Pears and Barley Revisited
My pears were kind enough to hold out long enough to give me one more attempt at this bread. With a head full of great input received on my last post, the formula was tinkered with (of course) and includes less whole wheat and barley, more pears and a hotter bake. It also features the twisted “tordu” shape that I clearly haven’t mastered but have a lot of fun with.
First the bad news - The bread was both underproofed and overhandled, as the crumb photo shows. The former because I didn’t do a very good job scheduling my day, and the latter because I am not very good at this shape… yet.
On the plus side – I like the new formula and the bolder bake. When the bread first cooled I wasn’t so sure, as the toasty crust flavor, while excellent, more or less overrode all the other flavors. With time, though, the flavor really changed. The sweetness of the barley and pears came through. The crust had gone soft and the whole bread a bit chewy but I just couldn’t stop gnawing on it. The rest of the family agreed. When pear season comes again next year this is the formula I will be starting with.
Marcus
****And I just spotted error in the instructions: The bread was baked for a total of 45 minutes, not 40. That extra 5 minutes made a big difference in the crust!
Comments
the shape of thsi bread is fantastic even though I have no idea what It is or how you do it. I'm beginning to wonder why i have an apprentice at all! This bread is also much better than last one. You may not like the crumb but it sure puffed itself up much better than the last one. This one came out a near perfect circle. I have to get some more pears because Lucy wants to see what ant to see what this bread tastes like. Will also research ' the twisted “tordu” shape' just so i can send it off to the Twisted Sisters and GMA's who would love to make this bread and try out this shape. Well done Marcus..
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Well, the crumb photo makes it look a little better than it really was. It shrank in on itself and got pretty chewy by the next day. Tasty though! That seems to be the real trick with this shape: getting the proof just right... oh, wait... that's always the trick isn't it? :) But still, if it doesn't have enough spring left in it then it just looks like an unscored blob, so it's easy to lean too far toward underproofing.
I've seen a few different ways of shaping the tordu, some of them very precise. I tend to go the other way - make something kind of like a baguette, wrestle it into a corkscrew shape and drop it in a proofing basket. Half the fun is never really knowing what they will end up looking like!
Marcus
I love it, Marcus. Looks very good and attractive for a first time Tordu. I like the idea of sweet pears in bread, and toasting the semolina too.
-Khalid
Thanks so much, Khalid. The flavor combination worked well, and it is a nice change from my usual loaves.
Marcus
Nice bake, Marcus. Despite under-proofing and over-handling your dough, your loaves still looks delicious to me. In fact, I'm rather fond of their final shape.
Zita
Thanks, Zita. When I first cut into the bread I didn't think I would even post it here. But the shape and the flavor won me over in the end. Well, that and the fact that the bread disappeared very quickly - my bad loaves usually sit on the counter forever with just me nibbling on them, but I didn't get to eat much of this one!
Marcus
I like that. Looks tricky. Nice variation on the theme here.
Josh
Thanks, Josh. I would be hard pressed to get two of these to look alike, but fortunately I'm not in a position to have to do that so I can play all I want! Fun stuff, for sure. Now that I think about it, they do attract attention from passers by (at least from the two people who regularly pass by my kitchen and say, "What is that?!?") so who knows... maybe the next big thing?
Marcus