Bachelor's party bake II
It might seem somewhat incredulous that there would be yet another bachelor party bake within two weeks of the previous one, but yes - seems many men in our circle are getting married.
This was a somewhat small party of 5 men, so I produced but 2 durum semolina matera-type loaves and 2 five-grain five seed/nut loaves. These went down very well, with the semolinas being the clear preference.
Interesting points on the bread bake:
1. The semolina loaves had 30% levain and the multi grain/seed/nut loaves had 40% levain. Before mixing, I measured the pH of the levains. The semolina levain came in at 4.43 and the other at 4.88 (both had the same ratios and were mixed 10 hours before).
2. After mixing, both doughs ended up with the same pH: 5.13!
3. Due to the morning rush, I baked them a little earlier than I usually would. I baked the nut/seed ones, then the semolina. Both were baked at 4.45. My semolina loaves had the craziest oven spring ever!
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I also decided to reproduce a macaron bake that I had attempted a few days ago for a gluten-free party. These took me three tries! (pic above)
To make 28 single shells
1. Prepare 70g of egg whites (from about 2 eggs). Briefly warm up over bain marie.
2. Blend 93g of blanched almonds with 93g of icing sugar. Pass through a fine sieve twice.
3. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and 55g of caster sugar until stiff peaks. Invert the bowl above your head to be sure.
4. Mix almond-sugar mixture in three parts. Use a folding movement rather than a stirring one. Keep folding until the mixture flows from the spoon barely breaking but still keeps a figure 8 in the mixture that stays for a couple of seconds. If the mixture feels like soup or if the figure 8 disappears within a second or two, it is overdone. For me, this step took about 15 folds.
5. Pipe and let the shells dry on the tray until they are dry to the touch. Bake at 145 degrees for about 12 mins.
6. For the filing: I did a lemon buttercream and chocolate coconut buttercream.
Notes for reference
1. Egg whites should be slightly warm. Do not skip this step.
2. Blending almonds and icing sugar is very important. Do not skip this step even if you're using almond flour.
3. Inverting the bowl is a great test for stiff meringues. Very important that beater and bowl are completely clean. Even if you believe they are clean, it's better to wash and dry them again before using.
4. While piping - if the mixture seems thick and doesn't settle into nice circles (e.g. tips remain visible and don't sink), give the mixture another fold or two and it should be fine.
5. Drying the shells is important. Don't skip this step.
6. Baking on a steel pan produced the best results. Aluminium failed me.
Comments
brilliant breads!
4 loaves for 5 men. Serious eating!
Rob
Indeed, Rob. Four loaves for two breakfasts and one dinner proved barely sufficient. I suppose calorie consumption on such weekends might be atypical!
Lovely read, I do enjoy your posts. Once again it must have been a happy group of customers, and pleased to see you've scaled it back to a more manageable bake!
Tell me how did you learn to do the Matera style shaping?
Also, interesting that your levain percentage is fairly high, was this because of time constraints?
-Jon
Always happy to read your comments.
The Matera is so much fun. I love shaping it. I learnt it from this video. Have you tried it?
Yes, my levain %s are always a little higher than usual. You're right, it's mainly for scheduling reasons. I tend to bake in the mornings when I work from home and I like to have it fresh out of the oven for lunch (or in this case in time for the departing party at 2 pm! Literally, out of the oven and into the car.). This usually means a long fermentation for the levain, an early morning mix wfor the final dough, and a BF+proof of maximum 5 hours. I find that apportioning most of the whole grains in the levain, or even doing a double levain coming to 70% of the dough (with the second levain at a much smaller inoculation so it's "not ready" when I mix it) works very well. Most of the non PFF is white bread flour. If I feel like it, a good portion of the bread flour might also have been subject to poolish treatment.
I used to do an overnight BF with 8% levain - this works for the schedule as well - but I did not like the flavour as much as the method above!
-Lin
What a great video. What it doesn't tell us is how long you leave it after shaping for the final proof so that you still keep the definition.
Haven't tried the Matera, for me in South Africa I can easily get hold of regular semolina flour, but the finest rimacinata isn't as easy (unless I want a 5kg bag!). And rimacinata does make a nicer loaf. Your bake (and Rene's too) have made me think more and more of the 5kg option and then I'll just have a good excuse to hand make pasta too, darn it.
When it comes to pre-ferment percentage I've oscillated up and down over the years. Had a stage when I was all for 50% plus and using a levain and multiple raising agents together such as raisin yeast water plus levain together. But I've changed my thinking over time, not to say I won't change again and I still enjoy experimenting with high preferments like the 90% biga recently.
As I use the proofer even in summer I try and keep it at around 20% or 15%, at the moment. My current thinking is that the less tangy flavour and crumb are simply better, or more like what I prefer, with a longer fermentation.
But, having said that I'm also focusing at the moment on how I prepare my levain and doing multiple levain builds and slightly more on the stiffer side and perhaps with egg in the levain. Half the fun is the constant experimentation, I guess.
Oh, one more thing, how is everyone finding the sourness of their breads if they're reserving the whole wheat for the levain. Do you find that it makes for a more sour bread, or less sour bread?
-Jon
That video was so fun to watch and learn from!
Thanks for the ref and also the great example yours resulted in!!
And let us know your results when you attempt it!