Weekend Bread

Here are some of the breads that I made at the bakery and at home this weekend.

Hamelman's formula for 'Vermont' sourdough.

Caraway seeded rye. This one, one of my favorite breads, was soundly ignored, at least until around 2pm on Sunday.

I'm still having trouble with my loaves bursting, which very rarely happens to me at home. I had thought it might be a problem with too little steam (no freezer at the bakery means no ice to throw in the oven), but for the Vermont sourdough my hypothesis is underproofing, because I slashed it very nicely indeed.

I also made a little bread to have at home--Leader's buttermilk bread, which he makes with currents but I like with dried apricots. Matt took some up to the neighbors, and came down about 20 minutes later with a napkinful of sourdough waffles.

Pumpernickel Raisin Bread

I took another stab at Daniel Leader's Pumpernickel Raisin Bread from Bread Alone. Last time I made this, we found the molasses flavor too overpowering, so this time I upped the rye flour component, used about an eighth of the recommended molasses, and also used a bunch of stale bread crumbs, which I've heard is something that's done with pumpernickel. It was good. I still think the cocoa and molasses could be minimized a bit more (there's also coffee in it) but this is very acceptable toast bread. And Matt really likes it.

En Route

I'm gone to Uganda.
No updates for three weeks, but I'll bring back pictures.
Like the pictures of the San Francisco sourdough above.
Happy New Year in advance.

Buttermilk Apricot Wheat Bread

A recent favorite from Bread Alone, a yeast bread with an eight-hour poolish and a bunch of dried fruit mixed in at the last minute. The actual recipe calls for currants, but I keep making it with chopped apricots or dried cherries and it's very good. Never remotely the same twice, though, so I'm going to start keeping detailed notes on methodology to try to figure it out. But there may never be resolution, that's the joy of bread baking.

This one had a particularly long poolish rise, because I got distracted by Bill Clinton, and barely snuck it in before Joe Biden, missing his apparently hot son. It also used all commercial flours, and had a (relatively) short proofing time. Delicious hot (like Joe Biden's son) with blackberry jam and butter.

San Francisco Sourdough

My second attempt at Daniel Leader's San Francisco Sourdough, from Bread Alone. In the 'family of traditional sourdoughs' chapter, the main identifier of the recipe is the long starter ferment (24 hours compared to the usual twelve).

I substituted white whole wheat flour for some of the bread flour, and did most of the first fermentation of the whole dough in the refrigerator while I was at work. I also used my liquid levain instead of Bread Alone's regular sourdough chef, and didn't add all the flour, so my dough was a little wetter than on my first try. Wetter, everyone agrees, is better.

My trusty home team pulled the dough out for me and when I came home a few hours later it was overflowing its bowl and ready to go. It had probably risen a bit too much, so I did the first and second rests quickly and shaped it loosely, as it was pretty sticky.

Being a very hot day, the dough proofed quickly and stuck to the parchment couche, but I eventually got it into a 500 degree oven, turned it down to 450, and got to baking. I was a little worried about oven spring because it had proofed so quickly, but it seemed to do all right. The crumb wasn't quite as open as my ideal, but it was light and not dense.
The crust colored beautifully, a nice rich brown, and I experimented with a new scoring design (more to come soon). The taste is full and lightly sour, more like a sour levain than true San Francisco style, but I'm ok with that as I often find 'real' San Francisco breads to have an unpleasant sock-like smell.

Two Yeast Breads

Many of you may have noticed that serious bread baking seems to take place largely on Wednesday and Thursday, the days I don't go in to work in Red Hook. Yesterday was no exception, I came home early in the morning and set up two (moderately) quick yeast breads, a version of Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye Bread and a raisin Semolina Sandwich Bread from Local Breads. Both are soft, sweet, forgiving breads, good for breakfast and dinner and for eating by the fistful. They are a tribute to the pleasures of having a few hours around the house, basic methods, basic ingredients, big return.

Popovers, Pies, & Rye

One giant post to sum up Thursday. I baked all day, not without meltdowns, but the net yield was 12 popovers, 8 pies (2 berry/nectarine, 2 banana cream, 2 chocolate cream, 2 sweet potato), 2 mini sweet potato pies and a basin of sweet potato pudding, and a couple of loaves of Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye.









Consumed by me: 8 popovers, one mini sweet potato pie, a few slices of bread, 4 cucumbers, fistfuls of pastry cream and chocolate pudding, and some spaghetti with garlic, oil, & parmesan. One of the pies was burnt to a crisp. Tip: never put a finished pie under broiler hoping for prettier color. The rest were packed up for The Team's benefit tonight. Rumor has it that one of the boxes is going home with Mandy. (Update: He first requested just a sliver. Within ten minutes, he had relented and requested the rest to take home, for seder. 'NO! It has CRUST!,' I burst out without thinking when this was relayed to me. Then I decided that he and his lovely wife can take care of themselves, and that if they want chocolate pie at their seder, who am I to stand in their way. I'm just the flattered baker.)
It was a stressful day, and most of the results weren't as pretty as I could have hoped, but I very much enjoyed all the planning and puttering. Special thanks to Jake, for being my partner in pie. I don't have pictures of his pies, but they were outstandingly beautiful, with perfect crusts, fluted and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Sourdough Rye with Caraway Seeds

Sticky dough, perfect bread. Now I'm getting more aggressive in giving it away, so as to be able to continue baking almost daily. Rob moved in yesterday, and I sent poor unsuspecting Steve, who moved him, away with a steaming loaf of fresh rye. He seemed slightly bemused, and suggested he might use it as a missile to hurl at annoying other van drivers.

Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye

A companion bread for Thursday, my second attempt at this recipe had a long fermentation in the refrigerator, which left it very cold and slow to rise, and ultimately contributed to a meatier, chewier loaf, with better crust. For the first attempt, see the banner. It's incredibly good in either incarnation.

Cooking today: Corn Chowder, Grapenuts Custard with Maple Syrup

Cookbooks picked up off the street today: Second Helpings (Union Square Cafe), The Legal Seafood Cookbook.

Cherry-Pepita Buttermilk Bread

Adapted from the Buttermilk Currant Bread from Bread Alone. A yeast bread, risen overnight in the refrigerator. The cherries and pepitas are pre-soaked and then the soaking water is used in the dough. Wet sticky dough, which really does make for higher rise and softer bread.
Rob's a little out of focus, but he loves bread.

Also, in the freezer--Meyer lemon Sorbet and Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet from The Perfect Scoop.

Pumpernickel!

Pumpernickel from Daniel Leader's Bread Alone, made from my first rye sourdough, with molasses, coffee, and cocoa. Perfect texture and shape, taste a little heavy on the molasses. This is the bread people request most frequently, and one of my favorites, so I'll definitely try again soon.

Margene says:I LOVE pumpernickel! This one was a little sweet for me - maybe less molasses and other things to make it brown. I love molasses, but I wanted to taste more pumpernickel, less molasses. It was so pretty, though. I want more, and I want to have a tunafish and tomato sandwich on it!