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When I'm in the mood nothing beats a fresh chewy bagel and for me this can be one of the most satisfying breakfast or lunch breads. I know some people aren't so into bagels, but I just think that (maybe) they've never had a great boiled bagel that came out of the oven a few minutes ago.

So, I bake a lot of bagels and thought it might be good to write a bit about my preferred recipe here. First a disclaimer - it isn't really mine - it is mostly Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bagels with Pâte Fermentée" recipe!

Where I make it differently is that I think using a regular hydration (100%) unsalted sourdough starter plus a little wholemeal flour brings with it a lovely flavour and freshness, and that this makes for a great replacement for the pâte fermentée from the original recipe.

Dough then becomes:
   
    690g bread flour
    76g  wholemeal flour
    200g levain (100% hydration, made with bread flour, usually from overnight ferment)
    397g water at around 30°C
    18g  salt
    1 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast
    1 1/4 teaspoons diastatic malt powder

Also, instead of sprinkling the baking sheet with semolina or cornmeal as Jeffrey does, what works well for me is a quick spritz of water and a sprinkling of brown rice flour which makes it easier to pick up the bagels for the boil. I've also figured out that I like bagels with a slightly shorter bake - so about 15 minutes at 230°C for the nice chew and softness.

This hybrid version, and Jeffrey's original pâte fermentée, are such lovely go-to recipes for bagels.

I've been thinking about making a rye tin loaf off and on for a while and chanced upon a Rye Baker TFL post:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44945/outstanding-russian-rye-bread-moskovskiy-rzhannoye-khlebv

The post came with a nice looking loaf, so I thought I would give it a try.

As always, a few tweaks:

1) I used 60% freshly milled rye and 40% light rye for the flour mix. Like Stan, I didn't want the crumb to be too solid, so I decided against 100% wholegrain (sorry Suave!)

2) I used "proper" Solod for the red rye malt and malt extract (ND) in place of molasses

3) Stan's timings make for a long baking day, so I made the sponge the night before with a lower temp and bigger flour to starter ratio

4) I gave my diecast alloy rye tins an outing - the hard to find L6 and the smaller L12a Borodino tin

5) Stan's dough weight is a bit off to get the tins full. I've seen (tin vol) X 0.65 or 0.67 for suggested dough weight. The L6 holds 2000ml brimful and in the end I went for 1200g of dough, which worked out pretty well, but I think it would have stood 1300g.

6) I like this type of bread to have shiny tops, so I did the 3 coat system: flour paste before baking and 2 x cooked potato starch paste at the end of baking.

I was pleased with how the loaves turned out. Flavour was good: some mild lactic sour and pronounced malty and aromatic notes. It wasn't as sweet as the Borodinsky I made a while ago - I put this down to using a scald rather than the mash (Zavarka) that my Borodinsky recipe used. A scald will soon cool below mash temperature (but probaly not in a bakery setting), so there won't be much starch to sugar conversion. I'm not sure if the scald is correct or the mash, but if making again I would try the mash.

Lance

The Zoia Panettone Challenge

- Recipe from “Non Solo Zucchero” by Iginio Massari

Iginio Massari a name much revered in the world of Panettone yet his mentor, Achille Zoia is lesser known, but to his credit a speciality flour formulated to accommodate Zoia’s technological liking bears his name… “Panettone Z” produced by Molino Dallagiovanna is the flour of choice being favoured by many maestri for its excellent extensibility.

Publications “Cresci” and “Non Solo Zucchero” authored by Massari both feature recipes from Zoia and these stand out with respect to their formulation and presentation, typically not including any flour in the second mix, favouring high levels of sugar while utilising minimal egg content and ultimately preferring basso forms. This bold approach in omitting additional flour in the final mix appears unique with respect to the typical formulations and presents a considerable challenge to the amateur…

Where a challenge presents itself, there is this baker full of zeal! I tackled his Paradise Panettone many years ago and at that time it took several attempts and felt very difficult to achieve success, often falling from the mould, but with repetition I would find salvation.

*Honey was infused with flavourings; candied orange paste, orange zest and vanilla extract.

Crumb: Some minor defects but otherwise showing good alveolation. It might not look it, but tearing into it, the texture is feathery bread shred. A clean cut no crumbles.

The dough received 3 sets of pre-shape rounds / stretch & folds while resting on the counter in what is technically a bulk fermentation period prior to placing in the mould. After about 90 minutes, enough strength was achieved to diminish spreading and encourage it to rise upwards with vigour.

Experience with this formula demonstrates it makes for a weaker final dough, since all the flour is fermented in the primo impasto. This leads to a less oomph in the final rise, losing its strength as it reaches the high heights when using the alto forms. This weakness shows itself as large bubbles that begin to emerge at the surface.

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50% hydration refreshed mother leaven (lievito madre rinfresco).

Preparing the mother for the overnight rest in water.

Even with a pH too low, this bake ticked all the boxes, delicately light, soft, rich, and sweet but also full of flavour and rounded off by a sense of nourishing satiety.

To all the panettone bakers out there, I present to you the Zoia Panettone Challenge…

Grilling season is upon on us!  The weather is finally feeling like spring so some tasty rolls are in order for burgers and other tasty sandwiches.

I made a sweet levain by adding some dark maple syrup (the real stuff only of course) to some KAF bread flour and my stiff starter.

For the main dough some fresh milled Rouge De Bordeaux whole wheat was sifted and milled twice along with some fresh milled spelt which was  sifted  once and milled twice.  Some  more KAF bread flour rounded out the flour mix.

More dark maple syrup was also added along with some rolled oats and cottage cheese.  The total hydration of the dough takes the 81% water content of the cottage cheese and 33% water content of  the maple syrup.  The dough was nicely hydrated and very silky after fully mixing.

I have to say, these turned out amazing.  I added some grated Vermont Cheddar cheese to some rolls and some black sesame seeds and toasted onions as well.  Forget those tasteless supermarket rolls and make a batch of these for your next cookout!

Formula

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 5-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.  I usually do this the night before.

Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flour with about 90% of the water holding some back for after the autolyze for about a minute.  Let the dough autolyze for up to an hour.  After an hour add the salt, cottage cheese, maple syrup and additional water as needed.  If using an Ankarsrum mix on medium low for 15 – 20 minutes until you have a well developed dough.  If using another mixer you can mix as needed until you have a well developed dough.  Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.   After a total of 1.45 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours. (Note: I use my proofer set at 80 F, so if you are leaving the dough out at room temperature you may want to let it proof for longer.  The goal is not to have the dough double but maybe rise about 1/3 at most and it will do the rest in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1 hour.  Remove the dough and shape into rolls around 135-145 grams each for nice size burger buns.  Cover the rolls with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise for 1 1/2 at around 80 degrees.  The rolls should be nice and puffy and increase in size about 30-40%

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right  you are ready to put them in the oven, apply an egg wash if desired and add any toppings you desire. Next add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 425 degrees.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the rolls are nice and brown.

Take the rolls out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist.

Hello folks - I just moved from UK to Spain along with my trust Panasonic SDD255 breadmaker.

I would appreciate guidance to sourcing flour, yeast and baking enhancer as substitutes for the brands I was familiar with in UK to bake for my household and friends. 

I live in the Malaga area so I am looking for any specialist outlets as well as online sources. My Spanish is not yet fluent although I can read/translate

Many thanks

As a special bonus of putting up with my nonsense, I present Nanny's (my Mom's) secret formula for her iconic special occasions or Sunday dinner

"Crepe Style Manicotti"

Enjoy the step by step simple instructions.

1. The crepes.

2. The sauce

3. The Filling

4. Assembly

5. Bake.

This is my second bake of the Gallina Limoncello and white chocolate Colomba, by far the best of my four rounds of baking. I learned a lot during these bakes, all of which I will leverage going forward.

This recipe from Luigi Gallina is nicely balanced, relatively easy to work with and is also the most delicious of the ones I've tried. It makes a cloud-like and moist crumb which is also sturdy enough to stand up to being baked in Colomba format.

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Another side benefit was that the repeated baking cycles made my lievito madre really perform, and it was clearly performing well. 

It met the benchmarks, didn't over-acidify, and as a result the dough had lots of gluten development throughout the process:

4D2B8F2F-7AF2-49BB-80CB-30D10125D0DA.jpeg

I also just received some Italian granella sugar, which made the decoration more appealing. Pretty happy with these doves, and I will make them again!

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Posting a bit late - last weekend it was Purim, so I baked the traditional Hamantaschen and cinnamon rolls :) I think this year the Hamantaschen are the best ones yet.

Inspired by the Red Miso Furikake SD loaf by Benito and the Miso Light Rye Sourdough with Seaweed by txfarmer I tried the above Wakame and fermented tofu (Chao) 50% white spelt loaf.

Very interesting and satisfying bake. The ingredients were as follows:

190g white spelt flour

25g strong wholemeal wheat flour (just to use it up)

150 strong white wheat flour

1/2tsp spelt malt

20g 100% hydration liquid SD starter

20g chia seeds (fully hydrated overnight)

5g dried wakame (fully rehydrated and chopped up)

20g fermented tofu (Chao), mashed and dissolved in 10g of water

2g salt

3tsp of gomasio (an Italian version of Furikake) sprinkled on the flattened dough before each of two laminations 

234g water

I used all the spelt flour, 90g of the water and the SD starter to make a shaggy biga that was fermented for 24h and then mixed all the rest into the final dough which had 4x S&F, 2 laminations during a 5h BF and then final forming and prooving in the banneton before baking at 230C in a dutch oven, 25min lid on and 10min lid off.

With hindsight, seeing that the crust was fairly light and since the loaf was nice and moist upon cutting, I could have left it for another 5min in the oven to brown a little more.

The loaf has a lovely sea smell and flavor, with a little of the fermented tofu (Chao) coming through. The Chao is very pungent, so I was very cautious about putting too much, but it could have taken more to have even more of that super intense umami taste it has. 

Very satisfying to eat, filling (high protein and soluble fiber), and very comfortable to prepare, form, and bake. 

Will fine-tune and post changes and their results here as and when they are incorporated. 

But for next time, I want to try with miso (as per Benito's loaf) and see how it compares with the Chao used this time.

I need a treat. (those usually involve flour and yeast in my house)  Deb Pearlman (Smitten Kitchen) posted a recipe for a cheater braided brioche with lemon curd and cream cheese (A la Danish) I'm tempted. But I don't do regular yeast...so will convert to starter - https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/55004/brioche-orange-blossom-water minus orange blossom water this time. 

Can't decide if I want to do do that or if I want to do a bunne-tone repeat, or an actual Pannetone.  Not sure I have time for Pannetone ( as IMHO it has to have candied fruit, and for corn allergy girl here that means making my own, and I don't actually have any at the moment)

What are you baking for easter?  I will definitely make some buttery dinner rolls, but other than that I'm still pondering. 

Happy Baking! and Happy Easter!

Carolann