Recent Blog Entries

Here is the video I made recently to show the steps involved in making my 100% whole wheat sourdough Hokkaido milk bread.

Please enjoy.

You might enjoy reading the article I wrote for Breadtopia Whole Wheat Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread

Benny

Yesterday i baked what i will call a generosity loaf , i call it that as the flour was from the red wheat and Tim's generosity and then that was milled with the Flour mill that Margaret very generously gifted me, and i put it to good use straight away. This is the first ever loaf that i have made using 100% fresh home milled wheat and i have to say i am not disappointed. i also included red wheat sprouts that were blitzed.The bread has that wonderful dark brown that was in evidence from the bread we made at big loaf, i baked it in the Romantoph for 15 minutes lid on and then the rest of the time off. i extended the baking time and the heat. When i sliced it this morning it had the great aroma and a nice open texture, there was some evidence that it was sticking to the serrated knife and was very moist. It reminded me a bit like malt loaf in that respect, and i think that is in fact where that characteristic is coming from, i added 2% Saunders malt to the mix and the addition of the sprouted red wheat berries 20% that were sprouted earlier and had been slowed in the fridge were definately very sweet when tasted had probably converted a good deal of the starch into Malt for its growth. Taste wise the bread was excellent and it has almost a cake like mouth feel. i guess i will need to make a bog standard 100% Wholemeal without the sprouts to comfirm my thoughts. Thanks again to Tim and Margaret The fun continues.     

As a home baker in Japan there are quite a few constraints that can make baking more challenging than baking in a full western kitchen. With a bit of effort and improvisation good bread is still quite achievable. 

Let's start with fermentation. For the first few years I've used a digital temperature controller connected to a kotatsu (traditional heated table) to maintain a somewhat consistent temperature for doing bulk fermentation or growing sourdough starter. And it worked...surprisingly well. 

I spent some time searching for a better alternative and finally came to the conclusion that I needed (ok really really wanted) a Brod & Taylor folding proofer. After extensive searching I came to a sad conclusion. This device is not available in Japan. If I wanted to make this upgrade I would have to find a way to import one or to go to America and carry one back on a plane with me. Neither were ideal, but here we are. Then very recently I found a Japanese company that makes their own version of a tabletop proofer. The Japanese Kneader Company mostly produces products for commercial bakeries but have released a mini version for home use. I snapped one up and am THRILLED with it. I contacted their support division for a minor issue and they were extremely responsive. Through that experience I also learned that their partner business in the USA and Europe is in fact Brod & Taylor. So near as I can tell, this is the actual manufacturer and that agreement also explains why I couldn't find the B&T in Japan!

Now the elephant in the kitchen so to speak is the oven. Western style and sized ovens are really NOT a thing here. In such small living areas any kind of functional kitchen is a rarity. Many apartments, especially in city locations may only have room for a very small refrigerator and a SINGLE BURNER for warming food. As someone who loves to cook the adjustment has been difficult. I consider myself lucky in that I have a gas stove with 2...yes TWO burners. Counter space is also non-existent. I ended up purchasing two different kitchen storage cabinets / bar counters to create counter space. Once that was sorted it was time to tackle the oven issue. 

This wonderful little device fits the bill. It is a combination oven, broiler/grill, and microwave that will go up to 300c. Even more importantly, it is just large enough for me to put a 24cm LeCreuset dutch oven inside. While I will never be making full size french baguettes, with an interior that is  H30cm x W41cm x D29cm it is enough to do pretty much everything else. The ability to have 2 baking sheets in at the same time is also quite nice for things like bagels. 

Have you made brioche yet? I have a few times now. The first 2 times I did it by hand. That was an experience and one that I don't care to repeat. A mixer became a priority. Thankfully I had some family who was going to come to visit and were willing to fly one to me. Unfortunately that trip didn't happen, but I eventually had them ship the mixer to me. Yes, importing kitchen goods from overseas. The crazy thing is, after the cost of the mixer, and the ridiculous shipping costs. It was still a few hundred dollars cheaper than buying the same exact mixer locally. Worth It! KitchenAid Professional Series 6 Quart Bowl Lift Stand Mixer with Flex Edge. This has also enabled me to make marshmallows in my kitchen and after doing that I will never buy them in a bag again. 

Of course beyond these big things there is the standard assortment of bowls, spoons, dough whisks, lames, bread pans, cooling racks, and other things that are necessary but not worth actually listing and talking about. 

The take away from all of this. If you have an oven, a way to mix ingredients, and a way to provide consistent temperatures (not required but very nice)....you should be able to bake bread. The rest is up to practice, skill, experience, and time. 

I’m continuing to explore the uses for the stiff sweet levain and today’s bake is my first use of it in a baguette. So I made adjustments to the Yorkville Sourdough Baguette recipe (the original recipe is posted here Poppyseed Crusted Yorkville Sourdough Baguettes – Breadtopia)
to accommodate the stiff sweet levain and to increase the hydration somewhat. I have gradually been changing how I develop my dough for baguettes. I have found so far that I can more thoroughly develop the gluten early on allowing me to do a longer final proofing (increased aliquot jar rise from 30 to 35% at time of baking). By doing this I can open up the crumb whilst achieving the grigne and ears that one desires in a baguette. In order to combat the dough being less extensible from the greater dough development I have gradually increased the hydration now up to 74%.

A reminder if you aren’t familiar with the stiff sweet levain about the science behind how it allows you to bake a sourdough bread with less acidity. As you know it is the LAB that create most of the acid in our sourdough breads. The LAB are more affected by the dehydrating effects of low hydration and in particular the osmotic pressure exerted by sugar. So by using a levain with a sugar concentration of 50% in this case and a hydration of 60% one can create a sourdough bread with less LAB and thus less acid. For my all white levain, the starting pH was 4.93 and the pH at peak was only 4.37. That is a drop of only 0.56. In general, my levains at peak would have a far greater drop of between 1.0-1.3 in pH so that is quite remarkable that the levain pH dropped by so little.

In addition, the dough when mixed with this levain had a starting pH of 5.52, again this is an all purpose flour with essentially no bran to buffer the acid. At the time of baking just the pH was about 4.5. Again this is remarkable as typically for mostly white flour breads the pH at bake for me would be lower around 3.8 or so. That difference of 0.8 is substantial and the baguettes should still have some complexity of a sourdough but have less of the sour tang if you aren’t interested in that profile to the flavour of your bread.

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Overnight levain
18 g starter + 16 g white sugar + 23 g water + AP flour 51 g. 78°F

Fermentolyse - mix 378 g water with all the levain, salt 11 g and diastatic malt 5.7 g to dissolve, then add 521 g AP flour to combine. Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 23 g gradually working in until fully absorbed then slap and fold x 100.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.
Do folds every 30 mins doing 2-3 folds
Could do cold retard at this point for up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins
Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 35% rise then cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.

Pre-heat oven 500F after 30 mins add Silvia towel
Transfer to peel on parchment
Score each baguette and transfer to oven bake on steel
Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480F
The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins. The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam. Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning of the bottom crust. The oven is left at 480ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway. The oven temperature is then dropped to 450ºF and the baguettes rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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