The Bread Topic (2014 –2015)

[Anna N]

I want to teach my teenage granddaughter how to make the Ken Forkish bread but know that the large Dutch oven when it reaches 450°F is challenging even for me. So today as well as testing gluten-free recipes I made a half quantity of the Saturday bread dough and baked it in two much smaller enameled cast iron dishes. This worked very well and I am encouraged to see if I can teach her how to bake her own bread. Special thanks to pbear who showed me that the dough could be put into a cold pan and still work very well.

[Ann_T]

Nice colour on your crust Anna.    I find the Dutch oven a bit of a challenge too.  Prefer to bake on a stone instead.

 

Two batches of bread - one sourdough (Batards) and the other my regular bread.

 

 

Sourdough

[Dave W]

First try at snake twist method of bagel making. I prefer mini boule/jab hole I think.

[KingofBaguette]

Here we go again... And there looking good!!!

[CatPoet]

A big  porridge loaf and 8  Lebanese  flat breads   is what I have manage to make today and then I fell a sleep.  I did too much today and it just shy of 4 in the afternoon.

I was supposed to make gluten free hamburger bread for my friend , but the weather is horrible so no grilling today and he also said since I was so tired , it wasnt needed.

[radtek]

Mom always said don't bake when it is raining. it's raining buckets. I say hogwash

[Ann_T]

Mom always said don't bake when it is raining. it's raining buckets. I say hogwash

 

Radtek,  I have never heard that old wives tale.   

 

Good thing it isn't true or I wouldn't get much baking done here on Canada's rainy west coast. 

[CatPoet]

radekt, it depends where you live if it works or not.  

When I started it was sunshine and   warm , then it dropped  and got cold and started raining, but my loaf  was in the oven by then..  Humidity does effect the flour, but that depends on if goes from a blistering heat to  a cold rain, then it can be a bit odd.  Also since it  temperature drop, it can be too cold for the  bread to rise unless you have a very warm home. So yes it does effect and in the old days even more so then today in our modern warm home.   

 

Thunderstorms is a no go for baking here,  the bread will not rise normally and well there could a power outage  so no bread then.

[radtek]

I think she said something bout thunderstorms and making bread too.

[CatPoet]

I cant even make cookies with bicarb when there is a  thunderstorm  coming, it doesn't work.

 

 

Here are the flatbreads.

[Anna N]

So, I decided to bake another loaf even though it wasn't needed. More of a study in my experiment playing out the idea of a girdle for my loaf.

Cut 4" of parchment paper. Oil pan and insert paper. Place dough in pan. Rise. Bake. Seems to work for me- the recipe was expanded by 25% or 4oz of bread flour.

Removed the paper halfway through the 55 minute bake:

The results were what I wanted, though a proper pan would be preferable.

While searching for something else I came across this. Might meet your needs. Oops. Never mind! A little short for your needs. Sorry. Edited May 17, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[Franci]

I made focaccia genovese. It is SO good, it's hard with my ancient oven and these baking sheets are no good

[Anna N]

It looks amazing Franci. What makes it different from other focaccia? A quick Google suggests that water and olive oil or poured over it before it goes into the oven. Yours looks incredibly light and airy. And what is your objection to the baking sheets you are using?

[Dave W]

Franci ,killer crumb I bet that's a very slack dough!

[Franci]

It's very different from other focaccias. It's very thin to start with, after it is baked is at most 2.5 cm (1 inch). It has a golden color on top but pale at the bottom, more soft than crisp (beside the hedges) and with big wholes filled with extra virgin olive oil and water (as you find on google) and coarse salt on top. Yes, it is very oily and it's one of the reasons people like it so much, with a good amount of salt it's really addictive. Ligurian oil is not very spicy. People from Genoa like to dip it into cappuccino for breakfast. De gustibus...

My oven is an old gas oven. A steam oven would be best for this focaccia. I made two pans, an 1/2 sheet pan and a staub hexagon frying pan: no comparison. My cheap aluminum pan made a very smooth harder bottom (still pleasant), not the hexagon.

If anybody wants to give it a try, I'm more than happy to share the recipe.

[ElsieD]

It's very different from other focaccias. It's very thin to start with, after it is baked is at most 2.5 cm (1 inch). It has a golden color on top but pale at the bottom, more soft than crisp (beside the hedges) and with big wholes filled with extra virgin olive oil and water (as you find on google) and coarse salt on top. Yes, it is very oily and it's one of the reasons people like it so much, with a good amount of salt it's really addictive. Ligurian oil is not very spicy. People from Genoa like to dip it into cappuccino for breakfast. De gustibus...

My oven is an old gas oven. A steam oven would be best for this focaccia. I made two pans, an 1/2 sheet pan and a staub hexagon frying pan: no comparison. My cheap aluminum pan made a very smooth harder bottom (still pleasant), not the hexagon.

If anybody wants to give it a try, I'm more than happy to share the recipe.

I would love to try it. It looks delicious.

[Franci]

Here, it is. Let me know how it turns out for you. For the recipe I have to thank Paola, a Genoese, living in Turkey

 

 

Fo the poolish

• 200 g flour (I simply used an organic AP flour from Whole foods)
• 200ml water
• 1.5 grams instant yeast (I used 3/4 tsp)

 

 

For the dough

• all the poolish
• 500 g flour
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 300 ml water
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon malt syrup
• 40 ml di olio evo

 

emulsion:

• 80ml evoo
• 120 ml water
• coarse salt

Mix all the ingredients for the poolish  and let it rest covered for 12 hours. I mixed mine at 8 pm.

Pour the fermented poolish in the mixer, add yeast, malt and using the flat beater slowly mix everything. Add flour and water and oil and mix on low for about 10 minutes. Add the salt and increase the speed to 2 until the gluten has fully developed.

Cover the bowl and at 20 minutes intervals, for 3 times, using a bowl scraper fold the hedges of the dough toward the center.
Let rise covered for 3-4 hours. Divide into your pans already oiled (for this quantity, as I said I used an 1/2 inch pan and a 15 inch round pan). Wet your hands with oil and stretch the dough in the pan, if it resists a little let it rest 5-10 minutes. Let it sit 1 more hour and meanwhile make an emulsion with the oil and water. Pushing with the knuckles of you hands make a lot of indentation in the dough, pour almost all of the emulsion on the focaccia, leaving some to brush on top when the focaccia gets out of the oven. 

Bring you oven to 450 F and let rest the focaccia for other 20 minutes. It would be better to create some steam in the oven at the beginning. Bake for around 20 minutes or until golden on top. Out of the oven brush with leftover emulsion.

You can make it also with onions. Cut about 3 onions very thinly and saute with a little oil until wilted. Let cool before spreading on the dough. Use half emulsion.
 

Edited May 18, 2015 by Franci (log)

[ElsieD]

Thank you, Franci, I will be making this and will report back. Two questions - I don't have any malt syrup, is there an acceptable substitute? And secondly, can I scale this recipe to make half the amount? Thank you.

[JohnT]

Thank you, Franci, I will be making this and will report back. Two questions - I don't have any malt syrup, is there an acceptable substitute? And secondly, can I scale this recipe to make half the amount? Thank you.

We do not get malt syrup in my part of the world and for the occasional recipe requiring it, I normally sub with molasses at a ratio 1:0.66 malt syrup:molasses and never had a problem. I cannot answer your second question but cannot see why you could not make a half portion!

[Franci]

thanks, John. Definitely you can make half quantity and sub the malt syrup for molasses (or honey).  Personally I find it more difficult to work in the mixer smaller quantities, but it is certainly doable . My suggestion would be to make it full and use 1/2 for a thick pizza (without so much oil), bake and freeze in portions for snacks or emergencies. That's what I'll do for my next batch.

[JohnT]

Franci, focaccia used to be a very available flat-bread in my part of South Africa, but is now hardly ever found in bakeries anymore - most likely due to to the cost of the evoo these days. That good stuff has tripled in price over the past few years! But, I am going to give your recipe a go on Wednesday and make a few as a test batch and then make some for a catering gig I have in two weeks time - it really looks absolutely darn good. I must admit that I have never come across making an emulsion to use on a bread item and the idea makes a lot of sense. Thanks for posting the recipe. I may tweak it by adding fresh chopped rosemary in place of onion.

[radtek]

We do not get malt syrup in my part of the world and for the occasional recipe requiring it, I normally sub with molasses at a ratio 1:0.66 malt syrup:molasses and never had a problem. I cannot answer your second question but cannot see why you could not make a half portion!

 

Check a local homebrew supply shop for liquid or dry malt extract.

[JohnT]

Radtek, you are correct, it is available at some home brew suppliers. It costs about $15.00 for a small can plus shipping at about $18. Not really worth it when you only use a tablespoon or two a year. Molasses is available at around $1.50 for a 1kg bottle, which I already use in other products and it is easily obtainable. It was incorrect of me to say we do not get malt syrup here but, at the prices it is available for, let's just say it is so outrageously expensive, I consider it "unavailable" and use a sub. To use when making Franci's focaccia, molasses is a good sub but you could actually leave it out altogether and use a teaspoon of sugar instead. It appears it is just there to feed the yeast.

[KingofBaguette]

Sorry if I'm getting annoying with the same picture every night, but I am addicted....

Fresh out of the oven.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

As posted in the dinner thread: