Recent Blog Entries

I was intrigued by Benitos recent bakes with a levain that contains brown sugar and decided to give it a go. It seemed to be a novel approach worth looking into. With many bakers around here pursuing Alt-sourdough lately I am surprised no one else has thrown their hat into the ring. Perhaps it turns away the purist or it's an aversion to sugar in the FWSY equation at least that was my thoughts.

I followed his overnight levain formula to the letter and my first surprise was that the so called 60% stiff WW levain was not stiff at all because the brown sugar acted more like water and the levain stirred up like a 100% starter. I put it in my new makeshift proofer and in the morning it was domed but flattened out shortly afterwards. I don't normally do an overnight levain build but rather a two stage build starting in the morning that ends up being shaped in the evening for an overnight proof in the fridge. For this bake I decide to just go straight through with a total time of around 7 hours from mixing to going into the oven

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I am using my typical country bread formula ala Tartine with a total flour of 450gr and 15% milled WW and a mixture of half BF and AP at +75% hydration. I got a little distracted and didn't do my normal interval kneading and early folding but after 4 and a half hours the dough was domed, had a jiggle to it. It seemed ready for shaping with bubbles on the surface and a sufficient increase in volume. The dough was billowy yet strong and was still on the move during the 30 minute bench rest after the pre shape. I felt pretty good that it was going to be a nice loaf. 

My oven regime that I have settled on for the oven in our new home is 480F on bake for the first 20 minutes on a stone with a Granite ware roasting pan cover and then change to convection bake at 450 for the remainder uncovered. The oven spring was greater than my previous bakes but there was a hump at the top that I feared would reveal a large bubble under the crust.

My concern for the large hole in the crumb was confirmed when I cut into it and not only was there room for the baker to sleep but a spare room for the apprentice.

I don't think it was under-proofed but maybe I should have been a little more assertive during the pre shape. Perhaps it was from the lack of early folding but the large bubbles is something that hasn't happened to me in quite sometime.

The crust and crumb was light and soft and the flavor was not sour but I did detect a sweetness from the sugar and the toast made from it browned more than usual.

So that's it. I am going to try it again soon and I hope others will try it as well. Any technical questions should probably be directed towards Benny since it is his baby.

 This last weekend i  did a little trip into the countryside to an area known as the North Eastern Wheat belt here in Western Australia. It was a very good  harvest this year exceeding 20 million tonnes. The purpose of my trip wasn't to admire all the wide open empty spaces but to do a bit of bread baking tuition, Its fairly remote 236 km inland from Perth. I drove up one afternoon stayed at a great old Hotel and had a full days baking and stayed that  2nd night travelling home the following morning. It was a great weekend and a lot of fun for both parties but respecting privacy i wont be  reporting the events but i do have some pictures that i took  of the Hotel which will be celebrating its centenary in 2025 and also the grain silos across the road with the rail loading facilities

Just as the sun sank slowly in the west

and across the road is the grain terminal   

Anyway upon my return to civilisation, the following morning i was off early to the Big Loaf Bakery where the production Manager Peter and i were going to Mill some of the Red Wheat which we were kindly given to have a play with. we chose the winter variety ACCROC as it seemed harder than the spring variety BEAUFORT. the bigger mill did a great job with 4 chutes giving us a flour at one end and  bran at the other with intermediates in the middle. we were impressed with the aroma and the colour both of the bran and the flour. we milled enough to give us a dough for 9 loaves for our trial.

the bran end of the milling chutes

the flour end of the mill

Hydrating the flour

the s/d culture has been added

out of the oven

at home cooled and sliced

Quite amazed at the colour of the crumb  the taste was very good and the bread felt nice in the mouth and not at all chewy in fact it seemed to breakdown quite easily without much chewing effort required! 

The dough was made entirely from the Red Wheat with only salt and the S/D culture added I will need to get back to Peter to confirm the exact composition of the flour that we used as it came from the Mill as i did have to leave and pick up a bus for my Nephews work shop. we didnt do any measurements to get an extraction rate but did get a good indication of its character and behavior. Looking forward to finding out what Peter and Lachie think when they get to taste their loaves.

Little experiment :

Flatbread with olive oil, hemp seeds, garlic, oregano and creamy cashew sauce 😋

I used Prairie Gold whole wheat white flour and refrigerated, unfed rye starter

400g whole grain white flour

290 g cold water

6g salt

20g old inactive rye starter

I made the dough at 7:30pm, kept something like 12 hours at 65°F, then about 5 hours in my oven with a light on. The dough was extremely soft and stretchy. Next time I plan to use more active starter and shorter fermentation time

Taste was very good, subtle and a little sweet with some yogurty notes. Texture slightly chewy, bread like, but still very pleasant. Very nice crunchy edges of the flatbread, with delicious thin crust 😋

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 A date yeast water pizza crust with delayed fermentation from [here]

Mixed up a dough for pizza with 572 g of CM artisan bread flour, 411 g date and apple yeast water, 12 g salt, 20 g EVOO, and 10 g SD (as a hedge).  70 turns in the food processor + some Rubaud then in the fridge.  I'm curious how that will compare to the 3 g of yeast called for in BBA.

This took a *very* long time to ferment, with several failed attempts to get the proof going before dinner, after which I returned the dough to the fridge.  It was in the fridge for 1 week in total before I managed to time the wake up properly and make dinner.  Surprisingly the dough had no degradation.

In the initial mix, the dough developed (e.g., the gluten) very quickly, perhaps because of the acids from the DYW.  It was an interesting learning experience, as I have not experimented with dough conditioners, which I suspect have a similar effect.  At the time of shaping (after 1 week), the dough was still very elastic, and did not display any signs of breakdown or improved extensibility that is associated with the traditional IDY variant.

It took a very long time to shape this highly elastic dough, which took some force.  It was not a particularly notable crust, but a decent pizza overall, with Maitake mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts, and cultured plant based cheeses. 

It was an interesting experiment, although if I were to use yeast water again, I would try it with more the more traditional one or two stage levain.