Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 05:08:20 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v104.n031 -------------- 001 - Haack Carolyn Subject: Ciabatta, olive bread mix Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 10:01:38 -0700 (PDT) Here's a Ciabatta recipe that I make regularly, it's probably originally from Bon Appetit. I make it for my son's piano teacher's recitals; everyone else brings brownies, but this bread disappears first! As for the Kalamata bread, two suggestions: (1) Chop up the olives and add some fresh herb (rosemary is nice) and just work it into a 'rustic' style bread ... (2) King Arthur has an olive "mix in" which works very nicely and it doesn't get any easier! Ciabatta BIGA: 17 Tablespoons warm water 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast 3 1/3 cups bread flour DOUGH: 1 cup warm water 1 pinch active dry yeast 11 Tablespoons semolina flour 2 1/2 teaspoons salt coarse salt and/or seeds for topping, if desired For biga: sprinkle yeast over warm water, let stand until proofed (about 8 minutes). Add 1 cup flour, stir until blended. Scrape sides of bowl; add another cup of flour. Repeat blending & scraping. Add remaining 1-1/3 cups flour; cut in until small, moist clumps form. (Preceding steps can be completed in food processor if desired.) Gather dough into a ball (dought will be firm); place in large bowl. Cover; chill overnight. Biga will soften, resembling thick oatmeal in texture. For dough: Pull biga into walnut-sized pieces; place in a clean large bowl (actually, if your original bowl was large enough just keep using it!). Add warm water, yeast, and 11 Tblsp semolina. Using one hand, squeeze ingredients together for 2 minutes. Work douth for four minutes by scooping sections from the sides of the bowl and pressing them into the center, blending into a very soft, shaggy mass. (A plastic dough scraper works well for this step.) Using a dough scraper or spatula, clean the sides of the bowl so all dough is in the center. Let the dough rest in the bowl, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Using one hand, knead dough by rotating the bowl 1/4 turn at a time, scooping the dough from teh sides and folding down into the center until the dought starts to come away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Scrape dough from your hand and the sides of the bowl. Cover bowl with towel; let dough rest in bowl 20 minutes. Preheat over to 425 F. Sprinkle work surface with additional semolina (LOTS). Turn dough out onto semolina. Using dough scraper or large knife, cut dough in half; keep halves separated (easier said than done, this dough is VERY soft...have LOTS of semolina on the board and move the halves apart as you cut them). Let stand, uncovered, 20 minutes. Sprinkle 2 large baking sheets with additional semolina (or Silpat or similar sheet works fine). Flip each dough half, semolina side up, onto one sheet (using a peel or other large flat surface to slide under the very slack dough). Stretch each dough half to approximately a 16" x 4" rectangle (no point in aiming for precision here though!). Press fingertips into dough in several places to dimple the surface. (Add salt and/or seeds now if desired.) Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool on rack, enjoy! --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v104.n031.2 --------------- From: Lobo Subject: Hamburger/Bratwurst rolls Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 11:06:07 -0600 Margaret asked for bratwurst rolls, I don't know if this is exactly what she wants, but it could be close. I may have posted it previously. HAMBURGER BUNS (halves beautifully) 12 cups flour 1 cup lard 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon salt 2 beaten eggs 3 packages yeast 5 cups water Dissolve yeast in one cup water; then add other ingredients. A soft dough should result. Let rise 1 hour. Punch down. Let rise 1 hour. Shape into balls on greased cookie sheet. Let rise 1 hour. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes. Makes 48 buns. These are suitable for freezing and are delicious when warmed. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v104.n031.3 --------------- From: Maggie Glezer Subject: Barley Bread Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:43:34 -0400 Dear Chuck, I created a barley bread recipe for my upcoming book on Jewish breads (called _A Blessing of Bread_) that sounds like what you are looking for. An abridged version of the recipe follows. You can only use 25% (bakerıs percentage) barley flour in the dough without the bread becoming really heavy, but I managed to cram in a little more barley by adding the barley grits. Let me know how you like it. All the best, Maggie Glezer Whole-Grain Barley Bread with Barley Grits Yields: 2 24-ounce (680 g) breads Time required: about 4 hours For an artisan-style bread inspired by the barley bread of ancient Israel, I lighten whole grain barley flour with bread flour and add texture with barley grits for a nubby, moist, loaf with a mother load of fiber. The bread is much more flavorful if the shaped dough is refrigerated overnight before baking. The fig variation is excellent for breakfast or with cheese. The unleavened barley breads the Israelites ate during the Feast of Unleavened Bread must have been coarse and dark, barely palatable. Barley was an important cereal in ancient Israel, but it was only eaten when wheat was not affordable or available. Barley has an attached hull, meaning that the hull adheres to the bran. To make it fully digestible, the hull needs to be removed, a technology that did not exist in ancient Israel. A few thousand years later we have not only figured out how to pearl barley, that is, polish off the hull, bran and germ to make the barley palatable, but recently have even bred hulless barley­­barley with a loose, removable hull­­so that we need no longer have to discard the bran with the hull. Eating foods high in soluble fiber is one of the best ways to lower cholesterol, and pearled barley, which is bran free, is a rich source. With the bran included, hulless barley becomes a treasure chest of soluble and insoluble fiber for those interested in both lowering their cholesterol and preventing colon cancer. For the Soaked Barley Grits 1 cup (180 g, 6.3 oz) whole barley grits* (Arrowhead Mills' Bits o' Barley whole grain hot cereal is what you want) 3/4 cup (165 g, 6 oz) boiling water For the Dough About 1 2/3 cups (165 g, 5.8 oz) whole-barley flour* About 4 3/4 cups (650 g, 23 oz) bread flour 1 1/2 teaspoons (4 g, 0.2 oz) instant yeast (a.k.a. "Bread Machine", "Perfect Rise", "QuickRise", or "RapidRise" yeast) 2 1/4 cups (510 g, 18 oz) warm water All the soaked barley grits 2 3/4 teaspoons (17 g, 0.6 oz) table salt 2 tablespoons (40 g, 1.4 oz) mild honey About 2 1/4 cups (400 g, 14 oz) dried, soft Calimyrna figs, or about 23 medium figs, stems removed and cut into chunks, optional *Note: As of this writing, Arrowhead Mills seems to be the only source for whole-grain hull-less barley flour and grits. You can find their products at health-food stores. SOAKING THE BARLEY GRITS Combine the barley grits and water in a small bowl and let it soak for about 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. MIXING THE AUTOLYSE In the meantime, in a large bowl combine the barley flour, the bread flour and the yeast. Add the warm water and stir the autolyse until it is smooth. Cover the bowl and let it autolyse for 20 minutes. MIXING THE DOUGH Mix the salt, honey and barley grits into the autolysed dough, scrape it out onto your work surface, and knead it until it is soft and smooth, no more than 10 minutes. You can also mix this dough in a mixer for about 7 minutes on medium speed. (Soak your mixing bowl in hot water now, to clean it and warm it if you would like to use it for fermenting the dough.) If you are not weighing your flour, be prepared to adjust the consistency of the dough, because the barley flour is very variable. If the dough is too firm to easily knead, add a tablespoon or two of water to the dough; or, if the dough seems too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour. This dough should feel soft and a little tacky, but be easy to handle and have a smooth sheen. If you are adding figs, knead them in by hand after the dough is finished. FERMENTING THE DOUGH Place the dough in the clean warm bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough ferment until it has doubled in bulk, about 2 hours, depending on the temperature in your kitchen. SHAPING AND PROOFING THE DOUGH Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or oil it, or flour two linen-lined bannetons. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two loaves, shape them into simple rounds or long shapes, position them seam-side down on the prepared sheet or seam-side up in the bannetons for a floured top, and cover them well with plastic wrap. Let the loaves proof until tripled in size, about 1 hour. OPTIONALLY REFFRIGERATING THE LOAVES The loaves will have a richer flavor if refrigerated for at least 12 or up to 24 hours immediately after being shaped and covered. Check the dough before you plan to bake. It might be ready to bake immediately, or it might need more proofing at room temperature, up to 1 hour. PREHEATING THE OVEN One hour before baking the bread, position an oven rack on the second to top shelf and remove all shelves above it. Place a baking stone on it and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C, gas mark 7). BAKING THE LOAVES When the loaves have tripled, do not push back when gently pressed with your finger but remain indented, they are ready to bake. If you have proofed them in bannetons, flip each one seam-side down onto the prepared baking pans or onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score them with a single-sided razor blade in a decorative pattern, spray or paint them with water if they have not been floured, then peel them on the hot stone. Bake them for 45-50 minutes. After 30 minutes of baking, switch the loaves from side to side so that the breads brown evenly and bake from 15 to 20 minutes more. When the loaves are very well browned, remove them from the oven and let them cool on a rack. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v104.n031.4 --------------- From: "Werner Gansz" Subject: Multiple Primary Fementations Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 14:36:31 -0400 The January-February 2003 edition of "Cook's Illustrated" had a recipe for a "Rustic Italian Loaf". Most of the procedure is fairly standard for Italian bread including the use of a biga as a pre-ferment. But there are several elements of the procedure that I haven't seen before and the resulting bread is different enough (and good enough) to suggest that these differences are important. The resulting bread has a very soft, light and irregular, yet full crumb that I haven't been able to achieve with most other recipes for Italian bread. The unusual parts of the procedure are; 1. A 20 minute hydration (autolyse) period after initial mixing of the final dough ingredients but before adding the biga. 2. The biga (and salt) are added after the hydration period. 3. The primary fermentation (bulk rise) takes 3 hours and includes two interim "punch downs", one each hour. The punchdowns are actually foldovers where the outside edge is dragged over the center from 4 directions to create a squared off dough ball. The hydration lets the flour soak and release its gluten prior to kneading. It is only unusual in that it is longer than most I've seen. More unusual is adding the biga in dough form to the already mixed final dough. Most procedures call for dissolving the biga in the water before adding the flour for the final dough. I was a bit skeptical that the biga would mix properly but is appeared to mix in quickly during the (machine) knead. The article doesn't say to but I used sea salt to ensure that the salt dissolves in the already thick dough during kneading. (Sea salt is lighter per unit volume than table salt so the quantity must be adjusted). While the biga contributes mostly to flavor and the irregularity of the crumb, I think the light texture of the crumb comes primarily from the long and active primary fermentation. Over the years I have learned the hard way that short-cutting the primary fermentation step results in a dense heavy loaf and trying to "fix" the problem by extending the "proofing" or final rise of the shaped loaf doesn't work. I had not thought about the opposite effect, extending the bulk rise and working the dough periodically during the rise to lighten the loaf. As the yeast consumes the starch in the dough it eventually runs out of accessible food. Working the dough during fermentation makes more food accessible to the yeast. Carrying the process to the extreme that this procedure does creates crumb filled with what appears to be a primary irregular structure and a secondary set of holes within the structure itself. The resulting bread has a crisp crust and soft but full crumb that is ideal as a sandwich bread and for French toast. For chewy crusted loaves, ripped into pieces and used for dipping in olive oil and slathering with roasted garlic I prefer the heavier but larger-hole crumb that comes from one primary rise with no punchdowns. Biga 2 cups (11 oz) bread flour 1/4 tsp instant yeast 1 cup (8 oz) water Mix for 3 minutes, don't bother to knead, seal with plastic wrap, let rise for 3 hours, refrigerate overnight. Dough 3 cups (16.5 oz) bread flour 1 tsp instant yeast 1 1/3 cups (10.7 oz) water 2 tsp (.46 oz) table salt (or 2 3/4 tsp sea salt) (sea salts vary in density, weigh yours) Remove biga from fridge. Mix dough ingredients, cover bowl, let stand for 20 minutes, add biga and salt, knead slowly to mix biga and salt into dough, then faster for 4 to 6 minutes (or 10 to 12 minutes if by hand). Transfer to large bowl, let stand for 1 hour. Dough should be puffy and have started to rise. Fold outside over inside four times to form a square, let rise for another hour, fold again, let rise for another hour. Each time the dough is folded it will end up larger than the prior time. The final rise will result in a dough that is more than double the initial size. Fold again and remove from bowl. Preheat oven (and baking stone) to 500 F. Shape into a single oval loaf, let rise until double (in a basket if you have one or free standing), slash lengthwise to within 1 1/2 inches of the ends. This will result in wide loaf creating large oval slices for almost the full length of the loaf. Spray with water (or use whatever steam method you normally use). Slide bread on stone, turn oven down to 400 F and bake to an internal temperature of 210 F (about 35 - 40 minutes). Werner --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v104.n031.5 --------------- From: FREDERICKA COHEN Subject: braided circle bread Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 20:01:00 -0700 (PDT) For a teenager's birthday supper, I want to serve a giant sandwich made on a braided circle bread. I hope I have described that in a way you can visualize! I have seen them at Costco, Sam's, and some deli-bakeries. I have a round 12" diameter pan I was planning to use although I could find something wider. Has anyone any suggestions as to quantities of ingredients? Tricks of creating such as size of strips? Should I put a form in center? Baking time? Many thanks, Fredericka --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v104.n031.6 --------------- From: debunix Subject: Re: Barly Bread recipies Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 12:39:13 -0500 >From: "G.T. \"Chuck\" Chuljian" >Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:08:31 -0700 > >I'm writing to ask if anyone has had experience with a good barley bread >recipe. Most have little barley flour and are mostly white or bread flour >recipes with just a little barley added. Recent research indicates barley >may have lipid lowering qualities as well as being nutritious. And my father swears it improves his blood pressure and blood sugars when he has rolled barley in his hot cereal for breakfast, but YMMV on that! I love this recipe from Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Diguid. The toasted barley is not only delicious, but gives the kitchen a terrific smell while you're toasting it... Tibetan Barley Skillet Bread 3 C barley flour 1 3/4 C unbleached bread flour 1 C whole wheat bread flour 2 t salt 4 T unsalted butter 1 C cold buttermilk 1 C boiling water 1/4 C brown sugar 2 t dry yeast 1/2 C water (warm for the yeast) Toast the flour in a heavy skillet over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until the flour is slightly darker in color (about 10 minutes) [your nose is also a good guide--you want it to smell toasty and nutty but stop just before it smells bitter and scorched]. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool. Add the flours and salt and stir well. Cut in the butter (should be like a coarse cornmeal). Combine the buttermilk, boiling water, and brown sugar, stir to dissolve the sugar, and let cool until lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in the water, mix into the liquid, then add into the dry ingredients and knead with more unbleached flour if needed. Dough should be moderately soft. Let rise in oiled bowl, covered, until doubled (about 1 1/2 hrs). Punch down and knead lightly before shaping into a 10 inch round. Place in a buttered ovenproof heavy 10-inch skillet and let rise again, covered, until doubled in bulk (about 30 minutes). While rising, preheat oven to 350 F. Slash the top and bake in the center of the oven until the top is brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped (about 50 minutes). Cool on a rack. The loaf should be about 2 inches high and 10 inches in diameter, and wedges go well with soup or split and drizzled with butter and honey. I usually modify the base recipe by starting with unhulled barley (which has more bran left on than pearled barley, but is husked) and toasting that. I feel like I have a little better control when toasting the flour, but if you don't have a mill for the toasted grain, using the flour is fine. And I use all whole wheat for the rest of the flour portion, using either hard white wheat flour or durum wheat flour. Mmm....find myself craving this now....with some nice cheese for lunch..... Diane Brown in St. Louis --------------- END bread-bakers.v104.n031 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2004 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved