Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"

[Anna N]

 

 Brioche fail!  Ya don’t mind some breads failing — yeast, flour, salt, water are unlikely to break the budget.   But brioche….......  

 

 Will spend the evening troubleshooting. 

 

 

[Chris Hennes]

11 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Will spend the evening troubleshooting. 

Looks under-proofed, no?

[Anna N]

24 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Looks under-proofed, no?

I think you might be right. It proofed for three hours and I believe I was running out of stamina and probably misread the signs. 

[Chris Hennes]

6 minutes ago, Anna N said:

It proofed for three hours and I believe I was running out of stamina and probably misread the signs. 

I have definitely done that! My last loaves of the day often fall victim to it.

[Chris Hennes]

Tonight I baked off half of the pita dough. The recipe has a 24-hour cold proof built into it, so I made the dough yesterday evening, but I'm hoping to get two days in the fridge for the second half...

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh pita is delicious, and one of the breads you don't have to wait long for after it comes out of the oven. These were on the table within five minutes, and gone in about two more. If the dough will indeed keep for another day this is definitely making it into the regular rotation.

[Anna N]

17 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I have definitely done that! My last loaves of the day often fall victim to it.

I am hoping for a better outcome today. I have just put two loaves to proof and I’m hoping I have the patience and the stamina to wait until they meet all the necessary criteria. 

[Anna N]

 

Bettter. 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Took the panettone to child's school - most gone by the time I left. Very satisfactory - great texture, nice flavour (I used fiori de Sicilia) 

[Kerry Beal]

Modernist pizza dough - suffered from an overdose of dough relaxer - it was really, really relaxed - porable.

 

 

 

I have taken 0.1 gram of bromelin and added 49.9 grams of modified cornstarch so next batch I'll be able to measure the amount of the addition.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Corn Rye again

 

 

 

[Anna N]

53 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

(I used fiori de Sicilia) 

 Hope you didn’t spill any!  (It’s an inside joke. While we were up in Manitoulin one year a bottle met the tile floor and we smelled Fiori De Sicilia for weeks and weeks.)

[Chris Hennes]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I have taken 0.1 gram of bromelin and added 49.9 grams of modified cornstarch so next batch I'll be able to measure the amount of the addition.

Good idea - are you at all concerned about getting the bromelain evenly mixed into the starch? It's starting to feel very homeopathic!

[Chris Hennes]

I made the pita again tonight, from the same batch of dough as last night. They had a distinct fermented tang to them: not objectionable, but unusual in a pita. I'll definitely add these to my regular weeknight dinner rotation. With the oven programmed to preheat itself on my drive home from work, dinner was on the table in very short order tonight.

[Kerry Beal]

12 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Good idea - are you at all concerned about getting the bromelain evenly mixed into the starch? It's starting to feel very homeopathic!

The modified starch is nice and free flowing - so I think it will distribute well.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Hope you didn’t spill any!  (It’s an inside joke. While we were up in Manitoulin one year a bottle met the tile floor and we smelled Fiori De Sicilia for weeks and weeks.)

 

It sure is pungent stuff.  It overpowers almost everything...maybe not pine oil.

 

[Kerry Beal]

8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

It sure is pungent stuff.  It overpowers almost everything...maybe not pine oil.

 

Yes indeed - pine oil would have it beat - but not by much! 

[Kerry Beal]

This morning I made a 10 times dilution (I know that's not the right word for powders but I can't dredge up the correct one) of L-cysteine again in modified corn starch. Believe it's used in Modernist Burger buns.

 

And I steam baked, for 15 minutes, one of the two Modernist Lean I made the other day to freshen it up and send it with the kid to school. 

[ChezAndré]

The vacuum step is to speed up the autolyse ( hydration of the flour), sealing the bag is part of getting the vacuum... lightly oil the bag first.

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, ChezAndré said:

The vacuum step is to speed up the autolyse ( hydration of the flour), sealing the bag is part of getting the vacuum... lightly oil the bag first.

I just pop the whole tub, without top, in the chamber vac and let 'er rip. 

[ChezAndré]

But for the time difference (5 minutes in vacuum) vs traditional (20-30 minutes from Calvel) i am rarely in such a rush...  

 

Has anyone seen a good discussion about flours?  That is something i was expecting from Modernist Bread, but it shines by its absence.... and i am soooo disappointed from it... I got very little new info from the books.   Heck, they use only bread flour for the French baguette which is a major red light for me....  

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, ChezAndré said:

But for the time difference (5 minutes in vacuum) vs traditional (20-30 minutes from Calvel) i am rarely in such a rush...  

 

Has anyone seen a good discussion about flours?  That is something i was expecting from Modernist Bread, but it shines by its absence.... and i am soooo disappointed from it... I got very little new info from the books.   Heck, they use only bread flour for the French baguette which is a major red light for me....  

Not sure about the 5 minutes - I'm just using a couple of cycles of around 20 seconds each in my chamber vac. 

 

[ChezAndré]

lol!  ok... the resaon why i laugh is the use of the word "couple"...  When i use it, it is as a undetermined number greater than 1 but less than 4.... where my spouse keep nagging me about it... couple is two... but then i reply.. then i would not use the word couple... lol!   so how big is your couple for this?    

What pressure are you getting in your vacuum chamber?   mine depressurizes after the sealing cycle.... so we do not have similar devices.

[ChezAndré]

In the pizza dough above... modified cornstarch... i associate its use as having a better freezer (frost-defrost) handling... to add it to my pizza dough, i would want to see some research underlying that..  as a dough relaxant?... if i can't toss it up in the air that is not good..... The modification is done with a specific purpose in mind, to solve a technical baking issue ( such a the cornstarch weeping when defrosting), different manufacturers of "modified cornstarch" are not necessarily interchangeable.    

I still like the CIA pizza dough with their addition of semolina (and i use a mix of bread and all purpose flour)... the only place where i use only bread flour is for my bagels.   And my sandwich bread, hamburger and subs buns, i use all purpose flour and pastry flour...   

Edited December 20, 2017 by ChezAndré (log)

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, ChezAndré said:

The vacuum step is to speed up the autolyse ( hydration of the flour), sealing the bag is part of getting the vacuum... lightly oil the bag first.

Sealing the bag is not necessary when using a Foodsaver-type system. I simply interrupt the machine at that point and rerun the cycle. Five cycles is enough for full gluten development.

[ChezAndré]

You say "full gluten development" but i take it that you mean full hydration which is the first step of gluten formation..