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July 1, 2011 - 7:25pm

breadsong

Oatmeal and Sweet Date Bread (courtesy BBGA/Team USA 2005)

Hello,
I really enjoyed the recent course I took that was put on by the Bread Bakers Guild of America, and am grateful for being a member and for having the chance to participate. Another thing I really appreciate about membership in the Guild is access to Guild's online newsletter and formula archive. There's lots of good stuff in that archive!

Today's bake is Oatmeal and Sweet Date Bread, one of the Team USA 2005 formulas the Guild provides online.
This one caught my eye last March; oatmeal and dates are two of my dear father-in-law's favorite things and I wanted to make this bread for him. This bread was very moist, and delicious with the sweet dates!

It was so good, I wanted to try making it again today (...a Team USA formula for Canada Day!
...the maple leaf is to add some Canadian content :^) ... )

Wanting to share this formula, I asked permission of the Guild to post the formula here on TFL; the Guild kindly granted permission and asked me to include this note in the post:
"The mission of The Bread Bakers Guild of America is to shape the knowledge and skills of the artisan baking community through education. Guild members have access to many other innovative professional formulas, both online and in the Guild’s quarterly publication, Bread Lines. For more information about membership, please visit www.bbga.org."

With thanks to the Bread Bakers Guild of America and Jory Downer, William Leaman and Jeffrey Yankellow, the team members of Bread Bakers Guild Team USA 2005 - who were gold medal winners that year at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie!

The formula authors describe the bread and its ingredients:
"The wide range of weather throughout the United States provides for a variety of growing climates. The warm weather of the west coast, allows for California to grow an abundance of palm trees that fruit, the luscious date. In this original formula, rolled oats, another major crop of American farmers, are complemented by the sweetness of dates. A portion of the oatmeal is fermented in a sponge. The high sugar content of the dates creates a rich brown crust that balances their sweetness. The abundance of oats results in a tight textured, full bodied crumb which is a pleasant contrast to the open crumb of the other breads."

A couple of pictures from today's bake (1500 grams dough weight, 540g boule, (6) 160g triangles):


My first bake (3 boules, 1635 grams total dough weight):


This bread is made with three preferments and a soaker, but the three preferments can be mixed at the same time.

Ingredients ( for 1635 grams dough):

	Poolish	Oat sponge	Liquid levain	Soaker	Dough	Total
Bread Flour	120	120	60		300	600
Water	120	132	60	60	219	591
Instant yeast	0.12	0.12			1.5	1.7
Salt	0.6	0.6	0.3		11.5	13.0
Rolled oats		60		60		120
Dates, diced					300	300
White starter			12			12
Poolish					240
Oat sponge					312
Liquid levain					132
Soaker					120

Total	240	312	132	120	1635	1635

I adapted the method for mixing by hand:

12 hours prior to the mixing the dough:
Poolish: Use a water temperature for 72-74F final poolish temperature; mix all until well blended; cover and ferment at 73F for 12 hours.
Oat sponge: Use a water temperature for 72-74F final sponge temperature; mix all until well blended; cover and ferment at 73F for 12 hours.
Liquid levain: Use a water temperature for 72-74F final levain temperature; mix all until well blended; cover and ferment at 73F for 12 hours.
(At 9 hours, my levain wasn't anywhere near ready...the salt taking its effect; I set the container holding the levain in a shallow basin and filled halfway with warm water; replaced with more warm water as needed; this got the levain going and it had tripled by the time the poolish and sponge were ready)

30 minutes to 1 hour prior to mixing the dough:
Using tepid water, mix together so oats are all moistened; cover, and set aside to let rest.

Prepare the dates by chopping; set aside.
"The variety of date used is flexible. It is important that they are not too soft. A soft date will blend into the dough instead of maintaining its shape, creating a dark color in the bread and increasing the likelihood of a burnt crust. The dates should be cut into ¼” pieces in preparation for mixing."

Mixing the dough:
Use a water temperature for 73-76F final dough temperature. (I started with 104F water as I was allowing for autolyse, hand mixing and resting periods during the hand mix, during which my doughs tend to cool down).

Place flour in bowl. Add 85-90% of the water to the bowl and mix until flour is evenly hydrated. Cover and autolyse for 20 minutes.
Add yeast, poolish, oat sponge, and levain to the mixing bowl. Mix with a dough whisk to combine. Cover, place in warmed proof box (to try to preserve warmth in the dough), rest 5 minutes. Dough temp.: 80F.
Oat sponge is on the left in the photo:

Add salt to mixing bowl. Mix, folding in the bowl, 50 folds. Dough temp.: 74F. Cover, place in warmed proof box, rest 5 minutes.
Fold 30 times in the bowl, then 5 minute rest as before, then finally 20 folds. Dough is lifting away from the bowl as I fold it at this point; gluten showed improved mix.

Add remaining water (80F) to the bowl, and mix to incorporate.
Add oat soaker and dates and mix to incorporate evenly.
Dough temp.: 73F (recommended to be 73-76F).
Bulk ferment at 78F for two hours, with (3) stretch and folds every 30 minutes.
Here is the dough at the end of the bulk ferment:

For the first bake I divided the dough into three parts to make boules. For today's bake, I followed these shaping instructions to make (2) triangle breads (remaining dough shaped as a boule):

Divide the dough in 160g / 5 ¾ oz pieces and preshape as a tight ball. Cover and allow the dough pieces to rest for 20 minutes.

Shape the rested balls of dough into triangles, being gentle not to degas the dough too much. Three triangles make up one loaf. Arrange three triangles together on floured linen, seam up, so that the point of one triangle rests in the center of one of the sides of the other triangle. The finished shape will have a circular appearance.
(I proofed top side up as I didn't think I'd be able to successfully flip the triangles over!).
Place the loaves in a draft free place at approximately 74° F for 30 minutes to proof.

Shaping a triangle by gently folding over three sides, towards center, pinching to seal and bring together:

                                                                        After proofing:

A couple of notes about the maple leaf: I used a bit of decorative dough for this (extra dough that I froze after making my fol epi loaf awhile back. After thawing, the dough is just as good as new :^) ... a happy discovery!)
After cutting the leaf and removing the excess dough, I dusted the leaf with flour.

I used the cutter to gently! mark the boule to help with placement of the leaf.

I brushed the area where the leaf would go lightly with water, to help the leaf stick.
After the leaf was placed, I scored around it and then lightly on the floured leaf, to try to make "leaf veins".

Back to the triangles:
If proofing seam side up, turn the loaves over onto the oven loading device.
Score each triangle with two lines (I did three).

Bake with steam at 475° F for approximately 30 minutes.
Vent the steam from the oven and continue to bake for an additional 5 minutes.
(I found these were browning fast. I moved the loaves around every 10 minutes, and covered with foil and reduced to 435F after 20 minutes. 30 minutes total bake time; left in oven for 10 minutes with oven off and door ajar).
Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool.

And lastly, a couple of crumb shots!:

Happy baking everyone, and Happy Canada Day!
from breadsong

Submitted to YeastSpotting :^)

January 15, 2011 - 11:03pm

dmsnyder

Proth5's "Starting to get the bear" baguettes

Pat's (proth5) baguettes have been my “go to” recipe for baguettes for quite a while. When she posted a new formula in November - See Starting to get the Bear - I promised myself to give them a try. I got around to it today.

These baguettes are made with both levain and a poolish and are spiked with some instant yeast. They still have a relatively long fermentation, for yeasted baguettes. Pat's description of her method included baking some of the dough the day they are mixed and retarding some to shape, proof and bake the next day.

Here is my interpretation of her formula a methods, with some modifications, as described below.

Poolish
Ingredients	Wt (oz)
AP flour	3.7
Water	3.7
Instant yeast	“generous pinch”

Levain
Ingredients	Wt (oz)
AP flour	1.7
Water	1.7
Ripe sourdough	0.35

Final dough
Ingredients	Wt (oz)
AP flour	31.35
Water	19.2
Instant yeast	0.05
Salt	0.55
Poolish	All
Levain	All

Total dough
Ingredients	Wt (oz)	Baker's %
AP flour	37.1	100
Water	25	67.25
Instant yeast	0.1	0.25
Salt	0.55	1.5
Starter	0.35	9
Total	63.1	178

Mix the poolish and the levain and let them ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
Mix all the ingredients except the salt to a shaggy mass. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. (I actually autolysed for 90 minutes.)
Add the salt and hand mix in a large bowl or machine mix for 3-5 minutes at low speed. (I hand mixed the dough.)
Bulk ferment for 4.5 hours with a stretch and fold at 2 hours. (Or, cold retard for up to some length of time, but surely less than 3 days. Or divide some pieces and retard the rest of the dough. This time, I divided the dough in two after the S&F and retarded half.)
Divide into 10 oz pieces and pre-shape as logs. Rest the pieces, covered, for 20-30 minutes.
Shape as baguettes.
Proof en couche for 1.5 hours (Or until ready. Or retard shaped loaves.)
Pre-heat oven to 500ºF with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.
Transfer loaves to peel. Score them and transfer them to the oven.
Bake with steam for 5 minutes. Then lower temperature to 480ºF (convection, if you have it), and bake for another 12-13 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack and cooling thoroughly before eating.

Because of the size of my baking stone, I divided half the dough into 4 pieces to make mini-baguettes.The dough handled really nicely, I thought. The baguettes were proofed and baked as above, according to Pat's directions. After 17 minutes, they were rather dark, especially the one at the back of the oven. They sang loudly when removed to cool. They came out of the oven just in time to eat with dinner, for a change, rather than just in time for bedtime snack.

Baguette crumb - torn, not cut

We ate one baguette with dinner – Sautéed petrale sole, leeks vinaigrette and warm Swiss chard salad with olive oil and lemon dressing.

The crust was very crunchy. The crumb was quite chewy and nicely aerated. The flavor was good, but I will use a bit more salt next time. I think I will also bake at a somewhat lower temperature for a slightly longer time. 460-480ºF for 20 minutes would be better for me, I think.

Addendum: I baked the second batch of baguettes today. I baked these at 470ºF for 20 minutes.

Baguettes with varied shaping and scoring

Compared to the first batch, the second had less dark crust. It was very crisp. The crumb was basically the same. The flavor was noticeably sweeter, but it still was under-salted to my taste.

These are very nice baguettes. I'll be following Pat's reports of her continuing bear hunt.

David

December 15, 2010 - 6:50pm

wally

Christmas Breads

My tradition of Christmas bread baking began by accident back in 1975, when, considerably younger and poorer, I discovered a recipe for cheese bread in Joy of Cooking that yielded a pretty tasty product. So I decided that Christmas that family and friends would receive a loaf, something I could afford and that was personal.

To my surprise, I started receiving inquiries the following holiday season to the effect of, "So, I'm looking forward to another loaf of that fabulous bread." So began a tradition (curse in my weaker moments) of baking cheese bread at Christmas time. This year, that amounted to 30 loaves, baked over two weekends. A busman's holiday for me I reckon.

I've tweaked the recipe over the years, but the central ingredients remain extra sharp cheddar cheese, butter and milk. The combination makes for a rich, dense loaf of bread with excellent keeping qualities and a simple set of instructions I send with each loaf: "Cheese Bread - For best results, slice, toast, butter, and enjoy!" The recipe below is for 5 loaves which is my standard at-a-time bake these days.

While this is an easy, straightforward straight-dough bread, I've found that to achieve a really good loaf requires a fair amount of hand labor. I hand grate the cheese - about a quarter pound per loaf - because my experience with KA mixer grater attachments is that they produce too coarse a grate, and I then gently rub the cheese into the flour, a bit at a time, to both coat the individual gratings and to gently warm the flour and cheese which makes for better incorporation. Beyond that, because I mix 9 lbs at a time, there is no way short of using a commercial mixer to do this except by hand.

It's actually a kind of sensual experience, gently rubbing flour and cheese between my palms until the flour itself begins to take on an orange hue.

The second taxing part is that because this is a stiff dough, it requires kneading. Not so much for the gluten development I think as for the final effect of warm hands on dough in 'melting' the cheese so that it's really incorporated. After 7 minutes or so of kneading, you are rewarded with a dough that is silky smooth and now very orange-hued.

The milk, butter, salt and sugar are heated in a pan to a scalding temperature to denature the enzymes in the milk, and then cold water is added to reach DDT. Instant dry yeast is added to the flour and cheese, the liquid is poured in, and then hand mixed until fully kneaded. Bulk fermentation is 1 - 1 1/2 hours depending on temperature, and then the dough is divided, allowed to rest for 20 minutes, and then shaped and placed in bread pans and covered.

I braided one up as a challah, and thinking about it, the formulas aren't that far removed excepting the cheese.

Final proof is a short 1 hour, and then the bread is baked, steamed, in a 375° F oven for 45 minutes.

After removing them to racks to cool, they are brushed lightly with melted butter to achieve a soft crust (no hearth bread, this!).

I've frozen this for several months in frost-free refrigerators after cater-wrapping them in plastic, and they still turn out wonderfully.

Other baking I've done includes some stollen. I like to marinade my fruit in rum for about 8 weeks prior to making my dough. Pics are below - sorry no crumb shots as these are all presents.

I wish everyone at TFL the best of our Holiday season!

Larry

November 21, 2010 - 2:22pm

dmsnyder

Hot versus Cold Dutch Oven Baking: an experiment

The recent discussions regarding baking breads in hot versus cold Dutch ovens - those from "Tartine Bread" in particular - prompted today's experiment.

I made two boules of the Country Rye from "Tartine Bread." One I baked starting in a room temperature enameled cast iron Dutch oven. The other I baked in the same Dutch oven, pre-heated. The breads were identical in weight. They were cold retarded overnight in bannetons and then proofed at room temperature for 2 hours before the first bake. The loaf baked in the pre-heated dutch oven proofed for 45 minutes longer, while the other loaf was baking. The second loaf was baked for 7 minutes longer than the first loaf, to get a darker crust.

Boule baked in cool Dutch oven on the left. Boule baked in pre-heated Dutch oven on the right.

In spite of the fact that the loaf baked first was relatively under-proofed, the loaf baked second, in a pre-heated Dutch oven, got slightly better bloom and oven spring. I won't be slicing these until next week. They are for my Thanksgiving guests. So, I don't know if there is any difference in the crumb structure.

Overall, I'm happy with both loaves. The differences are very small - arguably of no significance. While pre-heating the Dutch oven does appear to result in slightly better oven spring, the convenience of not having to pre-heat the Dutch oven may be more advantageous for many bakers.

Addendum: Okay. So, I'm weak. I had to try the bread, since it was the firs time I'd baked it.

The crust is crunchy-chewy. The crumb is less open than the "Basic Country Bread," as expected. The 17% (by Robertson's way of doing baker's math) whole rye does make a difference. The crumb is very cool and tender. The aroma is rather sour, but the flavor is less so. The surprise was the prominent whole wheat flavor tone, even though all the WW is in the levain, and it only amounts to 50 g out of a total of 1100 g (my way of doing baker's math). I expect the flavors to meld by breakfast time tomorrow. I think this will make great toast with Almond butter and apricot preserves.

Country Rye, cut loaf

Country rye, crumb

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

March 23, 2010 - 2:22pm

Anonymous baker (not verified)

Protein content of flour

The nutritional label of the flour I have been using says that there are 3 grams protein per serving and a serving is 30 grams. That would seem to translate into a 10% protein content. But, since this is labeled bread flour and the protein content is probably at least two percent higher there must be other factors involved. Anybody got a clue? Does ash content get involved? Being able to tell the protein content of the flour from the nutritional label would be much too easy.

Thank you

Greg

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December 5, 2009 - 3:30pm

dmsnyder

Sourdough Challah from "A Blessing of Bread"

I'm rather fond of challah, but my wife isn't. Most challah is too rich and too sweet for her taste. The closer to brioche it tastes, the less she likes it. So, when I made “My Sourdough Challah” from Maggie Glezer's “A Blessing of Bread,” and both my wife and I loved it, I was delighted.

Of course, all challah was made with sourdough before the introduction of commercial yeast. Since then, according to Glezer, challah has tended to be made sweeter and richer. Sourdough challah has a “moister, creamier texture” and stays fresh longer that the yeasted variety. Glezer's version has a delightful sourdough tang which lends it an almost “sweet and sour” flavor. It is wonderful plain, as toast and as French toast.

Ingredients
The starter	Amount (gms)
Active firm sourdough starter	35
Warm water	80
Bread flour	135

The final dough
Warm water	60
Large Eggs	3 eggs + 1 egg for glazing the loaves.
Salt	8
Vegetable oil	55
Mild honey	65
Or Granulated sugar	60
Bread flour	400*
Sourdough starter	All of the above+

* I added an additional 3 tablespoons or so of flour during mixing, because the dough seemed too wet. This may have been needed due to my using more starter than Glezer specifies. See below.

+ Glezer says to use only 200 gms of starter, but I used all of it (250 gms)

Procedures

The night before baking, mix the starter and ferment it at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
In the morning, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the starter in the water, then mix in the 3 eggs, salt, honey and oil until completely combined.
Mix in all the bread flour until it forms a shaggy mass.
Knead the dough on the bench or in a stand mixer until it is smooth and there is moderate gluten development. Add small amounts of water or flour to achieve the desired consistency. The dough should be quite firm.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover it tightly. Ferment for about 2 hours. It may not rise much.
To make two 1 pound loaves, divide the dough into two equal portions, and divide each portion into the number of pieces needed for the type of braiding you plan to do. (I did 3-strand braids.)
Form each piece into a ball and allow them to rest, covered, for 10-20 minutes to relax the gluten.
Form each piece into a strand about 14” long. (I like Glezer's technique for this. On an un-floured board, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to about ¼ inch thickness. Then roll up each piece into a tight tube. Using the palms of your hands, lengthen each piece by rolling each tube back and forth on the bench with light pressure. Start with your hands together in the middle of the tube and, as you roll

it, move your hands gradually outward. Taper the ends of the tube by rotating your wrists slightly so that the thumb side of your hand is slightly elevated, as you near the ends of the tube.)

Braid the loaves.

Place each loaf on parchment paper in half-sheet pans (I used a quarter-sheet pan for each loaf.) Cover well with plasti-crap or place the pans in a food grade plastic bag, and proof at room temperature until the loaves have tripled in volume. (Glezer says this will take “about 5 hours.” My kitchen was rather cool. I proofed for 6 hours.)

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF with the rack in the upper third of the oven.

Brush each loaf with an egg lightly beaten with a pinch of salt.

Optionally, sprinkle the loaves with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds.

Bake until done – 25-35 minutes for 1 pound loaves.

Cool completely before slicing.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting on SusanFNP's Wildyeastblog.

July 22, 2009 - 12:11am

Shiao-Ping

Dan Lepard's Barm Bread (100% sourdough)

My husband text me from China and said his boss told him over pre-dinner drinks that he is a sucker of sourdough! Immediately I was thinking what would I bake if he ever makes a trip to Australia, not that I've been forewarned of any near-term possibility, but I was just entertaining hypothetical visits. Somehow, I know it's not MacGuire's that I've been making lately even with all those lovely big holey crumbs that I've been getting. The flavors of all those MacGuire breads/sourdoughs are not the best of all breads/sourdoughs that I've made. Indulge me with this explanation: the flavors of all those super-hydrated (and the resulting super-holey) crumbs are not deeply alluring for me to want to come back and have another slice once chewing is done.

I was out doing a bit of gardening and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine of Australian winter. It hit me that my husband left a bottle of Irish ale in our bar fridge. There is a Dan Lepard's recipe that uses ale (as one would expect) in his "The Handmade Loaf" that I've been wanting to try. It's called "Barm bread." For most of you out there there will be no difficulty guessing what a barm bread might be, but I've never heard of this word, barm. My Wiktionary says it is an old English term referring to the foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread (and in brewing). So, that's it - a barm bread is like a sourdough bread.

To make a quick barm

250 g ale (or bottle-conditioned beer)

50 g white bread flour

4 tsp white leaven (Dan's starter is 80% hydration; as the amount used is so little, it would not matter if your is not 80%.)

Heat up the ale or beer in a saucepan to 70C (158F), then remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the flour. Transfer to a bowl, leave to cool down to 20C (68F), then stir in the leaven. Cover with a plastic wrap and leave overnight to ferment. (My barm took 36 hours to be bubbly.) Use as you would a leaven (but adjust your recipe water as the barm is quite liquid).

the ale and the barm freshly made up the barm is ready

Dan Lepard says this is a perfect replica of the complex barm of olden times for the home bakers.

Now, the above formula is really curious to me. Recently a TFL user Bruce (Frrogg1son) asked me about a Chinese "65C soupy dough" and when I Googled it a whole string of Hongkonese and Taiwanese bread recipes ran up; many of these breads are on the sweet side with milk powder, butter and sugar, almost like French brioche breads. I see these type of sweet white breads in Japan a lot too.

The curious thing is that the ratio of water to flour in this "65C soupy dough" is the same as Dan's ale to flour ratio; ie, 5 to 1, and it is heated up to 65 C, closed to Dan's 70 C. Bruce told me that the science behind this soupy dough is that "when the flour particles reach about 65C, they burst, releasing starch molecules, which have the capacity to absorb very large amounts of water. It is like gelatinization." What this does to a dough is that it improves the moistness of the crumb and keeping quality of the bread. He first discovered it on the internet as a natural way to extend the moistness of some doughs. How interesting. I imagined what this does is similar to what potato does for some sourdoughs - very most crumbs and good keeping quality.

That said, I felt a sense of auspicious foreboding coming for this barm bread. Dan's book (page 41) says the Barm bread is the traditional wheaten bread of England. Wow.

The formula

150 g barm from above (the rest can keep in the fridge for a week)

250 g water (adjust your water temp to achieve a dough temp of around 21C / 70F)

500 g strong white flour (or a flour mix of rye and wholewheat, or even soaked grains, but I used white flour only)

10 g salt (or 1& 1/2 tsp)

* Note: This is a 68% hydration dough; but I added 20 g extra water to bring it to 72%.

Schedule in hours and minutes

0 :00 In a large bowl, whisk the barm with the water. Add the flour and salt, and stir until you have a sticky mass. Cover. Autolyse. The dough temp should be about 21C (70F).

0 :10 Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 - 15 seconds. Return the dough to the bowl. Cover. (I gave the dough 7 - 8 folds inside the bowl, which lasted 15 seconds, much the same way as dough is folded in James MacGuire's pain de tradition here that I recently posted.)

0 :20 Knead again as above. (I folded the dough again in the bowl.) The room temp should be about 20C (68F), if not, you may need to place your dough in the fridge for part of the time to keep the dough temp down.

0 :30 Knead again as above. (I folded again.)

1 :00 Knead again as above. (I folded again.)

2 :00 Knead again as above. (I folded again.)

3 :00 Knead again as above. (I folded again.)

5 :00 Turn the dough out and divide it into two pieces of 450 g each (I left mine as whole). Pre-shape each into a ball. Cover.

5 :15 Shape dough into boule and place into floured linen-lined baskets or bowls. Cover. Leave at room temp of around 20C (68F) for a bit longer than 4 hours or until dough almost doubled.

8 :30 Turn on your oven to 220C/425F (if it takes one hour to pre-heat).

9 :30 Bake with steam for 50 - 70 minutes.

Phew! This schedule may look like a bread making marathon to you but in truth my dough was not ready until after 12 hours! I started mixing my dough at 7am yesterday, and it was only ready to bake at 8 pm! Possible reasons are that my room temp was only around 18C (64F) and/or my barm was very slow. And this is it:

Dan Lepard's Barm Bread

What a beautiful barm bread; the taste is most amazing, richly flavored from the ale-based barm, which has a slight bitterness and sweetness from the ale. I am most impressed by Dan's formula. The crumb is sweetly fragrant. It has a very deep aroma, and allure. Now, this is something that I would come back to have more.

It's been years since I ate past 8pm but last night I literally had 1/3 of the loaf on my own! Any of you ladies out there, don't do what I do.

I have not recommended any breads to people up until now because most of my breads are frivolous experiments and for my eyes only, but I do commend this one. Whether your guests are experienced connoisseurs or no foodies at all, there would be no qualms about this superb sourdough. (I am blowing my own trumpet.)

Thank you, Dan.

It's time Polly our dog go out for a rumple-trot in our yard; I sang out her name and she stirred from behind my couch. Out she went through the hallway door to enjoy the green and the afternoon sun. And me? I am having my afternoon tea with this bread!

Shiao-Ping

May 17, 2009 - 7:37am

audra36274

Why milk powder in milk bread, and not just milk?

I just got my copy of Secrets of a Jewish Baker, and got up this morning going to make milk bread. Scanning over them I noticed that they all contained milk powder instead of just plain milk. I have seen the ads in KA claiming the the rise is far superior with their milk powder. I had some but it has gotten old. Surely little old Jewish men and women centuries ago were not going out to milk the cow for milk powder to make bread. Maybe its a dumb question, but why can't I just use milk? Help!

Audra

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February 14, 2009 - 3:56pm

Stephmo

Soft Pretzels - Alton Brown Style

I love soft pretzels - who doesn't? I just never seem to get them outside of fair settings.

And then the other week, Alton Brown did a show on homemade pretzels - it was a sign! So I went to the food network's site and I grabbed the recipe. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html)

The Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water

1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt (note, I simply used Kosher salt)

ALTON: Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

So Alton's all into proofing the yeast - and I must say that I only do this because the instructions say so. At some point I'll stop since I'm really only convinced this is a leftover from poor production methods of old - but look, it bubbles:

ALTON: Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Now it's all about letting the KitchenAid do the work. I add the melted butter and the flour. You may notice Alton's recipe does specify flour by weight. I actually do have a scale where I can zero out my mixing bowl with ingredients, so I'm able to pour 22 ounces of flour exactly. From here, I let the mixer do it's thing for 5 minutes until the dough is nice and ready:

ALTON: Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Rising time. Recipe calls for an hour, but this is fast-acting - in 30 minutes, I'm more than doubled:

ALTON: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I tear my into 8 pieces and lightly oil my counter so I can roll these into ropes and form them into pretzel shapes. I'll admit that it's not as supple as I'm expecting it to be, but that's okay. While I do this, I have water boiling on the stove and the oven preheating:

Hint from me to you - do put in the baking soda before the water is boiling - if you think you see white crusty stuff on the sides of the pot, you do. I added the baking soda while the water was boiling and got a mini-science experiment. Luckily no spillover, but I laughed. I basically boiled each pretzel for 30 seconds and scooped it out with a wire scoop (this gives the pretzel texture):

At this point, I give the pretzels an egg wash and bake them for 13 minutes. Look what I get:

If you're wondering - but is it a chewy, doughy piece of pretzel goodness? Well - take a look at this crumb:

Yes, this is good stuff - I will be making this again!

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

JMonkey

My daughter basically lives on these for breakfast. I save up old starter over the week in the fridge and make these both during the week and over the weekend. Super easy, and they freeze very well. Simply split and freeze. When you want one, pop it directly in the toaster from the freezer. I learned this recipe with volumetric measures, and never bothered to convert to grams. I adapted this recipe and converted it to whole wheat from a posting at The Fresh Loaf from KJKnits.

Ingredients

Sourdough starter: 1/2 cup (stiff or wet, makes no difference)
Milk: 1 cup if you use wet starter; 1.25 cups if you use stiff
Whole wheat flour: 2 cups
Honey: 1 Tbs
Salt: ¾ tsp
Baking soda: 1 tsp

Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting

Dissolve the starter into the milk and then add the flour. Stir to combine, cover with a plate or plastic, and leave out for 8 hours or overnight. It’ll be pretty wet – don’t worry, it’ll firm up by morning.

The next morning, add the honey, salt and baking soda and mix well. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes with wet hands. With your fingers, flatten it out to 3/4" thick and cut with a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass into rounds. Reflatten the scraps to make additional muffins. You’ll get 10-12 muffins. Place muffins on a surface dusted with semolina, cornmeal or flour cover and let them rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Spray griddle or skillet lightly with spray oil or add a little butter. (Actually, if it’s nonstick, you may not need any grease at all.) Heat to medium high and cook muffins for about 5 minutes on each side, or until browned on the top and bottom and cooked through. These have great griddle spring and rise quite a bit. They’re done when the sides are firm.

Split with a fork and toast if you like. As noted above, they freeze very well.

The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

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Most bookmarked

Oatmeal and Sweet Date Bread (courtesy BBGA/Team USA 2005)

Proth5's "Starting to get the bear" baguettes

Christmas Breads

Hot versus Cold Dutch Oven Baking: an experiment

Protein content of flour

Sourdough Challah from "A Blessing of Bread"

Dan Lepard's Barm Bread (100% sourdough)

Why milk powder in milk bread, and not just milk?

Soft Pretzels - Alton Brown Style

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

Pages