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It's been a while since I posted, mainly due to ramped up work and family obligations, but I've not stopped baking. And, despite the fact that both of these breads are white, the vast majority of my baking is still 100% whole grain.

But, dangit, white bread -- I just can't quit ya.

I was particularly pleased with the poolish demi-baguettes that I made for dinner last night. I had my first acorn squash of the season, and had made a soup with it. For some reason, poolish baguettes seemed just the right accompaniment.



These are, without a doubt, the best looking baguettes I've ever made. Took a lot of less-than-perfect loaves, but I think I now understand how to shape these buggers so they don't look like a string bean with big bulbous ends, how to time them so they still have some room to spring in the oven, and how to slash them so they look like ... well ... a baguette.

The insides were lovely.



Today, they were starting to get stale, so I cut the leftover baguette in half and broiled it with some mozzarella, which we ate with a chopped up tomato from the garden. These were about 12 oz each, with 33 percent of the flour in the pre-ferment and a hydration of 66%. I used about 1/16 tsp of yeast in the poolish (135g of water and flour, each) and then about 2g instant yeast in the final dough (270 flour, 135 water, 8g salt). The poolish ripened for about 12 hours, but it's pretty cold in my house -- mid 60s at bestt.

Earlier in the week, I also made a white sourdough (20% of the flour in a thick starter at 60% hydration -- the starter was 100% whole wheat, and the overall hydration was about 75%) which I let retard overnight outside. It was lovely, but the top seemed as if it wanted to peel away. Was probably a little underproofed.



Again, I was pleased with the crumb.



Hopefully, things have calmed down enough so that I can post a little more frequently. I've missed this community!

Hello everybody,

It was my first attempt to use pumpkin in baking ,i was totally amazed from the result, the bread was light , veeeery delicious, my kids could not wait even to fill its slice with any filling, so i will put the recipe and try it, you will not stop making it.

I got the recipe from a french book" i think that the original version was in english because the author is australian, i do not know exactly, her name is Ann wilson , the book name is " Pains et petits pains".

I love the book because 99% of the ingredients used are familiar in Egypt,except " Rye flour"< we do not have, can you send me some pleaaaaaaase, hahahaha,There is a pumpernickel recipe,and i can not do it ,do not you feel petty for me????

Anyway , i will show you the pumpkin kind that i used in the recipe,

That is the only kind we have in Egypt, and we use pumpkin rarely, that is a shame !!! we have very good pumpkin harvest.So i tried to use and create a lot of recipes " in which pumpkin is a main ingredient".O.K, i will start now, here is the recipe:-

7g. yeast" i used fresh yeast , about 1 tbls"

1/4 cup of pumpkin boiling water " in the recipe they boiled the pumpkin, i did not , i cooked it in the oven, i made it puree, and i left it in a strainer to get rid from its juice, and i used this juice to prepare the dough"

4-41/2 cups bread flour.

1 tspn salt

1 cup of pumpkin puree " about 300 g. raw pumpkin", it was different with me because this kind of pumpkin is veeery juicy, i got a lot of liquid from it"

1/4-1/2 cup pumpkin water.

1 beaten egg.

2 tspn water

pumpkin seeds for decoration.

instead of explaining i will let you with the pics, and feel free to ask about everythink , that you think it is not clear.

First the pumpkin from inside:

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Here is my lovely yeast" i am in love with yeast"

I gave it to eat " some sugar " i made for her some massage , then i cover her to take a nap,she became now very good and happy,

I started to prepare the ingredients, then making the dough.

I kneaded it for 10 mn,it turned soft and smooth like a baby skin.

I put 2 drops of olive oil on it to prevent it from sticking . then i covered it with a clean towel " of course"

shshshshsh, i warned all my family members, not to disturb my baby" i am fool , am not i???"

it is ready now , let us start the game,i re knead it for 2 mn.

I took 1/4 the dough,

then the remaining dough, i made with it a ball, and i put it in a sponge cake pan after oiling it and

sprinkle it with flour" i used corn flour"

I glazed it with the beaten egg, then i decorated it with the rubbon.

I glazed it again, i let it to rise.

My oven was too busy this day, so i let it more than an hour" it became like a monster" oh!lalala!!! 

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I forgot to tell you about the pumpkin seeds.

I baked it on 210c.

here it is:

url=http://www.0zz0.com][/url]

I forgot to take a pic for it after removing it from the pan.

So on my second attempt, with another shape , i did, voila,

And the Crumb??????

I will let  to you the judgment!!!!!????

Sorry for taking too much time, but i think the details will be so helpfull for beginners.

Thank you , and for all the yeast & bread making fans, a big hug from me to you.

Chahira DAoud , Alexandria , Egypt.

P.S: wait for my " pate morte" lantern & our feast cookies & biscuits.

I figured that I'd make myself a blog rather than posting back into the forums all the time. No point cluttering up a perfectly good forum with my one-track-minded baking experiences! 

Last weekend I took another shot at the 100% Sourdough Rye recipe kindly passed on to me by a good work colleague. My previous attempt had been a fair to middling success, and I was confident that this would turn out even better than the first. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the loaves turned out, given my total inexperience in making bread. 

Here's how they turned out: 

and the interior:

What I'm most happy about is that the resulting loaves - apart from tasting great - have my mind working to figure out ways to improve them. The scoring didn't take, so I'll need to think about different ways to work the scoring out. Plus the surface tension is probably not right, so I'll need to work on my folding.

Lastly - for my own benefit as much as anyone else's - this is the recipe I've been using successfully (all credit to OliverN from my work. I've made a couple of small annotations over time). Any suggestions or variations are absolutely appreciated!

Stage 1:

Mix together

4 x cups rye flour.

3 x cups luke warm water

2 x cups starter.

Leave for 16-24 hrs, until the mix has a domed top.

Stage 2

Mix into previous mixture

3 teaspoons sea salt

4 x cups rye flour.

Leave for 12 hours.

Split mixture into two bread pans and leave for a couple of hours (I never do that though). For rye flour you do not need to kneed it. I just flatten the mixture and roll into a log.

Bake in 180 preheated oven for an hour. 

Susan from San Diego Sourdough

Susan's Sourdough Crumb

It was time to get back to basics. My wife and I love sourdough bread. I have been having lots of fun exploring other breads, especially rye breads and baguettes of late, but I was missing "plain old" sourdough bread.

 The formula that Susan from San Diego developed has been made by many on TFL, and, if there is anyone who has not loved it, they have kept it to themselves. So, Susan's sourdough has been on my "to bake" list for quite some time. Here is how I made it:

450 gms Giusto's Ultimate Performer (High Gluten Flour)

50 gms Giusto's (Whole) Rye Flour

340 gms Water

50 gms Active Starter

10 gms Sea Salt

Add the starter to the autolyse and mix it in. Then add the salt and mix it in.

On a lightly floured bench, do 4 or 5 French folds. Cover the dough for 30 minutes. Repeat the folds and resting for 30 minutes. Then, do the folds a third time. (At this point, I had moderate gluten development.)

Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly. Allow to rise until doubled. (I used my favorite Anchor Glass 8 cup/2 liter glass pitcher with a tight-fitting plastic cover. My dough doubled in 6 hours.)

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and pre-shape as rounds. Cover and allow to rest for 10-20 minutes.

Shape as boules and place in floured bannetons. (I used French linen-lined wicker ones.) Spray lightly with oil and place in food-grade plastic bags or cover with plastic wrap.

Proof for 1 hour, then place in the refrigerator over night (8-12 hours).

Take the loaves out of the refrigerator at least 4 hours before you plan to bake them. Allow them to warm up and rise to 1-1/2 times their original size.

45-60 minutes before baking, pre-heat the oven to 450F with a baking stone on the middle shelf and a cast iron skillet and metal loaf pan on the bottom shelf.

When the loaves are ready to bake, bring a cup of water to a boil and place a handful (4-6) ice cubes in the loaf pan. Shut the oven door.

Sprinkle semolina on a wooden peel. Transfer a loaf to the peel. Score it, and load it on the baking stone. Do the same with the second loaf. Then pour the boiling water into the skillet, being careful not to scald youself, and shut the oven door.

After 10 minutes, remove the two water recepticles from the oven. Bake another 10-15 minutes, until the loaves are nicely colored, the bottoms have a hollow sound when thumped and the internal temperature of the loaves is at least 205F. When they are done, turn off the oven but leave the loaves on the baking stone with the oven door held open 1-2 inches for another 5-10 minutes to dry the crust.

Remove the loaves from the oven and cool them thoroughly on a rack before slicing. (2 hours, if you can stand it.) You are allowed to smell the loaves and listen to them sing while they are cooling.

Notes
1. My sourdough starter is "1:3:4" (starter:water:flour). If your starter is more liquid or more firm, you should adjust the amount of water you use in the dough accordingly.
2. The 2-pan oven humidification and steaming method is from Hamelman's "Bread." Susan bakes her loaves under a stainless steel bowl for the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the time. I would have done this, if I had made a single large boule. But Hamelman's method gives me the second best oven spring and bloom.
3. With overnight cold retardation, this bread was moderately sour when first cool. The crust was thin but crunchy. The bread had a firm chewiness but was in no way "tough." It was, in short, what I regard as a "classic San Francisco-style Sourdough." Since this is precisely what I wanted, I am delighted with this bread. I am moving it from my "to bake" list to my "bake often" list.

David