STIR THE POTS

Turkey! (no Not the country, the bird.)

 

Thanksgiving...again!

Thanksgiving has always been a trying feat, when mixed with long shifts and prepping my own meal at home, not like in the old days when I was working in restaurants or hotels serving other people. This year has been somewhat less hectic as far as business. Effects of the recession (or is it a depression?) I suppose.

Yesterday I brined and schlepped my Turkey on the subway, all 24 pounds of it!  This is my favorite holiday; it's a virtual food harvest, family,friends and just that, no symbols or trees. Great leftovers to eat the next day. Or next week, if you cook enough. So last night I started roasting chestnuts, peeling pearl onions,  salted and confited what few gizzards I could find. There must be shortage or something, as the gizzards weren't all that visible. Turkeys impacted by the economy, too? Who knows!

Whatever, today I'm baking pies and cakes, seasoning the bird, then finish off the stuffing for my wife to "stir", she always say's that she prepared it. Well I guess it's the thought that counts. Our meal is standard; stuffed bird, vegetables and some pies.This year I will make a persimmon cake from Jean-Louis Paladin rather than the Saveur magazine version, which was a disaster last year. I won't name the person who screwed up the recipe, as it's family. And this, after all, is Thanksgiving. Soooo.... happy and healthy one to all!

Au revoir mon petit Suçuk

Since returning from Istanbul on a whirlwind five day cooking vacation, I have been devouring my favorite Turkish delicacy, suçuk or soujouk; a spiced sausage that is insatiably imbued with spiced laden lipids a taste that's indescribable, but once sampled can be a staple in ones repertoire of exotic dishes....

But what do you do when your supply runs short, as a matter of fact when you only have a nib left? Go back to Istanbul? Make your own? Buy it from a local Turkish market, if your fortunate to have one? My guess is I will go back to Istanbul if invited, but most likely I will have to go to my local Turkish market and buy an imported one and see if it stands up to the quality of the one my friend Dilara  kindly put in an abundant care package for me when I came home!

(Ode to a suçuk)
Since I first sliced you, fried you and tasted your special spice.I've adorned you on my pide, laid you in a pan to fry with my onion, tomato and eggs. When thinking about where we met, I dream about the shores of the Bosporus the sunny heat and the scents and smells of the magic kitchen...but alas your at the end of your link, what shall I do? So for now mon petit suçuk au revoir!

Retarding: A case study of a pallid loaf

While anxious to bake whenever humanly possible, it's not always easy to schedule around my wife badgering me about flour here and there or with my work taking over my life. I try now to be frugal making smaller loaves and one at a time, in light of the current world picture and economics. My wonderful sister sent me a package of Bise flour, or high extraction flour, in two flavors no less, wheat and spelt. So I went for making some Miche, and thought to make Susans version handsome looking specimens . First thing I did was use some rye, perhaps why this sickly and over proofed loaf went awry? I followed Susans instruction to the final letter, but somehow even with a cold fridge this loaf was exploding and seemed really active, perhaps the  flour had some kick, it was from Demeter. There has been some differing opinions on retarding bread on forums of late, and I for one have always let my dough sit a bit and warm up so it won't be shocked into baking with bursts and a pale horse look! This Miche on the other hand was a rapid riser, and seemed somewhat overproofed even with the 12 hours retarded, came out deflated and flat with the pallid look I hate especially with Susans sexy looking version she displayed! Dan Lepard has a competition on The Guardian asking for some baking tips, maybe someone could help me here or am I retarded?

Vincent sur la four

Ever wonder about some of a bakers back-breaking, monotonous, repetitive functions, not just in front of the  stove but even while  all the rest of us are in bed with our eyes in the back of our heads darting to and fro in REM?

That's me. End of my day and can't stop the end-of-the-shift pictures flooding through my brain. That's also your typical professional baker. Like my amigo Vincent. The "in-it" baker. As totally "in it!" It being the flour, the yeast, the heat, the expectations of a perfect bake. In all likeliness, right now Vincent is somewhere in the South of France probably whacking out huge amounts of crusty bread. Me I'm just a chef after the day is done sipping beer, ready for bed, imagining all the chefs around the world cooking up a storm, and all the bakers making dough! 

Salut mon ami, Vincent! Take a look as he makes his bread!

Pizza Sunday

PIZZA

I have been craving a decent pie lately, as it seems my neighborhood joints don't make it the way that sings to me. Sign of the times, when there aren't even some Italian Pizzaoila's living in New York. What is a deranged home baking chef to do? Make it himself! Since I found myself regularly feeding my levain, I was happy to make a pizza dough for Sunday. Puffy, soft and airy, even though I didn't make it with any "00 flour," it's not just that available or sitting around my kitchen. I used my Heckers unbleached A.P. and went to it, using a converted Neopolitan recipe spied on one of the holier-than-thou sites for pizza freaks. Then I cranked the Mick Hartley's conversion scheme and went at it!

My oven only hits 550 degrees. And because of safety concerns, I am not about to Jimmy-rig it like my recent guest Jeff Verasano. Also, I don't have a self cleaning oven. And it's bad enough  my wife already hates it when I bake at about 460 F for my regular loaves. She told me this morning no more baking for two weeks, put the flour away! So my observation on this is pizza, good chewy, crusty dough if stretched very thinly, airy and with buffala mozzarella. A bit of parmesano. And you're in like Flynn! Oh, don't forget the Black Chocolate Stout or some Winter Ale, soda is for kids.

Pizza Napoletana

Straight dough
500g 00 caputo or A.P. flour
325g aqua (water)
20g sale  (salt)
3gr livieto

Sourdough version
376 g flour
201g  Water
247g  starter
3g salt

Rustic in nature, but rye in demeanor Rustikale Brötchen

Since getting my baguettes right, I decided to concentrate my efforts on some German rye and whole grain loaves. Honestly, there have been noticeable improvement in my endeavors so far. My second (or maybe it was my fifth!) attempt at a Volkornbrot was tasty. But honestly, it came out with a blown top. I dunno what that effect is called, but it didn't stop me from garnishing this toothy loaf with cheese and sausages.

Point being????? Fellow culinary artistes, arrivistes, never-mind good old fashion & new fashion bakers, yee should not be  dissuaded. No, yee shan't. Or shouldn't!

Myself, I flipped through my multitude of recipes in books, spreadsheets and found a loaf that sounded monolithic - aka easy to make. Then preparing the sauer that proofed at least 18 hours for the following day's bake, dropping zeroes from final numbers on the PDF file found on the website of Böcker sauerteig, I played it safe until feeling safe by going for a larger percentage of rye.

Point being????? What I'm suggesting below is a recipe that uses 70 percent wheat to 30 percent rye sort of a country loaf, and it could be turned into Brötchen rather than the huge three pounder I made here! The verdict, quick and easy, and good with some leberwurst I got from my butcher!

Point being??? Enjoy!

 

Rustikale Brötchen

1-stufige Sauerteigführung mit    Reinzucht-Sauerteig

(für 10 kg Gesamt-Mehlmenge berechnet)
30% Roggenmehl - 70% Weizenmehl 550

Sauerteig: 0,120 kg Anstellgut*
1,200 kg Roggenmehl Teigausbeute:  180 (ca.)
    0,960 l Wasser                  Teigtemperatur:  28°C
    2,280 kg Sauerteig               Stehzeit:  18 Stunden
*
Anstellgut = BÖCKER Reinzucht-Sauerteig oder Betriebs-Sauerteig, mit BÖCKER Reinzucht-Sauerteig gestartet

Brötchenteig: 2,160 kg Sauerteig
1,800 kg Roggenmehl
7,000 kg Weizenmehl 550 Teigknetung:
0,280 kg Brötchen-Backmittel Hubkneter: 1+4 Minuten
5,540 l Wasser (ca.) Spiralkneter: 1+3 Minuten
0,200 kg Salz Teigausbeute:  165 (ca.)
    0,400 kg Hefe                      Teigtemperatur:  26°C
    17,380 kg Brötchenteig            Teigruhe:  10 Minuten

Ballengare:   10 Minuten
Ballengewicht:   1700 - 1800 g

Nach der Ballengare Teig abpressen und nur teilen. Leicht mit Roggenmehl besieben.

Gärzeit:   40 Minuten (ca)
Backtemperatur:   230 - 240°C
Backzeit:   20 - 25 Minuten
   leicht Schwaden geben

I adjusted my yeast to only 15g, it seemed like too much

You'll notice I just crossed off the zero's and went ahead and made this dough, it's suggested by Dieter Buschmann to make  Brötchen at about 60grams.

Wolfgang Süpke

I first heard about  Bäcker Süpke from my friend Nils and have since eagerly visited his blog. Challenged as I am in German, through translations, I can get a feel for his bread language. For those who bake bread, it's a kinship as old as the wheat or rye and maybe even older grain stock that unite water, salt and flour together in those delicious loafs we both love to eat and with which we identify. What I enjoy the most about German bread is its palate memory in my own life, having been born there, and especially living there as an American soldier during the Cold War. I imagine that while Herr Süpke was baking some DDR loaf, I was baking some hard tack biscuits protecting the free world not more than a stones throw from the East German border. Now no longer a soldier (thankfully), he has recently inspired me in making his often copied Lutherbrot. And recently I decided to dedicate that autumnal loaf to our next President, a sign that good bread can do a lot for human relations!

Anyway, rather than podcast, today we're doing our own transcription. Enjoy the read, a record of our talk with master bread baker Wolfgang Süpke

Jeremy: How did you become a bread baker?

Wolfgang: I was apprenticing  as a printer; unfortunately it was a government (SED) owned company. I had many drawbacks because of my religious beliefs.  Therefore I tried to find another job. There were still independent employers in the backer trade and so I started a part time job in the bakery in my hometown. I really enjoyed working there and realized that this is what I want to do. So I made an apprenticeship as a backer and still work as one.

Jeremy:Being a baker from the former DDR, what did you find different in bread coming from the BRD (West Germany)?

Wolfgang: There was only one kind of Bread in the DDR (East Germany), while in the bread factories they offered two kinds of bread. I was impressed by the wide variety of bread in the BRD (West Germany).

Jeremy: What was bread like before and after the wall came down, or was it always the same?

Wolfgang:. The common bread is still the same but the quality has  improved,the variety has reached the same level as in West Germany. Nowadays, whole grain and fiber rich bread are more common.

Jeremy: What is the "Slow movement", political, social?

Wolfgang: “Slow baking” comes from the “slow food” movement. That means no more fast food, instead turning towards the basics, natural food and production processes, the pleasure of eating good food!

Jeremy: Hefe, (yeast) or sauerteig? (sourdough), Which is better?

Wolfgang: It depends, I take a sourdough for rye but I like a long fermentation yeast sponge for wheat. I use always a small amount of yeast for my sourdough. I have to control the mellowness because we have a certain cycle in the bakery. I would only use sourdough for rye breads as a home baker!

Jeremy: What is German bread? Some think of it as grainy loaves, dense. What defines the real German bread for you?

Wolfgang:There are more than 300 different kinds of bread in Germany, so it is impossible to say. Bread with 60%- 80% rye is popular in Thuringia but in the Rhineland they prefer rye-wholemeal with a special fermentation process so it’s pretty dark inside. In the southern part of Germany they like Wheat bread (20% rye and 80% wheat).
As a whole Germans love the variety, Multi-grain bread and wholegrain are more common as well as newly arrived Mediterranean bread e.g. "Ciabatta" and root bread (“Wurzelbrot”).
Overall I think typical German bread should include rye and ought too have a deep bake.

Jeremy: Why and how did you decide to blog about bread?

Wolfgang:I have a website for my bakery, but I always wanted it to be current and with something new on it, without having to ask the  “internet-guy” all the time to change things. So I started to use word press to communicate with, and inform my customers about “slow baking” and everything else. It kinda turned into a blog on its own and got more popular than the website itself.
I really love blogging.

Jeremy: How do you think home bakers help the baking trade?

Wolfgang: Home bakers are very creative they always exchange  about they’re experiences and ideas; I get a lot of inspiration from that. It also is a kind of marketing research, what are the trends and why don’t these people go to a bakery anymore?

Jeremy:How often do you change breads in your product?

Wolfgang: It depends how many Ideas I have. I made three new kinds of bread this year but I am changing rolls and cakes more often. There are regular customers of ours; they’re always buying the same bread so it is hard to omit something without protest.

Jeremy: Germans surprisingly are the largest bread consumers per-capita, has that increased the population of bakeries?

Wolfgang: No, there always been such a huge consumption, although the trade bakeries are regressive. A lot of people buy industrial bread because of economical reasons; their market share advanced about 30% to 50% in the last 10 years. The quality of the industrial manufactured bread got also better.
This is a reason for me to do slow baking, real artisan bread without any additives.                                    

Jeremy: Has traditional artisan baking come to Germany like in the USA?                        

Wolfgang: How did it come to the USA? The traditional artisan baking is a result from the creation of guilds. They made regulations for the products (ingredients, materials, quality, price and how much everybody is allowed to produce). Nowadays they’re are free guilds and there is each for every trade (e.g. for image campaigns, interchange, information’s and against negative ordinances).

Jeremy: What makes German bread different from say Switzerland or France?

Wolfgang: Differences are rye flour, sourdough and the nationalistic signature, defensibility.

Jeremy: With the downturn in the world economy, do you think artisan bakers can re-emerge from under the shadows of bread factories?

Wolfgang: It could go both directions. I hope that the people start thinking in a way that at least they want to eat good food if they can’t get a new car or a nice vacation. That’s why they should go into a bakery more often; a negative thing would be if more people need government subsidy so they can’t really afford anything anymore.

Jeremy: How do you name your breads, for instance you have named your breads after hamsters and even Reformers?

Wolfgang:  Before I started “slow baking” I  always got new Ideas and  matching names for them for bag men who sell bakery improver, so that I  would buy their products. These days I am inventing the names, I got the idea to call one “schwarzer Hamster” (black hamster) after I read an article about an animal that just lives in our area and the name “Lutherbrot” (Luther bread) from a business magazine.
I always ask my saleswomen what we need in our product line or what kinda products the costumers demand. The names are my own creations; you just need to think long enough about it and the ideas will come on their own.

Jeremy: What are some tips to making a good German bread?

Wolfgang: You have to know how to make a good sourdough, a stone-oven and than you have to try it out.

Jeremy:Rye or wheat, which do you like better?

Wolfgang: I love both, such awesome natural materials; you can create so many things out of them. There must be a Creator.

Jeremy: Will you write a bread book?

Wolfgang:  That’s a good idea, I’ll think about it!
And again I learned something from a blogger!

Jeremy: If someone wants to learn how to bake bread, go to school or go to Herr Süpke for a job?

Wolfgang: You need both.

Jeremy: How do you develop a formula for bread?

Wolfgang:  I have a good computer program, you just have to put in, for example 5kg wheat, 3kg rye, 2kg spelt, 1kg curd etc. and it tells you how much water, sourdough and salt you need to add.
It’s an awesome program. Afterward's I try out the recipe and let my bakers taste it, than we talk about the product so we can upgrade it. Only if they’re really enthusiastic about the new thing it will get into our shops.

Jeremy: What is your best selling loaf?

Wolfgang:  The mixed-grain bread made out of 70% rye, 30% wheat with sourdough and lots of wheat starter.

Danke Sehr Baecker Süpke!

Pour manger une baguette de "Monge"

Where do you get a decent baguette like the famous Eric Kayser's  at 8 Rue Monge, with its egg shell crust and porous white mie that symbolize the pain quotidian of France. Quite often those crisp pointed ends are munched off before they make it home! It's been a while since I made a decent baguette, probably not since school. Whatever the case when I go back and try to make a baguette, they seem so simple to make. But if not careful and paying attention to detail which is often my lazy baking way, you could come up with a dud.

A lot of bread blogs like Jane at au levain have stories about her baguette travails and victories. So does Nils, whose version I have been replicating, as with many of his breads. Or try Susan at wild yeast who you can't go wrong with for all her breads, baguette's included. If you're going whole grain crazy now or feeling like a 100 percent rye, it's not a bad thing to go back to the baguette, especially for your cafe au lait and some jambon et fromage, porqoui pas? Here is my dejeuner, croustillant et pret pour un peau de beurre et confiture! If you don't read French, no worries, just figure it's an expression for a lovely treat

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Michael Laiskonis

Michael Laiskonis has a great blog, insights into the making of great professional kitchens from the perspect of a master of desert. So when I tried to get his colleague at Le Bernadin, Chef Eric Ripert, and scheduling conflicts prevented it, I decided to go after this talented pastry chef! One of the things that interested me about Michael was his background. Rather than attend a traditional culinary school, he worked as a line cook and baked bread, one of the things I love to do the most.

My last guest here, Nick Malgieri, praised Michael as one of the most interesting pastry chefs. Though he veers towards favoring modern baking techniques, his recipes and ideas rely on the classic base of the patisserie repertoire. Even then he may use some of the new techniques or tools, but only after first mastering the basics. I expect in the future to make a pilgrimage to Le Bernadin, not only for the legendary status of the restaurant and cuisine of Chef Ripert, but of course to try Michael Laiskonis's desserts.

Michael was so kind as to send pictures and a recipe for cider beignets, thank you Michael!

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