer. Freeze the pie for 15 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C with a rack in the lower third (preferably with a Baking Steel or stone on it).

5. Spoon the cooled cranberry filling on top of the chilled cream cheese filling and spread into an even layer. Transfer the pie to the oven and bake until the crust is deeply golden brown (the filling will have sort of a matte appearance), 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

  • Make Ahead and Storage
  • The pie is best eaten the same day it’s made. Store leftovers at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap.




April 1, 2022 - 2:48pm
Benito's picture
Benito

Black Sesame 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough

I had some black sesame seeds that I had ground with some sugar 6:1 ratio a while back for a flavoured milk bread I had made. I felt like having a black sesame flavoured bread so decided to add the ground sesame seeds to my 100% whole wheat sourdough bread. The colour of the dough was fabulous a wonderful grey brown with some black spots from slightly larger bits of black sesame seeds. I unfortunately made a boo boo during the baked and baked at 500°F for 25 mins with steam forgetting to drop the oven temperature. This likely caused the crust to form a bit early and compromised what I think would have been even better oven spring. Despite that error I’m still quite pleased with this bake and the scent of the black sesame seeds when the bread was baking was awesome.



Overnight stiff levain pH at mix 5.35 fermented at 78°F for 11 hours pH 4.06 rise 3x at peak. 

10 g starter + 25 g water + 42 g whole wheat flour

 

Using a #40 sieve sift all your stoneground whole wheat flour to remove the larger bits of bran. Weigh that bran and then add boiling filtered water twice the weight of the bran. Allow this to cool then refrigerate overnight.

Dough mix 280 g water + all levain + 9.31 g salt + 9.31 g VWG (already added to flour after sifted) + all sifted whole wheat flour

In the morning when your levain is ready, to your bowl add the water (not the hold back water), salt and all the levain. Using your silicone spatula dissolve the salt and break down your levain. Add the sifted whole wheat flour and VWG and mix until no dry flour remains. Allow to rest for 10-15 mins. Slap and fold to develop the gluten well. Once developed add the scalded cooled bran and the ground sesame seeds to the bowl. Stretch and fold to incorporate mostly and then slap and fold to ensure they are evenly incorporated. Do a bench letterfold of the dough and then transfer to a clean bowl and ferment at 82°F. The pH of the dough was 5.53 at this point.

At 30 mins interval do coil folds stopping when the dough no longer relaxes and holds its shape well. For me I only did three coil folds and then allowed the dough to complete bulk.

Once the dough has risen 40% (the pH was 4.66) the dough was shaped and placed in a banneton and allowed to warm final proof. Once the pH had fallen an additional 0.2 and the rise was 70% the dough was placed into the freezer for an hour. After an hour the dough was moved to the fridge. 20 mins later the oven was pre-heated to 500°F. 30 mins later boiling water was poured into the metal loaf pan with a rolled towel. When the oven reached 500°F after an hour of pre-heating the dough was removed from the banneton, scored, brushed with water and then transferred to the baking steel. 250 mL of boiling water was then poured into the cast iron skillet which was in the oven during the pre-heat. At this point the oven should have been dropped to 450°F and steam baking for 25 mins should have occurred but I accidentally left the temp at 500°F. Next the oven is vented of steam and the steam gear is removed. I would generally bake at 425°F for an addition 20-25 mins moving the bread off the baking steel and onto a rack and rotating as needed for even browning. But because I had baked too high a temperature in the first part of the bake I dropped the temperature to 400°F to complete the baking and only baked for 17 mins. Cool on a rack.





April 1, 2022 - 2:20pm
Benito's picture
Benito

50:50 Middle Class Whole Wheat Sourdough Brioche Bubble Buns

I have never made brioche before but was so inspired by Melissa’s brioche bubble buns that she shared with us Sourdough bubble top brioche. a while back so I decided since I am on a whole grain kick that I’d try to develop a recipe for sourdough brioche composed of 50% whole wheat. I loved her shaping of these buns so used her method shaping three small boules and baking them in a muffin pan. I used my now standard stiff sweet levain in order to avoid sour tang in the brioche. Based on the appearance of these buns I think they are a success. I will post my formula but I think I would increase the prefermented flour somewhat because these were very very slow to rise, not surprising since they are middle class brioche with 50% butter!  So thus the name 50:50 50% whole wheat and 50% butter.



For this test bake I did a half batch.
Half weight dough

Overnight levain pH at mix 5.12 at peak pH 4.57 3.5 rise

Levain 10 g starter + 10 g brown sugar + 13 g water + 28 g whole wheat flour

Dough 2 eggs + 4 g milk + 11 g white sugar + 3.9 g salt + all levain + 71 g whole wheat flour + 98 g bread flour + 0.98 g diastatic malt + 100 g butter

The levain was prepared the night before the bake and left to ferment at 78°F and was ready in the morning 11 hours later with a 3.5 x rise.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix the eggs, milk, sugar, salt, all the levain and diastatic malt. Break the levain into small pieces, I do this with a spatula. Then add both the whole wheat and bread flours and mix until there is no dry flour remaining. Allow to rest for 15 mins. Then using the stand mixer mix on medium until you have good gluten development and are able to pull a good windowpane. Gradually add your room temperature butter to the dough with the mixer running one pat at a time, waiting for the butter to be incorporated well before adding another butter until all the butter has been added.

 

Allow the dough to ferment at 82°F. 6.5 hours after the butter was fully incorporated the dough had a 20-25% rise. The dough was removed from the bowl and divided into six equal pieces shaping each into a boule. Each boule was then flattened and divided into three pieces. Each piece was then shaped into a small boule. Finally each set of three small boules was placed into a well buttered muffin pan. Repeat for the rest of the dough.


 The dough in the muffin pan was then placed back in the proofing box and allowed to fully ferment reaching a rise of 85-90% and passing the poke test. This took an additional 3 hours. 30 mins prior to baking preheat the oven to 400°F.

Just prior to baking apply an egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp milk and a pinch of salt, the salt breaks down the proteins making the egg wash thinner and easier to apply to the delicate dough without damaging it).

Bake for 20 mins turning once and keeping an eye on the crust and be prepared to shield it with a cookie sheet if it is browning too quickly. Once baked remove from the muffin pan and allow to cool on a rack. Enjoy the glorious smell of brioche in your home.



April 1, 2022 - 6:08am
foodforthought's picture
foodforthought

Second whack at @DanAyo's @txfarmer Shredible Sandwich Bread revival

Back in February, when @DanAyo posted about his experiences with an unexpected (by me, anyway) style of enriched sourdough posted by @txfarmer in 2011, I decided to give it a try. My own experience with the formula after quick scans of Danny's and @txfarmer's posts was unsettling, but ultimately produced 2 loaves of a very light, white and shreddable sandwich bread. I had difficulty and no small amount of anxiety with the relatively dry levain, a super wet dough and sluggish gluten development.

With the last slices of the February loaves finally disappearing from the freezer, I thought it was time to revisit the bread. This time I had the patience to thoroughly read through Danny's and @txfarmer's original posts and subsequent comments. Suspicions I had during my first attempt at the bread were confirmed by a more careful reading of the audience dialogues that focused on ambiguities of @txfarmer's original post.

I developed the stiff levain (71% hydration) over 3 12-hour generations starting with 5 grams of my 100% hydration standard starter. My previous attempt resulted in a rather dry, crumbly lump that didn't really change much overnight. This time I hand-kneaded the levain at each generation to ensure complete hydration and the dough rose into surprisingly puffy masses at rest. I'm still a bit uncertain with using milk in a levain destined to 36 hours on the kitchen counter, but I noticed no unusual smells or tastes, so I'm guessing LAB and yeast action are to thank.

Reviewing my notes from the first attempt, I had spotted something that sent me back to the original posts. I had not included the egg whites (24% of flour weight) in my hydration calculation. Dopeslap (facepalm?) time. So I had actually produced a 95% hydration dough. No wonder I never got a windowpane and nearly threw the whole mess out.

This time aroundI let the KitchenAid gently moosh up the levain in most of the formula's milk for a few minutes. Mixing the dough seemed much less unusual and I actually got to a windowpane (though I question whether it was a @txfarmer stage 3 windowpane) after 20 minutes of KitchenAid 2-4-6 thrashing. The dough nearly cleared the bowl in the final minutes.

After 2.5 hours of bulk with 4 sets of coil folds and 17 hours at 37º, I scaled and shaped16 75 gram balls setting them into standard loaf pans in the style of brioches nanterres. The rose nicely over a 4 hour proof at 80º. This in contrast to the 7 hour proof of my 95% hydration first attempt.



I'm still amazed that I accidentally got a decent result with my February 95% hydration dough. The crust on that batch of bread seemed exceptionally crisp but delicate. This current batch has a less crunchy crust, so the excess hydration in the February loaves must have contributed in some way.

A few takeaways

  1. Stiff levain is kind of nice to handle.I t's actually less messy the wetter types.
  2. Egg and egg whites are mostly water. Include 90% of their weight in hydration calculations.
  3. Sourdough levains do not have to always yield chewy, crusty breads.
  4. Re-engineer spreadsheet templates to adjust for levain hydration. Current model hard-coded at 100% levain hydration.
  5. Practice patience. Don't always be in such a hurry. In technology we often took a macho kind of pride to infrequently or never "read the freaking manual". Maybe not a great practice on a first attempt at a new style of bread.
  6. It's all right to totally botch a bread recipe. You learn a lot. And most of the time yeast and gluten will cover your backside.
March 31, 2022 - 4:26pm
Martadella's picture
Martadella

Rye with black sesame

Inspiration from here https://przepisynadomowyserichleb.blogspot.com/2017/02/niemiecki-chleb-zytni-razowy.html?m=1

Sour preferment:

200g Bob's Red Mill 10 grain hot cereal

200g lukewarm water 

20g g old rye starter from the fridge 

2g salt

Mix, let stand at least 24 hours. First couple hours in a warmer spot, then move to a cooler room temperature. It may be a little smelly at first, but this will vanish and will actually start smelling nice.

 

Dough

All of the above 

600g wholegrain rye flour 

500-600g lukewarm liquid (I used water mixed with acidic soy based kefir, but how about watermilk, apple cider,  beer etc.) 

10-12 g salt

6g dry yeast 

100g black sesame seeds (I used 70 sesame and 30 sunflower) 

Mix everything thoroughly,  knead with your fists, regulate flour and water if necessary 

Bulk ferment in a lukewarm spot 45-60 min

Place in a large prepared bread form, sprinkle generously with rye flour,  let proof without cover, 45-60 min

Bake 10 min at 450°F, then 50-60 at 390

Cool overnight before slicing

Very mild tasting bread with sweet nutty flavor from sesame seeds. Pleasant mouthfeel with soft texture of rye crumb and crunchiness of seeds. Surprisingly, rather low acidity. Smells like a field of rye in the summer 




 

 

March 31, 2022 - 1:35pm
JonJ's picture
JonJ

Kefir bread

Kefir yoghurt has been a supplement to my breakfast for many years now, but I wasn't aware that the kefir culture could be used to leaven bread until Abe mentioned it in a comment here. I don't make a typical kefir, as what I make is very thick and like a yoghurt, I use a lot of "grains" (really gelatinous colonies of microorganisms and casein) and leave it in the milk at room temperature until the curd and whey separate (about 3 days at this time of the year) before straining the yoghurt out. What I make is more like a Finnish viili with a texture somewhat similar to 'slimy or perhaps velvety' commercial yoghurt.
 



The yoghurt is acidic and makes your mouth pucker, but I'm so used to eating it now that regular yoghurt now tastes unusual.


To make the levain I simply mixed bread flour and strained kefir in equal parts, and left it out overnight in a container:




Disappointingly, it didn't show noticeable bubbles or growth after only one night. Then it went back into the fridge. And got another night out on the counter the following night. This is what it looked like before using and after having spent two nights out on the counter - some bubbles, but not as dramatic as the yeast water preferments, so in the final dough it was used together with some of my stiff desem starter that I had available, as I wanted to ensure the bake would leaven. Next time though, I will trust the kefir levain more and use it as the sole levain.



The complete dough (barring salt) was mixed and left to sit for 30 minutes, then mixed on slow with the dough hook for 10 minutes, then given a 30 minute rest, and finally the salt was added with some bassinage water bringing the hydration to around 70% (assuming yoghurt is about 85% water). It was then given a lamination and placed in the proofer.

With the two preferments, the fermentation was very rapid. I assume the rapidity means that the kefir levain was raising the dough in concert with the regular sourdough levain. After lamination, it took only a further 30 minutes before it had risen by about a third, so it was immediately shaped and then baked an hour and a half later. At the time of baking the aliquot had reached about 200% - so triple the original volume!



The bread got a little stuck in the banneton and getting it from the banneton to the dutch oven was challenging, which explains the irregular shape!

There was an interesting yoghurt-like aroma in the air while it was baking; and the sour tang from the kefir itself is noticeable in the taste of the final bread.



What is most interesting about this bread is the very unusual crumb texture, soft and a little silky or like a tangzhong bread and spongy mouth feel to it. I am wondering if it is from the fats in the bread (it is different to the breads I've made with buttermilk or oil or milk), or if this is something similar to what the CLAS people get.

The salt flavour was more noticeable too, although the usual amount of salt was used.

Definitely will make it again as I liked the bread, but I also want to see how repeatable this bake is and want to find out what it will be like when the kefir levain is the only levain.

-Jon

March 31, 2022 - 6:36am
Kistida's picture
Kistida

Pol roti (coconut roti) with SD discard & chimichurri, and a lil extra

Here's a fancier, takes longer to make, savory and smells-oh-so-good flatbread: Pol roti (coconut roti)!

I've had this on my "To-make list" since mid-2021. Fresh chilis are only in my shopping list when I make chimichurri sauce. This time, I bought extras to add them into this recipe. Chimichurri is something I use everyday because it's actually a high antioxidant condiment. Even though this bread needs no leavening, I chose to use sourdough discard and Sharbati atta flour in my version of pol roti. The dough gets slightly puffy during the long resting period and extra uncooked rotis are kept in the freezer instead of the fridge. The atta flour produced a softer roti with a lovely flavor that I enjoy.

Pol roti with sd discard & chimichurri
Adapted from https://hungrylankan.com/recipes/the-best-sri-lankan-coconut-roti/
https://www.theflavorbender.com/sri-lankan-pol-roti-coconut-roti/

240g all purpose flour
120g Sharbati atta flour (or whole wheat flour)
8g salt
100g unsweetened desiccated coconut
120g coconut milk (I used full fat canned)
80 to 100g water
120g sourdough discard
10 to 15g chimichurri sauce, chopped version (recipe below)
90 - 100g onion, chopped (approx 1 large onion)
2 green chilis, halved lengthwise, de-seeded* and chopped
Optional (but totally worth it): 10-20 5 to 10 curry leaves, sliced thinly or chopped

*Be sure to avoid touching your face when handling spicy green chilis. De-seeding is optional, it helps reduce spiciness. Keep them in if you like spicy roti.

Chimichurri
Adapted from https://cafedelites.com/authentic-chimichurri-uruguay-argentina/

1/2 cup virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar / lemon juice
1/2 cup parsley, flat leafed, chopped
6 to 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 tsp dried chili flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 to 1 tsp salt, to taste
1/4 tsp ground black pepper, to taste


In a large mixing bowl, soak desiccated coconut and curry leaves (if using) in coconut milk for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Then, stir in 80g of water, sourdough discard and chimichurri, chopped onion and green chilis.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours and salt. Add this to the wet ingredients. Mix by hand or with a spatula until a dough forms, adding 10-20g of water, if needed, to make a slightly sticky dough, with no dry bits of flour.


Shape the dough into a ball (in the bowl or on a lightly greased counter), lightly greasing the dough surface with olive oil. Cover and let the dough rest for 4 - 6 hours at room temperature or up to 24 hours in the fridge.

After resting, gently deflate and shape the roti dough into a log or disc. Divide into 10 to 12 pieces, weighing about 75 to 95g each. Fold and roll each piece into a ball. Lightly grease each dough ball with oil, cover and let them rest for 15 to 20 minutes.


Flatten a ball into a disc and roll into a circle of about 3 to 6mm (1/8 to 1/4 inch) thick. Transfer to a parchment or silicon lined bake sheet.

Cover the rolled out roti with a damp tea towel to prevent drying and keeping a piece of parchment between each piece to prevent sticking. Roll out the rest of the roti dough.

At this point, extra rolled out roti may be frozen for cooking later. Simply stack the pieces of roti between parchment paper and double wrap tightly in clingfilm. Then, place them in a resealable bag and freeze for up to a month. Thaw them slightly on the counter for about 15 minutes before cooking.

Preheat a frying pan, skillet or tawa over medium heat. When the pan is heated, transfer a roti onto the skillet and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the brown spots begin to develop all over the base of the roti. Flip the roti and cook the other side for 3 to 4 minutes, until brown spots appear as well.


For thicker roti (6mm or more in thickness), cook on medium low heat instead - 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
Transfer the cooked roti to a rack to cool slightly before serving. Cover with a tea towel while cooking the rest of the roti. Serve these rotis warm. :)



The next bake happened because of leftover eggnog. Since making the small pastries in my last post, I prepared a batch of dough to freeze and of course, to use up eggnog! The initial plan was to make a loaf of bread but I split them in two and made them into two batches of pastries. They aren't as rich but the subtle notes of nutmeg and cinnamon from the eggnog were worth it. And using eggnog in the Tangzhong sure made these buns soft and yummy!

Eggnog bread / buns

Tangzhong
100g eggnog
20g all purpose flour

Dough
All of the Tangzhong
160g eggnog
3g instant yeast
1 large egg
20g sugar
3g lemon zest
130g Kamut flour
280g all purpose flour
6g salt
40g unsalted butter

Fillings
Chocolate
50g dark chocolate (70%), melted
15g unsalted butter, melted
5g cocoa powder
20g chocolate hazelnut spread
A pinch of salt

Citrus sugar
30g sugar
20g lemon and orange zest
A pinch of salt
30-50g unsalted butter, for lamination

Egg wash
1 large egg
1 tbsp eggnog or milk / cream
A pinch of salt


Once the dough is fully developed, let it proof at 25-26°C for 1 hour. Then, divide the dough into smaller batches (if not using all 800-ish grams of it).

For same day bake: Cover/wrap the dough, freeze it for 1 hour followed by 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

For a later bake: Cover/wrap the dough, freeze it. Remove to the refrigerator the night before bake-day.

Tip: to prevent shaped buns from tipping or falling apart too much during the final proof or during the bake, use paper muffin cups. Flatten or widen each muffin cups a few minutes before rolling out the dough.

01042022 here are some fridge buddies to show you how the muffin cups are used:


For chocolate swirl buns
Mix the filling ingredients and set aside to cool. Roll out the dough, spread the filling with an offset spatula. Next, either letter-fold, fold in two or roll the dough up into a log.

Spreading the dough on opposite sides and then rolling both ends toward the middle will produce something these (these were filled with masala sugar):


Letterfold or fold in two, slice and then braiding the dough will produce the braided buns in the top row. Rolling one way or from opposite ends toward the middle will produce the buns on the bottom row (chocolatey fillings here):


For citrus morning buns (middle row), spread softened butter on 2/3 of the rolled out dough. Then, letter-fold the dough. For more layers, use remaining butter and fold the dough in two (there are other ways to incorporate layers of butter here but it would require lots of writing... so it's obvious I made a lazy version here). Cover or wrap the dough and chill it for 15-20  minutes (not too long otherwise the butter will become too hard).

Once chilled, roll the dough to flatten it to about 6 to 8mm thick, making sure to keep the rectangle in shape. Brush a thin layer of egg wash and sprinkle the citrus sugar all over the egg wash, keeping a 1" edge free of filling. Start rolling the dough from the opposite end of this edge. Roll the dough snugly (not too tight as the middle might rise during the bake) until the edge with only egg wash. This will help seal the dough log. Let the dough rest over the seam for 5 minutes before slicing into rolls.

Place shaped buns/pastries on the paper cups and let them proof at room temperature (22-24°C) for 45 to 60 minutes. Brush egg wash halfway through the final proof or just before baking.

Bake at 180°C for 15 to 20 minutes until the buns/pastries are golden brown and cooked through.


Until next moon, happy baking everyone :)

- Christi

March 30, 2022 - 7:17am
justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

60% whole wheat sandwich bread

I don't post very often anymore, but I'm still out here, still baking, still reading about everyone's beautiful bakes! Hats off to you all!!

I often do a same day bake. I mill my own whole wheat, and the starter/levain goes crazy with that. I have over proofed more often than I care to remember. Now that I have found the sweet spot for proofing time, I haven't wanted to try an overnight refrigerator proof. Maybe this summer ... I could also reduce the amount of starter vs levain and let it go longer, but this timeline works so I haven't fussed with it.

I do like to tinker with ingredients, so the percentage of whole grain varies. This is my current 60% whole wheat bread: 

Whole wheat flour 270 gm (freshly milled hard red winter wheat in this loaf)

AP flour (KAF this loaf) 90 gm

Bread flour (KAF this loaf) 90 gm

Starter/levain 105 gm (100% hydration)

Water 310 gm

Oil 20 gm (softer crust/crumb)

Salt 9 gm

For the starter, I usually build a levain the night before and use that. 

Mix everything and let it fermentolyse 30-45 min, with a round of S&F after 15+ min (timing as life dictates).

Knead in my mini Bosch mixer ~ 12 min. Dough temp at the end of mixing/kneading is usually 80F.

Bulk ferment at 75-78F (in my microwave out of drafts, temp varies slightly). 

Bulk to about 50% increase. Coil folds 2-4 times during bulk. Time from initial mix > fermentolyse > end bulk is usually 5.5 hours. 

Turn out on counter, preshape, rest 15-20 min, shape, pan, and proof. Proof is generally done in 2 to 2.5 hours at 75F.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly spray the inside of my "lid", clip it on to the bread pan, and bake. 400 F for 20 min, reduce oven temp to 350F for 15 min, then remove "lid". Bake an additional 15 min to my preferred crust color and internal temp of 206F. 

We prefer a less crisp crust for sandwiches, so I wrap the loaf in a thin cotton tea towel while it cools on a rack. Photos of my most recent bread below, following the above. We had already cut into it when I took these photos, lol. 

Mary

 

March 29, 2022 - 4:05pm
Martadella's picture
Martadella

Cranberry and pecan bread

Adapted from KAF No-Knead Harvest Bread

 

700g bread flour (Walmart)

300g white whole  wheat flour (Prairie Gold) 

20g salt

7g dry yeast 

800g cold water 

100g pecans,  chopped

100g dried cranberries, cut in 3-4 pieces 

Mix roughly,  let rest 20 minutes,  then 3-4 SF every 20-30 minutes. Mix fruits and nuts into the dough now, or laminate them later

Bulk ferment 2-3 hours, depending on your room temperature 

Divide in 2, form loaves, place in two clay bakers with covers

Final proof 1-2 hours 

Score with knife. Place in cold oven, no steam, no pizza stone,  turn thermostat to 450, bake 45 minutes, take of lid, bake 10-15 more minutes, cool on rack 

Let cool before slicing because it is going to be very soft and moist inside, so let the crumb stabilize before cutting 


March 28, 2022 - 5:57pm
naturaleigh's picture
naturaleigh

Kamut Sourdough

Tinkered with my Everyday Sourdough recipe by adding some freshly milled Kamut as well as incorporating some soaked Kamut flakes.  I was fairly happy with how this turned out given the fact that I let this dough go a bit too far during bulk ferment--trying to cook dinner while keeping an eye on fermenting dough continues to trip me up here and there.  During pre-bake research, I did note that several people stated Kamut tends to ferment quickly...wish I had remembered that last night during the bulk.  It stuck to the banneton on one side, just a bit. Sigh...

I'm going to try to stop bulk fermentation a little sooner with some of my next bakes and let the dough continue at room temp for a while as needed (after shaping and in the banneton) rather than trying to catch the 'perfect' fermentation stopping point, then rushing a bit to shape, place in the banneton and pop in fridge (which has been my usual routine).  Thinking this will provide some benefits as far as easier shaping and crumb (?) since there will be some time for the dough to 'recover' after shaping, before being placed in the fridge.  I think it should also be easier to babysit the dough since it is already in the banneton...just have to peek at it every so often then quickly tuck it in for the night once it has expanded a little more.

I had planned on rolling the loaf in some Kamut flakes before putting it in the banneton but forgot--multi-tasking dinner and two new dough recipes got the best of me.  I think this would help accentuate the Kamut flavor even more, and maybe might have helped with the sticking.

This is my first time using Kamut and I really like the flavor, even at only 25%--to me it tastes a little bit like a cross between oatmeal and cornmeal flavors.  It gives the dough a nice yellow tinge, somewhat akin to semolina.  The Kamut flake soaker/porridge adds some great moisture and texture to the dough.  I will definitely be incorporating more of this lovely flour into future recipes.

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