Benito's blog

I know I’ve made these many times trying to improve them, but I think for the flour that I use which is an organic AP equivalent to T55 I have settled on what I think is the ideal hydration and degree of fermentation.  I have baked another set today along with the pie for a dinner party we are throwing tonight.  Hopefully our guests will enjoy the meal.  The main course is a miso vinegar chicken dish with peperoncinis and peppers.  Both the miso and the red wine vinegar I make myself, the miso is fermented for 1 year.

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Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours

78°F 9 hours to peak

In the morning, to your mixing bowl add  water and diastatic malt  to dissolve, then add levain.  Use your spatula to cut the levain into small pieces.  Next add AP flour and mix to combine.  Allow to fermentolyse for 10 mins.  Slap and fold x 100 then add salt and hold back water gradually working in until fully absorbed by massaging and then Rubaud kneading the dough, then slap and fold x 200.  Can also use your stand mixer.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.

Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds

Could do cold retard at this point for  up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins

Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 55% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.  I often do this for convenience as the oven is pre-heating as well as to make the dough much easier to score.

Pre-heat oven 500*F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.

Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment

Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.

Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480*F. 

The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins.  The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam.  Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning and thickening of the bottom crust.  The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway.  The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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I try to leave a bit more space so the ears are a bit wider.  I have found that this reduces the broken straps that I often get.  It worked for the most part with only one broken strap.  I think I can still be scoring more deeply, but really I cannot complain, they baked up pretty well I think.

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My index of bakes.

Recently we’ve acquired a preference for streusel topped pies over double crusted pies.  One of the nice things about a streusel topping is that you can add spices or nuts to it that might compliment the flavours of the filling.  In this case the filling has both cinnamon and allspice so they were also added to the streusel.  Another thing about streusel toppings is that you can have your pastry rolled out and crimped and then frozen, fill your pie and then throw on the streusel and immediately bake.  It is so fast and simple.  For a double crust the bottom crust cannot be frozen, filled and then top pasty applied.  You would need to allow it to defrost so you can press the two layers together and then crimp.

I won’t post the recipe for the pastry as I’ve posted that in the past so it can be found in other posts.

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Peach Rhubarb Filling

• 500 g or 2 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb (about 1/4 in. thick)
• 500 g 2 1/2 cups peaches (peeled and sliced)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp vanilla

Put frozen fruits in the dutch oven to defrost with brown and  granulated sugar to help macerate.

Once defrosted and the fruit releasing a lot of their juices add the corn starch, vanilla, all the spices and salt to the liquid from the fruit.  Stir gently but thoroughly to ensure that the cornstarch is well dissolve.  Next cook the fruit on medium heat until it reaches about 165°F, the corn starch will start to gelatinize at this point, but not fully.  Remove from heat, allow to cool and then place in fridge until ready to use. 

I prepare the pate brisée a couple of days ahead of time.  The day before baking, roll the dough out and transfer it to the chilled pie pan.  I now like to use a metal pan.  Place this in the fridge to rest 10-20 mins.  Next remove from the fridge and crimp the edges.  Wrap in plastic wrap or place in a plastic bag in the freezer until ready to use.

Prepare the Streusel Topping for Pies but add ½ tsp of cinnamon and ⅛ tsp allspice.  Place in fridge until ready to use.

Morning of baking.  Preheat the oven to 425°F and place your baking steel on the lowest rack.  Separate the yolk from egg whites into two separate bowls.  To the egg white add about 1 tsp-1 tbsp of water, mix thoroughly.  Brush this egg white onto the bottom of the pie pastry and along the walls but not the crimped edges.  This can help prevent a soggy bottom.  Place the pastry back into the freezer.  Add the egg yolk to the egg white and mix.  Save this to egg wash your saved extra bits of pastry that you might have left or your next loaf of bread.

Once the oven has reached 425°F, fill the pastry with your fruit filling.  Next top with the streusel.  Place this onto a cookie sheet and bake on the baking steel for 20 mins at 425°F.  Next add your crust shield to prevent the crimped edges from getting too browned.  Bake for another 10 mins at 425°F then reduce the temperature to 350°F, rotate the pie and bake for another 40-60 mins until the streusel is golden brown and the filling is bubbling near the center.  You can also measure the temperature of the filling at the center and if it has reached 175 -180 °F it should be gelatinized enough.

Allow to fulling cool before slicing.

Streusel

1⅔ cups streusel, to top Makes 1⅔ cups streusel, enough for one 9- or 10-inch pie topping

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes, at room temperature

Stir together the flour, brown and granulated sugars, and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle in the butter pieces and toss to coat. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is chunky but not homogenous.

Chill for at least 15 minutes before using.

The streusel will keep refrigerated for 5 days or frozen for 1 month.

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Remember, don’t throw out your extra pastry that is cut off from the bottom crust.  Chill it, then you can use cut outs and paint them or just egg wash and sprinkle with sugar to decorate your pie.

 My index of bakes

I was thinking the other day about eliminating the butter from my milk breads and remembered the bottle of toasted walnut oil in my cupboard that needed to be used, so I came up with this loaf.  I was in a rush out the door at the time I needed to shape this so I did the lazy thing and shaped it as a batard and not into my usual four lobes.  I actually quite like how this turned out visually especially when topped with black sesame seeds.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole red fife flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next drizzle in the walnut oil a bit at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more oI’ll.  Again, knead until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat. 

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or oil or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly floaf the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and shape as a batard.  Transfer to your prepared pan.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again and then top with black sesame seeds.  Score the dough, this is optional.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF.

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My index of bakes.

I was going to add cinnamon to the purple sweet potato but realized that I wanted this bread for sandwiches so the cinnamon wouldn’t be a good idea.  However, if this bread was for toast, adding some cinnamon to the purple sweet potato would have been delicious.  To make this bread, you’ll need to prepare some mashed purple sweet potato.  I did this a while back, then portioned and froze the portions in ziplock bags.  Once defrosted I blend the mash with a combination of sugar and flour.  I have found that when there is a sweet filling in my breads that the sugar draws out water from the dough.  This ends up causing problems with separation between the filling and bread and also collapsing or a pinched waist in the baked bread.  To counter this, I have found that adding some flour to the filling helps absorb the water coming out of the dough, so far this has worked every time.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Purple Sweet Potato Filling

100 g mashed sweet potato

12 g granulated sugar

12 g flour

Mix together and set aside.

Egg/milk wash: 1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk, beaten

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flours.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage, I typically shape once there is 20-40% rise.

Butter a large baking pan.  Punch the dough down and then divide into 2 equal portions.  Form each into tight boules.  Stretch and then roll each piece of dough into a large rectangle, approximately equal sizes.  Spread the prepared purple sweet potato filling evenly over one of of the rectangles of dough leaving about 1cm at the edge of dough without mashed potato.  Place the other rectangle of dough onto the other sandwiching the sweet potato between them.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out a bit more aiming for more than 12” in length and just under 9” in width.  

Using a ruler and pizza cutter, cut the dough into evenly wide strips about 1.5-2 cm wide along the length of the dough but leaving about 2-4 cm of dough uncut at the end furthest away from you.  When all the strips are cut, twist the strips in alternating directions, clockwise and then counter clockwise.  Once all the strips are twisted, roll the whole thing into a log starting furthest away from you getting a nice tight roll at the start.  Transfer the dough into your prepared pullman pan with the seam side down.

Place in the buttered baking pan seem side down.  Cover them and allow them to fully proof until the top of the dough reaches within 1 cm of the rim of the pan.

When there is about 30 mins left of proofing time, prepare your egg and milk wash and then brush the top of the loaf.

About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your loaf gets brown early in the baking process.

Remove the bread from the pan and return to the oven baking directly on the rack if the sides of the loaf aren’t yet crisp baking for another 5-10 mins.  Cool on a rack, enjoy.

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My index of bakes.

I was pressed for time and was tasked with bringing bread to my family’s Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.  The previous time I made rolls with Nfld savoury I didn’t use enough to taste them as much as I would have liked.  This time the Mt Scio savoury flavour was lovely and the milk rolls were enjoyed by all.

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For 13 x 9” pan 24 rolls 

egg wash: 1 yolk, 1 tbsp milk and a pinch of salt, beaten…

Cook Tangzhong mixing flour and milk constantly until it becomes a thick roux.  Let cool before adding to final dough.  Or add to cold milk and egg to cool it down.

Bring butter to room temperature or warmer.

Whisk together dry ingredients flour salt and yeast. 

To mix by hand, add the salt and yeast to the wet ingredients (milk, tangzhong and egg) to dissolve.  Next add the flour, black pepper and Nfld savoury and mix with a silicone spatula until no dry flour remains.  Rest 10-20 mins.  Next perform French folds until the dough is well developed.  Smear the blended butter/flour onto the dough and then fold to incorporate and then perform further French folds until well developed.  Form into a tight ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a damp cloth and place in a warm place until doubled (about 1hr 30 mins).   You can do a cold retard to bake the next day if you like.

Butter a large baking pan or line with parchment.  Punch the dough down and then divide into 12 equal portions.  Form each into tight boules.  The following is the same as what I do to shape the lobes of dough for my milk bread, except that each gets cut in half.  Roll out each boule into a square, then letterfold.  Elongate rolling each out into a long rectangle.  Do another letter fold, then roll out again much longer.  Roll the flattened dough up.  Use dental floss to cut each long roll into two small rolls, place each into the prepared pan cut side down.  Repeat until you have 24 rolls arranged 4x6 in your pan.

Place in the buttered baking pan seem side down.  Cover them and allow them to fully proof about 1 hour to 1 hour and 20-30 mins, they should pass the poke test.  If you did a cold proof it may take longer to complete final proof.

After about 30 mins of proofing time, whisk your remaining egg and milk and then brush the small boules.

About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.

Bake the rolls uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your rolls get brown early in the baking process.

Remove the bread from the oven but not the pans, brush the tops with butter while hot, and then let cool for 10 minutes before pulling the bread from the pans. You may need to slide a butter knife down the sides of the pan to loosen the bread, but I have found parchment paper to be unnecessary, although it might make removing all the rolls from the pan without having to flip them twice easier.  Sprinkle with fleur de sel if you wish after brushing with butter. 

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My index of bakes.

I got my hands on some good stoneground whole red fife so wanted to incorporate it into my milk bread.  I haven’t used any red fife for a long while so it was due.  Because of the issues with gluten breakdown that seems to happen with red fife, I decided to use it all in the tangzhong, 20% since the gluten in the tangzhong won’t matter since it is cooked.

I had some pepitas and a handful of sunflower seeds lying around so decided to add them to this loaf.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and whole red fife flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Again, knead until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Add the seeds, then mix again until they are well distributed.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF

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My index of bakes

I’ve been wanting to try baking this style of bread for some time, but just couldn’t get my nerve up to trying it.  Despite its name, it seems that it is really an Asian style of bread.  I’m guessing that the Danish part of it is that it is somewhat like a danish as in the pastry.  Also, this isn’t something I could try during the heat of the summer and this week we are finally having some normal autumn weather.

To make this bread one starts by making a somewhat stiff enriched dough.  Then you make a flat square of butter that then gets sandwiched inside the dough.  This gets a series of folds resulting in 12 layers.  One has to keep the butter cold enough so that it doesn’t melt into the dough, yet when rolling it out, warm enough to roll out.

For my first attempt at this type of lamination, I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

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I’ve altered the formula just a bit to fit my 4x4x9” Pullman pan from the original recipe by Chiew See of Autumn Kitchen on IG/Youtube.

To the bowl of a standmixer add milk, IDY, sugar and salt, mix to dissolve.  Add flour and mix until the dough starts to come together.  Add butter in pats until well incorporated.  Mix until moderate gluten development, it doesn’t need to reach good windowpane.  In fact, I found this dough too low hydration so added some extra milk and ended up fully hand kneading it.

Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape.  Wrap with clingfilm, leaving space for dough to expand.  Ferment at 28°C for 30 mins.  Freeze the dough for 1 hour then transfer to the fridge 3°C overnight.

Fold parchment paper into 18 x 18 cm square.  Weight out 154 g butter, place it on the parchment square, joining the pieces so that it starts to fill the square.  Fold the parchment to enclose the butter.  Use your rolling pin to strike or press the butter to soften it without warming it excessively.  Roll the butter out to fill the 18x18 square using the rolling pin ensuring that the butter is uniform thickness throughout and that the butter fills right to the corners.  Refrigerate the butter overnight.

In the morning remove both the butter and the dough from the fridge.  Both the butter and the dough needs to have the same firmness before laminating them together, if the butter is harder, let it soften first. You should be able to leave an indent in the butter if you press into it.  The butter should be pliable and be lightly bent without breaking, its temperature should be between 13-15°C.  

Roll the dough into an 18x36 cm rectangle, the dough should be twice the size of the butter.  Brush off excess flour.  Place butter in the center of the dough, fold the dough to enclose the butter pinching the dough where the ends meet to seal.  Turn the dough 90* so that the open end is towards you and the closed sides are perpendicular to you.  Gently press down on the dough with the rolling pin before rolling.  Lightly dust with flour, then roll from center to the ends with firm and even strokes.  Flip the dough and continue to roll to 21x53 cm.  Trim off the uneven ends.  Brush off excess flour.

Do a double or book fold, this brings the cut ends of the dough together folding one edge to two thirds of the length then fold the other end to meet.  Next fold the dough in half.  You now have four layers.  Wrap with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Remove dough from the fridge, give it a few minutes if it is too hard before rolling.  Gently press down with the rolling pin.  If there are any bubbles pop with a toothpick.  With either of the open ends towards you roll the dough to about 21x53cm.  Do a lenter fold (letterfold in thirds) giving you three layers for a total of 12.  Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Prepare your pan by greasing it with butter.

Remove the dough from the fridge allowing it to soften until it is soft enough to roll.  Again using the same methods roll the dough out to slightly larger than 30x21 cm.  Trim all four sides to achieve 30x21 cm, keep the scraps for final shaping.

We will require 9 strips that are 30 cm long so mark 2.33 cm intervals on the 21 cm sides of the dough.  Cut the dough into 9 strips 2.33x30 cm.  We will be braiding three sets of 3 strips, so starting with 3 strips, stack the ends together with the center strand at the bottom and press down so that end sticks.  Braid the 3 strands so that the cut sides of the strips face up if possible.  Pinch to seal the end.  Flip it over, place ⅓ of the trimmings you kept into this underside of the braid now facing up.  Fold the two ends together and then place this into the greased pan folded side down.  Repeat with the other two sets of three strands so that there are three sets of braided dough in the pan.  The sets are placed side by side in the pan.

Ferment between 27-28°C 80-82°F until the pan is about 80% filled (3-4 hours).  30 mins prior to baking preheat the oven at 200°C or 390°F.   Egg wash the dough when preheating starts and then again immediately prior to baking.  Optional, after second egg wash sprinkle almond flakes on the top.  Place on a lined pan to bake as the dough will leak melted butter from the tin.

Bake at 200°C 390°F for 8 mins, then drop temperature to 170°C or 340°F and bake for another 25-30 mins or until golden brown.  Allow the loaf to cool prior to slicing.

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After the first set of folds.

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Plaiting completed and arranged in the Pullman Pan.

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About 30 mins prior to baking just before the first egg/milk wash.

 My index of bakes.

I’ve tried adding an egg to my standard country sourdough but hadn’t tried adding one to a 100% whole wheat sourdough.  Given the benefits of an egg in bread, leavening, lightness of crumb, fluffiness and thin crisp crust, a bread that is 100% whole wheat should theoretically greatly benefit from the addition of an egg.  

I also wanted to try a 5 min score.  For those who haven’t heard of this before, the idea is that if your dough is possibly overproofed and at risk for collapsing upon scoring, bake the dough for 5 min without steam.  So for a dutch oven bake, do so without a lid for 5 mins, then take the bread out of the dutch oven, score it and then place it back in the dutch oven this time with the lid on and continue your bake.

For those like me who prefer an open bake, bake without steam for 5 mins, then score and put it back in the oven with the addition of steam.  I didn’t really need to do the 5 min score with this bake and one thing I don’t like about it is the appearance of the crust when done this way.  I usually score, then brush water on the crust.  When doing the 5 min score, you don’t brush water on the crust.  So I find that there is some residual rice flour on the crust that doesn’t get washed away by brushing on water that gives the crust a less appetizing appearance to me.  I think detracted from this bake.  Also, it is a waste of time doing any decorative scoring as it won’t open up since the crust is partially set by the 5 mins without steam.

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I added an additional 10 g of bassinage water so the total hydration of this loaf was 93%.

Taking all the flour, I sifted it through the #40 sieve extracting about 47 g of large course bran flakes from 470 g of the stoneground organic whole wheat flour.  I then added 97 g of boiling filtered water to the bran as a scald.  I sprinkled the salt onto the bran and it was left to cool overnight.

The stiff levain was built and left to ferment overnight at 74ºF.

The next morning the egg and water were added to the bowl of my Ankarsrum Assistent and mixed by spatula.  Next the levain was added cutting it up into small pieces with the spatula.  Then the sifted flour was added to the bowl and mixed until there was no dry flour.  After 10 mins of rest the mixer was started.  After good gluten development the hold back water was added in several aliquots.  10 g of water more than in the spreadsheet was added during bassinage since the dough felt very strong.  Once bassinage was completed gluten development was very good.  Finally the scalded bran and salt was added until the bran well well incorporated.  The pH was 5.62 at this point.

A bench letterfold was performed and the aliquot jar set up as well as an aliquot of dough for pH measurement.

Every 30 mins a coil fold was performed until the dough felt strong and was holding its shape well.

Aim to shape went rise 40-50% or pH fall of 1.0.  This dough reached 50% rise but only had a 0.83 fall in pH.  Used my starter that has been converted to a while flour fed starter.  It has greater rise with less fall in pH.

Warm final proof and aim to bake at a pH fall of a further 0.3.  In this case I allowed a rise of 96% and then placed the dough into the freezer while the oven finished preheating.

I will do a 5 mins score.  To do this the dough is turned out onto a piece of parchment and transferred to the oven without scoring baking at 450°F.  After 5 mins in the oven the dough is taken out and then scored and brushed with water.  Then steam baking starts for 20 mins at 450°F.  The steam gear is then removed and baking continues at 425°F for 20-30 mins rotating as needed.

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I believe the egg did as advertised, the loaf had great lift, the crumb was light, the crust thinner than expected and for a 100% whole wheat loaf the crumb was fairly open.  I will try this again and without the 5 min score that may have affected the bloom.

Another note, I have switched back to using my own starter which I changed to feeding bread flour.  It is now rising more than the starter I was kindly gifted by Alan when given the same ratio of feeds.  It is also displaying the same characteristics of less sour tang and more rise for the change in pH.  For this bake, this bread turned out to be far less sour than any of my previous similar bakes, granted none of them had the egg in it which does raise the pH a bit.  But still, I used to bake after a drop in pH of 1.3 and perhaps get a total rise of 80%.  For this bake, the pH drop was 1.14 and the rise was 100%.  I suspect this is mostly due to the characteristics imparted from my starter being fed bread flour.

Gary posted a little while ago about using potato flakes instead of the usual flour based tangzhong.  Although potato flakes are more expensive than flour per gram, at least the good quality ones without additives they have one advantage.  Because the flakes are prepared from cooked potatoes, the starches are already gelatinized.  Apparently even through drying to make the flakes, although the water is gone from the starches, they retain whatever change that occurred so you do not need to precook the flakes to use them. 

This is a quote from the article Gary shared the link to.

” Potato flakes as tangzhong

In both wheat flour and potatoes, amylose and amylopectin exist in about a 1:4 ratio. This, plus its lower gelling temperature, means that amylopectin is the molecule responsible for the softness and staling-preventing effects of a tangzhong paste. As Dr. Ross explains, the amylopectin in instant mashed potato flakes are in a state of suspended gelation, ready to rehydrate as soon as they see water again.

Potato flakes, instant mashed potatoes are cooked and dried, maybe spray dried, but the starch never returns to the condition it was in the uncooked potato. The amylopectin doesn't really retrograde much and when dried fast enough remains as an amorphous matrix predisposed to fully rehydrate on the next introduction to water, even without heating. The amylose probably retrogrades, but this is an advantage as it doesn't rehydrate fully on the next introduction to water and gives some structural strength to the rehydrated mash. In potatoes this is complicated by the presence of starch within cells and whether the cells rupture or not during cooking. Rupture depends on the amount of cooking and the amount of shear applied during stirring/mixing.

Back to the method: You want enough additional water to completely saturate the starches in the potato flakes, so that they can do their thing in the dough and so that they don’t suck up water that would otherwise be destined to hydrate the flour—but no more than that, or it will make the dough stickier than it needs to be. Twice the weight of the potato flakes is about right, based on the tests I’ve done.

As for the amount of potato flakes to add, I’ve tested up to a 15% substitution of the total flour, though I think that in most cases sticking to no more than 10% is probably best, especially if the goal is to retain adequate crumb structure. (If you want a more dense, custard-like, tight crumb, by all means try higher amounts, but keep in mind that you need some structure to avoid a sticky dough—so you might have to reduce the total water to keep it easy to handle.)

In summary:

• You can amend the dough with as much as 15% of the total flour—meaning adding 15g of potato flakes for every 100g of flour—but to keep the dough texture close to the original, you probably want to limit it to no more 10%
• To fully saturate the potato starches, you want to add 200% water, relative to the weight of the potato flakes (aka twice as much water as potato flakes)
• And 2% salt, relative to potato flakes, to keep the overall salt % correct
• For example: Add 50g potato flakes, 100g water, and 1g salt to a bread that contains ~500g flour, for a 10% amendment 

If the dough is going to be machine-kneaded, you can just add the flakes to the dry ingredients, they’ll get sufficiently moshed up during kneading. To prevent a lumpy dough if you are hand-mixing, you’ll want to either grind them to a flour in a spice or flour mill, or instead mix the flakes with a small amount of the water from the dough and whisk them to a smooth paste before adding the remaining liquid ingredients.

I’ve yet to prove conclusively that instant potato flakes are as “good” as other cooked starches in a tangzhong-style approach, but they are so convenient to use that it might not matter to me if you can get a slightly better result using another starch. (I’m entirely happy with them in a soft-and-squishy enriched bread application, such as the bun recipes I’ve got coming up in the Summer 2021 edition of Edible Boston.) The amount of amylopectin relative to a traditional flour-based tangzhong is close to identical, so they should behave comparably. But it is something I plan to test eventually with a side-by-side.”

So for a baker who doesn’t feel like having to cook and mess up a pot to prepare a tangzhong, using potato flakes might be a time saving step to prepare a bread that uses a tangzhong.  At the same time, you get the benefits of the tangzhong, the delayed staling and fluffiness of the crumb with less work.  Win win as long as the flavour is still good.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

If you are mixing by hand, then prepare the tangzhong by cooking the milk with the potato flakes until they form a mash potato.  If you are using a stand mixer then add the potato flakes with the tangzhong milk to the bowl along with all the other ingredients.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour and the potato flakes.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Again, knead until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Add the seeds, then mix again until they are well distributed.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF

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I had a technical issue with this bake that I hadn’t experienced in quite sometime.  I didn’t dust the couche or the bottoms (bottoms facing up in the couche) of the baguettes sufficiently, so when I attempted to transfer them off the couche, onto the transfer board and then finally onto the parchment lined cookie tray, two of the three stuck at each point.  This resulted in some pretty significant degassing and really compromised the crumb.  The third baguette did suffer nearly as much and was much better looking.  The flavour of course isn’t affected by the degassing, but certainly the texture of the baguettes was.

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Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours

In the morning, to your mixing bowl add 327 g water, 10 g salt and diastatic malt 4.9 g to dissolve.  Add levain to water and cut the levain into small pieces in the bowl.  Next add 448 g AP flour to combine.  Allow to saltolyse for 20 mins.  Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 25 g gradually working in until fully absorbed by massaging and then Rubaud kneading the dough, then slap and fold x 200.  Alternatively mix in a stand mixer until good gluten development.  Add seeds.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.

Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds

Could do cold retard at this point for  up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins

Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 55% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.  I often do this for convenience as the oven is pre-heating.

Pre-heat oven 500*F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.

Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment

Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.

Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480*F. 

The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins.  The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam.  Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning and thickening of the bottom crust.  The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway.  The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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