alfanso's blog

It's been a while, since May, that I posted here.  Off to the northern reaches of the Atlantic seaboard for family time in NY, and then further upstream to the Boston area where I joined Varda and Joan in a bread session at their Bread Obsession for a wonderful two weeks.  As soon as we arrived back home we had family visit here for a week, and now I'm finally catching up on day-to-day life.

For my brother and sister-in-law's visit I ran a batch of my version of a NY deli rye with caraway seeds and also that fabulous chocolate babka that I baked once before.  Each came out really well.

Today I baked my first Bouabsa batch in a very long while.  Since migrating to levain breads more than two years ago I basically abandoned the commercial yeasted variety, as wonderful as this bread is.  With a seriously crisp crust and a sweet interior, this all AP flour bread is as simple as they come.  But I had forgotten how elastic this dough can be.  

My capricious take: 450g boule, 450g batard, 275g baguette, and 235g "ficelle".  I will call both the boule and the batard Pain Rustique - because, well, because I can!

Scoring could have been better, as I also forgot how explosive this dough can be during the oven spring.  Not enough blade angle for this 75% hydration dough, and the score lines were too close together, hence the oven spring just blew right past them and also left the ears lacking in a distinctive look.  Nonetheless, it was capricious - just for the fun (and taste) of it all... 

With an early get-away tomorrow morning for a road trip north for family affairs, I just had to get in two final bakes.  The first was the Hamelman Pain au Levain with whole wheat.  Which I've raved about endlessly.  For a twist, I aded some diced fresh apple and toasted walnuts.  The walnut flavor this time, having been toasted, came through strong, but the apple still held back on the flavor profile.  Back to the drawing board.

Just today I completed my largest bake to date.  2.4k (that's where the lack of self-control rears its ugly little head) of the marvelous Semolina Capriccioso - my take on David Snyder's wonderful creation.  4 x 600g.  They were too large to actually fit into the oven across without getting into each other's way, so I staggered them.  For some reason these were a little too sticky and soft at shaping time, and therefore they showed a bit of reluctance in obtaining my more typical oven spring during the bake.  

Three are give-aways, one is reserved for us for the road trip.

The semolina bread just after steam released, rotated and staggered.

And the same group during the final moments of the bake.

Here are the 2 x 750g Hamelmans.

During the trip I'm scheduled to meet up with another TFL contributor, but I'll leave that for a later blog entry.

alan

which coincides with Not Enough of a Good Thing, Part 1.

This time it was the Hamelman Pain au Levain with WW.  This is the same bread that I made a week ago but then used my own levain and added figs and pecans.  This time I built the dough heeding to the original formula, which carries less whole grain and no additions than what I made last week.

The "issue" is not with the dough, still a delight to shape and score, but with the scoring - again.  Due to the fact that the oven spring on the bread is so explosive, it once more blew right through my scoring lines as you can see.  Last time it was the Gosselin Levain Baguettes that suffered a similar fate.  I'll have to make note (and then read it!) of this "issue" for the next time.

The not enough of a good thing is the inconsistent sides of the batard oven spring.  I'd have sworn that I scored the two halves the same, but the results are in.

These kids still look and taste good, although I could have let them bake for a darker crust and finish.  I decided to fatten these up a little.  1 x 700g batard and 3 x 365g baguettes

alan

My recent fruit and nut bake garnered the suggestion from a few TFL folks that I should soak the dried Calmyrna figs prior to folding them into the dough.  And so I did.  I wonder if I soaked them too long because they expanded and became a force all of their own with relation to the final product.

This time I decided to bake the Hamelman Pain au Levain with WW, which I've baked several times before, while using my own levain dehydrated down to 60%.  My standard levain has more whole grain than the Hamelman formula calls for, so it bumps up the overall whole grain percentage beyond the formula's 25% by a few additional points.  A first time through this drill, as I've not added fruit and nuts to this formula before.  With the addition of the plumped up figs the dough became difficult to shape as baguettes.  In truth I should have shaped a shorter and fatter baguette, so I'll reconsider that for the next time, whenever that will be. 

650g x 2 batards, 350g x 2 baguettes.

I don't add the figs and pecans until the first letter fold.  On the left - the dough is spread out on a wetted countertop.  On the right -  the first step of the letter folds is applied.

Once folded, it looks like this, and you can easily see how much the fruit and nuts adds to the dough just 40 minutes after the bulk rise started.

The baguettes took on an odd shape.  Although the bloom was sufficient, the look is goofy and inconsistent.  I believe that the fruit and nuts played a major role on that front.

The girth of the batards kept the fruit and nut population in check while displaying a more consistent shape and scoring.

alan 

Edit 11/2020 

The recipe is now behind a paywall but originally was not.

These two pictures are from a later run once I was comfortable with the process.

Melissa Clark recently published her babka recipe in The New York Times.  Being a native Bronxite, chocolate bakba just about coursed through my youthful veins.  Preparing for a visit by the in-laws who finally decided to escape the North East winter, albeit a might late by my calculations.  Maybe the whole cicada thing set their internal clock off kilter.  I figured this was as good a time as any to give it a go. 

• My newly inherited  marble rolling pin, directly out of the freezer.  The 17"x9" trimmed dough.  One of two.  And the hand peel that doubles as my ruler on its reverse side.
• The 17"x9" dough slathered with a demon's idea of chocolate intensity. 

• Now rolled up and ready for a 10 minute rest in the freezer.
• Split in two and braided.

Braided on itself and ready for the loaf pans and final proof.

The twins awaiting their fate.

After a shower of chocolate streusel and the 45 minute bake.

First slice, filled with serious rich chocolate.  Not for the faint-hearted.  Heavy, but light dough (you figure that one out) with a rich taste and balance between the dough and the chocolate.

Oh, the hard road a son-in-law must hoe...

alan

First time out of the starting gate baking with figs - calmyrna figs.  As a child, figs were about as close to repulsive to my nascent taste buds and sensibilities as eating bugs.  My, how a half dozen decades have changed that.

Still practicing those double scores across the batards.  And one little baguette, because, well, you know...  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Crumb shot added>

and the formula:

Levain: 28 percent of total flour, levain hydration: 75%

Ad the method...

• F & W - 30 minute autolyse
• Levain & Salt.  Pinch & Fold.  300 French Folds.  Then into oiled, covered bowl.
• At 1st S & F add fruit and nuts.
• Bulk ferment w 4 S & Fs every 25 minutes.  Final 25 minute rest.  Then into retard.  Caveat - my kitchen is 78-80dF.
• Any time past 2nd hour of retard - Divide, pre-shape, shape.  Onto lightly floured couche.  Cover couche in plastic bag.
• Back into retard.  Total retard can be 18-24 hours.
• 500dF pre-heat.  Load Sylvia's steaming towel 15 minutes prior to bake.
• Score and bake at 470dF directly from retard.  Hot water onto lava rocks after dough is loaded.
• 12-15 minutes steam.  Remove steaming towel, turn and rotate dough.
• Bake until "done".  These should bake darker than you'd think.

alan

No, we aren't revisiting the Roaring 20's or peeking at undergarments here (at least not right now!).  Once more with a batch of the dmsnyder based Semolina Capriccioso, with a twist courtesy of alfanso.  Since these are capricious by moniker I decided to give them each a different look.  One long and one chubby batard, one and two scores across them respectively.  And two baguettes, single scored and four scored across these two scrawnier runts of the litter.

This is a fairly high hydration dough at 80%.  Therefore the dough is "heavier" with more water to shed during the bake than a lesser hydrated dough which would have a greater preponderance of flours.  Add to that the sesame seeds, which even though quite minuscule in weight, still contribute to weighing down the moist dough on the "flap" that is destined to bloom, however much or little.

And I have a theory, unfounded as it may be for a high hydration dough such as this and the added weight of the seeds on the "flap"considered.   The shorter the score combined with the lesser girth of a shaped dough, has a direct influence on the bloom for that bread.  As you can see, the baguette with four scores had decent but quite modest bloom, whereas the single scored baguette did not suffer quite as distinct a loss of bloom.  Both of the batards have a significant amount of heft below the scores as well as long enough scores to support the upward oven spring.

These probably would have benefited from a more angled scoring by the lame than I did, but as we say in alfanso's hometown of Baguetteville-sur-Bronx "say luh V".

So...am I right?  Who the heck knows?  Tasty?  You bet.  Tastier than the earlier version which uses less durum, but also olive oil and sugar, both ingredients missing from these?  I haven't a clue as I can't do a side by side comparison, and I'm not capable of discerning what are probably subtle taste differences across bakes.  But I like these because it takes me back to the pure FWS than those with the oil and sugar added.

A few particulars:

• 2x600g batards, 2x~285g baguettes,
• 80% overall hydration,
• 75% hydration levain represents ~36% of non-levain flour and ~16% total dough weight.
• 60% durum flour, 23% bread, (10% AP, 7% WW & rye - all in levain)  flours.  
• Autolyse, hand mix, ferment  ~4 hours,
• cold proof for the better part of 30 hours, bake direct from retard.  Way longer than I originally intended.
• 460dF oven with a lot of steam for 13 minutes,
• 30 min. baguettes, ~35 min. for batards w/ 2 additional minutes for venting.

alan

"I Got Back Jack and did it again..."

Once more with my SJSD inspired rye baguettes with caraway seeds.  But with a new twist and the formula sheet, now that it has been "time tested".  For a small change of direction I decided to make these as Gros Baguettes, 450g each.  So they are pretty hefty, and I wouldn't expect to see these in many bakeries.  But it worked.  The formula:

SJSD based Rye with Caraway Seeds

By DMSnyder, mod by alfanso

April 8, 2016

 Timing

• Day 1 – mix Rye Liquid Levain – 15 minutes (6-8 hour rise)
• Day 2 – mix dough, French Folds & ferment, divide & shape – 2.5 hours (18-24 hour total rest time)
• Day 3 – Bake – 1.5 hours  

9.6% of the flour is pre-fermented

Method

 DAY 1:

1. Mix liquid levain. Ferment at room temp covered, until at least doubled in volume. (6-8 hours or more).  Less starter and more flour and water can be used to get the same total weight.

 DAY 2:

1. Dissolve levain in water, add flours and mix. Cover and autolyse for 30 minutes.
2. Add salt and mix to incorporate. 300 French Folds.  Dough will be quite sticky throughout FFs.
3. Transfer to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover.
4. Add caraway seeds to dough during first Letter Fold.
5. In 80dF kitchen - Bulk ferment for 80 minutes with 4 Letter Folds every 20 minutes, then refrigerate.  Dough will smooth out and lose stickiness with LFs.
6. Retard for 2-10 hours.

 DAY 3:

1. Divide, pre-shape and shape as logs or rounds.  10 minute rest between pre-shape and shape.
2. Onto couche, cover couche in plastic bag and back to retard for x hours more. Dough will require very little flour on couche.
3. An hour before baking, pre-heat oven to 500ºF, with baking deck and lava rock pan* in place.  Sylvia’s steaming towel into oven 15 minutes before the bake.  *or other steaming apparatus.
4. Prepare cornstarch glaze: whisk 2/3 TBS w/1/8 cup water and mix into ½ cup boiling water, whisk until smooth and incorporated.  Do not discard as it will be used again, reheated after the bake completes.
5.  Apply 1st coat of glaze to dough on baking peel.
6. Bake at 480ºF 13 minutes steam (2 cups very hot water on lava rocks), separate & rotate 180 front to back.  After rotating bake for 13 minutes additional (or more) for baguettes or 17 minutes additional (or more) for batards.  Vent two minutes.
7. Reapply cornstarch glaze to completed bread while still hot.  Sprinkle on more caraway seeds across the top of bread.  Optionally seal the seeds with a final slather of the glaze.

alan

Yes.  I know.  I've posted these before.  But I decided to post a video of baking these lovely baguettes from the time that they come out of retard until they come out of the oven.  Less than a 4 minute investment of your time if you care to watch it.

alan

In the mood for a Jewish Deli style Rye with caraway seeds but not in the mood to build a rye sour.  What is a boy to do?  Well, I used the SJSD formula as my outline and changed around a few things, as I'm wont to do on more than an occasion.

I subbed out the SJSD liquid levain for an equal portion of 100% rye liquid levain and bumped up the total rye in the formula from 5% to 20%.  Dropping down an equal amount of AP flour while doing so.  I made a pretty big mix totaling ~1800g so that I could play around with 600g x 2 batards and 300g x 2 baguettes.  Following the trail blazed by the Jewish Deli Rye, the dough took a cornstarch glaze before baking and a second slathering upon completion. I couldn't help myself and had to, just had to, sprinkle a few additional caraway seeds on top as well.

Using French Folds, I found the dough to be a little sticky thanks to the rye, and didn't add the caraway seeds until the first set of Letter Folds.  All told, the dough had a 30 minute "autolyse" (w/levain mixed in), and 4 Letter Folds spaced 20 minutes apart in my 80dF kitchen.  Then whisked into the refrigerator for an overnight nap.  Divided, shaped, couched and returned to the refrigerator for another nap.  Perhaps 16 hours from start of mix to bake.  The bake was @480dF - 26 minutes for the baguettes and 30 minutes for the batards with a 2 minute venting.

The dough was quite accommodating during the divide and shaping, and even with the rye, came off the couche without incident, clean as a whistle.  As easy as pie to score.

Using a liquid levain of 190g the percentages in the dough worked out to:

• AP flour - 75%
• WW flour - 5%
• Rye flour - 20%
• Water - 73.5%
• Salt - 2%
• Caraway seeds - 2.3% (plus the sprinkling on top)

 April 9 - Crumb shot added.  The two baguettes were destined for dentures and gullets other than here at home, but here is the inside of the first batard.

alan