The Fresh Loaf

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L_M's picture
L_M

Time for pizza

Hi Mariana, and of course to anyone else that wants to join in…the more the merrier!

I must say that I've tried many pizza dough recipes in the past but I think I've finished looking for the best – I found it. Again Rose shines, and it is her " Perfect pizza dough" recipe on pg 189 in the Bread Bible. I used to get left over crusts all the time, but not any more. The all purpose flour and light handed mixing keep it very tender, and also very easy to make. The kids sometimes eat it cold and they still finish the crusts.

I always let the dough rest overnight in the fridge, and since it is so hot in the summer I put it straight away in the fridge right after mixing without waiting the 30 min. as per instructions.

As for tinkering…the first time I made it as written and hubby said he thought it was a bit too salty, so I cut that a bit, then I figured I could cut the sugar as well, and in the summer I cut down on the yeast too. Sometimes I use wwflour in place of a portion of the all purpose. So in the end this is quite a deviation from the original but as I said before I really think the tender texture comes from the AP flour and very little mixing, and doesn't really have so much to do with the exact recipe. For this to feed 6 people, and some of us have a big pizza appetite, I multiply the recipe by 5.

Instead of measuring the oil, I just coat the inside of the rising container with olive oil making sure to cover the dough as well.

When it has risen I divide the dough and round each piece coating slightly with the oil and put them straight away on baking parchment. Now I know it's not professional, but I roll out the dough – the flinging in the air stuff doesn't work for me, and just flattening out with my hands makes the crust too thick, so I roll, rest, roll, rest, roll etc on the paper, until it is thin enough, . Then let the dough rise until it is puffy. In winter it takes about 45 min- 1 hr, in summer about 30 min.

Then go on the sauce and toppings and cheese. Everyone has their favourites but I don't cook the tomato sauce and most of the toppings (like onions, mushrooms) are raw, but sliced very thinly.

Now for the interesting part – the oven. I really love my oven (Scholtes – it's a French make). I got it a few years ago because it had a special program for baking yeast dough that keeps the oven very moist, and uses more bottom heat than top to allow the dough to continue rising during oven spring. There are also many automatic programs and one of them is for pizza. So here goes : this gives me a fully baked large pizza in 4 minutes. With a bit of monitoring I'm sure it can be done with most modern ovens. First of all preheat the pizza / baking stone on the rack on the second to the highest position in your oven. Since this is an automatic program, the oven doesn't state the temp but I'm sure it's very hot. Then slide the pizza with the baking paper onto the stone and bake for 3 min. (After the first 1 - 2 min. you can remove the paper if you like.) Then switch the oven setting to "broil" and stay close by, as this will take only about 1 min before it's ready. After removing the pizza, give the oven a few minutes to reheat before baking the next one. The timing works out well, so we usually just finish eating one by the time the next one is ready.

So that's my pizza story. Please feel free to ask about anything that isn't clear. Enjoy your pizzas everyone!

Please excuse my computer...I wrote this in 'word' and then copied and pasted it here, but obviously the hebrew default setting is effecting the way it comes out and everything is lined up on the wrong side. Sorry about that -hope you can still understand it. (ed. note: I fixed it for you)

dolfs's picture
dolfs

Reinhart's WGB Multi-grain Struan

Today, besides Challah I produced two loaves of Reinhart's multi-grain Struan from his new book. For the "grains" part I used about 1/3 cooked brown rice, and the reset rolled oats. For the liquid is used yoghurt.

Reinhart's WGB multi-grain StruanReinhart's WGB multi-grain Struan 

 

Took quite a while longer to bake than I thought it would, but tastes great. I did score a little too deep, and combined with oven spring, made the loaves spill over the side of the loaf pan just a little. Taste, luckily is not affected!

 Multi-grain Struan crumbReinhart WGB: Multi-grain Struan crumb

It looks like the left side is not cooked, but it was. This was a side effect of my camera using a large lens opening, and thus having a very shallow depth of field. 

 

--dolf 

dolfs's picture
dolfs

L'shanah tovah

Today I baked a traditional (i.e. round) Challah for the new year's celebration.

Round Holiday ChallahRound Holiday Challah

Certainly not my best ever, but it'll do!

--dolf

grrranimal's picture
grrranimal

Why is my bottom so soft?

No, I'm not talking about my gluteus maximus.  

I'm talking about my glutinous maximus.  

I'm baking on a baking stone at high heat.  Have only been doing it that way for a few weeks.  And I like the effect of stone + steam on my crust, and I'm getting great oven spring.

What's puzzling me is that the bottoms of my loaves are coming out soft!  Top and sides have great, crunchy crust.  Bottom is simply soft.  It's cooked, but it's soft.

My hypothesis is that my doughs are going into the oven too wet.  I'm having shaping and proofing problems that I think are down to this. So, I'm going to work with firmer dough next batch.  But, in the meantime, do you reckon that would cause a soft bottom?

Has anyone else experiences a soft bottom when baking on a stone? 

Thanks, in advance.

bwraith's picture
bwraith

Essential's Columbia

Essential's Columbia 

Essential Columbia Loaves

Essential Columbia Crust and Crumb

Essential Columbia Crumb

I've been prodded by a certain TFL friend (username starts with "Z") to do this recipe, and I finally got around to it. I have to say it's too bad this didn't happen sooner. The recipe is just excellent. I've included some photos of the process and a spreadsheet of the recipe I used.

The recipe I followed is almost exactly as specified in Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer on pages 82-83 except I doubled the recipe and made 4 loaves. I used Wheat Montana AP in place of the bread flour and KA Organic AP in place of the AP flour in the recipe. I made the firm levain using 36g of my 90% hydration starter in 321g of Wheat Montana AP and  197g of water. The inoculation is slightly lower, and I'm starting with a somewhat higher hydration storage starter, since that's what I had on hand. I made the inoculation lower than what is specified to gain a few hours in my overnight levain fermentation, since I knew the dough would not be mixed for about a full 12 hours after the levain was mixed.

I kneaded the dough by hand using the suggested Glezer technique of working up and down the dough squeezing it and extruding it through my fingers. I also did some of her folding motions The slashing was easy, since this bread is only at about 65% hydration or so. I had to add a little more water because the Wheat Montana AP seems to absorb a little more water, but it is a firm, fairly dry dough. The flavor with the toasted wheat germ, whole wheat (I used Wheat Montana Bronze Chief), and whole rye was outstanding. The firm levain was just peaked when I used it, and the smells coming out of it were very pleasant when I added it to the dough.

I had a little trouble with the shaping stage. The dough was very gassy, even though I stopped the bulk fermentation after 3 hours, before it had doubled, as specified. As I shaped the first one, it just seemed like the dough needed to be deflated or I would have gigantic holes in it, so I did aggressively pat down the loaves, form them into rough ovals and let them relax a few minutes before forming batards.

I've been experimenting with my newly installed outdoor brick oven, which has been a bit tricky to figure out. I scorched the bottoms of these loaves a little, so a couple of extra moppings of the oven floor may help to cool down the hearth just enough. The temperature of the dome and air seemed good, as all but the bottoms seemed to come out nicely baked with the firing I gave it this time, which gets the hearth up to about 530F, the air temperature to about 450F, and the dome up around 600F. Those are just the temperatures right after firing. Then, I turn off the fire, let the oven cool with the metal door in place, and mop the hearth floor before starting to bake. I have been especially pleased with the ability to steam the oven with a garden spray mister and seal it with a wet, towel covered wooden door. The crusts are coming out great this way, and the freedom to do larger amounts all at once adds some fun to the whole process. Being outdoors while baking is pleasant too, but I'm not sure what will happen in the winter.

The other bonus of the brick oven has been that the retained heat can be used to cook an entire very delicious roasted dinner. For example, after baking I've done lobsters, corn-on-the-cob, and asparagus, and roast leg-of-lamb, candied yams, and roast cabbage, and roast chickens, roasted halved potatoes, and garlic heads. So, you can enjoy a whole afternoon of baking and cooking from firing the oven one time before baking.

dolfs's picture
dolfs

Leader's: Pain au levain, and Auvergne Rye Baguette with pancetta

I got the book last week, so today, my regular baking day, I wanted to make some. As luck would have it, after having started baking in April, I had finally decided to create a sourdough starter, but had to delay until recently due to my vacation. Last week I started creating Maggie Glezer's firm french style starter (as well as a whole wheat and rye version). The composition of that starter is identical to Leader's stiff levain (although the feeding formula is slightly different), so I used this in the recipe.

Leader's Pain au levainLeader's Pain au levain

Leader's Auvergne Rye Baguette with pancettaLeader's Auvergne Rye Baguette with pancetta 

I refreshed the starter shortly before midnight last night and it was good and ready this morning at 8:30. Both recipes use the same stiff levain, and use the exact same formula to create the levain starter (with some whole wheat added), so I made this as a single batch. I used KA AP flour (I discovered that my local Whole Foods sells Guisto's type 55 in bulk, but have not gotten it yet). I mixed the dough for the baguette about an hour later than that for the levain (scheduling reasons). I pretty much followed the rest of the instructions. Did one fold after 1 hour. Bulk fermentation took about 3.5-4 hours. I did insert a 10 minute bench rest before shaping. Proof took about one hour and 45 minutes. I did use a linnen couche so there was some additional work and care needed to transfer to the peel.

 

One thing I noticed is that in this book I finally found the correspondence between mixing settings describe as low/medium and the corresponding numeric setting on the KA mixer I have. That, combined with the 8-9 minutes mixing time seemed to make a far better dough than I've had before (I never mixed that fast, or that long). Could also be the starter though. I'll find out next time I make a non-sourdough.

 

The Pain au levain was scored in two different ways: one long slash, and several smaller and diagonal slashes. The dough took the slashes quite well. Steamed in cast iron pan with hot water and ice, and used a 3/4 in baking stone preheated for 1 hour. Oven spring was unbelievable! The crust did not quite turn out as nice and brown as I expected from pictures, but cutting and testing proofed this to be a non-issue. The crust was crackling during cooling and was superb when I finally ate the bread.

 crumbLeader's Pain au levain: crumb

The baquettes were pretty much a similar story, except that I used pancetta instead of bacon, and I did not retard the shaped loaves overnight. They just had their almost 2 hour proof. I made them just too long for my oven, causing the tips to be squashed against back of the oven and door. Slashes worked out ok, but no ears. Crust and texture on the baguettes was fabulous. The pancetta is not as strong as bacon, and there was no overnight retardation to absorb flavors, so this was mild, but still very good!

 crumbLeader's Auvergne Rye Baguette with pancetta: crumb 

koloatree's picture
koloatree

hello from new jersey

hi, just saying hello. i am new to baking and finally decided to join and get serious with bread and bagels. hope to learn and contribute what i learn to others. hopefully one day, my skill will take me out of my computer cubicle job!

KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

lard - healthier than shortening? how unhealthy?

This post is a bit off topic as it's really about nutritional quality of the ingredients rather than baking quality. 

A recent post on trans fats got me thinking about good ole lard.  I've never cooked or baked with it, but I understand it is available for purchase in many places now.  My addled brain says that it is in fact less of a health problem than the hydrogenated vegetable shortening which replaced it.

I cook and bake with butter - OK, sometimes way too much butter. From a nutrition standpoint is lard really any different?

ch774's picture
ch774

Yeast Bread and rain.

Yes, my question is when I bake cinnamon rolls and it is raining outside. Why does  it not come out? I know its the humidity. But It does not look very professional when I give them. Is there any thing I can do different?

I use the oven to let it rise, and it rises and does like it is suppose to do. But when its baking time. "Oops"

Please let me know

Thanks

Cheryl

JMonkey's picture
JMonkey

Pita help

Help! I made pita bread yesterday by converting Peter Reinhart's lavash cracker recipe in the BBA to whole wheat (he says in the side notes that the dough works well for pitas). So, as usual, I added about 13 points to the hydration (which put it at about 65%) and went from there. The dough felt fine. Reinhart writes that the dough should be just a little softer than bagel dough, and I make whole wheat bagels at 62% or 63%, so I don't think hydration is the problem.

As instructed, I divided the dough into 6 ounce portions and rolled them out. I may have rolled them out too thin. Reinhart writes that they should be just less than 1/4 inch thick, and mine were more like 1/8 inch. Anyway, as he recommended, I baked them at 500 on a preheated stone.

The problem? Only one of my four pitas fuly inflated. The others had big bubbles, but they never blew up like a balloon.

They taste fine, but I'm wondering if it might be that I'm working with a convection oven? I'm new to the convection thing and, while I'm really enjoying my new oven (electric holds moisture MUCH better than a gas oven), I'm still working out the kinks. Did they bake too fast for the pocket to form? Should I try 475 or even 450 next time?

Thanks!

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