A New Sourdough Molasses Wheat Loaf

 Everybody has a blowout sooner or later and this was just my most recent, certainly not the last I ever expect. I expected that after 2 1/2 hours on my counter after a retarded proofing would be enough but, live and learn and bake some more.


My first sourdough molasses wheat was way, way back in the summer of 2011. This loaf was just a fun loaf and nothing competitive at all. What did I learn? Well, I suspect that if I had more patience during the proofing then I could up the amount of molasses. I also think that a single slash along the length of the loaf would be more effective for relieving the internal pressures.


Starter
155 g at 75% hydration

Main Dough

300 g bread flour
100 g hard red whole wheat
275 g water at 80F
9 g kosher salt
15 g molasses
All of starter
Attention to detail, patience (still working on that), and time

Despite what I thought was a highish hydration, the dough turned out relatively easy to handle. After baking, the interior crumb turned out to be moist with only a slight taste of the home milled whole wheat. Mrs PG gives it her approval for eating with pulled pork and sweet apple barbecue sauce. It does just as well with some unsalted butter.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

   

Election Day Selections

Everybody that planned to attend the Election Day watch party was asked to bring some comfort food for a pot luck supper as we commented and speculated about the returns as they came in. I made a batch of Kansas chili and a couple loaves of bread. My goal was to bake two pan loaves with simple ingredients that could either stand up to use for chili dogs or on their own. I think I did alright.

The first thing I did was to build preferments and use as little yeast as practical. After mixing, I added a stretch and fold during the bulk ferment. Once shaping was complete, I used a retarded fermentation  for both loaves. The loaves have a great flavor with a moist, tender crumb. I'd have no problem serving either loaf to my Mother or MIL.

The loaves were products of my own based on what I've learned over the past few years from books and experience. Some would term that free styling and others would call it luck. It worked so there's no need to fret over it.

The first loaf was in the vein of a French Country loaf. The second loaf started out like a loaf of white bread but I added just a touch of rye flour to give the flavor a little twist.

Preferment
60g white whole wheat flour
40g bread flour
70g water at 90F
1/8 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Main Dough
15g rye flour
60g white whole wheat
200g bread flour
183g water at 90F
1/2 tsp Active dry yeast
9g kosher salt
20g unsalted butter
15g honey
All of preferment
   Preferment,  No. 2
100g bread flour
70g water at 90F
1/8 tsp Active dry yeast

Main Dough
15g rye flour
260g bread flour
183g water at 90F
1/2 tsp Active dry yeast
20g non-fat dry milk powder
8g kosher salt
All of preferment

The loaves were baked in an oven preheated to 425F on a rack in the lower third of the oven. After 15 minutes, I turned the pans around and lowered the temperature to 400F for 22 minutes when the internal temperature read 205F. The kitchen smelled great as I left them to cool on a wire rack for 4 hours before I sliced them

Next year's crop of garlic is in the ground. I planted 18 cloves of soft neck garlic, obtained around Gilroy, CA and 42 cloves of hard neck garlic, mostly varieties from around the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. The hard neck varieties seem to do very well here and the bulbs I harvested this past summer were of good size despite the drought conditions. There's still more work to be done in cleaning up the garden but its not time critical. The flower beds need my attention first.

Page views from out of the ordinary came from Israel, Serbia, and Singapore in the past week or so.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Return of the Whole Wheat and Bran Bread

This type of loaf was called a "pain complet au son" in a previous post. It's a good tasting bread but I haven't figured out how to get the impressive oven spring on this formula. I did presoak the wheat bran for a few hours and the hydration was a little high at about 72% so I expected more. It's a work in progress.My next step will be to work with a smaller loaf to see if that makes any difference.

Soaker
28g wheat bran
56g water at room temp

Starter
150g at 100%

Main Dough
267g  bread flour
133g white whole wheat flour
270g water at 85F
10g kosher salt
all of soaker
all of starter

Most of the birds that I noted as being missing from the feeders are returning. Cardinals, goldfinches, pine siskels, starlings, titmice, and a couple of downy woodpeckers have shown up over the past few days. My neighbor's health has improved to the point that he's ready to start feeding birds as well. He has  really large feeder with nine perches full of black sunflower seeds which means that appropriate head wear is called for when working in the yard. I also saw a couple of juncos a few days ago. Usually, juncos don't show up until late November so I don't know what to make of that. I hope it doesn't mean that we're in for an early winter.

I finished cleaning up a space in my garden plot for next year's planting of garlic. My estimate is that it's about 15-18 square feet or somewhere around two square meters. I have no worries about how much garlic I can plant, just how long my lower back will tolerate being bent over. I'm also working on clearing out some overgrown areas in the flower beds. The season is too late to transplant day lilies so I'm switching to taking out blueberry plants. They really don't do well in my soil and I don't have enough desire or room to plant enough bushes to make the soil amendment work worth my time and expense. Another annual agony going on is the removal of the tree saplings, sprouts, whatever that have a nasty habit of becoming a small tree as soon as I turn my back on them. The next forecast for rain with large downfall amounts is next Saturday so I have some work to do outside.

That doesn't mean I won't be baking bread. I have to figure out a loaf or two for the election night watch party on Tuesday and I'm in for a couple loaves for the Cushing Hospital Volunteers bake sale on 15 November. It looks like my starter will be getting a workout this month.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

A Holy Grail Bread for Dabrownman

 It was probably yesterday that I was checking out a post on the Fresh Loaf and I saw a reply from a home baker from the Phoenix area who calls himself Dabrownman. H e mentioned that one of his favorite flour formulas for a country bread, his Holy Grail, included whole, rye, and spelt. I think I could learn a thing or two from Dabrownman and since I had a stater in the second stage of a build, I'd try to build my loaf with those ingredients   The results included a nice moist crumb with an almost sweet, smooth flavor. Its not very difficult to understand why he enjoys this style of bread.


Starter
150g @ 100% hydration

Main Dough

294g bread flour
66g white whole wheat
20g whole rye flour
20g Spelt flour 
10g kosher salt
All of starter
Attention to detail, patience, and time

While building up my starter, I noticed that it seems to have slowed down by about 15-20%. In the past, I've blamed the weather for that behavior, but today I think I just need to rebuild the starter by elaborating it around the clock for at least 72 hours to build up a very high level of activity.

The work at cleaning up my garden remains in progress. There was a killing frost for the past two nights but the oregano, rosemary, and sage still live.If I pick up two bales of straw for mulch, I should have enough to cover the bed for the garlic planting, cover the surviving herbs from winter weather extremes, and still have some straw left over for any bare spots. I've seen a skunk and a possum in the yard at night time and am at a loss as to how to convince them to relocate. The best bet so far is to use coyote urine. Given how close we live to the undeveloped land of the county, that could bring new problems for which I'm even less suited to handle such as coyotes.  

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

Pain de Campagne, Do Over

It had been a while since I used some of my rye flour so a French Country Bread was in order.Since I have more than enough to do to get my garden and flower beds in order, I haven't been indulging in a seeking  new inspiration among my bread books. "A Blessing of Bread" by Maggie Glezer does sit table side these days and I may have to break down and buy a copy before Christmas so I can show off what I've learned when I visit my parents. That's a tall order since they're in their mid 80s and have seen real neighborhood bakeries in their youth. Time to go to work.

Starter
165 g @ 100% hydration

Main Dough
260g bread flour
40g whole rye flour
100g white whole wheat
270g water at 85F
10g kosher salt
All of starter
Attention to detail, patience, and time

The hydration of this loaf challenged my modest shaping skills in that I didn't get as good an oven spring as hoped, even Mrs PG noted that. The interior crumb did turn out nicely moist and baked thoroughly.
While I have Ms Glezer's book on loan from the library, I think it would be a shame not to take advantage of her work by attempting her sourdough Pan de Horiadiko, a Greek country recipe that originated in Thessalonika, Greece. The first time I worked on that formula, I won a blue ribbon at the county fair. The blog post with my derived formula has been one of my most popular posts. There are also some beginner's level recipes for challah that look like a project for holiday baking.

The latest page views of note have been from Cambodia, Columbia, and Spain.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.


           

A Likeable Scoring Pattern

Scoring or slashing my loaves hasn't been a strong skill of mine so when I saw the results on this loaf, I was particularly pleased. This pattern allowed for a lot more oven spring than I used to on a 33% whole wheat loaf. i wouldn't call it a signature pattern for my baking but it will be used often enough until I find something as easy and effective.
There's nothing avant garde or creative in the formula for the bread but its a more than pleasant effort.



Starter

150g @ 100% hydration


Main Dough    

266g bread flour
134g hard red whole wheat
260g water @ 85F
10g kosher salt
1 Tbs Easton Hillside Honey
All of starter
Attention to detail, patience, and time

As predicted previously, the trees have started to shed in rapid fashion. All my flower beds have to be raked free of leaves before I can clean them up. Unfortunately, this also leads to the appearance of clouds of gnats or some kind of minuscule nuisance insects. The insects don't bite but they do swarm all over me and usually my glasses as well. There's lots of other work to do so I can put that off until a really windy day or the next frost which is due on the 26th of October.
In particular, I need to clear a bed for planting next years garlic crop. There are also quite a few dropped tomatoes that have to be picked up. I'm already guaranteed an excellent crop of volunteer cherry tomatoes so the need to clean up well is important.

The cardinals, goldfinches, robins, titmice and woodpeckers have all been noticeably absent from our feeders lately. Since they're all year round residents of this area of Kansas, it probably comes down to they've found food sources they prefer to what they find in our yard. It's either that or their feeding schedule doesn't match up with my random observation periods. No big deal, they'll be back.

The most recent notable page views for my obscure blog site have come from Bangladesh and New Zealand.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

The 125% Solution Bread

The latest loaf from my kitchen taught me the value of writing down notes of what I'm doing. Don't bet on my applying the lesson learned but I will endorse the practice. I got distracted while building my starter, it was 730AM-GMAB,and my original target hydration went out the door before I even had my first cup of coffee. Coffee is my friend at that time of day. I had intended on a 150g build at 100% but ended up with about 310g at 125% hydration.

Adding foolishness to the ridiculous, I couldn't recalculate my formula because I had an appointment at the opthamologist office where I thought I would scratch out some numbers while waiting for the exam with dilated eyes. Working out arithmetic with eyes that look as big as pie pans is very much as silly an idea as it sounds. Mathematics isn't my strong suit in academia. But the doctor was slow in arriving at the exam room and after presuming I had scratched a groove into my head while working out the numbers, I reached something that appeared to be reasonable.

The starter reached its desired state by 730PM so I applied the following formula that did work out with only an additional 8g of water added as an adjustment.

Starter
180g at 125% hydration.

Main dough
266g bread flour
134g white whole wheat
236g water at 85F
9g kosher salt
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
All of starter

This is somewhat similar to J Hamelman's sourdough loaves but I used more whole wheat than in his formulas. There was also a big difference in results but I don't mind, he's had a lot more practice than I ever hope to achieve.

1. Build starter
2. Add starter, whole wheat flour, water, and  226g of bread flour to the mixer bowl. Using a dough hook, mix for up to one minute or when a shaggy mass is formed.Cover the mixer bowl and rest for 20-30 minutes.
3. Add remaining flour. Mix at first speed for 3 minutes.
4.Add salt to the bowl and fold into the dough. Add the ADY or IDY, if using, and fold into the dough. Adjust dough for moisture if needed, with one Tbs of water at a time. Mix at second speed for 3-4 minutes.
5.Turn the dough out of the mixer bowl and transfer into a covered, oiled container for bulk fermentation.
6. Stretch and fold at 50 and 100 minutes.
7. At 150 minutes, preshape the dough into a ball, cover, and allow 10-20 minutes for the dough to relax.
8. Proof for about 2 hours at room temperature or do a retarded proofing in your refrigerator overnight. Bring the dough out and let it rest covered, on counter, until fully proofed.
9. Preheat the oven and baking stone at 450F.
10. Slash the loaf before loading.
11..Bake on a thoroughly preheated baking stone and oven at 450F for 15 minutes. Turn the loaf around and lower the oven to 425F. Bake for 22 minutes or until the internal temperature is 205F.
12. Turn off the oven and leave loaf on the baking stone for 3 minutes with the oven door cracked open.
13. Cool the loaf on a wire rack for at least 3 hours before eating.

The trees in the yard are shedding their foliage as quickly as I expected. Before long, I'll get to enjoy the spectacle of watching flocks of birds descending upon the Chanticleer pear tree outside my window. I don't know what type of birds to expect this year but in the past, flocks have exercised ferocious gluttony and eliminated almost all the sterile seed berries on the tree. That's better than my having to rake up the dried berries and much more amusing.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.

     

The New Malted Wheat Flake Loaf and Pie Pan Focaccia

Last week Mrs PG and I took a road trip across the Great Plains to visit Yellowstone National Park. On the way, we stopped at Carhenge in Alliance, NE, and the Little Bighorn Battlefield site. While visiting the Park, we toured the Yellowstone Inn- a must see for lovers of architecture and woodwork, the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in W. Yellowstone, MT, and the Geyser Basins. I'm a big fan of YNP because it renews the sense of child like wonder in me. We've been there twice and I still can't scratch it off my bucket list.

Right after we emptied the car of the accumulated detritus of a road trip, I started the build for my New Malted Wheat Flake Loaf. The shaping for a pan loaf could've been better but I'm way out of practice. I was really quite fortunate on my guesswork for the formula because KAF states on the package of the flakes that no soaking is needed. It wasn't the first time I didn't follow instructions.

Starter
150g at 100% hydration

Soaker
120g malted wheat flakes
120g water at room temperature
Pinch of salt, < 1g

Dough

266g bread flour
134 white whole wheat
250g water at 85F
10g kosher salt
1 Tbs honey
All of starter
All of soaker

The Mrs and I thought it had a good flavor, well suited to a schmear of peanut butter in the morning. We usually don't toast our bread in the morning so I can't report on that.

The other bread that I experimented with this week was a focaccia that for better or for worse, that was baked in a couple 9" pie pans. One was to accompany the pasta dish planned for that evening and the other went into the freezer.

Without adult supervision looking over my shoulder to see if I followed the rules, I started with a sponge instead of a biga to get a little flavor going and give me some time to go to the gym. What, you think those calories and carbohydrates self deport themselves?

Sponge
70g bread flour
30g bolted Turkey Red flour flour
210g water at 85F
1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Main Dough
200g bread flour
6g kosher salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 Tbs olive oil
All of sponge
2 Tbs grated Parmesan for topping (optional)
1/4 C shredded mozzarella for topping(optional)
Up to 2 Tbs fresh roemary for topping(optional)
olive oil to brush pans and top of dough before baking.

Pie pans or cake pans aren't the best but are acceptable as a compromise for focaccia when you just can't eat all the bread. I have used some parchment paper and a baking stone for a larger project and that works out fairly well. This style hasn't been a regular in my baking rotation scheme but I enjoy it when I take my shot at it.

Outside, the there are some sever thunderstorms in the area, accompanied by high winds which should strip a lot of leaves of the trees and create clean up work for me. I've identified a red breasted nuthatch as an early season visitor to the feeders. My next bread project is cooling off on the counter as I type away. It's an almost accidental loaf that looks very good so far. The report will follow in a day or two.

The latest pageview of note this week originates from Greece.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.
           

Whole Wheat Multigrain

This is my first attempt at duplicating J Hamelman's Whole Wheat Multigrain loaf from his book "Bread". I didn't slavishly follow his formula but it isn't that hard to repeat if you have the self discipline. My deviations were the use of a 100% hydration starter versus his 125% and the use of white whole wheat flour as opposed to Mr Hamelman's use of whole wheat. If you like a bread that has taste, a lot of flavor that you won't find on a supermarket shelf, this is one to try for yourself.

Starter:
150 g at 100% hydration
                                                                                  Soaker:                                                                                 81  g 9 grain cereal                                                                                  90 g water at room temperature                                                                                  pinch of kosher salt
                                                                                   Main Dough:                                                                                   200 g bread flour                                                                                   200 g white whole wheat flour                                                                                  233 g water at 80F                                                                                   10 g kosher salt                                                                                  2 tsp honey                                                                                   1/4 tsp active dry yeast or instant dry yeast                                                                                   All of soaker                                                                                     All of starter

The 9 grain cereal is a Montana Milling product. You can substitute other such cereals from sources such as Bob's Red Mill. I made up the soaker after I prepared my starter. If you are concerned about enzymatic activity in the soaker, the addition of salt will slow that down. You can also put it in the refrigerator for a while. Using ADY or IDY in the main dough will speed up the bulk fermentation so a baker should be paying attention to the dough. I did stretch and folds at 45 and 90 minutes but Mr Hamelman uses a different schedule. Using a bread pan is an alternative with this formula. A larger, 5.25"X 9" size should be able to hold this quantity of dough. The quantity of WWW and the cereal  limits the development of an open crumb so a pan can be used without guilt.

I'd like to thank the readers who dropped in for page views from Japan and Roumania.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.





 

A Simple Sourdough with Whole Wheat

 There was nothing technically difficult or innovative in today's loaf. I did soak the whole wheat flour and wheat germ which is nothing new. The most daring thing about it all was that I proofed it longer than usual due to a little absent mindedness more than adjusting for a cooler room temperature due to the autumnal temperature change. But it was all working for me when I did the finger poke test for readiness and the loaf ended up tasting even better than it looks.

Starter

150g at 70% hydration, two stage build

Soaker

100g whole wheat flour
17g wheat germ
100g water at 85F

Main Dough

300g bread flour
180g water at 85F
10g kosher salt
All of starter
All of Soaker

As previously threatened, I went out and bought some new supplies today. I found a local source for Montana Milling products and purchased 5# of hard white whole wheat flour and 5# of 9 grain flaked cereal. White whole wheat has long been a favorite ingredient and since this flour was milled for me before pickup, I can't resist the idea of playing with it as a starter food at least once or twice. It's a curiosity thing. Since the 9 grain cereal was so reasonably priced at $6/ 5 lbs, I had to look up the multi-grain recipe from J Hamelman's book "Bread". It looks like an interesting formula since the hydration is 98% due the extra water needed for the multi-grain soaker. That might be one of those loaves that won't necessarily work out the first time.


I'll find out for certain in the next few days.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.