Farine

Crazy for Bread

Spring cleaning bread

Spring is officially on even though right now it is snowing lightly where I live. But I am in the mood for warmer breezes and daffodils and in the hope of accelerating the arrival of the new season, I decided to do some cleaning. I started with the cupboard where I keep my stock of dry fruit, which is how I discovered that some of my figs had a decidedly dryer look than when I first bought them.
It so happened that I had just seen a recipe which called for soaking some figs, currants, apricots and prunes in Home Baking, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, a book I bought long ago on e-bay but never baked from before. As you may have guessed, my spring cleaning stopped right there for the day!
The recipe is called “fruit & nut powerpack” but I changed it to spring cleaning because I need energy and motivation to go on with the process of ridding the house of the last remnants of winter and what better way to get motivated than to remind myself that I didn’t bake all these calories into a loaf just to sit at my computer and eat.
It should also be said that the recipe makes for 2 loaves and that I gave one of them to my daughter whose kids tore it apart and devoured it with even more determination than usual.
My 4-year old granddaughter declared it very yummy with peanut butter when she had her midday meal/afternoon snack on the way back from the aquarium and the 2-year twins kept up an extremely lively bad monster game before they went to sleep last night, which means the energy part works!
Maybe my daughter is sorry I didn’t take up wonderbread baking instead of artisan baking as I heard the twins laugh and chatter in their cribs for quite a while last night (I was over for dinner) while I was helping their 15-year old sister with the formatting of her research paper. Why did Microsoft change the layout of all the commands in Word 2007 is truly beyond me. We had to poke our way through the various menus to find what we needed. Indenting is easier than before but we never found the way to skip page numbering on the first page. Oh, well! The bread did help though because between the two of us, we found all the other answers.
Anyway this is a bread that almost wasn’t because I made a serious mistake while mixing the dough. The recipe calls for active dry yeast and that’s what I had used when mixing the sponge the day before. However, on the day of the baking, I was listening to Will in the World, a truly fascinating account by Stephen Greenblatt of how Shakespeare became Shakespeare. I have borrowed the book on cds from my local library and was totally engrossed in the narrative.
I should know better than multitask while baking and also, true to what I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute, I should have scaled all the ingredients before starting with the mixing instead of doing it on the go. Anyway what I did was to reach for the instant yeast instead of the active dry one and I weighed it straight into the sponge!
I realized my mistake as soon as it happened but it was too late. I had no idea of how the bread would come out because a) I used the same quantity of instant yeast as I would have of active dry yeast when you are supposed to use way less; b) since it was already late, I had planned for a long fermentation overnight in the fridge which requires less yeast, not more, if you want the micro-organisms to still have something to feast upon in the morning when you put the bread in the oven.
Oh, well! It was too late to do anything about it. Let me tell you though that I never saw a dough grow as fast or as plump as this one on the first rise. It was trying to fly out of the dough bucket like a hot air balloon. Fortunately the lid held fast and it didn’t happen. Since I had barely developed the dough to the point where I could get a gluten window, I did two folds during the first fermentation which lasted about 2 1/2 hours.
Then I did the pre-shaping and the shaping and stuck the whole thing in the fridge. I was half expecting to find two exhausted looking deflated loaves in the morning but that’s not what happened. Which shows that when bakers make mistakes, they should remain hopeful…

Ingredients:

  • 375 to 500 g all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 240 g whole wheat flour
  • 60 g buckwheat flour
  • 474 g lukewarm water
  • 237 g very hot water
    5 g active-dry yeast (as explained above, by mistake I used 1 g of active-dry and 4 g of instant yeast)
  • 15 g of salt (the authors actually call for 12 grams but I like to use about 2% of the total flour weight)
  • 75 g chopped figs
  • 72 g chopped currants
  • 65 g coarsely chopped dried apricots
  • 66 g coarsely chopped pitted prunes
  • 67 g hazelnuts
  • 20 g liquid honey (about half of what the authors use, which is 42 g)

Method:

  1. Eight to 24 hours before you wish to bake, place the lukewarm water in a bowl and stir in 1 g (1/4 of a teaspoon) of active dry yeast then add the whole wheat flour, always stirring in the same direction until a smooth batter forms. Set aside, covered with plastic wrap to ferment overnight or as long as 24 hours (the authors recommend placing the bowl in the fridge if you have to leave the sponge to ferment for longer than 24 hours and not to go beyond 36 hours)
  2. Meanwhile place the figs, currants, apricots and prunes in a bowl and pour over the hot water. Stir well, cover and soak overnight (or at least 5 hours at room temperature)
  3. Before making the dough, toast the hazelnuts. To do that, I put them in a 375 F/191 C oven (a toaster oven would be better if you have one) in a foil pan for about 10 minutes (or until fragrant). Then I transfer them to a kitchen towel which I fold over and rub between my hand to get the skins off (it is okay if some stays on).
  4. Chop by hand or in a food processor. Set aside
  5. Drain the fruit in a sieve over a bowl, using a wooden spoon to press on the fruit to push out all the liquid. Reserve the soaking liquid. Place the fruit in a large bowl and stir in the hazelnuts
  6. Add the reserved soaking liquid to the sponge. Sprinkle on the remaining 4 grams of yeast and stir in (that’s what I made the non-fatal mistake referred to above)
  7. Add 62 g of the all-purpose flour and stir in
  8. Pour in the honey and sprinke on the salt. Stir again
  9. Add the buckwheat flour and stir
  10. Then add 185 to 250 g of the all-purpose flour, 60 g at a time, turning and stirring to mix
  11. Turn the dough out on a work surface floured with another 62 to 125 g of the all-purpose flour (don’t forget to do that as the dough is extremely sticky at this point)
  12. Knead well, incorporating more of the flour as needed. When I stopped kneading, I had a faint gluten window
  13. Let rest for 20 minutes on the counter, covered with plastic
  14. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl. Mix 62 g of the all-purpose flour into the drained fruit and nuts, then add the whole mixture to the dough. Knead in the bowl or on the work surface for 5 minutes or more to incorporate the fruit mixture. If the dough is very sticky, add a little more flour (I had to add 20 g altogether)
  15. Place the dough in a clean bowl (I put it in my dough bucket) and let rise for 3 hours or almost doubled in volume (I actually let it rise for less as indicated above and did 2 folds during the first fermentation. )
  16. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut it half
  17. Pre-shape each loaf into a boule and let stand, loosely covered for about 20 minutes
  18. Meanwhile prepare a baking sheet which you will cover with parchment paper. Sprinkle the paper with semolina
  19. Shape the dough into boules, tucking the edges all around to make a smooth mound
  20. Place seam down on the baking sheet, put the baking sheet into a large clear plastic bag, blow in the bag once and close it tightly
  21. At this point, I stuck the loaves in the fridge to slow-rise overnight. If time is not an issue, you can also let them rise on the counter for 1 1/2 hour to 2 hours (or until pressing your finger into the dough leaves an indent which doesn’t disappear right away)
  22. I took the loaves out of the oven and left them at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hour, at which point they appeared ready
  23. Turn on the oven on 400 F/204 C one hour into the second rise (having placed a baking stone in it with an empty metal pan on the shelf located directly under it)
  24. With scissors, cut the paper between the loaves so that each had its own little paper and they can be put further apart in the oven than if they still shared a piece of paper
  25. Sprinkle flour on the loaves and score them, then pour 1 cup of cold water in the hot metal pan (taking care to avert your face and to protect your hands) and put in the loaves in the oven one at a time
  26. Spray more water into the oven (taking care to aim away from the lamp) and close the oven door
  27. Lower the oven temperature to 375 F/191 C and open the oven after two minutes to spray water generously once more
  28. Then bake for about 50 minutes (check the color of the crust after 40 minutes and if necessary, tent the loaves with foil to continue the baking)
  29. The loaves should sound hollow when tapped at the bottom and their internal temperature (taken with an instant thermometer) should be above 204 F/96 C
  30. Let cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This bread will be submitted to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastspotting.

Kneadlessly Simple San Francisco Style Sourdough Bread

The recipe for this bread comes from Nancy Baggett’s Kneadlessly Simple, a book I rewieved here.

Ingredients:
496 g all-purpose unbleached flour (+ more as needed)
9 g salt (the bread wasn’t quite salty enough to my taste. Next time I’ll use 2% of the total amount of flour indicated in the recipe, including the flour in the starter, i.e. 13 g)
1/4 tsp instant yeast (I used SAF)
12 g corn oil, canola oil or other flavorless vegetable oil + more for coating dough and pan
368 g wild yeast sourdough starter (hydration 100%)
350 g ice water (water chilled to around 50 F/10 C by adding ice cubes)

Method:

  1. In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, salt and yeast
  2. In another bowl or measuring cup, whisk the oil and starter into the water
  3. Vigorously stir the mixture into the bowl with the flour, scraping down the sides until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. If too dry, stir in just enough ice water to be able to incorporate the flour but don’t overdo it as the dough should be very stiff (conversely, if necessary, add more flour)
  4. Brush or spray the dough with oil and cover the bowl with plastic wrap
  5. If desired, for best flavor or convenience, the dough can be refrigerated for 3 to 10 hours
  6. Then let rise at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours. If convenient, vigorously stir the dough once partway through the rise (I forgot to do that part)
  7. When ready for the second rise, vigorously stir the dough, adding more flour as needed to make it very stiff and hard to stir (as I couldn’t bring myself to do that, I more or less stopped following the author’s instructions at this point and proceeded my usual way. I still did steps 8 and 9 however)
  8. Then using a well-oiled rubber spatula, fold the dough in towards the center, working your way all around the bowl (which will help organize the gluten)
  9. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes
  10. Invert the dough on a lightly floured counter, sprinkle the dough with flour and pre-shape it into a boule (ball)
  11. Let it rest for 20 minutes under a damp cloth
  12. Shape it into a tighter boule and place this boule into a floured cloth-covered basket (probably because I hadn’t added flour as recommanded by the author, the dough wasn’t stiff enough to rise by itself on a baking sheet)
  13. Place the basket into a large clear plastic bag, blow in the bag and close it tightly. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours or 4 to 24 hours in the fridge (I chose to let it rise overnight in the fridge)
  14. On the day of the baking, take the loaf out of the fridge and invert it onto a semolina-covered parchment paper and then to a Dutch oven lined with parchment paper (I use a 5-quart Lodge cast-iron oven but Pyrex or any large enough other covered ovenproof dish would work too). Do not cut the paper to the diameter of the Dutch oven as you will need the extra paper to carry the loaf into and out of the Dutch oven as on a sling
  15. Sprinkle some flour on the loaf, then score it in a tick-tack-toe pattern
  16. Close the Dutch oven and place it into the cold oven (once again, this is not the author’s method, but mine) and turn the oven on to 470 F/243 C. Bake for 45 minutes
  17. Take the Dutch oven out of the oven, get the bread out of it (lifting it on both sides using the paper as a sling) and set it back in the oven, without the paper, directly on the baking stone (if using)
  18. Lower the oven temperature to 440 F/227 C and bake for another 15 minutes (tenting the top of the loaf with foil to avoid overbrowning if necessary)
  19. Take the loaf out of the oven and check its internal temperature with an instant thermometer. If it has reached 204 F/ 96 C, it is ready. If not, put it back in the oven for another few minutes (taking care to protect the top with foil)
  20. When the bread is done, take it out of the oven and set it to cool on a rack before slicing it.

This bread didnt taste like the one I had several times in San Francisco but I like it better that way as I am not a huge fan of the famous San Francisco sourdough bread, except when eaten with clam chowder.
But I like the fact that without being exceptionally good, this bread is really tasty (especially after a few hours or the next day as it truly improves with age), that the work involved is minimal and that, best of all, all I had to wash afterward was a couple of bowls and a wooden spoon…

Nantucket Crown

This bread doesn’t have much in common with the quaint island that lies off the coast of Cape Cod. Rather it takes its name from the blend of dried fruit and nuts I used, which is sold at Costco under the name “Nantucket Blend”.
You will notice that, being calorie-conscious, I used very little of this blend, just enough to give the bread its fruity and nutty flavor.
Since this loaf contains 70% whole-grain flours, I added a bit of yeast to the starter. I could probably have done without but then I would have had to make the fermentation a while longer.

Ingredients:

  • 250 g white whole wheat flour
  • 150 g all-purpose unbleached flour (I use Whole Foods 365 Organic)
  • 50 g sorghum flour (spelt or kamut flour can be substituted) 
  • 50 g dark rye flour
  • 50 g coarse yellow cornmeal 
  • 300 g water 
  • 170 g liquid starter 100% hydration
  • 55 g Nantucket blend (or other)
  • 26 g raw wheat germ
  • 11 g salt
  • 12 g almond oil (canola or sunflower oil can be substituted)
  • 4 g instant yeast (I use SAF)

Method:

  1. Put all the ingredients (except the fruit & nut) in the bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer (in mine, liquid ingredients must go first)
  2. Select and start the dough program
  3. Check the consistency of the dough as it is being kneaded (for best results, reserve a tenth of the water at the beginning and add it or not according to the needs of the dough)
  4. When the machine beeps, add the fruit and nut mixture
  5. Let the dough program run its course till the end of the rising period
  6. Take the dough out of the machine and divide it into 8 equal pieces
  7. Pre-shape each of these pieces into a rough boule (ball) and let rest 20 minutes under a damp towell
  8. Shape each piece into a boule and put the 8 boules in a circle on a baking sheet covered with semolina-sprinkled parchment paper
  9. Put the baking sheet in a big clear plastic bag, blow into the bag once and close it tightly
  10. Let rise at room temperature for about an hour and a half
  11. Twenty minutes before baking time, turn on the oven (450 F/246 C)
  12. Put in a baking stone with an empty metal pan on the rack below it
  13. Before baking, score or stencil the loaves (or do both as on the photo) and pour a cup of cold water in the hot metal dish (taking care to avoid getting the steam in your face or on your hands)
  14. Open the oven again and slide the crown (still on the parchment paper) directly onto the baking stone
  15. Spray the oven heavily with water (taking care not to aim at the lamp to avoid cracking) and close the oven
  16. Spray again two minutes later, then lower the oven temperature to 450 F/232 C and do not open the oven for the next 30 to 35 minutes
  17. Take the loaf out of the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

This loaf would look good with a buffet-style dinner, or even at Easter on the brunch table. Each of the “little” boules is big enough to be thinly sliced and served with a runny goat cheese or with a Brie or camembert. It is also very good at breakfast with butter and honey or jam.

No-knead garlic parmesan bread

This recipe is one of several I tried in Nancy Baggett’s Kneadlessly Simple book. I am not a huge fan of no-knead breadmaking as I don’t mind the kneading (especially since I am the lucky owner of a bread machine, which means that, when I don’t have the time or energy to knead by hand, I just throw all the ingredients in the machine, select the dough cycle and let the machine take care of the temperature, the mixing and, sometimes, the first rise).
But I still find Baggett’s book rather amazing as it manages time and again to produce great breads with minimum effort.
While in most of her other recipes, I replaced the yeast with sourdough starter (with very good results), in this one, I stuck to yeast. The only thing I changed is the way I baked the loaf. From step 17 on, I reverted to my usual way of doing things.
Whenever possible, I like to put the dough in a cold Dutch oven which I cover and put in a cold oven which I then turn on. It saves on the energy bill and it is better for the environment than preheating. It also saves me the trouble of creating steam as the dough self-steams inside the Dutch oven.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large head of garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil 
  • 10 g freshly grated Parmesan + 2 tbsp for garnish
  • 570 g unbleached all-purpose flour (I use Whole Foods 365 organic)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3.5 g instant yeast (I use SAF)
  • 500 g ice water + more if needed

Method:

  1. Peel off the papery outer skin from the garlic but do not separate the cloves. Cut across the top portion to display the flesh inside. Discard the cut-off portion
  2. Put 1 tbsp of olive oil in a small ovenproof dish, dip the cut side of the garlic in the oil, then turn the head cut-side up, place in the cup and cover the cup with foil
  3. Bake in a preheated 350 F/177 C oven for 35 to 45 minutes
  4. Let cool, then squeeze or scrape the garlic from the cloves into a medium bowl
  5. Add 10 g of Parmesan and thoroughly mash with a fork to form a paste
  6. Reserve (this paste can be made several days ahead and refrigerated; it would need to be brought back to room temp and stirred before using)
  7. In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, salt and yeast
  8. Vigorously stir the water and the garlic mixture into the bowl until the ingredients are thoroughly blended
  9. If too dry, stir in just enough water to blend the ingredients but don’t overmoisten as the dough should be very stiff (add flour if necessary to stiffen it)
  10. Brush or spray the top with olive oil
  11. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours (I put it in the fridge overnight)
  12. Then let rise at cool room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. If convenient, vigorously stir the dough once partway through the rise (I forgot to do that)
  13. Using an oiled rubber spatula, lift and fold the dough in towards the center, working all the way around the bowl, taking care not to deflate it. Brush or spray with olive oil. Re-cover with plastic wrap
  14. Let rise at warm room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours or if preferred, refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours (I refrigerated overnight again)
  15. Then set out at room temperature and let rise until the dough doubles from the deflated size, removing the plastic as the dough nears it
  16. Put a rack with a baking stone on it in the lower third of the oven
  17. Here is where I didn’t do what the recipe says, which is to oil a Dutch oven and heat it in the oven. I just took the dough out of the bowl, inverted it on a piece of parchment paper and, using the paper as a sling, lifted the loaf and put it into a cold Dutch oven
  18. I sprayed it with water and sprinkled the 2 tbsp of Parmesan over the top
  19. I put the covered Dutch oven in the cold oven and turned the oven on (475 F/246 C)
  20. I baked for 30 minutes at 475 F/246 C, then reduced the temperature to 425 F/218 C)
  21. After 10 more minutes, I took the loaf out of the Dutch oven, removed the parchment paper and set the loaf directly on the baking stone
  22. Then I let it bake until golden. When golden, I tented it with foil and continued with the baking until it reached an internal temperature of 207 to 208 F/97 to 98 C on an instant-read thermometer
  23. Then I took it out and let it cool on a wire rack.

Rustic rye mini-loaves with anise seeds

I know that spring has arrived in Europe but here, my gosh, March came in roaring like a lion (to paraphrase Mayor Bloomberg of New York City). It snowed huge clouds of white fluff, the wind is howling in the creaking trees and tonight will be bitterly cold.
So our little primroses remain inside on the window sills from which they like to contemplate the frost. For us, who don’t like it as much (although it is pretty, I must admit), I whipped up my magic wand (my 4-year old granddaughter was watching Cinderalla at the time and I felt I had to do something to impress her) and made rustic mini-loaves or honeycakes. Their fragrance filled up the house with dreams of other times, other seasons, other places…

The little ones loved them. Sophia (the 4-year old) even put big pieces in her cereal bowl and said they were delicious with milk. I tried and she’s right. It’s an awesome combination. The grown-ups like them too, especially the Man who, being born in Belgium, is a big fan of pain d’épice in all its guises. And what are these little loaves if not the rustic cousins of the French and Belgian honeycakes we grew up with? They are very comforting with a hot cup of tea.

Ingredients:

  • 140 g dark rye flour
  • 120 g all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 20 g of white whole wheat flour (if you don’t have any, don’t replace it by regular whole wheat flour. In combination with the rye, the taste would be too strong. Just add another 20g of the all-purpose flour)
  • 2 tbsp roasted almond butter
  • 200 g honey
  • 100 g liquid starter (100% hydration)
  • 100 g almond milk
  • 5 g ground anise seeds
  • 2 g each ground pepper, ginger, clove and cinnamon
  • 3 g salt

Method:

  1. Heat up the milk and melt the honey in it
  2. Turn on the oven ( 350 F/177 C)
  3. Add the almond butter to the milk and honey and mix well
  4. Mix the flours, the salt and the spices in a big bowl
  5. Add the starter
  6. Add the milk-almond butter and honey mixture. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated
  7. Spoon the batter into tiny pans (I used a mini-loaf pan sheet which I bought in France but I could have used mini-muffins pans). Mine do not need to be greased but muffin pans sometimes do. So check before spooning the batter
  8. Bake for 30 or 35 minutes. Turn off the oven. Take the loaves out of the pans and put them back in the oven for 5 minutes in case the sides are still a bit pale
  9. Cool down a bit on a cooling rack before devouring them with a nice spoonful of fragrant honey