Still Tweaking the Formula

The experiment with soakers in my bread goes on. I have to go back and re-read Reinhart's "WGB" to get more detail on the whats, whys, and whens of the procedure. I know it works, I just want to do less guessing and more doing in less time for better results. The returns seem to justify the efforts.

The latest loaf out of the oven is further delving into the process. I followed Hamelman's per centages for his Oatmeal Wheat from his "Bread" and tried to adapt it to a sourdough. Furthermore, I substituted flaked malted wheat for oatmeal. This might have been an oversight of ingredient characteristics because the flakes don't absorb as much water as oatmeal. The package they came in said they don't affect hydration in the loaf but previous experience showed otherwise. I never bothered to measure that capacity before I launched this loaf. In turn, that threw off my estimates for flour weight and water per centages. I ended up adding 30g of bread flour (yes, I measured that) after the autolyse to bring the dough into focus in the mixer.
I suspect that the 30g of butter and 30g of honey lent themselves to the darker than usual crust. I'm not familiar with brioche doughs to make a comparison but I can't recall baking a loaf with that much enrichment. Towards the end of the bake, at 425F, the aroma seemed to smell a little bit burnt but that flavor wasn't in the crust at all. The baking stone wasn't hurt either so the application of the rule, "Don't fix it if it isn't broke" seems to be appropriate.


The crumb turned out to be very tender and moist which could be expected when using a dairy fat like butter. It has a good "wheaty" flavor. The 50g of flaked wheat seemed to disappear into the interior. They don't seem to have added any texture and hardly any color. I may have to go to 100g of flakes the time I pull this recipe up.

A rather annoying cold has caught up with me and inflicted its misery on my body. If it hadn't snowed on Thursday, I think that I may have sought out some kind of retail therapy to divert my attention. As it is, I've been looking out my window for distractions from the monitor. The usual suspects, cardinals, finches, goldfinches, juncos, and titmice have been fighting for perches on the feeder. They have been joined today by a flock of spotted towhee that migrate through this area this year. The towhee are supposed to be winter residents but I haven't seen that to be applicable. They are robin like in appearance and size and I mistook them for that bird when they passed through about 6 weeks ago. They have been trying to strip the chanticleer pear tree of any leftover berries from their first attack. I saw them later this afternoon at some trees at the intersection of High St and S 21st going for what may have been hack berries. The towhees aren't interested in the spillage from the feeders so they co-exist with the other birds. There is one exception and that's the two blue jays that are in the neighborhood. Nobody seems to get along with jays so it must be some shortcoming in their character and not the other birds.

A soaker loaf

These pictures show off my first, really successful sourdough loaf with a soaker as part of the formula. I was only minimally scientific in my development of the formula and I still managed to bake this without drama or trauma.
The soaker was 50g of home milled whole wheat and 50g of WheatMontana multi grain cereal. It was an overnight cold soak in 100g 0f water I added 1g of kosher salt to slow down the enzymatic reactions.
The rest was fairly straight forward. 250g of Dakota Maid bread flour, another 50g of whole wheat, 165g of water, 8g kosher salt, 4g of dried malt extract, and 180g of 80% hydration starter elaborated in a single build. I do something like that every week. It works for us. Nothing special was done in the mixing or, bulk fermentation though I did do an 18 hour retarded proofing in the fridge.
During the bake, I got an unexpected oven spring and an aroma that went into the corners of our little house on the edge of the prairie. That may or not have been caused by the enzymes in the soaker breaking down the starches into sugars such as maltose. The crust does look a little pale but this was a lean dough with no added fats or sweeteners.
In bread baking, the proof is not in the pudding but the eating. The soaker effort paid off well. the cereal added some color to the crumb but wasn't crunchy or objectionable in the eating. The crumb was reasonably open for a loaf with 25% WW and another 50g of grains. I think that I'll work on this formula a couple more times before I declare it done.
I have another soaker loaf cooling off as I type so the pictures will have to wait for a day or so. It's based on Hamelman's Oatmeal Wheat Loaf from the book "Bread". I substituted flaked malted wheat for the oatmeal and chose a sourdough starter instead of yeast. I can already tell that I'll have to work on that formula and will write on my tweaks in the next posting.
Outside, there are some early signs of spring. They are encouraging despite the forecast for snow tomorrow. I've seen quite a few leaves from daffodils starting up, the first tulip, and a patch of crocuses. Nothing of note is happening with all of our peonies. The stalks from last year do appear to have had some minor growth since I clipped them close to the ground last fall. I do admit to having pulled the straw mulch back from the garlic and saw probably 8 or 10 shoots. The rest will follow as the days grow longer and the ground warmer. It's not time to fertilize them yet. The fruitless pear tree lost the branches that I deemed hazardous to my head and health as I mow under the tree.
After that, no one should expect me to seek work as an arborist.

It's a "66"

The latest loaf out of the oven turned out to have a 66% hydration level. I think the interior crumb is good and this variation of the recipe will get better as I raise the hydration to 68 or 70%. I shaped this into a batard and placed it on parchment paper that had been dusted with semolina. I used a rolled up towel to slip under the paper and hold up the loaf's shape while proofing. The slashing is a still a weak point and better slashing might be a contributing answer among others for a more open interior.
I've got a couple of books from the library on baking. First is Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads". I've yet to try his method developed for this book. he calls it an epoxy method where half the flour is soaked for about 12 to 24 hours and another half is used in either a biga preferment or a sourdough starter. The two bowls are cut up and mixed in a larger bowl with the salt, a fat when called for, a sweetener, and some yeast. The dough undergoes a short fermentation, then shaping, and a quick proof. At least that's how I'm understanding it works. It looks like it it's worth a try for the curiosity approach and for the fact that I have so much whole wheat flour that I needn't worry about a mistake or two. The other book is E Kastle's "Artisan Breads". My only quibble with the book is that it really doesn't help the person that's starting a square one to get the basics down pat. Most bread baking books are a little bit light in this aspect. Maybe it's because the authors have been baking for so long they assume every one has some experience in the craft. the recipes do make for good reading. I've already tried his yeasted rye with caraway seeds and then adapted the recipe to utilize a sour. That was my Super Bowl rye. There are what appear to be some proofreading errors in the recipes concerning the baker's percentages. I think if someone understands the concept of the percentages, they'll recognize the errors and move on. This book is at the local library so I think I'll not buy a copy for a while. However, if I see a used copy at a good price, I'll grab it.
Outside, the snow is quickly melting during our February heatwave. We may see a night or two where the temperature doesn't drop below freezing. I've seen some soil mounds in the yards of the neighborhood and that means that it won't be long until the moles are back in town. I can at least take some small comfort in that I'm not the only person whose yard is afflicted by these rodents.

Catching Up With The Flours

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be trying a pan loaf with a soaker of a multi grain cereal. That's a project that will have to be repeated because I can't say that I've mastered that type of bread. I had problems with the hydration due to the soaker and the dough was more slack than I wanted. So I added flour, 3 TBL worth, to get a better consistency. I also added 1/8 tsp of active dry yeast to the water to keep the fermentation on schedule. The yeast did bring the schedule in but the ADY lightened the flavor of the bread leaving me to conclude that I would be better served in the future to let the dough take its own time rather than sacrifice flavor for convenience.
The top two pictures are my Super Bowl loaf of what can be called a deli rye with caraway I built up a two stage rye sour and that made for a great flavor in the bread. Carol has given me the green light to make this bread any time I want. We ate it with some kielbasa from Stoysich's in Omaha and its definitely a keeper. I'll have the recipe in a ODF or .pdf for any one that asks in a day or two.
The other two pictures are the latest work in what has become one of my standard loaves. It's 75% bread flour and 25% whole wheat. Substituting 5% rye for some of the whole wheat works well too. I've tried a standard 1-2-3 loaf with 150g of 100% hydration starter, 300 g of water, and 450g of flour with great success. That is a big loaf just under 2 lbs but with the starter and a retarded proofing, the results are worth the effort. The bread doesn't dry out quickly and its taste improves the next day.
This loaf was an odd recipe in that I used a larger than normal starter of 180g at 80% hydration and 400g of flour. I took a guess that the water should be about 280g and that worked. I was rewarded with an open, tender crumb. This recipe will be available for the asking as well.
Out in the yard, new birds are starting to show up. Some starlings showed up in a small flock during Tuesday's snow. Thursday morning was out of the ordinary in that a hawk was perched on the power line to our neighbor's house. Red tailed hawks are prevalent around here but there are three other types in the area at this time of year. There's a lot of snow on the ground still so checking up on the garlic I planted last year will have to wait for a few more days. The forecast calls for temps in the mid to upper 50s for the next six days or so. I don't expect any crocuses for at least two to three weeks but that won't discourage me. We got a nice little catalog full of day lily and peony specials that are very tempting. I've been able to resist ordering, so far.

Sesquicetennial Miche

Saturday, 29 JAN 2011, was the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood, also known as Kansas Day here in the Sunflower State. Accordingly, I started a sourdough miche loaf that would have sunflower seeds on the crust. It looks like I chose my flour content incorrectly in that the traditional flour used is a whole wheat of around 85% extraction or a combination of 85% whole wheat flour and 15% bread flour. This loaf got about 25% whole wheat and it came out flatter than I hoped for. I also experimented with a 70% hydration level which did give me the more open interior crumb.
The flavor is much more than edible, it's great. Even though there's hard red winter wheat in the recipe, it came out very sweet with no bitterness. I did use 4g of dried malt extract for crust color enhancement but that shouldn't have added any residual sweetness in the crumb. There has long been a suspicion in the back of my mind that the sourdough levain and retarded proof break down the phytin compounds in the WW flour but I haven't read anything conclusive about that.

In the que for upcoming bakes this week are whole wheat pan loaf with some add ins of either rolled oats or a multi grain cereal. It's time to clean out the cupboards of odds and ends. There's also a sourdough rye with caraway seeds for the Super Bowl party. With good timing, I should be able to build a two or three step rye sourdough starter to give the loaf some added zing.

Outside my window today is the big blizzard. It's about 15F, winds are out of the north at 20-35 MPH, and a fine grained snow. Visibility is between 1/4 to 1/2 mile. There are only a few bird types feeding today, chickadees, juncos, finches, and goldfinches. The juncos are particularly territorial and driving off the other birds. I haven't seen any cardinals today. We are now in the time period that should deliver the most snow and bothersome wind.

It's a good day to take a refreshing nap and later on find a friendly book and warming sip of bourbon on ice, maybe Gran Marnier. The snow will be there tomorrow. Shoveling can wait until I've at least had some lunch.

Wednesday's Big Loaf

My bannetons have been fine purchases but I'm itching to get back to smaller loaves. Currently, I'm hitting around 900g or a shade under 2# of dough per loaf. Now, there will be some weight loss after baking but even so, the loaves will still finish up at about 750g. The problem with going to smaller loaves will be that I'll have to up my game in the shaping department and figure out how to do a retarded fermentation with an essentially free standing loaf. That will take practice. I'm thinking about a total flour weght of around 360g. The total dough weight would be around 720g when the water and starter are added and should finish about 605g, give or take a few.
The pictures are of the big loaf from Wednesday. I used AP flour instead of bread flour and 25% whole wheat which may explain some of the wide body of the loaf. I used a white flour starter and added some discard from my WW starter. I didn't want to waste the WW starter into the compost pile. The WW discard may have contributed a small amount to the rise but the white was really active after a single build so I think that did the most work. The crumb turned out rather well with an even distribution of the nooks and crannies. The walls of the nooks and crannies have a nice pearlescence that may not show in the photos. My camera doesn't let me get a close up. Flavor and texture were very good at first cut and still are two days later.
Out in the yard are the shells from the food in the birdfeeders. We had a little thaw up to 52F today but it didn't clear the snow. The temps are going down again and by Sunday night there may be some snow possibly mixed with sleet. Total snow fall expected is around 6". Carol says I need to get some seed catalogs through the mail to make me think of Spring. She will too if they ever arrive.

Easy pizza dough

Friday night is usually pizza night here at Casa de Gumby. The search for a better pizza is what got me interested in baking bread. I had been using Boboli crusts but the cost and the rather bland flavor just didn't cut it.
I've accumulated a lot of recipes on hard drive and I have no intention of stopping but I have to admit to finding a simple recipe that works. It comes from Maggie Glezer's book, "Artisan Baking". It seems to be related to the Neapolitan crust recipes. Here's what I've tried so far.


250g bread flour (AP is acceptable)
165g warm water
1 tsp non-iodized salt (about 5g of kosher or sea salt)
1/8 tsp (in warm temperature), 1/4tsp (in cool temperatures, below 65F) Active Dry Yeast or Instant Dry Yeast.
Sprinkle ADY across the top of the water and wait 5-10 minutes until it blooms. If using IDY, it can mixed into the flour. Since a long proof is required either ADY or IDY can be used as long as you keep an eye on the dough. In a bowl, mix the water and flour to a sticky mass, leaving no dry flour on the bottom of the bowl. If you like using your hands, you can squeeze the dough to help the mix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly for a minute or two. Shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl then cover.
The idea is let the dough sit for at least 4-8 hours. This will be where the gluten forms. This is also why only a small amount of yeast is called for. If you are proofing in a warm room, 78-84F, you can start the dough in a refrigerator for about an hour so to slow down the yeast. The yeast will have its way so don't hold any ideas firm in your head about time. The dough will be ready when it's ready. Always remember, a slow proofing is better than a fast proofing.
I put my dough in the 60F basement yesterday to slow things down. Instead of using yeast, I used about 82g of a 75% hydration starter and I still needed to use the fridge. I probably could have used 40g and still gotten a good rise. Like most of my bread, it remains a work in progress.
The long proof is used to produce an extensible dough, one that stretches easily, without resorting to using an olive oil addition. Many pizzerias use a similar yeasted recipe and cool proofing procedure.
When I finally turned out my dough, it was easily stretched out. I did need to give it a short rest of about 10 minutes but this isn't unusual. I had enough dough for 14" pan and had I used a roller, it probably would've gone to 16".
I made the mistake of cooking it at too low a temperature for the dough thickness. I was using a perforated pan and thought that 450F would be suitable since I par baked the crust before topping it off. I think that 475F for 20 minutes rather the 16 minutes at 450F should produce a crustier result. Using a baking stone will require the same temperature, but different time frames.
I like the promise of relatively brief work requirements for the dough. Variations could include the substitution of whole wheat or durum flour for the crust. Warm flat beer, American lagers for example, could be substituted for the water.
When I get a glamor shot worthy pie, I'll post that. Until then, if you have a better recipe, I'd be interested in seeing that.
As long as the mistakes prove to be edible, they're all good.

A Deviation Loaf

I thought I was going to do a free standing loaf but ended up with another pan loaf. The idea to use some of the malted wheat flakes I have in the freezer downstairs popped into my mind and I went with the idea.The packaging instructions said that the flakes didn't need to be soaked before using so I added the flakes in portions as I mixed the dough. I had some apprehension about over mixing and stretch and folds thinking that the flakes could cut gluten strands so after a S&F at 50 minutes into the bulk fermentation, I decided to just let the dough ferment for another 100 minutes and then shape for a pan.
By the time I got to shaping, the flakes had hydrated. The loaf rested in the cellar at 60F for about 6 hours when I brought it upstairs to a 68F room. When the dough rose about an inch above the pan's rim, I preheated the oven.
The resulting loaf tastes good but isn't exactly a glamor shot achievement. The flakes add some texture but really don't add contrast to the color of the crumb. 50g probably isn't significant. However, I don't use cereal grains often enough to have experience.
I did find a recipe for an oatmeal-maple whole wheat sourdough loaf at the Farine blogsite. Ms Makani knows good bread so if she posted the recipe, there must be merit in it.
The WW starter experiment is suspended for while. There's a potential problem with rancidity in the oils in the flour. I don't bake enough bread to keep a WW starter active enough to prevent this problem. My white starter is active enough that I can build a WW or rye starter fast enough that I can keep just one starter. The white starter may need some revitalizing to minimize the acetic acid buildup so in the next week or two I'd like to do a period of two refreshments a day for a while.
I haven't killed the starter off in over a year so I'm not worried that I'll hurt it by experimenting.

Mishaps along the way

The pictures of last week's focaccia never made it onto the hard drive. It must have been operator error somewhere along the line. I do intend to try the formula again with some modifications. First thing will be to better plan my preferment. The cool room temp of 69F isn't conducive to fast yeast growth. Somewhere in hard drive's baking files is a spread sheet on sourdough effectiveness vs. temperature but I don't have one for dry yeast. The preferment was only out for two hours before mixing the main dough. A 4 to 6 hour period might be a better choice until Spring or Summertime baking season commences. Second, bread flour should give me a puffier end result, better for dipping in EVOO. The batch was a little over 900g, 2 lbs., and I used the second half for a pizza. Even though the hydration was around 75%, the dough worked out for a crust. I used a half sheet and have to try a round crust for a pan the next time. This dough may be right for Chicago deep dish pie.

The picture on the left is an oval loaf I made with 22% Heartland Golden Buffalo flour. The flavor is, to use a cliche, sublime. The next time I take out the GB, I plan on using the Heartland AP with malted barley flour. I understand that the barley flour helps for a more vigorous fermentation. I could be wrong but I take my baking as a craft where the mistakes are usually edible.

Today is full of projects. I have a WW loaf with rolled oats proofing downstairs presently. That loaf is for Carol to give to some friends. The basement temp is 60F so the proofing is slow. I also have a pizza dough down there. I borrowed from Maggie Glezer's book on this one. After the dough is mixed and briefly kneaded, the dough is rise slowly for 6-8 hours and then shaped. It's a first time attempt. Since the dough is yeasted, it should rise even if I ignore it in the cool 60F cellar.

I have another another pre-ferment to start this afternoon for tomorrow's house loaf. The use of two small seeds from my starters in one preferment does seem to build a new flavor. If we end up going out, I can just put the loaf in the downstairs fridge for a long, retarded proof. Baking it on Sunday shouldn't be a problem and I may do the "magic dome" trick where I place my boule on the baking stone and cover it with our large stainless steel bowl. That will bring out the blisters on the crust. The better the loaf looks, the better it seems to taste.

Loafing around on Saturday

Just as a change of pace, today's loaf went into a 9.5"x5.25 loaf pan which is a larger than normal pan. I based the recipe on the 1-2-3 sourdough scheme where the starter 1 part by weight, the water 2 parts, and the flour is 3 parts. The flour was a blend with 325g of bread flour, 75g organic whole wheat from Gleeson Farms in VT, and 50g of a multi grain flour that I found in Middlebury, VT. The 150g starter was elaborated from a blend of WW and AP flour starter seeds just because I wanted to do that.
The winter room temp these days is around 68F which means a slower fermentation for both starters and breads. Since I didn't have enough time to start my dough last night, I took the starter down to the cellar, stirred it as if I was doing a stretch and fold procedure, and left it in the 60F air. I brought it back up this morning and let it come up to room temp, about 1 1/2 hours. It was good to go.
I followed my basic procedures for mixing and fermentation. After shaping the dough and placing it in my pan, I covered the dough with a sheet of plastic wrap and brought it back downstairs for a long, slow proof of about 4.5 hrs. I set up my grill rock pan for steaming and preheated. When I loaded the loaf, I placed a wet, microwaved towel over the rocks for steam. Judging by the oven spring, I think that worked out well. I don't have an interior crumb shot yet but may post that later if it looks worthwhile. The taste is what's really important and I'll find that out in the morning.
I located a source for the grand Heartland Mills flour in KC,MO at the Badseed Farmer's Market. I selected the unenriched AP with malted barley flour at $6.50/5# and some Golden Buffalo at $7.00/5#. It sounds pricey when you read it on a page but the reputation it holds among professional and home bakers gave me the push to put my money down and try it out for myself.
My pictures of my first attempt at a focaccia are somewhere on the hard in Picasa and get that info up in the next three days or so. There's a prediction of at least 5-6" 0f snow starting late tomorrow night so there will be some downtime on Monday and Tuesday.
Tomorrow, GO CHIEFS!