Mediterranean Style Table Bread

The oven in my stove went out, requiring the replacement of the circuit board that controls the the starting mechanism for the oven. Since its repair, I've baked some very familiar breads for the most part to get a feel for any changes that might have occurred.

This particular loaf, a sort of horiatiko psomi or Greek table bread, has been the best of the bunch. It could be just as easily described as an Italian bread with the addition of some dry milk in the mix or by substituting some milk for the water. Any way would be good just as long as you put out some extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with balsamic vinegar for dipping.
 

Starter
100 g starter at 100% hydration

Main Dough
240 g bread flour
45 g extra fine semolina flour
15 g white whole wheat flour
195 g water at 85F
1/2 Tbs or 7.5 ml olive oil
7 g kosher salt

We got our first hard freeze yesterday morning, more than four weeks later than usual. The sure sign of winter's approach, the arrival of a junco or snowbird, happened yesterday as well. I'm happy to say that I did put in around sixty cloves of garlic for next year but I'll have to hurry to get the daffodil bulbs in before the ground freezes up.

Besides the juncos, the rest of the usual characters have returned to the bird seed buffet outside my window. That includes the goldfinches which have lost their coloring for the moment. The crows and hawks have moved back into town as well. Deer season has started in limited areas so travel at dawn and dusk will require more attention for a while as hunters move through the fields and woods.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Ten Hour Mock Italian Loaf Variation

Rather than posting about breads that I've baked and posted at least once or

twice, I've been on a kind bloggers vacation waiting for some kind innovation or inspiration. Our recent trip to New England to visit my parents, the OPG and my Sainted Mother, revived the curiosity, especially after tasting a couple of breads from the Crust Bakery in Worcester, MA. They have a different kind of baguette, produced with an incredible, envy inducing, tangy flavor and using flour that might be European in style since it's not a snow white crumb. Whether I'm right or wrong about the details for that baguette, it's worth stopping by to try their breads.

My ten hour mock Italian loaf is something that I improvised to serve with a pasta dinner for Mrs PG and I.

I started with a sponge using all the water, one third of the flour, and 1/2 tsp of instant dry yeast. The sponge took about four hours in a 70F room temperature environment.

Sponge:800 AM
210 g water at 85F
70 g bread flour

30 g white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

1200PM
Once the sponge was bubbling, I mixed in the remaining bread flour, salt, and olive oil. I kneaded the dough for about three or four minutes and started the bulk fermentation. Three stretch and folds at 1/2 half hour intervals worked out so I just let the dough rest for another hour as it doubled up in size.

Update, 21 SEPT 2020: I was just passing by this post and realized that I had overlooked a couple or three details. The remaining ingredients were probably as follows.

200 g Dakota Maid bread flour

6 g kosher salt
7.5 ml (1/2 TBS) olive oil

230 PM
I preshaped the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes, seam side down while I located my couche and dusted it with wheat bran. Then I shaped the dough into a kind of ficelle, misted it water and rolled the clean side in some bran. The dough was placed seam side up in the couche for its proof while I went about preparing my industrial red sauce for the evening meal's pasta.

330 PM
Preheated the oven and baking stone at 425F for 30 minutes.

400PM
I placed the dough on parchment paper before loading, slashed, and misted the slashes. Into the oven for 15 minutes, then removing the parchment paper and turning the loaf around. Eighteen minutes more in the oven before turning off the heat, cracking the door open for a few minutes, then cooling the finished loaf on a wire rack at or about 440 PM.

600PM
The loaf was cooled and ready for its glamour shots. It had a moist, soft crumb, thanks to the olive oil, and a sweet, almost nutty flavor.

The next picture is a crumb shot of one my 20% WWW sourdough loaves. The oatmeal coated exterior isn't much to brag about but what is interesting, for myself only, is the open crumb. I used a one step build  for the starter with the seed coming from my stored over the vacation stock. Don't expect this at home kids, it probably won't happen for me again until the next blue moon.

The leaves on our trees are started to fall but they're nowhere near as colorful as what we saw in New England. Many of them have been mulched by the mower and more will join them over the next few weeks. I still have some tomatoes on the rather scraggly looking grape tomato plant so our salads aren't quite void of homegrown goodies. The sage and rosemary plantings are still around and capable of contributions. The rest of the plants are being cleaned up to make way for another year of garlic festivities in a couple weeks. Only an occasional chickadee finds the bird feeders outside my window and very few birds are heard in the neighborhood right now.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

An Improvised Bulgur Loaf

I was just exercising my prerogative to improvise a formula the other day when I baked this loaf. I had a batch of 70% hydration starter reaching its peak in mid morning and I needed to bake something for the pasta supper that I had planned for Mrs PG and I. The dough lost much of its initial stickiness during the bulk fermentation. While I suspect that some of the moisture was soaked up by the bulgur, I don't have a firm evidence for that but as long as it worked, I wasn't complaining.

Not quite a ficelle and not quite a batard but it possessed the sweetness derived from the bulgur and some tenderness from the olive oil. The bread is better for dipping into olive oil or sopping up leftover sauce than as a sandwich bread, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's worth baking again.


Proofing the loaf was done in a couche. For baking this smaller than usual loaf, I used 425F for the initial 14 minutes and continued with it for another 18 minutes to finish.

Soaker
40 g bulgur
40 g water

Starter
130 g at 70% hydration

Main Dough
200 g bread flour
24 g white whole wheat
147 g water at 80F
All of starter
                                                                    All of soaker
                                                                    1/2 Tbs olive oil
                                                                    6 g kosher salt
                                                                    1/8 tsp Active dry yeast

This second loaf will soon be finished , justifying the dough that's presently undergoing its bulk fermentation. I revisited an old recipe for this one, adding a little honey and some 9 grain cereal from Montana Milling.

The garden continues to be a disappointment in the production level this summer. I've gotten to the point where I'm planning on taking out what's left of the San Marzano tomato plant and the Park's Whopper beefsteak tomato plant is living on borrowed time right now. The grape tomato plant is long and scraggly looking, having spread over quite a bit of square footage but it is the reliable source of fresh tomatoes so it has a reprieve for now.  On the other hand, I have more basil than I need for cooking or pesto. Lets not discuss the chile peppers today.

Hummingbirds have started to return to my yard as the weather has cooled off in an unusual but very welcome manner.We have our windows open for the breeze which means we hear the birds and traffic noises. That's still much better than the repetitious hum of the A/C. I like having A/C but I prefer the open windows.

Visitors from Bangladesh and Ireland have recently found their way to my obscure corner of the internet.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Resurrected Starter Sourdough

I was rummaging through the freezer, looking for stuff that could be put out with the trash when I ran across a bag containing some dried sourdough starter. This was some really old starter, about six years old, my first and only attempt at drying some starter as a Plan B effort. It had its roots in a sample of "Overland Trail" starter from Stan at New York Bakers. It certainly was the right sample to set aside.

I took five grams of this dried starter and let it soak in thirty grams of bottled spring water. After thirty minutes, I broke up as much of the remaining bits as I could and added thirty grams of DM Bread Flour. The room temperature was around 80F so it didn't take long to show signs of life. I added some more flour and water to adjust it to 75% hydration and the starter continued to roll. In about twelve hours, I had a surprisingly active sample that looked ready for a life (albeit a short life) in dough.

If I were truly hard core, I'd have waited through another stage of building up the starter but I couldn't resist the temptation to start the flour flying.

Let me interject a note about how I've changed my starting procedure. In my large mixing bowl, I add my starter, water, and my flavor flour, the whole wheat flour in this case. After mixing those ingredients to a loose, soup like consistency, I let them rest a few minutes with the idea that the WW flour will be quickly soaked and then I go about my business as usual. It seems to work well enough in that my dough is usually quite sticky at the time of autolyze and remains sticky through the stretch and fold stages.

The end result was a good loaf with a very "clean" flavor and moist crumb. There's another fifteen or so grams of this dried starter left in the freezer so I think it's time to find an excuse to build a bigger than necessary batch  and dry some more for storage over the next five years.

Starter
108 g at 75% hydration

Main Dough
288 g DM Bread Flour
72 g home milled whole wheat flour
240 g water at 80F
8 g kosher salt.
olive oil for greasing the bulk fermentation container

Outside, the garden is in fair to middling condition and I don't expect to see much production of tomatoes by the end of the month. The persistent rains have ceased and the ground is hardening. I just got a bale of straw for a mulch over the bare spots to help keep the moisture in the soil. Even the peppers are reluctant to produce which means I may not be able to freeze enough to get through the winter. Store bought peppers just aren't the same as something from my garden.

The usual bird suspects- cardinals, chickadees, finches, nuthatches, sparrows, and woodpeckers, are still around but I haven't seen hummingbirds in the yard for at least six weeks. We still have the plants that they're attracted to but they must be dining somewhere else.

Visitors from Egypt and Sri Lanka have found their way to my obscure corner of the internet in the past two weeks.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Mock Italian Bread and a Rye starter experimental loaf

Something that started out as an almost throwaway effort to make some bread for a meal with pasta earned approval from my most devoted critic, Mrs PG. Technically, it's not a true Italian loaf since my preferment isn't in the right hydration range for a biga and I can't really call it a Pain Italien because my ingredients aren't true to style. But, as long as it tastes good, it is good indeed.

I started out with a 68% hydration preferment that included some fresh white whole wheat from Jenni at Family, Grace, and Grains. The flour is sweet and as thirsty as most WWW flours that have been through the kitchen. With just 1/8 tsp of IDY, the twelve hour development fit into my schedule. 

Preferment                                                                       
70 g KAF AP
30 g white whole wheat flour
68 g room temperature water, about 80F
1/8 tsp IDY

Had I been in search of the classic Italian bread, I would have found room for some milk or used some dry milk powder and more olive oil than I did here. The new olive oil that I found at Costco was Greek. I didn't know what to expect so I lightened up on the quantity in the bread. The oil seems to be lighter in body than the Italian EVOO but I don't expect that to be much of a factor in most of my breads. The dough was mixed by hand, with three stretch and folds during the first 90 minutes of bulk fermentation, shaped and proofed in a couche for about one hour.

Main Dough
200 g Dakota Maid bread flour
140 g room temperature water, about 80F
All of preferment
3/4 tsp olive oil
6 g kosher salt
1/2 tsp IDY

The loaf was first baked in an oven preheated to 425F for thirteen minutes using parchment paper on a stone, then rotated after pulling the parchment paper. After another twenty minutes of baking, the bread was a golden color coming out of the oven, giving off a fine, wheaty aroma, and singing quite loud. Once on the table, it was excellent company to a garden salad (hats off to Lucy) and some pasta with my industrial red sauce. The crumb was moist, sweet, and tender.

This second loaf is part of my experiments using a rye starter. The idea came from reading A. Whitley's "Bread Matters".  At the time he wrote the book, Mr Whitley was using a rye starter that had seeded his loaves for more than a few seasons. He advocated using a rye seed and adapting it to use in other breads through a three step build process. I'm keeping my starter in the fridge, taking a 10 g seed out and from there, proceeding through two stages, trying to include a little extra in the build for a new 40-60 g piece to maintain he source when needed.

My first observations have been that the initial build is faster than an AP or AP/WWW fed build, about 6-8 hours at summertime room temperatures. The second stage requires close observation because it has been faster than the initial build. It was active enough that managing its growth with a short stint in the fridge didn't hurt it at all.  Just in case my fascination with this experiment fades, I do have a sample of the KAF AP fed starter, sometimes called Nelson, in the freezer.

Bulk fermentation for this loaf was about 45-60 minutes shorter. Since I used an overnight retarded proofing, I can't supply any substantial comments on the proofing but I do expect that the rye starter would have imbued the dough with the same kind of  vigor. The slashes need more work or practice since I've started using a double edged blade on a coffee stirrer stick as a lame once again.

The actual mixing and baking was a repeat of my usual procedures when mixing the dough by hand. Cleaning up my mixer takes longer and for the weight of dough that I'm mixing, it's just easier to leave the mixer alone and get my hands into the dough.

Starter
120 g rye starter at 100% hydration

Main Dough
288 g Dakota Maid bread flour
72 g home milled whole wheat flour
240 g water at room temperature, 78-80F
All of starter
8 g kosher salt

   The rye starter didn't make a "slap you in the face" difference in the flavor. I've often referred to rye as my subtle flavor advantage ingredient so I can't say that it was a distraction in this loaf. Mrs PG has asked for some rye hamburger rolls and rye bread for   sandwiches so there's more work to be done for this pleasant investigation.

Tomatoes are slowly coming out of the garden now, some twelve days later in the season than years past. The plants aren't as bushy and really don't look very healthy. There has been a great deal of rain in the area and the six inches of rainfall in the past ten days or so is already more than our average July rainfall. The cucumber plants, OTOH, are near jungle in appearance but not terribly productive either. I'm not seeing very many bees in the yard this year so that may be a part of my problem. The garlic has finished drying and I've been sampling this year's production. It's a very good but not great vintage if there is such a thing for garlic. I've got enough to give away to my in laws and friends. 

Someone from Albania happened to visit this odd little corner of the internet.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome,  no Donald Trump jokes please.

City Limits Sourdough with a touch of maple syrup

I had another fit of "clean out the bins" when I started this loaf. There was some Wheat Montana Prairie Gold and some Dakota Maid Bread Flour that I had to use. I was getting anxious to open up some new bread flour.

Mrs PG and I went to Chapel Hill, NC for my niece's wedding and while on the way, I purchased some flour milled at the Weissenberger Mill in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. I took a chance the local area work ethic that also makes Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Woodford Reserve bourbons would be reflected in this purchase. There was so much confidence and curiosity that I also bought some AP flour and a few muffin mixes. My road trips usually mean I have to make space in the cabinets and hutch for the latest purchases. We don't collect spoons or plates or other kitsch, we just try to find some local food specialties. When they're gone, they're gone.

Anyways, I've pretty much reached the end of my KAF AP experiments. The flour is just as good as touted, I just think that I'm hindered by not baking more often. It's not easy to justify a freezer full of bread for two people.So now, I'll just blend the AP with my usual bread flour until I get fired up with enthusiasm after the next new book or startling insight.

What has been working for me is the use of some bottled spring water during the building of my starters. It has shown itself to be helpful in getting a more vigorous starter. My next experiment with starters will be to try building a rye starter, using the spring water, in about three stages for a "country loaf". The discard from the first and second stages can be used to build a pizza crust. No sense in letting good starter go to waste.

Starter
120 g at 100% hydration, with KAF AP

Main Dough
185 g Dakota Maid bread flour
90 g KAF AP
85 g home milled whole wheat
240 g spring water at 78F
All of starter
1 Tbs Quebec maple syrup
8 g kosher salt
instant oatmeal flakes for the banneton

The persistent rainfall of Spring has continued into our Summer here. It seems like everything is green with a vengeance and taller than in previous seasons. The tomato plants and chile pepper plants are an exception, not growing with their normal enthusiasm due to the lack of heat and sunshine. I wish I could say the same about the weeds. I've picked five grape tomatoes but none of the full sized tomatoes are near ripe yet. Usually, I'm bragging on my tomatoes by the 4th of July.

However, the cucumber plants are finally at work and producing better than anything I can find at the supermarket. I'm also in the process of drying my hard neck garlic which turned out satisfactorily. There's enough to plant in late October, enough to keep for eating, and plenty to give away to family and friends.

A hard drive crash in late May demonstrated the wisdom of having a back up drive so I'll be sure to have one soon. The drive crashed in less than twenty four hours and I lost a lot of recipes, most of which I had never baked. But it's not too big a problem since most of them were found through links posted on The Fresh Loaf. I may run across a recipe I lost and I'm sure I'll find something new. It will also give me an excuse to create some more "freestyle" recipes as well.

As of yesterday, this obscure corner of internet has had over 15,000 hits, a statistic that I find both amazing and amusing. I extend my thanks to all my visitors.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

An Experimental AP Loaf

My baking over the last five weeks  or so has been on the pedestrian side with some experimentation that hasn't been really productive until this weekend. The experiments in using Great River AP flour have been somewhat disappointing in that I haven't figured out how to deal with its enormous thirst for water. I tried to work on a couple loaves with about 74% hydration and ended up with a door stop twice in a row. I'm guessing 76-78% is my next stop with that flour.

I also decided to buy a gallon of spring water at the supermarket for feeding my starters. Having read the local water department's analysis reports on their water I noticed they were using a chemical that won't dissipate into the air as chlorine will. Even though I was using  Brita filtered water, I thought that a dollar and change for tax would prove or disprove the suspicions I harbored about the local water. It did help when starting the elaboration or first stage of my starter. The second stage and bulk ferment of my dough wasn't affected as much, probably because I was dealing with larger numbers of yeast spores that hadn't been refrigerated.

So I went down to Walmart last week in order to buy some KAF AP to use in baking and to feed my starter. Since many books have their recipes developed with KAF AP in mind, I wanted to try that out again and see if I had learned enough to make it work out for me. After getting the flour, I decided to reduce the amount of overall flour by 30g for a slightly smaller batch of dough. My earliest experiments with KAF AP had sticky dough after the bulk fermentation which meant I couldn't take any detail for granted. I also threw in another variable, admittedly bad procedure, which was to overnight the starter build in the fridge. Anyways, that did result in a flavor with more tang for the finished loaf.

When the loaf was finally done and sliced, it did work out. The dough didn't collapse while I was slashing. The end color of the crust wasn't bad and the crumb, as noted, had a nice, mild sour flavor and tender texture. Not a perfect loaf by any stretch but one with potential as long as I keep working on the procedure. Practice, practice, practice!

Starter
110g at 100% hydration, fed with 75% KAF AP,
25% white whole wheat flour

Main Dough 
264g KAF AP
66g WWW flour
220g water at 85F
All of starter
7g kosher salt

Baked at 450F for 15 minutes, then turned around and baked at 425F for 18 minutes.

We haven't experienced the severe weather locally that has afflicted much of the Middle Coast. There has been a lot of rain that resulted in vigorous growth by the lawn. The peonies which grew to almost 4 1/2 feet tall, have bloomed prolifically and drooped to the ground as the rains passed through. The garlic is quite tall and the stalks are fat and bright green. The rest of the garden seems a little slow but that will change as the soil warms up. I've identified a new visitor to the bird feeders outside my window as a gray catbird. The bird was almost drab looking due to its, you guessed it, gray plumage but its song is quite similar to that of a cat. Hummingbirds haven't arrived yet.

Over the last four weeks or so, my obscure corner of the internet has gotten a large number of visits from the Ukraine.  I have no explanation for that other than either there are people who enjoy my excruciating and meandering scribbles or they have too much time on their hands. If these visits aren't just some computer driven hits and are real people, I'd like to hear from you and perhaps get some of your recipes.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Light Rye with Caraway

As I gain momentum to do the yard work around Casa PG, my starter seems to be doing the same for a similar reason, warmer weather. I admit to using a bit of IDY in my loaves that include bulgur, one of which is baking while I hunt and peck upon the keyboard, but for the most part my anxiety about my starter is diminishing.

This first loaf is a sample of the sourdough with bulgur loafs. They still have a taste that appeals to Mrs PG and I. They're also good for day to day use with some peanut butter or in a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich.




My most recent foray into the wonderful world of rye breads worked out well in terms of texture and taste. The crumb was soft and the caraway seeds, which I found at a Penzey's store, were just bright enough to stand up to bratwurst and some hot horseradish. This wasn't a loaf for a smear of peanut butter in the morning, it's meant for sandwiches and stews. Be sure to use an overnight retarded proofing.

Starter
150 g at 100% hydration, fed with
75% AP/25% whole rye

Main Dough
288 g bread flour
72 g whole rye flour
230 g water at 85F
12 g or 1/2 Tbs honey
9 g kosher salt
9 g caraway seeds

The leafs are starting to fill in on more trees. Tomorrow, 15 April, is our area's average lost frost date with no forecast for frost in the next ten days. Our daffodils are quickly fading away but our tulips are emerging as the color in the flower beds. All but one of my peony plantings have stems reaching twenty inches or more and I haven't been outside since yesterday so that planting may have caught up.

The juncos appear to have left the yard for their migration northward and have been replaced by more  regular visiting red winged blackbirds. It's still too early for the return of the hummingbirds in our area.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

A Maple-Bran Sourdough and Some No Knead Experimentation

I haven't been borrowing any recipes lately, just working on some of the now usual freestyle loaves that I think will work out or are the fortunate but not originally intended results of a "learning experience". This first loaf got going from having an opened bottle of some amber maple syrup in the refrigerator and some wheat bran crowding the downstairs beer fridge. There's some rye chops in that fridge that need to be part of an experiment as well.

In order to improve the dispersion of the goodness of the maple syrup, I put it in the main dough water and sent it through the microwave as I heated the water up to 85F. The bran soaker was 100% this time around. Because I mixed by hand, it didn't get spread evenly. A 1/4 tsp of IDY was added because I thought the bran might cut down on the oven spring by cutting gluten strands but I'm not sure that was ever going to be a problem after using a soaker.  In any case, the result speaks for itself and the bread is good.

Starter
120 g at 100% hydration

Soaker
44 g wheat bran
44 g water

Main Dough
306 g bread flour
54 g hard red whole wheat flour
230 g water at 85F
25 g medium amber maple syrup
8 g kosher salt
1/4 tsp instant dry yeast

The second loaf was an experimental loaf as well. I wanted to take another try at the no knead method. Due to my deviations from the usual process, I ended up with something that didn't  quite live up to my expectations. First of all, I used some Wheat Montana Natural White AP which has a higher protein content than most APs. Then I lowered the hydration down to 70% rather than the normal 75%. Finally, I could have used a longer proof since I probably used too little yeast for the method.

It didn't turn out to be a disaster though. There was a soft, sweet interior crumb that's pleasing. I found that shaping the dough while it was still cold was quite easy. I don't know for certain that it will be as easy with 75% hydration and a lower protein AP but if it doesn't look like it will stay shaped enough for a batard, it can always be used for a flat bread.

270 g WM Natural White flour
30 g semolina flour
6 g wheat germ
212 g water at 85F
6 g kosher salt
3/4 tsp IDY

It certainly is Spring outside my window here on the Middle Coast. The Chanticleer pear tree is blooming, the peonies are starting to sprout up with vigor, and a variety of daffodils are spreading an enormous volume of cheers for Springtime. The garden's soil is much too wet and cold to be worked but I may take a shot at clearing a small patch for some leaf lettuce. I certainly have enough packets in seed collection that I can chance losing a small row to frost. The flower beds need some weeding and a careful eye for anything that might look like it's a tree seed that sprouted. Mrs PGs Rose of Sharon bushes spread a lot of seeds every year and every year I find something to complain about them. There are some eighteen bags of brown mulch for the flower beds that need to be spread in the next couple of days before I go back to Walmart for more.

As long as I'm going to pick up the mulch, I might as well pick up that 10# bag of KAF AP flour while I'm there.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Stubby Freestyle Loaf

This smallish loaf is something that I just wrote down on paper and then went to work because I needed something that would go with some pasta and my industrial red sauce.

My first idea was to use the "blanket sponge" from R L Berenbaum's "The Bread Bible". It was getting late in the evening and I've had some successful loaves using that method. Then I decided to borrow another idea and add some wheat germ to the sponge. Taking advantage of the 60F temperature in the cellar let me slow down the second stage while I slept and then the bulk ferment stage so I could spend time at the gym.

First stage

88 g Dakota Maid bread flour
19 g semolina
9 g wheat germ
1/2 tsp IDY
210 g water at 80F

After adding the water to the mixing bowl, sprinkle the IDY over the top of the water and let rest for two or three minutes. Stir the water. Add the flours and wheat germ and stir into a loose slurry.

Second stage

193 g DM bread flour
1/4 tsp IDY

In a small bowl, mix the bread flour and IDY and then gently spoon over the top of the sponge slurry to cover. Keep the bowl as level as possible until ready to mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest for at least four hours at room temperature. More time will be needed if the bowl is in a cool area. The bowl can placed in the fridge if need be but will need some room temp time to raise the internal temperature before the next stage begins.

Third stage

6 g kosher salt
1 tsp olive oil

Spread the salt over the flour and stir briefly with a spoon or dough whisk. Add the olive oil and resume mixing. Rest the dough for twenty minutes and air knead or turn the dough. repeat the air kneading or turning three times if needed at twenty minute intervals. Place in an oiled bowl or container and bulk ferment until doubled.


Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and begin shaping. I used a stubby batard but the choice is the baker's. I proofed on a couche at room temperature for about 1.5 hrs before preheating the oven and baking stone to 450F.

When the dough was ready, I placed it on some parchment paper and slashed it before loading it into the oven for fifteen minutes at 450F. I then turned the loaf around, removed the parchment paper, lowered the temperature to 425F, and baked for another eighteen minutes. I cracked the oven door open, left an oven pad on the door to keep it cracked open as the oven cooled for five minutes, then transferred the finished loaf to a wire cooling rack for two hours.

The resulting loaf had a nice crust and a sweet, tender, almost fluffy crumb. It's a very kid friendly loaf of bread.

Spring has sprung outside with slightly warmer than seasonal temperatures. There are some daffodils about to bloom next to the driveway and my peonies are starting to emerge from the ground. One of our flower beds was overgrown with day lilies so I've thinned that out knowing that the now empty spaces will be filled up by Mrs PG as soon as I'm out of sight.

I finally lifted the wheat straw off my garlic patch and found that 65 out of the 72 cloves I planted have survived. There's no explanation for the losses other than I may have been day dreaming when planting the garlic but with a total of 65, I'll have more than enough to eat and give away.

There are a lot of birds around the yard and they're providing a better soundtrack than an iPod when I'm working outside.The cheery little juncos are thinning out in numbers as the weather warms up and the days grow longer. We have a lot of cardinals every day and now and then, goldfinches swarm to the feeder outside my window. Red shafted and golden shafted flickers drop by for brief visits to the suet feeder. This morning, a red winged blackbird stood its ground at the suet feeder against a starling and then chased it off before finishing its snack.

The TV weather forecasters are now including the allergen and mold spore counts in their segments. The local trees are starting to bud out confirming our suspicion that we need to know where the bennadryl or Allegra is kept for calming down itchy noses. The grass hasn't kicked into gear but with the forecast of thunderstorms and warm weather next week, I suspect that I'll have that subject to start mumbling about under my breath in the near future.

Visitors from Finland and Indonesia have recently found this obscure corner of the internet.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

The Irresistable Belly Bread

 I wasn't getting any worthwhile results when I tried my hand at some yeast loaves from the KAF files during the past couple of weeks. First, I tried the all whole wheat loaf which left me unimpressed because of the overbearing flavor from using a lot of vegetable oil, in my case, canola oil. The second was the hearth grains bread which once again had a dense texture and too much presence from the oil in the recipe. Maybe I'm just a person whose palate prefers lean breads. I know those two breads have their followers on the KAF recipe pages.

This first bread that really turned out well recently is a return to a sourdough Pane Campesino. I worked it with the 1-2-3 or 3-2-1 formula as a foundation and added a wheat bran soaker. Good times, good bread.

Soaker
30 g wheat bran
30 g water
Soak for at least four hours. Add a tiny bit of salt if soaking overnight.

Starter
120 g at 100% hydration. Fed with organic AP

Main Dough
288 g bread flour
72 g white whole wheat
240 g water at 85F
All of starter
All of soaker
9 g kosher salt
 Put this recipe under the classification of flavorful breads that can stand up to strong flavors such as chili or Polish sausage with garlic and a healthy dose of horseradish.

 This is the loaf that proved to be irresistible to Mrs PG. Usually, I get to play amateur photographer before slicing but this loaf must have been speaking to her because she put the knife to the loaf without bothering to ask me if I was going to photograph the work. It's not quite an Italian style bread nor is it a French style bread despite using a poolish. A slow proofing in our 60F cool cellar also helped in building flavor. This hybrid has its belly from what I suspect was either less than stellar slashing or shaping. But it does work well with lasagna and could work well with chicken soup too.

Poolish
65 g organic AP
65 g water at 85F
1/4 tsp IDY

Main Dough
178 g bread flour
27 g white whole flour
All of poolish
39 g water at 85F
80 g 1% milk at 85F
6 g kosher salt

This third loaf is rapidly disappearing from the counter at present. It's a sourdough with with a bulgur soaker added. I added a 1/4 tsp of IDY to the main dough to help it along due to the coolish room temperatures here.The smell of baking bread was very sweet, almost intoxicating when this loaf was in the oven.

Soaker
40 g bulgur
33 g water at room temperature

Starter
120 g at 100% hydration.

Main Dough
288 g bread flour
 72 g white whole wheat flour
240 g water at 85F
All of starter
All of soaker
9 g kosher salt
1/4 tsp Instant Dry Yeast

Some of our avian friends have returned lately to visit the buffet at the feeders in the yard. A female red shafted Northern Flicker has taken a liking to our offerings in the suet feeder. These birds are usually ground feeders, dining on ants and other insects but no one has informed this specimen. We're fine with her dining habits since once she roosts, she chows down for quite a while and is a lot of fun to observe. I've sighted a red winged blackbird at my feeder on a snow day this past week so I'll be looking for more this weekend when the frozen precipitation makes a return visit.

Denmark, Gabon, Portugal, Singapore, and South Africa are the origins of recent visitors to my obscure corner of the internet.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Borrowing Ideas From Della Fattoria

I recently finished reading "Della Fattoria Breads" by Kathleen Weber  but I haven't baked any of the recipes that I wrote down in my notebook. I did decide to try some of the techniques that I found in the book. The first bread is 25% WWW sourdough made in the 3-2-1 fashion.  Ms Weber's recipes usually require a mixer so I hauled mine upstairs for this one loaf.

The borrowed technique that I used here was to use the paddle attachment for the first mixing. I just added the starter to the mixing bowl, rinsed the starter container with the main dough water and broke up the starter with a spatula. You could also use the whip attachment but a spatula is easier to wash. After adding most of the flour, I turned the mixer on at low speed just long enough to get everything mixed, about 30 seconds. then I added the remainder of the flour and mixed for 20-30 seconds longer. After a covered 20 minute autolyse, I misted the dough, added the salt, and mixed at low speed for six minutes using the dough hook. The dough came out a little bit sticky but responded to a few stretch and folds.

The cooler room temperatures meant slower bulk fermentation so schedule times weren't normal. Cooler temperatures in the cellar, 60F, enabled me to really play with the time and get some chores done around the house. Proofing in the cellar isn't as exact as the commercial proofers that have computer controlled temperature but when you have the opportunity to use that kind of asset, it does pay off by increasing the complexity of the flavor. There is something good in the cold weather of winter.

This second loaf is 33% stone ground whole wheat sourdough, made by hand this time around. Not pretty in the least and best described as sturdy, the technique that I borrowed from Ms Weber was to use a 50/50 blend of flour and wheat bran to flour the interior of the brotform. That may not be news to some folks but I hadn't heard of doing that before. I was more than happy to use brown rice flour. The blend works well and if your dough is in the least bit sticky, the bran adds some surface texture but doesn't add any bran bitterness. It gives a good rustic appearance.

This last loaf is something that I made to go with Wednesday's ravioli supper. It used an overnight poolish and a little bit of bulgur to add some sweetness. I think it was little bit under proofed but as one of those first time tried freestyle recipes, it was a successful bread. Beside3s having the crust that Mrs PG and I like, the crumb was soft and sweet. I think it could do well with a couple more points of hydration.

Poolish
30 g fresh milled white whole wheat flour
40 g organic AP flour
70 g water at 80F
1/4 tsp IDY

Soaker
30 g bulgur
21 g water at room temp

Main Dough
210 g bread flour
110 g water at 80F
6 g kosher salt
1/2 tsp IDY

Bake for 15 minutes, in a preheated oven on baking stone, at 450F. Turn loaf around and bake for 15 minutes at 425F. Turn off heat, crack door open with a pad or wooden spoon, and rest for five minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

The temperatures outside have been quite up and down, varying between colder than seasonal to unseasonably warm. Today's high temperature is expected to be around 54F and tomorrow may reach into the low 60s.I haven't seen any signs of the daffodils starting to poke their first leaves up as of yet and I haven't uncovered the patch of garden where I planted the garlic back in November. Looking at the long range forecast, next weekend seems to be the time to start peeking under the straw mulch and the leafs, in search of the first signs of spring.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.