yozzause's blog

Hi folks 

i recently wanted to test the amount of yellow colour that i could obtain from a natural source for a future bake , We are going to host a Cancer Council fundraiser  Australia's biggest  cuppa and the Cancer Councils colour is yellow!

i decided to try using Tumeric  so i mixed my usual sour dough  3-2-1 flour- water - culture with 2% salt and 1% tumeric the results are seen below the idea was to also see if the tumeric was detectable as on the day i am making cinnamon scrolls and some fruitless sweetbuns.

The day is next MONDAY 27th May,  with a come in early 3.00am start, i even have a volunteer to come in to help with bun production, the idea is for staff and students to give a gold coin donation for a cuppa and a fresh cinnamon scroll for Cancer research. It is particularly poinyant for the Hospitality area as we have recently lost a goood friend to skin cancer that was particularly agressive  and cut down the technician  who was just 50 odd years of age from a little mole that was behind his ear.

So firstly there is the new ovens and proover set up 

thats one of the ovens sitting atop of the proover with the second oven alongside

the dough was given the usual mix stretch and folds every hour x 3  shaped and put on the couches and placed in the retarder overnight . Next morning brought out placed onto trays and washed with a boiled cornflour wash  seeded and slashed 

 you can see my little transfer board on the bench

Placed into the oven at 200 with steam for the first 5 to 10 minutes until the loaves have set . 

you can see through the glass doors how the oven spring has picked them up nicely

the steam comes off when the loaves have set 

out of the oven and starting to cool

sorry didnt get any cut open shots 

So there we have it  another successful batch for my tasters verdicts which were  very yellow inside and most could not detect any flavour from the Tumeric. i think i could cut the tumeric to 0.5% and still get the yellow i was after

However on the day i have been told i can use Safron so that will be good. i anticipate making a couple of 5kg batches  and the buns scaling off at 100g.  

 so if you are down Fremantle way call in between 9.00 and 11 for a big cuppa and a nice fresh cinnamon bun all for a gold coin donation.   

I will try to record the day for those of you who cannot make it !

kind regards Yozza

hi folks these pictures were sent in by the students from the class that i assited with bread making at work see  previous blog "a great day baking at work 27 march"

5KG Hot Cross Bun Fruit dough

14 piece hand bun divider at the ready

A 5KG Fruit Bun Dough with 1 hour bulk fermentation ready to take this dough was made into cinnamon scrolls

and back to a picture of some of the hot cross buns

 A great time was had by all with 4 different doughs being made and processed, two 5 kg bun doughs a 4.5kg sour dough with black sesamee seeds and hand made dough on the bench

HOT CROSS BUN DOUGH

FLOUR               5,000g  100%

butter                       400g   8%

salt                             50g     1%

sugar                       800g     16%

brewad improver        25g  0.5%

mixed spice                100g  2%

milk powder               125g  2.5%

yeast dry                    200g    4%

eggs                             250g   5%

water                          3000ml 60%

fruit

sultannas                   1500g   30%

currants                      750g    15%

mixed peel                   100g   2%

total yield     12300g  (26%)   164 buns @ 80g ea

the timed dough was similar minus  bread improver and bun spice

Sour dough  black sesamee

flour 4.500 g flour

water 3,000ml

s/d culture 1,500g

salt 60g

sesamee oil 120ml

black sesamee seed 150g

we ended up with 18  x 500g loaves which were retarded and baked the next day

 Kind regards yozza

and thanks to the students for the pictures

Inspired by the arrival of the Queen Mary 2 in the port of Fremantle here in Western Australia I last night finished the story of my extended trip to the United Kingdom and the meeting of fellow TFL members Andy and Khalid.

a view of QM2 through the rigging of the state sail training ship LEEUWIN11

which im going for a sail on at the end of the month

Hot on the heels of that i have just had a great day baking at work,  Iwas invited to take the Patissiere class  on an ambitious  6 hours of Baking. I arrived early to make sure everything was ready for the 8.00am start, the classroom has had a new prover added  so all 3 classrooms now have their own provers and spiral mixers. To accomodate the plumbing in of the new prover the spiral mixer was in a different position across the other side of the room, i plugged it in only to find that the mixer was spining in the wrong direction as well as the spiral which would make the dough climb the spiral rather than being compressed into the bowl. i have experienced this before and it requires the electrician to change the wires over, no problem there was another 3 phase plug on the wall and bingo  all going the correct way.

I weighed up the ingredients   for the first fruit bun dough as i wanted to start on time, the students were all there and we were away right on time i explained that we had a firly ambitious programme and that we were going to make 2 x fruit doughs the first as a conventional (5KG flour) bulk fermented dough although with a relatively short period of an hour, this would be followed immediately after by an instant  fruit dough (5KG flour) similar to the ones that hot bread shops would be turning out their hot cross buns  except ours had butter and eggs in the mix and exactly what we were in fact using this dough for, the first dough was destined to be cinnamon scrolls.

The 3rd dough was to be a Sourdough  using 4.5KG flour 3KG of water and 1.5 of my Sourdough culture This would be mixed according to how well we progressed with the first two doughs.

The first dough had a hydration of 60% and we used butter  the fruit was added at 47%, the dough seemed a bit wet but as i explained the dried fruit was very dry so i anticipated the fruit  would suck up some of that moisture during the bulk fermentation.

The classroom was 18 degrees C and the flour was 21 dgrees C  we added the water at 36 degreesC and ended up with a finished dough temp of 27 degrees , close to perfect. we put that dough into a proving vessel and out of the draft in the store room. The 2nd dough was started immediatly as the students had weighed up ready This dough was almost identical except for the addition of mixed spices and Bread Improver (Dobrim) (Aus.)  At the rate of 0.5%  the dough becomes an instant dough so can be processed shortly after mixing as the gluten conditioners get to work this dough also had butter and eggs in the mix.  The water was added 2 degrees hotter than dough1 to see if we could hit the magic 28 degrees  as it was we finished @29.

All the students were able to do there window pane tests on the dough  to ensure proper dough development the dough was placed on the bench and allowed to rest for a few minutes whilst we got organised, we have a hand bun divider that cuts out 14 buns so the dough pieces were weighed off at 1120g, i demonstrated handing up how i do it but showed them how they could achieve a very satisfactory result by pulling the dough pieces toward them on the bench, it was good to see every one participating.

The sour dough ingredients was then weighed up ready to be mixed whilst we allowed the dough pieces to relax for a short while, then everyone got the chance to flatten their dough rounds into the dividing pan and cut out theit 14 dough pieces  for 80g buns. Short work was made of the handing up of the buns with most students showing good skills and those that needed a little more guidance being shown the way. The buns were place onto baking trays that this year i decided to use baking paper on as the trays are not good bakers sheets with lips all around  and constantly cleaned so liable to want to stick. That was a good move as we were able to slide the buns off relatively easy when the had come from the oven. All buns were in the proover and a quick check of dough 1 had shown remarkable growth we still had time to mix the Sourdough, this bread is one i have made a few times and has the addition of  Sesame oil in the dough and also Black Sesame seeds added at the end of the mix both  give it a wonderful aroma. Again we finished this dough at 29 degrees and split it to fit into 2 tubs.

The bulk fermented dough was the brought out and from the mark on the outside of the container we believe it had more than tripled. all the students were able to do the finger poke test and able to see the dough hold the shape of the extracted finger  indicating the dough was at its prime, the knock down was demonstrated and explained along with the chance to experience the smell of the gas produced and held captive by the dough. The dough was benched and again divided normally i would weigh for a dozen buns but thought that they might find 8 easier to handle so weight was 640g and as these dough pieces were destined to be rolled out as rectangles the handing up was a matter of folding up as rectangles these were duly  covered and allowed to relax for 10 minutes, time to check on the hot cross buns in the prover  and they were moving along nicely the class then fire up their ovens, and the cross mixture and sugar wash were prepared

The attention was then back on the cinnamon buns as i demonstrated the rolling out of the dough pieces the brushing with water and sprinkling of the cinnamon sugar and the the rolling of the dough and the simple mater of cutting 1 into 2, 2 into 4 and 4 into 8 allowing for the ends to be slightly bigger as the ends are not always square showing them how to make sure the seam is pinched and that the end pieces are placed into the centre of the trays and that the pinched ends ar also facing inwards to achieve the best look. again the students did well and were able to recognise any faults like loose rolling up etc and then do better. The hot cross buns were brought brought from the prover and had the crosses piped on and were then ready for the oven , the cinnamon scrolls were then placed into the prover. The Sourdough was then able to be demonstrated with its stretch and folds being done on the hour. The H/C buns were then  brought out and duly sugar syrup washed and looking a treat. The students were then allowed a quick pit stop and were asked to weigh up their last dough which was to be a hand made dough on the bench.

This dough was just a 200g of flour job and to be hand made on the bench the main ides was for them to feel the dough changing in their hands as the energy was put into the dough, suffice to say they all ended up with agreater respect for their trusty mixers agin this was don as an instant dough as time constraints with other classes due to use the kitchen in the afternoon. they were all able to shape their dough pieces as the pleased after i showed them 3 plaits, 4 plaits cottage loaves etc most wanted to tackle the plaits  and they all looked pretty good. the cinnamon buns were now ready for baking and   they too also looked first class both going into and coming out of the ovens these were also sugar syrup washed  after the oven and given a sprinkle of fine sugar as well. The stretch and folds were performed when due on the sourdough and the first taste tests were conducted on the Hot cross buns.

Cleaning up was commenced  and the hand made doughs were also baked off when the had proved up nicely  finally the Sour dough was divided up loosley handed up allowed some recovery and the boards and linen clothes made ready. Everyone was involved in the shaping of the S/D loaves which we weighed up at 500g they were shown how to place them on the couche and to cover them up for their overnight stay in the coolroom. I am going back tomorrow for 1.00pm so that they can bake their sourdough loaves and take them home. All in all a great day away from my normal duties as the purchasing officer with some very nice buns turned out and the prospect of some delightful bread to come.

There may well be some pictures to add that the students were taking time will tell and i will add them i will also post the dough formulas after i get back to work tomorrow 

Some of the sourdough black sesamee bread baked the day following the students making the dough

Kind regards Yozza

Part 2 of the holiday started with the QM2 tying up in Southampton and bidding farewell to our travelling friends Bob and Joan were heading for London and were catching a National Express coach. They were to be in the first group to leave the ship and already had their luggage to disembark. Dave and Anita were actually going to be staying with family in Southampton and Judy and I were to be picking up a hire car that we had organised with an Australian broker before we left. The embarkation was very orderly with designated areas to go to until being called for. We were off well ahead of the anticipated time and a short taxi ride took us to the Alamo car hire office which was quite busy. A silver Peugeot 308 diesel was bought around, we accepted their fuel deal whereby you pay up front for a discounted tank of fuel and can bring the car back on empty a not have to pay the much higher bowser price.

We had a 20 mile journey to my dad’s house where I grew up in the village of Liss in Hampshire. I managed to turn it into closer to 40 miles with a few wrong turns here and there. It was great to be staying with dad and in the house that I grew up in although a little strange now that mum had passed away some five years previously.

We stayed with dad for a week, although now 84 dad still loves to travel and was in Australia last Christmas and will be there again this year when his eldest grand daughter is getting married. We then travelled on to Cornwall to stay with a sister but went a more leisurely route via the New Forrest, which is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture landand heathland forest in the heavily-populated south-east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire extends into south-east Wiltshire and towards east Dorset. 

We travelled to Devon and stayed overnight with an Aunt and Uncle in a quaint English thatched cottage in the Village of Whimple that dates back to before Australia was even settled. My Aunt and Uncle are also regular visitors to Australia as they have a daughter and 2 grand children and 2 great grandchildren living there.

We departed at midday and arrived at my sisters house in the countryside not far from the village of St Agnes, It was wonderful to catch up and it was my wife’s first visit  to my sisters home where she keeps chickens, goats, pigs a llama, geese a pony and three very friendly dogs and a cat. Judy is an animal person anyway so took to them straight away. We stayed for 2 wonderful weeks in the summer house and although the weather was a little unkind it never stopped us from doing anything from visits to the museum to collecting and cooking up mussels from the beach at low tide.

Chris my brother in law took a week off from work and took us to may interesting places and Cornwall has a fascinating history and normally a great climate.

There had been wild weather all over the UK but fortunately not at places when we were there. We had ferry ride from the city of Truro down the tidal river to the port of Falmouth on the south coast.

Whilst in Cornwall I did get to make some bread and do some baking and my sister also took me along to meet Baker Tom at his new bakery, unfortunately Tom was busy with a couple of people that were on a bread course but did come and say hello

All to soon it was time to move on and we headed off, we went along the North coast of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Gloucestshire stopping at lots beautiful post card towns in secluded bays.

We crossed the suspension bridge into Wales the weather perfect we drove on enjoying the scenery but noting that the rivers were high and muddy a testament to the recent heavy weather. We decided it was time to stop at a B+B for the night but we were out of luck as many were full, we called in at a Premier Inn but told that they too were full apparently a big motorcycle event was on nearby and most places were likely to be full as they were ringing around to find vacancies. Nothing for it but to sleep in the car, we found a nice spot just off the main road with some houses and a park close by, the car was quite comfortable with layback seats and we were able to watch the slow transition to twilight, a phenomenon that doesn’t really occur in Australia.

We woke around 3.00am both feeling a bit cold, my wife asked to have the heater on, to which I replied that we might as well get going as it required the motor to be started.

We arrived in Crewe at 5.00am about the same time as daylight was making an appearance along with the partygoers from a nightclub, many young women scantily dressed for the cool air oblivious to the cool and motor vehicles.

We saw 24 Hr Tesco store and thought we would be able to get a hot coffee only to find 24 hr does not include Sat/Sunday Anyway it was a good spot to have some further shuteye.

Several hours later we were off again headed for Leek were my sister in Australia has just purchased a property so we were going to have a look see anyway we found a pub open that was opened for a full breakfast for under 4 pounds.

Now completely refuelled we pressed on to find Leek a most interesting locale especially with the canal passing through the majestic hilly countryside, which we traversed heading for Huddersfield. 

We stayed at Huddersfield for a couple of weeks catching up with Judy’s family who I get along with really well and had a marvellous time catching up, even a cousin that normally lives in Spain was there.   

 We headed further North and stopped at Durham only to find a great deal of activity with police and security everywhere, nice of them to have made such a fuss for us, but apparently it was for her majesty the QUEEN now that’s what I call a royal rendezvous. We saw LIZZY go by and before long were heading of to meet baking Royalty just north of Newcastle we found our way into the little village of Powburn

And very quickly found the bed and breakfast that we had booked into a couple of cottages down from Andy (ananda) Smith, I soon spotted the wood fired oven around the back and met Andy in the flesh, we have been TFL members for a similar length of time and have corresponded a bit as we both had been employed at technical colleges although Andy as a teacher and myself as a purchasing officer but getting involved in the bread making side of things with the hospitality staff and student chefs. We had a lovely cuppa and Andy showed me his set up with mixer and flours.

Judy of course made friends with Andy’s cat ,We decided we would all go out for a meal and some Real Ale, Alison was away unfortunately so it was just the 3 of us at a delightful English pub well off the beaten track where we had a good feed and some fine Beer.

We didn’t make it a late night as Andy was going to be doing a stint in a community bakery the following day. So after farewelling Andy we had a great nights sleep at the B+B, the next morning after talking with the owner we decided to stay an extra night and explore the area we even got to Holy Island that Andy featured in one of his write ups, the whole area is really quite beautiful.

The next morning we were shown the birds of prey that the B+B proprietor keeps, I keep parrots and finches back home which are very pretty and colourful but the hawks and owls were quite majestic, and quite big and impressive up close.

Next stop was Scotland and we drove through the low country rather than along the motorways and with the aid of the sat nav I bought in Huddersfield had the confidence to tackle some very lonely narrow roads through some stunning scenery.

We stayed with some friends that I went to school with many years ago when we were all from Hampshire. I came to Australia and they moved to Scotland when Peter graduated from Uni. We had an absolute ball and had so much fun doing so many different things, its pretty much the same when they come to Australia and stay with us too. All to soon it was time to board the flight back to Australia we had arranged to leave from Glasgow airport to avoid London as the Olympics were just kicking off. We were able to drop off the hire car a couple of days earlier so that was one less thing to worry about. The flight was aboard a Emirates A340   to Dubai we left early evening and arrived in Dubai early morning. A stopover was planed to break up the 19 hours flying time and we stayed at the Premier hotel close to the airport, they run a free shuttle bus every 30 minutes. Check in time wasn’t until 2.00pm but we were able to drop off our bags and get the free shuttle that took us into town and shopping centres. As a railway enthusiast I was keen to go on the driverless train and bought all day tickets and travelled the length of the train line. It was very very hot but everything is air-conditioned. It was Ramadan so many food outlets were closed at least until evening. We went back to the hotel checked into a comfortable room and I went up to the roof pool for a swim, the water must be cooled too as it was very pleasant.  Later we headed out again on the free bus to the biggest shopping centre with the ski slope and the huge aquarium, we missed the dancing fountain and before long were looking to head back to the hotel. The locals were all very friendly and we caught a packed bus to the railway station. The front of the bus was reserved for ladies only I was told, and at the airport there were ladies only Taxis driven by ladies for ladies easily recognised with there pink roofs. I think that would be a winner back home here in Australia especially at night. The hotel free shuttle bus took us from the airport stop back to the hotel and we collapsed into bed well after midnight.

Next morning we had decided to take a swim in the pool, we were surprised how hot it was beside the pool so didn’t stay for long as the intention was to have breakfast at the hotel. When we said two for breakfast we were told that breakfast finished at 10.00am but the good news was we were in time for lunch it was just after 12.00.

We then relaxed as our fight was to leave Dubai in the early hours and it is an 11 hour flight . There was only one more important thing left to do and that was to meet Khalid (mebake) he was coming after work and after breaking his fast for Ramadan after sunset. Any way Khalid arrived and we sat in the cool lobby and talked  bread and about Dubai and Khalid had some home milled flour for me that I was unable to accept as Australian customs are super strict on food stuffs being bought into the country, I would have dearly liked to have tried it as it looked felt and smelled great. Khalid also had some of his breads for me to take but again I could only take what I knew we would eat on the plane or those Beagles would get me at Perth airport. The bread was every bit as good as Khalid’s pictures and thankyou my friend for you generosity, It was a great pleasure meeting both Andy and Khalid on this trip and although we didn’t get the time to bake together perhaps we will another time ! So we made it home much to the delight of the grandchildren and I managed to do Royal Rendezvous part1 quite quickly its taken some time to get part 2 finished, I guess I was prompted with the Queen Mary 2 arriving in Fremantle this afternoon on her world cruise, almost makes me want to do it all again.

Kind regards  YOZZA               

A touch of rye, i made this bread on the 4/12/2012 at work

1 kg wholemeal flour

500g rye meal (coarse)

2.5kg bakers flour

total flour  = 4000g     ( therefore 1% = 40g )                                                                  

80g salt  = 2%

dried yeast 40g = 1%

dry gluten 80g = 2%

light malt powder left over from brewing that had gone hard and then added hot water to melt 110ml

home brew stout and water 50/50   2.8L = 70%

This was a timed dough that i think took 2 hours to bulk ferment (must write these things down as you do them the memory is not what it was)

 the 2 loaves in the top right corner of the cooling rack were sour dough efforts with the throw away part of my sour dough culture from refrehment baked in a mini oven in our lunch room.

The touch of ryes were very good and stayed fresh for days i think that the light malt had a very  good effect on the dough and could be detected on the crust.

kind regards and merry christmas  to all of the TFL Community Yozza

Hi Fellow TFL folk

I have recently returned from a 3 month holiday that took us to the UK. We flew with Emirates on the 7th May from Perth @6.00am for  a non stop flight to Dubai aboard a Boeing 777 -200LR literaly overseas for 11 hours ,a quick 1 hr 15 minutes to change planes and an Airbus A380-800 to London. a mere 6hrs and 45 minutes. arriving at local time  6.40pm  we were then taken to the Hilton hotel in Kensington for the night, an extremely long day (32 hours.)

We travelled by coach down to Southampton  to catch the first of the 3 Cunard Queens that we were to travel on, QUEEN VICTORIA was to take us up to the  Baltic on a 14 day cruise takeing in Norway,Sweden,Denmark,Finland before St Petersburg in Russia then Estonia and Brussels back to Southampton.

We then stayed a night at the Devere hotel and the following day boarded the QUEEN ELIZABETH for 14 day cruise of the Mediterranean visiting Gibralta, Sardina, Italy (Rome) Barcelona and  Monte Carlo before returning to Southampton where the three Cunard Queens  were to meet to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubillee. On the morning of  June the 5th  at first light  we followed in line behind QUEEN MARY2 and QUEEN VICTORIA to tie up in Southampton, there were hundreds of small craft escorting us to our berths and after much hooting and tooting the three Queens were altogether for the first time.

We then transfered to the Queen Mary 2  for a 5 day cruise taking in Rotterdam Brussels and LeHavre in France. there were big celebrations planned but as the weather worsened the air display was cancelled  but the fireworks still went ahead  as the Queen Mary positioned herself adjacent to the other QUEENS for more hooter blowing  and then an orderly procession out to sea in pooring rain.

 We did enjoy our first introduction to cruising and i managed to get an invite to the bakery from the executive chef on board the  Queen Elizabeth. The bakery operates 24 hours a day with 4 bakers, i had  asked the question why were the bread rolls so leathery on both the first two cruise ships.

The bakery was quite spacious  and had a number of deck ovens the head baker an indian gentleman ran through the procedures an said that steam was applied for the first five minutes of baking and again for the last 5 minutes  which for me explained  a possible cause, i enquired if it was laid down in a manual or something as both ships were producing similar results. There was also a dough on the bench which i was told were scones and were about to be pressed out placed on a tray and into the retarder for later baking which also sort of explained why the scones had very little lift. With a ship full of grannies i thought there would have been plenty thinking they could have done a much better job of the scones. Any way as a guest i didn't want to be to critical., but a baking contest for best scones would have been a hoot!

I will add some photos after i have posted this as i dont want to loose  what ive written so far.

Part 2 of the adventure will continue when on our 50 day car hire and travel through the UK we meet up with Andy (Ananda) in Northumberland and during a stopover on the flight back to Australia i meet up with Khalid (Mebake) in Dubai. 

 kind regards Yozza

Following on from the single loaf dough that i posted yesterday i am posting todays effort which was slightly bigger than the normal batch (EXTRA 500g ryemeal) which resulted in 10 x 500g loaves and 4 x 750g loaves which made the sharing a lot easier.

Tasters all liked it, i could have used a bit more water as the ryemeal and wholemeal both sucked up some of the moisture during the over night stint in the coolroom.

Unfortunately the feta didnt show up in this cut shot but there was plenty in there.

i still have plenty to use up in the next week or so before we start our christmas break.

it may well have to be the home brew stout with heavy heavy feta use but finely crumbled instead of the big chunks.

I think that in the next couple of weeks  they want all the wholemeal flour used  up too so could be busier than usual.

The Mix

flour 1500g

wholemeal 1500g

ryemeal 500g

salt 65g

sour dough culture 1000g

water 2200g

butter 140g

feta 750g

walnuts 750g

malt extract 100g

and look Andy no added gluten

Mixed in a good spiral mixer,  do three stretch and folds over 3 hours adding the feta and walnuts during the folding process to minimise damage to nuts and cheese pieces . Scale and form allow to relax for 30 minutes shape and place up side down onto couche dusted with sharps (semolina) cover and leave in cool room over night.

 6.30 AM Take out and transfer to trays, wash with cornflour paste, sprinkle with seeds and score, place into hot combi oven with steam for 10 minutes and temp up to 210c,  drop to 200 when steam turned off bake for 35 to 40 minutes cool on wire racks and decide who is going to get a loaf back to my office to start work at 7.45am before most of my work colleagues even roll in.

go back in 1 hour and slice up the loaves left for morning tea.

kind regards Yozza

Last week 's bake was a single loaf  sourdough  with hazel and walnuts

Normaly i would make a dough 3 kgs flour 2 kgs water 1 kg sourdough culture  70g salt and 70g butter but this time i did it by hand back at my work station. It had a fairly minimal mix as the work bench had been covered in  a christmasy table cover that had been stuck down so rather than pull it off to allow a bench mix i did it in the bowl. The dough was much smaller  but at the same ratio it was  given a stretch and fold every hour and shaped  and put into the cool room after 3 hours and baked the following morning.

My normal tasters were disappointed as there was only a slice or two rather than a whole loaf.

Tomorrows bake is the normal size 50% wholemeal sourdough with feta and walnuts.

The college will be closing SOON so there are a few ingrediants that need to be used up

Regards Yozza

Last week i presented  an "excuse to use sour dough", this week its a continuation with this weeks bake a 50% wholemeal effort, same basic ingrediants 3:2:1 flour water  and sour dough culture

1.5kg whole meal +1.5kg bakers flour

2kgs water

1 kg sd culture

70g salt (2%) 100g butter 100g malt extract (home brew can)

The dough was a little tighter than last weeks effort  due to the wholemeal being more thirsty but still a nice moist dough .

3 series of  stretch and folds on the hour followed by scaling and shaping onto the couch and into the cool room/ retarder. This time i came in to work earlier to bake off before my normal WORK duties.

Fired up the combi oven as soon as i walked in then removed the dough pieces from the retarder and placed onto baking sheets , made up my wash of cornflour powder and cold water brought to the boil in the microwave stiring occasionly until thickened (it does bubble over easily when it gets to boiling point and will make a mess)

Apply the wash liberally to the loaves  add seeds of choice and score, take to the oven and load up, apply water/ steam  for the first 10 minutes and then shut off the water/steam injection, it actually lowers the oven temperature some 25 degrees  whilst being applied but quickly jumps up when shut off,  bake at 200c for 30 minutes  remove the sticks and bake for a further 5 minutes  then remove and cool on rack.

Last job is to distribute the bread  to the worthy souls and place some in the staff lunch room sliced when cool with a tub of butter and watch it disappear.

Kind regards Yozza