STIR THE POTS

The Proofer

How often do you get, what bakers sometimes call "blow out," referring to when a bread is "green" or too young or just not proofed enough. I've found it especially true in winter. 

Despite our lack of recent frost, I hit that wall with temperatures and baking this weekend. Cold air and sourdough are especially tricky. A "proofer" is a type of baking hardware that helps address such difficulties, and this weekend, Brod and Taylor, an interesting and innovative cookware design company, sent me their newest creation, a smartly designed (foldable!) proofer. 

Straight from the package, the valise styled proofer was simple to assemble. Even had they not provided instructions, the product was basically "plug and play," intuitive to put together. That said, I think the instructions could use some diagrams, for those among us with less basic intuition. More importantly. I could imagine them providing tables regarding temperatures for proofing, especially for wild yeasts. Giving their marketing director, Julie Dykstra, initial feedback, she kindly sent me this response by email. 

"We are in the process of upgrading the user guide to include more recipes and detailed instructions.  We've just this week posted a pizza crust recipe with detailed proofer time/temps, it's here:  http://brodandtaylor.com/bread-more/bread/tomato-and-herb-pizza/

Anyway, the advantage of their product is it shortens the waiting time of the proofing process. It also reduces the ugly looking loaves I described as a result of "blowout."

Here's something interesting. Since recieving and using the proofer, I have returned to using a thermometer, pretty important if you only depend on touch for indication. 

Anyway, here is one loaf I made so far with durum flour.

 So far, pretty good. In coming weeks, I'll provide updates on my experience with this interesting new device.  

Edit this

Recently, looking at a recipe for buckwheat levain bread from Dan Leader's book, Local Breads, I found online complaints about its percentages on the blog, The Fresh Loaf. I don't want to single out Dan Leader. He's a great baker, and also both honest and generous, as he was here, giving us an interview, and talking about the periodic mistakes made in the editorial process. From my experience, the editing in baking and cook books too often can get things wrong. 

Another top baker, for example, Jeffrey Hamelman ended up correcting one of his books with an errata sheet. And the latest book purchase I made, The French Culinary Institute's bread baking fundamentals book, has errors within the first chapter; its liquid levain baguette recipe has a percentage which is off about 30 percent. I found out by checking the math.

All to say, enjoy the recipes. But also, always read carefully, then do the math. If you find errors, and if you're informed on how baker's percentages work, try adjusting the formula. If all else fails, send an email to the editor or author (including me), because often you'll find honorable figures like Dan Leader or Jeffrey Hamelman, people who are passionate about their craft. 

 

Student teaching the teacher...

Recently, my former mentor and boss, Chef Jean-Michel Bergounoux asked me about what flour I used when baking bread. I didn't think much beyond the fact that maybe he made a loaf occasionally at home or even if he was trying to make some bread for a special meal at his restaurant. We used to bake a lot when I worked with him over twenty years ago, but he surprised me by saying he'd taken up bread baking!

It all happened last Friday, when I paid him a visit at his restaurant, L'Absinthe. I found him in between shifts, sitting in the back as he polished off a pot au feu, a bunch of baking books next to him and a bag of breads from L'Ecole. I recognized one of the books instantly, "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking," a recent purchase of mine. It's virtually the short course I took at the French Culinary Institute, and includes the fundamentals of baking, whether it's hydration, flour types, pre-ferments or levains.

Jean Michel invited me up to his apartment to see his burgeoning "home labaratoire." Like a child in a toy store, Jean Michel's kitchen is filled with baker's tools, including a new Globe mixer, and a Bosch convection oven with two stones to mimic a bakers oven. And strewn on the counter were books surrounded by Jean-Michel's hand written notes - I recognized his familiar scrawl.

"Come on Jeremy," Jean-Michel said, "lets make some bread, if you got a minute?" He compiled a formula for  loaf of pain de campagne using a formula from Richard Bertinet. Then, as soon as the dough was mixed, Jean Michel wanted to try a baguette recipe I recognized  from famed Parisian baker Anis Bouabsa and which I recognized from  The Fresh Loaf. I reminded Jean-Michel that he should take time with all this bread baking, that he didn't want to rush. He chuckled at my concerns, telling me, " there you have it, the student teaching his teacher!"

Scones

I love scones. And quite often my wife asks me to bake them. The store-bought scones are often dry. And they're actually easy and fun to prepare at home. Besides, topped with jam.... ha! They require basic ingredients; flour, butter, cream, baking powder and whatever your latest flavor quotient, whether dried fruits or orange zest etc.  

Lord, knows you could find a recipe in any old book, but last weekend having time (due to nasty New York weather) I decided to try (and share here) a fabulous recipe from the great pastry chef, Dieter Schorner.

 Dieter's are called "Savoy Scones," undoubtedly from his days working at the  the famed London Hotel. In the past, I have also made the version from Michel Suas's Advanced Bread & Pastry book, delicious, too! Anyway, below I made some cherry rhubarb cream scones.

Shapes are always a choice from square to triangles and to the more common round. A good set of cutters are advisable, as using other implements will impede a proper rise if the scone is squished rather then cleanly cut.

Chef Gregoire Michaud also has a an interesting version, sort of a hybrid demanding great attention to detail, and which can be a two day project.

 

Savoy scone with currants (Sourced from Dieter Schorner)

 

 

Savoy Scones (Dieter Schorner)

325g Bread flour

20g Baking powder

45g Sugar

pinch of salt

100g Currants

1 egg

1yolk

Heavy cream is added to eggs to equal a total of 200ml combined

Egg for egg wash

350 F Pre-heated oven

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter. Add cream to egg, yolk and mix. Add wet to dry, with currants till mixed. Don't over mix, be gentle. You could roll out sqaure and cut with a cookie cutter, or round and into triangles. Depending on the cutter size you'll get about a dozen or so scones. Place on a tray, prepared with parchement or silpat, brush with egg wash and bake about 20 minutes till golden brown.

 

This scone is light, delicious and worth doubling, as you'll find they run out quick!

Bûche de Noël (I'm bushed too!)

 

Panettone Once Again

This past weekend I revisited baking panettone, both for practice and in the dreamy hopes of attracting some investors. Anyone want to start a bakery with me? Regardless, read on. 

I gave Carmen's formula a try (Madrid tienes miga), though I added olive oil in the final dough for a fruity and healthy option. Besides raisins and candied oranges from Italy, I included a tropical fruit mix; papaya, mango, etc. Even if my kitchen was freezing cold, the multiple feedings for the pasta madre or levain, kicked it up a notch and the first dough was really well risen in the morning when I went to check.

 

Although I could of made these 600 gram panettone, I stuck with the formula's original 500 gram weight;  it's all good. In fact, it's delicious. 

Mixing can tax your Kitchen Aid, of course mine is over twenty years old, so, Santa may have to buy me a new one? Meantime, I'm on some baking. Büche next....stay tuned!

Dresdener Stollen

December means it is Panettone time, but I always think of Dresdener Stollen as the meatier Holiday bread, studded with more then just silky air and perfume. It's a sugar coated log of nuts, raisins and whimsy. In actuality, it could be filled with virtually anything you want; exotic dried mangoes, figs, or in my case recently, dried cranberries.

Once baked, this lightly sweetened eggless dough is enrobed in butter. That's followed with a roll in granulated sugar and, second, in a coating of powdered sugar. The end result is a snowy mountain of a bread that could lead me to devour it in one seating, even though my doctor has warned me of my good and bad carbs. Bah, humbug!

Rather then trying to find supermarket candied orange, I was inspired to make some at home. 

No matter the amount of work to make this classic Christmas sweet bread, it's all worth the amazing textures in the end.

This dough recipe comes from Dieter Schorner. It's something I have tried to replicate year after year. This time I had success, helped by introducing a bit of levain, and cutting back on commercial yeast. Note that the total yeast is about 5 grams, as opposed to the 35 grams originally in the recipe.

Brownies

I love brownies. And reading about the world's rising gluten intolerance on the Huffington Post Kitchen Daily, I found an interesting recipe from Ilva Berretta for chick pea and pecan gluten free brownies. The article made me wonder if my heavy wheat consumption is responsible for recent headaches, sinus congestion and other ailments. But for now, I'm sticking with the old fashioned type of brownie. 

Reaching into my files for a recipe from re-knowned pastry chef Dieter Schorner, I found something simple, fudgy, cakey, gooey and filled with cherries! I haven't gone back to this formula for so long, but since I have been trying to make new items for upcoming parties at work, what a better excuse then now to bake them!

 

Baking Bread

Bread. Once you've baked a loaf, yourself, then acquired the concepts, techniques and methods, the process is a thourougly addictive habit. For me, the greatest pleasure are the stages.

From the daily nuturing of a levain all the way to feeling the wet dough that later crusts in your fingers.

At moments, you remember that this simple substance (dough) is a living thing who will come to full life, then die,cast into a crust in the baking. 

The pleasure is undoubtedly in the final result, and the taste and smiles it brings to those who taste it.

Desem

Desem is that weird Belgian levain that uses lots of flour; whole wheat to be exact. Recently, I started using it in my stiff levain formulas. So far, I have tried it in a currant anise dough adapted from Jeffrey Hamelman's Norwich sourdough. 

I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be  a dud. It's hard enough to maintain levain sometimes, or to produce a decent bake for that matter while working long shifts. I am not even sure if I am following the orthodox method of feeding this fragrant and slightly tangy levain, dry as it is at only 60 percent hydration. I just fed it, and will continue using it along with my various hydrated and range of grain levains. Here's the end result.