Sprouted Rye Sourdough

 

Introduction

I pretty much just made this one up. I have been trying to get my sourdough bread to come out a bit more sour & I also wanted to experiment with some sprouted grains. So I looked through several different recipes and came up with this. The goal here (in addition to testing out my brand new loaf pan!) is to ferment a good amount of rye flour for an extended period of time to get it nice and sour & incorporate some actively growing sprouts without messing up the texture of the crumb.

Materials & Methods

Rye Flour Bread Flour Sprouted Rye Water Yeast Salt

Overall Mass 330 g 570 g 300 g 640 g - -

Overall Percentage 37% 63% 33% 71%

• The percentage of pre-fermented flour is 44%

Rye Sourdough White Starter Sprouted Rye Bread Flour Water Yeast Salt

Mass 660 g 200 g 300 g 470 g 210 g 1/2 t 15 g

• This is a pretty wet dough so mix as well as you can then leave it to rest rather than kneading for gluten development.

Timeline

-- 7p-d1 7p 11p

Begin sprouting 300g of Rye grains by soaking in water for about 8h, then straining and rinsing occasionally over a couple days until sprouted. Put in the fridge if they start growing too  quickly (these actually sat in the fridge for several days... I'll try to get to them quicker next time). Also, mix 330g rye flour with 330g water and 20g starter to make an active rye sourdough. Leave this to ferment in the fridge for a couple days while the sprouts are sprouting. Combine the fermented rye sourdough & sprouts with the remaining ingredients and mix until combined. Let rise 1-2 h then retard in the fridge for ~24 h. Remove from fridge and bring to RT (~1 h). Divide into 2 loaf sized portions, by patting flat, dividing & folding. Place in prepared loaf pans and proof for 3-4h Bake at 450F for ~45m. Cover with aluminum foil for the 1st 15 min to trap steam & if necessary again at the end  to avoid excessive browning.

Fermented rye flour and sprouted rye ready to mixed into dough.

Results

I am pretty happy with this. You could tell it was going to be sour because the rye starter was pretty ripe by the time I used it and every time I took the pre-mixed dough out of the fridge I could smell the tang of sourdough in the kitchen. The sprouts added their own spicy kick to the overall flavor and the aroma during the bake was awesome. The pre-mixed dough rose well (my levain was kinda weak from being in the fridge over the weekend so I added yeast - next time I might try without additional yeast), but after shaping the second rise was kinda weak. I'm not sure if it was just exhausted from the long fermentation, or if I should have let it go even longer?

Conclusion

Really delicious flavor & not too heavy texture either. The sprouted rye berries add a really nice element, like sweet little morsels that pop between your teeth. I think the texture of the crumb is about right for this type of bread, but it did seem a little too moist. Maybe adjust the hydration or baking temp / time to improve that. Definitely worth trying again though!

Sourdough English Muffins

Introduction

Now that my starter is alive and active I have to feed it regularly to keep it happy. I really hate to waste food though, and you can only pass off so much on your friends and family (but if anyone out there needs some...let me know). So I have tried to keep the amount I discard to a minimum by feeding only once a day, and maintaining a pretty small amount (150g) when not in use. I also don't feed it on weekends when I am away, and it recovers well from these short visits to the fridge. Even mainaining it in this way I still end up with a couple cups (~500g) of leftover that I need to find a use for.

Lately we have been enjoying these Sourdough Pancakes on a pretty regular basis. They are great because they are made almost entirley of the spent sourdough & they keep well so you can have leftover pancakes for breakfast throughout the week. This weekend I wanted to try something different though so I gave this recipe for Sourdough English Muffins from the Wild Yeast Blog a try.

Materials & Methods 

• As usual I didn't quite follow the directions. I had some buttermilk and wheat germ in the fridge so I figured those would make nice additions.

AP Flour WW Flour Starter (100%) Milk Buttermilk Wheat Germ ---- AP Flour Salt Baking Soda Sugar

Mass 320 g 200 g 210 g 352 g 200 g 3 T ---- 150 g 1.5 t 2 t 2 T

Percentage 48% 30% 31% 52% 30% - ---- 22% - - -

Timeline:

8p 9a 10p

Mix the first portion of the ingredients and leave to ferment/rise overnight. Add the remaining flour, salt, sugar & baking soda and mix briefly until you have a smooth dough. It will be pretty wet and sticky. On a floured surface, pat down the dough to about 1/2 to 1" thick. Cut out muffin sized rounds, cover & leave them to rise for about 1 hour. Bake on a medium hot griddle for about 15-20 min flipping every few minutes to make sure they don't get too dark.

Results

I was pretty impressed with how well these came out. The first few were kind of massive and got a little too dark by the time they were cooked because they were so thick. I made the rest thinner and turned down the heat some and they were just right. The muffins split well with a fork and are full of little nooks &crannies just like they are supposed to be.

Conclusion

Considering all of the starter and the additional buttermilk I was surprised these weren't more tangy than they were. Not that they weren't tasty, I just expected more of a sour kick. Maybe that will develop with time. This recipe made 13 muffins so there are plenty leftover and I am definitely looking forward to having these for breakfast this week!

Heirloom Grain Bread Tasting - Jan 18 & 19, 2014

Loaves made from two of the heirloom wheat varieties we sampled. Appalachian White on the left and Frederick on the right.

I was browsing the web last week and I came across the website for a local bakery that I was not aware of... the Wide Awake Bakery in Trumansburg NY. After checking out some photos of their work I came across a link that said "Bread Tasters Needed".  It turned out that the folks at the bakery, in conjunction with other artisan bakeries in NY and New England were collaborating with a team of researchers from Cornell and the USDA-ARS (among others) to investigate the suitability of heirloom wheat varieties for agriculture and baking.

The long term goal of the project is to help bring back strains of wheat that have been largely neglected with the advent of industrial wheat farming in the mid-west, ultimately developing a local wheat economy for the northeastern US. These are strains of red & white, spring & winter wheat that were bred and grown locally in past centuries, and produce well in local conditions.

The baking was done on Friday by Stephan's team at Wide Awake Bakery along with Jeffery Hamelman of King Arthur Bakery in Vermont, and Sharon Leader of Bread Alone in Woodstock, NY. The bakers made loaves out of several varieties of locally grown wheat that was grown specifically for this research program, and evaluated the flours for different baking characteristics.  I missed out on that part of it, but the next day Michelle and I joined them, and about 20 others in the Food Science building at Cornell to be trained as bread tasters in preparation for the tasting event on Sunday.

The training was developed by Liz Clark, a coffee connoisseur from Ithaca's Gimme Coffee. It involved tastings and detailed discussion of foods and flavors ranging from roasted hazelnuts to cultured cream. We sampled, savored and discussed for much of the afternoon using a flavor wheel to help guide our conversation.

The next morning we arrived early to do some training tastes of both cooked whole grain and bread. We considered grains of Einkorn and Spelt, and baguette and sourdough loaves for practice (and the bread nerd in me was very excited to taste Einkorn for the first time). Samples were rated by color, consistency, shape, and of course flavor... along with over a dozens other categories. What followed was a full day of tasting, both bread and cooked grain. We had seven varieties of each and the bread samples were tasted twice.

The bakers used a standard formula for 100% whole grain loaves. The results were about as hearty as they come. Bursting with nutty malty flavors, varying degrees of sourness, and packed with well beyond your RDA of dietary fiber.

The breads were similar overall since a standard formula was used, but subtle differences where definitely there. I had never focused so carefully on a single bite of bread, but  when examined in such detail the experience is definitely kind of profound. Flavors come in waves. Sour, sweet, and bitter all make an appearance but in varying order and with different intensities.

After all of the samples had been tasted the hidden identities of the wheat varieties we sampled were revealed. It turned out that my two favorites for both bread and grain, were a soft winter wheat called "Frederick", and a hard winter wheat variety known as "Appalachian White".

By the time we left I have to admit my taste buds were exhausted. But I learned to focus on bread in a whole new way. Not just in terms of flavor, but the subtleties of texture and appearance as well. I was pretty impressed by how something so simple as bread could be so complex when considered in such detail. Who knows, maybe someday bread tastings will rival wine tastings here in the finger lakes.

Rye Bread - 1st try, 2 types

 

Introduction

In the interest of exploring more interesting flavor options I want to start baking with some different whole grains. I thought a nice classic rye would be a good place to begin. I haven't worked much with rye & from what I have read it is a lot different from wheat flour as it does not have the amount of gluten necessary to form a strong dough. Because of this, it is typically mixed with wheat flour at some percentage to improve dough strength and rising ability. I tested out 2 recipes with different proportions of rye flour.

Materials & Methods 

• Both formulas need a portion of rye sourdough.   

Rye Sourdough Starter (~80%)

Rye Flour Water Starter

Mass 362 300g 17g

Percentage 100% 83% 5%

• This starts out like thick clay.
• Let it ferment at RT for 24h until it puffs up. It didn't rise much but I could smell a strong odor of fermentation develop.

40% Rye with Caraway

B Flour Water Rye Starter (80%) Salt Yeast Caraway Seeds

Mass 279g 162g 340g 9g 6g 9g

Percentage 100% 58% 122% 3% 2% 3%

• Roughly mix everything except the starter first, then add the starter
• It will be quite sticky and hard to handle at first. Mix breifly and rest for 15min
•  Finish mixing by kneading together
  
• Use damp hands when folding to avoid sticking 
• Leave to bulk ferment at RT for an hour

65% Sourdough Rye 

B Flour Rye Flour Water Rye Starter (80%) Salt

Mass 189g 161g 249g 340g 11g

Percentage 54% 46% 71% 97% 3%

• Roughly mix together everything except the starter first, then add the starter
• It will be VERY sticky and hard to handle. Mix breifly and rest for 15min
•  Finish mixing by kneading together
  
• Use damp hands when folding to avoid sticking 
• Leave to bulk ferment at RT for an hour

Timeline:

-- 7:45p 8p 9p 10p 11p

Make the Rye Sourdough the day before baking Mix flours, water, and starter. Let rest for 15m to autolyse. Finish mixing by kneading breifly. Transfer to an oiled bowl with cover for fermentation at RT for 1 h Shape into boules and place in floured bannetons to rise at RT for another hour Bake at the first loaf (40% Rye w Caraway) at 450F for 35min in a covered dutch oven Bake the next loaf (65% Sourdough Rye) at 450F for 35min in a covered dutch oven... remove the cover and bake for another 10 min

Results 

The results here were mixed. The loaf with less rye and added yeast rose and baked up nicely (Figs 1 & 2 left loaf). The loaf with 65% rye however was dense and heavy. It did not rise well and it was overly moist in the middle even though the exterior seemed fully cooked (Figs 1 & 2 right loaf).

Figs 1 & 2. Crust and crumb for 45% caraway rye (left) and 65% sourdough rye (right). You can see the slight marbling from incomplete kneading of the pre-fermented rye with the rest of the dough. This wasn't done on purpose, but its kinda nice

Conclusion

The 45% rye w caraway was really good. It could probably have stood for a bit more rising time and a touch more salt, but the texture and flavor were pretty good. The caraway flavor was just right and there was a nice sour tang from the pre-fermented rye.

The 65% rye sourdough needs work. It definitely needed more salt, and maybe should have lower hydration overall (?). It should also be left to rise for 3-4h at >75F too, instead of 1h at RT. I'll be trying this again so I will update then.

Tartine Levain

 Introduction

I was browsing through the Tartine Bread book by Chad Robertson a while back and saw that his main technique involves high hydration dough, sourdough starter and occasional stretch and folds to make beautiful naturally leavened loaves. This seemed like a good transition from my typical yeasted no-knead recipe to a naturally leavened variation so I figured I'd try a loaf based on his technique.

Materials & Methods 

AP Flour WW Flour Water Starter Salt

Mass 400g 50g 350g 100g 10g

Percentage 89% 11% 78% 22% 2%

• You are not supposed to knead this… it is too wet. Just fold periodically during fermentation. This means reaching down into the dough bowl and pulling up a handful to fold over the ball. Turn and repeat 3-4x to cover evenly. This is one fold. 


• Use wet hands when folding to avoid sticking

Timeline:

1:30p 2p 5p 8p

Mix flours, water, and starter. Let rest for 30m to autolyse. Transfer to an oiled bowl for fermentation and Incorporate the salt by stretch and folding. Ferment at >75F for 3-4 hours, folding every 30m Divide into 2 loaf sized portions Place in floured banneton and proof at >75F for 3-4h Bake at 450F for 25-30m in a covered dutch oven

Results 

This came out totally awesome. I will definitely be returning to this recipe. The result is a hearty  (but not heavy) loaf with a beautiful crusty exterior and a glossy open crumb.

Conclusion

I think this may be my new go to recipe for everyday bread. Beautiful, simple and absolutely delicious.

Ciabatta with Week Old Poolish

I love ciabatta, and I've always thought of it as one of the classics, so I was suprised to learn that it was only recently developed in 1982 by a baker in Veneto, Italy as the Italian answer to the French baguette. I had this old poolish in my fridge that I had actually intended for some baguettes, so I figured I'd put it to good use with some ciabatta. This one is based on the formula in Hamelman's Bread, with some modifications to extend the rising time and a slightly different poolish.

Materials & Methods

Poolish:

AP Flour Water Yeast

Mass 120g 113g 1/16 tsp

Percentage 100% 94% --

Dough:

B Flour AP Flour Water Salt Yeast Poolish

Mass 680g 100g 544g 18g 5g 233g

Percentage 87% 13% 94% 2% 0.6% 30%

Timeline:

-- 1:30p 7:00p 7:30 9:30p

Mix the poolish and leave to ferment at RT for about 5h, then leave in fridge overnight and forget about it until the following weekend Mix together the poolish and all of the remaining ingredients in a large food bin Fold every 30m for an hour Let rise at RT for 5-6h. Fold once more then rest 30m Roll out onto a floured surface & pat out into a large rectangle. Divide into 4 loaf sized portions (~ 4" wide each) Leave to proof at RT for 1-2h Bake at 425F for 25-30m with steam

Results

I was super happy with the way this came out. The crust is thin but very crispy, while the crumb is soft, delicate and airy, with large irregular holes. The flavor was delicious too thanks to the extra long ferment on the poolish.

Conclusion

I think I need to make ciabatta more often. I will try with all bread flour next time. I just used part AP here absentmindedly & it seems like it might be a little too delicate & fluffy actually.

White Levain Batards

 

 

Introduction:

I currently have two sourdough cultures. One I developed myself about two months ago here in Ithaca & the other was given to me years ago by a friend who had brought some back from a visit to Russia. I call them Ulysses and Svetlana. In the past I have struggled to get good results from naturally leavened bread with the Russian culture, occasionally producing overly dense loaves or cheating and adding commercial yeast to get a good rise. I have recently improved my wild yeast techniques with the aid of Ulysses so I wanted to do a head to head test to see if there was any difference in the final product  produced with these cultures.

The two mother cultures certainly taste & smell different (I keep both at 100% hydration and feed daily unless refrigerated). Ulysses has a mild slightly cheesy odor, while Svetlana is more sharp and tart. The loaves I have made so far with my Ithaca culture have been great, but even with very long fermentation the results are mild with just a slight sour note at the end of each bite. My hypothesis here is that the more aggressive sharpness of the Russian culture will result in a more sour sourdough.

Materials & Methods:

To test this idea I thought the Extra Tangy Sourdough recipe from the KAF website sounded like a good choice. Since I wanted to test both cultures without making a ridiculous amount of bread I divided the recipe in half.

AP Flour Water Starter Salt

Mass 301g 170g 120g 1 tsp (needs more)

Percentage 100% 56% 40% --

The recipe also calls for 1/2 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 tsp sour salt. I figured the sugar would detract from the sour & I did not have sour salt so I did not add these ingredients

Timeline:

8a 6p 9p 11p

Mix 250g of flour with the water and starter & let rise (Fig. 1) (Instead of the recommended 4h rest and 12h fermentation in the fridge - I left it to rise at RT while I was at work ~10h) Knead in the remaining 50g of flour and the salt until you get a smooth dough. Then let rest 2-5h (I incubated at >75F) Divide, shape into loaves & rest on a linen couche for another 2-5h Bake at 450F for 25min with steam.

Fig. 1: First Rise

Results:

This was my first attempt at making properly formed batards & I'm pretty happy with the results, though I need to get more consistent. I followed the techniques in this video (but I'd like to try this next time). I did have to flatten and repeat for one of Ulysses' loaves that I messed up, and that one ended up being extra springy (2nd loaf in Fig 2 & Fig 4). I was able to get a good taught exterior and they plumped up nicely during the second rise (Fig. 2). This is also the first time I have used my new couche & that worked surprisingly well too... no sticking at all. Leaving the loaves to rise uncovered resulted in some drying, but I think that was beneficial when it came to slashing the loaves with my newly MacGyvered lame (Fig. 3).
 

Fig 2. Batards rising happily in their couche

Fig. 3: My new lame. Made from a razor blade and a hand me down kitchen tool of unknown function

These loaves had great oven spring and for the most part my shaping & slashing resulted in beautifully expanded seams (Fig. 4). The resulting texture of this bread was soft with a delicate, small pocketed crumb and a thin crackly crust (Fig. 5). The flavor was mild and barely sour at all. Both cultures provided really good rise & I tried really hard, but I couldn't detect any difference in flavor between the two. 

Fig. 4: Definitely the most dramatic expansion I have achieved. Almost like DiCamillos!

Conclusions:

The flavor probably would have developed more if I had left the dough in the fridge overnight. But I wanted to see how tangy they would be if I made it in a single day. There was no noticeable difference between the flavor or texture of the loaves from the two cultures, but this could partially be due to the weakly developed flavor overall. The soft texture and mild flavor isn't really my thing, but I could see how someone who wanted a simple white sandwich bread would like this a lot.

I suspect the "Extra Tangy" element of this recipe comes primarily from the sour salt, which I did not add. I am not sure that I like the idea of such additives in my bread, even if citric acid is pretty much benign. Perhaps I will try adding some lemon juice or vinegar at some point if I cannot succeed in getting a nice tart sourdough using only flour, water, and starter.

Update: This bread really improves with age. After a day or two on the counter I like it a lot more than when it was fresh. The flavor has developed and I can now detect s very slight sourness. The texture has improved too as the crumb has dried, although the crust is now quite a bit softer. 

Fig.5: Good rise and nice texture from both Ulysses (top) and Svetlana (bottom)

Sourdough Baguettes

Introduction:

Baking a good baguette has been a somewhat elusive goal for me. There are so many different recipes and the outcomes have varied from crunchy & dry, to cakelike & fluffy, neither of which is what I really want in a baguette.  They are also quite a challenge to shape, slash and get into the oven without totally squishing or getting twisted up. Basically I need practice with baguettes.

I have been reading Jeffery Hamelman’s book Bread: A baker’s book of techniques & recipes, and it has a very thorough description of how to shape baguettes (among other things). I’m at my wife’s place this weekend where there is a real oven (nothing larger than a demi would fit in my toaster), so I figured I’d give them another try.

I’ve also been really into naturally leavened breads since I got my sourdough starter working well about a month ago, so I wanted to try a sourdough version. I found this recipe for 36 hour sourdough baguettes on the fresh loaf website and I was intrigued, so I figured I’d give it a try.

Materials & Methods:

This one is simple.

AP Flour Water Starter (100%) Salt

Mass 425 g 300 g 150 g 10 g

This is a very wet dough: 425g + (150g/2) = 500g flour 300g + (150/2) = 375g water 375/500 = 0.75, so 75% hydration

• Start by mixing the flour and water, and letting that autolyse overnight ( I was at work so it ended up staying there for about 24h).

• The next day mix in the starter and salt

• Let rise at >75F for 3-4 h folding every 30 min or so during the first rise

• Retard the rise in the fridge (This was supposed to be another 24h but I was busy and it sat for 2 days)

• Remove from fridge and bring to room temperature. Make sure the dough has reached about 2x its original size

• Divide into 2 portions and rest for 40m (I divided in to 4 portions but I ended up making mini baguettes - I'll try full size next time)

• Shape and proof 30-50m. (check out this video for a good example of how to shape baguettes)

• Bake at 460 with steam for 25m (rotating at 15m)

This was a really long process, but it required very little hands on time. In summary the timeline went like this:

Wed Thurs Sat

8:30 pm 6:30 pm ... 10:30 pm 12 pm 2 pm 2:40 pm 3:30 pm

Mix flour & water begin autolyse Mix in remaining ingredients and begin rise. Fold every 30m Put back in fridge overnight (I left if for 2 nights) Remove from fridge and bring to room temp Divide then rest Shape and proof Bake

Results:

It was pretty cool how such a wet dough came together nicely from the shaggy mess it started out as for the long autolyse (Fig 1) with just a small amount of folding.

Figure 1. The flour and water ready to autolyse overnight

 After the folding and the long cold fermentation I divided and shaped into tidy rounds that held their shape nicely (Fig 2).

Figure 2. Scaled rounds resting

These rounds were shaped into baguettes (Fig 3) following this technique. I definitely still need practice, but these look a lot better than what I usually make.

Figure 3. Shaped baguettes rising. Junior approves.

A final rise for about an hour and they were ready to bake. The last one to go in actually came out the best. I'm not sure if that was bc of the extra 30m rise, or if I just did  a better job shaping that one.

Conclusion:

I was really happy with the way these came out (Fig 4). The texture and flavor were awesome with a thin crackly crust and nice open crumb. I even got the slashes to open nicely on the last one. The long fermentation really lets the flavor develop, but I was actually surprised that the results were not all that sour.

I'm sure it would work fine if I reduced the extreme autolyse and fermentation times that I used here. Honestly I was kind of curious how long I could leave it and still get a decently shaped loaf. I think that the refrigerated fermentation step could go even longer. The trick to getting a loaf that pops up nicely in the oven seems to be more related to getting a good amount of tension on the outer surface of the finished dough when you shape it.

My technique definitely still needs practice but I think i'm on the right track here. They certainly didn't stick around for long. Lunch was baguettes with pesto gouda and olive tapenade, then with kefaloteri, honey, & blueberry jam for desert.

Figure 4. Baguettes ready for lunch

Panettone

 

Introduction:

The holidays are behind us now so I wanted to get this post up before it gets too far away. I don't make sweet breads all that often but I really love panettone, with its fluffy mild sweetness and fresh citrus aroma. Every Christmas for the past few yeas I have tried to make panettone, and every year I have failed (or if you are an optimist you could say I succeeded in making some tasty little yellow bricks). This year was much the same, but I came closer to an acceptable result than ever before, and I may try again in the coming weeks if I am not completely sick of it by the time I go through all of those little yellow bricks in my freezer.

Materials and Methods:

I knew I was going to need some candied orange peel* and raisins so I used:

Raisins Liquor Oranges Water Sugar

Volume 1 cup some 3 3/4 cup 1 1/2 cups

*this will make way more than you need, but keep it around for back-up

• Cover the raisins with liquor and let soak overnight. I used a mix of spiced rum and red vermouth.
• Peel the oranges & dice the peels into little cubes.
• Blanch the peels in 3 changes of boiling water to remove some of the bitterness
• Simmer in the mixture of water and sugar
• Eat the oranges

Once I had that I was ready to bake. I tried a few different  protocols this year. I had made a batch of brioche from the Crust and Crumb book that came out really well, so I started with Reinhart's method. Since the panettone dough is very similar to a brioche with added fruit and flavors I was very hopeful that this would be the one.

Oh... I almost forgot to mention, with all these recipes you will need to put an aluminum foil tent over the loaf as it bakes or the top will burn (at least in my oven).  

The Reinhart procedure:

*from Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart

• Make a yeasted pre-ferment (a.k.a. sponge):

Bread Flour Yeast Milk*

Volume 3/4 cup 2 tsp 1 cup

Mass

Percentage 100% 7% 228.5%

* the book calls for buttermilk but I didn't have any

• Mix and let ferment at room temperature 1-2 h until bubbly (I probably should have let this bubble more. It was not very warm & I did not incubate this one)
• Then make the dough:

Bread Flour Sugar Salt Eggs Butter* Sponge

Volume 4 1/3 cups 1/3 cup 1 tsp 5 1/2 cup all from above

Mass

Percentage 100% 11.5% 1.3% 41% 20.5% 60%

* the book calls for unsalted but I had salted

•  Mix together all the ingredients and fold in the orange peel and raisins (I used 1/2 cup of each but should have used more... I added a tsp of lemon extract as well)
• Knead by hand for at least 15m until gluten is fully developed
• Cover and rest for 1.5h until 1.5x in size
• Split into loaf size portions and place into the container you want to bake it in. Be sure to apply a liberal coat of butter to the sides to avoid sticking.
• Rest for another 1.5h until 2x in size.
• Bake at 350F until the internal temp. reaches 185F.

Results:

So this didn't work out very well (Fig.1). I mean it tasted good, but it wasn't at all the texture of panettone. The recipe also called for a sugar glaze on top so I just used the leftover liquid from making the candied orange peel and threw in a bit of the liquor from the raisins. Don't do this (at least with the alcohol). It just leaves a sticky mess on top of the loaf.
   

Figure 1. Showing one of the little yellow bricks that I got from the Reinhart procedure.

Conclusions:

I'll take responsibility for this one failing. I knew it hadn't risen enough, yet I blindly followed the directions anyway. I also used salted butter, and the extra salt could conceivably reduce the yeast activity, but that usually isn't such a big deal. I suspect I could get this recipe to work. I think it all just needs to rise for WAY longer than it says in the manual. If I ever try this again I will try to keep the dough at >75F when rising, and just let it rise until it feels right rather than paying any attention to the suggested rising times.

I also don't quite know what to think about the affect of using a higher protein bread flour here. On one hand it could make sense if the higher gluten content can help it maintain its form after a big rise. But on the other hand the extra protein might make that rise harder to achieve. Anyway, it didn't really rise at all, but its something to think about, especially considering that the other recipes I tested all use all purpose (AP) flour.
 

The KAFprocedure:

* from King Arthur himself

• This recipe also used a yeasted pre-ferment  (here they call it a biga):

AP Flour Yeast Water

Volume 3/4 cup a pinch 1/3 cup

Mass 3 1/8 oz 2 5/8 oz

Percentage 100% 84%

• Mix and let ferment overnight at room temperature.(this should triple overnight)
• Then make the dough:

AP Flour Water Salt Eggs Butter* Biga Sugar Lemon extract Orange peel Raisins

Volume 2 1/4 cups 1/4 cup 1 1/4 tsp 2 1/4 cup all from above 1/3 cup 1/2 tsp 1 cup 1 cup

Mass 9 1/2 oz 2 oz 2 oz 2 1/4 oz 5 oz 5 oz

Percentage 100% 21% 21% 23% 53% 53%

• Mix together all the ingredients except for the fruit
• Knead by hand for at least 15m until gluten is fully developed
• Cover and rest for 1 - 2h. (I didn't see much rise here so I left it in the fridge for a full work day... when I got home it had risen to about 3x its original volume)
• Gently fold in the fruit
• Split into loaf size portions and place into the container you want to bake it in. If not using panettone molds be sure to apply a liberal coat of butter to the sides to avoid sticking. (The awesome all day rise was reduced by the handling here)
• Rest for another 1 - 2h.
• Bake at 350F for 45min or until the internal temp. reaches 185F.

Results:

*photo not available... it was eaten too quickly

This was much closer to what I was after. The flavor was good and the amount of fruit was right, but it was still too dense. It was certainly an improvement over my previous attempt but the good rise I got from the overnight fermentation and a full day in the fridge was lost when I shaped the loaves.

Conclusions:

This recipe could definitely work, but I would shape the loaves before leaving them to rise for a full day in the fridge. Then leave them out at room temp for a few hours before baking. So close... but yet so far.

The Wild Yeast method:

* from the Wild Yeast Blog see also Wild Yeast 2012

I had seen this recipe a while back but was consciously avoiding it because it looked so complicated. This recipe begins with what she calls a sweet starter (basically a 50% hydration sourdough starter), and then has some instant yeast added to that to raise the dough, so it uses a mix of natural and commercial leavening.

• To build the sweet starter I took a 20g portion of my 100% hydration starter and fed it with 20g of flour and 10g of water.  
• Feed with a 20g/20g/10g mix of starter/flour/water for a few days prior to building the dough
• The night before you will start building the dough, feed with 50g/50g/25g to increase the volume

• Start building the 1st dough the day before you want to bake:

AP Flour Water Yeast Sugar Egg yolks Brown Sugar* Butter** Sweet starter

Volume

Mass 346g 190g 1g 83g 55g 7g 83g 86g

Percentage 100% 55% 0.2% 24% 16% 2% 24% 25%

*called for diastatic malt powder....???

** again you are supposed to use unsalted butter

• Mix the first dough and let ferment overnight at room temperature.(this should triple overnight [Fig. 2] )

 

Figure 2. The first dough after a good overnight rise. Notice all the tiny little bubbles just under the surface. Looking good so far.

• The next day make the final dough:

AP Flour Water Salt Egg yolks Butter* Honey Sugar Lemon extract Orange peel Raisins

Volume 1/2 tbs

Mass 82g 114g 5g 25g 126g 19g 82g 170g 126g

Percentage 100% 139% 6% 30% 154% 23% 100% 207% 154%

• Mix together all the ingredients except for the water, fruit, butter and sugar.
• Mix in 40g of the water
• Once it is roughly combined add the sugar gradually in 4-5 increments
• Fold the dough until the gluten is almost fully developed 
• Add the butter

This is where something went majorly wrong for me. I had to keep my hand kind of wet to keep the sticky dough from sticking to my fingers while I was folding it and I think I ended up incorporating too much water because it turned to a thin batter after I added the butter. Now, I admit I did not use 'softened' butter like she suggested, instead I just melted it in a pan & cooled it down. But this was REALLY wet and I was still supposed to add another 74g of water! Instead of doing that I...

• added X g of flour until it started to resemble dough again (where X = like 2-3 cups but I was pretty frustrated and didn't bother to measure).
• Fold in the fruit until well incorporated
• Place in a large oiled bowl to rise
• Ferment for 1-2h. Folding every 30m
• Divide dough into loaf sized peices and form into balls.
• Place in buttered baking containers (unless you have actual panettone molds)
• Proof for another 12h at room temperature.

Here again I ran into a problem. After 12h of proofing I saw barely any rise (Fig. 3). At this point I was not very optimistic.

Figure 3. A very disappointing overnight rise :(

It was December and my place gets pretty cold at night which probably explains this, but I learned my lesson from the Reinhart method so I left it out at room temp for the day while I was at work to see what would happen. I was also concerned that leaving the loaves out for so long would dry them out on top so I placed each one in an inflated ziplock bag to give it a sealed & humid environment (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. In situ panettone incubation chamber

When I got home the loaves had risen beautifully in their little pyrex bowls (Fig. 5) & were ready to bake!

Figure 5. Its ALIVE!!!

• Bake the loaves at 350 for 35-40 minutes until the internal temp is ~190F (this was a bit of a problem for me too because the bottoms definitely got too dark baking for this long... but I think this is mainly bc I bake in a toaster oven so the dough is practically sitting on the heating element. I will try a little lower temp next time).

 

Results:

Success! The added rising time did the trick and the loaves sprung up in the oven even more (Fig. 6). The crust was a rich dark brown from the caramelization of the sugars (it almost looks burnt in Fig. 4 but is was really just right IMHO).

Figure 6. They rose! The one in the back was kind of a dud, but that is b/c I left it in the fridge while the other two were incubating at room temp. Object in this photo appear darker than they actually were. Don't you like the little blistery bumps on the crust... so cool. Just like real panettone!

The texture was... OKAY! (Fig. 7) And that is fine with me (for now). The crumb was nice and light with plenty of little air pockets. It wasn't as fluffy and shredy as store bought panettone and more bigger air pockets would be an improvement, but after all this I will take what I can get here.

Figure 7. In which you can see the nice light texture and airy crumb. The fruit all ended up on one side for some reason & the bottom got a little singed in the toaster, but it tastes oh so good!

 

Conclusions:

This recipe was A LOT of work and I had a couple scary moments when I thought I had ruined the whole thing (in fact I almost pitched it when it turned to soupy goo). I think this might be the one though. I will certainly try this again if not this year, then next. And I'd really like to find out what I did wrong in the middle there???

Materials and Methods

Baking bread is an art & science that goes back thousands of years at least to the ancient Egyptians and probably even earlier. I won't be going into it here, but a great treatment of the history of bread can be found in Peter Reinhart's excellent book Crust and Crumb. I just mention this to point out the timeless nature of baking and the fact that high tech mechanized tools are not a prerequisite for baking good bread. In fact the only things that are really needed are water, flour, heat and time (and perhaps a pinch of salt for flavor).

Until recently my home micro-bakery consisted of a standard oven with a baking stone and a large plastic bin for mixing dough (Fig. 1). My wife and I favored the technique of baking a wet dough at high temperatures (450F) on the baking stone with a cup or two of water in the oven to create steam. The high temperature produced a dark crunchy crust that we prefer, and the steam helped delay the setting of that crust so the little air pockets in the loaf could expand as they heated up. 

Figure 1: Here you can see my lovely wife / lab technician mixing a batch of No-Knead dough in the old breadlab. High and low temperature incubators are visible in the background.

Back in August we both had to move for work and ended up in separate tiny apartments. Her place has the tiniest kitchen ever discovered and my place didn't even have an oven. Obviously this was not an ideal situation for a variety of reasons, but I was not to be dissuaded. I still had a toaster oven, and even though the scale of my bakery would have to be downgraded from micro- to nano- I was determined to make it work.

Measuring & Mixing:

One recent improvement to my baking has been due to a switch from measuring by volume to measuring by mass with a small kitchen scale (Fig. 2). I tend to be pretty lax with measurements in the kitchen and often just eyeball things or add stuff until it feels right, but this doesn't always work with baking. It is surprising how much the density of certain flours can vary and that variation can really affect the outcome of a recipe. Especially those involving sourdough. I highly recommend measuring by mass if you have access to a scale. As far as mixing goes, this can change with certain recipes but I generally like to keep it simple. A wooden spoon works well, but there's nothing like getting in there with your hands to really get a feel for the characteristics of the dough you are building!

Figure 2: My kitchen scale. A vital tool in the breadlab... especially for care and feeding of the wild yeast.

Proofing & Fermenting: 

The dough from my go-to recipe in the Healthy Bread in 5 book just sit out for a few hours then lives in the fridge until needed. Some formulas need a little more attention though. To bulk ferment these I place a glass bowl with my newly mixed dough into my large plastic bin along with a couple mason jars of hot water. This does a surprisingly good job of maintaining a temp of >75F if you just switch out the water when things start to cool. 

Figure 3: All you need to engineer your own proofing box is a large container or plastic cooler, a bowl and some hot water.

After bulk fermentation and shaping I use a rattan banneton (a.k.a. brotform [Fig. 4]) or a colander with a smooth cotton towel liner. In either case coat generously with whole wheat flour to avoid sticking.

Figure 4: My banneton. Coat well with flour to avoid sticking and you will get a beautiful swirly pattern on your crust.

Baking:

The oven I am using these days is a Euro-pro convection toaster oven (Fig. 5), and I have to say I am pretty amazed by what this little thing can do. The primary challenge with this tool was that there was no room for a steam tray and the crust would harden before the loaves had fully expanded resulting in weird splitting or an overly dense crumb.

Figure 5: The Euro-pro convection toaster oven. Tight quarters for a loaf of bread, but gets the job done nicely. I love this thing!

This issue was overcome with the addition of a small 8" cast iron dutch oven (Fig. 6).  Baking in the dutch oven with the lid on traps the steam that naturally emerges from the wet dough. This way the crust doesn't harden until the loaf has fully expanded.

Figure 6: A small dutch oven does a great job of retaining heat and steam. Both vital elements of a well baked loaf! If you use one make sure to remove the knob on top or it may melt in the oven. 

Results:

Results will be addressed in the individual formulas. But here is a sample of what can be done with these simple tools and the right techniques.