STIR THE POTS

For the Love of Semola

Some time ago, my pizzaiolo/baker friend Alessandro Lunardi inspired me with some wonderful photos of a semola-based bread on Facebook. I love the rich taste of this semola rimacinata flour. And so I tried translating his formula into a loaf in my kitchen. After multiple tries, none quite right, I reached out to other bakers for help. Spanish baker, Pablo Conessa of Alternative Bakery in Seville, suggested adding half semola and white kamut. The end result? I finally got what some bakers sometimes call" a juicy loaf," chewy and simultaneously crusty. Thank you, Alessandro and Pablo. 

Eric Kayser

You can find a boulangerie on every corner in Paris. And it's there where I first found Eric Kayser Boulangerie, all by chance. Just walking. Eric Kayser has built a world wide baking empire, most recently opening one here in New York City. Again, I happened to come upon it last October while wandering through the Upper East Side where its located. I decided to revisit it this past weekend. Here are some shots of what I found. 

 

Le Globe-Trotteur's Walnut Red Wine Bread

Ever since my interest in baking bread caught fever, I have managed to fenagle formulas from bakers worldwide. Sometimes the formulas take years to actually get right at home. Other times I hit it immediately.

One baker has helped me out in particular, someone who goes by the pseudonym Le Globe trotteur. I met Le Globe Trotteur on Facebook. He's based in Barcelona. He was kind enough to give me a formula for his "walnut red wine bread," which I'd had parked for awhile in my files. Finally trying it for clients of my micro bakery, I managed to get it right the first time, and ended up keeping a loaf for myself. 

Le Globe Trotteur's red wine walnut bread

1600 flour

800g walnut

600g wine

600cl water

700g levain (60%hydrated

2gr yeast

40gr salt

 

Badijonne

120g wine

90g rye

3g salt

 

 

 

Walnut red wine bread

Walnut 800g and red wine 600gr

White flour, t 65 1.600kg

With the white flour put your maceration add 600cl  more of water

Mix it 5 min and let it rest at least 45 min. (Autolyse)

If you use Levain liquide better to get only 500g of water because the sugars will work and dilated strongly so i recommend to use hard sourdough for this product 700g (60%)

You can try both anyway.

Well after your Autolyse introduce your levain(Whatever it is)2g of yeast and let it in first velocity (speed) during 3 min

After your 3 minutes add the salt,40g and let it mix  in first velocity (speed) 12min

When you've got the dough ready (mixed) let it proof 1hour in a bowl with a bit of oil (no flour)

Give it a rabat (fold), proof one more hour.

So after your rabat (fold) and after two hours 2 hours, get it out from your bowl and weigh it to whatever weight you want, pre-shape, and let it rest 30 40 minutes, the give it the final shape.  Give it a three hour proof,(if not retarding overnight..)

If your retard the dough, do exactly the same process to the folding letting it proof hour more after it's shaped, then into the fridge. Next day  take the dough out of the fridge divide it let it rest 40 minutes.  shape and let it proof, then into the oven around 250 Celcius or 485 Farenheit.

 Rye red wine crust (Optional)

Wine 120g

rye 90g

salt 3g

Mix this paste  the day before. Smear the paste  on proofed loaves, and bake. Try some and leave one with and  one without to decide which is your favorite one. Let it cool 2 hours et voila bonne!

Uri's Back In Town

Israeli baker Uri Scheft introduced himself to me about two years ago on Facebook. Since that first chat he's been back and forth to New York, and we've talked bread, life and bread. Uri is a constant thinker, always in various time zones, wondering I'm sure what's going on in Tel Aviv, home of his Lehamim Bakery. This past weekend he's been in New York working on the opening of Breads Bakery, his latest venture.

I've had the pleasure of seeing the place move from an idea through to its opening. Uri  sent me a message; "come see me, say hello!"  After a lunch shift at my job, I headed down, and he gave me a quick tour around the completed space.

"You're ready to make some bread?" he asked. Uri was in full swing, rolling and shaping challah, directing the new staff to task, mixing dough and schmoozing between various guests and partners. I, on the other hand got a proper look at shaping challah, as well as gazing at the different loaves. Here is my view.

Ninety-two Percent Solution

Double Hydration. It's a subject I chatted about with baker Eli Colvin of Model Bakery in Napa California, whom I met on Facebook recently. Eli frequently describes his  doughs as having varying hydrations; from high 80s to even 100 percent, and not to mention whole grains, with long autolyse as part of the equation.

I'm in awe. I'm also curious as to see if I can replicate Eli's wonderful looking specimens that he's posted online a test of skill and luck. My curiousity peeked after a first attempt at a whole grain baguette he had posted , with a 16 hour autolyse and something like 80 percent hydration.

In truth, I didn't follow every step of Eli's detailed instruction (blame it on time restraints) but the results still turned out to be a moist and delicious bread.

Whole grain flour baguette with spelt poolish and wheat levain at eighty percent hydration: my attempt!

On hydration- Eli say's:

"The whole process isn't easy but well worth it. I mix my whole grain at 100% hydration using a different method. I've been mixing wet doughs for so long anything less than eighty-eight percent feels dry. Keep in mind flour in the States is pretty bad these days taking a lot more water over the last few years. Ninety-two percent feels like eighty-five percent ten years ago. Hope this helps and makes sense. I have tired baker delirium at the moment."

 

Here is what I got with this bread. Even after my recent lessons in the skill of bassinage, doppio impasto,what we call double hydration in English.

65% white wheat            163

30% t85                           76

55% rye                           12

28% levain                      70

2%  salt                            5

92% h20                          232

252% total flour

My former bread instructor, David Norman now baker in Austin's Easy Tiger, had left me some answers as well on a comment on my post; which imparts a lesson on development and hydration regarding double hydration which is a great piece of information to jot down!

"Think of it the same as holding out the fat in a brioche dough. The flour will have an optimum hydration for good gluten development and trying to put a lot more water in the dough from the beginning will hinder that development and require a much longer mixing time. But if you hold out the extra water until after you have fully developed the gluten, you can add it in. It then becomes suspended in the gluten structure, much the same way the fat is, rather than being absorbed by the proteins. This is what gives the very open structure to a ciabatta."

            "Develop it well with the water you used, then add more water, a little at a time on slow speed. It should mix in. Then mix at high speed until you have a cohesive dough again. Think the whole time about a brioche dough and the changes it goes through as you add the butter into the well developed dough."

 

Wisdom imparted in words-Eli Colvin

 I always break my thermometers so I stopped using them. I don't use timers unless I need somebody to do something for me after I leave. I trust my instincts. And I try different things just to see what happens. I respect and admire all bakers but I do my own thing. And that's how it should be. I'm in competition with myself. I stay unsatisfied with my bread so I keep trying to outdo myself every day. I'm at the point that I should pass on anything I know to whoever wants to ask. Theirs no secrets just learning from mistakes. And I've made em all and probably invented a few new ones. I could go on and on but you get the idea. It's a soul thing.

Johanna Kindvall

Recently I met Johanna Kindvall, a baker, blogger, cook and illustrator. We had been following each other's work. Then she contacted me about doing a co-blog on her site kokblog, and I decided to interview her.

Creating linear and minamalist illustrations, her blog uses illustration and diagrams to create wonderful food stories. At times explaining the cuts from the anatomy of animals, she includes a section exclusively exploring herring, a favorite of mine in life and on her blog. Johanna's frequently surprising approach to explaining recipes, and sharing her love of food is smart and fun.  We had a chance to talk to her. 

Click to listen

 

Taking The Bullocks Out

My mate from Bethesda'bakin Mick Hartley just wrote a book on microbaking. I got a copy, as it's something I've just taken up. It's more a hobby and test for future endeavours or basically just to bake more! His book is filled with his usual colorful style. It also includes a more serious study of how this "micro thing" is taking off these days. Rather than what politicians call "small business," (which they use as code for a lot bigger business), Mick writes more about what genuine mom and pop micro is at its best.

Adaptation

For a while I'd been trying different ancient grains. This past week, I wanted to try an amazing formula using spelt and kamut benefit of the wonderful artisan miller/bread baker, Roland Feuillas. He's located in France, in a place called Cucugnan near Perpignan.

Rolland shares his spirit of both baker and miller on a forum group on Facebook called Pain au nature, where I spied this formula named after his friend - Fanette. It's not easy to make. After my effort I asked him for advice. He told me that making bread is personal to each baker's situation, and pointed out that following a formula too closely doesn't work. Each baker and bakery needs to adapt to their own situations. This is my second effort on this loaf...I'll choose less water next time and adapt! Merci Rolland!

Micro Baking

My love of baking doesn't rest on nights and weekends. In fact, a week working in a professional kitchen hasn't stopped my enjoyment of exploring bread and loaves. And so somehow I woke up one morning recently and realized that somehow I have started a part-time bakery. In my apartment!!!! It's a micro-bakery but small business's have to start somewhere, no? Wish me luck. Or order a loaf of bread. 

Uri's Challah

Since meeting Uri Scheft a few times on his visits to New York, I'm always was curious to check formulas he's posted on his Lehamim Bakery Facebook. When a challah recipe appeared I jumped to it and adapted it to a sourdough. Toying with using orange flower water and raisins, I ultimately opted to just go standard challah at this first try.

With a whopping sixty-four percent of sourdough overall to compensate for yeast in the straight formula, I was really pleased at the fermentation being so quick. Maybe a levain left in the fridge for three weeks is just as strong as one refreshed?

L'Shana Tovah!