A Hearty Bread

I'm not baking bread as often as I used to. Lots of things getting in the way of it, but mostly it's because Sweetie asked me to not tempt him with warm bread quite so often...he has no resistance to bread hot from the oven but wants to continue to fit in his clothes.

Still, I have a sourdough starter and it seems a shame to waste the 'toss off' that comes with feeding it. Before I went to LA I used it to make some pizza dough, which I then froze. One day soon I'll make pizza for dinner, but for now the calories are held at bay.

I fed it again a couple of days ago and decided that it had been a long time since I've made a hearty, seedy bread. If I give half of it away then Sweetie and I can still have some and feel virtuous at the same time. After doing a half-feeding of the toss off (1/2 cup each all-purpose flour and water, instead of a full cup of each), I let that sit in the fridge over night. The second day I fed the mixture with a feeding of 1 cup graham flour (Bob's Red Mill brand) and 1 cup water. It made for a soupy mixture since the last time I fed the starter I added extra water knowing that it would be well over a week before I could feed it. The reason I mention this is that I started with more hydration in the dough than usual. If you have 100% hydration starter, you won't need as much flour for the bread.

The graham flour mixture sat on the counter for about 20 hours before I started the dough and it was nice and bubbly, plus there was a great yeast fragrance, but I knew I would be adding a lot of things needing a bit of extra lift, so I whisked in 1 teaspoon active dry yeast.

In a bowl I mixed together dark rye flour, flax seed, all-purpose flour, and salt. These were added to the sourdough mixture using my stand  mixer and the dough hook, letting everything come together and finishing with some all-purpose flour to stiffen the dough a bit. Once the machine kneading finished, I did some more on a floured board. The dough was just a bit tacky, so I used my bench scraper to lift the dough up and over for kneading.

After kneading a few minutes, I flattened the dough out into an oval, then sprinkled on 1/4 cup chopped pecans and 1/4 cup of Salad Toppings, a mixture I found at Costco that contains pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. Rolled up the dough, folded the ends over, then flattened it again to allow for the remaining 1/4 cup chopped pecans and 1/4 cup Salad Toppings to be worked in. More kneading until all was evenly distributed, then into the rising container for a few hours to rise. I like to spray the bottom and a bit up the sides of the container with spray olive oil, then turn the dough in it to coat surface of the dough with oil. Probably not necessary, but I like the dough to stay soft on the surface and that takes care of that.

After the dough doubled in bulk, I turned it out on a floured board, punched it down, used the bench scraper to cut it into three pieces, then weighed them so that they were each about 14 oz. Rolled each into a snake shape and put them, lined up, on a baking sheet. After braiding them loosely, I covered the braid with a clean tea towel and let it rise. All that was left was preheating the oven, painting the plait with beaten egg, and baking it until golden.

This makes a hearty bread. It has a fairly fine grain and is studded throughout with seeds, nuts, and the occasional cranberry piece. I served it with dinner and one guest described the variety of flavors and 'lots of musical notes', but they all work well together. This is not a sweet bread since the proportion of cranberries in the Salad Topping is small. It has lots of seeds, which is lovely, and makes great toast.

I had a couple slices today for lunch as Avocado Toasts with some smoked salmon on top. Yum!

Hearty Seedy Braid
my own creation

1 cup sourdough starter, plus about 2 tablespoons water if your starter is 100% hydration
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1 cup graham flour
1 cup water
1 cup dark rye flour
1/2 cup flax seeds
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional (about another 1/2 cup or so)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup mixed sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries
1 egg, beaten

Take the 1 cup sourdough starter and put into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk together the all purpose flour and the water. Whisk into the sourdough starter until well combined. Leave on counter, uncovered for 2 hours, then lightly cover and refrigerate.

The next day whisk together the graham flour and the water in a small bowl. Add it to the sourdough starter mixture and let sit, uncovered, on the counter until the next day.

The next day, whisk together the rye flour, flax seeds, all-purpose flour and salt in a medium bowl. Put the sourdough mixture into a stand mixer bowl. Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Stir about 1/3 of the flour mixture into the sourdough mixture with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Put the bowl on the mixer base and start up the dough hook on low speed. Slowly add the remainder of the flour mixture. If needed, add additional all-purpose flour as the mixer kneads the dough for at least 8 minutes. When kneaded, dough should clean the sides of the bowl and be tacky but not sticky.

Remove the dough from the dough hook and bowl onto a lightly floured board or clean work surface. Knead the dough a few turns, then flatten into a large oval or circle. Sprinkle half the pecans and half the seed mixture over the dough, roll up jelly-roll fashion and flip end up over the log. Press down to flatten the dough again, sprinkle on the remaining pecans and seed mixture, roll up again, then knead until the pecans and seeds are well distributed in the dough.

Oil lightly a rising container. Place the dough in it, then turn dough over so that all is coated with oil. Flatten the dough in the rising container, cover with a clean shower cap or with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place to double in bulk.

When dough has doubled, turn out onto a lightly floured board or work surface. Using a bench scraper, cut into three pieces (weigh if necessary to keep about the same weight), then roll each piece into a snake shape. Place the three snakes next to each other in a baking sheet, braid loosely, tuck ends under, cover with a clean tea towel and let rise until about doubled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When braid has almost doubled, use a pastry brush to paint the plaits with beaten egg. Bake for about 40 minutes, until golden brown. When you tap the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow. Cool for at least 10 minutes on a rack, then slice and serve.

Well Done

This month the Bread Baking Babes celebrate another anniversary...the 8th. Our Kitchen of the Month, Tanna of My Kitchen in HalfCups, challenged us with a bread that requires some time, some buckwheat flour, and some delicious caramelized onions!

 It comes from the book Bien Cuit, which is French for well done. They are referring to the nice dark brown baked edges of the slashes made into the bread, but I also think that Tanna deserves a resounding "Well done!" for not only choosing a wonderful recipe, but for shepherding our group through ups and downs in membership these past 8 years. She makes us feel welcome when we are new, keeps the creativity and curiosity going by her example, and makes sure that the back bench is there when needed, well stocked. Although we are pretty much a group without rules, Tanna provides the gentle nudge this way or that, but only when needed. She also shows us that you can spend a lot of time visiting around the country and world and still find time to bake bread! Although I didn't start out with the original Babes, I think I've baked over 60 breads with the Babes, learning a lot about breads and shaping breads and what not to do while making breads along the way. Tanna has been there all along the way with encouragement, information and friendship!

At first I thought that I would be able to follow this recipe to the letter, and had every intention of doing so, but tripped up right at the start when I discovered that I didn't have white rye flour for the starter. Not to be discouraged from starting, I used plain unbleached bread flour, which worked fine.

After reading through the recipe I also decided to mix the starter in a large bowl then continue on with the recipe in that same bowl. I mixed up the flour and buckwheat flour, then removed about a sixth to a small bowl, then added in the yeast and salt to the larger amount of flour. This larger amount was stirred in, a half cup at a time (in honor of Tanna's blog's name, but also because it's a good amount to stir in at one time) after I had stirred the water into the starter in the bowl. No honey was used - I forgot to add it.

I ended up doing a sort of roll and tuck with a plastic scraper that had a long handle. My dough was still pretty wet, so this was better than using my hands. While I was doing this I added much of the reserved flour mixture, but not all of it. This is the reason that I put the yeast and salt into the flour that I knew would be added. I no longer had to worry that part of the yeast or salt would stay in the reserved bowl. Have been there and done that and had to add a bit more salt later in the process, which never works out as well.

I put a shower cap over the bowl and did the first 45 minute wait. For the stretch and folding I kept the dough in the bowl and used that spatula again. It still allowed me to stretch the dough and I did so going all around the bowl. Back on with the shower cap and another 45 minute wait.

I repeated this twice more before finally using the remaining flour mix in the small bowl to dust my kneading board. Guess I used it all anyway.

I degassed the dough, pushed it into a rectangle of sorts, then spread half the onions in a thin layer over it, then rolled it up and folded in the ends. Turned the dough over, pushed it into a rectangle of sorts, spread the other half of the onions (and I used twice as much as called for) over the dough and rolled it up again, folding in the ends. Then I kneaded the dough for about 10 turns to work the onions in more evenly.

At this point I formed the dough into a ball, pulling the dough to the back again and again to form a sort of skin. I laid it on the lightly floured board, skin side up, and put an overturned large bowl over it, then let it sit for 20 minutes.

This was when I decided I wanted to bake the bread and not wait until the next day. I placed the ball of dough on a piece of parchment only slightly wider in diameter than the ball. Although the original recipe called for two loaves, I decided to make one large one. I preheated the oven to 500 degrees F and put in a covered enameled cast iron casserole large enough to hold the dough, with room to expand. When the oven was hot enough, I put the parchment/dough ball on a bread peel, dusted it liberally with flour, scored the loaf deeply with a small chef's knife, removed the casserole carefully from the oven, removed the lid, slid the parchment and dough into the casserole and put the lid on again. The casserole went into the hot oven. I baked it for 25 minutes, then removed the lid. I slid the loaf out of the casserole and checked for doneness by tapping the bottom. It sounded hollow and the edges of the scores were a nice dark brown! I let it cool, but Sweetie wasn't about to wait 8 hours, so it was cut while still warm. He liked it that way. I enjoyed it more the next morning when it had cooled.

This bread is wonderful! The onions do make it world class, so try to make it with the onions. If you have more patience than I do you can follow the recipe as written on Tanna's page and you might get a better bread and you are sure to get the bakers cred for doing the full on recipe. We are going easy on bread eating around here, so I gave 1/4 of the loaf to Grandma L and another quarter to some neighbors and cut up a quarter to freeze. Since I only made one loaf, it was a big boule, so sharing was easy.

Don't forget to visit the other Babe's sites to see their versions. In web view of this blog there is a sidebar with links to their blogs. Consider making it yourself by Feb. 28th to become a Buddy. Just send Tanna a photo and description of your baking experience and she'll send you a Buddy Badge. Be sure to thank Tanna for choosing this marvelous artisan bread!

CARAMELIZED ONION BREAD

Recipe a variation of one by: Bien Cuit
Yield: 1 large boule

Ingredients:

STARTER
125 grams (3/4 c + 21/2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
0.3 gram (generous pinch) instant yeast
125 grams (1/2 c + 1 tsp) water at about 60°F (15°C)
DOUGH
425 grams (3 c + 21/2 tsp) white flour, plus additional as needed for working with the dough
75 grams (1/2 c + 11/2 tsp) buckwheat flour
15 grams (21/2 tsp) fine sea salt
1 gram (generous 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
350 grams (11/4 c + 31/2 tbsp) water at about 60°F (15°C)

50 grams (1/4 c) Caramelized Onions (1 medium onion, chopped, cooked slowly with 2 tablespoons olive oil until caramelized)


Directions:
1. Put the flour in a extra-large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast into the water, stir to mix, and pour over the flour. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed. Cover the bowl (I used a shower cap) and let sit at room temperature for 10 to 14 hours. The starter will be at its peak at around 12 hours.

2. FOR THE DOUGH
Stir together the white and buckwheat flours in a medium bowl. Remove 1/6th of it to a small bowl. Add  salt, and yeast to the medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set both aside.

Pour about one-third of the water around the edges of the starter in the extra-large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to break up the starter. Add the remaining water and stir. 
Add the flour mixture from the medium bowl, one half cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Continue to mix with the spoon until most of the dry ingredients have been combined with the starter mixture. Switch to a plastic bowl scraper and continue to mix some of the flour from the small bowl until incorporated. At this point the dough will be sticky to the touch.

Push the dough to one side of the bowl. Use a stiff spatula or a wooden spoon and lift and fold the dough, lifting and folding all around the diameter of the bowl, adding the reserved flour mixture and a small amount of additional flour to the bowl and your hands as needed. Continue lifting and folding until the dough feels stronger and begins to resist any further lifting. Then, with cupped hands, tuck the sides under toward the center. If dough is still somewhat wet it will not be a clean ball. Cover the bowl with a shower cap or tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.

3.Repeat the lift and fold in the bowl twice more. Cover bowl and let rest 45 minutes after each session.

4. Now lightly dust a clean work surface or board with flour and take the dough out of the bowl and put it on the board. Degas by pushing down all over the ball. Then push the dough into a rectangular shape and spread half the caramelized onions in a thin layer over the dough. Roll up like a jelly roll, then bring up the ends. Turn the dough over and push it out into a rectangle again. You may have to let it sit for 10 minutes if it resists being pushed out. Spread the remaining onions thinly over the dough, roll up like a jelly roll, then bring up the ends. Turn dough over and knead about 10 times to distribute the onion throughout the dough.

5. Shape the dough into a large ball, pulling the dough to the back of the ball over and over until a thin skin forms. Place the dough, skin side up, on a floured board and cover with an overturned large bowl. Let sit 20 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and place a large, enameled cast iron casserole or Dutch oven into the oven, including the cover. Make sure that the cover has a handle that can go into the oven.

7. When the oven is hot enough, cut a piece of parchment into a circle the size of the bottom of the casserole. Place it on a baking peel and place the dough ball onto the parchment. Dust heavily with flour and score deeply the loaf with a lame or small chef's knife.

8. Working quickly but carefully, take the casserole from the oven, remove the lid, slide the loaf into the hot casserole, return the lid to the pot, put the casserole back in the oven and bake abput 25 minutes. When done the loaf will sound hollow when the back is tapped and the edges of the scores will be dark brown (bien cuit).

9. To test, remove the casserole from the oven, remove the lid and tip the baked loaf out onto a cooling rack. Turn over and tap.  If bread doesn't sound hollow, return to the stone and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing and eating, at least 4 hours but preferably 8 to 24 hours.