Puffy and pretty
Excited to have a beautiful, bubbly, puffy starter again, I made a bread out of a dough that was seconds away from being thrown into the compost as a mistake. Instead, following those bread instincts, I helped create a nice whole wheat bread, adjusted in pretty major respects from the 75 percent whole wheat recipe in Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. Enjoyed a few slices for breakfast the next morning. Recipe below. I have to admit I followed the recipe - commercial yeast included - the first time I made it, before the starter was back to its old self. I decided not to count this as another bread in the 108 bread series because I have made many whole wheat breads. I changed my mind because it was a departure in terms of how it was made.
This recipe was adjusted for sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast, adjusted for timing so that I could make it during the week, and adjusted for a barely risen dough that after 22 hours in the fridge looked like it was not going to turn into a lovely bread. I did do the three stretch and folds recommended. This venture turned into a three-day bread.
Tried the recipe three times and the improved taste from earlier lackluster whole wheats, I believe, is the better quality flour, though it is more expensive and comes in small packages. Funny how that works. First time, not good, but promising. Second time, described below, pulled a good bread out of disaster. Third time, baked longer and produced a nice bread. A solid, tasty bread, but recipe is no star.
Ingredients
325g water
375g whole wheat flour
50g bread flour
150g starter
11g salt
Turns out to be 80
percent hydration, figuring a 100 percent hydration starter. I admit
that's a guess; I do not actually weigh the flour and water when I feed
my starter.
Made this bread three times, each ever so slighty differently in terms of whether refrigerated or not and in terms of rising times. [Photo of another random mosaic. I like mosaics. I am superstitious lately about photographing any pre-ferments or doughs, as if the bread will actually be affected by something as totally unrelated as using my camera.]
Day 1
Mixed the flours and water for an autolyse phase (see Glossary). Covered and let sit for 20 minutes.
Mixed in the starter and the salt. Mix thoroughly. The starter was supposed to be 150 grams, but a few more grams fell in.
Over the course of the first hour, I did three stretch and folds. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before first stretch and fold. Do them over the course of an hour or hour and a half. I waited 20 minutes between each stretch and fold. The dough is somewhat sticky, but not bad. It should not stick more than a little to your hands and less as you get to the last stretch and fold.
Mistake #1
After the last stretch and fold, I put the dough back in the bowl, covered the bowl and put the dough in the refrigerator. That's the mistake right there. The recipe called for at least a few hours for the dough to rise on the counter and that is what this dough needed. I kept weighing in my mind whether overnight would be too much time and whether I would end up losing the dough. Why does that always seem like such a terrible outcome? In the fridge, the dough spread, but did not rise.
Day 2
On the evening of the second day (not meaning to echo the rhythm of Genesis), at 21.5 hours of dough fridge time, I took out the dough, did a stretch and fold, with the expectation of baking that night, and left the dough covered for 15 minutes. I shaped and left the dough covered for another 90 minutes. Not even the semblance of rising.
I was ready to throw out the dough. Instead, since this seemed like a completely lost cause anyway, I left the dough covered out on the counter all night.
Day 3
By morning, the dough rose some and had a good number of respectable bubbles. As a regular working person who cannot drop everything to tend to doughs, much as I would like to whenever a dough needs assistance, I put the nicer looking dough in the refrigerator until I walked in the door after work. That turned out to be after dinner, a total of 11 hours.
I preheated the oven to 500 degrees and put the top of the la cloche in the oven as well, right on the baking peel, which generally just stays in the oven. I shaped the dough, covered it and left it on a cutting board for an hour. Truth be told, I needed flour on my hands, the cutting board and a little on the dough itself as it was on the stickier side. One hour later: The dough had spread more out than up. Expectations were very low.
The only sign of hope was the result of the dent test. Denting the dough with a clean finger, it only partially sprang back. Sprang is way too active a word for movement of the tiny area of dough referred to. I then did a bit of a reshape to the now spread-out dough (not quite as spread out as a pancake, but with little structural integrity for something one expects to soon turn into a lovely bread).
Concession to bit of hope
I guess there was a glimmer, a spark, if you will, of hope conceded because I used the lame to make the cross-shaped slit on top (okay, yes, I think of this as the Jesus slit) and quickly put the dough in and the top of the la cloche on it. I used parchment paper on the bottom of the dough because I can be a wuss about the fear of sticky dough being ruined just as I am ready to slide it into the oven.
Right away, I reduced the oven temperature to 475 degrees. Total oven time at 475 degrees was 39 minutes. (Read below: Changed this the next time around.)
And what happened?
I opened the oven door after a half hour to remove the top of the la cloche and the parchment paper. Whoa, nice oven spring, I exclaimed to myself. Nine minutes later, the bread was ready (thank you oven thermometer for your precision) and not only was it beautiful, thanks to my resuscitated starter, but it made wonderful crackling noises for anyone willing to listen carefully in a quiet room. That would be me.
And this bread had a lovely slightly sour taste the next morning when I ate some slices for breakfast. Delicious. Much pride and a smile.
Third time around
Again, three days in the making, but allowed the dough to rise this time before putting it in the fridge for 36 hours. Forgot to do the autolyse, so I did an extra stretch and fold. Really, a prize baker I could never be; not inclined for the detailed organization one would need on an instinctive level. Breath. Accept myself.
Mistake #2
Shaped and baked right out of the refrigerator without a final rise. I think the bread would have risen a little more with an hour and a half of resting time before baking. Baked this time at 500 degrees for 44 minutes and improved from the last time. Nice oven spring, a beautiful appearance and a tasty bread. A bit squishy in the middle because it needed that final rise. Really kicking myself for that one. There could be a fourth try of this recipe to get the best out of it. IF I do that, I will change the post completely so that it is not a rambling, and-then-I-did-this-and-then-I-did-that bore.
Last try
Bread #58 finally came together when I cut out the refrigeration from the equation and
remembered to start with an autolyse phase. I still felt (1) my final
rise was too long at an hour and 15 minutes, and (2) perhaps did not
need that extra stretch and fold before shaping, but the dough was
beautiful and strong - at 75 percent whole wheat. An accomplishment. The
disadvantage of this bread is that it really needs a whole day. I could
adjust with a much smaller amount of starter for an overnight rise, but I would have to run around like a crazy person in the morning for a final rise, heating the oven, and baking before leaving for work. Not going to happen. Or I can adjust for an overnight rise, shaping, fridge storage, and final rise after work. Doable.
Warning: Really long and not very informative post. All in all, a bread that could be skipped.
Originally intended as a temporary post because I wanted to try this bread again and update the post, the post will remain as is. The thought came to me that instead of spending more time on a just-okay white bread, when I already have the perfect white bread recipe, I should move on to interesting grains that I have not tried. The current quest is to experiment beyond whole wheat, spelt and rye. The challah quest is still on hold due to my family's objections to making any changes to my traditional challah recipe.
How a three-day bread became a seven-day bread and turned out just okay
Not a bad or terrible bread, but decidedly mediocre and lacked the character of whole grains. In a world where it is not difficult to make a fantastic bread, why make a mediocre bread again? Oh, the answer is that I suspect this could be a really good, if not great, bread and, if I play around with the recipe, I will find that great bread lurking nearby, waiting for me. As approximately one third of the recipes I have tried fall into this category, I have to convince myself not to spend all of my time rescuing breads that did not go well.
Maybe I should not have taken pictures. I forgot to do the slashing. Both jinxes.
This recipe is based on a summer recipe from Flour, Water, Salt and Yeast by Ken Forkish. I have not yet reviewed the book because I want to try a few recipes. So far, not enthusiastic. I am not in favor of the lack of sourdough recipes or the exact amounts of time noted without descriptions of the desired texture and appearance at each stage of dough activity.
Sourdough cheapskate
I could not stand the recipe instructions relating to the levain build that advise making what are mass amounts of sourdough starter, the majority of which the recipe declares should be discarded. If I actually baked several breads each week, that would be rational advice because I could otherwise employ that discarded starter. But at present I am making one bread per week, maybe two, and I refuse to waste so much starter.
I used elementary school math to build the levain little by little. All would be used in the bread. I started with 25 grams of my own starter, took out a new, clean jar, and started the levain for this bread. Jars are another class of items I hate throwing away, so I keep a bunch in a kitchen drawer. (Also in this category are plastic bags, the few new ones I still get, rubberbands, markers, shoeboxes and post-it pads.)
I also halved the recipe because I did not want two large loaves. I'm not sure why every baking book, or almost every one, gives two-loaf recipes. Do they think everyone wants so much bread at once?
Day 1 - Monday evening
Start levain build.
25g starter
8g water
12g bread flour
Mix and cover. Leave out on kitchen counter.
Day 2 - Tuesday
Morning - Put tiny levain build in the fridge during the day because too rushed before work to do the next step.
Evening - mixed into levain:
33g bread flour
24g water
Mix, cover, and put levain into fridge for 24 hours.
Day 3 - Wednesday evening
Removed levain from refrigerator and let it sit covered on the kitchen counter overnight.
Day 4 - Thursday morning
Seeing that this recipe will be stretched from three to, perhaps, up to seven days, I am continuing to feed the levain and deducting those feed amounts from the final dough. This morning, I fed the levain with:
65g bread flour
47g water
Mixed, covered and put in fridge.
Day 5 - Friday
Worked at home - for reasons other than this bread - and midday took the dough out of the refrigerator. Took a few minutes to do final levain build. I only added small amounts of flour and water to perk up the levain before doing heavy work on Day 6, the next day.
26g flour
18g water
Mixed, covered and put in fridge.
Day 6 - Saturday
Kitchen was about 78 degrees and took levain out of fridge at 5 a.m. Let the levain sit out on the counter until it was ready to mix into a dough. It was recommended in the recipe that this would take five to six hours. At the tail end of this time would be the autolyse of the water and flour that would be mixed into the final dough.
The kitchen was not nearly as warm as it would be during a typical Washington, DC, summer. The temperature outside was in the 60s. Generally, at this time of year, the morning temperature in the kitchen is 85 degrees and the temperature outside at about 80 degrees. These small differences and the relatively cooler temperatures make a significant timing difference, however.
I kept the levain under a close watch. (Photo: Levain build after four and a half hours.) At 5.5 hours, the levain had almost flattened, so decided to mix the flour and water for the autolyse.
Autolysed the following mixture for 25 minutes.
293g bread flour
362g water
Big mix
Mixed together the autolyse and the levain. Added the 10g salt. Mixed very thoroughly to make sure that the salt, which is difficult to see as it is spread into the dough, was actually spread evenly throughout the dough.
Before going on, here are the total amounts of the ingredients.
Total ingredients
471g water
441g bread flour
10g salt
These numbers include the initial 25g of starter. The hydration percentage was a whopping 107 percent.
Manipulating and resting the dough
After mixing the dough (see photo) , I did four stretch and folds over about an hour and a half, each at 22 to 25-minute intervals. I fit this in during one old friend's visit and going to the movies with other friends, which was quite the challenge and was the reason I shot up in bed panicked just before five in the morning, when I recalled that the final dough is supposed to be refrigerated overnight and baked in the morning, a near impossibility on a Monday morning and too late for early-Monday-morning eating.
I let the dough rest in the warm kitchen for five hours. (Notice in the photo the dough practically bursting with fat bubbles.)
OMG, this was a wet dough. Makes sense now when I figure out this was a 107 hydration percentage. The recipe instruction that advises flouring one's hands is totally wrong. Do not handle this dough without wetting hands first. Otherwise, trust me, those hands will be covered with a wetter-than-silly-putty substance that resists being pulled off palms and fingers. At five hours, I shaped the dough, which was barely possible due to its consistency, though it was a cohesive dough. Covered it with the bees wrap cover, and left it in the refrigerator for just about 12.5 hours.
Baking
Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees for an hour. I also preheated the oblong la cloche as this is the vessel du jour in the household with the current preference for baguette-shaped breads. This means storing the dough on parchment paper in an oblong-shaped container and taking the easy way out to transfer the dough to the hot la cloche using the non-sticky, easy-to-handle parchment paper.
This is a dough that goes straight from fridge to oven. For yet another time, I forgot to use my lame for pretty slashes. I immediately reduced the oven temperature to 475 degrees. The bread baked for 38 minutes, but I think I should have removed it at 33 or 34. It was beautiful, a completely classic-looking baguette. What promise in that appearance. Beautiful color and oven spring.
But, alas, looks are not everything, as we've all been taught; it was a white bread and not an incredible one. The taste lacked the character and depth of a good whole grain bread and did not supply the cheap, delicious taste of a really good white bread.
Very excited to escape plastic wrap
My new purchase, used for the first time with this bread, was bee's wax covering,
called Bee's Wrap, which operates as a reusable plastic-like wrap. It is made of cotton and treated with bee's wax and jojoba oil. Bee's Wrap is a small business in Vermont that seems like a cross between a commune and Santa's workshop. On a different note, if several bees contribute to the wax, should this be bees' wax and not bee's wax?
Bread #35: A collage of flavors
This was initially a remake of bread #33, but changed so considerably that really it was a completely different animal, as it were, and much better the second time. This time around it was a bare majority of whole grain flour.
I'm thinking of a third time because I'm curious to see what happens if
the bread is uncovered for the last ten to 15 minutes in the oven.
Maybe would improve the crust.
This dough is an adjusted recipe from Bread Making: A Home Course: Crafting the Perfect Loaf, From Crust to Crumb for the country wheat-flaked bread.
Basically, I just added stuff I thought would go well together and I got lucky. This dough boasted oat flour, a rye starter and flour, whole wheat flour and wheat bran, and white bread flour. Plus salt and water. I am also becoming a big fan of the autolyse, though the mixing of the dough definitely takes extra effort. Hydration percentage is 71 percent.
I know, I've just become a hydration percent person, on my way to expressing myself with baker's percentages. I am barely holding onto using a teaspoon - a volume measure - for salt.
Ingredients
Sponge
94g water
61g rye starter
119g rye flour
Mix the starter and the water. Next add the rye flour. Cover with plastic. In mine the holes started to appear almost immediately. So excited. Let the sponge sit on the counter for five and half hours. It's difficult to tell with rye because it has the appearance of wet cement and it does not expand much or change shape appreciably. It does not bubble in a conventional way. One needs to notice the details.
Dough
200g water
200g bread flour
29g oat flour
76g whole wheat flour
7g wheat bran
1.5 tsp salt, about 10g
For the autolyse, mix the water and all of the dough flours. Let stand for 20 minutes and then add the sponge, the wheat bran and the salt. This dough could only be mixed with my hands. Even the Danish whisk would not do. It was like squeezing something into playdough or silly putty. When finally and thoroughly mixed, cover with plastic.
I did three stretch and folds: The first at 25 minutes, the second 20 minutes later, and the third 50 minutes after that.
I let the dough sit on the counter for two hours. Really, it was getting to bedtime and it had risen pretty nicely. I referred to Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast (FWSY), the book, and shaped the dough prior to storing it in the fridge. The many hours in the refrigerator replace the final rise on the counter.
I shaped, placed a well-floured kitchen towel in a small, round wicker basket, and put the dough, seam-side up, in the towel. I left this in the fridge (inside of a plastic bag) for 10 hours.
Baking
One hour prior to baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Leave the shaped dough in the fridge until you are ready to bake. Taking the advice of the FWSY book, I took the dough out of the fridge - absolutely cold - and, when I was ready to bake, turned the dough onto the hot baking stone. Try to aim for the middle of the baking stone, which is difficult when confronted with the massively hot open oven.
I covered the dough with the also hot top of the la cloche. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 470 degrees. Wait 15 minutes and reduce again, this time to 450 degrees. I did this because of good amount of rye, which needs heat, but less than an entirely wheat dough would require. I kept the dough covered with the la cloche the entire time, but I will change that next time.
The dough took 37 minutes. I let it sit for a couple of hours. The taste was really good. It was very rye, but with some pop from the other flavors. Really, there is not much better than a three-day weekend, some hot water or tea, butter, fresh bread, and time to read at the kitchen counter with nothing to rush off to.
Maybe I've had enough rye for now
This bread would go well with either rye or wheat starter because of the rye flour. I admit that although I love rye, it has a tendency to take over and dominate other flavors. Might stay away from rye for a little bit. Off to mix together another dough and think of a favorites list from the first 40 breads, a sort of top of the first 40. Almost there.
Also must start taking photographs again and writing down when they are taken and what they show. Really, this is a demanding, but delicious, hobby.
