dabrownman's blog

I'm sorry about the pictures on this post.  We can't get them to line up no matter what my apprentice does :-) 

Sometime things just happen because they are triggered subtly and naturally by our senses.  We are reminded of something and then these thoughts lead to other unrelated ideas.  Next thing you know you have a new bread formula designed by the simplest of things - in this case smell.

After our; very tasty and soft crumb, not to mention good looking, fig, hazelnut, Tang Zhong, Italian bread,  we kept and froze some of the fig soaker water for a future bake to use as part of the liquid.  We didn’t want to use figs again, but the smell of the juice made us immediately think of dried apricots so the fruit decision was made.

While looking for the apricots we noticed a little bit of some buckwheat flour that we had purchased for sweetbird’s beautiful, hard cider, Buckwheat Bread.   My apprentice had reminded me to use up long ago – so it would have to go into the flour along with our usual spelt, rye and whole wheat multigrain mix.  We wanted to double up the whole grains from the last bake and get them closer to 50% than 25% too.

Instead of a whole berry scald, this time we decided to do a 48 hour WW sprouting of 100 g of WW berries.  It has been a while since we made sprouts for bread and this was the perfect time to get back to them.

sweetbird’s bread has a light purple cast to the crumb because of the buckwheat and knowing we couldn’t use hazelnuts two times in a row, we immediately thought of Phil’s purple and green Walnut and Sage Super Hero Bread we like so much.  We love the purple color the walnut paste gives to the crumb so 25 g of walnuts a 12 g of walnut oil were crushed together in a mortar and then we decided to use 75 g of quartered walnuts in the dough too.

To try to duplicate the soft crumb that Tang Zhong provides we decided to use some yeast water in the levain.  Yeast water provides a similar soft, moist crumb.  This time we decided to build one levain in 3 stages using all 3 of our wild yeast starters; the WW and the rye sour to go along with the YW.  This levain was very active doubling in 4 hours after the 2nd build.  We fed it the all flour 3 build and let it sit on the counter for an hour before retarding it overnight. 

When the starter came put of the fridge the net morning we also started the 4 hour autolyse of the fig juice, water, salt, flours, malts, VWG and Toadies.  We micro waved the chopped apricots in water to get them re-hydrated and then prepared the walnut paste in the mortar and chopped the add in walnuts to get them to a more manageable size.

Once the autolyse met the levain we did a quick hand mix with a spoon in the bowl before doing 10 minutes of double slap and 1 folds.  We made this dough a little stiffer than normal because the apricot soak and sprouts would give the dough a little more liquid than the hydration calculations take into account.

We incorporated the sprouts apricots and walnuts on the first of 3 sets of S&F’s that were started 15 minutes after the slap and folds and 15 minutes apart.  By the end of the 3rd set the add ins were thoroughly incorporated and the dough felt like it was at 75% hydration instead of the 72% in the formula.

After an hour on the counter, we put the dough in the fridge for a 15 hour retard.  In the morning we let it sit for 30 minutes before dividing the dough in half, shaping and placing each in a rice floured basket.   We proofed them for 3 hours   in a plastic trash bag before firing up Big Old Betsy to a 500 F pre-heat.

We haven’t tried shaping cold dough so we thought we would give it a try and see if it affects how our normal bread turns out in any way.   After another 45 minutes the oven was ready.  We upended the baskets onto parchment paper on a peel, slashed them with a paring knife (tough going for breads like these) and chucked them onto the bottom stone.

A nice YW pancake with sausage and egg.

We had another stone on the top rack of the oven and steam was supplied by a Sylvia’s large size steaming pan with two towels in it and a 12” CI pan that has lava rocks in it, ala David Snyder.  Each was filled half way with water an placed in the oven at the beginning of preheat.

We turned the oven down to 475 F when the bread was loaded in and we steamed them for 12 minutes.  After removing the steam, we turned the oven down to 425 F, convection this time.  We rotated the bread 180 degrees on the stone every 8 minutes.  The bread tested 205 F and was deemed done 16 minutes after we removed the steam. 

We let the crust crisp on the stone with the door ajar and the oven off for 10 minutes and then removed the bread to a cooling rack.  It came out if the oven nicely browned, hardly blistered and crispy.  The crust went softer as it cooled.

The crumb had that purple tinge we like so much.  It was fairly open, moist and soft.  The taste is unique, earthy and hearty.  Everything works well together from a flavor perspective too.   It is fun bread to make and well worth the effort.  We will be making this again.  Thanks to Phil and sweetbird for the fond memories of their great bread.

Formula

2013 The Fresh Loaf Dabrownman’s Blog

1/4/2013 - Panettone - The Last Bake of 2012

1/4/2013 - New Year's Day Pizza and Banana Bread Cupcakes

1/5/2012 - Hanseata’s Sausage Filled Puff Pastry with Cheese

1/7/2013 - Multi-grain Cream Cheese Sourdough with Multi-grain Scalded Soaker

1/11/2013 - Multi-grain Sourdough Chacon with Olives, Sun Dried Tomato, Garlic, Rosemary and 2 Cheeses

1/16/2013 - Multi-grain Sourdough with Sprouts, Scald, Seeds, Nuts and Prunes

1/17/2013 - Multigrain Yeast Water Bread with Sprouts, Scald, Seeds, Nuts and Prunes

1/23/2013 - White Whole Wheat with Combo YW, Poolish, SD Starter, Water Roux and Wheat Berry Scald

1/25/2013 - SD, YW, Biga, Rye, Spelt, Tang Zhong Bread with Scald, Seeds and Nuts

1/30/2013 - Practice YW Slash Bag

1/31/2013 - Origami Sourdough and Yeast Water Panettone

1/31/2013 - Another Batch of kjknits English Muffins – 12.5 % Whole Wheat

2/1/2013 - Fun With Short Crust and Puff Paste

2/1/2013 - Phil’s Savory Pumpkin and Feta Pie

2/2/2013 - A Born Loser Tells a Tale of Too Many Two’s and the Evil Twin

2/3/2013 - Superbowl Pizza – Great Pizza For a Lights Out, No longer a Blow Out Game

2/3/2013 - It's Been Exactly a Year Since Our First TFL Post - The Index

2/5/2013 - Multigrain SD/YW Brown Bread with Aromatic Seeds and Multi-Grain Scald

2/7/2013 - Big Combo Levain Whole Wheat Bread with Pumpkin & Sunflower Seeds

2/11/2013 - Not So Pink Valentine Vienna Chocolate Rose

2/13/2013 - Sourdough Pink Valentine Hamburger Buns

2/15/2013 - Yeast Water Cinnamon Rolls

2/18/2013 - Multigrain SD Altamura - Not The Priest's Hat

2/21/2013 - Banana Bread

2/26/2013 - Old Dough VS Levain Multigrain SD With Bulgar and Flax Seed Scald

2/28/2013 - 100 % Whole Grain Rye and Spelt YW SD with Scald and Seeds - The Altus Test

3/5/2013 - SD YW Durum, Ricotta Bread with Pistachio Nuts, Pumpkin & Millet Seeds

3/13/2013 - SD YW multi-grain Bagels

3/17/2013 - Enchanted Irish Lemon Curd Fairy Cakes

3/18/2013 - St. Paddy’s Day Feast, Sort of Ballymaloe 100% WW Brown Bread and Irish Ruben’s

3/20/2013 - If Ballymaloe Baked Sourdough Brown Bread with WW Scald & Guinness in a DO

3/23/2013 - WW SD YW Multi-Grain Pumpernickel

3/25/2013 - 50% Whole Wheat Matzoh

3/30/2013 - Hot Cross Buns - 25 % Whole Grain

3/31/2013 - Poolish & Y W Chocolate Walnut Easter Babka with Streusel & Snockered Fruits

4/2/2013 - 100 Percent Whole Multi-Grain Aroma Bread with 2 Soakers & 11 Seeds

4/4/2013 - Whole Grain DaPumpernickel Aroma Bread

4/8/2013 - Two Way 75% White Bread - DaPumperized with Scald and Seeds

4/12/2013 - Italian Tang Zhong, Fig, Hazelnut & Ricotta Cheese Sourdough Chacons

4.14.2013 - Dinner for 2 from the Pots

2012 The Fresh Loaf Dabrownman’s Blog

2/3/2012 - My first bread after joining TFL - DSnyder's San Joaquin

2/3/2012 - Brachflachen Mehrere Vollkombrot

2/3/2012 - Loaded Pizza

2/3/2012 - Pierre Nury meets DSnyders SFSD

2/3/2012 - Putting the Rye in Pierre Nury's rustic Light Rye

2/3/2012 - Too Many Red Pears and Blueberries

2/3/2012 - Make your own Greek yogurt

2/4/2012 - Minneola / Apple Yeast Water Semolina Bread

2/4/2012 - Raspberry SD Pancakes

2/4/2012- 1930's Magnalite Wagner Ware Roaster Used As Cloche for Multi-grain SD Challah

2/5/2014 - Sourdough English Muffins

2/5/2012 - Southwest Hummus Anyone?

2/5/2012 - I have some miscellaneous baking and foodie

2/7/2012 - Brachflachen Mehrere Vollkombrot - Version 4

2/7/2012 - Baked off PiPs (Phil's) new post on 40% Sourdough Rye w/ Caraway today

2/9/2012 - The Chellos - that don't play music.

2/9/2012 - PiP's 40% Rye w/ Caraway Meets Hanseata's Seeds and a Restless dabrownman

2/9/2012 - Whole Wheat Crusted Apple Caramel Galette w/ fresh ginger and assorted bourbon dried fruits.

2/9/2012 - Blueberry SD pancakes this time,

2/10/2012 - How to Make Yogurt - 'So Your Muffins Taste Betta'

2/10/2012 - isand66's SD Avocado Bread Meets Its Sunflower Seeded Guacamole Heart

2/11/2012- I Confess My Deepest Darkest Baking Secret

2/13/2012 - isand66's Bacon, SD, Potato, Onion with Cheddar Bread Meets Pork Jowls, Aged White Cheddar, Potato Flakes and Caramelized Onion

2/13/2012 - Shiao-Ping's Orange Turmeric Pain au Levain with Yeast Water

2/14/2012 - Happy Valentine Cupcakes w/ Strawberry Hearts

2/16/2012 - PiPs Walnut and Sage 100% Whole Wheat.

2/17/2012 - Let's Make Some Fresh Cheese

2/17/2012 - Birthday Chocolate Crusted Orange Cheese Cake with Ganache, Truffles and Chocolate Shavings

2/18/2012 - David Snyders' SD Pugliesi Capriccioso With Some WW and Rye

2/22/2012 - teketeke's Japanese Yeast Water White Sandwich Bread - 'This Bread Is Not Your Slimy Old White Slice'

2/23/2012 - Pips Vollkornbrot - Nearly 100% Rye with A Tiny Bit of Spelt

2/24/2012 - teketeke Bread

2/27/2012 - Rustique Pain Comté de San Francisco

3/1/2012 - Chad Robertson's Country SD - Modified

3/1/2012 - I've been working on a new home made Gas Regeneration BBQ /Smoker

3/3/2012 - Miscellaneous stuff at the end of the week

3/5/2012 - Pain Rustique au Levain du Sud-ouest

3/6/2012 - Pain Rustique au Levain du Sud-ouest - Retarded

3/7/2012 - Yeast Water, Rye, WW, Garlic Chive, Onion, Cheese and Chorizo Bialy’s

3/12/2012 - Tartine Everyday Rustic Country Sourdough

3/14/2012 - St Paddy's Day Dutch Oven Sourdough - Tartine Method

3/14/2012 - Corned Beef and Cabbage - 2 ways - possibly more

3/15/2012 - Just look at the pictures my new old camera takes!!

3/17/2012 - Yeast Water, Glazed, Spiced, Walnut, Bourbon Fruit, Chocolate Chip, Almond Granola Streusel Polish Babka

3/23/2012 - Making Red Rye Malt

3/24/2012 - Gingered, Tres Apple, Almond, Vanilla Granola Crisp with Bourbon Dried Fruit

3/29/2012 - A Blend of Seigle d’Auvergne and Borodinski

3/29/2012 - Jam and Bread Crust and Crumb Color

3/31/2012 - Revising isand66's Bacon, Potato, Onion with Cheddar Sourdough Bread

4/1/2012 - Getting Ready for Tomorrow's Sweetbird Buckwheat Apple SD Bake with Buckwheat SD Pancakes Today

4/2/2012 - Dabrownman Butchers Sweetbird’s Lovely Buckwheat, Apple and Apple Cider, Buckwheat Groat Bread with Insane Thoughts and Deeds

4/9/2012 - Super-grain Challah w/ Whey Water, Sprouts, Potato, Lentil, Sunflower Seeds and 2 Starters - SD and YW

4/10/2012 - Retarded Super-Grain Challah

4/14/2012 - Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Puff Paste

4/14/2012 - Italian Corner - Cellos with Squash Lasagna and David Snyder's Pulgliese Capriosso

4/15/2012 - 20% Rye and WWW Potato SD Baggies Meet the Same Made with YW

4/15/2012 - Weekday Springtime Yeast Water Breakfast at Dabrownman's

4/17/2012 - Apple and Pear, Bourbon Dried Fruit, Ginger with Apple Jam Cream Cheese Puff Sleds

4/19/2012 - Sweetbird's Apple, Buckwheat with Groats, Insanely Modified, Makes for a Fine Toast or Lunch

4/20/2012 - SD Hemp Bags - txfarmer method with Hanseata's Seeds

4/20/2012 - Tired Monday's - YW 20% Whole Grain Bag Lunch

4/30/2012 - 50% Multigrain SD W/ Rye Scald, Rye Sprouts, Borodinski Altus and Pepitas, Caraway and Flax Seeds

5/2/2012 - Yeast Water Fake Pretzel Rolls

5/4/2012 - With Cinco de Mayo Yesterday - Hope You Had a Happy One! Cinco Sunset, Moon Rise and Dinner

5/8/2012 - Multi-grain SD w/ Multi Sprouts 2 Nuts and Seeds Somewhere

5/9/2012 - Yeast Water Hamburger Buns with Cinnamon Roll Same Dough Kicker

5/11/2012 - 1 - Day Multi-Grain Bread, Soft White Wheat, Spelt, Scald and Seeded with SD and YW Combo Starter

5/12/2012 - Banana Bread Cake

5/14/2012 - Mothers Day YW Apple, Pecan Buckwheat Pancakes with a Nice Chicken and Brie Sandwich for Lunch

5/15/2012 - Altamura Shaped Semolina Multi-Grain SD with Seeds and Sprouts

5/16/2012 - Having the daughter

5/18/2012 - Semolina, Rye, WWW Ciabatta w/ Chia Seeds, Herbs and Sun Dried Tomato

5/20/2012 - Apple Strawberry Ginger Crisp, Teriyaki and Lunch for Two

5/22/2012 - txfarmer's Croissant and Dainish Converted over to SD and YW - 3 Ways with Chia Seeds

5/24/2012 - Pretzel Roll P&J and Grilled Chicken Lunch with Pickles

5/25/2012 - Hanseata’s Wild Rice SD w/ Yeast Water, Multi Seeds, Prunes, Beer and Sprouts

5/26/2012 - Brown Plate Special with a Little Green, Brown Ale and Brown Bread

5/28/2012 - T-Rex Meets Floyd’s Sweet Potato Bread & Brownman’s SD & YW Combo Starter

5/29/2012 - Bread Baskets - A Serious Illness Revealed

5/31/2012 - Recent Breads for Lunch, Last Jacaranda Bloom and Desert

6/1/2012 - 40% Whole Multi-grain SD and YW Altamura Style Chacon

6/1/2012 - 24 Hours of Not Baking Bread

6/8/2012 - The SD / YW Chacon Revisited – 90% Whole Grain, Multigrain Sprouts, Walnut and Sage Paste, Pumpkin Seeds and Whey Water

6/9/2012 - Friday night P & P - Pizza and Pide

6/12/2012 - Let's Have Some Lunch and Other Stuff

6/15/2012 - Jasmine Tea, 50% Whole Multi-Grain SD & YW Durum Atta Bread with Wheat Germ, Flax and Chia Seeds

6/19/2012 - Buckwheat 60% Multi-grain YW / SD Bread with Walnuts, Sage, Flax, Wheat Germ, Apples, Prunes and Groats

6/21/2012 - Sourdough Durum Atta Bread – Pharaoh’s Mastaba Style

6/24/2-12 - Twisted Sisters Chacon : 67% Whole Rye & Wheat with Sprouts & Seeds.

6/28/2012 - Franko finally got to the top of the list

6/29/2012 - English Muffins - kjknits Converted to YW and SD Combo levain

6/29/2012 - Without Cheesecake For Desert - There May Be No Need for Bread

6/30/2012 - SD and YW Semolina Cheese Bread and Pizza with Sun Dried Tomato, Rosemary, Mojo de Ajo and Garlic

7/4/2012 - SD and YW Multigrain Bagels - The Stan Ginsberg Method

7/4/2012 - Catching up on some lunches and other stuff

7/4/2012 - Lunches and Other Stuff Continued - Happy Birthday America!

7/5/2012 - YW Naan with Paneer, Green Onion, Cilantro, Garam Masala and Garlic - Plus a Loaf - Added Lunch Shot

7/6/2012 - Joe Ortiz Pain de Champagne with Rye and WW Sprouts

7/10/2012 - Dinner in Houston

7/15/2012 - AZ Monsoon and Breakfast

7/17/2012 - Mocha Chocolate Chip Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

7/20/2012 - What To Eat With That Rustic French Country Sourdough Bread -Smoked Etouffee!

7/22/2012 - SD YW English Muffins - Some Fried As Donuts Per gmabaking With Apricot, Nectarine Ginger Glaze

7/24/2012 - Herbed Bialy's – Multigrain, Caramelized Onion, Chorizo and 4 Cheeses

7/27/2012 - 50% Rye SD Knotted Rolls With Wheat Germ, Barley Scald, Caraway and Sunflower Seeds

7/27/2012 - hanseata's Wild Rice Bread Revisited - 'The Wild One' - w/ Beer, Sprouts, Seeds and Prunes

7/30/2012 - Parade of Sandwiches and Other Stuff

8/5/2012 - YW vs Desem SD - Caramelized Onion, Basil, Bacon, Parmesan Rolls

8/7/2012 - 15% Whole Wheat Bagels with YW and SD Desem Combo Starter

8/11/2012 -YW / SD Olive Bread with Rosemary and Bulgar Scald

8/17/2012 - 100% Whole Grain Rye with Rye Sprouts – YW & SD Combo Starter

7/19/2012 - 25% Whole Wheat English Muffins Revisited - Over and Over Again - kjknits

8/22/2012 - Chacon Catastrophes Moka - Ian’s Mocha Disaster Chacon

8/24/2012 - Multi-Grain SD & YW Combo with Chicken Stock, Soaker & Seeds

8/27/2012 - 35% Whole Grain YW & SD Semolina, Durum Atta White Bread with Soaker

8/29/2012 - Rewind - YW & SD Semolina, Durum Atta, W. Germ, Malts & Honey - Deja Vue

9/2/2012 - Spelt, Rye and Whole Wheat Soudough Boule with Flax Seed, Honey and Malts - A Simple but Tasty Bread

9/5/2012 - 100% Hydration, 100% Whole Grain Kamut Flat Boule with YW and SD Combo Starter

9/7/2012 - Andy’s Roasted Brazil Nut and Prune Bread - Sourdough Variation with WW Scald

9/9/2012 - 8 Hour SD YW Saturday Night Pizza and Friday Shrimp Kabobs

9/14/2012 - 100% Whole Spelt Sourdough at 100% Hydration

9/15/2012 - Happy Rosh Hashanah!

9/20/2012 - 17% Whole Multi-Grain SD / YW Bagels – The Stan Ginsberg Method

9/21/2012 - 57% Whole Grain Multi-grain SD with 20% Seeds and Whey

9/25/2012 -15% Multi-grain Bread With YW and SD Combo Levain

9/28/2012 - 15% WWW Fat Bag with Desem SD Starter ala Ian and Phil

9/28/2012 - English Muffins- YW and SD Levains - 16% Whole Wheat

9/28/2012 - Banana Nut Bread with Seeds, Chocolate and Bourbon Dried Fruits

10/2/2012 - Judy's 45 % Whole Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread

10/6/2012 - 16 % Whole Multi-grain SD Baguettes – txfarmer’s Method only 40 Hours

10/9/2012 - Name Change - Gussied Up Franz Joseph's Emperor Rolls With Seeds

10/13/2012 - Parade of Sandwiches and Other Stuff - Partola Uno

10/14/2012 - Parade de sandwichs et d'autres choses - partie 2

10/14/2012 - Parade of Sandwiches Continues - Part 3

10/15/2012 - Desfile de Sandwiches - Parte 4

10/15/2012 - Parade der Sandwiches - Teil 5

10/17/2012 - World Bread Day - SD Multigrain with Figs, Anise, Pistachios and Sprouts

10/18/2012 - Pierre Nury's Rustic Light Rye with Whole Grain Multi-grain YW / SD Levains and Coffee

10/24/2012 -Tuesday Pizza Night - Crust 3 Ways with 25% Whole Grains

10/25/2012 - San Franciso Sourdough - 15% Whole Grain

10/27/2012 - Extended - SD Starter Experiment - 24 hour Countertop SFSD and a Seeded, Fig and Pistacio

10/30/2012 - Two DO Chacons Couldn’t Be Any Different

11/2/2012 - Two Weeks of Food for Thought - Week one

11/2/2012 - Two Weeks of Food for Thought - Week Two

11/2/2012 - 26% Whole Grain YW / SD Bagels with Sprouts

11/5/2012 - 24 hour 10% Whole Grain SFSD & SD Seeded Fig Bread with Pistachios - 1 g of Starter - No Levain

11/9/2012 - 60% Whole Grain SD / YW Bread With Caraway, Rye Chops, Coffee and Cocoa

11/9/2012 - Prune & Brazil Nut Sourdough with Bulgar Scald, Pumpkin & Sunflower Seeds

11/14/2012 - Not So Stollen

11/16/2012 - Thanksgiving Multi-Grain Marble Chacon

11/20/2012 - SD Stuffing Bread

11/21/2012 - Poolish Stuffing Bread

11/23/2012 - Not So Stollen - Thanksgiving Take

11/23/2012 - Daughter Does French Slap and Folds for Her Poolish Thanksgiving Rolls

11/27/2012 - A Chacon for Eric

12/7/2012 - 75% Whole Grain YW / SD Caramelized Onion, Wild Rice, Sprouts & Baltika Porter Bread

12/14/2012 - Multigrain SD / YW Porter Bread with Roasted Onions, Sprouts, Malts and Seeds

12/17/2012 - Puff Paste Experiments

12/18/2012 - Puffy So Not Rugelach

12/21/2012 - Christmas Sourdough Chacon - Figs, Pistachios and Seeds

12/25/2012 - Christmas Bi-Color Rose - 30% Whole Grain, Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato

12/25/2012 - Not So Stollen - 6 Weeks later

12/29/2012 - 25% Whole Grain Multi-grain Bagels

We love salads so it’s not unusual for us to grow our own when we can.  We grow them in pots which makes it easy.  For the two of us, we have two 12”  planters of red romaine, one 12” pot of spinach and one 24” planter for mescaline, arugla, and the green lettuces.  That is enough for us to have salad every night just by trimming off the larger leaves of each every night. 

The 14” pot of Swiss chard is included because it is going on its 3rd year of continuous production! There are 5 plants in the pot; 2 red, one yellow and 2 white.  It is the best producing pot of all time.  We put Swiss chard in everything since this pot is so prolific.

We also grow tomatoes in huge pots - 2 plants per pot.  Since we are not doing but one heirloom tomato this year we already have over 80 tomatoes on 6 plants with the heirloom only having 10.

If you live in AZ where the produce is so unbelievably cheap and where much of the winter veg for the US is grown, the rest of the salad fixings are a snap and inexpensive to boot.

Now with a very inexpensive two recycled food can pot smoker, you can smoke and grill some ungodly good BBQ chicken to go with the salad with some bakes steak sweet potato and russet fries and some BBQ baked beans out of the mini oven - a little slice of culinary heaven is yours for the taking.

It helps to have a bass playing garden frog to protect the veggies from insects and watch the sunsets with too!

After our recent experiments with 100% whole grain bread, and DaPumperizing some of them, we found out that our limited supply of what we call white breads was exhausted.  These ‘white breads’ still have 20%-30% whole grains in them so they have some decent flavor and healthfulness.

We thought we would go Italian for this bake because of the sneaky ricotta, goat cheese and citrus cheese cake my apprentice baked while no one was looking.   It had also been awhile since we had done a chacon shape too.  We could have done an Italian shape like an Altamura but these shapes usually need some durum flour in hem and we are saving the last of Desert Durum for something else.

Instead of out usual pesto, parmesan and sun dried tomato Italian bread that we like so much we decided to go in a different Italian direction by using figs, hazelnuts and ricotta cheese to go along with the 22% whole grain Rye, spelt and WW that was mainly used in the levains.

Yes, we had 2 levains for this bake but they were both of the SD variety instead of YW we usually use for 1 of them.  We used out Rye Sour and our Not Mini’s Ancient WW starters for this bake.  We love what both of them do for bread so why not combine them and see what happens.

So not to have enough to do for this bake we also decided to use whey water for some of the liquid and do a Tang Zhong with 25 g of the dough flour with an additional 125 g of water not included in the liquid amounts in the formula.

We thought about throw in some of our aromatic seed mix but the apprentice nixed that at the last minute wanting to know what was German about this bake anyway?  For being mainly nutzoid when it comes to breaking the bread mold, she can be traditional when you least expect it – usually right before doing a nose rip on you – which is also not expected.

These levains built themselves up to doubling in 4 hours so only one build was needed to get them full strength.  We did not retard the levains when built as is our usual practice of late but we did do a 4 hour autolyse of the dough flours with the malts, VWG and Toadies.  We kept the nuts, figs, cheese and salt out.  Usually we put the salt in the autolyse so we don’t forget it but thought we try to have Lucy remember to put it in later.

After the 2 levains, the Tang Zhong, ricotta cheese and autolyse came together, we mixed it withy a spoon for 1 minute and then did 4 minutes of slap and folds before adding the salt.  This dough feels much wetter that the just short of the 69% total hydration with the add ins.  This is due to the Thang Zhong and the cheese. 

After the salt went in, we did another 8 minutes of slap and folds before the dough finally came together fore a 20 minute rest.  We then did (3) sets of S&F’s on 15 minute intervals and incorporated the nuts and re-hydrated figs in the 2nd one and by the 3rd one they were well distributed.   The wet figs also added some more unaccounted liquid to the mix. 

After a hours worth of ferment on the counter the dough was bulk retarded for 12 hours, ala Ian’s typical retard mastering.  In the cold it had risen to the rime of the bowl and after 1 ¾ hours on the counter the next morning it has risen above the rim of the bowl .

We then divided it and shaped the knotted rolls; one each for the bottom of each basket, and shaped the twisted rope in addition of the oval basket so these Chacons wouldn’t end up looking too similar after baking.   So no braids, balls or other intricate shapes and designs in the bottom of the basket were used in keeping with this simple Italian bake.

After 2 hours of final proof on the counter in a plastic bag, they were ready for Big old Betsy that had bee preheated to 500 F with one of David Snyder’s lava rocks in a large cast Iron skillet along with a large size one of Sylvia’s steaming pans with 2 rolled up towels in it.  Both were put into the oven half full of water when the 40 minute preheat started and they supplied their usual mega steam.  We also used top and bottom stones as we always do since they never come out of the oven.

My apprentice thought that the loaves were over proofed again when the came out of the bag since the dough jiggled like jello or a croissant and the dough had risen above the rim of the baskets.   But, since Chacons do not need to be slashed, they went straight into the oven on the bottom stone after un-molding onto parchment paper and peel.  They still managed to spring nicely anyway and my apprentice’s over proofing fear was as unfounded as her legal immigration status.

After 2 minutes the temperature was turned down to 460 F and then after a total of 12 minutes the steaming apparatus came out of the oven and the temperature was turned down to 425 F , convection this time.  The loaves were rotated on the stone every 5 minutes for 15 minutes when they tested 205 F and were removed from the oven to a cooling rack.

The loaves cracked well on top as they should and they ended up being nicely browned,  crisp but un-blistered despite the long retard and mega steam.  They are awfully nice looking loaves none the less and we can’t wait to cut into one to see what the crumb looks like.

The crumb turned out fairly open, glossy and super soft.  The Tang Zhong really came through as it always does.   I like to use it on whole grain, multi-grain breads since we discovered that it does the same thing for these breads as it does for white breads.  Now we know it isn't just the YW that makes the crumb soft.  We like this bread very much and it is worth the extra effort required to pull it off. 

Formula

My apprentice says that sane German bakers don’t usually try to do a pumpernickel style bake of; slowly reducing low temperatures over a long baking time, when baking white bread of any kind.  But, I figured that if professional bakers can call a bread with only 25% to 30% of rye flour in it a rye bread, then we should be able to DaPumperize a white bread too.  

I have to admit this is about the whitest bread we would usually make, but thankfully, only my apprentice is a German baker and she doesn't count when it comes to new and exciting things, bread wise, around here most always.  Now, if the bake goes horribly wrong, then it is all her fault - I mean she is only an apprentice.  She also looks ridiculous in that full body hair net when she bakes anyway.  So who could take what she says seriously looking like that?

We had to break the recent trend of 100% whole grain bakes or risk falling into the dark abyss.  Even though the dark side breads are fantastic and tempting, being stuck there forever is a little much if you aren’t a German bread baker,

We do like breads in the 25% - 30% whole grain range and they make fine sandwich breads.  Sandwiches, as some might know, are right up there with home made amber lager beer, as far as, my apprentice’s way of thinking goes - which admittedly isn't very far or even deep for that matter.

So, mainly out of boredom with a touch of insanity and a touch of spite, I decided to try to DaPuperize a white bread and see if the tremendous boost in flavor this technique usually provides would work with white bread too.  It was worth a shot even though a long one – otherwise you would think people would be doing it all the time as a matter of course – but they don’t.  Maybe it’s the 6 hour bake time that puts them off?

To give the bread a chance at being decent, we included bread spice seeds and the other usual other seeds we have recently been using, to give this bread a chance the bread at some depth and chew like our whole grain breads we DaPumperize.

Since this bake was planned to be 80% wheat we decided to use our new Not Mini’s Ancient WW starter ( a very powerful one)  to go along with a WW Yeast Water one and make separate levains.   All 25% of the whole grains are in the levains and are made up of a mix of WW, rye and spelt.

We upped the whole grains some using 100 g of wheat berries for the scald along with the Toadies and home made red and white malts.  We dropped the molasses and barley malt syrup for this bake. For much of the dough water we used the excess scald water. Aromatic seeds were the usual coriander, fennel, anise and bi-color caraway that we buzzed up a little after roasting this time.   The meaty seeds were also roasted and they included; black and white sesame seeds, cracked flax and 50 g each f pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

We followed usual routine of late by building the levains over 3 stages with the Not Mini’s Ancient WW one doubling every 3 hours from the first build on while the YW one took 4 hours. For the last build – its best showing.  We autolysed the dough flours, salt, malts and Toadies  for 3 hours before adding in the levains. 

10 minutes of Slap and folds followed when the slack dough really came around on the gluten development side.  After a 20 minute rest we stretched out the dough to do an envelope fold and dropped all the seeds and scald onto it and folded it up with a few S&F’s.   We did 2 more S&F’s on 20 minute intervals to further develop the gluten and to distribute the add in seeds thoroughly.

After a 30 minute rest we took half the dough and shaped it into a loaf and placed it into a large loaf tin, filling it less than half full and covering it with plastic.  The other half of the dough was left in the oiled and plastic covered bowl. Both were then refrigerated for 8 hours overnight.  They didn't expand much in the fridge.

In the morning, both were placed on a heating pad, covered with a cloth and allowed to warm up for 1 1/2 hours.  The bulk retarded dough was them shaped and placed into a basket for final proof on the heating pad with the tinned loaf.

After another 2 hours the tinned loaf was 1/2” under the rim.  We covered it with aluminum foil and placed it into the preheated 375 F mini oven for its 6 hour baking schedule where the bottom of the broiler pan was full of water to provide extra steam.    We didn't put any oat bran or poppy seeds on the top of the loaf because we wanted to see how dark a white DaPumpernickel could get in 6 hours.  The baking schedule follows:

375 F - 30 minutes

350 F - 30 minutes

325 F - 1 hour

300 F - 1 hour

275 F - 1 hour

250 F - 1 hour

225 F - 1 hour

For some extra thrill for my apprentice and a comparison baseline for me, we decided to bake the other half; the boule, as one would expect a loaf like this to be baked - just in case the DaPumpernickeled half was a total failure.

We decided to bake it in a hot DO but it took another hour and a half before we thought that it was ready for the oven.  After a poor slash job and lowering into the DO with a parchment sling, this boule was baked at 450 F for 20 minutes with the lid on and another 5 minutes with the lid off at 425 F convection before removing it from the DO and placing it on the lower stone to finish baking - another 10 minutes – 35 minutes total baking time.

We then turned the oven off and left the bread on the stone with the oven door ajar for 5 minutes to help crisp the crust.  The boule baked up nice and brown, blistered and the crust was crispy before went chewy as it cooled.  It smells terrific.

The loaf is now through with its slow and low bake and hit exactly 210 F at the end of 6 hours in the mini oven.  We will slice into this loaf after it has rested for 40 hours. Luckily we have tasted the boule and it is a fantastic loaf of bread.  The crumb is so soft and shreddable, glossy and open like it had butter, eggs and and cream in it - just delicious!   This bread cannot be sliced thin and 1/2" thick, or maybe a little more is its sweet spot. This is another bread could eat every day.  Already ate a quarter of the boule!.Can't wait for the loaf to be ready to slice thin.  It will have to go a long way to be better than the boule.

We got 33 slices oiut of the 83/4" DaPumpernickel loaf.  It wasn't as dark as a black pumpernickel about a couple of shades darker than the other part of this two way bake.  The flavor wasn't as deep or rich as a 100% whole grain pumpernickel but it tastes totally different than the regular baked boule.  This tastes like half a pumpernickel and is much more powerful a taste than the boule.  We like this bread a lot too!  For those that don't like pumpernickel but want something stronger than a rye then this loaf  might be the one for you!

Formula

After baking out take on Karin’s (Hanseata) great post with her take on Maria Speck’s Aroma Bread here:  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32830/aroma-bread-love-story

and my take here:  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32921/100-percent-whole-multigrain-aroma-bread-2-soakers-11-seeds

We knew that we would have to try a similar version but bake it DaPmpernickel style which is quickly becoming our favorite bread type – although we love them all .  We stayed with 100% whole grains but dumped the WW portion and subbed rye in its place.

For the liquid we used yogurt whey for much of it while the add ins for seeds, scald and aromatic seeds remained the same since we had divided them in half for the last bake.  We dropped the VWG since not much rise was needed and we added some molasses and barley malt syrup to counter the bitterness of the rye and help with the deep dark crumb we want Dapumpernickels to display when cut.

This time, even though the formula doesn’t show it, we autolysed all of the dough flour with the soaker.  Why we held back such a small amount from the autolyse in the previous bake didn’t make much sense to my apprentice.   So few things make sense to her we as it is, we just chalked this change to another one of her wild whims.  We have also learned that not doing as told  could cause some horrific ankle biting episode.

We subbed a rye sour and a rye YW levains for the poolish and the WW SD levain of the last bake.  We though the rye levains in combination would be more traditional for this kind of bread even though traditions really go through the ringer around here.

This bread worked out very different than the last one.  It was much more sticky due to the rye in place of the WW and it acted like a paste instead of a dough.  We did do 10 minutes of slap and folds and tried our best to get some gluten worked up but it wasn’t having any of it.  Se we treated it like a paste, slap by slap and folding with the add ins to get them evenly distributed and panned the sticky mess lot into (3) cocktail loaf pans to about half full and smoothed the top with a wet teaspoon.

Instead of using tri-color poppy seeds to cover all of them like the last bake, for two of the loaves we used oat bran to cover.   After an hour and a half proofing on the  counter we put them in the fridge for a 12 hour retard.  The next morning they went onto the heating pad for a 2 ¾ hour final proof at 85 F. 

Each breakfast sandwich has 2 - 1/4" slices of DP Aroma bread, not toasted so no butter. One each slice is caramelized Minneola marmalade and 1 slice of aged white cheddar cheese on.  In the middle of each sandwich is 1/2 of a hot sausage paddy and 1/2 a fried hard egg.  Served with home grown and squeezed Minneola orange juice and a strawberry.  Dabrownman's place is one of the few places in the world where this breakfast is occasionally served but you can recreate it in your own kitchen!

28, 29 and 30 slices for the (3) each 6 7/8" loaf.

When the dough had risen near the rim of the pans we covered tightly with aluminum foil and started the reduced temperature over time baking schedule.  Last time we did a pumpernickel style bread we had let it proof over the rim and we wanted to fix that with this bake.  Since these pans were smaller, we lowered the initial start temperature and reduced the baking time too.  Here is the schedule

Pate Maison lunch with cukes, carrot, pickled Thai eggplant, Mexican green rice,  tomato, salad, extra sharp cheddar cheese and a strawberry.

375 F - 30 minutes

350 F - 30 minutes

325 F - 2 hours

235 F - 2 hours

200 F - 2 hours

We checked the temperature at the 3 hour mark and the bread was at 205 F so the rest of the bake time it was just getting itself dried out even though it was still covered.  I suppose you could take it out at the 3 hour mark if you wanted to but I’m guessing it won’t be a dry loaf if baked the full 7 hours – At least it isn’t 10 hours like last the laast DaPumpernickel

We haven’t used this baking schedule before but my Germanic apprentice and resident DaPumpernickel expert said she doesn’t really care how it gets baked as long as it is low, slow and she gets the first bite.  I’m thinking she is still mad she didn't get her way when I didn’t use the German made Romertopf clay baker to bake this bread in like the last bake.

One of the reasons to bake bread like this, besides it tasting terrific, is that the entire house smells fantastic the whole day!  We can already tell that we will love this bread too.  We won’t know for sure until we can cut into it and give it a taste – in a couple of days.  We let it sit in the off oven for 8 more hours before allowing the loaves to cool on a rack.  We wrapped them in a cotton cloth and will let them rest for 32 hours before slicing them.  Stay tuned.

This bread can be sliced 1/8" thick.  I has a powerful, deep and meaty taste.  It is moist, the crumb is open, dark chocolate in color and has chewy bits.  The crust is very dark and chewy.  It is everything you could ever want in a Dapumpernickel  - and a little more!   There really isn't much more to say about it except that I'm going to make breakfast and  see how it works with sausage and eggs.

Formula

After seeing Karin’s (Hanseata) great post with her take on Maria Speck’s  Aroma Bread here:  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32830/aroma-bread-love-story

We knew that we would have to move it to the top of the baking list before anything else got baked.  My apprentice immediately knew this was her kind of bread – 100% whole grains, soakers for a majority of the flours, includes the oddball cornmeal and some Toadies, a scald for the whole berries, seeds galore with multi-versions of SD starters and commercial yeast.

We, of course, decided to go all with the seeds getting around to 11 different ones not including the 3 whole grain seed soaker (making a total of 14).  Some seeds like the coriander, anise, brown and black caraway and fennel were aromatics to spice the bread.

Other seeds like; cracked brown and golden flax, black and white sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds make the bread healthy and meaty when combined with the spelt, whole wheat, and rye scalded whole berries.

We strayed from Karin’s bake in some minor ways.  We used the berry soaker water for much of the liquid,  had a few more and different seeds here and there.  We added our new very vigorous WW starter in place of rye sour one Karin used and used a poolish in place of the commercial yeast.  We added WW to the scald, tossed in some toadies and VWG since these flours have so little and also used more rye in place of some of the spelt. 

We did 10 minutes of slap and folds after everything except the sesds and scald came together to work up the gluten and then did (4) S&F’s on 15 minute increments ,to incorporated the seeds and scald.  After 1 hour of fermentation on the counter we bulk retarded the dough for 8 hours in the fridge.

After warming up again on the counter for 1 1/2 hours the next morning and using the time to soak the clay baker, we shaped the loaf to fit an oval  Romertopf and let it proof for 2 hours until it more than doubled.  You might want to let yours be slightly under double so you get the oven spring we didn’t get.  Well, at least it didn’t collapse.

We warmed the oven to 450 F with a stone below and above the rack that the cold clay baker would do its thing on.  We covered the top of the loaf with our tri colored, poppy seeds for a final touch, covered with the lid and steamed the bread for 25 minutes,  We then removed the lid, turned down the temperature to 425 F convection and let it bake another 20 minutes rotating the Romertopf every 5 minutes.

At the 45 minute mark the bread hit 200 F and we turned off the oven, leaving the bread inside, until it hit 205 F - 5 minutes later, when we removed the bread to a cooling rack.  It was very aromatic, boldly brown., crispy but not sporting a blistered crust.

We can already tell that we will love this bread and will know for sure as soon as we can cut into it and give it a taste.  It has another top 5 rating hanging over it I’m guessing.  As a side note we have another nearly identical bake planned with the exception that; we will bake it like a pumpernickel to see which one we like better and it will have yeast water  and Rye Sour levain in place of the WW SD and poolish used for this bake.

I can't stop eating this bread.  Plain or toasted with butter  - just fantastic.  We love the deep flavor, the aroma of the toasted spice seeds,  the nuttiness of the toasted more meaty seeds that give the soft crumb its chew.  This is a great bread adn one i am so glad that Karin posted.  It''s different  than her Wild Rice Bread and, to my liking, a tad better and I love the Wild Rice Bread.  It would be very difficult to craft a healthier bread too.  Can't wait to have a sandwich made with it tomorrow for lunch.  This bread is why I bake and put up with my apprentice....You have to try it.

She's a tuckered doggie just waiting for the sunset.

Couldn't wait for lunch.  We had to have tomorrow's lunch tonight for dinner - a wise choice !

Formula

The past 2 years we have been making an Easter Babka and this year the GMA’s decided to make it their Easter Bake (along with Hot Cross Buns), so naturally, we had to join them  for the Babka Rhamma Dhamma.  Ca't wat to see their Easter Babka Bakes!

This year we decided to do the traditional 2 sided roll up and then do a Twisted Sisters twist of the double roll.   We made the dough without the pumpkin pie spices to try to get a more chocolate flavor coming through and now consider the spices ‘optional’.

Once again we used our trusty Bundt pan to contain things and give the top a decorative look.  We increased the size of the bake to fill the Bundt pan up to maximum capacity, and a little more, since this Polish and Russian inspired babka is so tasty and goes so fast.

Like last year, we used walnuts, cocoa, chocolate chips and bourbon snockered fruits for the filling, dropped the pie spices but added brown sugar to this year’s roll up and add in goodies.  We did increase all of them to account for the larger babka.  We kept the streusel topping on the top and bottom of the loaf for the nice crunch and we kept the vanilla, powdered sugar milk glaze for the top.  This year we added a dusting of powdered sugar too.

This year, instead of just yeast water making the dough rise, we added in a large poolish too.  Each was  brought to peak, fed again and then refrigerated for 2 days.  We let the levains double on the counter after removing them from the fridge - about 4 hours.

We re-hydrated non fat dry milk powder for the dough liquid and used it to autolyse the dough dry ingredients for an hour.  After mixing in the levains with a spoon we did 10 minutes of slap and folds to get the gluten developed, before allowing the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

We did 2 sets of S&F’s, on 30 minute intervals, to develop the dough further.  After another 15 minute rest we rolled out the dough a little less than ½” thick and into a huge rectangle 24” x 36”.  Half the butter in the formula is in the dough and the other half is softened and schmeared onto the rolled out dough before the rest of the fillings go in.  After sprinkling on the fillings in an even layer, then roll it up, from each wide side, meeting in the middle.

The starting in the middle, twist the roll toward each end to get the Twisted Sister part of the design.  The roll will get longer but no worries, you need the length to get around the Bundt pan twice.   Spray the pan liberally so nothing will stick, place half the streusel in the bottom of the pan and then coil in the Twisted Sister going around twice and ending where you began to ensure that the babka stays level as it rises.

Sprinkle the top with the rest of the streusel cover with oiled plastic and allow to proof on the counter for 1 hour before refrigerating overnight.   In the morning allow the babka to come to room temperature and finish proofing 1” above the rim of the pan.  Fire up the oven to 350 F convection and bake until golden brown and the inside temperature reaches 205 F - about 55 minutes.  Rotate the pan every 10 minutes to ensure even browning.

Remove pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before un-molding.  I run a paring knife around the outside and inside to make sure the babka comes away clean.  After 5 more minutes of cooling drizzle the vanilla glaze over the top and dust with powdered sugar.  Eat at least one slice while still warm otherwise warm up I the micro wave before serving.

This is a real Easter treat!  We love this for breakfast, brunch or dinner desert!  Nothing is overpowering or too sweet and the lack of PP spices really let the chocolate and walnuts shine through.

Happy Easter !

Formula

Baking with the 3 GMA’s again this week for Easter where hot cross buns and babka are on the list.  Good Friday is Hot Cross Bun Day and we decided to make an overnight poolish for the buns and a small 200 g YW dough for the crosses.  The crosses were only 12.5% whole grains trying to make them a shade lighter in color than the buns.

We did 2 sets of S&F’s over 40 minutes to incorporate the bourbon re-hydrated dried; apricots, cranberries and raisins and then let the dough ferment for 1 hour. 

For the crosses we mixed 100 g of YW with 100 g of AP and 25 G of WW with 20 g of sugar and let this ferment on the counter2 hours before the bun dough came together.  We later added 2 g of salt to the mix before final proof of the cross dough.

After the bulk ferment the dough was divided into (4) 150 g pieces and (6) roughly 70 pieces.  The larger pieces were further divided into 4 balls that were placed into ramekins to make clover leaf rolls and make natural seams for the crosses to be placed.  The 70 g rolls were placed into muffing tins where the crossed were laid on top.  

Final proofing of the rolls took 6 hours on the counter before the crosses were placed on top, egg wash applied and placed into the 450 F mini oven with one of Sylvia’s steaming cups.  We baked the muffin tins first followed by the ramekins as the 2nd batch.

After 8 minutes the steam came out and the mini oven was turned down to 425 F, convection this time.  The tins baked for 7 minutes more – 15 minutes total and the ramekins baked for an additional 3 minutes - 18 minutes total.

We juiced ¼ of a lemon onto ¼ C of powdered sugar, stirred and then micro waved the mix for 30 seconds to clarify the glaze.   The buns were un-molded onto a cooling rack as soon as they came out of the oven and then the glaze was brushed on the entire top of the buns while still hot.

These turned out well as a desert roll, warm with butter, and made fine French toast the next morning too.  They are worth the work to make them at least one day a year.

Formula

Had to get the matzoh done in time to make gefilte fish and Matzoh Ball soup.  My apprentice ave the chicken stock simmering away and has 10 tubs of smaltz in the freezer.  Now for more time:-)

Have a good Passover everyone!

Home made Gefilte  Fish - my personal favorite.  Wrapped in collard green and cabbage, covered with onion and carrot and then the fish stock goes in to cover.  Even though I sold Kosher for 20 years from all the manufacturers, and theya re great folks - make your own matzoh, fish , matzoh balls.   Can't buy anything close. 

Yes, Brownmen like their Matzoh's to be on the brown side:-)

The balls will expand greatly so don't crowd the pot.

See how much they puffed?  They floated in 30 seconds like good little matzoh balls should.

Have a nice Passover Seder!