Golden raisin pecan WW cudgel.

My wife is off to a Dragon Boat race this weekend.  I won't describe what it is, you can look it up if you have the mind to.  The three main things they do there are 1) race, 2) spend a lot of downtime between races and 3) eat and nap during the downtime.  I thought that I'd add to the groaning table by baking a rather, um, large golden raisin-pecan WW bread for them.

Coming off the recent just-for-the-heck-of-it monster baguette, I decided that it wasn't big enough.  This beast weighs in at 1500g, a full 50% heavier than the prior beast while being a few inches shorter.  A perfect snacking bread with or without butter, soft cheese and/or jam, and makes a fine toast too.  Probably not a great bread for sandwiches.  C'est la vie.

Unfortunately, having hardly any experience with breads this size, it looks as though in the scheme of things a seam  twisted out of position and although it may look artistic is actually a burst seam.  I'll have to somehow console my sorrow and find the inner strength to recover from this tragedy ;-) . 

The little fellow is a 550g batard that will keep my tonsils company over her weekend absence.

The lone slice of the Big Boy that my wife left behind...

1. 1500g x 1 truncheon
2. 550g x 1 batard

 These are loosely based on the fabulous Ken's Artisan Bakery version of this bread.

Timing

• Day 1 – Mix Stiff Levain – 15 minutes
• Day 2 – Mix dough, French Folds & ferment – 2-3 hours (~18-24 hour rest)
• Day 3 – Bake – 1.5 hours 

Method

DAY 1:

1. Mix levain. Ferment at room temperature, covered tightly, turn once or twice during build. (can be as much as 8-12 hours - your mileage may vary)
2. Soak fruit in water.  Reserve water for final mix.

DAY 2:

1. Mix flours and water, include water from fruit. Cover and autolyse for 30 minutes.
2. Add levain and salt and pinch-and-fold mix to incorporate. 150 French Folds / 5 minute covered rest / 150 FFs.
3. Transfer to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly.
4. Add raisins and pecans at first Letter Fold.  Stretch dough out into large rectangle on wetted surface and distribute fruit and nuts evenly.
5. With each Letter Fold, try to fold so that the fruit and nuts stay toward the interior of the dough as much as possible.
6. Bulk ferment 2-3 hours with 4 Letter Folds every 25 minutes, one final 25 minute rest, then refrigerate. Dough will start doming after the first fold.  Dough will remain silky and extensible throughout.
7. Cover and refrigerate for as much as 18-24 hours.

DAY 3:

1. Take the dough out of the refrigerator.  For baguettes, divide into SQUARE pieces.  For batards, divide into pre-shaped balls.
2. Cover and allow to rest for 10-12 minutes.
3. For baguettes - these work better as short & chubby baguettes/torpedoes perhaps allowing a little raw flour on surface for rustic look.
4. Onto lightly floured couche, seam side down.  These will shed some moisture.
5. Cover with plastic.  Back into retard.
6. An hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF, with baking stone and lava rock pan in place.
7. Score.
8. Bake at 470ºF 10-13 minutes steam, separate & rotate 180 front to back, then another 10-15 minutes or more after rotating.  Vent for 2-3 minutes.
9. These should bake darker than you think.  We want the crust to be dark and thick!

Notes:

• My kitchen is almost always 78-80dF.
• Dough can be shaped anytime during retard cycle, after ~ 2 hours in refrigerator.
• I bake directly out of retard.
• 1 Sylvia's Steaming towel, 1 9"x13" pan of lava rocks.  Towel goes in 15 minutes prior to bake, 2 cups of water onto lava rocks after dough is loaded.
• Recommend the short and chubby baguettes because the fruit and nuts would wind up dominating the girth of a fully sized baguette.
• Can also be scored with a diagonal cross hatch for the fun and look of it.

alan