Isand66's blog

I just returned from a couple of days vacation visiting Newport Rhode Island.  We had a great time visiting the shops, historic mansions and sailing the harbor.

I wanted to make some rolls/buns that we could use for hamburgers for today's lunch and I didn't have time to refresh my starters so I used some instant yeast for the first time in a long time.

Since these were going to be used for hamburger buns I wanted to make sure to use enough fat in the recipe to make sure they were nice and soft.  I also wanted to try using some polenta in this recipe after reading about several other bakers trying it with great results.  I decided to also use potatoes to give it some extra softness and for extra flavor I left them nice and chunky with the skin on.

I used an overnight retardation of the dough to build extra flavor as well.  The end result was one of the best rolls I have made to date.  They were nice and soft and moist inside and out and tasted good enough to eat by themselves.  I am sure the polenta, potato combo along with the heavy cream I used contributed to the nice soft and moist crumb and crust.  Next time I will try these with Wild Yeast Water instead to see how that impacts the crumb

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Ingredients

550 grams Bread Flour (King Arthur Flour)

100 grams Whole Spelt Flour (Bob's Red Mill)

150 grams Whole Egg (3 large eggs slightly beaten)

1 Egg Beaten with Water for the Egg Wash

180 grams Polenta (cooked, and cooled)

160 grams Mashed Potatoes with Skins (I boiled a few potatoes and saved the water for the dough)

50 grams Extra Virgin Olive Oil

127 grams Potato Water at 85 - 90 degrees F.

142 grams Heavy Cream at 85 - 90 degrees F.

7 grams Instant Yeast

14 grams Seas Salt or Table Salt

40 grams Honey

Directions

Polenta

Prepare the polenta according to your recipe.  I followed the simple directions on the package and only made half the recipe which still was 4 times the amount I needed.  I added some grated Parmigiano Reggiano and butter at the end and also threw in some toasted dried onions for extra flavor.  Left overs will be grilled later this weekend with some olive oil and more cheese on top.

Final Dough

Mix flours with yeast to combine.  Next add remainder of the ingredients keeping about 30 grams of water back.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 1 minute and let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes to absorb the flour.

Add the balance of the water if needed and mix for another 4 minutes.  The dough should come together and be scraping the side of the mixing bowl and be nice and fairly smooth but still tacky.

Remove the dough to your work surface and knead by hand for 1 minute.  Do about 3-4 stretch and folds and put in a well oiled bowl or container with a cover.  Put it in your refrigerator immediately.

You can keep it in your refrigerator for about 24 to 36 hours.  I ended up baking it in the morning so it was only in my refrigerator for around 14 -15 hours.   The dough should double while in the refrigerator.

When ready to bake the rolls or bread, take it out of the refrigerator and immediately weigh out your pieces or loaves and shape as desired.  I made simple round rolls and let them rise for 1 hour on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

After 45 minutes turn your oven up to 350 degrees F. and prepare your rolls as desired.  I beat 1 whole egg mixed with a little water and put an egg wash on each roll.  I also added some toasted onions to some and some dried cheese mix on some as well.  At the 1 hour or so mark pop them in the oven with steam and turn once after about 15 minutes.  These should take about 25 minutes to cook thoroughly.

Let them cool on wire rack for at least half an hour before digging in if you can wait that long.

Please feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for more recipes.

Below are some photos of my Summer Cottage at New Port :) as well as some other interesting sites.

The Breakers....owned originally by Cornelius Vanderbilt II

The Breakers

Animal Topiary Gardens

More Animal Topiary Gardens

Jacky Kennedy's Childhood Summer House

Playhouse for Jacky Kennedy when Child. Note: I think it is bigger than my current house!

Oldest Tavern in USA originally built in 1642.

I recently returned from my 3rd trip to China for work this year and the first bread I attempted to make was this one.  I think I must have been suffering from a bad case of jet lag since I ended up with a puddle of cherry cheese which resembled a flat bread.  I like to work with wet dough but I went overboard on this attempt and didn't take the extra cherry juice from the cut up cherries into consideration.

I am happy to say that my second attempt of this bread was much more successful as I ended up with something that actually resembles a bread rather than a pancake.  I still can't find my wife's cherry pitter so I had to de-pit the cherries by hand which is a messy job to say the least.

I used a nice Havarti style cheese in this bake which melts nicely and compliments the cherries very well.  I used fresh cherries since they are still in season and reasonably priced.  I pureed 218 grams of cherries and cut the balance of 134 grams into pieces.  I used my mini Cuisinart to puree the cherries but you can use a blender or stick blender as well.

I used my standard white flour AP SD starter which I keep at 65% hydration and I added some Oat Flour to give it a little bit of nutty flavor.  I think the next time I make this bread I would add some walnuts or pecans to make it even better.

The final dough came out terrific with a nice moist open crumb with cheese and cherries oozing from its pores.  It smelled amazing with the flavors of cherries and cheese while it was baking and it took all my self-control not to tear into it until the next morning.

Procedure

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above

340 grams Bread Flour (King Arthur Flour)

161 grams Oat Flour (King Arthur Flour)

63 grams European Style Flour (KAF--you can substitute bread flour or a little whole wheat)

218 grams Cherry Puree

134 grams Pitted Cherries Cut Up into Small Pieces

200 grams Havarti Cheese or Similar Style Soft Cheese

220 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)  (Note: the Cherry Puree Counts as the Balance of the Liquid)

16 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

Weigh the cherries and remove the pits either with your hands, knife or if you are lucky a cherry pitter.  Puree the 218 grams per above in your food processor or blender and set aside. Cut the remainder of the cherries into small pieces and set aside in a strainer to drain.

Cut the cheese into small cubes and set  aside.

Mix the starter with all the water except for 20 grams just to break it up along with the pureed cherries.  Next mix in the flours for 1 minute on low in your mixer or by hand and let them autolyes for 30 minutes up to an hour.    Next add the salt and then add the remainder of your water unless you feel the dough is already too hydrated.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 4 minutes.  Remove the dough from your mixing bowl to your work surface.

The dough will be very sticky so you may want to use a bench scraper to help you do 4-5 stretch and folds.  Leave the dough uncovered for 10 minutes on your work surface or put it in a slightly oiled bowl.  After 10 minutes either on your work surface or in your bowl do another stretch and fold, cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this S & F procedure one more time and let it rest another 10 minutes.  Do one last S & F  and flatten the dough out into a rectangle.  Add the cherry pieces and the cheese pieces and fold up the dough onto itself.  (Note: I goofed up and did this step after the first stretch and fold which made it very difficult to do additional ones.)

Let the dough sit in your bowl for another 1.5 to 2 hours depending on the temperature of your room ( my house is usually at about 70-72 degrees F.).  Next put the dough into your refrigerator overnight up to 24 hours or longer if necessary.  I usually only wait about 24 hours but you can do 36 hours if necessary.

The next day when ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and  let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours - 2 hours until it starts to come to room temperature and is growing slightly. You can now remove the dough from your bowl or dough bucket and form into your desired shapes.  Be careful not to handle the dough to  roughly or you will end up degassing the nice gas trapped in the dough.  Place formed loaves in floured baskets (I use rice flour to make sure they don't stick which works every time).

 Let the dough rise at room temperature for around 2 hours until they pass the poke test.  (When the dough is poked your finger should leave a small indent that springs back very slowly.)

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 205 - 210 degrees F.

Let the finished bread rest on a wire rack until cool and try to resist the temptation to cut into them until thoroughly cooled.

Please feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for all my bread recipes.

Last Friday I finally returned from my latest trip to China and was eager to try my hand at a rye bread after reading about some interesting ones on The Fresh Loaf.  I wanted to make one utilizing a Yeast Water starter per my baking friend DA Brownman who recently baked a master piece using a combination of a Yeast Water starter and traditional SD starter.

Since I have been having some fairly successful bakes using coffee in place of the water in my multi-grain bakes I decided to try again and used a simple dark roast coffee for the soaker and for the final dough.  I made a soaker using rye berries and cracked wheat.  I mixed the hot coffee with the dry ingredients and let sit for 24 hours covered at room temperature.

For the Yeast Water starter I wanted to develop a Pumpernickel starter so I built up the starter in 3 stages.  The first stage was left for 4 hours at room temperature and the second stage was left overnight for about 8 hours at room temperature.  The final build was left for around 5 hours at room temperature.  I tried to make exactly 425 grams of starter, but be sure to weigh your final starter and adjust as needed.

Make sure you drain the grains from the soaker, but be aware that they will absorb a great deal of the liquid.  Even though the hydration of this dough is only 70%, it is really much higher when you take the soaker into consideration.

Soaker

485 grams Hot Coffee

100 grams Cracked Wheat

150 grams Malted Rye Berries

Mix coffee in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 24 hours.

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

60 grams Yeast Water

60 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix ingredients in a bowl and cover.  Let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or until you see some activity and your starter is almost doubled.

Yeast Water Starter Build 2

100 grams Yeast Water

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix above into starter from Step 1 and let sit covered for 8-10 hours or until the starter has almost doubled.

Yeast Water Starter Build 3

15 grams Yeast Water

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Mix above into starter from Step 2 and let sit covered for 4-5 hours or until starter has almost doubled.  You can also put in the refrigerator and leave for up to 1 day if necessary until you are ready to bake.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above

150 grams Graham Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

200 grams White Rye Flour

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour or Dark Rye Flour (I used KAF)

70 grams Roasted Wheat Germ (adds a nice nutty flavor)

370 grams Dark Roast Coffee (90 degrees F.)

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

10 grams Walnut Oil (substitute any oil desired)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours together with all the coffee except for 50 grams and let them autolyes for 30 minutes.   I then added the Yeast Water Pumpernickel levain, oil and the soaker and the rest of the coffee with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 1 minute and #2 for 4 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  Note that since this dough was extremely sticky it was not very easy to do a stretch and fold.   I then did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and put it in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  I had planned to make 2 boules but since this dough was so moist and did not come together like a bread made with white flour I decided to form it into a large Miche.  Alternatively I could have formed it into loaves and baked in a bread or Pullman pan.

Cover the dough in your pans or basket and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours or until you notice some lift to the dough and it can pass the poke test.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until the loaf was golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

I had to bake this bread for almost 50 minutes since it was so moist and the final dough came out with an excellent crust and moist crumb but a little denser than I would have preferred.  It is an excellent bread for some sharp cheese and/or a nice grilled cheese sandwich.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

I wanted to make some good soft tasty rolls using my Cherry Yeast Water starter.   I figured since I can't drink the starter I should use some organic cherry lemonade in place of the water.  In order to get the rolls to be nice and soft and rich I decided to add some cream cheese and butter and used some Durum flour in the levain as well as the final dough.

As I have mentioned in previous posts I have found that the best way to use the Yeast Water starter is to build up the levain in 2-3 stages.  For this bake I did a 3 stage build detailed below.  If you want to know more about starting your own WYW starter let me know and I will be glad to help you.  It is really easy to start and maintain and WYW does not have nearly as much of a sour tang as sourdough starters.

Procedure

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 1

50 grams AP Flour

50 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours. You can refrigerate it after 4-5 hours if you don't have time to go to step 3.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 2

100 grams Durum Flour

100 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.  You can refrigerate it after 4-5 hours if you don't have time to go to step 3.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 3

100 grams Durum Flour

150 grams Water

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.  You can now proceed to the main dough or refrigerate overnight and use the next day.

Mix additional ingredients into Build 1 and use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  You should have a fairly firm 65% starter.  Leave covered for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then either proceed to main dough or refrigerate over night.

Main Dough

375 grams WYW Levain from Above

512 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

88  grams Durum Flour (KAF)

393 grams Organic Cherry Lemonade (I bought it at Whole Foods and it has about 23 grams of sugar per serving)

16 grams Salt (Seas Salt or Table Salt)

102 grams Cream Cheese Softened

49 grams Unsalted Butter Softened

Add all the Cherry Lemonade except 50 grams to the starter to break it up in your mixing bowl.  Next add all of the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough autolyse for around 15 - 20 minutes up to an hour. This will help the dough absorb the flour.  Next add the salt, remaining Cherry Lemonade, cream cheese and the butter and mix for 4 minutes on speed number 1.   You should have a nice smooth dough which is still tacky.  Move the dough onto your work surface and dust lightly with flour if necessary or spray some cooking spray instead.  Most of the time if the dough is not a high hydration I will not use anything on my wood board.

Do 4  stretch and folds and form the dough into a ball and leave uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the first rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough.  Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  You can now put the dough into a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover it.  Let it sit at room temperature for 2 additional hours or less if it is warm in your kitchen.  After 2 hours place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 3 days until ready to bake.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 1.5 -  2 hours.  After its rest it is time to shape the rolls.  Depending on how big you want the rolls, first cut the dough in half and then roll half the dough into a log.  Next cut off the desired size piece you want and roll it into a tight ball.  Place rolls on cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until they are at least 1.5 the size.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 450 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.  After adding the steam lower the oven to 425 degrees and continue baking.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

The rolls ended up nice and soft with a chewy and nice open crumb.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

My wife fried up some fresh plantains as a nice accompaniment to dinner the other night.  Since she made too many I figured I would try adding some to my next bread.  In retrospect I think it would have been better to boil some plantains instead of using fried ones but overall the bread turned out pretty good.  I can say that the plantains are certainly not overpowering and add a nice flavor and texture to the final bread.

I used my standard stock AP starter and added some Durum, Oat, First Clear, Spelt and White Whole Wheat flours to the mix along with some olive oil.  The overall hydration of this dough is 68%.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter forms a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above

180 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

100 grams Durum Flour (make sure not to use Fancy Semolina as it is too gritty)

100 grams Oat Flour (KAF)

150 grams First Clear (This is used in Rye breads but I like the crumb this helps make in other breads as well)

75 grams Spelt Flour (Bob's Red Mill)

50 grams White Whole Wheat (KAF)

195 grams Plantains (Fried, or boiled and mashed)

395 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

16 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

10 grams Olive Oil

Procedure

Mix the flours  with all the water except for 50 grams for 1 minute.  Let the dough rest covered for 15 minutes to 1 hour which will allow the flour to absorb the water.    Next add the salt, starter, oil and mashed plantains.  Mix on low for 1 minute and then add the remainder of your water unless you feel the dough is already too hydrated.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 4 minutes.  Remove the dough from your mixing bowl to your work surface.  The dough will be very sticky so you may want to use a bench scraper to help you do 4-5 stretch and folds.  Leave the dough uncovered for 10 minutes on your work surface or put it in a slightly oiled bows.  After 10 minutes either on your work surface or in your bowl do another stretch and fold, cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this S & F procedure one more time and let it rest another 10 minutes.  Do one last S & F  and put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  If you don't feel the dough has developed enough feel free to do some additional stretch and folds while the dough is in the bowl and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day when I returned from work I removed the dough from the refrigerator and  I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  I then formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 205 - 210 degrees F.  I left them in the oven for 15 minutes with the heat turned off and the door open a crack to get the crust a little harder.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

I had a new brand of store bought guacamole in the refrigerator just calling for me to use it in a bread.  I made bread before with fresh avocados and I've been meaning to try it again with a higher percentage of avocados this time.

The pre-made guacamole had some tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and onions which ended up adding a nice kick to this bread.

I also added some left over mashed potatoes as well as greek yogurt and I used Durum flour as well.  The idea was to create a moist, soft bread with a sour undertone and I think I achieved this.

The crumb was nice and moist and open with a buttery yellow/green texture.  The addition of the guacamole and yogurt made this a very wet dough even though by the strict definition of hydration it really wasn't it.  This would have made great Ciabbata bread but I decided to stick with traditional Boules.  The second one I made stuck to the cloth liner since I guess I didn't add enough rice flour so it ended up a little flatter than the first loaf.

If you decide to make this and are intimidated by wet dough feel free to increase the flour percentage or cut back on the water.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

385 grams Starter from above (you may have a little left over from above)

315 grams European Style Flour (KAF...you can substitute bread or AP flour or a combination of the two)

251 grams Durum Flour (make sure not to use Fancy Semolina as it is too gritty)

122 grams Mashed Potatoes

308 grams Guacamole

73 grams Greek Style Plain Yogurt

335 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

16 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

Mix the starter with all the water except for 50 grams just to break it up.  Next mix in the flours for 1 minute on low in your mixer or by hand and let them autolyes for 15 minutes up to an hour.    Next add the salt, guacamole and yogurt.  Mix on low for 1 minute and then add the remainder of your water unless you feel the dough is already too hydrated.  Mix on low-speed or by hand for 4 minutes.  Remove the dough from your mixing bowl to your work surface.  The dough will be very sticky so you may want to use a bench scraper to help you do 4-5 stretch and folds.  Leave the dough uncovered for 10 minutes on your work surface or put it in a slightly oiled bows.  After 10 minutes either on your work surface or in your bowl do another stretch and fold, cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Repeat this S & F procedure one more time and let it rest another 10 minutes.  Do one last S & F  and put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  If you don't feel the dough has developed enough feel free to do some additional stretch and folds while the dough is in the bowl and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day when I returned from work I removed the dough from the refrigerator and  I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  I then formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 205 - 210 degrees F.  I left them in the oven for 15 minutes with the heat turned off and the door open a crack to get the crust a little harder.

The end result was a nice golden-yellow crumb with a hint of green.  The crust was nice and crispy and the bread was moist and flavorful.

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

Cosmo Waiting for the Bread to Bake

My wife bought a bottle of Chocolate Stout about a month ago with the intentions of making some kind of chocolate cake.  This would have been a very good use for this stout, but since she never had a chance to put it to good use I decided it was time to give it a try in a bread.  I recently purchased another new flour which I have since found out is a very old flour called Amaranth.  I decided to combine this with some sprouted wheat flour, KAF European style flour along with a Yeast Water starter and my stock AP starter.  I used some Italian style 00 flour in the Yeast Water build which I built up in 2 stages.  If I made this again I would probably increase the hydration since it is only around 68% and I think the crumb would have been more open with a higher hydration.

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

100 grams Italian Style 00 Flour (KAF)

100 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours.

100 grams Italian Style 00 Flour

35 grams Yeast Water

Main Dough Ingredients

107 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration)

318 grams Italian  Yeast Water Starter (all of starter from above)

200 grams Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour or Whole Wheat Flour

150 grams Amaranth Flour

405 grams European Style Flour (KAF) or Bread Flour

161 grams Mashed Potatoes (I like to mash them with the skins on and used red potatoes)

503 grams Chocolate Stout at room temperature

16 grams Raspberry Champagne Vinegar

16 grams Salt (Sea Salt or Table Salt)

Procedure

Mix the starters with the stout but save 50 grams for later (no... don't drink it!) and stir to break it up.  Next mix in the flours into the starter mixture and mix for 2 minutes with your mixer or by hand.    Let the dough autolyse for 20-30 minutes to an hour in your bowl covered with a cloth or plastic wrap.  Next add in the salt, balance of Stout and vinegar and mix on speed #2 for 4 minutes or by hand.  The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 - 2  hours.  Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.  It should take around 20 - 30 minutes to bake  until both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an hour or so before eating as desired.

Balloon Flower

Chocolate flavored coffee.....what could be wrong with using some in a bread you ask?  Nothing of course, so why not use it in a soaker as well ?  That is exactly what I ended up doing.  I normally leave the grains soaking for about 30 minutes to an hour, but in this case I left it over night for around 24 hours and the soaker grains sucked up all the coffee.  When I mixed the final dough I decided to make this a very moist, high hydration dough so I didn't cut back on the additional coffee used and the end result as you will see was the most moist bread I've made to date that almost melts in your mouth.

I used some rolled oats, cracked wheat and malted rye berries for the soaker and for the final dough I used durum, dark rye, white rye, European style flours and some roasted wheat germ.  I added some barbecued potatoes and pistachio oil as well.

In order to make the soaker I used 285 grams of hot water and mixed it with the ingredients and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

For the starter, I refreshed my standard AP 65% hydration white starter the night before and used most of it in this bake.

Soaker

100 grams Rolled Oats

100 grams Cracked Wheat

50 grams Malted Rye Berries

285 grams Hot Mocha Coffee

Mix coffee in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 24 hours.

Starter

71 grams Seed (Mine is 65% AP Flour Starter)

227 grams AP Flour

151 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

Mix seed with water to break up for a few seconds and then mix in flour until the starter form a smooth dough consistency.  Put it in a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover and leave at room temperature for at least 10 hours.  The starter should double in volume.  Put the starter in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days or use it immediately.

Main Dough

Ingredients

425 grams Starter from above (all of the starter)

100 grams Durum Semolina Flour (KAF)

100 grams White Rye Flour

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour or Dark Rye Flour

150 grams European Style Flour (KAF)  (Sub Bread Flour if you don't have this)

50 grams Roasted Wheat Germ

370 grams Mocha Coffee (90 degrees F.)

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

209 grams Mashed Roasted Potatoes

10 grams Pistachio Oil (substitute any oil desired)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours together with all the coffee except for 50 grams and let them autolyes for 30 minutes.    I then added the levain, potatoes, oil and the soaker and the rest of the coffee with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 1 minute and #2 for 4 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  I then did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and put it in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours.  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 hours.  After 1.5 hours I formed it into loaves and put them in floured bannetons and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I then baked on my oven stone with steam at 450 degrees until both loaves were golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

I had to bake this bread for almost 50 minutes since it was so moist and the final dough came out with an excellent crust and moist crumb.

Please visit my other blog for my older posts at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com.

Crumb Close-up

There are not too many things I like more than a pastrami sandwich, so when my wife suggested I try using some left over pastrami on a pizza I figured it was worth a shot.  I also had some left over smoked pulled pork in the refrigerator so I figured I would make a barbecued pulled pork pizza as well

I recently was gifted a cool item called the "Kettle Pizza" attachment.  This item fits on top of an existing Weber kettle style grill and allows you to get your grill over 700 degrees which is ideal for pizza.  I have used this a  few times with some great success and was looking forward to trying it again.    I have been reading many posts about using 00 style flour and how it really only works best when you can get your heat source over 700 degrees so while I could have used a 100% "00" flour pizza I still decided to do a 50-50 blend with bread flour.  If you don't have any "00" flour you can use 100% bread flour or another low protein flour.  The "00" flour does require less water so if you use it make sure to watch your hydration.  I suggest you add 50% of the water in the recipe before adding more and adjust as needed.

For the Pastrami pizza I used a simple fresh tomato sauce consisting of 1 can of diced tomatoes with red peppers, salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano, basil, 1/2 of a lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. I also used fresh mozzarella along with some Munster cheese and Pastrami for the topping.

For the Pulled Pork pizza I used my home-made barbecue sauce along with fresh mozzarella.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Baking Everyday for the basic dough.  I have made this recipe several times and it is very simple and comes out great.

If you want to make this in your oven you certainly get great results as well.

I have tried the method suggested by  Steve B. at http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil.  The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone.  I have to say it worked perfectly in the past for me so give it a try!

If you don't have the Kettle Pizza attachment for your grill you can still put a pizza stone on your grill and end up with a successful pizza.  The biggest issue is trying to get the desired char effect on the crust.

I have to say both pizzas came out great and I would definitely try both of these combinations again.  Maybe next time I would put some carmelized onions on the Pulled Pork version.

Ingredients

340 grams, 12 ounces Italian Style (00) Flour

340 grams, 12 ounces Bread Flour

14 grams, .5 ounces, or 2 teaspoons salt (sea salt or table salt)

3 grams, .11 ounces or 1 teaspoon instant yeast

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons sugar

428 grams, 17 ounces water (90 degrees)  (I suggest you decrease this amount if using "00" flour)

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute.  The dough should be rough and a little sticky.  Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flour gets fully hydrated.

Knead the dough on medium low-speed (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is smoother.  Next put some olive oil on your work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to your work area.  Do a stretch and fold and form the dough into a ball.  Divide the dough into 5 pieces weighing about 8 ounces each and form into balls.  Spray the inside of a mini plastic storage bag with oil and seal each dough ball in the bags.  Put them in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days.  You can freeze them also for several months if desired.

About 90 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizzas take how many dough balls you plan on using out of the fridge and put them on your lightly oiled work surface.  Stretch the dough balls and reshape them into a tight ball.  Cover the dough balls with either plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or a clean lint free kitchen towel sprayed with some water and let them rest until you are ready to bake.

One hour before you are ready to bake pre-heat your oven or grill  to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone on the highest shelf possible in your oven.

Prepare your favorite sauce and get your cheese and toppings ready.  Remember, that more is less.  Don't use too much cheese or sauce or you will end up with a soggy mess.

Put some bench flour in a bowl and dip each dough ball in the flour as well as your hands.  Flatten the ball of dough on the work surface with your hands first and if desired either use a rolling-pin or pick the dough ball up and using both hands start stretching it out using your thumbs and the back of your knuckles.   Your thumbs should actually be doing all the stretching and not your knuckles.  you want dough to be fairly thin, but not too thin or it will end up ripping.

If cooking on the Kettle Grill set-up be sure to have your pizzas ready to go as you want to get your additional pizzas in as soon as possible after the first one is done.  In order to get the heat so high you must use a bed of coals with wood chunks or small logs and you want to cook your pizza before the temperature gets too low.

If using your oven, turn your oven on broil 10 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizza and get the stone as hot as possible.  Assemble your pie and brush some olive oil on the crust if desired.  You can either sprinkle corn meal or flour on your bakers peel and place the pizza on your peel before putting the topping on it. Alternatively you can put your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper and slide the peel underneath when ready to put in the oven.  The worse thing that can happen is for your dough to get stuck on your peel and make a mess in your oven, not to mention ruin all your good efforts.

Make sure you turn the oven off broil before you put the pie inside and turn it back to your highest setting.  Let the pizza cook until the crust is blistering and the bottom is nice and brown.

If using the Kettle Grill attachment, you want to bake the pizza turning it a couple of times with your peel until the bottom and top crust is nice and charred.

I hope you give this recipe a try yourselves.  It is actually fun to make and relatively easy.

Feel free to visit my website at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts or search the TFL site.

Pastrami Pizza

I have some left over brisket and pulled pork in the freezer I defrosted to for this weekend so I wanted to make some rolls that would be good for sandwiches.  I have been experimenting with my Wild Yeast Water Starter over the last month or so with some mixed results.  My last experiment to convert a recipe for New England style hot dog buns to WYW ended up with bread sticks so this time I was determined not to make the same mistakes as previously.

I have decided to believe what I have been told and made sure to build the starter up over at least 2 stages versus the one stage for the hot dog fiasco.  If you want to know more about starting your own WYW starter let me know and I will be glad to help you.  It is really easy to start and maintain and WYW does not have nearly as much of a sour tang as sourdough starters.

For this recipe as I mentioned I built my starter up over 2 phases four hours apart using AP flour and WYW.  I ended up with extra starter since I would rather over-estimate the amount needed than under-estimate.  Feel free to cut back on the WYW and flour about 10%.

Procedure

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build 1

210 grams AP Flour

210 grams WYW

Mix the flour and the WYW in a bowl and leave covered at room temperature for 4-5 hours.

Wild Yeast Water Starter Build2

200 grams AP Flour

56 grams WYW

Mix additional ingredients into Build 1 and use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  You should have a fairly firm 65% starter.  Leave covered for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then either proceed to main dough or refrigerate over night.

Main Dough

425 grams WYW Starter from Above

200 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

200 grams First Clear Flour (KAF) (This is typically used in Rye breads and I enjoy the nice chewy texture it adds to rolls)

100 grams Oat Flour (KAF)

78 grams White Whole Wheat Flour (KAF)

18 grams Salt (Seas Salt or Table Salt)

121 grams Egg Yolks (around 6-7 large eggs)

298 grams Water (85 - 90 degrees)

26 grams Olive Oil

Add all the water except 50 grams to the starter to break it up in your mixing bowl.  Next add all of the flours and mix on low for 2 minutes.  Let the dough autolyse for around 15 - 20 minutes. This will help the dough absorb the flour.  Next add the salt, remaining water and the olive oil and mix for 2 minutes on speed number 1 and 2 minutes on speed number 2.  You should have a nice smooth dough which is still tacky.  Move the dough onto your work surface and dust lightly with flour if necessary or spray some cooking spray instead.  Most of the time if the dough is not a high hydration I will not use anything on my wood board.

Do 4  stretch and folds and form the dough into a ball and leave uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the first rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough.  Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  You can now put the dough into a lightly oiled container or bowl and cover it.  Let it sit at room temperature for 2 additional hours or less if it is warm in your kitchen.  After 2 hours place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 3 days until ready to bake.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 1.5 -  2 hours.  After its rest it is time to shape the rolls.  Depending on how big you want the rolls, first cut the dough in half and then roll half the dough into a log.  Next cut off the desired size piece you want and roll it into a tight ball.  Place rolls on cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until they are at least 1.5 the size.

Make an egg wash with a little egg wash and apply to each roll and put on desired toppings.  I used toasted onions, poppy seeds and also Charnushka seeds or also known as Nigelia Sativa which are tiny black seeds used on Jewish rye breads as well as Slavic sausages and in Armenian and Israeli cooking.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 500 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.  After adding the steam lower the oven to 425 degrees and continue baking.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

The rolls ended up nice and chewy and light with a nice open crumb.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

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