ananda's blog

 

Bread Adventures in July [finally edited to include a few pictures, and remove the original apologetic whingeing!]

This academic year seems to have gone on longer than any I can previously remember.   I still have a few assignments to mark for late submitting Hospitality students...maybe I should be getting that out of the way this weekend?   However I thought it would be more fun to write up the detail of the breads I've been making this month instead!

Apologies in advance: unusually for me, there are very few photographs.   I've had 2 excellent baking sessions, but a camera has been hard to lay hands on, on both occasions.   I'm actually just baking off the last of the breads from the last 2 day's hard work crafting an interesting range of doughs.

Some of these are part of my contribution to the "Hamelman Challenge".   I haven't checked up to see how folks are progressing with this recently, but here's a summary of where I reckon I've got to:

TOTAL is apparently 85 different breads.   Some of these I have decided there is little point me making.   These are the likes of Chollah, Hot Cross Buns etc., which I've made so many times, and incorporate into my regular teaching every year, and have tried and tested methods which I don't intend to change [eg. use of a ferment etc.].   Then there are breads I've made before such as ciabatta, baguette etc.

Add these to the one's I've done recently and the total completed reads 29, and therefore, still 48 to complete.   Many of these are Rye-based, so that continues to excite.   Most of the others either use soakers, or liquid levain [I tend to use a stiff wheat levain], so there is much to look forward to.

Anyway, I've had 2 baking sessions; one on Thursday 1st July, the other largely yesterday and today.   The first session was in College, when I played host to my Baking and Teaching mentor from Leeds together with one of his recent student graduates who is a bread fanatic working at an artisan outlet in Leeds.   Joe actually retired just a year ago; a fount of knowledge, it would be difficult for me to quantify my debt to Joe; he was the inspiration driving me to work so hard whilst studying.   Joe had told me a little about how passionate Laura was about bread, and had asked me to make some breads on the day, which would give her some new ideas to work with.   These are the formulae and methods I came up with; many, actually being work in progress, or brand new recipes to me.

•1.    "Bermaline"

This experiment was inspired by a post on TFL from qahtan, which has clearly been a long term project for the original poster.   See: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17994/bermaline-pan    As will be noted, original interest goes way back to an old thread on the Dan Lepard forum in 2004!

I used the traditional recipe supplied by duncang, on the Dan Lepard thread, in 2008.   I couldn't resist using this formula, as it specifically references semolina.   Given I have been using the coarse semolina provided by my local miller, the by-product from the accompanying bag of lovely fine pizza/ciabatta flour, this was the recipe for me.   Just a bit about the bread itself: it is a companion to the traditional "Hovis" tinned loaf, therefore using a prescribed amount of germ and fibre, both as a bread improver, and, to add to the somewhat worrying lack of fibre creeping in to the British diet at the time.   So, not much has changed there then!!!   Additionally the loaf used a given quantity of malt extract, which was actually manufactured by "Bermaline", so the bread made under this brand, would have to use this type of malt, together with the specified meal.   Hovis and Granary are really the only mass-produced bread categories in England still made along the same lines; I don't want to count "Soreen" as a bread, if that's alright?

The bread is baked with the tin over the loaf, so the attractive logo on the side of the bread appears the right way round.   There is a hole in the middle of the pan base.   Put a skewer inside this during proof as a means to monitor proof levels prior to baking....good tip from the master [Joe]!   Well, I used Bermaline pans at Leeds to make tinned bread as they are really attractive finished loaves.   But, I don't have these at Newcastle College.   I do have a similar tin, oval-shaped, but with straight rather than sloping sides.   It does have the crucial hole in the base too!

Here's the formula and recipe.   Neither Bermaline Malt Extract nor Meal exists anymore, but this is a semolina take on it.

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
Gilchesters Organic Coarse Semolina	100	3000
Organic Barley Malt Syrup [Meridian]	9.3	279
Water	63	1890
Salt	1	30
Vegetable Shortening	1.4	42
Fresh Yeast	1	30
TOTAL	175.7	5271

Original Source  is Bennion, E. B. [1954] Breadmaking: its principles and practice. London: Oxford University Press

nb. This is not the original edition of this book; first print was January 1929!

Method:

• Soak the semolina in the water for one hour before mixing
• Add the remaining ingredients, attach a dough hook and mix on slow speed to form a soft and developed dough. A gluten network will form so long as gentle mixing is employed. DDT is 30°C
• Ferment in bulk for 2½ hours, knocking back after 1 and 2 hours
• Scale and mould loaves at 500g, and prove on trays covered by the oval loaf pans. Proof at 35°C, 85%rH, for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
• Bake at 225°C top heat 6, bottom heat 8 for 35 minutes.
• Remove covering pans, and bake out a further 5 minutes if necessary.
• Cool on wires

 

Notes

Following changes needed:

A] not enough salt; increase to 1.8%

B] not enough yeast; increase to 1.8%

C] to increase the strength of the dough, use strong white flour at 20% and reduce the semolina to 80%; this may not be necessary with changes A and B implemented.   Another alternative may be to reduce hydration by 1-2%, but keep formula as 100% semolina

D] consider a small increase in malt syrup

 

•2.    Gilchesters "Pain au Levain"

I started a natural leaven with the Gilchesters flour back in October 2009.   I buy 2 grades of flour from Gilchesters; one is the very fine pizza/ciabatta flour, and the other is branded as "Farmhouse" flour.   Andrew Wilkinson, who runs the business, came to College back in November to give a lecture to my Foundation Degree students.   He explained this flour has approximately an 85% extraction, and it really is wonderfully finely ground.   This is the base for the leaven I have since maintained.   Here is the formula for the second bread we made:

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Levain
Gilchesters Organic Farmhouse Flour	25	750
Water	17.5	525
TOTAL	42.5	1275
2. Final Dough
Levain [from above]	42.5	1275
Gilchesters Organic White Pizza/Ciabatta Flour	75	2250
Salt	1.8	54
Water	49	1470
TOTAL	168.3	5049

Pre-fermented flour: 25%.   Overall dough hydration 66.5%

Notes:

We made this as a true sourdough.   I did the final elaboration for the leaven about 18 hours ahead of schedule - longer than ideal, but I don't sleep at College, thankfully!   Still I made the leaven cold, and chilled it down for the final 2 hours in the fridge as soon as I arrived that morning.   I mixed the dough gently on a low speed to enable long mixing time and full development.   The Gilchesters flour is high in protein, but the quality of the gluten is not great.   The Farmhouse flour always needs every drop of the 70% hydration used; the 66.5% in the final formula was just right for the bread we could produce in a relatively limited time schedule.   After mixing, the dough had 1½  hours in bulk with one S&F at the mid-point.   After that, we scaled just less than 1kg to give 5 large loaves.   These were moulded round and proofed in bannetons.   We used a prover, with humidity due to time pressure.   The result was the loaves stuck, just a little in the bannetons; but this was not fatal, just distorted the loaf shape a little.

Finished breads were great, although a little sour for some people's tastes, I suspect.   This leaven actually needs quite a lot of looking after to maintain it well.   The high ash content means it gets pretty hungry, and ferments through quite rapidly.   However, I don't get to work with it as often as would be ideal.   I think this leaven would be a total winner in a commercial bakery, where it was in use all the time, and subject to a constant refreshment cycle....a dream, per chance?

•3.    Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel

I think we've been here before a couple of times now; see blog entries below.   BUT, finally I had the opportunity to cook this bread as I've wanted to all along.   I made the bread in my Pullman Pan.

We cooked it in the Combi Oven I have installed in the bakery kitchen.   This is a Steaming Oven and a Convection Oven in one; you can use steam, fan-powered dry heat, or a combination.   Ordinarily I detest this sort of oven for baking, being a dedicated worshipper of conduction or radiation systems.   However, 9 hours in the steamer for a 2.4kg loaf in the Pullman Pan?   Extraordinary result, I have to say.   The only difficulty is that the finished loaf had to sit in the oven overnight with the lid still on the bread pan.   The oven was programmed, so it switched off automatically, but I was long gone home by then, and the building was devoid of anyone to decant the finished bread.   I actually have photos of this loaf, and will attach below.   Colour is just sublime; soo dark, and it got darker too.    BUT, not the burnt dark you get from baking in the oven.   I don't like that.   Dark from all the sugar caramelisation over such an extended cooking period.   The slight sag on the top of the loaf is entirely due to the loaf sitting in the cold oven overnight with the lid on.   Condensation as the loaf cooled has run onto the top of the loaf, causing it to collapse just a TINY bit.   Well, I eventually dared to cut into this on Monday evening, having made it the previous Thursday.   Moist may not be even enough of a description.   It's Saturday today, and I've just eaten the last slice for breakfast...still almost as moist as when the loaf was first cut.   Way to go in the future, methinks for sure!

 

•4.    Jeffrey Hamelman's Flaxseed Bread

I was almost totally faithful to the author's formula, and refer you to pp.211-2 of his book "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes".   I did adopt the small element of fresh yeast, purely on account of available time, given I had set up so many breads for Laura to have some kind of hands-on experience in making.   Actually, now I look over the formula, I realise that I decided to use wholwheat flour in the final dough, rather than medium rye flour.   Given I'd chosen the HB to perfect, I decided to make this slightly less of a "high rye" than originally intended by the author.

We made just over 4kg of dough and shaped it up into 4 large loaves proved in bannetons.   These loaves were so bold; they baked beautifully in the steam of the deck oven, on the sole.   The keeping qualities were absolutely amazing, thanks to the flaxseed [cold] soaker.   Laura e-mailed through to me on Thursday, a week later.   She said she was still eating up this loaf, and how fresh it had kept!

 

And so, on to Session 2.   I've made the following breads over the weekend, and they are all inspired by Hamelman's "Bread" book.

•5.    Garlic Levain

The formula is almost exactly to the one in the book.   I had some very tasty flavoured oil which I used to roast the garlic.   I actually peeled the garlic and chopped it into chunks which I then roasted in the oil.   See pp. 183-4 for the recipe/formula.   My main deviation is that I used an overnight cold bulk fermentation for the dough.   As recommended I used a 2 hour ambient bulk proof [I added in one S&F half way through].   After that I chilled the dough right down overnight in the fridge....good excuse to get up early and bake!   I baked this as one oblong loaf, with arrowhead cutting on the top.   The smell in the house has been quite outrageous for some time now!

•6.    Pain au Levain with Mixed Starters

I know this is a favourite with Larry.   I actually had to do a little adapting of the formula, as my rye and wheat leavens were not running in synchronicity.   The wheat leaven is older, and has been used to the point where it is becoming a kicking culture.   It had been sitting unused in the fridge for about 3 weeks.   I did one elaboration on Thursday evening, making it into a liquid levain.   From there, yesterday afternoon I refreshed this to a full stiff levain.   It was ready to use within 3 hours, and I knew I would have to motor.   Of course, the rye was very active by this stage, but had nowhere near soured through, as I prefer when working with rye.   So I will publish this recipe to clarify how the balance of the formula has been change.   Additionally, my rye sour was the usual batter [100flour:167water], and the wheat leaven, a stiff dough [100flour: 60water]

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Rye Sourdough
Dark Rye	5	50
Water	8	80
TOTAL	13	130
2. Wheat Levain
Strong White Flour	19	190
Water	11	110
TOTAL	30	300
3. Final Dough
Rye Sour [from above]	13	130
Wheat Levain [from above]	30	300
Strong White Flour	66	660
Strong Wholemeal Flour	10	100
Salt	1.8	18
Water	49	490
TOTAL	169.8	1698

Pre-fermented flour: 24%.   Overall hydration: 68%

Hamelman's formula uses just 16% pre-fermented flour; my higher alternative was to counter the youth of the rye sour!

I used exactly the same method as described above for the garlic leaven.

Any photos posted of these products are done on my mobile phone...apologies for any lack of quality!   My wife, Alison, is off to Manchester this weekend with her 3 girl superstar students, bidding to win a national poetry competition.   She, quite rightly, has priority in terms of access to the camera.   Still the bread in the freezer will be replenished on her return.   Oh, nearly forgot: one more!

•7.    Volkornbrot with Flaxseeds

This has been a total delight to make.   Having perfected the steaming technique for HB, I decided I would bake this loaf, just as we used to bake the Rossisky-style loaves at Village Bakery.   However, my Pullman Pan contained only just short of 2kg of paste, so clearly getting a bake on the product was going to be a small challenge.

Essentially the formula is exactly to Hamelman's, see pp. 219-20, but for the following small amendments: I have only cracked rye to use as a substitute for the rye chops in the first cold soaker.   I am very happy to say I had no need whatsoever for any baker's yeast in this formula.   In fact I actually had to hold it in the fridge for 2 hours waiting whilst I baked off the 2 breads described above.

Once on the final leg of baking the last mixed levain, I put the Pullman Pan in the oven, with the temperature reading 220°C, and turned the thermostat down to 200°C.   20 minutes later, I propped open the oven door for 5 minutes, and turned the heat down to 180°C.   After that, I removed the baked Pain au Levain with mixed starter.   I re-filled my makeshift "larva pan" [old cast iron roasting pot containing several stones] with boiling water, shut the oven door and left the loaf to bake a further 1¾ hours at 175°C.   My oven is an electric fan oven; nothing fancy at all.   The finished bread looks as I would have expected.   It's not quite as dark as the HB [no molasses for a start, and it has golden flax], but I reckon it will darken in the days to come.   I wonder how long I can wait before cutting into it?!

Top left: Pain au Levain with Mixed Starters.   Top right: Garlic Levain

Bottom: Volkornbrot with Flaxseeds

 

Best wishes to all

 

Andy

Hi Again!

Very quickly following on from my last post "Whitsuntide Breads and Other Antics", this is a quick post listing the books that I recommend for my bakery students to source to aid their programme of study.

Hansjoakim asked me about this, after I posted information about a Student Bread Competition.   There are just short of 50 books on the list.   The one I most want is one Hans referenced sometime ago by Claus Schunemann.   I've tried to get it through Amazon UK, and finally received an e-mail today.   Original price for the book is just over £55.   I would pay that!   However, a secondhand version is about £90 + P&P, and a new version is over £125 + P&P!!!!

The College Library service is top class.   Next year's books are ordered already.   These will now come mainly as e-books.   Most of the books I'm ordering now are scientific and technical and go over the magic £100 mark.   That's the point where alarm bells start sounding in our "cash-strapped" world of UK 2010!   Books shown below with double * are in our library.   Others are noted as on order in some shape or form.

Of course, blogging on TFL partly shows my keen enthusiasm for all matters electronic too.   And this is very highly valued by the College....To the extent that, as Lecturers, our use of ILT is monitored and built in to performance management.   Every course  which runs in College has a "Blackboard" site.   This is a means of inter-active learning for students, and the sites I have created for the bakery course I run are my pride and joy.   I won 2nd prize last year as ILT Practitioner of the Year.   The site content allows students to access any learner materials night and day, either in College, or anywhere else, given access to a pc and the internet.   Materials include a host of photgraphs from all the practical classes, plus demonstration videos.   Some of these are available on my TFL blog, as you may have already seen.   All course details and documents are posted, and folders full of my recipes.   The front page is an "Announcements" area, enabling me to provide rapid and immediate news for students [eg the news of the Apprenticeship Baker post which came up the day before yesterday].   There is also a place for "External Links".   I have quite a range in here; top of the pile is immediate access to....THE FRESH LOAF, of course!

In the syllabus area, there are loads of documents for students to use to complete the course.   Also in here, is this list shown below.   Well, my studies at University in the early 1980s involved use of microfiche to access books in the library,; no computers whatsoever!   I didn't even know how to word process until early 2004!   Some folks think mobile phones are where it's at, and others go more for media such as television.   I've long been convinced that the most powerful player is the pc, and, particularly the internet.   Anybody disagree about that?

So if I've missed anything off please let me know.   As you can see, there is a big "hats off" to the great US Artisan Bakers; my personal big inspiration in the book world of the last 5-10 years.   A quick count up suggests I own about 20 of the books shown in my personal baking library.

BOOKLIST:

 

Recommended Texts

I will add to this list from time to time:

**Amendola, J., Rees, N. (2003) Understanding Baking: The Art and the Science of Baking. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

Banfield, W.T. (1947) Manna: A Comprehensive Treatise on Bread Manufacture. London: Maclaren & Sons

**Barenbaum, R.L. (2003) The Bread Bible. New York & London: Norton

**Bertinet, R. (2007) Crust: Bread to Get Your Teeth Into. London: Kyle Cathie

**Bertinet, R. (2008; paperback, with dvd) Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread. London: Kyle Cathie

** [7 copies]Brown, J. et. al. [Eds] (1996) The Master Bakers' Book of Bread Making. Hertfordshire: NAMB

**Calvel, R., MacGuire, J., Wirtz, R. (2001) The Taste of Bread. Gaithersburg, Md.L: Aspen

Cauvain, S. P. [ed] (2003) Bread Making: Improving Quality Cambridge: Woodhead [on order as an e-book]

Cauvain, S. P., Young, L. S. (2006) The Chorleywood Bread Process. Cambridge: Woodhead

**Cauvain, S. P., Young, L. S. (2007) The Technology of Breadmaking. 2nd Edition. New York: Springer - Verlag

**Cauvain, S. P., Young, L. S. (2009) More Baking Problems Solved. Cambridge: Woodhead

Collister, L., Blake, A. (1993) The Bread Book London: Conran Octopus

** [multiple copies]Connelly, P., Pittam, M. (1997) Practical Bakery. London: Hodder & Stoughton

**David, E. (1979) English Bread and Yeast Cookery. London: Penguin

**DiMuzio, D. T. (2009) Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Edwards, W. P. (2007) The Science of Bakery Products London: Royal Society of Chemistry

**Figoni, P. (2008) How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science 2nd Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Friberg, B. (2002) The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry.  4th Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Friberg, B. (2003) The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef: Advanced Baking and Pastry Techniques. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Gisslen, W. (2008) Professional Baking. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Glezer, M. (2000) Artisan Baking Across America. New York, Artisan

**Hamelman, J. (2004) Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc

**Hanneman, L.J. (1991) Bakery: Flour Confectionery. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Butterworth - Heinemann

**Hanneman, L.J. (1992) Bakery: Bread and Fermented Goods. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Butterworth - Heinemann

** [multiple copies]Hanneman, L.J. (1993) Patisserie 2nd Edition. Oxford: Butterworth - Heinemann

Hui, Y. H. et. al. [Eds] (2006) Bakery Products: Science and Technology New York/London: Wiley-Blackwell [on order as an e-book]

Kaplan, S. L. (2006) Good Bread Is Back: A Contemporary History Of French Bread, The Way It Is Made, And the People Who Make It. Durham and London: Duke

Kirkland, J. (1927) The Modern Baker, Confectioner and Caterer. London: Gresham

**Labensky, S., Martel, P., van Damme, E (2009) On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals.  New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall

**Leader, D., Blahnik, J. (1993) Bread Alone: Bold Fresh Loaves From Your Own Hands. New York: Morrow

**Leader, D., Chattman, L. (2007) Local Breads: Sour Doughs and Whole Grain Recipes From Europe's Best Artisan Bakers. New York: Norton

**Lepard, D. (2004) The Handmade Loaf. London: Mitchell Beazley

**Lepard, D., Whittington, R. (2010) Baking with Passion: Baker and Spice. London: Quadrille

**Ortiz, J. (1993) The Village Baker. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press

**Reinhart, P. (2001) The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press

**Reinhart, P. (2006; paperback) Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press

**Reinhart, P. (2007) Whole Grain Breads. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press

**Reinhart, P. (2009) Artisan Breads Everyday: Fast and Easy Recipes for World-Class Breads. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press

**Rinsky, G., Rinsky, L. H. (2008) The Pastry Chef's Companion: a Comprehensive Resource  Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

**Roux, M., Roux, A. (1993) The Roux Brothers on Patisserie. London: Little, Brown

**Shulman, M-R. (1990) Bread Book. London: Macmillan

Stevens, D. (2009) Bread: River Cottage Handbook No. 3. London: Bloomsbury

**Suas, M. (2008) Advanced Bread and Pastry USA: Delmar Cengage Learning

**Treuille, E., Ferrigno, U., O'Leary, I. (1998) Bread. London: Dorling Kindersley

**Whitley, A. (2006) Breadmatters: the state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own. London: Fourth Estate

**Wing, D., Scott, A. (1999) The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens. Vermont: Chelsea Green.

 

 

MOST WANTED:

Baking: The Art and Science (Hardcover)   by Claus Schunemann (Author)

 

Other texts of interest to be found in the College Library:

Author	Title	Publisher
Cordon Bleu	"Baking 1" and "Baking 2"   1971	London; Macdonald and Jane's
Daniel A. R.	"The Bakers' Dictionary" 2nd edition, 1971 "Bakery Materials and Methods" 4th edition 1963 "Bakery Questions Answered" 1972 "Up-to-date Confectionery" 1978	ALL: Essex; Elsevier Applied Science
Richemont Craft School	"Perfect Bakery and Confectionery" 1989 "Swiss Bakery" 1988 "Swiss Confiseur" 1987 "Swiss Confectionery" 1985	ALL Lucerne; Richemont
Barrows, A. E.	"Bakery Specialities" 1984	Essex; Elsevier Applied Science
Shulman, M. R.	"The Bread Book" 1990	London; Macmillan
Schumacher, M.	"Complete Book of Baking" 1993	London; Tiger
Culinary Institute of America	"Baking and Pastry - Mastering the Art and Craft" 2004	New Jersey; John Wiley
Bachman, W.	"Swiss Bakery and Confectionery" 1949	London; Maclaren
Boyle, T. and Moriarty, T.	"Grand Finales - Art of Plated Desserts" 1997 "Modernist View [Grand Finales] 1997	BOTH: New York, John Wiley
Fance, W. J. [ed]	"New International Confectioner" 5th Edition 1981	London; Virtue
Nicolello, I	"New Manual in Patisserie and Confectionery" "Complete Confectionery Techniques" 1994 Complete Pastrywork Techniques" 1991 "Basic Pastrywork Techniques" 1991	** there are 10 copies of this manual in the library!!   ALL: London; Hodder and Stoughton
Barker, W.	"The Modern Patissier" 1983	London; Hutchinson
Healy, B. and Bugat, P.	"Mastering the Art of French Pastry" 1984	New York; Barron's
Karousos, G.	"The Patissier's Art 1994	New York; John Wiley
Juillet, C.	"Classic Patisserie" 1998	London; B. H
Bennion and Bamford	"Technology of Cakemaking" 1930, rep 1986	Worcester; Billings. There is a recently updated version of this available, but not in the library

 

Sugarcraft

 

Author	Title
Ashby, P	"Marzipan"
Boyle, P. T.	"Sugar Work"
Lees, R. and Jackson, E. B.	"Sugar Confectionery and Chocolate Manufacture"
McFadden, C and France, C	Chocolate - Cooking with the World's Best Ingredient
Sinkeldam, C.	"Art of Marzipan Modelling"
Storer, E.	"Complete Book of Marzipan"
Lodge, N	International School of Sugarcraft

 

Best wishes

Andy

 

Whitsuntide Baking and Other Antics

Today has been a busy day making a range of breads.   I had refreshed both my rye sourdough and wheat levain, with no definite projects in mind.   Given store cupboard availability at the time, this is what I've ended up with:

•1.    Cheese Bread

Part of the "Hamelman Challenge", I made this Cheese Bread using the white levain, pretty much to the recipe.   I'm afraid I couldn't extend to Parmegiano Regiano, but I did have a half decent Farmhouse Mature Cheddar Cheese to use as substitute.   As with all the breads made at home, this is solely reliant on natural yeasts, so it took a considerably longer time to prove than Hamelman suggests in his book.   I made a small loaf in a banneton which was underproved.   So, I just allowed the loaf in the Pullman Pan to prove for about 3 hours before baking; this was after a 2 hour bulk proof, so I was really pleased with the end result.   It is to formula, found on pp.180-1 of the book, apart from these alterations.

•2.    Roasted Brazil Nut and Prune Bread

Well, it should be hazelnut, but I was quite happy to use brazils instead.   No added yeast, just the white levain.   To formula otherwise.   The loaf shown is just shy of 1.2kg.   I baked it at 180°C for 55 minutes.   It had stuck, ever so slightly in the "banneton", but I was really happy about the lovely moist crumb in the final baked loaf.   Prunes are a new household favourite, and we have sourced dried fruits which have been packed perfectly, and knock the socks off even fresh plums!    See pp. 185-6

•3.    Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel

Given I bought 3kg of Organic Rye Berries and 3kg of Organic Cracked Rye Grain, I want to keep on producing "Pumpernickel-style" breads.   8 hours steaming works so well; keeping qualities are unsurpassed.   We both love this bread...lots and lots!

•4.    Wholegrain Bread leavened with a Rye Sourdough

This one's my own recipe, shown below.   I made it as one BIG loaf in a banneton, using bran as a topping to the bread, which weighed in just short of 1.4kg prior to baking!   The flours are all organic; the formula is as straightforward as can be for this type of loaf.   Bulk ferment time was about 2 hours, with 2 S&F in that time.   Final proof was similarly 2 hours.   I do so love using rye sourdough to leaven any type of bread.   This loaf makes me think of Leader's Pane di Genzano, and yet the 2 formulae have little in common.   Can't wait to try it!   Bake profile utilised steam, loaded at full heat of 250°C, reduced to 220°C after 10 minutes, then 200°C for the last 20 minutes of a 50 minute bake.

Pre-fermented Flour: 13.8%  Overall Hydration: 67.2%

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Rye Sourdough
Organic Dark Rye Flour	13.8	112
Water	23.2	188
TOTAL	37	300
2. Final Dough
Rye Sourdough	37	300
Organic Strong White Flour	43.1	350
Organic Strong Wholemeal Flour	43.1	350
Salt	1.7	14
Water	44	357
TOTAL	168.9	1371

 

Photographs shown below:

 

 

Student Bread Competition

The end of the student academic year approaches.   Currently we are building 2 College Buildings out of Cake ready for the EAT Food Festival held in Newcastle later in June.

At the end of April we played host to Warburtons to celebrate National Bread Week; the first week of May.   A huge organisation, and massively successful baking company; this was a great opportunity for the students, and they all did the College and themselves proud.   They divided into 3 groups and designed their own loaves to produce and present to a Senior Manager at the local Warburtons Bakery in our city.   Hamelman's Roast Potato and Onion Bread was the inspiration for one group, and it was soo moist; probably my favourite on the day!   Another group was led by a baker from Sicily, and the recipe lent heavily on the Semolina Bread I posted on not long ago.   Both these breads were made using a Biga Naturale, prepared and fostered by the students themselves.   The winners went down the seed route in a big way, and adopted rye sourdough as a means to pack a punch with flavour.   Clearly this impressed the judge!   They actually made Pain Siègle, a Wholegrain Chollah with seed topping, and a "Couronne" of rolls using rye sour dough and topped with seeds.

Some photographs are attached.   Most of these are taken on a mobile phone, so, apologies for lack of quality.

 

I don't seem to have posted on the blog for a while; hope this keeps up the interest!

Best wishes to you all

Andy

Hi

This is just a quickie to show how I prefer this bread; as a steamed "pudding".   The "Pullman Pan" is ideal to make sandwiches, but I prefer not to bake this loaf.   Steaming time for a 600g loaf is about 8 hours!   Cool, then wrap in linen for 24 hours.   Finally, this loaf can now be sliced for eating; AND, it's so good!

Photographic evidence attached:

Best wishes

Andy

 

Slight Variations on Two More Formulae from Hamelman's "Bread"

 

I made these last weekend.

75% Sourdough Rye with a Rye Flour Soaker

This was pretty faithful to the original recipe, except that the rye flour had to be cut back to 75%, as I ran out of dark rye flour.   Also, it is leavened only by the sourdough; no added yeast.  Detail is shown below.

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Sourdough
Dark Rye Flour		600
Water		500
Sour from stock		215
TOTAL		1315 [35 returned to stock]
2. Soaker
Dark Rye Flour		400
Boiling Water		400
TOTAL		800
3. Final Dough
Sourdough [from above]	Flour: 35; Water 29	1280 [flour 700, water 580]
Soaker [from above]	Flour 20; Water 20	800 [flour 400, water 400]
Dark Rye Flour	25	500
Strong White Flour	20	400
Salt	1.8	36
Water	29	580
TOTAL		3596

Pre-fermented flour is 35%.   Overall hydration is 78%

Method:

• I followed the book, except that I didn't use yeast, at all. To deal with this I gave 1 hour bulk, and final fermentation time was around 2 hours.
• I made these as extremely large tinned loaves; one in a Pullman Pan at 2kg, the other just over 1.5kg. See photos. Bake time was a long 1 hour 30mins for the Pullman, and 1 hour 10 mins for the other tin. Baking temperature was 195-200*C. I misted the top of the open tinned loaf, and used just a little steam when the loaves went in.
• Cooled on wires, then wrapped in baker's linen for 24 hours before cutting.

See photographs of process and finished products below

 

Miche, Pointe-à-Callière

 

I made a few adjustments to this formula, as I don't have a ready access to the high extraction flour in the formula.   I used a sifted wholemeal flour at 50%, and strong white flour at 50%.   I increased the pre-fermented flour from 20 to 25%.   The hydration I reduced to 72%.   This  reflects the greater white flour element, and my personal preference not to go too wet for this type of loaf.

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Leaven First Build
Leaven [from stock]		135
Strong White Flour		135
Water		80
TOTAL		350
2. Leaven Final Build
Leaven [from above]		350
Strong White Flour		350
Water		210
TOTAL		910 [110 returned to stock]
3. Final Dough
Leaven [from 2. above]	Flour 25; Water 15	800 [flour 500, water 300]
Sifted Strong Wholemeal	50	1000
Strong White Flour	25	500
Salt	1.8	36
Water	57	1140
TOTAL		3476

Pre-fermented flour is 25%.   Overall hydration 72%

 

Method:

• 2 levain builds with 12 hour fermentation periods at 20°C.
• Autolyse 40 minutes
• Mix by hand, 15 minutes; DDT 21°C
• Bulk time 3½ hours, 3 S&F
• Scale for 2 large and 1 medium sized Boules, mould and place upside down in bannetons.
• Final proof around 3 hours
• Bake; use full steam and set at 240°C for 15 minutes. Reduce to 200°C for further 20 minutes, then 180°C for a final 10 minutes, or just over, for the larger loaves.
• Cool on wires

 

See all photographs below for process and finished products.

 

 

Best wishes

Andy

 

DonD's Baguettes à'Ancienne with Cold Retardation

A short while ago Don posted his latest work on these techniques he has been developing recently.   You can view his most excellent work here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17415/baguettes-l039ancienne-cold-retardation  

Just over a week ago in a post which you can read here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17275/french-terms

Don clarified a technique discussed by Daniel Wing in "The Bread Builders" book he co-authored with Alan Scott, known as "Bassinage".   This seems to be a dough mixing technique whereby the dough is mixed slightly tight, but then has additional water added late in the mixing.   The consensus seemed to be that this was not a way we would enjoy mixing dough.   But Don, and David Snyder before him; see here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8524/philippe-gosselin039s-pain-%C3%A0-l039ancienne-according-peter-reinhart-interpretted-dmsnyder-m

had adopted this technique using a long cold autolyse first, then adding salt yeast, and the extra water the next day, after an overnight refrigeration period.

Well, ideally you need a mixer for this to be effective, and I mix most of my dough at home by hand.   I do have a small hand-held electric mixer which has hook attachments as an alternative to the usual whisks.   So, I mixed the dough in small batches and developed a very fine dough.   The recipe I used is identical to the one given by David Snyder as shown above; except that I use fresh yeast and not dried.   I then followed Don's method of combining the Gosselin formula with the Bouabsa method to give long autolyse, mix and part ambient ferment, chilled ferment, then final proof and bake.   For the record I used the T65 farine de tradition French flour, as described here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17118/competing-louis-lesaffre-cup and here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16151/working-french-flour at 94% and 6% Dark Rye Flour, with hydration at 71% in total, as is David's formula from Peter Reinhart.

First time round I encountered the following problem:   I used 3 times the amount of fresh yeast to David's dried, all the time thinking that 1.5% was too much!   And it was.   Also the heat rise to mix the final dough took the finished dough temperature to 20°C.   This despite the hard work I put in to make sure the autolyse temperature was a cold 5°C.   So, the dough was kicking after just 2 hours and a S&F each hour.   This first time, I had made double quantity too, so the larger bulk really was moving.

I held the dough in the fridge til evening, giving a 6 hour cold fermentation period, but then decided I had to bake it before I went to bed.   On reflection, I should have divided the dough, semi-shaped it, then put it back in the fridge overnight.   The loaves came out looking somewhat under-proved, with a long split along the side of each baguette.   I made a boule as well, and that had similar betrayal of under-proving.

A brief report back to Don and David, then underway with the second attempt.  This time I used 1.5 times the amount to convert dried to fresh yeast.   Also, a smaller dough with a final temperature of 18°C, which was much easier to manage.   It had the full 3 hours with S&F, then back into the fridge overnight.   This morning, I watched Ciril Hitz's video on YouTube, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI-WstoakmQ

Then scaled and shaped 4 baguette pieces at just over 200g each, and set them en coûche.   The dough temperature in my warming kitchen reached 20°C, after a half hour's proof.   This was where I was still unsure how long to keep proving the dough.   This is where the beauty of long cold fermentation really comes through.   The dough is so stable, even though it is very well-matured.   I baked the first batch of 2 after 1½ hours final proof; not long enough, I soon realised.   I took an important phonecall regarding progress on my latest Food Policy assignment for my Master's Degree.   That was quite a blessing, as it held me up half an hour.   By this time the dough was becoming a little sticky, but still handled really well.   The resulting bake was very pleasing.

I made some egg mayonnaise with fresh dill, parsley and spring onion, and a salad to go with it, then took some photographs of this and the finished bread.   My wife and I ate 2 of these baguettes with the salad and eggs for our lunch straight after.   I know the crumb is not so open, although it was spot-on for translucency, and I have still to master proper cutting techniques.   The grignette I purchased has helped, but the scoring is not deep enough.   That said, the balance of crispy crust to soft tasty crumb was just right, and the bread was so fresh too.   Just a hint of rye, no pre-ferment; the first time I've really tried to work through such a formula.

Thanks again to Don and David; there is no obvious extra work involved in the longer ferment, if anything, it fits in well with a daily work pattern.

Photos shown here:

 

Best wishes

Andy

 

Semolina [Durum] Bread and Sourdough Seed Bread.

I've been home-based all Easter weekend, so I decided on Thursday that I would make an inroad into the Hamelman Challenge set up by Brian: see http://thebreadchallenge.weebly.com/

I've already done quite a bit on baguettes for the Lesaffre Cup I was involved in http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17118/competing-louis-lesaffre-cup  and I posted last weekend on the Horst Bandel Black Pumpernickel http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17254/horst-bandel039s-balck-pumpernickel

I'm posting all the production details and photographs below.   I haven't been totally faithful to Hamelman's formula, but will point out where and why at the relevant points.

Semolina [Durum] Bread

Hamelman, Jeffrey 2004 "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" New Jersey; John Wiley and Sons.  pp.135-136

 

Recipe and Formula:

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
"Sponge"
Strong White Bread Flour	19.7	365
Water	13.8	255
Sugar	1.9	36
Biga Naturale [from stock]	34.9 [flour 20.6; water 14.3]	644 [flour 380; water 264]
TOTAL	70.3	1300
Final Dough
"Sponge" from above	70.3	1300
Strong White Flour	29.85	550
Semolina	29.85	550
Water	33.5	620
Salt	1.8	33
Olive Oil	4.9	91
TOTAL	170.2	3144

Pre-fermented flour: 40.3%. Hydration: 61.6%

Method:

• As you can see, the first change I made is that I used "Biga Naturale" in this recipe instead of a sponge.   Partly because I had some old biga in stock, partly because Alison, my  wife,  is happier if I can keep the bakers' yeasts out of the formula.  I had about 150g of biga in stock, so fed that to give me sufficient for the 644g needed for the recipe, plus some to keep back for another day.   I did this "élaboration" approx. 16 hours before making the "sponge".
• The sponge was made at 28°C, but given 2½ hours to ripen.   It would have taken a little more than this, but was obviously active.   The original recipe specifies 1¼ hours, but it uses bakers' yeast.
• The next change I made was that I used an "autolyse" technique with the semolina only.   Let me explain that the semolina I used would be quite different to the type the author would most likely be considering for his recipe.   I buy the semolina from a local miller in Northumberland.   It is coarse and gritty, and quite a bit more brown than the golden varieties sold in UK supermarkets.   I love it; it's a great way to use up some of the by-products from making this gentleman's very fine pizza/ciabatta flour.   I mentioned the Gilchesters Organic Flour in this post: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15974/sour-dough-leaven-refreshment-and-ash-content  I wanted to try and maintain the hydration levels of the original formula [62%].   In order to do this I exchanged the durum used by Hamelman in the sponge for strong white flour.   Given the durum wheat used in the US will be a very hard grain, and the Gilchesters grain is grown in the North of England, which is hardly our "bread basket", you can maybe understand my switch.
• The autolyse worked really well. The semolina is very coarse and unrefined, so a good soak allowed for plenty of absorption.
• I mixed the dough by hand, achieving a DDT of 24°C, as required. The dough was strong, and I gave it plenty of work on the bench.
• From there I followed the recipe directions, using 1½ hours bulk, with a stretch and fold at the mid-point.
• I made 3 large loaves in bannetons and set aside for final proof.
• I baked these breads after 2½ hours final fermentation, again, due to the biga, fermentation time was a good hour longer; I was happy with this. The oven had been pre-heated for nearly 2 hours, and I used steam by pouring boiling water onto a pan of hot stones. I set the bread at 240°C, dropped to 200 after 15 minutes, then to 180°C after 40 minutes for the remainder of the bake.
• The finished loaves are pictured below. The largest loaf, pictured with the long fan cuts, actually weighed in at 1.4kg. I baked it nearly an hour, directly on the hot bricks in my oven. It was still ever-so slightly doughy on the very base when we came to eat it yesterday. Maybe I should have given the "sponge" an extra half hour afterall? Anyway; the taste is fabulous, and I am really happy to have learnt another use for the semolina I buy. Up until now it's only been used for dusting purposes!

 This is the semolina I used

Sourdough Seed Bread

Hamelman, Jeffrey 2004 "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" New Jersey; John Wiley and Sons.  pp.176-177

 

Recipe and Formula:

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
Liquid Levain
Strong White Flour	15	250
Water	19	315
Levain [from stock]	-	50 [flour 22;  water 28]
TOTAL	34	615 - 50 returned to stock = 565
Rye Sour [from stock]
Dark Rye Flour	7.8	130
Water	13	217
TOTAL	20.8	347
Soaker
Golden Flax Seeds	7	117
Water - boiling	21	350
TOTAL	28	467
Final Dough
Liquid Levain	34	565
Rye Sour	20.8	347
Hot Soaker	28	467
Strong White Flour	60.1	1000
Strong Wholemeal Flour	17.1	285
Toasted Sunflower Seeds	11.4	190
Toasted Sesame Seeds	6	100
Water	22	368
Salt	2 [1.6% inc seeds]	33
TOTAL	201.4	3355

Pre-fermented flour: 22.8%.   Hydration: 75% [64% including seeds]

Method:

• Make the rye sour 16 hours ahead of making the final dough; DDT 21°C
• Use one élaboration to make the levain needed, then make the levain 12 hours before making the final dough.   DDT 21°C
• Make the hot soaker at the same time. Cover with cling film and leave to cool overnight. The original recipe uses a cold soaker.
• Toast the sesame and sunflower seeds under the grill, turning as necessary, until lightly browned
• Combine all the ingredients to form the final dough. Mix by hand for 10 minutes to achieve a well-developed dough of 24°C.
• Bulk ferment for 2½ hours, with one stretch and fold midway through this period.
• Divide the dough into 3 equal sized pieces and mould round. Rest, covered for 10 minutes. Prepare 2 large bread tins, lined with shortening. Shape 2 loaves for the tins and pan them. Place the other piece upside down in a prepared banneton.
• Prove overnight in the fridge at 8°C.
• In the morning, pre-heat the oven for one hour whilst the loaves come back to room temperature. Use steam, by pouring boiling water onto a pan of hot stones.
• Set the loaf in the banneton and bake that first. Then baked the 2 tinned loaves after that. Baking time will be 45 -50 minutes; set at 240°C, reduce the heat to 200°C after 15 minutes, then 180°C after 40 minutes for the remainder of the bake.

Variations here are as follows: I used rye sour rather than rye flour.   Hamelman's original formula utilises just 15% pre-fermented flour.   I wanted more than this, and will always seek to use rye in a pre-fermented form if possible.   Hydration level is as the original recipe.   I also used a small portion of wholemeal in the final dough, where Hamelman uses all-white flour.   The intensity of my baking session [I'd also made filo pastry for my wife to use to make Spanokopita for our Easter Monday visitors] meant I'd run out of white flour.   However, I was more than happy to use the wholemeal.   The final bread is not at all heavy, nor sour.   It is very "moreish", and is being eaten at quite a rate.

All good wishes

Andy

 

Brief Post on Vienna Flour

Uberathlete posted asking about Vienna Flour, see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17241/what-vienna-flour

Elizabeth David (1977; pp.76), in her "English Bread and Yeast Cookery states the following: " 'Vienna' flour was in reality high quality Hungarian or Romanian flour, roller milled, fine, of medium strength and creamy white, good for 'Vienna' bread and puff pastry and yeast cakes."

She also quotes from Frederick T. Vine, "Savoury Pastry" from 1900: "undoubtedly the best flour for the purpose [puff paste] is Vienna...in the first place, flour for paste should be of good colour and finely ground, not too soft or harsh.   It should have a good percentage of gluten, but that gluten must not be so strong that it will pull the rounds into ovals and the ovals into rounds."   Vine goes on to say he found American flour sent for the purpose, to be best suited to making bread only.

David concludes, with reference to England, that "The import of Hungarian and Vienna flours virtually ceased with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the First World War."

I offer up photographs below of typical breads which may have been made with Vienna-type flour at the time.  These were made during my time studying for my baking quals at Leeds; ostensibly to investigate different methods of manufacturing the same type of bread.   My tutor always used to look very carefully into the bag of Whitworth's Strong bread flour; he always called it "Springs", but that was the old name, and I can't remember the new one.   Whitworth's site is being renovated, so I can't find the right bag, sorry.   Anyway, it had great water absorption, but my tutor explained that by showing us the tiny dark particles in the flour, saying "they are cheating us".   Well, I always thought the bread made that day looked very fine; you can make your own minds up.

 

 

Best wishes

Andy

 

Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel.

This is a recipe from "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" by Jeffrey Hamelman.   A number of TFL regulars have posted on this recipe, notably,

ehanner: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16501/learning-pumpernickel and http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16348/horst-bandel039s-black-pumpernickel-bread

 txfarmer: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13965/still-struggling-horst-bandel%E2%80%99s-black-pumpernickel and http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14315/horst-bandel%E2%80%99s-black-pumpernickel-finally

and Shiao-Ping: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12790/horst-bandel039s-black-pumpernickel

This is the recipe and formula I adapted and used

Material	Formula [% of flour(??)]	Recipe [grams]
Rye Sour Dough
Dark Rye Flour	30	300
Water	30	300
TOTAL	60	600
Soaked Bread
Old Bread	11	110
Water	17.7	177
TOTAL	28.7	287
Soaked Rye Berries
Whole Rye Berries	20	200
Water	22.7	227
TOTAL	42.7	427
Final Dough
Rye Sour Dough	60	600
Soaked Bread	28.7	287
Soaked Rye Berries	42.7	427
Salt	1.8	18
Molasses	4	40
Cracked Rye Grain	25	250
Strong Wholemeal Flour	8	80
Dark Rye Flour - sifted	17	170
Water	15	150
TOTAL	202.2	2022

 

Notes:

The 100% of "flour" is made up of: dark rye in the sour, whole rye berries in the first soaker, plus the cracked rye and the flour in the final dough.   I have not counted the old bread, as that seemed too arbitrary to sub divide accurately into water and flour.

The total water content does include the water in the old bread soaker, as well as the water taken up by cooking the rye berries.   My aim was to establish a formula which accurately created an overall moisture content of 85% of the "flour".

Obviously there will be some variation from batch to batch, but I really wanted to establish how much liquid is taken up in the bread soaker, and in the berry soaking and boiling process.   From seeing other peoples' postings, I had decided this information was crucial.

For what it's worth, the pre-fermented part is 30%.

 

Method:

• Prepare the rye sour dough using starter from stock.   Allow the sour dough to ferment for 14 - 16 hours at 21°C.
• Soak the rye berries overnight in cold water.
• Soak the old bread overnight in ambient water.   Use the amounts given in the above table - weighed.   The bread will take up all this water, so you can eliminate any problems of squeezing!   I used some wholewheat pain siègle, and some white bread.   This was deliberate, as I did not have any high gluten white flour in stock, so had to change the flour used in the final dough, using more dark rye plus a dash of wholemeal.   It was all I had at the time!
• Next day, cook the rye berries in fresh boiling water [3 times volume of water to berries] for about an hour.   Drain the berries, and discard the cooking liquor.   At this point I weighed the berries to establish exactly how much water they had taken up.   This is the figure shown in the table.
• For the final dough, dissolve the molasses into the water, which should be 40°C.   From there, mix all the ingredients together with the soakers and sour to form an evenly mixed paste.   It was cold in the house when I made this, so both the sour and flour, plus the soaked bread were all well below 20°C    The final dough temperature was 28°C.   Photographs of the mixed paste are shown below.
• Bulk ferment for 45 minutes.   Meantime lightly grease 1 large Pullman pan and lid.   Pre-heat the oven to 190°C.
• Use wet hands to scrape up and shape the paste, and deposit it into the tin.   Smooth the surface as necessary.   Cover with an oiled piece of plastic, and prove at 32°C for 1¼ hours.   I use the hearth in front of our wood burning stove.   When the dough is just short of the top of the tin, slide the lid in place, and set in the oven.


• The baking process is long and complex.   The idea is the loaf should be baked in a falling oven.   For the home baker, this is really difficult to achieve.   I turned the heat down to 120°C after 1½ hours.   After a further 6 hours I turned the oven off.   Then I left the bread in the cooling oven overnight.   This was the best equivalent I could come up with to the recommendations in the book.
• De-pan the bread and cool on wires.   Wrap in a tea towel, and let the bread sit a full 24 hours before giving into temptation and cutting off that first slice.

 

Analysis:

• I'm pleased with how this loaf came out in some ways.   For a start Alison, my wife, has been raving about her sandwiches I make for lunch...all week.   I made this bread a week ago now, and didn't cut into it for nearly 2 days.   It served us for lunch sandwiches Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.   There is a little left for today, and it's still almost as moist in the middle of the crumb as when first cut.
• I like the formula, and am happy with the hydration calculations.   I've attached a couple of photos of the mixed paste to try and show the texture, although I accept they are not the best of shots, I hope it gives an idea.
• I know Eric added too much flour, and commented on the adverse effect in the eating.   Well, I didn't have any high gluten flour in the house when I made this.   I had a tiny amount of strong wholemeal, and some dark rye!!!   That's why I went with lighter bread in the soaker.   This has definitely made a difference to the finished bread.   It is quite difficult to cut through cleanly without the dough trying to tear a little in places.   You can also spot the giveaway hole just underneath the top crust near the middle of the loaf.   It was the plague of some of the VB rye loaves, and is caused by the weakness in the structure of the starch as the final fermentation draws to conclusion.   This is clearly the typical instability from rye as opposed to the stretchy gluten in the wheat.   Still, the flavour does not detract.
• My main disappointment, however, is in the baking.   The outer portions of the crumb are over-baked, and the crust is too firm.   But the middle of the crumb is very moist [I had thought about writing overly-moist here, but that's not right; the bread is baked through, and was fine once it had stood before cutting]   I'm thinking the major issue with such a large loaf [it's just over the 2kg mark], with such high hydration [85%] is to be able to "cook" it properly.   I think I set the bread at too high a temperature in the first place.   I've been with Eric all the way on the idea of steaming.   Eric, could you give me the link to the discussion you had with qahtan regarding steaming?   Baking seems a very difficult way to deal with this bread.   It takes me back to producing 000s of Christmas Puddings at the Village Bakery.   We loaded them into wire baskets in their plastic pots, covered with foil lids.   We lowered the wires into coffins made of aluminium.   These were the same size as a standard baking sheet, and would be about 40cm tall, so they filled the height of our oven.   The coffins had water in the bottom, and a raised platform with 3 big holes in, for the wires to sit on.   They also had tight-fitting lids.   They weighed a lot and were really difficult to control with the peel.   Our peels had handles which were 5m in length!   So, the puddings sat at the back of the cooling wood-fired oven for several hours and cooked beautifully in the steam.   I want to devise a similar sort of system to cook the Horst Bandel loaf.   But this is not that easy.   As you can see in the photos, I've made some in the Christmas pudding pots, and this was very successful.   But I love the shape and size of loaf gained from using the Pullman pan.   I want to find a large enclosed vessel which will hold a Pullman pan, and can take a layer of water on the bottom.   I figure some sort of raised wire racking will support the Pullman pan and keep it above the water level.   Anyway, I need to do some work to come up with something along those lines.   I envisage steaming time in the region of 10 - 12 hours.   I do like those glass pans, Eric!
• I used cracked rye grain instead of rye chops.   I have 2 suppliers for organic rye: one had wholegrain, flour and cracked grain.   The other had chops and flour, but no wholegrain; the explanation was that the grain was tipped straight into the mill on delivery, hence they could not supply wholegrain.   I think this must be a Health and Safety issue, but I found it a little unhelpful, so I went with the other supplier, and the cracked grain option.   I don't think the substitution was that significant.   The whole rye berries need a minimum of 1 hour boil.

 

I'm going to count this as my first recipe in the "Bread Challenge".   To those already signed up, I hope you all think it worthy.

 

 Lots of photos all shown below.   The top 2 on the left were steamed in pudding pots.   The next 2 are of the mixed paste.   Then 5 of the finished loaf baked in the pullman pan.

 

Best wishes

Andy

 

Taking Part in a Baking Competition

Way back in early January, not long after I first started posting on TFL, I found an invitation in my e-mails to compete in what becomes the baking world cup: La Coupe du Monde de Bolangerie, next taking place in 2012..

At the international qualification stage, this is known as the Louis Lesaffre Cup http://www.coupelouislesaffre.com/ with the European part set to take place in Paris in 2011.   This sounded quite interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go.   An e-mail enquiry suggested I would have to make baguettes, a tinned loaf, and a speciality loaf of my own.   I decided to give it a go, thinking the UK heats were to be held in May, or, June.   By that time my teaching commitments will be less, and I should have completed the second module for my MSc in Food policy.   So, I entered.

I didn't hear anything more for a few weeks, except confirmation that I was the first applicant, but I would definitely be taking part.   Right at the beginning of March I received a phone call from Nick Townend of BFP Wholesale [yeast company owned by Lesaffre here in the UK], informing me the Competition was set for sometime between the 20th and 24th March, at the NEC in Birmingham, live at the Baking Industry Exhibition.   Let's just say that this event is HUGE!   I'm in the midst of trying to get an assignment complete for my MSc, and I'm already behind schedule, needing a week's extension.   Also, I'd put no plans in place to publicise my plans and score some publicity for Newcastle College, where I lecture.

OK; well I'd better not panic, it'll be just fine, I resolve!   Better get some practice in, and, sort out some materials.   I contacted my colleagues in Kent [see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16151/working-french-flour ]and they agreed to post up 10kg of their wonderful T65 Campteclair Farine de Tradition.   I knew this would be a score on the competition, and had no problem getting permission from the judges to use this flour.   I'd put in quite a lot of work to develop a Caraway Rye Bread with Blackstrap Molasses [see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16273/carawy-rye-bread-black-strap-molasses-superwet-ciabatta-too ] and thought this would be a great choice for my own loaf.   For the tinned bread, I had plans to use a seed soaker with a mix of wholemeal and white bread flours.

Then the Rules were finally published on the 12th March!   Baguettes were indeed required.   One dough using 7kg of flour; half of this to make traditional hand moulded baguettes, the other half to process through a moulding machine.   Finished weight of 240g, I calculated this would give me 36 baguettes!   And, I'd only got 10kg of flour in the first place.   I double-checked, but was told I could only make one dough.   I thought I may get away with a dough using Campteclair for the traditional baguettes, then another dough using industrial flour T55 for the machined products.   No go on this.   Tinned loaves:   3 x 800g finished weight of White Farmhouse, White Sandwich Tin, and Wholemeal.   You can't get much more ordinary than this, but I knew I could at least use sponge and dough methods to get some interesting flavours.   The loaf of choice was also something of a letdown.   Clearly the judges had made moves to keep the competition as "English" as possible...you can all draw your own conclusions on what that implies!   Two from Cottage, Bloomer and Cob loaves; 3 x 800g and 400g finished weights; all white flour.   A minimum of 1 hour bulk ferment was stipulated, but no mention made of overnight fermentation.   For all these products, Lesaffre bread improvers were available, as were their dry sour preparations!!

Well, I was starting to feel somewhat disheartened by now; seriously I was thinking I should pull out.   But a hotel room was booked and paid for by Lesaffre, and I was just about psyched up for the competition side of the whole event.   I needed to talk to some colleagues, big-style.   Thank you to Eric Hanner of TFL who from this point on was of sterling support.   My line manager at work also stepped up and gave me loads of positives.   It was great to have word from Jeffrey Hamelman, explaining some of the rationale behind aspects of the rules [he will be judging in Paris, I guess], but also obviously uninspired by the English choices of bread available to me.

So I frantically began e-mailing through to Nick Townend, establishing whatever I could to know it would all work on the day.   Quite why I had thought the event was in May/June, I really have no idea at all now.   I did 3 days of test baking on 15th, 16th and 17th March, in my bakery kitchen, but teaching a host of different classes at the same time; so, it was extremely stressful, and not all my products turned out how I wanted them.   Still, I had a load of notes, and the confidence in the methods used and my own knowledge and skill to believe I had everything there to make it all work over the upcoming weekend.

I had a trip to Nottinghamshire on Thursday 18th March to visit "The School of Artisan Food".   I had a table seat reserved on the train, so spent the 4 hours tapping away on my wife's laptop to complete all the recipe/formula and methods for each of the breads I was going to make.   I had a great day out visiting what is a wholly exciting new venture, and, I got all this planning work completed too.

Back to College on Friday, to teach a practical baking class, and gather a whole load of equipment and materials together to take to Birmingham.   I slept badly on Friday night, and was up by 5am tapping away on my pc, and catching up with the latest from Eric to help me through.   The drive to Birmingham is over 250 miles from where we live in the very far north of England.   We made very good time, and checked in to the hotel by mid afternoon.   My wife, Alison, went shopping, and I went off to the NEC to make my starter doughs for the next day.

I arrived at the NEC, eventually checked into the right Exhibition Hall with all my stuff, and it was bedlam.   Everyone was working like crazy to have the Hall set up for the next day.   Our "live area" was hardly in any state at all.   There was no baguette moulder, and the equipment available was not really set up, and we had to share it with the Bakels/Rondo team doing live demonstrations in the same cordon.   Well, no machine-moulded baguettes anyway.   Having met all the co-ordinators who were supporting us, the 3 competitors, we then had one hour to make all our overnight ferments.   I had 4 to make!

Anyway, mission accomplished and back to the hotel.   Alison and I made an exit from the hotel to a decent restaurant, so we could get a break from all things bakery competition for a while at least.   I drank just a few beers, and ate some good food, but we went straight to bed on return.   I had an early rise, as the Competition kicked off at 7am.

We were there early and away by 06:50, with 8 hours to complete all our loaves.   Counting against all of us was the equipment.   One of the ovens was low-crown, and we had a lot of tinned breads to make; there was a massive shortage of proving space; we had only one spiral mixer between the 3 of us; the benches we were given were absolutely tiny, and far from robust.   And I discovered the wholemeal flour we had been given was really not up to much.

Well, we were on view to one and all, and I want to say thanks to all those who came past and took such an interest in what I was doing: especially Mr. Tony Jenkins from Soothills Bakers in Hampshire.   He was fascinated that a baker had turned up at a bakery competition prepared to make very simple products using long fermentation methods only, and no improvers.   I was glad to find I wasn't the only one.   Stephen Salt from Tameside College, near Manchester, was on a similar mission; the other baking competitor was Andrew Iyare from London.   There were 2 competitors on the following day, one being Emmanuel Hadijandreou from Judges Bakery, the other was Wayne Caddy who is a bakery consultant based in Rotherham.   I met up with Emmanuel after the competition, which was great; I've been wanting to meet him for a good while.   I know Wayne from my time at Leeds Thomas Danby, as he studied there as well, although some years before me.

The competition was pretty stressful at times.   The lack of equipment was difficult for all of us, and it was difficult to stay organised throughout.   We all managed to work well together, and the support from the co-ordinators on the day was much appreciated.   Andrew had finished in very good time.   Stephen baked his baguettes last of all, then he was finished too.   So I had the run of the ovens at the end, which was a bonus.   This was when I discovered that the Tom Chandley deck oven was low crown, so my tinned loaves were getting a bit stuck on the top heat bars!   I'd taken longer than the others quite deliberately; this had given me 4 hours to prove the baguettes in the chiller following a one hour bulk fermentation.

The Judging Panel had emerged, and I met up with Colin Lomax from Rank Hovis again.   I met him a few years ago at one of Rank's mills in Selby, North Yorkshire.   The current NA President was on the panel, with Peter Lonnican from Blackpool, and Sarah Auton, who had been helping to co-ordinate the whole thing.   All 4 were very supportive, and full of positive comments for our hard work.   I set my 18 baguettes on the sole of the oven with a trusty baguette peel specially made for me at the College, using some coarsely ground semolina from a local organic mill in Northumberland.   I had hoped for a little more proof, but they were so easy to handle, and baked up so crispy in the best deck oven I've worked on in years.   "Best bread of the day" was Colin Lomax's comment.   It was worth competing for that moment alone.   I didn't win the event.   That honour went to Wayne; my congratulations to him.   He gained the place in the UK team for bread baker.   The other places are for a Vienoisserie expert, and for someone to do a decorative dough piece.

I've attached a load of photos from the day, and all the recipes and methods used.   I've already given thanks for support above, but would like to add to this list.   My wife, Alison, took all these photos, bar one obvious one.   She accompanied me all the way to Birmingham and back, and supported and encouraged me all the way.   Also, Mary and Nigel in supplying me the special T65 flour, gave me a chance to put over at least one really top class product.   The white cobs were very fine too, and the sandwich loaves were just about up to scratch.   The wholemeal was poor, and I learnt a lot from this.   I would always take my own preferred choice of flours to a competition in future.   Trying to achieve 72% hydration, and mix in a planetary machine were big mistakes; the BFP flour was not the same spec as the Carrs Mill Race Wholemeal I use in College.   The bloomers "got away on me".   They tasted fantastic, but looked a little bit too ragged.

I'd made 52 loaves in a pretty stressful situation..but, I d had a thoroughly good time and felt totally at home in this rather strange environment.   I want to do this again; it was a lot of fun.   Next time I'll be a lot more organised in the run-in!

 

 

WHOLEMEAL TINNED BREAD

 

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]	Recipe [grams]
1. Quarter Sponge
Wholemeal Flour	25	1750	875
Water	17	1190	595
Fresh Yeast	0.2	14	7
TOTAL	42.2	2954	1477
2. Final Dough
Quarter Sponge [from above]	42.2	2954	1477
Wholemeal Flour	75	5250	2625
Salt	1.8	126	63
Fresh Yeast	2.5	175	87.5
White Fat	1.8	126	63
Water	55[max]	3850	1925
TOTAL	178.3	12481	6240.5

 

Method:

• Make the sponge the day before; DDT 21°C.   Mix 3 mins on speed one. Store ambient, covered in lightly oiled bowl.
• Autolyse flour and water for half an hour.
• Combine sponge, autolyse plus salt, fat and yeast and mix the final dough 2 minutes on first speed, and 6 - 8 minutes on second speed.   DDT 24°C
• Bulk Ferment, covered in an oil-lined container for 40 minutes, ambient.   Knock back and rest 10 minutes.
• Prepare tins, and scale and divide the dough into 950g pieces.   Mould round and rest covered for 10 minutes.
• Shape and pan the loaves
• Proof at 31°C, 85% rH  for approx 1 hour; ensure oven set and pre-heated
• Bake to the following profile: Use a deck oven set at 235°C, top heat 6 and bottom heat 8.   Use steam set at 2 and keep the damper closed for the first 25 minutes.   Check after 18 minutes, turn the loaf pans round if necessary, and drop the heat to 225°C.   Open the dampers after 25 minutes, drop the heat to 220°C and bake a further 5 - 8 minutes.
• De-pan and cool on wires.

 

WHITE COB AND BLOOMER

 

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Eighth Sponge
Strong White Flour	12.5	875
Water	7.5	525
Fresh Yeast	0.1	7
TOTAL	20.1	1407
2. Final Dough
Eighth Sponge [from above]	20.1	1407
Strong White Flour	87.5	6125
Salt	1.8	126
Fresh Yeast	2.4	168
White Fat	1.0	100
Water	55.5 [max for 63% hydration]	3675 [60%] 3885 [63%]
TOTAL	168.3	11811

 

Method:

• Make the sponge the day before; DDT 21°C.   Mix 3 mins on speed one. Store ambient, covered in lightly oiled bowl.
• Autolyse flour and water for half an hour.
• Combine sponge, autolyse plus salt, fat and yeast and mix the final dough 3 minutes on first speed, and 3½ - 5 minutes on second speed.   DDT 24°C
• Bulk Ferment, covered in an oil-lined container for 1¼ hours, ambient.   Knock back and rest a further 10 mins.
• Prepare trays with silicone paper dusted with semolina for bloomers, and banneton with white flour for cobs, and scale and divide the dough into 950g pieces for large laves and 480g pieces for small.   Mould round and rest covered for 10 minutes.
• Shape the loaves, tray up the bloomers, and turn the cobs upside down into the banneton.   Recipe yields 4 large and 3 small of each product.
• Proof at 31°C, 85% rH  for approx 1 hour; ensure oven set and pre-heated.
• Bake to the following profile: Use a deck oven set at 225°C, top heat 7 and bottom heat 5.   Use steam set at 4 and keep the damper closed for the first 15 minutes.   Use a peel to set the loaves on the sole of the oven; bloomers on silicone, cut whole surface with angled cuts; cobs tipped onto the peel then transfer to oven after cutting, cross shape over whole floured surface.   Check after 20 minutes, to see if the small loaves are baked,   Open the dampers and bake a further 8 minutes.
• De-pan and cool on wires.

 

WHITE TIINNED BREAD: FARMOUSE and SANDWICH LOAVES

 

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Third Sponge
Strong White Flour	33.3	2331
Water	20	1400
Fresh Yeast	0.3	21
TOTAL	53.6	3752
2. Final Dough
Third Sponge [from above]	53.6	3752
Strong White Flour	66.7	4669
Salt	1.8	126
Fresh Yeast	1.7	119
White Fat	1.8	126
Water	43[max]	3010
TOTAL	168.6	11802

 

Method:

• Make the sponge the day before; DDT 21°C.   Mix 3 mins on speed one. Store ambient, covered in lightly oiled bowl.
• Autolyse flour and water for half an hour.
• Combine sponge, autolyse plus salt, fat and yeast and mix the final dough 3 minutes on first speed, and 3½ - 5 minutes on second speed.   DDT 24°C
• Bulk Ferment, covered in an oil-lined container for 40 minutes, ambient.   Knock back and rest 10 minutes.
• Prepare tins, and scale and divide the dough into 12 x 950g pieces.   Mould round and rest covered for 10 minutes.
• Shape and pan the loaves; makes 6 as sandwich loaves and 6 as farmhouse
• Proof at 31°C, 85% rH for approx 1 hour; ensure oven set and pre-heated.   Be ready to bake the sandwich ahead of the farmhouse, as these loaves do not need full proof.   Lid the sandwich loaves first; dust the farmhouse loaf tops with white flour, and use a single slash, the full length of the loaf.
• Bake to the following profile: Use a deck oven set at 235°C, top heat 6 and bottom heat 8.   Use steam set at 2 and keep the damper closed for the first 25 minutes.   Check after 18 minutes, turn the loaf pans round if necessary, and drop the heat to 225°C.   Open the dampers after 25 minutes, drop the heat to 220°C and bake a further 5 - 8 minutes.
• De-pan and cool on wires.

 

TRADITIONAL BAGUETTES MADE WITH A POOLISH

 

Material	Formula [% of flour]	Recipe [grams]
1. Poolish
Campteclair T65 Farine de Tradition	33.3	2331
Water	33.3	2331
Fresh Yeast	0.3	21
TOTAL	66.9	4683
2. Final Dough
Poolish [from above]	66.9	4683
Campteclair T65 Farine de Tradition	66.7	4669
Salt	1.8	126
Fresh Yeast	0.9	63
Water	32.7	2289
TOTAL	169	11830

 

Method:

• Make the sponge the day before; DDT 21°C.   Mix 3 mins on speed one. Store ambient, covered in lightly oiled bowl.
• Autolyse flour and water for half an hour.
• Combine sponge, autolyse plus salt and yeast and mix the final dough for 9 minutes on first speed.   DDT 24°C.
• Scale the dough into 2 equal portions.   Bulk ferment both portions in oil-lined, covered bowls for 40 minutes.
• Scale the first portion into 18 x 325g pieces and mould round.   Rest covered for 10 minutes.   Meanwhile, scale the other dough portion into 18 x 325g pieces, and mould round.   Store these covered in the chiller for 2 hours.
• Once rested, roll out the 18 pieces from the first batch of dough, using a baguette moulder, to 60cm.   Place these onto stick wires and set to prove; 35°C, 85% rH, for 45 mins to 1 hour approx.   Use 6 diagonal cuts just prior to baking.
• Bake as follows: deck oven, full steam; 240°C, top 6.5, bottom 5, for 20 minutes.   Turn the heat down to 225°C, for 5 minutes.   Open the damper and turn the heat to 215°C and bake a further 5 - 7 minutes.
• Cool on wires
• For the second batch, gradually and carefully, roll each piece out by hand to 60cm.   Set to prove, ambient, en coûche and well covered with cloth and plastic.   Use semolina, as dust, as required.   Try to keep the seal of each baguette on the bottom.   Prove approx 1 hour.   Cut each loaf using a grignette, 6 diagonal slashes.   Set on the sole of the oven using a baguette peel.

Bake profile: as for the first portion of baguettes.   Cool on wires