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Benito

I saw a post that Maurizio made on his IG feed about basil pesto knots that he made, this was my inspiration for these sun dried pesto knots.  I used his recipe for the dough, although I had to decrease the hydration because his hydrations are always higher than I can do for my flours and conditions especially now that the high humidity is back in Toronto.  Also, as I have been doing lately, I am developing all my dough, even the enriched ones by hand rather than using the stand mixer in order to extend the life of my KA mixer.

The sun dried tomato pesto recipe is a favorite that I make on a relatively regular basis and use it for pasta, this is the first time trying it in a sourdough knot.  Let’s hope it turns out well.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

1 8.5 oz jar sun-dried tomato in oil

1 cup fresh basil leaves packed

3 garlic cloves

1 small shallot peeled

2 tablespoon almonds

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ tsp red pepper flakes

150-200 g of a salty dry cheese such as Grana Padano, pecorino Romano or parmigiana reggiano 

½ tsp oregano

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

Process all of the ingredients in a food processor 

 

For the dough

Ingredients

  • 66 grams unsalted butter 
  • 236 grams water (reduced by 5% from original)
  • 146 grams ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration)
  • 376 grams bread flour, plus 66 g to mix with butter
  • 1 large egg (about 53 grams)
  • 9 grams fine sea salt
  • 18 grams extra-virgin olive oil

Egg Wash

1 lg egg

1 tbsp whole milk

 

Overnight levain - need 146 g

 

9 g starter + 70 g water + 70 g bread flour (1:7:7)

Cut the butter into small pats and place on a plate to sit out at room temperature and soften overnight.

 

Directions

Mix the dough (9:00 a.m.)

Mix butter with 66 g of bread flour.  In the microwave, heat the water to about 76°F (24°C). Warming the water will help increase the final dough temperature at the end of mixing to ensure strong fermentation activity.

In a medium bowl first mix the sourdough starter, egg, salt, and warm water until well mixed.  Then add flour and mix until no dry bit of flour remain.  Rest 5-10 mins, then slap and fold dough until well developed.

Let the dough rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes in the bowl.

Add the oil to the dough in the bowl. Massage the oil into the dough then slap and fold until all the oil is absorbed.  Add the butter, smearing it on the dough.  Stretch and fold to combine, then slap and fold until well combined and gluten fully developed. The dough will be smooth, homogeneous and moderately elastic (strong) at the end of mixing, but still sticky.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover with reusable plastic or a silicone lid, and bulk ferment.

 

Bulk ferment the dough (9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)

Let the dough rise at warm room temperature (76°F/24°C) for a total of 3 hours. During this time, you’ll give the dough three sets of coil folds to give it additional strength. The first set is performed 30 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation.  After the third set, let the dough rest, covered, for the remaining time in bulk fermentation.

 

Chill the dough (12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., or up to 24 hours later)

 

Grease a muffin pan with butter, or line a cookie tray with parchment.  Alternatively butter ramekins or circular metal round molds.

After bulk fermentation, place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 24. This time in the fridge will chill the dough, making it easier to roll out, cut, and twist into knots.

 

Roll out the dough, spread the pesto, cut, and shape the knots (1:30 p.m.).

Remove the bowl from the fridge, uncover, and liberally flour the top of the dough and a work surface. Using a plastic or silicone bowl scraper, gently scrape the dough onto the floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rough 10x14-inch rectangle so the long sides are at your left and right. Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread the pesto onto the dough from edge to edge.

Next, fold the top of the dough farthest from you down toward your body, overlapping about two-thirds of the dough-rectangle. Repeat for the bottom edge of the dough, folding it up over the dough so it completely overlaps and makes a three-layered rectangle in front of you, with short sides to your left and right—imagine folding up a letter you’re sending to your pen pal (is that still a thing?). Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut the rectangle into 9 (1-inch) strips.

Starting with one strip, cut into three narrower strips leaving a small amount at one end uncut.  Next plait the three strips, then starting with the uncut end roll tightly into a knot.  Place with knot with the ends of the braid side down in the muffin tin.  Repeat with the remaining strips.

 

Proof the shaped knots (2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.)

Cover the knots with a large, airtight bag and let the dough proof on the counter at room temperature for 2½ hours. Be sure to heat the oven 15 to 30 minutes before the full 2½-hour proof time.  The knots should pass the poke test at the time of baking

 

 

Bake the knots (preheat oven at 4:00 p.m.; bake at 4:30 p.m.)

Place a rack in the middle of the oven; heat to 400°F (200°C).

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and milk until frothy. Remove the knots from the bag. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the egg wash onto each knot in a thin, uniform layer.

Bake the knots for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the tops are golden. Avoid over-baking to ensure the knots are only slightly crunchy on the outside but have a soft interior.

Remove the pan from the oven. Lightly brush with the oil.  Let the knots cool for a few minutes, then remove from the muffin pan enjoy. They’re wonderful while still warm.

Once cooled, the knots can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for several days. Reheat in the microwave or a warm oven before serving.

 

i apologize I missed taking photos of a couple of steps to show folding them dough As a letterfold after applying the pesto. 

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Benito

So I still do not have my new pH meter but I’m calibrating my old cheap one now since I have the pH solution.  Based on my last bake I know that I have been way overproofing in recent weeks while trying to push fermentation and have allowed the pH to get too low resulting in proteolysis.  I measured rise by aliquot jar and any comments on rise refer to the aliquot jar not actual main dough rise.  So as not to damage the aliquot jar dough or the main dough, I create a second aliquot jar that I use to measure the pH from.  The dough started with a pH of around 5.74.  Bulk fermentation was done in a proofing box at 80ºF. 

For this bake I shaped when the pH was 4.57 and 60% rise.  Then the dough in banneton returned to the proofing box at 80ºF and allowed a final proof until the pH dropped to 4.27 and a rise of 90%.  Then the dough was placed in a 3ºC fridge for 18.5 hours.  I then baked the as per my usual procedures which I’ve written up many times before in my blog.

In order to compensate for the pH variation due to temperature, I warmed a small amount of water and added some of the aliquot dough to it to bring it up to a temperature of 80ºF and the pH of that dough was 4.15.  So assuming that my cheap pH meter is accurate enough, I could have pushed bulk a bit further.  I wasn’t sure how much further the pH would drop in the fridge but next time I might give the dough longer in the warm final proof and cold retard once the pH gets to 4.2 or so which might be a rise of closer to 95-100%.

Anyhow, based on how the bread baked up, this is much better than my recent bakes.  I think going forward I will continue to use both the aliquot jar to assess rise and pH as I think both are super useful.

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Benito

For this bake of my usual country sourdough I wanted to see how well the aliquot jar correlates with pH readings.  I have usually been shaping when the aliquot jar shows a 60% rise and now trying to push bulk wanted to cold retard when the rise is 110%.  This might be a bit overproofed but we’ll see.  From what I’ve seen shared from other bakers, they are shaping when pH reaches 4.4 and baking when pH is 4.1.  Now I do not have my new pH meter so I think I have to take these readings with a grain of salt, but I did calibrate my meter prior to use but keep in mind the readings were taken by placing the meter’s blunt probe end into a separate small aliquot jar that I did so that readings wouldn’t affect the dough or the aliquot jar used for measuring rise.  The pH meter for dough and bread is still back ordered so these reading maybe quite off.  Ideally I should have taken a small amount of the dough and mixed it with water and then take a reading, but I was too lazy to do this.

The following are the readings I got.

600 am 600 slap and folds completed

620 am bench letterfold pH 5.64 proofer set at 80*F 

640 am lamination 

705 am coil fold pH 5.57

725 am coil fold pH 5.57

750 am coil fold pH 5.47

815 am coil fold pH 5.45

845 am coil fold pH 5.28

945 am aliquot rise 25% pH 5.1 

1100 am 40% rise pH

1125 am 52.5% rise pH 4.8

1152 am 60% rise pH 4.4 shaped 

1242 pm 75% rise pH 4.28 proofed 80ºF 

102 pm 85% rise pH 4.21

130 pm 95% rise pH 4.01

205 pm 110% rise pH 4.02 into cold retard

715 am next day pH 4.02

 

So you can see that I didn’t cold retard at 4.1 instead when the aliquot jar showed 110% rise the pH had fallen to 4.02 a fair amount lower than 4.1.  Surprisingly the pH the following day after 17 hours in the 3ºC fridge was the same 4.02.  Given that 900 g of dough would take several hours to reach 3ºC I would have expected the pH to fall even further and was surprised that it did not.  However, I’m not sure how accurate my pH meter truly is.

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Benito

I haven’t made a pizza in ages and had a hankering for sourdough pizza.  I’m made minor changes to how I ferment my sourdough pizza dough, I’ve realized that my pizza dough in the past had been underfermented.

I use a cast iron 9-10” skillet and my home oven to make pizza and I think you can really do great pizza at home without a specialized pizza oven.  The formula below has been slightly altered from the one Will shared with us during the pizza Community Bake.  Wanting to save my KA from an early death, I made this pizza dough fully by hand and have to say it really isn’t that hard to do this.  I won’t bother using my KA standmixer for pizza dough again in the future.

Prepare your marinated vegetables at least 1-2 hours before time to bake.  We generally eat one pizza each, each day for two days so I’ll make enough marinated veggies for the four pizzas.  In a medium bowl, combine artichoke hearts, chopped onion, sliced roasted red peppers, sun dried cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives  and sliced peperoncini with red wine vinegar, oregano (dried or fresh), salt and pepper and toss.

 

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)

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.

If doing a pizza sauce pizza, could brush dough with olive oil before sauce.

 

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.  Remove from oven and top with the paprika mussels, enjoy.

 

The following video was made months ago but still shows how I shape the pizza dough.

 

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Benito

I’ve had my eye on this method of shaping a milk bread for sometime when I first saw this on my IG feed.  This bake is inspired by Chiew See of Autumn Kitchen, she used a similar method of shaping a matcha milk bread last summer and I’ve wanted to try it ever since and finally got around to doing it this long weekend. 

For a 9 x 4 x 4 inch pullman pan

 

Overnight levain build

14 g starter + 86 g cold water + 86 g bread flour left to ferment at 74ºF overnight.

Take butter out when build levain.

 

For the Black sesame powder

 

Grind 86 g of toasted black sesame seeds (I used a coffee grinder) then combine with 18 g of sugar.  Cover and set aside until the morning.

 

To prepare the purple sweet potato I used the instant pot to steam them, then removed the meat from the skins and mashed them until smooth.  I have found that you can freeze the mashed sweet potato so you can make a fair amount and freeze them in small portions for future use.

The next morning mix the following except for the butter.

312 g bread flour (282 g if using 30 g to premix with the softened butter)

1 large egg

30 g sugar

126 g milk

6 g salt

180 g levain 

 

Total flour = 402 g

 

30 g room temperature butter. Take out first thing in the morning.

 

After butter is softened mix it with 30 g of flour (so subtract 30 g flour from the dough above) because this will make the butter far easier to incorporate.

 

This time I didn’t use the standmixer, I am gradually killing my KA mixer by making pizza doughs and milk breads.  I’ve decided I will try to handmix these doughs from now on to extend the life of my mixer.  

 

In a bowl, mix the egg, milk, sugar, salt and levain until well blended.  Then add the flour and mix until no dry flour remains, rest for 5-10 mins.  The slap and fold until you have a strong smooth dough with a full windowpane.  

 

Mix your 30 g of room temperature butter with 30 g of bread flour until smooth.  The add this to your dough in thirds slapping and folding each time until well incorporated and fully developed.  Rest for 5-10 mins then divide the dough into thirds, it is fine if they aren’t the same size since two of the portions will have inclusions.

 

Take the smallest third and combine with the black sesame powder and knead by hand until the black sesame powder is well incorporated.  Shape into a boule and set aside under a tea towel.

Finally take the third dough ball and gradually combine with the mashed purple sweet potato smearing it on the surface and folding it in.  Knead until the dough is a uniform colour and smooth.  Shape into a boule and place under a tea towel to rest for 5 mins.

 

Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule.  Roll out to at least 12” in length and almost as wide as the length of your pan, set aside.  Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the black sesame dough out to 12” and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough.  Finally rolling the anko dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the black sesame dough.

 

Roll the laminated three doughs out to about 16-18” in length.  Next using a ruler and a pizza cutting wheel, cut the dough into strips lengthwise about 1.5-2 cm wide but leaving the last 2-4 cm of dough uncut at one end.  Finally when all the strips are cut twist each strip in alternating directions.  See my photos below.  Once all the strips are twisted next roll the dough into a log starting with the uncut dough, roll tightly, again see the photos for the final appearance of the dough.  I actually found transferring the dough into the pullman pan to be the most challenging part of the whole formula.   Place the log in your prepared Pullman pan with the seam side down (I like to line it with parchment so it is easy to remove from the pan).  Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough comes to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the Pullman pan.  This takes about 8-8.5 hours at 82ºF, the yeast isn’t likely to be osmotolerant so it will take longer than you would normally expect.

 

At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355ºF with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack.  At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough.  When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash.  Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through.  Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon.  After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness.  Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.

 

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

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Benito

I won’t bother posting the formula as it is the same as previously posted.  For this loaf I added toasted black sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds during lamination.  Bulk went to  60% rise in the aliquot jar and then final bench warm proof to 110% at which time it went into the fridge for a cold retard.  Based on the slight spreading that this loaf had either it is a bit overproofed or over hydrated.

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Benito

Miso nori sourdough 77% hydration 20% whole red fife.  For this bake I really pushed fermentation using the aliquot jar I shaped at a 60% rise then ended final proof at 110%. A quick 20 minutes in the freezer while the oven preheated and baked. One mistake I made was that I forgot to turn the oven down to 450ºF after I loaded the dough. I didn’t catch my mistake until 12 mins into baking. Now the miso already makes the crust darker but some amount of the colour is also that high bake temperature. I tried to compensate by dropping the temperature to a much lower 375ºF after the Dutch oven part was completed.

Levain 90 g prefermented flour 9% 45 g 

18 g + 36 g + 18 g red fife and 18 g AP

 

AP flour 377 g

Whole red fife 72 g

Water 330 g + 5 g when adding levain

Salt 8.125 g

Diastatic malt 2 g

 

Miso 7.5% 37.5 g (1.875 g salt in this)

Dissolve salt and miso in water then add flours.  Saltolyse for 1-3 hours.

 

Add levain and additional 5 g of water and Rubaud mix for 5 mins.  Rest 5 mins.  The slap and fold to full gluten development - 700 slap and folds.

Bulk fermentation at 82ºF. 

Rest 30 mins then strong bench letterfold.  Set up aliquot jar.

Rest 30 mins then lamination and add 10 g nori flakes.

Coil fold when dough relaxes approximately every 30 mins and stop once dough structure is good.  5 coil folds done.

Shape when aliquot jar shows 60% rise.

Placed in banneton and back into proofing box without humidity at 82ºF until aliquot jar shows 110% rise.

Place in freezer for 20-30 mins or until oven preheated to 500ºF is ready.

Bake in preheated dutch oven at 450ºF for 20 mins.

Drop temperature to 420ºF and continue to bake in dutch oven for 10 mins.

Remove from dutch oven and bake on rack at 420ºF until full baked about 15 additional

minutes.

 

 

 

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Benito

Recently I changed from Robin Hood Bread flour to Anita’s Organic All Purpose flour.  I did a flour stress test and found that Anita’s is more extensible than Robin Hood, however, I’ve discovered in my past couple of bakes that it cannot absorb as much water.  In this bake I’ve reduced the hydration of this formula from 80 to 76%.  I did a bake of this formula that came out flat.  At first I thought it was over proofed, since I’ve been pushing proofing, but when I sliced it open it showed no signs of overproofing so my feeling is that it was over hydrated.  If you’re interested in the formula, I’ve posted it before the only changes made this time were to replace all the white flours with the all purpose and to lower the hydration to 76%.  I allowed this to ferment to 60% rise in the aliquot jar as has been my usual lately.  After shaping I allowed a further warm 82ºF final proof until the aliquot jar rose to 95%.  Based on the expansion and bloom of this loaf, I’m guessing I could have gone further, but the crumb will tell for sure.

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Benito

Those who know me know that adding seeds especially black sesame seeds is one of my favorite inclusions to add to my sourdough breads.  For this loaf I’ve added poppy seeds, toasted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  I’ve used my country sourdough recipe except that I’m trying a new flour which as you know is always a challenge.  I’m using Anita’s Organic All Purpose Flour for all of the white flour in this loaf.  It has a protein of around 12% so it should be up to the challenge of a bread.  As you know, Canadian flours are pretty strong so even most of the AP flours are strong enough for bread.  I also did a gluten test on this flour and found it more extensible than the bread flour I usually use but less absorbent of water.  I’ve reduced the hydration to 78% because of that change, but otherwise it is my usual country loaf with 15% whole red fife and 5% rye.  The pre-fermented flour is 9% and the seeds totaled 10%.  Because I’ve been overproofing lately I didn’t go for quite as much bench proofing before cold retard especially since I’m not that familiar with this flour, so I only allowed a 45 min bench proof.  Given the size of the baked loaf I’m thinking it won’t have my coveted lacy crumb that I so elusive to me.  I hope over time with this extensible flour that I’ll find the sweet spot for lacy crumb.

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Benito

I hope I’m not boring you guys with these swirled milk breads, but the flavor combinations seem like endless possibilities.  This one is a great combination that you’ll find in any good bubble tea house.  Something about matcha and anko just go so well together.  The anko (red bean or azuki bean paste) is homemade and I’ve been gradually making my way through the batch I made weeks back.  It freezes and defrosts very well so if you’re interested in making some don’t worry that you’ll have to use it up all at once.

Overnight levain build

14 g starter + 86 g cold water + 86 g bread flour left to ferment at 74ºF overnight.

Take butter out when build levain.

 

For the Matcha paste

 

Mix 8.5 g Matcha 25 g sugar and 10 g water until smooth, cover and set aside until the morning.

 

The next morning mix the following except for the butter.

282 g bread flour

1 large egg

30 g sugar

126 g milk

6 g salt

180 g levain 

 

Separately mix your room temperature 30 g butter with 30 g bread flour and put aside.

 

Using a standmixer, mix until incorporated at low speed.  Then mix at higher speed until gluten well formed.  Then gradually add the flour butter mixture and mix until the dough is elastic, shines and smooth.  Because we premixed the butter with flour this step of adding the butter will go very quickly.

 

Remove the dough from the mixer, shape into a ball and divide into approximate thirds.  Shape the largest third into a boule and set aside covered with a towel.

 

Take the smallest third and combine with the anko and knead by hand until the anko is well incorporated.  Shape into a boule and set aside under a tea towel.

Finally take the third dough ball and using the mixer add the matcha paste and mix until well combined.  Shape into a boule and place under a tea towel to rest for 5 mins.

 

Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule.  Roll out to at least 12” in length and almost as wide as the length of your pan, set aside.  Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the black sesame dough out to 12” and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough.  Finally rolling the anko dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the black sesame dough.

 

Roll the laminated three doughs out to about 16-18” in length.  Next tightly roll the laminated doughs starting with the short end until you have a swirled log.  Place the log in your prepared Pullman pan with the seam side down (I like to line it with parchment so it is easy to remove from the pan).  Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough comes to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the Pullman pan.  This takes about 8-8.5 hours at 82ºF, the yeast isn’t likely to be osmotolerant so it will take longer than you would normally expect.

 

At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355ºF with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack.  At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough.  When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash.  Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through.  Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon.  After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness.  Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.

 

 

Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

 

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