Tartine Bread Experiment

where the wild things are

2011-11-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

this week anyway.

hey all. so, by now you know that i'm hosting susan's yeast spotting. of course you do. why otherwise would you be here?

technically i don't have to bake this week. in fact, i could pretend that i made all the goodies down below so you'd think that i was a busy little baker, but then my nose would grow as long as one of my baguettes. bah-dum-paaa.

i would fail miserably at stand-up. i think that's clear.

i first launched onto the 'bread scene' with my blog via susan's weekly showcase. i've posted almost every week since...well, i can't remember exactly when. somewhere back in april or may? who cares, really. the bottom line is, i've become a bread bakin' demon like the rest of you.

hosting this weeks lineup is my way of thanking susan for hosting my own weekly posts, along with all of yours, on her fantastic blog. she introduced me to all of you, some of whom actually read my blog regularly (hello god, are you out there? it's me margaret), and take the time to write kind words about my sometimes crazy-looking bread.

i don't know about y'all, but susan's weekly lineup keeps me accountable and baking regularly. if i miss a week, i feel it, and it feels terrible. just knowing that i have a place to come to share my bread has kept the passion alive. seriously, without sharing it, i'm not sure that my bread baking would have lasted. and if not for susan and her blog, no one would know what the tartine bread experiment is. i must admit, being 'seen' is so much more awesome than floating around the web like some piece of cyber driftwood. we are all vain creatures in some capacity, after all. why else do we take such comely photos of baked goods and post them for all to see? it's just bread. yes, but it's our bread, and dammit, the world should revere it as do we. when some folks are watching copious amounts of television, we are nurturing starters, spanking dough, and feeding nations!

i hope that this ode to susan's wild yeast blog will do it justice while she's off spicing it up in morocco. those are some big ciabatta to fill, i think you will agree.

and now, without further ado, here is this week's wild lineup!

disclaimer: unfortunately, the resolution requirements for the submitted photos does not permit me to display them any larger without falling victim to some pretty horrid pixelation (sad face). you all do know how i love large photos!

An Experiment – Miche Wheat, Spelt And Quinoa

Weekend Loafer

Sopas De Ajo Con Huevo Y Jamón

Bloc de recetas

Deli Style Sandwich Rye Bread

Zesty South Indian Kitchen

Streusel Potato Cake (Kartoffel Kuchen)

Living in the Kitchen with Puppies

Tassajara Rye Egg Molasses Bread

KitchenGeisha

Forbidden Rice And Green Onion Hearth Bread

My Pantry Shelf

Streusel Potato Coffee Cake

blog from OUR kitchen (etherwork.net)

Fougasse

Bloc de recetas

Basic White Bread

Sparecake

Norwich Sourdough & A Year In Bread

My Discovery Of Bread

Sourdough Multigrain Bread

Apa.Faina.Sare

Sourdough Ciabatta

Apa.Faina.Sare

Prosciutto Parmesan Braids
Girli Chef

Banana Crumb Bread
Wild Yeast

Sufferin' Baguettes
Tartine Bread Experiment

5 Grain Sourdough
Bread Experience

Fluffy Dinner Rolls
Hobby & More

Rustic Rye Bread
Buffalo Baker

Cornbread with Cranberries
Spare Cake

Homemade Bagels (3 Variations)
Vegan Cookbook Aficionado

Semolina White Bread
Cookistry

Croissants
Girli Chef

Tartine Sourdough Brioche
3 Clever Sisters

Francesco Elmi Traditional Sourdough Panettone
txfarmer

Ploughman's Lunch Roll
City Hippy Farm Girl

Pizza
Torview Toronto

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Icing

Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Orange Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Dessert Before Dinner

Brioche
Speculaas & Mangostein

Potato Bread
For the Love Of Bread

Sunflower Seed Bread With Pâte Fermentée

Bread Experience

Chia Seeds Fresh Bread And Sourdough
Vegetarian gustos si sanatos

Sweet Potato Yeast Bread

Cooking My Way Through My CSA

Banana Swirl Bread

Treat and Trick

Bread With Wild Fennel Seeds

Ma che ti sei mangiato

Naan Flatbread

Rico sin Azucar

Eggless Orange Snail Rolls

Gayathri's Cook Spot

Povitica

Sarah from Scratch

Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Vegetarian Gustos Si Sanatos

Bread with Old Dough

Vegetarian Gustos Si Sanatos

Sweet Potato Feta Cheese Sourdough

Mookie Loves Bread

Schwabisches (Potato Bread)

Lisa's Kochfieber

Wasabi Loaf

Bake Kobo

Rye Sourdough with Steel Cut Oats & Dried Pear

Bochenkowo/Bread At Home

Thank you for submitting this week!

please come back next week for a new tartine bread experiment post, as we move forward on our journey through chad's fantastic book. for now, here are some photos of my bread week. four loaves of city bread with astounding crackly crust. the long fermentation (both bulk and proof) and appropriate hydration yielded the sought after 'ears', an open and thoroughly gelatinized crumb, and ridiculous (translation: awesome) flavor.

city bread

city bread, in fragments

sufferin' baguettes

2011-11-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

i hate baguettes. don't get me wrong. i mean, i love baguettes, but they're time consuming and needy, and insanely good. now that i've gone all sybil and confused you, i do promise that i will no longer bore you with another baguette post (after this), but i had to experiment with a few things before i moved on. and so i did.

i've discovered a few things about myself with this bout. one thing i've learned is that i'm really bad at eye-balling. some of my baguettes were as thin as a pinkie, the others were fat as, i don't know, just think of something non-PC. to boot, some were a combination of skinny and fat. wtf?!

i really should weigh from now on. which brings me to another thing that ive learned about myself: i'm a lazy baker. weighing the dough sounded exhausting. and here's the funny thing, i even did the math first, dividing the total weight of the dough by 8 to make 8 baguettes. then i looked at my scale and was overcome by exhaustion. but with good reason! (see why, just below, and you may just feel exhausted too).

i must say, i am pleased with the crust of these babies. full caramelization realized, crispy, brittle, delicious. i ate one warm with an avocado and it almost brought me to my knees. i'm not being dramatic. you know what i'm talking about, when you bite into a warm baguette and it tastes almost buttery? yeah. that flavor that reminds you why you started baking at all.

this time i did exactly as Chad said we should, well, except for the water issue. i had to add more in order to get the ball rolling in the right direction (sorry Chad! i still love you!)

i didn't add whole wheat flour this time. come on. who was i kidding. the 50g that i added two posts ago did not really add enough fiber to turn these baguettes into health food. who gives a blip about health food anyway. where's that second avocado? i also did the poolish at room temp, like Chad says we should. and here's where i suffered.

in order to time the levain and the poolish to finish at the same time, i had to start the levain at 11 am, the poolish at 3:30, which didn't allow me to shape the baguettes until after midnight. it was an all day and into the night affair. these baguettes were worse than a needy boyfriend, the one where you want to say just. go. HOME (and frankly, never come back).

i was already fast asleep when the bulk-fermented dough screamed at me from the kitchen to wake up and turn it into something. i wasn't happy about it, but i did. and this is what came of it.

sufferin' baguettes

THE FORMULAE

levain:

200g h2o

200g KA AP flour

15g active rye starter

poolish:

200g h2o

200g KA AP flour

3g active dry yeast

dough:

all of the levain

all of the poolish

600g + 50g h2o

650g KA AP

350g KA bread flour

25g salt

-levain 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

-poolish at 3:30 pm - 7:00 pm

-mix together levain, poolish, 600g of water & the flour, autolyse 40 minutes

-add salt + 50g water

-4 hour bulk fermentation with 4 series of turns (one every 40 minutes for the first 2 hours 40 minutes), ferment for the remaining 1 hour 20 minutes

-divide, loose shape and bench rest 30 minutes

-shape and refrigerate overnight (9 hours)

-preheat to 500 degrees with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven

-bake till brown (first 16 minutes with steam injected every 4 minutes) at 475 degrees

verdict:

crust: ummm, kick ass. my french friend francois swooned. i got the birds eye bubbles all over the crust. crumb: uber open, great gelatinization. nice and chewy. flavor: phenomenal. i loved the overnight proof. ease of handling dough: simple. notes & changes: stick to active dry yeast. fast acting is just plain nuts.

to the staff of life!

this charming post was shuttled off to wild yeast blog's yeast spotting.
all formulae in this post are derivative of those found in the tartine bread book. i urge you to get a copy for yourself.

tree branches

2011-11-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

i am most drawn to the rusticity of bread. i adore the way that the loaves can blend in to nature with their craggy crusts and misshapen ways. is it a stone? a tree branch? or a boule? maybe a baguette? i like to ask. if i cannot tell the difference, i know i've done something right.

today i made tree branches, their gnarled ends and weathered barks. and i made some changes, as promised, a little more whole wheat flour (added in the levain), a different kind of yeast. i also let the poolish bloom at room temp in 3 hours rather than refrigerating it overnight to coincide with the completion of the levain. this poolish was far more bubbly than the last, but i still like the crust of the last batch better, and i think it might be because of the active dry, and possibly the refrigerated poolish (more experiments to come).

speaking of refrigeration, i did a long cold proof, a whopping 9.5 hours, to see just how much flavor i could spank out of that dough.

i also did a little reading about yeast, and reinhardt uses rapid rise or fast acting v. active dry, as suggested in the Tartine book. i'm an experimental type of gal, and, well, i already tried active dry, so i thought i might give these baguettes a kick in the pants, and boy, is there a humongloid difference between fast acting and active dry. in no time flat it became all bubbly and knotty-like.

i must confess, i did not reduce the amount of fast acting that reinhardt dictates when subbing it for active dry. i'm a rebel. i like to live on the edge. plus, i'm all about hi-def, and if i can amplify my bread in any way, well dammit, i'm down for that pursuit.

i wish i could have photographed the dough during the bulk fermentation, but i flipped the fermentation sched to evening so i could bake in the morning and give the misshapen loaves to my neighbors, fresh out of the oven. it was just too dark, so you will have to use your imagination. here, let me help: it looked like the elephant man's head.

i have a couple more ideas to experiment with before i move on to the renditions of baguette in the next few pages of Tartine. i want to see which method will twist best into tordu, fendu, fougasse. but for now, here's the method for our hi-def tree branches. i will see you back at the page in a week!

baguettes in hi-def

timing the poolish to arrive as the same time as the levain is a little tricky. here's how i scheduled things:

levain at 11:30 am - 8:30 pm

poolish at 5 pm - 8:30 pm

mix together levain, poolish, 600g of water & the flours; autolyse 8:40 pm - 9:10 pm

salt + 50g water, and 4 series of turns (every 40 minutes) 9:10 pm - 12:10 am

divide, shape, bench 12:10 am - 12:45 am

first batch of 3 in fridge at 12:35 am/second batch of 3 in fridge at 12:45 am

proof first batch till 10:00 am

preheat to 500 degrees with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven

bake till brown (first 16 minutes with steam) at 475 degrees

preheat to 500 degrees with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven

proof second batch till 10:55 am

bake till brown (first 16 minutes with steam) at 475 degrees

THE FORMULAE

levain:

200g h2o

100g KA whole wheat flour

100g KA AP flour

15g active rye starter

poolish:

200g h2o

200g KA AP flour

3g rapid rise yeast

dough:

all of the levain

all of the poolish

600g + 50g h2o

650g KA AP

350g KA bread flour

25g salt

verdict:

crust: really shattery and crisp. but i think that the crust of the last round was more glassy. crumb: open, soft, great gelatinization. nice and chewy. the last crumb was more open, i believe. but no complaints with this one either. flavor: mmmmm! (the neighbs all loved their bread). just a hint of sour. i loved the overnight proof. ease of handling dough: si simple (that's french for 'so simple') notes & changes: i think i like the active dry yeast better than the fast acting yeast. fast acting made the dough more...bloated? i also like the crust better with the last batch. and im not sure if refrigerating the poolish helped contribute to the lovely crust of the last batch, so i will have to do another round with a non-refrigerated poolish using active dry yeast and an endured bulk fermentation. oi. that's the thing with bread. so many small variables, right? so far i prefer the last round best, though this batch was pretty outstanding as well in terms of flavor. i think that aesthetically, the last ones were more appealing. a lot more rustic. i don't really have any desire to make the 'perfect' shaped baguette. i like the look of one that's a cross between a baguette and a ciabatta. i was a little annoyed that these came out so much more uniform. ah, well. a couple more tweaks before i move on!

to the staff of life!

this post was shared on wild yeast blog's yeast spotting.

all formulae in this post are derivative of those found in the Tartine Bread book. I urge you to get your own copy.

Pixies

2011-10-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

There just wasn't enough water. It's a typo, I'm sure of it. 500 scant g's of water almost ruined this batch of baguettes, I begrudgingly confess. You know by now that I feel that Tartine Bread can do no wrong.

Alas, I squeezed and smashed and kneaded, but the large amount of leftover flour in the bottom of the bowl got more and more crumbly and hard and grody. You know what I mean. My poor dough was practically screaming for a sip.

So I added more h2o. It's my blog. I'm allowed.

I didn't add so much as to obscure the formula. After all, I am baking my way through this book, so I try to keep the formulae as close to the book as possible. Well, as close as I'm able to. You know, when I get in there, I always monkey around and do something differently. I'm an artist. I have a vision. What can I say.

I thought it was me. Remember last week? When I blamed lack of coffee for getting the whole deal wrong? Well, it turns out that it wasn't lack of coffee that caused a mis-measure, because what happened this week happened last. The only difference is that this week, I did have my coffee first, and I was cognizant enough to fix things.

Once I ameliorated the water situation, this batch of baguettes was a hoot. Mine turned out to be more like Pixie Sticks, really, because the Tartine book declares that this formula makes 4, but I wanted a bushel of 'em, so I made 'em 8 and skinny. And listen to this, friends, the hootiness of the whole shindig was elevated because the appliance delivery guy brought me a brand new oven at a bright and shining 10 am. No more toggling, guessing, scorching the crust. No more lost steam from the oven door that never really closed all the way. Can you believe that I baked so much bread with a broken oven y'all? All these months. Yeah.

I learned some things that I wanted to relay to you. The number one consideration is the length of your baguettes in relation to your baking stone. Two of the loaves from my first batch of baguettes were more like S's than pin-straight spears, because I had to curve them to fit them onto the stone. Not a bad thing, if you're baking snakes for your 5 year old son's Jungle themed birthday party.

I don't have a son.

In order to circumvent the 'S factor', I found it helpful to keep a ruler extended to the ideal length of the baguettes (minus a couple of inches to cushion the expand factor) at the top of my work surface so that I wouldn't exceed the desired length of the loaves. I seriously recommend this little maneuver. You can see what I'm talking about in the series of shaping pix below.

The next thing I learned is that it is really easy to overhandle the dough, because, well, you have to handle the dough more to shape it into baguette form. Be light of finger when shaping the dough.

With that said, I must say that the shaping was not as difficult as I thought it would be, in terms of handling. In fact, the dough was uber easy to handle from autolyse through proof, and I even used flour on my board instead of olive oil. You know, I just had to conquer that fear. It was starting to hamper me.

The best part of baguettes, aside from sharing the lot, is that they bake in 30 minutes. Plus, an hour to an hour and a half is shaved off of the proofing time. So this means that baguettes are like the 'fast food' of the bread world.

But enough opinionated blather, here goes the how, the why and the whatever for.

THE NIGHT BEFORE:

The poolish and the levain times posed a bit of a conundrum. Levain, as we all know, takes 8 hours to fully ferment, the poolish only 4. But the book dictates that you can refrigerate your poolish overnight, which would bring it to the finish line right around when the levain is finished doing its thing. It all worked out just fine.

MAKE THE POOLISH

200g KA AP flour

200g 75 degree h2o

3g active dry yeast

Mix together the ingredients for the poolish, cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

MAKE THE LEVAIN

15g mature starter, I used my rye starter

200g KA AP flour

200g 80 degree h2o

Mix together the ingredients for the levain, cover and let it bloom at room temp for at least 8 hours.

BAKE DAY

MAKE THE DOUGH

All of the poolish

All of the levain

600g KA AP flour

350g KA bread flour
50g KA whole wheat flour

600g + 50g h2o

25g salt

(NOTE, the Tartine book does not use whole wheat flour at all, it calls for 350g of bread flour and 650g of AP. I like seeing little flecks of whole wheat in my baguette. And again, the Tartine book calls for only 500g of water, plus 50g more when the salt is added. Trust me. It's not enough. I wish I would have remembered to photograph it. In fact, I will next week so you can see for yourselves because I plan to do more baguettes with some changes).

OK. Here we go:

Dissolve the poolish and levain in 600g of water. Add the flours and mix until you achieve a cohesive, shaggy mass. The dough will be quite firm. Autolyse for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, add the salt and the remaining 50g of water. Mix well. The dough will feel well hydrated, but still firm.

Let this stand for 30 minutes, which is the first 30 minutes of your 4-hour bulk fermentation, then perform one series of turns every 40 minutes, for a total of four series.

The turns look like this: dip your hand beneath the belly of the dough, fold the bottom portion of the dough up over the top, spin the bowl 1/3 turn, fold, then spin the bowl a 1/3 turn and fold again. This is one series.

Let the dough ferment for another hour and 20 minutes unmolested. Your bulk fermentation should total 4 hours.

fully fermented dough

When the 4 hour fermentation is complete, pour the dough out onto a floured workspace.

Divide the dough and shape it into rough rectangles (I divided mine into 8 pieces, if you have a wider oven and want to make longer baguettes, you can divide yours into 4 as the book directs). Let it rest on the bench for 30 minutes.

NOW FOR THE SHAPING:

Take a rectangle.

Pull the bottom of the rectangle up to the center of the dough.

Stretch the sides of the dough to elongate it.

Pull down the ears.

Press the ears into the dough.

Pull down the top of the dough to the center.

Press the seam.

Fold this roll in half, and press down on the seam to close.

Now roll the dough back and forth, gently stretching, to elongate it into your baguette shape, keeping in mind the length of your baking stone.

Get the dough onto a couche that has been liberally dusted with brown rice flour, pulling up the slack between the baguettes to make snug compartments for each one.

Wet a towel with warm water and squeeze well, drape over the dough, then pull the leftover couche flap (or another dry towel) over the wet towel.

Let it proof for 2.5 to 3 hours, checking at 2.5 to see if it has fully proofed.

30 minutes before you plan to bake, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a cast iron pan on the floor of the oven. At the last 5 minutes of preheat, fill a one-cup measure up with ice then fill with cold water. Dump this into the hot cast iron pan. Let the oven fill with steam for 5 minutes. Transfer the dough onto an inverted sheet pan (a peel will not be wide enough to hold the full length of the baguettes) that you have layered with a piece of parchment. Score the baguettes **and be sure to score horizontally. Scoring horizontally creates the ears on baguettes. When you slash straight down into the dough (like I did on 6 out of 8 of my baguettes) the score marks bleed open and do not develop prominent slashes.

Jerk the parchment onto the hot peel, close the door quickly, and turn the oven down to 475 degrees. Immediately open the oven door a hair and squirt the left wall with a water bottle whose nozzle has been set to 'stream'. Squirt until the side of the oven stops hissing, then repeat with the right wall. Do this every 4 minutes for the first 16 minutes. After the 16 minute steam, pull out the cast iron pan if it still has water in it. You no longer want steam in the oven. If it does not, leave it there so it's good and hot for the next batch of baguettes. Rotate the baguettes after 20 minutes for even browning. Bake until the loaves are brown. Mine took 30 minutes total. Repeat with the next batch, if you must bake in batches, and be sure to refrigerate the other doughs while they are awaiting their turn in the oven, so that they do not over proof.

Verdict:

Crust: Very crisp. A little on the rustic side. Didn't have the sheen that you get with commercial ovens with 'real' steam, but good, crisp crust nonetheless. Crumb: Open sesame! As you can see. Try not to overhandle the dough! Flavor: Pretty darn remarkable. But try not to overbake, especially if you make skinny loaves, to maintain a tender crumb. My French friend Francois love the flavor of the baguettes that I gave to him. Yes, he is my tester when it comes to all of my breads. So far so good for every one, including these! Ease of handling dough. Simple Notes: Be sure to keep a measuring stick on your workspace so you don't make your baguettes longer than your stone. Try not to overhandle the dough. This is tricky, and it will take more than one batch to work this out. Be careful not to overproof the dough, it proofs quickly. What I would do differently: I am undoubtedly going to try a lengthy and cold proof, because, well, you all know how much I love a good, long proof. I want my baguettes to get the lovely blisters and brittle crust that develop with long, cold fermentation.Remember, it's because it allows the sugars to fully release from the flour and thus caramelize in the oven. I am also going to play around with the commercial yeast factor. How much and all of that good stuff. Whatever I do, I will report back at once. Frankly, I think the next few posts are going to be baguette posts, because the next couple of breads rely on a the formula for them. I have to perfect it if I am to move on and expect any sort of success with the upcoming breads.

To the staff of life!

This pixie post was spirited off to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.

All recipes in this post are derivative of those in the Tartine Bread book. I urge you to get your own copy.

ciabatta baguettes (why not)

2011-10-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

You guys are going to be totally disappointed in me this week, but you might understand all at once.

Here goes...

When I started making my baguettes this morning, I had not had my coffee yet. Well, there is one thing that you should know about me, and that is that NOTHING happens before coffee. The only thing that I am capable of is putting the kettle on to boil, and even grinding the beans requires some serious effort (I have actually scooped sucanat - my natural cane sugar - into the coffee mill instead of whole coffee beans and ground it, and on more than one occasion). Suffice it to say, pre-coffee, my brain is stuffed with cotton, so, attempting to accomplish math or measure upon waking is not the brightest idea I've ever had.

With that said, I began making the Tartine baguette this morning, and while Chad says that the dough should feel stiff compared to the country loaves, the dough was beyond stiff. It was extraordinarily dry, so dry that there was simply not enough water to hydrate a good portion of the dough at all. Mind you, all of this measuring and observing is taking place pre-coffee, so it is possible that I thought that I was adding the right amount of water (500g, which puts the Tartine baguette somewhere in the neighborhood of 64.3% hydration), but missed the mark by a landslide.

The story gets better (or worse)...

I proceeded to try my hand at some bakers math to try to rectify the problem, to no avail. I added a bit of water to the dough to hydrate it more, but because my brain was so foggy, I think I added hell o' more, really, and I kept getting confused. 'Did I just add 70 grams or 300 grams?'. Yeah. Hella o' confused. And of course I didn't write anything down (but then, how could I have? I had no idea that I was even making bread until my first sip), so poof, all figures, measurements and times are dispersed into the ether.

Just a quick note, baguettes are supposed to be anywhere from 60 - 70% hydration. Evidently, those in France maintain lower hydration because of the flour that they use, and artisan baguettes in America can be on the higher end because of qualities of our flour. Evidently our flour is parched in comparison. Of course, my baguettes have something like 1 million percent hydration, give or take a few grams.

Laugh (cry). Out. Loud.

In the very least, I wanted you to see that I actually did try my hand at baguettes this week. Just know that I will be back front and center the drawing board next Tuesday with my second attempt along with a proper formula and method. I promise to embark upon the next venture post coffee, to be sure.

When life hands you a lemon, brush it with olive oil and call it a ciabatta baguette :)

See you Tuesday! (ps, despite everything, they were really bleepin good!)

To the staff of life!

Bench Exam

2011-10-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

Whew! Well, this is a beast of a post if there ever was one, so settle in with a cuppa something, because we are covering a lot of ground, I think you will agree.

Here goes...

tartine country boule

Before I progress onto the next Tartine phase, I decided that I should do a 'bench exam' where I could noodle around with some of the things that I've learned over the past however many months: increased fermentation times using cold proof to my advantage, adjusted hydration, and one loaf where I completely revised the formula (I wonder if you can guess which one that might be).

polenta boule, my very own formula

For the exam I put myself to the test with several loaves, ambitious, but fun! First, I did an experiment in hydration and fermentation with two breads: a country whole wheat with increased hydration and extended cold fermentation along with my City Bread, using a rye levain, extended cold fermentation and increased hydration. I then did a variation on the Tartine country loaf using a little more whole wheat flour which came out well. I made a semolina boule to see if I could improve the crust and open up the crumb using a lengthy fermentation and increased hydration to lovely success, and finally, I attempted another polenta boule (yikes), completely revising the formula. Its taken me a little bit of time to pull it all together, hence the 'missed' post last week. As you can see, I have not been resting on my laurels.

increased hydration, shattery crust, city bread

I've taken meticulous notes for all of the breads that I baked and all of the formulae are submitted below, including those two loaves that I've been wanting to experiment with in the arena of hydration and fermentation to open up the crumb - my City Bread, which is an ongoing pursuit, and the whole wheat loaf.

increased hydration, city bread, second loaf

With these two loaves I increased the hydration just a bit, and I'm learning that there is a fine line between enough and too much hydration, and as little as 20g of water can push your hydration over that line. You will know when your loaves are too highly hydrated when they don't 'hold their ears', which you can see from these experimental whole wheat and City loaves.

city bread, playing with hydration

Even though the crust for these particular breads did not hold les grignes, while the very same loaves with a little less hydration in previous posts did, I thought it was worth posting this experiment because the experiments themselves were/are important to share, since we are all working with hydration and fermentation and trying to see what less, more, longer and shorter yield.

semolina boule

I would be remiss if I only added the prettiest loaves I've baked, especially since these loaves came out earth shatteringly brittle, and the sugars, because the dough was well-hydrated, were able to fully caramelize, which lent the bread an astounding flavor. The texture of the crumb was also a success, fully gelatinized and chewy, and the flavor was fully developed, complex, and, well, pretty damned delicious, especially with Stilton and marmalade. I would love to maintain the flavor and complexity of these breads and still achieve les grignes. So, with that goal in mind, I will continue working with hydration and fermentation with those two breads and post my findings for you in the future.

polenta crumb, from my very own formula

I've also been fine-tuning the method for my turns, instead of doing 4 series of turns where I fold the dough indiscriminately, I've been paying close attention to the expansion of the dough and how buoyant it feels in my hand, and this should determine how many folds I would do within each series.

Finally, I've been working on my 'signature scoring'. I've decided on the two scores that you've seen for a couple of posts now, one producing a cute little chapeau and the other a domed cap with a break down one side of it like a mohawk. I'm not going to tell you how I make the little mohawk ; )

tartine's semolina loaf

I'm trying to better understand my bread. I've gone from following rules to listening to what my bread needs, changing how I respond to those needs given the environment (temperature and levels of humidity) and the mercurial nature of the tools that I have (how thirsty the flour that I'm using might be as well as taking into consideration the protein percentage therein).

city bread, opening the crumb

city bread, up close and personal

One thing that I want to experiment with in the near future is working with different types of flour, both the variety and the miller. Within my experimentation, I've resigned to using King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills because they are all accessible. While they are all fine millers, there are some exciting local (California), small-scale artisan millers who work with different wheat varieties.

whole wheat loaf, playing with hydration

I do not live in an artisan bread cul-de-sac like Portland Oregon or the Bay Area (anymore), and Los Angeles could not care one iota about any sort of bread movement (you know, these people are terrified of carbohydrates), so, I'm going to have to reach out to those millers and grab their goods via snail mail. I am excited to find out how they will affect my breads, and I will be certain to pass on all of the details so you can have a head start with your own breads using the same flours.

one of my test loaves, (still working out the kinks, will share the formula soon)

So, enough chatter. I will let the post speak for itself, because after baking so many boules I'm too exhausted to tell you a story on top of it all.

Here are the results of the bench exam!

SEMOLINA

This formula makes two semolina boules with a fantastic, brittle crust and a creamy crumb more open than the last.

GATHER THESE THINGS:

700g semolina
300g bread flour
790g h2o
200g (or so) rye levain (formula and method below)
25g olive oil
20g salt

MAKE THE LEVAIN:

15g 100% hydration rye starter
100g h2o
50g BRM medium rye flour
50g KA AP flour

Dissolve the starter with the water. Add the flours and mix to a thick paste. Ferment for 8 hours.

MAKE THE BREAD:

1) Dissolve all of the levain in 750g of h2o. Mix in the semolina and the bread flour. Autolyse for 45 minutes.

2) Add the salt and olive oil to the dough along with 40g of h2o. Mix well, let it rest for 30 minutes.

3) Perform 4 series of turns as follows:

SERIES ONE:

After the 30 minute rest after adding salt, fold the dough by scooping your hand beneath the dough, then folding the bottom of the dough up over the top of the mass, this is one fold; spin the bowl a 1/3 revolution, fold again, this is your second fold... Perform 5 folds.

SERIES TWO:

30 minutes after the first series of turns, perform your second series, but this time, only fold the dough 4 times.

SERIES THREE:

30 minutes after the second series of turns, perform your third series, but this time, only fold the dough 3 times.

SERIES FOUR:

30 minutes after the third series of turns, perform your fourth series, but this time, only fold the dough 2 times.

The turns that I outlined above were given the temperature/environment that I live in. You will 'read' your dough, and adjust how many folds you perform based on your environment. If your dough is increasing rapidly, you will perform less folds so you don't knock the accumulating gasses out of the dough. Always, no matter how many turns you perform, use a gentle hand with your turns. The dough will strengthen with fermentation. Your folds are an effort to keep the gluten molecules elongated and organized.

3) Ferment the dough for 2 more hours unmolested at room temperature if it's cool enough, if it's warm where you are, pop it in the fridge and ferment for the last 2 hours.

4) After 4 hours of bulk fermentation flour your workspace (or if you're freaked out like me about adding too much flour to your dough during shaping, be unconventional like me and use olive oil. There are no rules in your private bakery, except those that you make. Until I get hired as a baker somewhere (never), I will use olive oil on my work space, and my breads seem to turn out just fine, if not a little more scrumptious), divide the dough in two and loosely shape into rounds. Bench rest 15 minutes.

5) After the bench, shape the dough into two tight little boules, pop into bowls lined with linen that have been dusted with brown rice flour, and refrigerate for a 10-hour cold proof.

6) With only 20 minutes left of your 10-hour cold proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a combo cooker and baking stone inside.

7) Cut out a square of parchment, place it over the proofed dough, invert this onto a peel so that the parchment is between the peel and the dough.

8) Peel off the linen, score the dough, slide into the shallow part of the combo cooker, spritz thoroughly with water using the MIST setting on your squirt bottle. Cover. Pop into the oven, turn the temp down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes with the lid in place. Repeat with the second boule.

9) After 30 minutes of steam, remove the lid and bake till the loaves are golden, another 30 - 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: Ummm, amazing. Crumb: Beautifully open for semolina, I feel. The mouthfeel was wonderful, full gelatinization realized. Flavor: Creamy and rich. Really beautiful. Ease of handling dough: C'est simple! Notes: For my semolina loaf, I increased the hydration a bit and the fermentation time dramatically. Remember to use bread flour in conjunction with the semolina, you really need the increased and higher quality protein from the flour. As well, when experimenting with hydration, small adjustments make a huge difference in the outcome of the bread. Try not to go 'hog wild' and add huge percentages of water at a time. You may compromise oven spring and the quality of your crust if you over-hydrate our dough when working with boules. Small amounts, like 10g increments will speak volumes in the ensuing loaves. Take scrupulous notes and note the changes with your adjustments so that you are continually improving the formula for your bread. Changes/notes: I think these loaves came out exceedingly well.

POLENTA

Do you remember how I wrestled with Tartine's polenta beast? Well, I finally tamed it by creating my own formula. Here's the master plan.

GATHER THESE THINGS:

200g semolina

300g KA bread flour

420g h2o

35g course polenta

100g (or so) white levain (formula and method below)

10g salt

12g olive oil

MAKE THE LEVAIN:

9g 100% hydration rye starter

50g h2o

50g KA AP flour

Dissolve the starter with the water. Add the flour and mix to a thick paste. Ferment for 8 hours.

MAKE THE BREAD:

1) Pour 70 g of boiling water over the dry polenta in a glass measuring cup. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside until completely cool.

2) Dissolve the levain in 350g of h2o. Mix in the semolina and bread flour. Autolyse for 60 minutes.

3) Add the salt to the dough along with the cooled polenta and olive oil. Mix well, let it rest for 30 minutes.

4) Perform 4 series of turns as follows:

SERIES ONE:

SERIES TWO:

30 minutes after the first series of turns, perform your second series, but this time, only fold the dough 4 times.

SERIES THREE:

30 minutes after the second series of turns, perform your third series, but this time, only fold the dough 3 times.

SERIES FOUR:

30 minutes after the third series of turns, perform your fourth series, but this time, only fold the dough 2 times.

5) Ferment the dough for 2 more hours unmolested at room temperature if it's cool enough, if it's warm where you are, pop it in the fridge and ferment for the last 2 hours.

6) After 4 hours of bulk fermentation flour your workspace (or if you're freaked out like me about adding too much flour to your dough during shaping, be unconventional like me and use olive oil. There are no rules in your private bakery, except those that you make. Until I get hired as a baker somewhere (never), I will use olive oil on my work space, and my breads seem to turn out just fine, if not a little more scrumptious), and loosely shape the dough into a round. Bench rest 15 minutes.

7) After the bench, shape the dough into a tight little boule, pop into a bowl lined with linen that has been dusted with brown rice flour, and refrigerate for a 7.5 hour cold proof.

8) With only 20 minutes left of your cold proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a combo cooker and baking stone inside.

9) Cut out a square of parchment, place it over the proofed dough, invert this onto a peel so that the parchment is between the peel and the dough.

10) Peel off the linen, slide into the shallow part of the combo cooker, spritz well with water using the MIST setting on your squirt bottle. Sprinkle the top of the boule with raw polenta then score the dough. Cover with the deep end of the combo cooker. Pop into the oven, turn the temp down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes with the lid in place.

11) Remove the lid and bake till the loaves are golden, another 30 - 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: It came out beautifully, thin and brittle. The addition of polenta on the top was nice and added a toasty corn flavor. Crumb: open, fully gelatinized, moist. Flavor: It was delicious. The right amount of tang. The extended fermentation really coaxed out some lovely flavors. Ease of handling dough: C'est simple! Changes/notes: I think this loaf came out really well all in all.

WHOLE WHEAT

I increased hydration a bit and extended the fermentation for this formula in hopes of opening up the crumb a bit. I also used a 50/50 ratio of bread flour to whole wheat to soften it a bit. I think this also helped to loosen up the crumb.

GATHER THESE THINGS:

250g KA AP flour

250g KA whole wheat flour

445g h2o

100g (or so) whole wheat levain (formula and method below)

10g salt

MAKE THE LEVAIN:

9g 100% hydration rye starter

50g h2o

25g KA AP flour

25g KA whole wheat flour

Dissolve the starter with the water. Add the flours and mix to a thick paste. Ferment for 8 hours.

MAKE THE BREAD:

1) Dissolve the levain in 425g of h2o. Mix in the whole wheat and AP flours. Autolyse for 60 minutes.

2) Add the salt to the dough along with 20g of water. Mix well, let it rest for 30 minutes.

3) Perform 4 series of turns as follows:

SERIES ONE:

SERIES TWO:

30 minutes after the first series of turns, perform your second series, but this time, only fold the dough 4 times.

SERIES THREE:

30 minutes after the second series of turns, perform your third series, but this time, only fold the dough 3 times.

SERIES FOUR:

30 minutes after the third series of turns, perform your fourth series, but this time, only fold the dough 2 times.

4) Ferment the dough for 2 more hours unmolested at room temperature if it's cool enough, if it's warm where you are, pop it in the fridge and ferment for the last 2 hours.

5) After 4 hours of bulk fermentation flour your workspace (or if you're freaked out like me about adding too much flour to your dough during shaping, be unconventional like me and use olive oil. There are no rules in your private bakery, except those that you make. Until I get hired as a baker somewhere (never), I will use olive oil on my work space, and my breads seem to turn out just fine, if not a little more scrumptious), and loosely shape the dough into a round. Bench rest 15 minutes.

6) After the bench, shape the dough into a tight little boule, pop into a bowl lined with linen that has been dusted with brown rice flour, and refrigerate for a 7.5 hour cold proof.

7) With only 20 minutes left of your cold proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a combo cooker and baking stone inside.

8) Cut out a square of parchment, place it over the proofed dough, invert this onto a peel so that the parchment is between the peel and the dough.

9) Peel off the linen, score, slide into the shallow part of the combo cooker, spritz well with water using the MIST setting on your squirt bottle. Cover. Pop into the oven, turn the temp down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes with the lid in place.

10) Remove the lid and bake till the loaves are golden, another 30 - 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: So brittle! Crumb: Fully gelatinized, moist, lovely. Flavor: So beautiful. Great tang, but not too much. Complex flavor. Earthy. Ease of handling dough: C'est simple! Changes/notes: I would probably back off of hydration a bit so that the dough scores more pleasantly. I really loved the brittle crust and chewy crumb, but it is important that the bread be visually as pleasing as it is tasty. This is an experiment in hydration, after all, and it was great to see what such high hydration yielded with this whole wheat loaf. I would keep this formula and make it again because the caramelization of the crust was pretty awesome, but if I was baking bread for a gift, I would make sure that the hydration allowed for the development of les grignes. I will post any further developments with my whole wheat breads. Enjoy this bread with stilton.

MY CITY BREAD

My baby. There will be no end to monkeying with my City Bread. There are so many variables to tweak. This is the bread that Thumbelina and I eat most often at home. Have a look.

GATHER THESE THINGS:

700g KA AP flour

300g KA whole wheat flour

870g ice cold h2o

200g (or so) rye levain (formula and method below)

20g salt

MAKE THE LEVAIN:

15g 100% hydration rye starter

100g h2o

50g KA AP flour

50g BRM medium rye flour

Dissolve the starter with the water. Add the flours and mix to a thick paste. Ferment for 8 hours.

MAKE THE BREAD:

1) Dissolve the levain in 800g of h2o. Mix in the AP and whole wheat flours. Autolyse for 60 minutes.

2) Add the salt to the dough along with 70g of ice cold h2o. Mix well, let it rest for 30 minutes.

3) Perform 4 series of turns as follows:

SERIES ONE:

SERIES TWO:

30 minutes after the first series of turns, perform your second series, but this time, only fold the dough 4 times.

SERIES THREE:

30 minutes after the second series of turns, perform your third series, but this time, only fold the dough 3 times.

SERIES FOUR:

30 minutes after the third series of turns, perform your fourth series, but this time, only fold the dough 2 times.

4) After 4 hours of bulk fermentation flour your workspace (or if you're freaked out like me about adding too much flour to your dough during shaping, be unconventional like me and use olive oil. There are no rules in your private bakery, except those that you make. Until I get hired as a baker somewhere (never), I will use olive oil on my work space, and my breads seem to turn out just fine, if not a little more scrumptious), divide the dough in two and loosely shape into rounds. Bench rest 15 minutes.

5) After the bench, shape the dough into two tight little boules, pop into bowls lined with linen that have been dusted with brown rice flour, and refrigerate for a 10-hour cold proof.

6) With only 20 minutes left of your 10-hour cold proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a combo cooker and baking stone inside.

7) Cut out a square of parchment, place it over the proofed dough, invert this onto a peel so that the parchment is between the peel and the dough.

8) Peel off the linen, score the dough, slide into the shallow part of the combo cooker, spritz thoroughly with water using the MIST setting on your squirt bottle. Cover. Pop into the oven, turn the temp down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes with the lid in place. Repeat with the second boule.

9) After 30 minutes of steam, remove the lid and bake till the loaves are golden, another 30 - 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: Very brittle, caramelized, crisp! Crumb: Fully gelatinized, moist, lovely. Flavor: Close to perfect. Great tang, but not too much. Complex and earthy. You really get the rye from the levain. Ease of handling dough: C'est simple! Changes/notes: I love my city bread, and I had been wanting to monkey with hydration just to see if I could open up the crumb. The crumb did indeed open, but I lost les grignes as a result. I must say, the crust of this bread was so shattery, it was awesome. And the crumb was perfectly chewy and complex. This was an experiment in hydration. I wanted to see how much latitude I have with hydration and my city bread, and this was the result. I loved the outcome of this bread, and I think that it has its own merits, but if I am seeking a loaf that maintains les grignes, I would refer to the older posts where my city bread has such large ears that you could carry the loaf by them. Enjoy this bread with brie and marmalade.

TARTINE COUNTRY(ISH)

This formula makes two (slightly modified) Tartine country boules with a little more whole wheat than Chad's country loaf formula.

GATHER THESE THINGS:

850g KA bread flour

150g KA whole wheat flour

800g h2o

200g (or so) rye levain (formula and method below)

MAKE THE LEVAIN:

15g 100% hydration starter

100g h2o

50g BRM medium rye flour

50g KA AP flour

Dissolve the starter with the water. Add the flours and mix to a thick paste. Ferment for 8 hours.

MAKE THE BREAD:

1) Dissolve the levain in 760g of h2o. Mix in the whole wheat and the bread flour. Autolyse for 60 minutes.

2) Add the salt to the dough along with 40g of h2o. Mix well, let it rest for 30 minutes.

3) Perform 4 series of turns as follows:

SERIES ONE:

SERIES TWO:

30 minutes after the first series of turns, perform your second series, but this time, only fold the dough 4 times.

SERIES THREE:

30 minutes after the second series of turns, perform your third series, but this time, only fold the dough 3 times.

SERIES FOUR:

30 minutes after the third series of turns, perform your fourth series, but this time, only fold the dough 2 times.

3) Ferment the dough for 2 more hours unmolested at room temperature if it's cool enough, if it's warm where you are, pop it in the fridge and ferment for the last 2 hours.

5) After the bench, shape the dough into two tight little boules, pop into bowls lined with linen that have been dusted with brown rice flour, and refrigerate for a 10-hour cold proof.

6) With only 20 minutes left of your 10-hour cold proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a combo cooker and baking stone inside.

7) Cut out a square of parchment, place it over the proofed dough, invert this onto a peel so that the parchment is between the peel and the dough.

9) After 30 minutes of steam, remove the lid and bake till the loaves are golden, another 30 - 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: The best crust I've made yet. Shattery and fully caramelized. Smoky, rich, chocolate undertones. Crumb: Moderately open. I DID degas this dough, which I think condensed the crumb. I could be wrong. At any rate, I don't think degassing is necessary when working with rustic loaves. The mouthfeel was wonderful, full gelatinization realized. Flavor: Complex, rich, wheaty and the right amount of tang. Really beautiful. Ease of handling dough: C'est simple! Notes: I degassed this loaf, which is something I only ever did with the rye. I don't think that it's necessary, and I could be wrong, but I think that it lessened what could have been a more open crumb and it sort of bummed me out. I think degassing is fine for breads that seek a tighter crumb, but not for a rustic loaf.

THE GALLERY

THE TEST LOAVES

So, that's it for this (and last) week's post. Next week marks a new chapter on my bread journey. I hope that you will join me for the continued trek!

To the staff of life!

This post was sent to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.

In a rye mood

2011-09-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Bread,

Hey. Me again. So, here we are at the end of this part of our journey, and I must say, being with you, Bread, has taken me down one of the most splendid forks in my private little road.

You've taught me so much Bread, and I feel that I've gotten to know you so well, what makes you thrive, what makes your spirit wane. I know how the warm weather makes you ornery, uncooperative, and frankly a little gassy. I know how you prefer to be handled gently, in private, even though you flaunt yourself with lovely frocks as though you want the world to believe that you're impenetrable and immune to defeat.

Most significantly, you've taught me patience Bread, and that alone has allowed our relationship to flourish. I know now that you need a lot of time and space alone to energize, and when I don't push you too hard, you are a reliable partner who feeds me everything that I could possibly ever need. Bread, I'm just going to say this, while our romance is stronger than ever, you've also become my closest friend.

I'm so glad that we've recorded our romance and shared it publicly, aren't you Bread? Its kept us accountable, and I love to be able look back and see all that we've learned together, all the wonderful ways that we've grown.

I hope that other people have been able to learn from our lessons too Bread, and I think they have, because they email us and encourage us to keep going with our relationship. Sometimes they give us advice, and even ask us for a few tips to keep their own relationships alive and strong.

I know our romance has not always been smooth sailing, we've had our ups and downs. You know, the silly little phase where I wouldn't touch you at all, and then those moments when I forced you to drink too much water because I thought it would be good for your complexion, and instead you almost drown. But you always forgave me Bread, you always gave me space to noodle around, even though you foresaw that some of the things I was doing was going to yield unsavory results. You somehow knew that if I was not allowed to make those mistakes, I would never truly understand you.

Now I see that you were trying to teach me that even though sometimes things are challenging, if we see our difficult moments as learning experiences instead of failures, together we can flourish.

So, today I'm in a rye mood, because we've come this far and now we have to take things to another level. I've gotten comfortable, I will admit, but you're right, we have to keep challenging one another if we are to stay interested enough for this thing to grow. What did you say to me the other day? Something about not always knowing where the path will lead, and that if we trust in one another, we are destined to become part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves? I don't know Bread, you are just so wise, and sometimes I don't fully understand.

I'm ready Bread, to move on to the next phase, a deeper place, and I'm honored that you feel that I'm worthy enough to meet some of your dearest friends. Brioche, the rich prima donna, and Croissant, the little prig, and that English chap that you lovingly call 'Muffin', they sound like such an interesting bunch. I'm glad that you warned me that they can be a temperamental lot, fussy sometimes, uncompromising at their worst, but I promise I will do my best to try to understand them too. I know that once I've won their affections, they will be putty in my hands, just like it was with you.

You know, Bread, even though I'm scared that we are getting more serious, I think that with all that I have learned from you that we have a good chance at success, and I think that our love will be everlasting.

I just want you to know that loving you has made my life so much better, and as our bond deepens, I know that as long as we are committed to learn from one another, this relationship will take us to places that not too long ago I had only dreamed of.

I love you Bread. Then, now, always.

Tartine Country Loaf, In Rye

FOR THE DOUGH
800g h20
200g rye levain (see below)
830g KA bread flour
170g Bob's Red Mill medium rye flour
20g salt

FOR THE LEVAIN
15g active rye starter
100g h20
50g Bob's Red Mill medium rye flour
50g KA AP flour

1) Make the Levain:

Levain in full bloom

Dissolve 15g active rye starter in 100g h20. Stir in 50g medium rye flour and 50g AP until you arrive at an amalgamated paste. Let this ferment overnight. My levain is usually in full bloom in 8 hours.

2) Dissolve the levain in 800g of h20. Stir in the 830g bread flour and 170g rye flour with your hands until you reach a shaggy mass. Autolyse for at least an hour.

Dough ready for autolyse

3) Squish the 20g of salt into the dough with your fingers until it is fully incorporated, let it rest for 30 minutes.

4) After 30 minutes, you will perform 4 series of turns every 30 minutes, which will comprise 2 full hours of your fermentation. Perform your turns like this: dip your hand under the bulk of the dough, and fold the bottom up over the top of the dough, give the bowl a 1/3 turn and repeat until you have done this three times. Be gentle with the dough. You are not kneading, you are stretching the dough and organizing the gluten molecules into long strands. The dough will strengthen via fermentation. Forget about all of the Cranford BBC movies on PBS where those 19th century women beat the crap out of their dough to illustrate hard livin'. Gentle and patient is the name of the game here.

Rye flour is extensible, rather than elastic, as shown here

5) After 2 hours of gentle turning, let the dough ferment unmolested for another 2 hours at room temp if it's cool enough in your area.

Dough after first turn

Dough after 4 hour fermentation

6) After the 4 hour ferment, turn the dough out onto a well-oiled (or floured, your call) workspace.

7) Divide, shape into loose rounds, and cover with 2 bowls for their 15 minute bench rest.

8) After the bench rest, shape into boules, then get them into bowls that have been lined with linens dusted with brown rice flour. Pop them into the fridge for a 4 hour proof

9) With 25 minutes left of your proof, preheat your oven to 500 degrees with two combo cooker sets inside. After the dough is fully proofed, cut out a square of parchment, place over the mouth of the bowl, and invert the bowl onto a peel. Remove the bowl and the linen carefully (in case there are any sticky spots, you don't want to yank the linen off too hard and rip the dough).

10) Score the dough, slide it into the shallow part of the hot cast iron pan, mist with a water bottle set on the MIST setting. Cover with the deep part of the comb cooker. Turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes covered.

11) Remove the cover from the combo cooker, then bake until done. My bread took another 40 minutes for an hour and 10 minute total bake.

Verdict:
Crust: I think this is my best crust so far. So brittle, it was hard not to slice into it the night of the bake. But I had to wait till the morning light to photograph it for you all. Crumb/Flavor: Earthy, nice bit of tang, super complex and absolutely delicious. I will pose this question: to degas or not to degas. There are two schools of thought. Some people do, some people don't. I never degas, and with this bake I did. I think that it smashes all of the gas chambers and minimizes the open crumb. I don't think I will degas again. I don't recall the Tartine book saying that we should degas, but I've been reading about all these bakers degassing here and far and decided I might give it a try. I don't like it! And I don't think I will do it again. Anyway, back to the crumb. Full gelatinization was realized, the crumb was chewy and awesome. Great with a ripe brie that I had on hand. Ease of handling dough: Super simple. Just keep in mind that working with rye is a different animal. It's going to feel more 'gummy' than you might be used to because of rye's extensible properties. That means that it's not elastic, like wheat flour (meaning, it stretches when you pull it, rather than snapping back). Bench notes: I didn't like that whole degassing thing, so I want to try this again without doing it to see if it will lend to a more open crumb.

To the staff of life!

This rye post was sent off to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.

Your Bread's Totally Cheesy Dude

2011-09-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

I've been monkeying about with fermentation lately, you know, how long I can ferment the dough, how long it can handle fermentation in pretty warm weather, and all that jazz. Yesterday I set out to make Tartine's next loaf, whole wheat with Gruyere, one of two variations on whole wheat before the last loaf in this chapter which happens to be rye (I can't wait).

I decided to do something different with this bread because I was not in the mood for a loaf of whole wheat, I needed something lighter, plus I'm not quite done foolin' around with my City Bread, trying to get the whole wheat to white ratio just right, and again, taking advantage of our Indian summer to understand the affects of weather on my burgeoning dough. And I remembered one of my favorite little cheese breads from a fabulous cheese shop called The Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley, and decided to set my bread locomotive in that direction instead of adding the cheese to a boule and baking it that way. The little rolls are much more conducive to sharing, and the way that the cheese, a mixture of Asiago and cave-aged Gruyere, oozes out over the top of them is almost insane, it's so good.

As for the dough, I decreased the whole wheat a hair, and this time I accomplished the full bulk fermentation at room temp, quite a feat given that the mercury was buoying somewhere in the upper 80s. Coupled with the high hydration, I was definitely pushing the issue a little bit, because the dough spread pretty quickly on the peel, and it was almost impossible to slash. Slashing, by the way, is an art form in and of itself, aside from the bread, so don't feel bad if you don't get it right away. I've only properly slashed a few loaves myself, and it's probably those loaves that were the best that I've ever baked. I feel as though the better we get at bread, the better our slashing capabilities become. And once we're slashing like pros, we can be assured that it's probably one fine loaf altogether that's receiving such stellar treatment.

Onward.

The bread itself came out really well considering the way that I bullied it into existence. As you can see, the slashes are all wild like, and the loaf rejected the idea of an ambitious oven spring, yielding a moderately elevated loaf. But lo, the crumb was still really lovely and open, it was uber moist and tender to boot, and the flavor was pretty divine. Full gelatinization was realized, and the crust shattered like glass, I dare say.

What I've learned from this bake is that these cheesy rolls will drive you to craziness they're so good, especially right out of the oven, or crisped before eating if you have some left over the next day. In this weather, I highly recommend doing a partial fermentation in the fridge. If you've been following my experiment, you will remember that I've been doing 2 hours cold, two hours at room temp. I would play with at least the final hour under refrigeration if you want to push the envelope of fermentation at room temp. And I would definitely keep up with a refrigerated proof until it starts to cool down if you happen to be in southern CA, or share warm summers like we do.

We are almost done with the first chapter of Tartine. After the next loaf we move into baguettes and all renditions thereof, brioches, croissants and English muffins, Tartine style.

Without further ado, here are the details of our cheesy rolls and a City Bread boule from levain through the bake.

The necessities:

FOR THE BREAD AND ROLLS:
levain, about 200g (see below)
750g + 50g h2o
750g KA all purpose flour, but you may use bread flour
250g KA whole wheat flour
20g salt
150g Asiago cheese, grated (or 300g if you plan to make both halves of dough into cheese rolls, read below)
150g cave aged Gruyere cheese, grated (or 300g if you plan to make both halves of dough into cheese rolls, read below)
Olive oil for brushing the rolls

FOR THE LEVAIN:
15g active starter, I used my trusty rye
100g h2o
50g dark or medium rye flour
50g all purpose flour

1) Create the levain: Mix the starter with 100g water, 50g rye flour and 50g all purpose flour. Cover with a towel and let it bloom overnight.

2) The next day your levain should be good and poofy. Dissolve all of it in 750g of water, then mix in both flours until you arrive at a shaggy mass. Cover with a sheet of plastic or a wet towel, or do what I did and pop a glass lid over the top so you can see what's going on from autolyse through bulk fermentation. Autolyse for 1 hour.

3) Add the salt and remaining 50g of water to the autolysed dough and mix thoroughly until you arrive at a smooth mass.

4) After 30 minutes, perform your first series of turns. Do this by scooping your hand under the dough and bringing the bottom over the top. Turn the bowl 1/3 turn and repeat until you have folded the dough from bottom to top three times. PS, no need to rough-house the dough. The structure of the dough occurs via fermentation, your turns, while they do strengthen the dough, are meant to 'organize and lengthen the gluten molecules', for long, smooth strands.

You will perform 3 more series of turns, one every 30 minutes, for a total of 4 series, which will comprise the first 2 hours of your bulk fermentation. After the 2 hour mark, if you live in a cool environment, by all means, ferment the dough at room temp for another 2 hours. If you live in a warmer climate, you may want to pop the dough into the fridge at this point, or in another hour. Whichever way you decide to go, ferment the dough for another 2 hours, you can push it to 2.5 if you decide to pop it in the fridge straight away.

Dough after first series of turns

Dough after 4 hour room temp fermentation, she's seriously toeing the line here

5) turn the dough out onto a work surface. I use olive oil, but you may flour if you wish. Divide in half, shape into loose rounds, cover with a couple of bowls and bench rest for 15 minutes.

6) At this point, shape one of the halves of dough into a boule like we normally do. Get it into a linen-lined bowl that has been dusted with rice flour. Pop in the fridge to proof for 4 hours. Roll out the second measure of dough, flouring the surface as necessary so it does not stick to the rolling pin. Your work space should be lubricated well enough with olive oil or flour, whichever you chose. Let the weight of the rolling pin do the work for you. Avoid mashing the dough. It looks like I rolled mine out to about 1/2" thick. Try to get it as rectangular as possible.

A NOTE: You may want to proceed making both halves into the addictive cheese rolls instead of turning one into a boule. If that is the case, follow the instructions below with both portions of dough. It will be easiest to work in halves, unless you have a really long work space and consider yourself a bad ass. In which case, roll out the whole measure of dough and make one really long cheese roll as directed below.

7) Spread the cheese over the dough as above.

8) Roll the dough into a neat log using your bench scraper to keep it all tight and uniform.

Be sure to leave the lip naked so that you can crimp the roll closed like this...

9) Slice the log into 1.5" thick slices with a very sharp knife.

10) Get the slices onto a flour dusted couche. It's OK if they touch a bit now and when they begin to proof. You can hack them apart with a bench scraper later.

11) Proof for 3 hours, room temp, or until they expand in size by 50%. About 15 minutes before you want to bake them, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with your baking stone inside.

12) Line your peel with a piece of parchment. Using a spatula, transfer the rolls onto the parchment and tighten reshape them with your hands if necessary. Brush the cheese-less sides with olive oil. Slide the parchment with the rolls into the oven. (Refrigerate the rest of the rolls while the first batch is baking. It's OK to bake the successive rolls straight from the fridge).

13) Mist the rolls heavily with water using the MIST setting on your squirt bottle, close the door, then twist the nozzle of the bottle to STREAM, open the oven door just a hair, and squirt the right wall of the oven until it stops hissing, repeat on the left side. Close the oven door swiftly. Repeat this steaming method after 5 minutes, then again after another 5 minutes, and again after another 5 minutes for a total of 15 minutes with steam. Then bake for 10 minutes, turn the parchment so that you rotate the rolls from back to front, and bake till completion, another 10 - 15 minutes for a total of 35 - 40 minutes, or until the rolls are golden.

14) Cool on a wire rack, then repeat with the remaining rolls. The rolls are delicious warm, and they happily reheat the next day as well, although I really like them at room temp too!

VERDICT

These little rolls tasted just like the ones that I remember from The Cheese Board Collective. They are utterly addictive, and I recommend that you give them away to your friends or you will certainly eat the whole batch on your own in no time!

NOW FOR THE BOULE

1) After the four hour proof, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with your combo cooker inside for at least 20 minutes.

(Note, if you are still working your cheese rolls and you have opted to do a room temp proof, at the four hour mark, pop the boule into the fridge until you are ready to bake it).

2) Invert the boule onto a peel lined with parchment or a thin layer of semolina. Score. Slide the boule into the shallow portion of the combo cooker, immediately cover with the deeper portion of the combo cooker, lower the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

3) After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the combo cooker and complete the bake, another 30 - 40 minutes.

VERDICT

Crust: shattery and lovely Crumb: largely open, fully gelatinized Flavor: Really wonderful and developed. A good tang, but not overly so. Ease of handling dough: Challenging. It was really warm here and the dough is super hydrated. Notes: I would definitely do the final hour or two bulk fermentation in the fridge when the temp soars to the mid-eighties. It was in danger of over-fermenting, and I was a little surprised that it came out as well as it did considering. I might also decrease the hydration just a hair, maybe by 25g or so. But it might not be necessary if you do a 1/2 ferment in the fridge. Whichever you choose, please email me and divulge your findings!

To the staff of life!

This cheesy post was sent off to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.

A laywoman's solution to Tartine's highly hydrated dough

2011-09-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to make bread off schedule. I started the levain in the morning instead of at night before bed, so that I would be able to bake the following morning instead of late in the afternoon. I did this because I wanted to experiment with a long proof - and I wanted to have my Sunday totally free for once, since my bread would need to be baked when I woke up in early in the morning. Taking advantage of the evening hours for my proof made my bread baking more efficient, especially with the longer proof.

City Loaf, Enduring Proof

I could not photograph the results of the dough as I moved along because of lighting issues, but at this point I think that we have enough posts under our belt to see what the dough is supposed to look like as we are working with it.

I also decided to see what would come of halving one of my bread formulas that generally make two loaves. I used the formula that I've been monkeying with for the past couple of weeks, the one for my 'City Bread'. I increased hydration in tandem with the increased proof, because my goal was to make a more open crumb with my bread, and one with a more pronounced tang. See the formula and instructions below.

Kale salad with anchovy vinaigrette, and torn City Bread croutons (recipe found here at Farm To Table Geek)

So, I have received a few emails from people having difficulties with highly hydrated doughs, and the advice I give is completely non-expert, but may help nonetheless. What is most mentioned is that shaping the dough has been giving people problems, and I think you might want to know a few things so you don't feel like you're doing anything wrong with your bread. With the exception of the whole wheat loaves that I've made, pretty much every dough has been a challenge to work with because of the high hydration, but over time my perception of what's difficult has changed, because I am getting used to handling dough. What was once difficult no longer is. But if you are still struggling with shaping and trying to get your dough into the combo cooker before it oozes onto the floor, I totally get it.

Here are some things to take into consideration:

1) The Tartine Bread book is NOT an easy book. I love it, yes, but the dough requires some serious devotion, and the book is a little arcane. There certainly are others out there that will take you by the hand and tell you all you need to know, so snatch up copies of other author's work too. But I think that Chad created a piece of work that would allow the reader/breadmaker to find their own bread. He has given us a foundation for this bread, his bread. Everything that you begin to understand about it from the moment you open the book is really all about you. You will learn what works best in your environment, and how to handle the dough on your own if you just keep working with it as often as you can. Furthermore, and this may sound silly, but you must become one with Chad's doughs. These are not Sunday afternoon breads. So don't feel bad about the outcome if you imagined that it was something that you could just fit into a busy day, and find yourself falling short. On bread day, I'm home. I walk the dog while the dough is on the last half of it's fermentation, and I run errands as it proofs. Other than that, this dough has got me for pretty much 10 hours so that I can poke it and keep an eye on it, and mostly so that I can be at the ready when it decides it wants to be baked.

City Bread, the crumb

2) Chad's are high-hydration doughs. I seriously thought that the polenta bread was going to eat my dog, it was that terrifying. It was beyond hydrated, I don't even know what to call it. It was like a humongous bowl of polenta Jello. The rye bread is also a difficult one to work with, but that is the nature of rye. It is a flour whose properties are more extensible than elastic, that means that it does not snap back very easily when working with it. Even the country loaf is not simple at the start, and you have to be gentle in handling the dough so that it can develop that lovely, open crumb. Resist the urge to overwork the dough or to add flour to it, or to pull back on hydration. Just dive into working with unruly dough, and over time, you will simply learn how to work with it. Keep reading to find out how I was able to get a grip on high-hydration doughs. You might find my cheatin' ways useful. In fact, it turns out that the main way (using refrigeration) adds to the development of flavor in sourdough breads.

3) Refrigeration is your friend. This hot summer forced me to really get creative with my dough and as a result, I am seriously married to refrigerated fermentation. Not only does it add to the flavor of my bread, but it allowed me to learn how to handle this dough without backing off hydration. Long, cool fermentations develop flavor. Fast, hot fermentations just aerate your bread. Let me just say, even with refrigeration, this dough needs to be handled quickly, adeptly, and gently. Once you invert it onto your peel and get it scored, don't go make a phone call or pet the dog. You need to get it into the oven pronto.

There were even some loaves whose hydration I was able to increase because refrigeration allowed me a little more flexibility and a lot more leniency in handling what would otherwise have been a temperamental dough. Use the fridge while you are learning, and beyond. It is your friend. Remember, professional bakers have proofing chambers that regulate the temperature of their dough. You have two options: refrigeration, and room temp. I seriously doubt that Chad has 100 loaves of wilting dough laying around his hot kitchen. He has climate controlled advantages.

4) Here are 10 tips to help you from shaping through baking:

For those of you who are having difficulty shaping the dough and handling the high hydration, my suggestion is to complete your turns at room temp, then pop the dough in the fridge for the second half of fermentation (i.e., 2 hours room temp fermentation with turns, 2 hours final fermentation in fridge).

When you pull the dough out for preshape, do a loose preshape, which allows a shorter bench. A tighter preshape calls for a longer bench, but then the dough warms up and might make it harder for you to shape later.

During shaping, do your best. It does not have to be perfect. Dough is a pretty forgiving thing, especially at this point. Just try not to overwork it, and if you feel that you have, lengthen your proof (in the fridge) which will give it enough time to rise properly. I also avoid using a floured surface as I work. I use either nothing at all, or olive oil. I have ended up with raw flour in my loaves, and that pretty much killed any desire to flour my workspace. A little olive oil in your bread never hurt a thing, in fact, it probably makes it more delightful.

Proof in the fridge. For a couple of reasons. For one reason, it will make it easier for you to handle when it's time to invert it onto your peel. For another reason, it allows you to control the proof and develop the flavor of your bread. It also allows some flexibility with your baking schedule, since proofing dough can be refrigerated for up to 12 hours.

When you are about to bake your bread, don't slap the dough right into the combo cooker as the book suggests. It makes for a situation where you can really burn yourself and deflate your nurtured dough. Instead, cut a piece of parchment, lay it over the bowl, lay the peel over the bowl, and carefully flip the bowl with the peel over so that the bowl is inverted. Remove the bowl. Peel off the linen. Score.

Fully proofed City Bread dough on the peel

Pull the combo cooker out of the oven, slide the dough into the combo cooker. Put the lid in place, and close the oven while you are working your second dough. I find this arrangement safest and easiest and there is less risk of deflating your dough. If the dough lands crooked, give the combo cooker a shake to place it properly. If you only have one combo cooker that's fine. Just keep the second dough in the fridge till you are ready to bake it. The dough can be in the fridge for up to 12 hours proofing, so, nothing bad will happen if it waits.

Don't be tempted to lift the lid of the combo cooker before the first 30 minutes is up. The lid provides the steamy environment needed for proper oven spring. It just took you 10 hours to coax this bread into being, another 30 minutes won't kill you. Looking prematurely and causing your bread to flop might make you die a little inside.

City Bread after 30 minute steam

Toggle the heat. I never bake my loaves at 475. It's too hot, I find. A baking stone certainly helps to diffuse the heat beneath the pan so that you don't end up with a black bottom crust, but if it's too hot, turn the heat down. I find that baking my loaves at 450 allows me to get a deeper brown crust that is more evenly toned. 475 was burning the bottom of my bread while leaving the top too blonde, and then the inside was not baking long enough and had raw spots. 450 allows me to keep my loaves in for the duration of the bake, and I've been able to get those chestnut colored loaves that we are all salivating after. I also bake my bread for an hour, and some as long as an hour and 10 minutes. These days I can tell by how it looks and how it sounds by thumping the bottom of it if it's done, but for the sake of the blog, I also take the temperature and post the temp on the blog so that newbies will have something more concrete when pulling their loaves if they are not sure that they are done. Look for chestnut colored loaves with a strong crust.

Which brings me to this great bit of info: place the baking rack at the highest possible level to accommodate the combo cooker and its lid. The lower the pan to the gas (or heat element) at the bottom of the oven, the more probable the bottom crust is to burn. Keep it up high.

Don't slice your bread until it's cool, unless it's a baguette. The bread is still baking and will change texture radically when it is allowed to fully 'cure'. I wait no less than 2 hours, and generally more, before I slice into it. Warm bread is romantic, yes, but it's just not ideal to slice into this style of bread before it has a chance to finish its 'bench bake', which is what I call it. If you must have warm bread, make toast later on.

These are just a few things that I learned during this bread making endeavor. I am here and happy to help you if you have any questions. I'm not an expert, but I would love to share what has worked for me since I've been learning about bread since April. I hope that my posts inspire you to learn bread in your own way and really make it your own. There is no wrong way to do this. If it's working for you, you're on the right path. Tartine Bread is a guide, and the bread that you make from it is to become your bread. Finally, bread calls to your intuitive sense. Listen as intently as possible to its language, the message will become quite clear.

Here is the formula and instruction for my City Loaf with an 8 hour proof:

150g KA whole wheat flour

350g KA bread flour

100g levain, using my rye starter

440g + 25g h20

10g salt

1. To make the levain, mix 8g of active rye starter (or whatever 100% starter you use) with 50g h2o and 25g each whole wheat and white flours. Let it sit out on the counter for 8 hours covered.

2. Mix the flours and 440g of the h2o with the levain and autolyse for 1 hour at room temp.

3. Add the salt and the remaining 25g of water, mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes.

3. After the 30 minute rest after salting, turn the dough by dipping your hand under the dough and folding the bottom up over the top, spin the bowl 1/3 turn, repeat until you have done this three times, this is your first series of turns. Then perform another series every 30 minutes, for a total of 4 series. Total fermentation time at room temp, including the rest after salting, and the 4 series of turns at 30 minutes apart should be 2 hours.

4. Pop in the fridge and ferment for another 2.5 hours.

5. Pull the dough out and pre-shape. Bench rest for 20 minutes. Shape the dough into a boule, then pop it into a linen-lined bowl dusted with rice flour. Cover with another bowl to prevent a skin from forming. The bowl will give it enough room to rise. Pop in the fridge and ferment for 8 hours.

6. 20 minutes before you plan to bake, preheat the oven to 550 degrees with the combo cooker inside.

7. Pull the dough out of the fridge when the oven is preheated, invert it onto a peel that has been dusted with semolina, score, and slide it into the combo cooker (I bake my bread in the shallow part and use the deeper part as a lid). Get the lid in place, turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the combo cooker and bake uncovered until the crust is chestnut brown. Mine took another 40 minutes.

Verdict:

Crust: Shattery and thin. Came out very well Crumb: Largely open and beautiful but not so much so that it is not suitable for sandwiches. Tender. Flavor: Nicely developed. The long ferment added some depth and a bit of tang, though surprisingly not much. This loaf stood up well to anchovy, no doubt because of the use of whole wheat, and was delicate enough for tomatoes and avocado. A really nice 'go to' bread. Difficulty of handling the dough: not at all. Notes: This is not a Tartine bread, but it is based on Chad's methods. This is the longest that I have fermented one of his breads, and I can't say that it was necessary. I think that the breads in general work really well with his 'general' fermentation schedule. It allows for lovely flavor development, proper fermentation to produce the appropriate structure for the crumb. I might experiment with a 6 hour ferment, for kicks. I must say, this was about the brink that I think my yeast could have handled. I believe any longer would overproof the dough, because it's been hot down here and the fermentation was pretty speedy, even with half the fermentation time done in the fridge. This one was toeing that line, as you can see from the slightly peaked center and sloping sides of the finished loaf. It's a slight deformation, but one that is a sign of overproofing. As well, the proofing dough was not as vibrant as it could have been when I pulled it from the fridge. This dough could not have gone the duration of 12 hours, though I know that the Tartine book outlines that you can proof for up to that amount of time. I think that with a cooler bulk ferment, I may have been able to increase proofing time. (I can't wait for it to get cooler down here so that I can experiment with complete room temp bulk fermentation) I'd say, pull back proofing time, longer is not better if your loaves have endured a warmer bulk fermentation. 4 hours would have been ample, I think, given the weather. 6 might be fun. We will give that a try as well.

To the staff of life!

This post was shuttled off to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.

City Bread, An Accomplishment

2011-09-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

City bread, round one

I've been wanting to make a bread that is not quite as hearty as Tartine's whole wheat, and definitely something with an earthier more wheaty flavor than the country loaf. I also like my bread with a bit of bite, though I know that in France that the mark of a great baker is one who produces loaves with imperceptible tang. I'm a San Franciscan. We can take a little sour with our bread, and frankly, the chewy texture that comes with long fermentations - which also leads to a more sour bread - is one of the primary reasons I started baking my own sourdough at home.

The bread of my dreams is one that I remember when I worked at Oliveto. I was addicted to it. It was wheaty with a lovely tang. The texture was incredible, chewy, bold, and the crust was incomparable. I'm sure it was Acme or Grace, perhaps one that Oliveto had commissioned the bakery to produce for their dining room. Grace and Acme are two bakery giants over that way. There are actually many impeccable bread bakeries back home aside from Tartine. If you ever take a trip to the Bay Area, be sure to map out a bread tour. Many of the bakeries are in the East Bay.

City bread, round two

I've not gotten around to trying to make my dream bread because I really wanted to keep moving along on the proper Tartine path. Alas, sometimes no matter how diligently we stroll down one path, there will always be another that beckons us, and sometimes we must follow, even if we don't realize why we've made the detour until we are half way down the road.

I think the Universe wanted me to work on this loaf in my mind, because I ended up making it when I made a chanterelle pizza for my last post by accident. Here's how it went: I know Chad's bread measurements for all of the breads up to the variations on whole wheat by heart, as well as the method that he outlines in his book. Last week I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to make the dough for my upcoming round of pizzas (I skipped over those, so I'm backtracking a bit). I was so tired that morning that I mismeasured the flours, et voila! I ended up with my dream bread. Sort of. The first round was the debut loaf, great for pizza crust, but as a boule, the method needed to be adjusted (and no, you will NOT see the pictures for that inaugural loaf!). I have since done two more rounds of the bread with adjustments, which are the makeup of this post.

City bread, round two, closeup

What I've come up with in this bread is one that is just wheaty enough, the crumb is open, it's chewy and with a touch of sour. Because I like my bread with a little tang, and with a chewier interior, I am going to continue to experiment with longer fermentation times and, primarily, fermenting and proofing in the fridge.

The thing I love best about baking bread is that it mimics life. No two loaves are the same, nor are two days, nor two moments for that matter. Bread, and life, can be begun over again, adjusted, manipulated, contemplated, a strategy forged to make it better suited to your preference. Each effort is a building block of self-understanding. There are no mistakes. Only lessons and new beginnings which are better than those before, because we've grown so much wiser than even one day ago, and can make better choices down this path. That is a monumental gift given to us that sometimes we forget. But when we remember, it reminds us of the malleability of our lives, the magnitude of our strengths.

City bread, round 1, closeup

This bread is my new City Bread, my fork in the road, something to call my own. I've been working hard to understand how to work with dough, how to yield to it and listen to what it needs rather than beating it into submission, or meeting it with deaf ears. I have been diligently following the Tartine book for a while now, and I needed some deviation, something that would give me permission to experiment, a strategy to alter the landscape of my life and remind me that I have many more choices than I've been willing to see. And I've needed some successes to lend my life some purpose.

This past week I've had multiple successes with my bread as well as my writing, I feel accomplished, and I've been able to share them, both, with my friends and now you. I think that it's crucial to design a life where you have daily accomplishments. Your spirit does not measure the size of them, all it knows is that you were successful. Hooray! And when we feel successful every day, it propels us to a place of continued striving. It allows a sense of purpose to fill us. The goal is to attain little accomplishments every day - a good workout, a loaf of bread - to keep up the momentum. And you have to acknowledge them too. There is no virtue in belittle an accomplishment or telling yourself that you could have done more. That tells your spirit, every day, that you aren't successful, or grateful for that matter. And I don't know about yours, but mine does not thrive in a dampened world. Our spirits need support and nurturing, we have to be kind to ourselves while we have the privilege of being here.

Crumb from round two

Here is to everyone who might find themselves at the fork in their road. Whichever route you take, may it lead you to a greater understanding of who you are. May you have successes every day that know no measure, and may you never forget to praise yourself for them. If you don't the accomplishment was not worth pursuing to begin with.

Here is my City Bread, in two rounds. Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself!

ROUND ONE

Begin this bread the night before with a levain. For round one I made a whole wheat levain, as I usually do, with my 100% hydration rye starter. Instructions are below.

700g bread flour

300g whole wheat flour

800g h20

200g whole wheat levain

20g salt

To make the levain, in a bowl, take one tablespoon of your active rye starter and mix it with 100g h20 and 50g each AP and whole wheat flour. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm spot in the kitchen to ferment overnight.

The next morning:

1) Dissolve the levain in 750g of water, then stir in the whole wheat and bread flours until it's a shaggy mass. Autolyse for 1.5 hours.

2) After autolyse, stir in 20g of salt and the 50g of remaining water. Vigorously mix this with your hand until all of the water and salt is incorporated, and the dough becomes a smooth mass. Let it rest for 30 minutes, our fermentation has begun.

3) After 30 minutes of rest, perform your first series of turns (there are four total). Dip your hand under the dough, then pull the bottom of the dough over the top, turn the bowl 1/3 turn and do this again. I fold the dough like this for a total of 3 times. Cover with plastic and rest for 30 minutes.

(turn two) After 30 minutes, repeat the turns as you did above. (turn three) For the third series of turns, be more gentle with the dough. As you can see, it has become more aerated, and the gluten structure is developing. You do not want to collapse those lovely gas chambers. (turn four) For the last series of turns, be very, very delicate with the dough. Perform your turns gingerly, or you risk deflating the dough.

Dough after the first two series of turns

Dough after the last two series of turns

The dough, during the turns, has been fermenting for two hours. Let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

4) Pop the dough in the fridge and let it ferment for another 2 hours and 15 minutes.

A note on fermenting and proofing: The weather is hot where I live at the moment, which makes a huge difference in fermentation and proofing times and refrigeration is the best method to employ to keep the dough from overfermenting or overproofing.

5) The dough has been fermenting for a full 4.5 hours. Scrape it onto a workspace.

6) Divide the dough into two pieces, shape into loose rounds and let them rest on the bench for 15 minutes. It's hot here, anything more than that is too long, which is why we are preshaping very casually. If you want a longer bench rest, then preshape your dough a little more tightly.

Make sure you cover the dough while it rests on the bench so that it does not form a skin. I just inverted a couple of bowls over it.

7) Shape the dough into boules, then pop them into linen lined bowls dusted with rice flour. Pop the bowls into the fridge and proof for 3 hours 30 minutes. I had a guest coming over, so I cut the proofing time short. I really wanted to proof for at least 4.5 hours, but, well, there's that.

8) 20 minutes before you plan to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 550 degrees with your combo cookers inside.

9) When the combo cookers are hot, and the oven is sufficiently preheated, gently invert your bowl onto a peel that you have dusted liberally with semolina so that it will snap right off of the peel.

10) Score the loaves, then get them into the combo cookers, get the lids in place, turn the oven down to 450 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes to steam the loaves.

11) After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the combo cooker and bake for however long it takes to finish. I think mine took another 35 minutes. The temp of the bread upon removal was 215 degrees.

I apologize, but I didn't take proper pictures of the interior. All that was left to photograph was this chunk, and you can see that the side has gone dry. But I wanted you all to see the crumb nonetheless.

Verdict

Crust: super shattery. I gave a loaf to my friend, and a half loaf to my neighbor and they raved over the crust and the crumb. The bottom crust was awesome. Crumb: Open. It was tender and with just the right amount of 'sourdough chewiness', which is what draws me to this bread. Flavor: Earthy. Wheaty. The wheat was just assertive enough without being overpowering. I am looking for a bread that is bit more sour, which is why I did round two and increased the proof time by an hour. But this bread as it is is pretty perfect when you are looking for a loaf that is mildly sour. This loaf would be perfect with membrillo and manchego cheese. Ease of handling with the dough: Simple. Notes: I would love to see this bread with a little more tang to it. In round two, I increased the proof time a bit to see if I could accomplish this. See round two below

ROUND TWO

Begin this bread the night before with a levain. For round two I made a rye levain with my 100% hydration rye starter. Instructions are below.

On bake day, gather together these things:

700g bread flour

300g whole wheat flour

800g h20

200g rye levain (instructions just below)

20g salt

Make the Levain:

1) To make the levain, in a bowl, take one tablespoon of your active rye starter and mix it with 100g h20 and 100g of dark rye flour. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm spot in the kitchen to ferment overnight.

Levain, the morning after

The next morning:

2) Dissolve the levain in 750g of water, then stir in the whole wheat and bread flours until it's a shaggy mass. Autolyse for 1.5 hours.

Dough just mixed

Dough after autolyse

3) After autolyse, stir in 20g of salt and the 50g of remaining water. Vigorously mix this with your hand until all of the water and salt is incorporated, and the dough becomes a smooth mass. Let it rest for 30 minutes, our fermentation has begun.

Just salted dough

Dough after being salted and rested

4) After 30 minutes of rest, perform your first series of turns (there are four total). Dip your hand under the dough, then pull the bottom of the dough over the top, turn the bowl 1/3 turn and do this again. I fold the dough like this for a total of three times. Cover with plastic and rest for 30 minutes.

Dough after first turn. Already developing great gluten structure

Gluten structure after the first turn

Dough after the second turn. Excellent gluten development

Gluten strength after the second turn

Dough after the third turn. Super aerated

Dough after fourth turn. Nice fermentation here

The dough, during the turns, has been fermenting for two hours. Let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

5) Pop the dough in the fridge and let it ferment for another 2 hours, for a total fermentation time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

After 2 hour refrigerated fermentation

6) The dough is ready to be turned out onto a workspace. I don't normally flour my workspace, but I did this time and I didn't like it. I don't like the risk of incorporating raw flour into my dough, so I scraped it up as best I could, and worked on a naked bench.

7) Divide the dough into two pieces, shape into loose rounds and let them rest on the bench for 15 minutes. It's hot here, anything more than that is too long, which is why we are preshaping very casually. If you want a longer bench rest, then preshape your dough a little more tightly.

8) Cover the dough with bowls to prevent it from forming a skin while it rests on the bench.

9) Shape the dough into boules, then pop them into linen lined bowls dusted with rice flour. Pop the bowls into the fridge and proof for 4 hours. I wanted to go longer, but I don't think the dough could handle it. I really pushed the fermentation at room temp with the hot weather today. When the weather gets cooler, I am going to push the proofing time to see what sort of flavor develops with lengthier proofs.

Dough in linen before proofing

Dough fully proofed

10) 20 minutes before you plan to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 550 degrees with your combo cookers inside.

11) When the combo cookers are hot, and the oven is sufficiently preheated, gently invert your bowl onto a peel that you have dusted liberally with semolina so that it will snap right off of the peel.

Dough on the peel

12) Score the loaves, then get them into the combo cookers, get the lids in place, turn the oven down to 450 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes to steam the loaves.

The two loaves after 30 minute steam

13) After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the combo cooker and bake for however long it takes to finish. These loaves took another 36 minutes. The temp of the bread upon removal was 215 degrees.

Verdict:

Crust: Super shattery. Very nice. Great bubbles. Crumb: Relatively open. And it was tender, a little more than the wheat levain based bread. It still had a lovely chewiness to it. This is the perfect egg salad bread.

Flavor: Beautiful. Earthy. A little more sourness than the loaves in round one. The rye definitely comes through in this bread, and I think it contributes to the tenderness of the crumb. Dough's ease of handling: Simple.

Notes: I really wanted to try a rye levain with this bread to see what sort of flavor it would contribute to the finished loaves, and to see what sort of latitude I had in handling the dough (i.e., how it would affect fermentation and proofing times). The rye was perceptible, but it made the fermentation and proofing time a little more precarious, simply because of the weather here (it's been close to 100 degrees). I would love to see if I can create a 'sister' bread to this one with a little more tang. This bread itself was perfect, and I would not change a thing (hang on to the formula above!), but if I wanted a more assertively tangy bread, I would reduce the room temp fermentation time in hot weather. Say, pop in in the fridge after the third turn when it starts to really take off. That way the fermentation time can be pushed (might be easier with the formula in round one, because rye ferments more quickly than wheat, though I think the small contribution of rye here would not pose too much of an issue for experimentation's sake), as well as the proofing time. I am going to experiment next with fermentation and proofing times, always in search of a bread with just enough tang and chewiness. I will post my findings as soon as those loaves are done. The temperature is supposed to come down quite a bit here in L.A., so that will affect room temp fermentation times. Keep this formula. It's definitely a winner.

To the staff of life!

This post was taken to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting. These loaves were inspired by Tartine Bread book's breads.

Her highness, Chanterelle

2011-08-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Chanterelle. She is like no other fungus. Actually, no other fungus is quite like Madame chanterelle. Contemptuous, the candle that tries to weigh her worth.

Such an elegant name befitting the queen of the forest jewels. Her essence, reminiscent of the silver mists that perfume the forest floor, and her taste, of cedar and spicy nosegay, maybe of violet and the wild mint that grows in the shadows at garden's edge. There is nothing more arresting than her golden bloom. And for her, I would spend my final dime.

Leek & chanterelle, an artisan pie

Has the moment in your life arrived when your purpose lays its hand on your shoulder and whispers, 'it is time'? Today was such a moment for me, though this time was not the first, and I suspect that it won't be the last that I feel its touch. It was a relief, I must say. I could not ignore it one moment more.

I was a chef in some previous life, and I left it, for what, I still don't entirely know. It is an illusion that one will understand the self in its entirety, after all. A rather long sabbatical its been, one that I recall was ignited by the desire to find some purpose. This, a noble pursuit, though at the time it resembled folly. Alas, when the torch is set, there is nothing more to do but honor the ensuing blaze.

I could not go on any further, this much is clear, without understanding precisely what that purpose was. There is a private part of me, perhaps that what is vain, that wishes then that I had simply asked myself and intuited the answer, instead of roaming the crevices of world questioning the places and outside things that could never tell me who I was meant to be. Though when looked upon through pragmatic eyes, the experiences lent some indispensable clues. One thing that I have learned without uncertainty: No matter how heavy the stone overturned, there will always be another with yet deeper anchor that will eagerly test your might, and one is rarely ever fully prepared for the discovery awaiting in the hollow.

I do not regret the path that I chose, earnestly, I know that I would not have discovered the qualities that I did otherwise. For, one's path holds an absolution, even if to the wanderer the passage seems narrow or utterly arcane, and it is wholly compulsory that one must in their own life question that which is lain before, one is a fool if one chooses otherwise. To be sure, it is not until one wears through the soles of one's shoes that the nature of the path be revealed.

I love to write. Always have. It's like breath for me. It is the one thing in my life that I do not judge. I never have, and I don't think that I possibly could. I write to discover who I am, and how can that ever be wrong. Writing for me is something that cannot be avoided, and I had always thought that this was my sole calling. I had no idea, truly, that there could ever be more. Even though it was right before me. And it is cooking that has pulled me back into its arms, home again. Oh lucky day that the two can be so blissfully wed, as I believe we are all aware. I wonder, how many cookbooks do you have? And are you captivated by the food? Or is it about the voice of the author, her path, his view? I don't think that the two could ever be divorced. Because then, where would that leave either of the two, one without the other, lost, without momentum, without purpose.

But back to the chanterelle.

This day I had a few, just a small parchment, perfect they were, and so deeply hued that they veritably smoldered when I opened the package to investigate their elegance. I set out to make a pizza, and for this pie I made my own dough. A light wheat, based partially upon the Tartine country loaf, and partially on my sleepy eye: I was not quite awake when I weighed out the components that by now I know by heart; too little bread flour, a bit too much wheat. The result was a dough that I understood would become a regular guest in my kitchen, and one all too welcome. I am excited to try it out as a boule, and as soon as I do, you will be the first to know.

Here is the larder and process that arrived at my chanterelle pie.

- 1/3 pound of chanterelles
- 2 leeks
- Fresh herbs, I used marjoram and a few leaves of sage
- Olive oil, of course
- Salt, I use kosher, I like its hand
- Demi-wheat dough, as outlined below

MAKE THE DOUGH:

700g KA bread flour
300g whole wheat flour
200g freshly made levain
750g + 50g h2o
20g salt

I made the levain with my active rye starter. 1 TB dissolved in 100g h2o, then mixed with 50g each all purpose and whole wheat flour. I let it ferment overnight, countertop.

The next day I mixed the levain, a hair over 200g really, with 750g h2o and the flours. I left it to autolyse for 1.5 hours.

I performed a series of turns at 30 minute intervals, this represented 2 hours of fermentation time at room temp. Just after the last turn, I popped the dough in the fridge and fermented it for 3 hours longer.

After fermentation, I divided the dough into 400g pieces, let them rest for 15 minutes on the bench. It was too hot here for a longer bench rest. I then shaped the portions into rounds, popped them into bowls lined with rice flour-dusted linens, and into the fridge they went to proof for 2 hours.

When the rounds were done proofing and ready to be stretched into pies, I preheated the oven to 550 degrees, of course my baking stone is in there heating up as well.

HERE'S HOW I MADE THE PIE:

I sliced my leeks into small flags, rinsed them well, then sweated them over medium heat until they were very soft. Of course, this i seasoned with salt.

Just a note, a cast iron pan is best for this, as I believe it is for most things.

While the leeks were sweating, I cleaned the chanterelle using the brush that you see below, though they were nearly pristine.

Here's a very serious consideration: NEVER ever wash your chanterelle with water. This is a crime against humanity and the gods.

I sliced the chanterelle...

Then sauteed them, seasoned with salt, of course, in the same pan used for the leeks. The leeks were cooled quickly in the fridge, so you know. You can't put warm toppings on cold dough.

When the chanterelle were lightly sauteed, I rough chopped the herbs, marjoram and sage.

I sprinkled the herbs over the mushrooms then spooned the mushrooms onto a plate and cooled them in the fridge along with the leeks while I worked the dough.

I took out a ball of dough, smeared my workspace with flour, and pressed the dough outward to form a flat disc, flouring the dough if it felt like it was sticking. I Didn't worry about keeping it round. Rustic shapes are all the rage right now, and match nicely with the earthy ingredients.

Sprinkled an awaiting peel with semolina, liberally, so the dough would not stick when it came time to be slid into the oven. Liberal here is crucial, I cannot stress this enough.

Transfered the stretched dough onto the peel and reshaped.

Brushed the dough with olive oil, liberally.

Then topped with the cooled leeks and chanterelle.

Sprinkled the finished pie with a handful of rough chopped herbs, and sprinkled with salt.

With a quick jerk of the peel, I transferred the pie onto the hot baking stone and baked it until the edges of the dough were golden. I think it took 10 minutes or so.

Sprinkled with chili flake, and enjoyed warm with an earthy glass of red wine.

To the staff of life.

This post was shuttled off to Wild Yeast Blog.