The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Crystal bread

July 20, 2023 - 11:42am
Sims's picture
Sims

Crystal bread

I’m trying to make Crystal bread please can you help me with a good recipe I can use with method and instructions 

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pmccool's picture
pmccool
July 20, 2023 - 1:03pm

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71713/pan-de-cristal-idy

There are a number of other posts you can find by using the site's Search tool.

Paul

tpassin's picture
tpassin
July 23, 2023 - 8:19pm

This bread was new to me, and after I read the linked thread and watched several videos on how to to handle such wet dough, I took a try at it.  The first time, I pretty much followed the King Arthur yeasted recipe except I only made 1/4 as much, just one loaf.  Handling turned out to be fairly easy.  The loaf puffed up in the most amazing way, but got a little burned, and had a large tunnel running just under the upper crust for half the length of the loaf.  The loaf was so light it almost felt like it might float in the air.

It was very good eating with, as advertised, a very thin, crusty crust.

Today I baked a sourdough version.  This time I went for a larger loaf - still just one - and used 5 oz each of KA bread flour and water with 1 oz of 100% hydration white flour starter.  I held back 10% (0.5 oz) of the water during mixing, and added it in during the four S&F sessions.  It all went very well.

I let the bulk fermentation go for about 6 hours at room temperature (74 deg F), and proofed the floured and shaped loaf for two hours uncovered.  Just like most of the recipes say to.

I baked it on my baking steel at 450 deg F with steam from my steam pan filled with rocks.  Once again the loaf plumped up a surprising amount.  The bread is really delicious.  And it's much easier to make than I had thought.


 


 

 

tpassin's picture
tpassin
July 23, 2023 - 8:53pm

I forgot to say that I didn't use a mixer - it was all done by hand.  No need for 20 - 30 minutes with a mixer or a similar amount for hand mixing.  Instead, time does the work for you.  I combined the ingredients with only a few minutes of mixing.  Then I gave the shaggy wet mess a 1/2 hour rest.  Then a minute or two of gentle S&F in the mixing bowl.  After that, I followed the videos for doing "coil" stretch-and fold sessions.

Basically, I used my standard sourdough process, except for the tricks for handling super-wet dough.