STIR THE POTS

Direct Table Loaf

Here is a loaf without refrigeration processing. Instead its focus is on a simpler methodology. Forget about all those things they teach you in baking school such autolyse, folds, and retarding. This loaf is styled on old school mixing with no smoke-and-mirrors. It focuses on a simpler one-day mixed-to-bake bread. Following a simpler style is good practice. And you can get it done within five hours.

 

	TABLE LOAF (DIRECT-PROCESSING)
	THIS BREAD IS QUASI-ITALIANATE, INDEBTED TO central and northern Italy. I have found that bread in this style confuses most new-world “artisan” bakers. The loaves are not uniform or pretty or exacting. They proved seam-side-down on a bed of wheat bran, with their tops exposed. The dough is developed more during mixing than small-scale bakers might be used to. There's no folds during bulk fermentation. There's no preshaping. No autolyse. No retardation. No bells and whistles. The ingredients are mixed; fermented; cut and shaped; fermented again; and baked in a very, very hot oven. This is the style of bread I'm most attracted to, and, admittedly, it may not be for everyone. I like gnarly, wobbly loaves baked to a dark chestnut. This bread is simple. The taste is clean and fresh and wheaten, with no perceptible acid, and a thin, crisp crust. The loaves are incredibly light, in part due to the mixing regime. But this also means they will not remain as moist as long as a retarded sourdough mixed in gentler style might. Of course, this style of bread is meant to be a same-day loaf, for utility. Great sliced for lunch or dinner, perfect for toast the next morning. There is a bit of a learning curve as far as shaping is concerned, as the ideal loaf shape is a coiled tube of dough the same thickness from end-to-end. This ensures every slice of bread is approximately the same size. This style can be problematic for a production setting until those cutting and shaping the dough get used to processing bread in this manner. I find it requires a lot of “unlearning!” Thankfully, everybody at Apiece first learns to make bread in this style before all others—once mastered, it becomes a joy! All other styles of bread seem boring by comparison. I love the the fact that no two cut pieces of dough are the same shape. It requires thought and constant interaction on the baker's part to coax each slug of dough into uniform, elongated cylinders. If I had to choose just one loaf to make for the rest of my life, it'd be a variation on this one.
		PREFERMENTED FLOUR:		16.66%
		HYDRATION OF STARTER:		50.00%
		DOUGH YIELD:		2 x 800g loaves
	OVERALL FORMULA		BAKER'S %	HOME
	TOTAL FLOUR		100.00%	906.26	g
	Flour, Wheat, Roller-Milled (11.5% protein)		80.00%	725.01	g
	Flour, Whole Wheat, Stone-Ground (T-160)		10.00%	90.63	g
	Flour, Wheat, Stone-Ground (T-85)		10.00%	90.63	g
	Water		74.00%	670.63	g
	Sea Salt		1.80%	16.31	g
	Flour, Malted Barley, Freshly-Milled		0.75%	6.80	g
	TOTAL YIELD		176.55%	1,600.00	g
	DOUGH STARTER BUILD
	Flour, Wheat, Roller-Milled (11.5% protein)		100.00%	150.98	g
	Water		50.00%	75.49	g
	Stiff Starter, Previously-Fermented		10.00%	15.10	g
	TOTAL		170.00%	241.57	g
	FINAL DOUGH
	TOTAL FLOUR		100.00%	755.28	g
	Flour, Wheat, Roller-Milled (11.5% protein)		76.00%	574.02	g
	Flour, Whole Wheat, Stone-Ground (T-160)		12.00%	90.63	g
	Flour, Wheat, Stone-Ground (T-85)		12.00%	90.63	g
	Starter, From Above		29.99%	226.47	g
	Water		78.80%	595.14	g
	Sea Salt		2.16%	16.31	g
	Flour, Malted Barley, Freshly-Milled		0.90%	6.80	g
	TOTAL		211.84%	1,600.00	g
	1. DOUGH STARTER BUILD.
	Mix the dough starter 12 to 16 hours before the final dough, and leave to ferment in an air-tight, food-grade container. Desired dough temperature is 30°C.
	2. MIXING.
	For the home baker: Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and combine by squeezing them into each other with both hands. Proceed until every particle of flour is hydrated and a shaggy dough is achieved. Using a plastic scraper, remove the dough from the bowl and slap-and-fold on a hard benchtop for 10 to 12 minutes. Stop several times throughout this process to “scissor” through developing any protein strands. (To do so, form the first fingers and thumbs of each hand into an O and pinch the dough from back to front into a chain of smaller balls before continuing to slap-and-fold.) This dough in particular benefits from more development and air-incorporation upfront since it receives no folds during bulk fermentation. For the professional baker: Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a spiral mixer. Mix for 8 minutes on 1st speed and 8 minutes on 2nd speed. Desired dough temperature is 26°C in summer and 28°C in winter.
	3. BULK FERMENTATION.
	About 3h.
	4. DIVIDING AND SHAPING.
	Divide the dough into two equal portions of 800g apiece and shape either into a round or a rustic tube. Place seam-side-down atop a towel, cloth or couche generously coated with wheat bran, folding the edges over the loaf to help support it.
	5. FINAL FERMENTATION.
	2h to 3h, temperature depending.
	6. BAKING.
	With ample steam, bake at 265° to 285°C for 20 minutes, before lowering the temperture to 220°C for additional 25 to 35 minutes or until done.

 

 

 

 

Gai-lan

I have always loved green vegetables, like  Gai-lan, a type of Chinese broccoli found in Asian food markets. It works wonderfully in scrumptious preparations steamed or stir fried. Whereas spinach also a native of Asia goes simply in a dish like Goma Ae, a Japanese salad of cold spinach simply seasoned with soy, mirin and sesame.

Below are photos of a mix of gai-lan and spinach in a dish inspired by chef and author Ixta Belfrage. This version was flavored with ginger and rice wine vinegar. I also added sesame oil punched up with some fresh sesame seeds. I upped the ante by adding coconut liquid aminos and fried garlic chips. It led to a flavor-packed punch melding of pure umami. Low intensity preparation and easy clean up didn't hurt.

 

Spring Flinged

Each year the private club where I am chef holds their "Spring Fling." It's a great excuse for a colorful spread. This year's was 15 hours over a simple spread. Honestly, more often the crowd here is about drinking, not eating. Regardless, here's what we did. 

Poolish Pizza Pies

It's time for my kitchen's annual spring Spring Fling. This year we'll feature pizza. Previously, I have focused on sourdough pizza crusts. This time I am trying a poolish-based cannoto style dough. It makes for a shortens the window, cutting out minutes from all the steps, from 16-hours for the dough pre-fermentation to the 2-4 hours to actually finalize pizza production. More simply, it makes baking pizza easier without sacrificing for texture or taste.

Pot au feu

Pot au feu is a French  classic peasant  dish that's wonderful for winter. Or for early spring. It consists of secondary cuts of  beef and cartilaginous marrow bones. You slow cook them with carrots, leeks, onion and spices. To perfect it, avoid al dente cooked vegetables. And the broth should be full of gelatin. When perfected, it makes for a deeply satisfying meal. 

Recently I put my hand to it, this time using an Instant Pot. Two day's of pressure cooking, clearing stock, cutting the base vegetables and reduction of juice, I filled my terrine molds and pressed. Delicious.

 

Andrew Janjigian

 

Photo credit : Melissa Rivard

 

Before devoting himself to baking, Andrew Janjigian worked in the biotech industry as an organic chemist. His background was probably great training for the world of baking bread, a sphere that demands you embrace both perpetual experimentation and vigilant respect for the constraints of your ingredients. Culturally, Andrew is Armenian-American and brings that background to his exploration of bread, and food in general. After spending years working as a "test cook" within the labs of Cook's Illustrated, today he publishes his own newsletter titled Wordloaf. It's great. Having met him at one of Gabriele Bonci's Brooklyn pizza pop-ups, I long wanted to to invite him to Stir the Pots. Finally we made it happen. We are delighted to introduce Andrew to our audience.

What was first for you, writing or baking bread?

Bread, though the two developed in tandem. When I started at America’s Test Kitchen, I had practically no experience in journalism, so it was a bit of trial-by-fire there. I think I only got “good” at writing about two weeks ago, some 12 years later. And while I had years of cooking experience at that point, I was only a few years into my love affair with bread. (The tale is a little different when it comes to pizza, since that is the first food I learned to cook and something I have been messing with since my teenage years.

 

How does bread fit into your writing?

Baking bread is what I do when I’m avoiding writing. Up until recently, I’d have said that I hated writing, but lately the rewards of being nominally okay at it are sufficient to overcome the fact that doing writing remains a painful slog. That said, if I have to write about anything, bread is certainly the easiest for me to prattle on about.

 

America's Test Kitchen, Milk Street, Cook’s Illustrated; are they all divorced from each other?

You’ll have to ask them on the current state of their relationship. I’m definitely divorced from ATK and Cook’s Illustrated. I had a good run there, but am having more fun now that I am my own boss.

What’s it like being an independent food writer?

I’m not sure my experience as a freelance food writer and recipe developer is representative, but it’s mostly wonderful in my case. I have more opportunities than I have time for, and nearly everything I say yes to is something I’m excited to work on, whether I pitched it myself or someone approached me. That said, doing this kind of work solo is hard work, especially when you are doing enough of it to make a living. Back when I worked for the man, I had nights and weekends off; right now I work seven days a week just to keep up. Fortunately most of the work is fun and/or interesting.

By background, you're Armenian. What is Armenian bread and food?

That is not a small question. For starters, there are at least two Armenias; the actual country that was once a part of the former Soviet Union (known also as Eastern Armenian). The other Armenia is the diaspora, whose members are descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks. If it is not already obvious, I belong to the latter country. Eastern Armenians and Western Armenians speak different dialects and their cuisines are different in many ways. For example, Western Armenians, having lived under Muslim rule for centuries, do not eat pork, while Western Armenians do.

 

Photo credit : Melissa Rivard

 

Chef Musa Dağdeviren in “Chef’s Table” describes preserving food culture and diversity. When defining food by ethnic terms it sets it communities apart. Do you agree?

This is something I think about a lot, and I don’t have a good answer. I agree in principle that drawing lines between countries and cultures is usually more problematic than helpful. But I also come from a culture that another culture tried to annihilate, which means that food and identity are deeply intertwined. I think that there is a ton of overlap and interchange between cultures when it comes to food, but that each community can make a cuisine or dish its own by embracing it fully. I think it is more interesting to look at the ways different foods or methods of cooking change as they pass from one culture to another than it is to disentangle which culture they might “belong to” more than any other.

I tried your formula for a classic levain, the one with various degrees of hydration and ratio of sourdough. With these basic steps how far can you adapt, flour and make a different final bread?

Infinitely? I think it is true of bread baking in general that it’s better to treat recipes as templates or scores rather than actual recipes, open to interpretation and embellishment by a skilled baker. (Beginners need recipes, obviously, but hopefully they leave them behind eventually.)

How did coming from a scientific background make you a good baker?

Absolutely. Years of working in a lab (as a grunt organic chemist in biotech) taught me the importance of precision and note-keeping, along with the understanding that there is no such thing as failure in science. (I still loathe an unsightly, under-leavened loaf, despite.) 

How have you survived baking in the pandemic. Banana bread?

I think I made a loaf or two of banana bread, but my pandemic has been consumed with and defined by sourdough bread. I would literally not be doing what I am right now without COVID having come along, since the Great Sourdough Gold Rush of 2020 gave me the push I needed to venture out on my own. (I’ve told this story a bunch of times already, including here: https://wordloaf.substack.com/p/quarantinystarterday.

I was interested in your article on thin pizza. It’s something I grew up eating in Connecticut at the famous Colony grill. Why and how did this style of pizza come about?

I’m not sure which article you mean, but as for bar pizza, like that at Colony Grill, it seems to have arisen in a few places independently (MA, CT, NJ). One nexus of bar pizza innovation is Boston's South Shore. There, bar pizza is like an ultra thin-crust version of our Greek pizza, a pan pizza with a crispy, oily crust. And sometimes with baked beans as a topping. I love the stuff. 

Are you writing a book?

I am not currently writing a book, and that is all I will say on the matter for the time being.

Favorite grain?

Based only upon the sheer tonnage of wheat flour and berries in my kitchen, I guess I’d have to default to wheat. But I love many grains equally and am particularly enamored of rye lately, especially in the context of cookies and other sweets.

How many starters is too many?

Anything more than one is too many for me, because I’m only capable of keeping one going strong, and I think you can always acclimate a standard wheat sourdough culture to thrive on other flours. But I’m no expert on rye sourdough baking (for example), so I could be wrong about whether an adapted starter is as good as a raised-on-rye one.

One more question, your favorite bread?

 

This is a tough one, but if I had to pick just one, it would be some sort of porridge bread. I do love the way adding a cooked grain porridge to a bread gives it a custardy crumb and ultra long keeping qualities. 

 

 

 Soda, beer or wine with pizza, preferred pizza drink?

 

Beer (or birch beer, if I am in New Haven.)

 

 

Sourdough Basics

Sourdough baking can be a challenge. Despite years practicing, I have frequently had disastrous results. The primary challenge? Perfecting the levain. When it fails, the starter can remind you of all your imperfections as a baker. Feed it like it's your child!

Remembering Thierry

When it came to my baking mentor and friend, Thierry's formulas were often difficult to execute. But they have always proved well worth the challenge. My image of him in the kitchen is of a man tinkering and changing numbers on huge boards marked up with "sticky notes" packed with bread algebra.

Another baker once described Thierry as someone who "spent nearly ten minutes explaining a single gesture to me... that it took two months to understand" It's an accurate picture of learning from this master. Working with him was a fantastic journey.  His "Frenglish" was funny, and his bread terminology was a wildly imaginative messy mix. We both dreamed in dough.

Recently I tinkered with some versions of a burger bun recipe. The results were "meh!" And so I returned to a Thierry version. Kaboom, the results were... well, let's just use one of his expressions, "the eagle has landed!"

 

 

 

Macarons

Macarons are sometimes confused with Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, at least too news-deprived Americans. In fact, macarons are splendid sweeties, a mix of egg white meringue shells that are baked and filled with ganache, butter cream or fruit jam. There are two techniques, one French and the other Italian. The French use raw sugar and whip it into a meringue by mixing with with egg whites. Italians make a syrup with sugar, then whip up egg whites, drizzling in the liquid until it solidifies into a meringue.

Both methods are anchored in a nut-and-sugar based flour. French bakers sometimes add another flourish known as the "macaronage." This describes an approach where the baker beats the flour mix into the meringue against the bowl, deflating the egg whites and leading to a shiny, smooth consistency. At one of my early kitchen jobs I worked alongside a pastry chef. His expertise in baking macarons fascinated me, especially in macaronage.

I used time during the lockdown last year to return to early kitchen memories. This led me to multiple attempts at macarons. Recently I put my hand to them again. My goal in these past few years especially during the pandemic is  to revisit and strengthen my skills, and try the things I didn't do before or excel in and of course get to taste macarons.

Christian Ofner Inspirations

My mind navigates toward bread. Whether biking city streets, traveling New York's subways, or walking our wonderful avenues and less wonderful boulevards, my mind inevitably brings me back to bread. Baking it, savoring it, chewing it. The web is particularly inspiring for bread. And among my many digitally-based inspirations is Austrian baker, Christian Ofner. His online presence offers recipes and videos for the style of breads from the Styrian region of Austria.

Among my favorites of his breads is what is termed "a Krustenbrot-Doppelt gebacken," which translates as a crusty doubled baked wheat and rye bread. Wanting to adapt it to use with my own rye sourdough, I reached out to him for advice. He was kind enough to respond. Here is what he wrote.

"You have to take 5 times the amount of natural sourdough! And deduct the flour and water from your natural sour from my recipe, that's it!"

And so I followed his advice, leading to results that were "saftig lecker!" Translated, juicy delicious.