The taste of Tahini
A few Months ago, SteveB posted his work using Tahini in a bread to improve the flavor of sesame. His post on Breadcetra can be found here. As usual Steve does a great job detailing the procedure and makes a wonderful bread.
Steves formula calls for about 6% by bakers percent Tahini. My loaf was 400 grams of a combination of 5% WW and 10% Rye and 85% AP, to which I added 10% (40g) tahini paste. I used 2% milk for the liquid, warmed to arrive at a dough temperature of 76F. The IDY was added with the flours (1/2 tsp) and the 8 grams of sea salt was held until the dough had absorbed the liquid for 30 minutes. Mixing and folding was done by hand.
This dough was mixed to 70% hydration but with the whole grain flours it felt like a 65% mix. I was shooting for a soft crumb sandwich bread with a hint of sesame. I decided to leave the seeds off this first time so I could tell if the amount of tahini had any appreciable effect on its own. The oil in the tahini paste plus the use of milk made for a very nice soft crumb with just a hint of sesame aroma. Next time, I'll use seeds on the crust and get the full effect. I think I'll switch to using water instead of milk also as the crumb is softened by the oil in the paste.
Eric
Comments
One of my favorite things is having a good wholesome loaf of 'soft crumb' sandwich bread always handy. You've baked up a great example. Beautiful shape and scoring, healthy, tasty with the nice addition of tahini. Do you know if tahini is toasted/roasted before being processed into a 'butter' I guess you call it a butter...or are the seeds raw?
Sylvia
I don't think it is toasted, at least the jar I have doesn't say so. Give it a try. There is definitely something going on with the addition of the tahini.
Eric
I think you can have it either way..but toasted would bring out the lovely flavors in s.seeds more intense. I think the jarred may taste very different from the freshly ground seeds.
Sylvia
That's a nice scoring pattern, Eric. Do you like the taste of the bread?
I had forgotten I have a jar of tahini in my cupboard, which I had purchased right after Steve posted his formula. Supposed to be rainy, windy and cold tomorrow. Maybe a good tahini day?
The scoring did turn out pretty well, thanks. The loaf didn't spring much, but enough to show the pattern well. I did/do like the taste but it isn't a pronounced sesame flavor or aroma. The dough had a more distinct aroma during fermentation and I was expecting the kitchen to be filled with roasted sesame smells. Didn't get that. Makes me wonder what would happen if I put some elbow grease in my mortar and pestle and ground up some seeds from scratch.
Eric
Eric, I can get large fresh pints of sesame seeds at my local Henry's market. The recipe I found at http://www.mideastfood.about.com/od/dipsandsauces/r/tahinrecipe/htm looks and sounds delicious. A reviewer said it tastes better/more flavor than the prepared jar version and that the recipe also has olive oil in it, which I like very much...the seeds are lightly toasted! It looks very easy to make in a home food processor...I would call it a butter out of the toasted seeds. The idea of fresh, especially with sesame seeds sounds delicious. ADDED scroll down to the 'tahini sauce recipe'..there are 2 recipes listed.
Sylvia
Hello, Eric
I love your scoring pattern, and I want to try to score like yours next time. This reminds of my hawaiian quiet that I have worked on for years...
Of course, the crust, crumb are looking great too.
Best wishes,
Akiko
when compared to just putting the seeds into the bread? I like about 80g of seeds into a 1kg loaf. Raw and/or roasted. I have a big jar!
I like the looks of your loaf, Eric. Yummy crumby!
Mini in Austria
I can imagine how tasty it is...I loved the idea..I'll give it a try...thinking now to make it as a roll and fill it with halawa or "halva" we are the country of tahini and Halawa "halva", It will melt but it will give it a lovely sweet taste...I would like too to show you the dark tahini...it has a strong flavor..in Egyptian villages they extract it from the dark sesame seeds. They also extract a paste "tahini like" from flax seeds and they serve it in some villages with molasses and eating it with our egyptian wholemeal pocket bread....it sounds interesting to me to give both a try.
Thanks Eric for sharing ..i love to watch your baked goodies.
I was just over at Steve's blog to answer my silly question. I have some wonderful sesame oils too from S.Korea. The bottom is thick like a paste. I can get all kinds of sesame seeds there and put sesame into my bread constantly but I haven't purchased Tahini paste, yet. It does sound interesting to combine flax and sesame. Red bean keeps popping into my head too. They might present and interesting color combination...
Mini
hello mini... missed you, glad to see you too.
you can make your own tahini paste at home...it is easy to make it from scratch..if you are interested i can share the recipe with you.
Tahini paste is very important and essetial in our cuisine, tahini salad is one of our daily dishes.
Red beans sounds very interesting too,,give it a try and we can make new bread trends ;))
Very Nice, Eric!
I Love Tahini, i even eat it when i binge on Fat laden food! Pretty perverted ,right?
Anyway your Loaf should taste lovely, i may give it a try someday.
khalid