Sour 100% Whole Wheat Batard

I have finally got to my off days. Woohoo! So I decided to bring my starter out of the fridge. Gave it a big feeding. Yeast activity was immediate and the starter was as strong as ever. As I have almost run out of unbleached very strong white flour, thanks to Cold Storage who has stopped stocking them since months ago, I thought I would try baking a 100% whole wheat bread after reading about it at www.thefreshloaf.com. It was a little tricky folding the dough as the high bran content tended to tear the gluten up. As soon as it did that, I just stopped folding and let it rest. I folded a total of three times over a 3.5 hour bulk fermentation period.

Spreaded with butter and topped with smoked mackerel with black pepper.

~85% hydration whole wheat sourdough starter 40%
Waitrose Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour 100%
Tap water 80%
Sea salt 2%

Profiteroles

Have not done any baking at home since the sourdough ciabatta so I thought I might post a couple of pics of what I do at work. Profiteroles and lots of them. These are pictures of before, during, and after baking.

Guess what I am having for supper.

The sourdough ciabatta from this morning. What is better to eat it with than an extra virgin olive oil dip with balsamic vinegar droplets and sprinkled with freshly crushed black pepper corns and dried rosemary figs.

Sourdough Ciabatta

Ok.....honestly speaking, I fell asleep while proving this dough of sourdough ciabatta. Got a call from work asking me to do overtime before my usual shift. I was a little pissed and groggy but the thoughts of my fellow colleagues drowning in the kitchen..... I can't cope with. Suddenly I remembered my ciabatta in the kitchen so I just divided them and baked them straight in the oven. Here is a pic of them baking in the oven. I wasn't in the mood to do delicate shapings so I just randomly chopped the dough up. I really need my double shot latté now.........Yawn........

I prefer my bread to be baked till dark cause I like the slight hint of caramel on the crusts.

Wheat sourdough starter 35%

Waitrose Very Strong Canadian White Flour 100%
Tap water 75%
Sea salt 2%

Sourdough Walnut and Raisin Bread

Walnuts quality were not as good as Diamond's. Other than that, it tasted alright. The sweetness of the raisins blend well with the tangy flavour of the sourdough.

Wheat sourdough starter 35%

Waitrose Very Strong White Flour 60%
Gold Medal Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour 40%
Chilled tap water ~65%
Sea salt 2%
Phoon Huat Walnuts 20%
Sun Maid California Raisins ~10%

I felt a little bit down last night so I baked.

Descriptions later, time for work. There's a tragic story behind this loaf but of course, in Andre's Wonderland, everything ends with 'happily ever after'.

White leaven bread using concoction of rye and white starter.

Lavash crackers

Pics of lavash crackers made from the pita dough from Peter Reinhart's book.



Sprinkled with toasted black sesame seeds, dried rosemary, mixed herbs and cajun spice. Proven to be good snacks when watching tennis matches on the telly.

A couple of breads that I tried when I first started my ritual baking at home.

Just a straightforward 60% hydration dough using commercial yeast. If I am not mistaken, they are called called pain ordinaire meaning ordinary bread. The pointy ones are called petite ordinaire. We used to make lots of those at work before we moved to the current temporary kitchen. Honestly speaking, these petites gave me countless nightmares. Dreamt I kept screwing the dough up during shaping.



These are plain soft rolls made using the recipe at work, without the bread improver though. The chief baker taught us how to memorise the steps for braided rolls so I decided to give it a try when I reached home. Glazed with milk........as I ran out of eggs.



A slice of unleavened piadine (piadina?). Reminds me of chapatti. Only difference is the hint of olive oil in this one. Made them and ate them all straight on the spot.

Barley and Rye Breads

Tried Dan lepard's barley and rye bread but I accidently included 4% of salt instead of 2. The bread was slightly more salty but that was quickly fixed by layering smoked ham and unsalted butter on them. The rest as usual were dunked in tomato soup. I was a little overzealous when scoring the loaf hence the crust outbreak. I am going back to pouring boiling water onto a hot pan when it comes to steaming the loaf. I just find that spraying with a spritzer doens't seem to give maximum oven spring.



I tried the barley and rye bread again.. This time round, I measured the salt first! I toasted the barley flour lightly to obtain a lighter crumb color. And since I had 3 off days in a row, I decided to bake some Swedish knäckebröd or dark crisp rye crackers as well. But i kinda fell asleep while baking them (terrible sin), so the edges are a little.... well...let's say, extra crunchy.



A slice of the bread managed to get dunked in Gastronomia's tomato soup.

Another Dan Lepard sour 100% rye bread

My entry for BBD#3.

This one is proven in a tin mould. I managed to get hold of my rye leaven just as it peaked so the proving time was greatly shortened. Check out my bitemarks on the buttered slice.



This bread is made by making use of gelatinized rye mix to impart elasticity to the crust and crumb. The rye starter is combined with fine rye flour and the overnight gelatinized rye mix to create a sticky paste. It felt weird initially as it did not feel like a wheat dough as it had virtually no resistance to stretching. But it was manageable and I was able to shape it to fit the mould.

Next attempt will be rye and barley bread if I can find the time.

This is a pic of a slice of the rolled oats and green apple loaf dunked in tomato soup sprinkled with mixed herbs.

Check out Dan Lepard's website at http://www.danlepard.com/

100% Sour Rye Bread

The shape of the loaf is a little flat. Will try to prove it in a tin next time. Taste wise, its sourness reminds me of indian yoghurt and the crust taste sweet and nutty. The bread goes tremendously well with butter. Surprisingly, it is not as dense as it seems. Ok, time to get ready for work. Chao!

Amazing website

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/index.html

Deals with the chemistry involved in cooking.

Major rollercoaster ride at work today.

A healthy start today but it led to a few bumpy rides and as always, it ended on a good note. Life at work is just like a painting of blooming roses and rotten bananas, all in the same picture, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and you try your best to savour the beautiful moments as they pass by.

My current home projects include:

1. Fermenting green apple skins in water.
2. Developing a rye batter for making sweet rye bread tomorrow morning.
3. As usual, keeping my pet starter in check.

Talking about my rye starter... I waited 4 hours after introducing rye to 2 tsp of my old wholewheat starter but nothing happened. I went to bed and had a strange dream. Dreamt I kept waking up every hour to check on the starter's progress but I kept getting disappointing sights. I woke up this morning to find the starter had sprung up like Jack and the beanstalks. To think of it, I could be unconsciously sleep walking the whole night. The starter has fallen a bit but I will starve them till tomorrow before I give them the next feed. Gotta show them who's Boss!!!

Rolled oats and green apple loaf.

Another Dan Lepard recipe. I used my wholewheat leaven for this. Instead of topping up my sourdough starter with more wholewheat flour, I have decided to use fine rye flour so that I can try out some of the rye leaven recipes. Hopefully, it will ferment nicely. Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the loaf. Will have to wait a while before I can check the crumb texture and taste. Smells awfully good though.

My desired crumb structure.

Sliced the loaf after it cooled down. The high hydration paid off. The only thing is the bottom crumb is not as irregular as the top. Maybe it's due to the uneveness in temperature since I baked it on a baking tray. Might try baking straight on the hearth once I get my hands on those baking tiles.

Latest addition to my sourdough breads

This one is done using whole wheat sourdough starter and sprinkled with oats prior to baking. It was a pretty wet dough but it turned out ok. I am waiting for it to cool down before I check the crumb texture. By the way, it's 5 AM in the morning!

Poolish Ciabatta

First attempt was a terribly messy ordeal. It took me a whole day to get it done. But the result was quite fruitful.

Second attempt was a joy due to the build up in confidence but I still yearn for the godly 83% hydration ciabatta. My favourite would be the little ciabatinnis. Lil' crunchy things...great for soaking up soups, sauces and balsamic vinegar hinted extra virgin olive oils.

My pet

Let me introduce my pet. I haven't got a name for it(them) yet. Before you start thinking I am from the loony bin, this is actually my sourdough starter which I created using Dan Lepard's methods. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who has just started baking but this is something you want to achieve as you walk down the bread path. It involves extracting wild yeasts, in this case, from raisins and lacto bacterias from low fat yoghurt.

This is actually my second attempt. My first involved extracting wild yeasts from my kitchen but the volume got out of control after three days and I wasn't in the state to discard 3/4 of the mixture so it got very acidic and killed the gluten in the dough every time I tried baking with it. So guess what I did, I added some commercial yeast to make it rise. So the acidic taste was retained in the baked bread.

Here is what it looked like. It wouldn't be right to call it sourdough bread as it contained commercial yeasts.

Here are some of the breads that have been baked using Dan Lepard's method. Now these are actual sourdough breads. Yummy! Yummy! Now you can see how baking involves arts too.

My starter is about 8-9 days old now. I recently changed the feeding from strong white flour to whole wheat flour. It takes more water to get to maintain the same consistency as whole wheat absorbs more moisture. Hopefully, by doing this, I have managed to introduce more strains of wild yeasts (friends) to the current yeast colony. And by doing this, impart different notes of flavour to my baked bread.

My first post in my very first blog.

Wow! What can I say. After months of hesitation, I have finally put my thoughts into action. Well, this is actually my second blog. I used to own a livejournal account years ago but that was short lived.

More about me, I am currently pursuing a Diploma in Pastry and Baking at SHATEC. Right this instance, I am doing the last leg of the course which is the attachment. It is my 4th month now working in Shangri-La Singapore. Well, I can't say it has been smooth sailing. But I try my best to treat everyday as a new day and take it as a challenge. There are ups and downs like any other jobs but I am right to say my skills in the trade has definitely improved, thanks to everyone at work.

Why "Eat More Bread"? The main reason why I am in this trade is because it brings out my artistic and scientific sides. I have always been a sucker for Chemistry since secondary school. Everything in my life revolves around Science.

My current goal is to learn everything about breads, from individual ingredients to cultures. How these elements fuse together to create a staple food that has lasted for centuries is mind blowing, well....for me anyway. My main goals are to also to keep on learning and improving on my trade, to share my knowledge, to teach, to sit high on the shoulders of my teachers and mentors and to keep on baking. Ok, this might sound cheesy but that is actually from Jeffrey Hammelman's book. But it truly represents me and it is the only reason why I live. I did not choose bread. The bread chose me.