August 21, 2017 - 2:53am
Solar Eclipse 2017 Bread Challenge - Bread #2
This bread is really a little bit unusual. I used sourdough colored with charcoal to simulate obscuration and Hokkaido squash to simulate the sun's corona.
The dough during the bake expanded much more than anticipated due to intensive fermentation in the bottom part which was warming up slowly due to the squash collar. I created an opening in the bottom of squash to get more even heat transfer and also to get another "solar eclipse" from the bottom side of the loaf.
I think I don't need to explain more as pictures are self explanatory.
First two movies:
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Comments
Love your creative approach to this Challenge! Charcoal-colored bread seems a bit scary, but it definitely takes its place in the composition. The clincher is that you included videos, too - brilliant!
Cathy
It was really a great fun for me and my wife to make this bread. The most exciting part was the bake time when the oven spring was way stronger than expected. Unfortunately I had no chance to make a movie of that because it was not expected at all. I am really thankful to Mini Oven for this creative challenge.
Recently I got a new Iphone7 with 128GB of memory and now I can afford to make more movies.
Happy baking Cathy!
Joze
It looks like some kind of strange mushroom!
The only thing I can say was that it was really a big fun to prepare and bake this bread. I never thought it will expand like it did, it was almost a never ending volcano eruption.
Happy baking,
Joze
I would never have thought of baking bread in a squash. You have amazing creativity!
The idea came like a flash when I was passing a pile of hokkaido squashes grown in our garden. It was quite unusual idea and because of that I wanted to realise it. Solar eclipse is a very interesting event and for this occasion my bread can be kind of unplugged. I must say that I really enjoyed making it.
Happy baking Danni!
Joze
Now how original is that? Wow!
I wonder if the squash actually contributed some moisture to the dough while it was baking giving that extra lift or at least adding to it. That is so unusual. At first I was thinking... the bottom dough baked up just like a squash.
You're on the verge of inventing the "pullman" round squash bread "pan." Or the "round squash pullman" this opens up a whole new way of looking at vegetables.
You really made me smiling while reading your post about the the "pullman" round squash bread "pan."
I must say I was surprised as well as the dough was just coming out for so long time. Definitely there was additional moisture coming from squash to dough and by my opinion the squash prevented normal heating of the dough which was sitting in the squash. So the dough was warming up much slower and had more time for intensive fermentation which is going on while we bake the bread and is seen as oven spring. The "black hat" had extremely open crumb, especially at the top what you can see from the crumb shots. The dough and the squash were glued together, so every time I was cutting it I got slices of bread and squash which haven't separated.
When I was designing this weird experiment I was afraid that the bottom of bread would not be baked enough if I don't make a hole in the bottom of the squash. But at that time I was not expecting such behavior. Actually I was afraid that the dough will spread and cover the squash collar. But the actual rise was completely vertical. Only towards the end the dough started to lean on one side.
I learned a lot and have to find out if I can use this experience for a more serious project in the future.
Happy baking and thanks for challenging us. I really enjoyed it and had a big fun.
Joze
bread or a bell pepper bread or even bread inside bell peppers too. Smaller squashes for individual servings or wedges served with a lasagna dish for example or a thick rich soup or with grilled shrimp and a lemon butter sauce for everything!
Mini
Twice now, when I see the title picture, I imagine a pelican landing on it with the sound of sea gulls squawking in the distance. Lol. I can see this with some kind of beach or wharf theme to the meal.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. Today I am baking with my granddaughter and we made one loaf from semola rimacinata, croissants, pasta and ice cream. So reading your post and as I already had the dough in progress, I decided to use small peppers from our garden and one egg plant and stuffed them with semola dough. I added some parmigiano and black pepper and stuffed the dough sim side up. Will see what will happen. I hope that the peppers will not crack. I will definitely post the picture of the result. I used different quantities of dough just to find out what would be an appropriate doze.
Happy baking, Joze
Mini,
please check here the result of your suggestion.
Joze
to bake with and learn from such a wonderfully creative Grandfather!
Your loaves and your videos are fabulous - and I've been giggling at just how appropriate your "volcano eruption" description is.
Thanks so much for the inspiration --- and for sharing the joy in your creativity!
Can't wait to see how the peppers turned out :-)
Just posted the results as a separate post.
Thanks for your nice opinion about the grandfather, I am trying to teach my granddaughter as much as I know although she is still very young, but likes to learn.
Happy baking,
Joze