Isand66's blog

Last Friday I finally returned from my latest trip to China and was eager to try my hand at a rye bread after reading about some interesting ones on The Fresh Loaf.  I wanted to make one utilizing a Yeast Water starter per my baking friend DA Brownman who recently baked a master piece using a combination of a Yeast Water starter and traditional SD starter.

Since I have been having some fairly successful bakes using coffee in place of the water in my multi-grain bakes I decided to try again and used a simple dark roast coffee for the soaker and for the final dough.  I made a soaker using rye berries and cracked wheat.  I mixed the hot coffee with the dry ingredients and let sit for 24 hours covered at room temperature.

For the Yeast Water starter I wanted to develop a Pumpernickel starter so I built up the starter in 3 stages.  The first stage was left for 4 hours at room temperature and the second stage was left overnight for about 8 hours at room temperature.  The final build was left for around 5 hours at room temperature.  I tried to make exactly 425 grams of starter, but be sure to weigh your final starter and adjust as needed.

Make sure you drain the grains from the soaker, but be aware that they will absorb a great deal of the liquid.  Even though the hydration of this dough is only 70%, it is really much higher when you take the soaker into consideration.

Soaker

485 grams Hot Coffee

100 grams Cracked Wheat

150 grams Malted Rye Berries

Mix coffee in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 24 hours.

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

60 grams Yeast Water

60 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix ingredients in a bowl and cover.  Let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or until you see some activity and your starter is almost doubled.

Yeast Water Starter Build 2

100 grams Yeast Water

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix above into starter from Step 1 and let sit covered for 8-10 hours or until the starter has almost doubled.

Yeast Water Starter Build 3

15 grams Yeast Water

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix above into starter from Step 2 and let sit covered for 4-5 hours or until starter has almost doubled.  You can also put in the refrigerator and leave for up to 1 day if necessary until you are ready to bake.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above

150 grams Graham Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

200 grams White Rye Flour

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour or Dark Rye Flour (I used KAF)

70 grams Roasted Wheat Germ (adds a nice nutty flavor)

370 grams Dark Roast Coffee (90 degrees F.)

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

10 grams Walnut Oil (substitute any oil desired)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours together with all the coffee except for 50 grams and let them autolyes for 30 minutes.   I then added the Yeast Water Pumpernickel levain, oil and the soaker and the rest of the coffee with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 1 minute and #2 for 4 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  Note that since this dough was extremely sticky it was not very easy to do a stretch and fold.   I then did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and put it in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  I had planned to make 2 boules but since this dough was so moist and did not come together like a bread made with white flour I decided to form it into a large Miche.  Alternatively I could have formed it into loaves and baked in a bread or Pullman pan.

Cover the dough in your pans or basket and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours or until you notice some lift to the dough and it can pass the poke test.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until the loaf was golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

I had to bake this bread for almost 50 minutes since it was so moist and the final dough came out with an excellent crust and moist crumb but a little denser than I would have preferred.  It is an excellent bread for some sharp cheese and/or a nice grilled cheese sandwich.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

I wanted to make some good soft tasty rolls using my Cherry Yeast Water starter.   I figured since I can't drink the starter I should use some organic cherry lemonade in place of the water.  In order to get the rolls to be nice and soft and rich I decided to add some cream cheese and butter and used some Durum flour in the levain as well as the final dough.

As I have mentioned in previous posts I have found that the best way to use the Yeast Water starter is to build up the levain in 2-3 stages.  For this bake I did a 3 stage build detailed below.  If you want to know more about starting your own WYW starter let me know and I will be glad to help you.  It is really easy to start and maintain and WYW does not have nearly as much of a sour tang as sourdough starters.

Procedure

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 1

50 grams AP Flour

50 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours. You can refrigerate it after 4-5 hours if you don't have time to go to step 3.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 2

100 grams Durum Flour

100 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.  You can refrigerate it after 4-5 hours if you don't have time to go to step 3.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 3

100 grams Durum Flour

150 grams Water

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.  You can now proceed to the main dough or refrigerate overnight and use the next day.

Mix additional ingredients into Build 1 and use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  You should have a fairly firm 65% starter.  Leave covered for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then either proceed to main dough or refrigerate over night.

Main Dough

375 grams WYW Levain from Above

512 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

88  grams Durum Flour (KAF)

393 grams Organic Cherry Lemonade (I bought it at Whole Foods and it has about 23 grams of sugar per serving)

16 grams Salt (Seas Salt or Table Salt)

102 grams Cream Cheese Softened

49 grams Unsalted Butter Softened

Add all the Cherry Lemonade except 50 grams to the starter to break it up in your mixing bowl.  Next add all of the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough autolyse for around 15 - 20 minutes up to an hour. This will help the dough absorb the flour.  Next add the salt, remaining Cherry Lemonade, cream cheese and the butter and mix for 4 minutes on speed number 1.   You should have a nice smooth dough which is still tacky.  Move the dough onto your work surface and dust lightly with flour if necessary or spray some cooking spray instead.  Most of the time if the dough is not a high hydration I will not use anything on my wood board.

Do 4  stretch and folds and form the dough into a ball and leave uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the first rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough.  Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  You can now put the dough into a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover it.  Let it sit at room temperature for 2 additional hours or less if it is warm in your kitchen.  After 2 hours place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 3 days until ready to bake.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 1.5 -  2 hours.  After its rest it is time to shape the rolls.  Depending on how big you want the rolls, first cut the dough in half and then roll half the dough into a log.  Next cut off the desired size piece you want and roll it into a tight ball.  Place rolls on cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until they are at least 1.5 the size.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 450 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.  After adding the steam lower the oven to 425 degrees and continue baking.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

The rolls ended up nice and soft with a chewy and nice open crumb.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

My wife fried up some fresh plantains as a nice accompaniment to dinner the other night.  Since she made too many I figured I would try adding some to my next bread.  In retrospect I think it would have been better to boil some plantains instead of using fried ones but overall the bread turned out pretty good.  I can say that the plantains are certainly not overpowering and add a nice flavor and texture to the final bread.

I used my standard stock AP starter and added some Durum, Oat, First Clear, Spelt and White Whole Wheat flours to the mix along with some olive oil.  The overall hydration of this dough is 68%.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter forms a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above

180 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

100 grams Durum Flour (make sure not to use Fancy Semolina as it is too gritty)

100 grams Oat Flour (KAF)

150 grams First Clear (This is used in Rye breads but I like the crumb this helps make in other breads as well)

75 grams Spelt Flour (Bob's Red Mill)

50 grams White Whole Wheat (KAF)

195 grams Plantains (Fried, or boiled and mashed)

395 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

16 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

10 grams Olive Oil

Procedure

Mix the flours  with all the water except for 50 grams for 1 minute.  Let the dough rest covered for 15 minutes to 1 hour which will allow the flour to absorb the water.    Next add the salt, starter, oil and mashed plantains.  Mix on low for 1 minute and then add the remainder of your water unless you feel the dough is already too hydrated.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 4 minutes.  Remove the dough from your mixing bowl to your work surface.  The dough will be very sticky so you may want to use a bench scraper to help you do 4-5 stretch and folds.  Leave the dough uncovered for 10 minutes on your work surface or put it in a slightly oiled bows.  After 10 minutes either on your work surface or in your bowl do another stretch and fold, cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this S & F procedure one more time and let it rest another 10 minutes.  Do one last S & F  and put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  If you don't feel the dough has developed enough feel free to do some additional stretch and folds while the dough is in the bowl and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day when I returned from work I removed the dough from the refrigerator and  I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  I then formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 205 - 210 degrees F.  I left them in the oven for 15 minutes with the heat turned off and the door open a crack to get the crust a little harder.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

I had a new brand of store bought guacamole in the refrigerator just calling for me to use it in a bread.  I made bread before with fresh avocados and I've been meaning to try it again with a higher percentage of avocados this time.

The pre-made guacamole had some tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and onions which ended up adding a nice kick to this bread.

I also added some left over mashed potatoes as well as greek yogurt and I used Durum flour as well.  The idea was to create a moist, soft bread with a sour undertone and I think I achieved this.

The crumb was nice and moist and open with a buttery yellow/green texture.  The addition of the guacamole and yogurt made this a very wet dough even though by the strict definition of hydration it really wasn't it.  This would have made great Ciabbata bread but I decided to stick with traditional Boules.  The second one I made stuck to the cloth liner since I guess I didn't add enough rice flour so it ended up a little flatter than the first loaf.

If you decide to make this and are intimidated by wet dough feel free to increase the flour percentage or cut back on the water.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

385 grams Starter from above (you may have a little left over from above)

315 grams European Style Flour (KAF...you can substitute bread or AP flour or a combination of the two)

251 grams Durum Flour (make sure not to use Fancy Semolina as it is too gritty)

122 grams Mashed Potatoes

308 grams Guacamole

73 grams Greek Style Plain Yogurt

335 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

16 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

Mix the starter with all the water except for 50 grams just to break it up.  Next mix in the flours for 1 minute on low in your mixer or by hand and let them autolyes for 15 minutes up to an hour.    Next add the salt, guacamole and yogurt.  Mix on low for 1 minute and then add the remainder of your water unless you feel the dough is already too hydrated.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 4 minutes.  Remove the dough from your mixing bowl to your work surface.  The dough will be very sticky so you may want to use a bench scraper to help you do 4-5 stretch and folds.  Leave the dough uncovered for 10 minutes on your work surface or put it in a slightly oiled bows.  After 10 minutes either on your work surface or in your bowl do another stretch and fold, cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this S & F procedure one more time and let it rest another 10 minutes.  Do one last S & F  and put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  If you don't feel the dough has developed enough feel free to do some additional stretch and folds while the dough is in the bowl and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day when I returned from work I removed the dough from the refrigerator and  I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  I then formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 205 - 210 degrees F.  I left them in the oven for 15 minutes with the heat turned off and the door open a crack to get the crust a little harder.

The end result was a nice golden-yellow crumb with a hint of green.  The crust was nice and crispy and the bread was moist and flavorful.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

Cosmo Waiting for the Bread to Bake

My wife bought a bottle of Chocolate Stout about a month ago with the intentions of making some kind of chocolate cake.  This would have been a very good use for this stout, but since she never had a chance to put it to good use I decided it was time to give it a try in a bread.  I recently purchased another new flour which I have since found out is a very old flour called Amaranth.  I decided to combine this with some sprouted wheat flour, KAF European style flour along with a Yeast Water starter and my stock AP starter.  I used some Italian style 00 flour in the Yeast Water build which I built up in 2 stages.  If I made this again I would probably increase the hydration since it is only around 68% and I think the crumb would have been more open with a higher hydration.

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

100 grams Italian Style 00 Flour (KAF)

100 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours.

100 grams Italian Style 00 Flour

35 grams Yeast Water

Main Dough Ingredients

107 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration)

318 grams Italian  Yeast Water Starter (all of starter from above)

200 grams Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour or Whole Wheat Flour

150 grams Amaranth Flour

405 grams European Style Flour (KAF) or Bread Flour

161 grams Mashed Potatoes (I like to mash them with the skins on and used red potatoes)

503 grams Chocolate Stout at room temperature

16 grams Raspberry Champagne Vinegar

16 grams Salt (Sea Salt or Table Salt)

Procedure

Mix the starters with the stout but save 50 grams for later (no... don't drink it!) and stir to break it up.  Next mix in the flours into the starter mixture and mix for 2 minutes with your mixer or by hand.    Let the dough autolyse for 20-30 minutes to an hour in your bowl covered with a cloth or plastic wrap.  Next add in the salt, balance of Stout and vinegar and mix on speed #2 for 4 minutes or by hand.  The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 - 2  hours.  Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.  It should take around 20 - 30 minutes to bake  until both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an hour or so before eating as desired.

Balloon Flower

Chocolate flavored coffee.....what could be wrong with using some in a bread you ask?  Nothing of course, so why not use it in a soaker as well ?  That is exactly what I ended up doing.  I normally leave the grains soaking for about 30 minutes to an hour, but in this case I left it over night for around 24 hours and the soaker grains sucked up all the coffee.  When I mixed the final dough I decided to make this a very moist, high hydration dough so I didn't cut back on the additional coffee used and the end result as you will see was the most moist bread I've made to date that almost melts in your mouth.

I used some rolled oats, cracked wheat and malted rye berries for the soaker and for the final dough I used durum, dark rye, white rye, European style flours and some roasted wheat germ.  I added some barbecued potatoes and pistachio oil as well.

In order to make the soaker I used 285 grams of hot water and mixed it with the ingredients and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

For the starter, I refreshed my standard AP 65% hydration white starter the night before and used most of it in this bake.

Soaker

100 grams Rolled Oats

100 grams Cracked Wheat

50 grams Malted Rye Berries

285 grams Hot Mocha Coffee

Mix coffee in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 24 hours.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above (all of the starter)

100 grams Durum Semolina Flour (KAF)

100 grams White Rye Flour

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour or Dark Rye Flour

150 grams European Style Flour (KAF)  (Sub Bread Flour if you don't have this)

50 grams Roasted Wheat Germ

370 grams Mocha Coffee (90 degrees F.)

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

209 grams Mashed Roasted Potatoes

10 grams Pistachio Oil (substitute any oil desired)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours together with all the coffee except for 50 grams and let them autolyes for 30 minutes.    I then added the levain, potatoes, oil and the soaker and the rest of the coffee with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 1 minute and #2 for 4 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  I then did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and put it in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  After 1.5 hours I formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

I had to bake this bread for almost 50 minutes since it was so moist and the final dough came out with an excellent crust and moist crumb.

Please visit my other blog for my older posts at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com.

Crumb Close-up

There are not too many things I like more than a pastrami sandwich, so when my wife suggested I try using some left over pastrami on a pizza I figured it was worth a shot.  I also had some left over smoked pulled pork in the refrigerator so I figured I would make a barbecued pulled pork pizza as well

I recently was gifted a cool item called the "Kettle Pizza" attachment.  This item fits on top of an existing Weber kettle style grill and allows you to get your grill over 700 degrees which is ideal for pizza.  I have used this a  few times with some great success and was looking forward to trying it again.    I have been reading many posts about using 00 style flour and how it really only works best when you can get your heat source over 700 degrees so while I could have used a 100% "00" flour pizza I still decided to do a 50-50 blend with bread flour.  If you don't have any "00" flour you can use 100% bread flour or another low protein flour.  The "00" flour does require less water so if you use it make sure to watch your hydration.  I suggest you add 50% of the water in the recipe before adding more and adjust as needed.

For the Pastrami pizza I used a simple fresh tomato sauce consisting of 1 can of diced tomatoes with red peppers, salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano, basil, 1/2 of a lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. I also used fresh mozzarella along with some Munster cheese and Pastrami for the topping.

For the Pulled Pork pizza I used my home-made barbecue sauce along with fresh mozzarella.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Baking Everyday for the basic dough.  I have made this recipe several times and it is very simple and comes out great.

If you want to make this in your oven you certainly get great results as well.

I have tried the method suggested by  Steve B. at http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil.  The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone.  I have to say it worked perfectly in the past for me so give it a try!

If you don't have the Kettle Pizza attachment for your grill you can still put a pizza stone on your grill and end up with a successful pizza.  The biggest issue is trying to get the desired char effect on the crust.

I have to say both pizzas came out great and I would definitely try both of these combinations again.  Maybe next time I would put some carmelized onions on the Pulled Pork version.

Ingredients

340 grams, 12 ounces Italian Style (00) Flour

340 grams, 12 ounces Bread Flour

14 grams, .5 ounces, or 2 teaspoons salt (sea salt or table salt)

3 grams, .11 ounces or 1 teaspoon instant yeast

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons sugar

428 grams, 17 ounces water (90 degrees)  (I suggest you decrease this amount if using "00" flour)

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute.  The dough should be rough and a little sticky.  Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flour gets fully hydrated.

Knead the dough on medium low-speed (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is smoother.  Next put some olive oil on your work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to your work area.  Do a stretch and fold and form the dough into a ball.  Divide the dough into 5 pieces weighing about 8 ounces each and form into balls.  Spray the inside of a mini plastic storage bag with oil and seal each dough ball in the bags.  Put them in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days.  You can freeze them also for several months if desired.

About 90 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizzas take how many dough balls you plan on using out of the fridge and put them on your lightly oiled work surface.  Stretch the dough balls and reshape them into a tight ball.  Cover the dough balls with either plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or a clean lint free kitchen towel sprayed with some water and let them rest until you are ready to bake.

One hour before you are ready to bake pre-heat your oven or grill  to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone on the highest shelf possible in your oven.

Prepare your favorite sauce and get your cheese and toppings ready.  Remember, that more is less.  Don't use too much cheese or sauce or you will end up with a soggy mess.

Put some bench flour in a bowl and dip each dough ball in the flour as well as your hands.  Flatten the ball of dough on the work surface with your hands first and if desired either use a rolling-pin or pick the dough ball up and using both hands start stretching it out using your thumbs and the back of your knuckles.   Your thumbs should actually be doing all the stretching and not your knuckles.  you want dough to be fairly thin, but not too thin or it will end up ripping.

If cooking on the Kettle Grill set-up be sure to have your pizzas ready to go as you want to get your additional pizzas in as soon as possible after the first one is done.  In order to get the heat so high you must use a bed of coals with wood chunks or small logs and you want to cook your pizza before the temperature gets too low.

If using your oven, turn your oven on broil 10 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizza and get the stone as hot as possible.  Assemble your pie and brush some olive oil on the crust if desired.  You can either sprinkle corn meal or flour on your bakers peel and place the pizza on your peel before putting the topping on it. Alternatively you can put your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper and slide the peel underneath when ready to put in the oven.  The worse thing that can happen is for your dough to get stuck on your peel and make a mess in your oven, not to mention ruin all your good efforts.

Make sure you turn the oven off broil before you put the pie inside and turn it back to your highest setting.  Let the pizza cook until the crust is blistering and the bottom is nice and brown.

If using the Kettle Grill attachment, you want to bake the pizza turning it a couple of times with your peel until the bottom and top crust is nice and charred.

I hope you give this recipe a try yourselves.  It is actually fun to make and relatively easy.

Feel free to visit my website at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts or search the TFL site.

Pastrami Pizza

I have some left over brisket and pulled pork in the freezer I defrosted to for this weekend so I wanted to make some rolls that would be good for sandwiches.  I have been experimenting with my Wild Yeast Water Starter over the last month or so with some mixed results.  My last experiment to convert a recipe for New England style hot dog buns to WYW ended up with bread sticks so this time I was determined not to make the same mistakes as previously.

I have decided to believe what I have been told and made sure to build the starter up over at least 2 stages versus the one stage for the hot dog fiasco.  If you want to know more about starting your own WYW starter let me know and I will be glad to help you.  It is really easy to start and maintain and WYW does not have nearly as much of a sour tang as sourdough starters.

For this recipe as I mentioned I built my starter up over 2 phases four hours apart using AP flour and WYW.  I ended up with extra starter since I would rather over-estimate the amount needed than under-estimate.  Feel free to cut back on the WYW and flour about 10%.

Procedure

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 1

210 grams AP Flour

210 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build2

200 grams AP Flour

56 grams WYW

Mix additional ingredients into Build 1 and use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  You should have a fairly firm 65% starter.  Leave covered for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then either proceed to main dough or refrigerate over night.

Main Dough

425 grams WYW Starter from Above

200 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

200 grams First Clear Flour (KAF) (This is typically used in Rye breads and I enjoy the nice chewy texture it adds to rolls)

100 grams Oat Flour (KAF)

78 grams White Whole Wheat Flour (KAF)

18 grams Salt (Seas Salt or Table Salt)

121 grams Egg Yolks (around 6-7 large eggs)

298 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees)

26 grams Olive Oil

Add all the water except 50 grams to the starter to break it up in your mixing bowl.  Next add all of the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough autolyse for around 15 - 20 minutes. This will help the dough absorb the flour.  Next add the salt, remaining water and the olive oil and mix for 2 minutes on speed number 1 and 2 minutes on speed number 2.  You should have a nice smooth dough which is still tacky.  Move the dough onto your work surface and dust lightly with flour if necessary or spray some cooking spray instead.  Most of the time if the dough is not a high hydration I will not use anything on my wood board.

Do 4  stretch and folds and form the dough into a ball and leave uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the first rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough.  Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  You can now put the dough into a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover it.  Let it sit at room temperature for 2 additional hours or less if it is warm in your kitchen.  After 2 hours place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 3 days until ready to bake.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 1.5 -  2 hours.  After its rest it is time to shape the rolls.  Depending on how big you want the rolls, first cut the dough in half and then roll half the dough into a log.  Next cut off the desired size piece you want and roll it into a tight ball.  Place rolls on cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until they are at least 1.5 the size.

Make an egg wash with a little egg wash and apply to each roll and put on desired toppings.  I used toasted onions, poppy seeds and also Charnushka seeds or also known as Nigelia Sativa which are tiny black seeds used on Jewish rye breads as well as Slavic sausages and in Armenian and Israeli cooking.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 500 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.  After adding the steam lower the oven to 425 degrees and continue baking.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

The rolls ended up nice and chewy and light with a nice open crumb.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

Lily

Pineapple Lily

Dahlia

I love everything and anything that has pecans in it.  While I was at a local market called Wild by Nature which is similar to Whole Foods I stumbled on some pecan butter, and a couple of new grains I have not seen before.

These were Millet and Amaranth which you can find out more information at this neat website I found: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-grains-a-to-z/.

I made a soaker with the Millet, Amaranth and some Rolled Oats and let it sit for about 1 hour.

I wanted to get a nice tender crumb so I used som 00 Italian style low protein flour and added some White Whole Wheat, White Rye, Wheat Germ and to make it even more nutty, I added some Hazelnut flour.  Oh, and I added some chopped pecans to round off the final bread.  If you don't like pecans feel free to substitute your favorite nut.

This dough ended up very moist especially due to the added water absorbed in the soaker but ended up rising very nicely in the refrigerator and ended up with some nice oven spring as well.

I decided to try one of my new baskets I found at Good Will so I formed the dough into 1 nice size Miche with the final bread weighing in at 3.5 lbs.  The bread ended up with a nice crunchy crust and open crumb.  The pecan flavor is not overwhelming and combined with all the other ingredients this bread has  nice mulit-grain, nutty flavor as expected.

Procedure

For the starter, I refreshed my standard AP white starter the night before and used most of it in this bake.  I have also included the ingredients to make the exact amount of starter needed from your seed starter.  Mine is kept at 65% hydration so adjust yours accordingly.

Soaker

100 grams Amaranth

100 grams Millet

50 grams Rolled Oats

276 grams Boiling Water

Mix boiling water in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 1 hour or longer.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above (all of the starter)

250 grams Soaker (all of soaker from above)

250 grams 00 Italian Style Flour (KAF)  (You can use AP Flour if you don't have 00)

100 grams White Whole Wheat Flour (KAF)

50 grams White Rye (KAF)

30 grams Wheat Germ

50 grams Hazelnut Flour

26 grams Pecan Butter

53 grams Chopped Pecans

400 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

18 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

Mix 350 grams of the water with the levain and break it up with your hands or a spoon.    Next add the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough rest for 25 minutes and then add the soaker, levain, pecan butter, remainder of water and the salt and mix on low for 4 minutes.  Add the chopped nuts and mix on low for 1 additional minute.  Transfer the dough to your work surface.  Resist the urge to add too much bench flour (I didn't add any) and use a bench scraper to do about 5-6 stretch and folds.  Put the dough into a lightly oiled container/bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold in the bowl.  Cover the bowl and let it sit for another 15-20 minutes.  Do this 2 additional times waiting about 15 minutes between S&F's.  By the last S&F the dough should start developing some gluten strength.  Let the dough sit out at room temperature for around 1.5 to 2 hours.  Do one last stretch and fold and put in your refrigerator overnight for 12-36 hours.

The next day take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  After 1.5 hours you can form it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours (note: make sure to watch the dough and depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the refrigerator adjust your timing as needed).

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.  I use a heavy-duty baking sheet on the bottom rung of my oven and I pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pan as soon as I load the loaves in the oven.  Pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. before placing the loaves in the oven.

Once the loaves are loaded onto your baking stone and you add your steam turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake until both loaves are golden brown and reach an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.  For an extra crispy crust once done baking turn the oven off and crack the door and leave the loaves in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.  Once done place on a wire cooling rack and resist the temptation to cut the bread until they are sufficiently cooled.

For some of my older posts you can search TFL site or visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com.

Balloon Flowers

I have been meaning to make some English Muffins for a while now and wanted to try to use my fairly new Wild Yeast Water Starter as the levain instead of yeast.  I tried a recipe I found on The Fresh Loaf last week and unfortunatley it resulted in hockey pucks.  I decided to try a sourdough English Muffin recipe I found on The Fresh Loaf and convert it to using WYW as the starter.  Since I decided to make some extra starter with the WYW I figured I might as well try changing it up a bit and used some Durum flour instead of AP flour and also use some greek yogurt instead of milk as well as some cheese.

I have to say the Durum version with the yogurt turned out much better than the plain milk version with AP flour.  It had a much better rise when baking and turned out more tender and flavorful than the AP version.

All in all, I was very happy with the final result and would definitely make these again, but would use yogurt instead of milk.

Wild Yeast Starter Build 1

75 grams European Style Flour from KAF or AP Flour

75 grams Wild Yeast Water

Mix the flour and starter and let sit covered on your counter for 4 hours and proceed to step 2 or put in the refrigerator until ready to proceed to Build 2.

Wild Yeast Starter Build 2

65 grams European Style Flour or AP Flour

65 grams Wild Yeast Water

Mix in above ingredients with Starter from Build 1 and let sit out at room temperature in covered bowl for 4 - 6 hours.  Either use immediately after 4-6 hours or put in refrigerator and use the next day.

Version 1 English Muffins Main Dough

111 grams Starter from above

240 grams Milk

342 grams European Style or AP Flour

13 grams Sugar

5 grams Salt

6 grams Baking Soda

Semolina or Cornmeal for Dusting

Directions

Mix flour, starter and milk in your mixing bowl and mix for 1-2 minutes to combine.

Cover the bowl and let it sit out at room temperature overnight.

The next morning add the rest of the ingredients and mix for a minute.  Knead the dough either with your mixer or by hand for around 4 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary.  Next roll out the dough to about 3/4" thickness on your work surface.  You will have to put some bench flour on the work surface to prevent the dough from sticking.  Using  4" biscuit cutter or can, cut the muffins out and place on a pan lined with parchment paper dusted with corn meal or semolina flour.  You should end up with 5-6 muffins.  If necessary you can combine the scraps and roll out again but you may need to let it rest before rolling.

Cover the muffins with a clean misted or floured towel and let rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Heat your griddle or heavy skillet to medium or around 350 degrees  and when ready to cook spray some cooking spray on the cooking surface before placing the English Muffins in the pan.

Cover the pan to create some steam and let cook for around 5 minutes or until the bottoms are nice and brown.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes and remove to a baking rack to cool.

Version 2 Semolina English Muffins Main Dough

Ingredients

97 grams Starter from above

310 grams Durum Flour

150 grams Greek Plain Yogurt

100 grams Water (85-90 degrees F.)

6 grams Baking Soda

13 grams Sugar

5 grams Salt

26 grams Cheese (I used a mix of Parmesan, Asiago and Fontina)

Follow same directions as in Version 1 but add the cheese on baking day.

Both versions taste great with some butter, jam or cheese.

Enjoy.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

Version 1 Crumb

Version 2 Durum Crumb

Succulents

Oriental Lilies

Cone Flower