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Benito's blog

December 4, 2021 - 5:52am
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Benito

Rhubarb Custard Cake

 



This is an interesting cake, as it isn’t particularly cakey, instead it bakes up to be a firmish custard that is sliceable and made all the more tasty with a scoop of ice cream.  I’ve posted a fair number of rhubarb desserts here not only because I love tangy desserts but also because I’m lucky enough to have a close friend who has a large rhubarb patch and FedEx me rhubarb each year for the past couple of years.  So of course when we have them over I have to make a rhubarb dessert.  I didn’t have the time to make pie pastry so thought I’d try this Bon Appetite recipe instead.

Now my rhubarb is frozen and was sliced to 1.5-2” lengths.  This recipe calls for much longer lengths but this worked out none the less.  I allowed my rhubarb to defrost in the fridge overnight and because the rhubarb needs to stay at the top of the cake, I discarded the rhubarb water that came off the defrosted rhubarb but didn’t squeeze the rhubarb to remove anymore.

Ingredients

8 servings

For 9” springform pan

4 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter, cooled, plus more room-temperature for pan

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

¾ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1½ cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling

¼ cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. dark rum

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

13 oz. rhubarb stalks, halved lengthwise if thick

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour pan. Whisk baking powder, salt, and 1 cup all-purpose flour in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, egg yolk, and 1½ cups sugar in a large bowl until very pale and thick, about 1 minute. Whisk melted butter, sour cream, rum, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Whisk butter mixture into egg mixture just to combine. Add dry ingredients and fold in until batter is smooth; scrape into prepared pan. Chill 10 minutes to let batter set.

Step 2

Arrange rhubarb over batter however you like, trimming as needed. Don’t press fruit into batter—just place over top and let it rest on the surface. Sprinkle with more sugar and bake until cake is golden on top and browned around the sides, 45–55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 10 minutes. Slide a knife around sides of cake to loosen and unmold. Slide directly onto rack and let cool completely.

 

Do Ahead: Cake can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

 

 

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/rhubarb-custard-cake

November 26, 2021 - 11:36am
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Benito

100% Stoneground Organic Whole Wheat Sourdough

For this loaf I wanted to try sifting out the larger bran flakes.  I finally purchased a #40 sieve.  Taking all the flour, I sifted it through the #40 sieve extracting about 46.5 g of large course bran flakes from 492 g of the stoneground organic whole wheat flour.  I intended on scalding the bran, but made an error adding an equal part by weight of room temperature water then remembering that I wanted to scald so added the second equal part by weight boiled water.  The bran was mixed to ensure it was fully hydrated and then cooled overnight in the fridge to avoid any microbial activity.

 

The stiff levain was built and left to ferment overnight at 74ºF.

 

The next morning the pH of the levain was 4.17 and was then broken down in water, then the sifted flour was added for a fermentolyse.  After 10 mins of rest I started gluten development with slap and folds then gradually added the hold back water in several aliquots using Rubaud to fully incorporate the water well.  During the addition of the second aliquot of water the salt was added.  In total at this point 250 slap and folds were done to develop the gluten in anticipation of the bran interfering with the gluten sheets.  After a rest of 20 mins the hydrated bran was added through a series of stretch and folds in the bowl followed by slap and folds until the bran well well incorporated.  The pH was 5.55 at this point.

30 mins one bench letterfold

Then at 30 mins intervals coil folds x 4 done

A pH drop of 1.0 was targeted for shaping

When pH 4.55 reached rise was 42%, shaping was done.

Warm final proof done targeting a pH drop of a further 0.3 at which time baking was started.

 

Pre-heat oven with cast iron skillet in the oven and set up for open steam baking in anticipation of pH targeted baking.

30 mins prior to baking, pour 1 L of boiling water into metal loaf pan with Sylvia towel and place on baking steel on the lowest rack of the oven.

Once oven reaches 500ºF turn dough out of banneton, brush excess rice flour off, score and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven.  Pour 250 mL of boiling water into the cast iron skillet on a high shelf, high enough that the dough have fully bloom.  Drop temperature to 450ºF and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Then vent oven and remove all steaming gear and drop temperature to 425ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed.






As you can see from the aliquot jar, this dough had about 75% rise at the time of baking.

Time lapse video of the oven spring first 25 mins of open steam baking.









I’m quite pleased with this bake especially considering the issues I’ve had with baking 100% whole red fife in the past.  For a first try on my own recipe, I’m quite happy.  Now the bloom could be better and I know that the hydration despite a calculated 86% approximately should be higher.  I wasn’t sure how much extra water the scaled bran would contribute to the dough once it was added.  In the end, I don’t think it added much so next time I’ll have to bassinage even more water into the dough.  I’ll know more about how this turned out once it is sliced.

November 20, 2021 - 8:30am
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Benito

Seven Porridge Sourdough

I wanted to try this recipe again but with more of the porridge and cooked a bit longer. I increased the porridge to 15% and cooked it with half milk and water. However, in order to keep the porridge moist during cooking, an unspecified about of water was added. The porridge is kept at room temperature covered until the next day.


 

I built an overnight stiff levain which was kept at 76ºF which started at a pH of 5.26.
In the morning, I mixed salt, all the water and all the whole wheat and this was allowed to hydrate for 30 mins.
At the end of this short saltolyse the levain was at 3.5-4x rise and the pH was 4.12. It was added to the wet dough and broken up and hydrated. The bread flour was then added, the pH at this point was 5.26. After a 10 min rest slap and folds x 200 were done.
An additional 16 g of water was added via bassinage bringing the hydration not including the porridge to 80%. After a 5 mins rest the porridge was added through a series of stretch and folds. pH now was 5.36. After a 30 mins rest a bench letterfold was done. Then at 30 min intervals a series of coil folds were done until the dough appeared to have good structure in this case 4 were done.
The dough was then allowed to fermented at 80ºF until it showed a rise of 35% and a pH of 4.38 at which time shaping was done. The shaped dough in banneton was then allowed to start final warm proofing on the counter until the pH reached 4.1 and the rise was 50%. Cold retard was started 3ºF overnight for next morning baking.
Pre-heat oven with cast iron skillet in the oven and set up for open steam baking.
30 mins prior to baking, pour 1 L of boiling water into metal loaf pan with Sylvia towel and place on baking steel on the lowest rack of the oven.
Once oven reaches 500ºF turn dough out of banneton, brush excess rice flour off, score and then brush with water. Transfer to oven. Pour 250 mL of boiling water into the cast iron skillet on a high shelf, high enough that the dough have fully bloom. Drop temperature to 450ºF and bake with steam for 25 mins. Then vent oven and remove all steaming gear and drop temperature to 425ºF. Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed.







November 20, 2021 - 8:17am
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Benito

Raspberry rhubarb pie

I’m a bit out of practice making pastry. I usually only bake a pie when we have friends over for dinner. So with the pandemic it has been a while since I made one. For this pie I decided to try Kate McDermott’s all butter pastry from her book Art of Pie.

Traditional Art of the Pie All-Butter Dough

An all-butter crust is not as flaky as a butter and leaf lard crust, but the flavor can’t be beat.

FOR ONE DOUBLE-CRUST PIE OR TWO SINGLE-CRUST PIES

INGREDIENTS

2½ cups (363 grams) all-purpose flour, unbleached

½ teaspoon (3 grams) salt

14 tablespoons (196 grams) salted or unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces

½ cup (118 grams) ice water + 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 grams) more as needed

I added 20 g of sugar to this to help with browning.

As per usual with pastry, getting everything cold including your hands is essential to prevent the butter from melting into the dough rather than staying ins sheets between layers of the dough. It is hard to avoid kneading it as a bread baker but we must resist the temptation to knead.

I sprinkle the water on about 1 tbsp at a time and then toss the flour/butter with a fork. After I added about 120 g of water, I pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze and once the dough barely holds together then the dough is hydrated enough. There may still be a few dry areas, I don’t worry about those as the 1 hour rest to allow the dough to hydration. I bring it all together I compress and then fold the dough several times in the bowl, then divide into two and then wrap in plastic and rest in the fridge before rolling the dough out.

I still have rhubarb that my close friends gave me from their garden, it was frozen away. So I decided I’d try a different combination of fruit to go with the rhubarb.
Sweet raspberries pair well with tart rhubarb, and the two combine into a beautiful ruby-red filling. Vanilla bean scrapings add a creamy smoothness to the mix.

MAKES 1 (9-inch / 23-cm) PIE

1 recipe for double pie crust

1½ pounds / 680 g rhubarb, trimmed and coarsely chopped

8 ounces frozen raspberries

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup / 192 g granulated sugar

⅓ cup + 1 tbsp cornstarch

⅛ teaspoon fine salt

I cooked this until it just started to thicken and then cooled overnight.

In the morning assemble the pie, filling the base with the raspberry rhubarb filling which has nicely thickened in the fridge. Do your lattice top crust and then fold and crimp the edges as you prefer. Place the pie in the freezer while the oven heats to 400ºF.

Once the oven has reached temperature, apply an egg milk wash to the lattice and then apply sugar. Place the pie on a lined cookie sheet and then place onto your baking steel on the lowest rack. I find you can get a nice dry browned bottom crust by baking low and on a preheated baking steel.

Bake for 30 mins at 400ºF then lower the oven temperature to 350ºF. Rotate during the final half of the baking and keep an eye on the top crust. I usually shield the crimped crust with a pie shield and seldom need to do any other shielding.




November 15, 2021 - 5:19am
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Benito

100% Stoneground Whole Wheat Hokkaido Sourdough Milk Bread

Back from two weeks off without any baking. My starter was refreshed two weeks ago at 50% hydration, given 1 hour at room temperature then refrigerated. The pH had only dropped to 4.4 or so when I returned so there was plenty of food left. I discarded some, then brought the hydration up to 100% and did a small feed. He tripled in 3 hours but had not yet peaked, so I discarded and fed him again. 5 hours later he had peaked at 3.5-4x with the dome just starting to flatten. He was ready to build a levain for this bake.

You may have noticed my gradually increasing the whole wheat in my Hokkaido sourdough milk breads lately. I finally decided it was time to do 100% whole wheat and this didn’t disappoint.

For a 9” x 4” x 4” pullman pan

Sweet Stiff Starter
• 53g stoneground unsifted organic whole wheat flour
• 24g water
• 18g light brown sugar
• 18g sourdough starter ~100% hydration
1:1.33:2.9:1 starter:water:flour:sugar

Tangzhong classic 1:5 ratio
• 89g milk (adjusted down to 1:5 ratio from original)
• 18g stoneground unsifted organic whole wheat flour

Dough Dry Ingredients
• 9 g vital wheat gluten
· 424 g stoneground unsifted organic whole wheat flour
• 54g sugar 12.5%
• 7g salt 1.6%

Dough Wet Ingredients
• 180g milk (consider adding more milk 5 g next time, dough was stiff)
• 50g egg beaten (about 1 lg egg)
• 60g butter 13.9% softened but do not melt, unless you are mixing with the mixer then melt. Combine with 30 g of flour to make easier to add to dough if hand mixing.

Total flour = 513 g

Total weight 1004 g

Pre-bake Wash
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 Tbsp milk

Post-bake Wash
• 1 Tbsp butter

Instructions
Starter
Mix the starter ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 50% growth.  In fact I usually get 2.5-3.5x growth.
Press down with your knuckles to create a uniform surface and to push out air.
At room temperature, it typically takes up to 10 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.
Tangzhong
In a sauce pan set on med-low heat, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.

Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, briefly whisk the dry dough ingredients, and then add the sweet stiff starter, separating it into 5-6 portions as you add it to the bowl.
Now pour/scrape in all the wet ingredients (including the tangzhong), with the melted butter last. With the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed for a minute, scrape down the sides, and then mix on medium speed for 15-20 minutes. The dough will seem very soft, but as you approach the 15-20 minute mark, it should not stick to your hands and should pass the windowpane test.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, form it into a ball, flip it smooth side up, cover and let rise for 6-12 hours depending on room temperature. You can place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier.
Prepare your pans by greasing them or line with parchment paper.
Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top. Lightly flour the bench. Press the dough into a rectangle and divide it into four. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.
Cover and let proof for 2-4 hours (more if you put the dough in the refrigerator). I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash. Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the bread is still hot.

Wonderful flavour, there isn’t any real sour tang and certainly no bitterness that I had always thought was characteristic of 100% whole wheat breads like this that I ate as a child. I’m not sure that the Vital Wheat Gluten was necessary, but I wanted to ensure that I was able to get the shreddable crumb that this type of bread should have.

Benny

 






 
October 24, 2021 - 6:05am
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Benito

Country Sourdough



I baked this loaf as a present to thank neighbors of ours who will be taking care of our plants while we are away on our first vacation of almost two years.  It was a last minute decision to make a country sourdough and there was a weird issue with the aliquot jar measuring rise.  I have rarely had this happen but the aliquot jar never rose past 15% increase in volume.  It is really odd that this should happen, the dough for the aliquot jar was removed from the main dough after a very thorough mixing.  In fact, for the first time I used my stand mixer to knead this dough so you’d think that the levain would have been well incorporated in the dough.  Anyhow, since I’ve been following pH I used that along with the expansion of the main dough to decide when to call bulk quits.  The pH of the white flour levain at time of addition was 3.87.  At the end of mixing in the stand mixer the pH of the dough was 5.45.  End of bulk was pH 4.45 when the dough was shaped.  End of warm proof was pH 4.02.  Cold retard at 3ºC overnight and at the time of baking the next day the pH was 3.9.  

This dough is 80% hydration, 15% stoneground whole wheat, 5% whole rye, 50% bread flour and 30% all purpose flour.

Not a bad bake, but it certainly had a bit more spread than I would have liked, I suspect that the hydration may have been a bit too high for these flours. 




October 22, 2021 - 3:17pm
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Benito

75% Whole Wheat Hokkaido Sourdough Milk Bread

Slowly working my way up in the percent whole wheat in my Hokkaido sourdough milk breads.  75% is the highest so far and I think it was quite successful.  I’m not sure how much higher I can go and still get the result that I’d like.  I did change things this time to add an autolyse because a majority of the flour is stoneground whole wheat.


For one loaf 9x4x4” Pullman pan

 

Ingredients

 

Sweet Stiff Starter 

• 53g bread flour 

• 24g water 

• 18g light brown sugar 

• 18g sourdough starter ~100% hydration 

1:1.33:2.9:1  starter:water:flour:sugar

@ 76ºF 10 hour not at peak

 

Tangzhong classic 1:5 ratio

• 89g milk (adjusted down to 1:5 ratio from original)

• 18g Whole Wheat flour   

 

Dough Dry Ingredients 

• 55 bread flour 

      · 305 g whole wheat        

• 54g sugar 12.5%

• 7g salt  1.6%

 

Dough Wet Ingredients 

• 169g milk 36.8%

• 50g egg beaten (about 1 lg egg)

• 60g butter 13.9% softened but do not melt, unless you are mixing with the mixer then melt.  Combine with 30 g of flour to make easier to add to dough if hand mixing.

 

Pre-bake Wash 

• 1 egg beaten

 

• 1 Tbsp milk

Instructions

Starter 

Mix the starter ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 50% growth. (See gallery where 150ml grows to approximately 225ml.)

Press down with your knuckles to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At room temperature, it typically takes 7-9 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.

Tangzhong 

 

In a sauce pan set on med-low heat, whisk the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.

 

For my first bake, in the morning mixed the wet ingredients including the tangzhong with all the whole wheat flour to allow the bran to hydrate for 1.5 hours.  Added levain next and mixed to incorporate.

 

Next added sugar, salt and bread flour and mixed to incorporate, rest 10 mins.  Mixed until very good gluten development and windowpane.  

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, form it into a ball, flip it smooth side up, cover and let rise for 6-12 hours depending on room temperature. Bulk lasted 5 hours at 82ºF.  You can place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier.  I didn’t do that this time.

Prepare your pans by greasing them or line with parchment paper.

Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top. Lightly flour the bench. Press the dough into a rectangle and divide it into four. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for 4-6 hours (more if you put the dough in the refrigerator). I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.

 

 

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the bread is still hot.

 

I’m quite pleased with the oven spring this dough was able to achieve with this much whole wheat.  I think going higher than 75% I’ll probably need to add some vital wheat gluten in order to attain a shreddable crumb which is a characteristic of this style of bread.








 


 Alternate the direction of the swirls for better rise.





October 20, 2021 - 3:08pm
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Benito

Capricciosa Sourdough Pizza






Whenever I prepare pizza dough I make enough for two days of dinners for the two of us.  Since I ran out of the pesto, I decided to try a Capricciosa pizza.  This is a pizza with red sauce, artichokes, mushrooms, olives, ham (I used prosciutto) and mozarella.  I also added some Grana Padano.  For the red sauce, I opened a can of San Mariano tomatoes and removed three or four tomatoes and placed them into a bowl.  Using my hands I squeezed the tomatoes at first discarding the tomato water.  After the tomato water was squeezed from each tomato, I used my hands to process the tomatoes into a rough sauce.  I added about 1.5 tsp of EVOO, a small pinch of salt (don’t forget as the pizza bakes the sauce will concentrate so don’t over salt), 1 tsp of dried basil, 1 tsp of red wine vinegar and pepper to taste.  I don’t blend or process the sauce as it can make the sauce a bit bitter from breaking down the tomato seeds.

If you’re interested in the process and recipe for the dough, look at my previous post with all those details.

In retrospect, I think in the future I would at least partly bake the mushrooms and dry the artichokes before using them.  The toppings were, after baking, quite wet and although most of the crust stayed crisp, the very center of each pizza was wet.

 

October 19, 2021 - 2:26pm
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Benito

Pesto Sourdough Pizza.


Does one need a pizza oven to make pizza at home?  I don’t think so although I’d love to have one 😉  I’ve been trying to fine tune my processes for making the dough and finally baking the pizza.  I’m still using the recipe from the TFL community bake but I’ll post it below for those interested along with my small alterations.

One thing about baking in my oven with a cast iron is that I now bake on the roasting setting which activates the upper elements of the oven.  I’ve also gradually moved my baking steel upwards in the oven so that the actual cast iron skillet is on the equivalent of the second highest rack.  This has the effect of baking really hot and fast.  My first pizza I didn’t check for doneness and it went just a bit too far after 6 minutes at 550ºF.  The second pizza I checked and gave it an extra 30 secs after I turned it in the oven after 3 minutes of baking, so it had a total of only 3.5 minutes and yet was totally baked, again maybe just a bit too long.  Anyhow, I’m pretty happy with my pizzas but I’m always fine tuning things to see if I can bake them better.  I now also brush water on the cornicione immediately before the pizza goes into the oven, this has really helped with getting “leopard spots” on the cornicione so that’s one tip I can share.

For these two individual pizzas I made a home made pesto with basil, walnuts, Grana Padano and a combination of EVOO and toasted walnut oil.  The other toppings were a simple combination of roasted red peppers, sliced kalamata olives and sun dried tomatoes.  After the pizza comes out of the oven, extra pesto and Grana Padano was added.  Delicious.  If you haven’t made your own sourdough pizza dough yet you really need to give it a go.

 For 4 9” pizzas NY style thin crust 200 g each

Levain Build 100% hydration 35 g needed 

 

433 g bread flour

43 g Whole grain flour (50:50 whole spelt:whole wheat) (consider using whole Kamut instead of whole wheat)

4.76 g Diastatic malt 1%

252 g water and

41 g water hold out

8.43 g salt 1.71%

2.5 g sugar 0.5%

4.8 g olive oil 1.0%

 

Total flour 493.5

Total water 310.5 

63% hydration water only

64% including olive oil

 

Sourdough version you may have to adjust the amount of levain. At 3.5% PreFerment Flour (PFF) 2-4 day retard should work.

 

(1) In your mixer bowl(or by hand) dissolve the Starter or yeast in all of the Final Dough Water except the HOLD OUT Water.  (Add diastatic malt too)

(2) Mix in the flours until well hydrated 

(3) Allow to fermentolyse for 1hr 

(4) Mix in the remaining HOLD OUT Water, salt, and sugar mix until well-incorporated. 

(5) Slowly drizzle in the oil until well combined. 

(6) Beat or knead by hand until dough is moderately developed. The dough will be sticky and elastic. If kneading by hand, use slightly wet hands and avoid adding more flour. 

(7) Oil your hands and a suitable container. 

(8) Shape into a tight ball.  I divide the ball into four smaller ones each for one 9” pizza at this point.  Each goes into a small oiled bowl and allowed to proof for 1 hour before starting cold fermentation.

(9) Cold ferment in the refrigerator for 48-96hrs. 

(10) Remove to warm up to room temp for at 3-6hr or so before use, or you can ferment at room temp. for 6hrs.   2-3 hours seem ideal 80ºF 

(11) Stretch the balls into your desired size skins (see video below), top and bake at 550F (as high as your oven will go) Until the crust is browned and the cheese has melted. Spin the pie at least once to avoid burning due to oven hot spots. I have included a link to a skin stretching tutorial. Watch this video, more than a few times then go through the motions in your head. If you can see it in your mind's eye, you too can be a home oven pizzaiolo! 

 

Heat oven to 550ºF roasting setting, with skillet in oven on baking steel on the second highest rack about 1 hour.  My set up with the baking steel on the roasting rack that set up is on the third highest rack because of the added height from the roasting rack so it essentially makes the skillet on the second highest rack.

Place stretched dough into skillet and top with sauce and toppings.

 

Brushing water on the cornicione prior to baking in oven, gives better oven spring and leopard spots to the cornicione. 

 

Make sure the non oily side of the dough is down in the skillet to avoid a burnt bottom. 

 

 

Bake for 3 minutes at 550ºF then rotate and bake for another 3 minutes.  As mentioned earlier, watch the crust as I have found the second pizza often bakes faster than the first.




October 17, 2021 - 12:51pm
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Benito

Pandan coconut milk sourdough

This was a partially successful experiment using pandan extract and coconut milk.  The final bake leaves something to be desired, but my first attempt was a major fermentation fail.  In the first attempt, I failed to account for the reduction in hydration caused by replacing all the skim milk with full fat coconut milk.  The increased enrichment and decreased hydration caused fermentation and rise of the dough to go extremely slowly.  At first I thought that something must have gone wrong with my levain but in the end I don’t think that was the primary problem.  That dough in total was baked after 36 hours of rise a combination of warm and cool temperatures.  In the end the dough rose only a bit in the oven and had an excessively sour flavour.

So thinking about trying this again, I decided to increase the hydration by increasing the pandan extract in the dough.  The problem of course was that the dough ended up being a greater weight than I usually use and as a result had way too much of a mushroom top to it.  Also despite a longer bake the sides couldn’t hold the weight of the top of the bread and started to collapse in on itself.  Not a stellar result.  Hopefully this bread will taste alright.  I’ve never tasted pandan, just hearing about it from some Asian bakers so I wanted to try it out.  If we actually like this flavor, I’ll try again and also reduce the dough weight by maybe 100 g  to reduce the crazy mushroom top and subsequent collapsing sides.  Oh I also used the 0.5 tsp of IDY because I wanted this to be ready today.

For Pullman 9x4x4” pan

 

Sweet Stiff Starter - overnight cool room temperature

• 53g bread flour 

• 24g pandan extract    

• 18g sugar 

• 18g sourdough starter ~100% hydration 

 

Tangzhong classic 1:5 ratio

• 52g coconut milk + 37 g pandan

• 18g bread flour   

 

Dough Dry Ingredients 

• 360g bread flour 

• 50g sugar (reduced from 59g)

• 7g salt 

(Optional IDY 0.5 tsp)

 

Dough Wet Ingredients 

• 77g coconut milk 

      • 62 g pandan extract + 53 g (to compensate for the low water in coconut milk)

• 59g egg beaten (about 1 ⅕ of a large egg)

• 67g melted butter 

 

Total flour = 431 g

 

The tangzhong, levain and all the wet ingredients were mixed then added the dry ingredients mixing on low until no dry flour.  Rested for 10-15 mins, then mixed on high until good gluten development.

 

After 2-2.5 hour of bulk I placed it in the fridge for 1 hour.  after this divided, shaped into boules and then into swirled rolls.  Placed into pullman pan alternating the swirls.

 

Baked 350ºF for 50 mins then taken out of pan and placed back in over for another 10 - 15 mins bake.  Watch the top crust as it may get too dark too quickly so may need to be shielded.













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