I'm going to be in Sydney from the 18th of November before a cruise starting 22nd around New Zealand calling at Dunedin 27th Nov , Akaroa 28th, Wellington 29th, Napier 30th , Tauranga 1st . Auckland 2nd and the Bay of Islands 3rd Dec. back to Sydney for 3 days 5th.6th and 7th flying back to Perth Sunday the 8th.
If there are any TFL folk that might like to catch up for a chat and a coffee lets see if we can make it happen.
I stopped off at the local IGA and purchased the very convenient small pack of yeast at 82 cents and 2kgs of black and gold flour $1.50 and took them to my daughters house where i was to mind my eldest teenage grand daughter (school holidays) and my wife had the other 2 at our house (sleepover). The minding of the teenager is relatively easy they sleep in then when they do wake get straight onto their electronic devices, so making a loaf was to give me something to do.
There was some sweet potato in the cupboard so it was going to be put to good use, i quickly worked out a formula for a 750g loaf whilst the sweet potato was cooking. There was no need to rush this dough as it would need to go back to my place to be baked as the daughters oven is not working, the yeast was going to be @1% but it was to be added to all the water and an equal weight of the flour this was bought together and set aside covered (Autolyse). The remaining flour ,salt,coconut oil which i have not used before and the sweet potato now cooked and mashed were made ready to be added to the ferment that was activated. After 1 hour the remaining ingredients were pitched in and the dough mixing commenced this was accomplished by hand on the bench.
The dough was given a half hour reprieve and rested before a bit more bench action and a nice smooth elastic dough was achieved this was then placed in a bowl to Bulk ferment for several hours. once my wife and the other 2 grand daughters arrived after their visit to the local park that has a flying fox i was relieved of my minding duties and took my dough with me home. I determined that the dough was ready so knocked it back and handed it up to expel the gas and bring it back to a compact shape. it was then covered and given a 30 minute rest. The dough was then shaped and placed in a lined Banneton proofing basket it was placed into a plastic bag and put into the fridge as i was unsure how long the final proof would take and i was due to take my grand nephew for a driving lesson, so the retarding would suit me best. The lesson went well and he will be booking his test very soon. I taught his dad my Nephew to drive many years back. Upon return the dough had still risen i the fridge but it hadn't overproofed so half an hour on the bench whilst the oven heated was Goldie Locks porridge (just right) i was going to bake directly on the pizza stone and utilise a tray with a folded terry towel and boiling water to produce a good steamy environment for the first 10 minutes of the bake when the rapid expansion takes place. The dough piece was rolled from the banneton onto the hot stone, it was brushed with a boiled cornflour wash and sprinkled with poppy seed and given a deep lengthwise slash and some supplementary cuts along the sides the dough was then placed into the oven with the already steaming tray/towel doing its job, for the initial 10 minutes the oven is cranked up full as the steam effect does have a dampening effect on the heat. After 10 minutes and the loaf has finished its spring the door is opened and the tray removed the temperature lowered to 210 and the bake continues. when the towel is hung up in the laundry you can see the amount of steam still coming from it. A further 20 - 25 minutes and the loaf is done pulled from the oven and onto a rack to cool ,be photographed and once quite cool cut open and tasted . So there we have it a Sweet Potato loaf using compressed yeast with a dusting of Turmeric.
Recently been corresponding with Katy 'Bakingbad' and the subject of Pate Fermentee was explored especially as a possible way of getting a stronger sour into S/D. As most of you are aware its a French term for adding old dough to a new mix. It got me thinking about something i spotted years ago in a local West Australian bakery when i was chatting to the owner during his weighing up for his production. I recognised the different things that he was scooping up from under the counter bins except one so took a closer look, he smiled and said its "bread crumbs". Apparently its used in a number of his Italian style breads claims it adds flavour, texture colour and value. The bread is day old bread that is processed into crumbs that he also sells, the bread goes through a hammer mill and the crumbs spread out on shallow trays that go into the cooling ovens at the end of the day to dehydrate. Anyway i have never tried this myself but decided now was the time, i had a quarter of a potato rosemarie and black sesame loaf left from a previous bake so put that to good use and turned it into crumbs
(the donor loaf which was very good too but qualified as a 2 day old loaf)
I quickly formulated a dough that would use bread crumbs at 10% and a total dough weight of 750g to fit into the sandwhich loaf tin i have, i also was using fresh compressed yeast. The dough mixed up well by hand on the bench. It was given a bulk proof knocked back rested for 15 minutes shaped placed in the tin. i slid the lid on whilst it proved checking its progress along the way i decided to bake without the lid on as i've not done this dough before and i would be able to get a better look at its spring .
So there we have it a nice fine soft crumb that is often sought for sandwich breads, i think that the lovely aroma from the potato / rosemarie has carried through in this, and its made wonderful thin cut toast. you can still see the odd black sesame seed from the original loaf.
This loaf is destined for my living longer living stronger keep fit class tomorrow morning. My wife gave me some rosemarie sprigs that she broke off whilst re potting her Gallipoli Rosemarie, i was to see if i could get them to strike.I had a fair few leaves from the preparation that i subsequently chopped up and decided to add them to a loaf, and this is the result. Its a dried yeast loaf with 10% potato 5 % carrot and 1% Chopped Rosemarie. it smells divine the smaller loaf is for our instructor who will be unable to join us for our after class coffee session as she has another class of oldies.
Fermentation almost complete, and a very important ingredient for the dough maker in the background Harewood Estate Cab Sav from the Great Southern of Western Australia,
little and large 250g versus 1063g
The large loaf was baked in a Sassafras clay baker
I was commenting to another Australian baker Dell about soft wheat grains and flours and was mentioning the Caputo Manitoba Ora type O that i have recently found for sale in Western Australia in 5 kg bags and have been using.
My wife was extolling the virtues of a Current Walnut and Fennel loaf that she had recently purchased and enjoyed, so i decided i would make a similar loaf using the Italian flour Australian Sultanas and Fennel seeds in a conventional dough and here it is i baked it in a recently acquired Sassafras clay baker.
I haven't contributed for a while, this is a s/d loaf using Caputo Italian flour Type 0 that has recently become available at the local Supermarket its a Manitoba Ora. On the label it says it is well suited to long fermentation times.
The dough was inoculated with 10% s/d culture and the formula worked out for a 750g dough piece.
flour 436g
salt 9g
s/d culture 44g
water 262g
i added 262g of water to the 44g of s/d culture and 262g of the flour and bought this together and let it sit for 1 hour, i then added the rest of the flour and the salt and mixed to a nice dough this was left to bulk ferment overnight for just under 10 hours it was then knocked back and handed up and allowed to rest for half an hour it was then shaped and placed in a banneton for just under 3 hours it was then placed in a dutch oven and baked at 220C with the lid on for 20 minutes and lid off for a further 20 minutes. The result was a loaf with a bit more tang than usual and a good mouth feel long after it had been swallowed.
Overall quite happy with this flour as it works out at $A3.00 a Kg when buying the 5 kg bag
I just had probably my last bake with a class of students at the college before it closes for good at the end of this year.
This was a dough that they had down in their work books as a basic bread dough but i would have it down as an enriched dough as it had 8% butter and 8% milk powder, for me it would qualify as a vienna dough.
It was a fresh yeasted dough and made a nice selection of dinner rolls and a few loaves like this one i bought home.
I called into South Metro Tafe Beaconsfield yesterday to make a booking for lunch at Quinlan's Training Restaurant for next week and was informed that the facility will be closing for good at the end of this term which is only 5 weeks away. I was given the opportunity to endulge myself and spend this morning with a number of Commercial Cookery students in the training restaurants bakery. Under the circumstances i thought it wise to grab the chance while i could. As i did a test run with the 10% Millet bread posted here just yesterday i opted to do that but a much larger dough 5Kg of flour and using the big Hobart mixer. this was followed by a fruit dough 5Kg making Cinnamon Scrolls just like we used to make for the Cancer Councils fund raising Australia's biggest morning tea. All four students were very attentive and were picking up their hand skills very quickly. i will be back next week but seated in the restaurant see the menu.
What do you do when given some interesting flour to play with? well you have to go home and try it straight away! i made a White loaf with 10% addition of Millet Flour.
This was quite a quick acting dough and when shaped i decided to make the loaf placed upside down in a banneton to prove but like the old uprights that can be pulled apart quite easily , look a bit like siamese twins. The Aroma is quite divine if the taste is half as good i will be well pleased!
