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

[Anna N]

 

Very satisfactory. English Muffins (Page 55 of Kitchen Manual). The dough was beastly to work with!  Heavy and sticky.  Uses both a poolish and a stiff levain and gets a long, cold proof. Suggested cooking time on a buttered griddle is four minutes per side. This was not nearly enough on my set up but that is to be expected. Final temperature was ~204°F. 

These have considerably more flavour than the commercial ones I normally buy.  I am certain  I detect a hint of sourness which is not really too surprising. 

[Chris Hennes]

@Anna N are you maintaining a separate stiff levain, or did you convert a liquid levain to stiff? I seem to recall reading something in the book about that, but I don't remember how long it takes. Maybe just a single feeding?

[Anna N]

 I converted and yes it was just a single feeding.  And oh boy was it alive. I was almost afraid to open the refrigerator this morning in case it had escaped its container and was oozing all the way down  into my crisper drawers. 

[Anna N]

@Chris Hennes

 Chris,

What size bannetons are you using for your bâtards?   I am looking for something suitable for about 500 g of dough. Thanks. 

[Chris Hennes]

33 minutes ago, Anna N said:

What size bannetons are you using for your bâtards?   I am looking for something suitable for about 500 g of dough. Thanks. 

I use this 10" model.

[Anna N]

17 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

I use this 10" model.

 Thank you. I am looking at something of a similar size on the Amazon.ca site. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

38 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

I use this 10" model.

 

This may be a silly question, but when using a banneton how to you transfer the proofed dough to the peel?

 

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

This may be a silly question, but when using a banneton how to you transfer the proofed dough to the peel?

 

Exactly the same way that  porcupines  make love… Carefully!

Seriously I tip the banneton and catch the dough with my hand and transfer it to whatever surface it is I’m going to bake it on. You could also tip it gently directly onto a peel and then transfer it to your baking surface. Tipping a banneton into a screaming hot Dutch oven is not something I would recommend. I’ve tried many times and either burned myself, deflated the dough completely or both. 

 

 Others may have other techniques. 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

Exactly the same way that  porcupines  make love… Carefully!

Seriously I tip the banneton and catch the dough with my hand and transfer it to whatever surface it is I’m going to bake it on. You could also tip it gently directly onto a peel and then transfer it to your baking surface. Tipping a banneton into a screaming hot Dutch oven is not something I would recommend. I’ve tried many times and either burned myself, deflated the dough completely or both. 

 

Thanks.  In the banneton is the good side of the dough facing up or down?

 

[Anna N]

7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Thanks.  In the banneton is the good side of the dough facing up or down?

 

It’s very much depends upon the recipe. In some cases the dough is put into the banneton seam side up and it is not scored before being baked.  In other cases it is put into the banneton seam side down and is usually scored before baking. 

 

Edited to add I hope I got that right. 

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Well I just ordered one -- same brand as Chris linked but round.

 

[chefmd]

I got such a great deal on MB, catching it at about 430 dollars on Amazon.  Well, it is a lot of money, but it was on sale!  But wait.  Now I need a lot of stuff.  Diastatic malt powder, gluten, ascorbic acid, banneton(s), something tolerant yeast, etc.  I will probably also need gym membership since the bread is so good even with my very limited baking skills.  

I have liquid levain going for sourdough.  So far it did not dye, 48 hours and counting.

Started poolish for pizza dough this morning.  

 

Now I also want @Anna N English muffins.

 

[Chris Hennes]

2 minutes ago, chefmd said:

Diastatic malt powder, gluten, ascorbic acid, banneton(s), something tolerant yeast, etc.

You will definitely want the vital wheat gluten and the diastatic malt powder, but you can certainly live without the rest. I like the bannetons for sourdoughs, but I just bump the standard yeast measurements by 25% instead of using osmotolerant yeast (I think that's the number anyway, it's in the book someplace).

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Well I just ordered one -- same brand as Chris linked but round.

 

I have that one too. And I just dump out of the banneton onto a peel. Make sure you flour them well!!

[chefmd]

Just now, Chris Hennes said:

You will definitely want the vital wheat gluten and the diastatic malt powder, but you can certainly live without the rest. I like the bannetons for sourdoughs, but I just bump the standard yeast measurements by 25% instead of using osmotolerant yeast (I think that's the number anyway, it's in the book someplace).

Thank you Chirs.  But I want it all...

 

On the serious note, I have Active Dry Yeast and up the amount according to the MB conversion table.  Do you think that having Instant Yeast will make any difference?

[Chris Hennes]

6 minutes ago, chefmd said:

Do you think that having Instant Yeast will make any difference?

I use instant for everything, and have for many years, but they do talk about the difference in the books (see e.g. page 3•13). It's another case of needing to add a bit more to counter the increased amount of dead yeast cells in the non-instant version.

 

ETA: The conversion table is on page 3•9.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Anna N]

 Today’s second offering. This is Roggenbrot page 4-392. Not sure there really is a way to shape a “paste”. I rather wish there was more guidance. The dough is like window putty only incredibly sticky. I managed to get bits of it everywhere.  I opted against my better judgment to bake it in a 9 x 4 x 4 pullman pan with a lid on. (I’m looking at you, @Kerry Beal!) But it did not rise to the top of the lid so it worked out quite well. You are cautioned to cook this bread to 208° to 212°F.  I managed to get it just over 208 but the crust seems to be hard so we will see when I cut into it what sort of bread I have. 

 

 

 I really need one of those growth charts that children have but for bread to give an idea of its height, width and length.  It is something close to 3 1/2” x 4” x 9”. 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Crumb of the Jewish Corn Rye. Chewy crust - lovely bread !

 

[Anna N]

14 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Crumb of the Jewish Corn Rye. Chewy crust - lovely bread !

 

 Nice looking bread. 

[Anna N]

 

 Crumb shot of the roggenbrot. 

This is a strong flavoured bread which would not be suitable for meekly flavoured accompaniments. 

 

Carving it made me think that my next purchase has got to be either an electric knife or perhaps a chainsaw.  It is very, very dense. 

 

 I also wonder from the smear left on the bread knife if it might have benefited from even longer baking time. 

 

 It is definitely a bread I will make again. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 Crumb shot of the roggenbrot. 

This is a strong flavoured bread which would not be suitable for meekly flavoured accompaniments. 

 

Carving it made me think that my next purchase has got to be either an electric knife or perhaps a chainsaw.  It is very, very dense. 

 

 I also wonder from the smear left on the bread knife if it might have benefited from even longer baking time. 

 

 It is definitely a bread I will make again. 

 

I bought a electric knife based on the recommendation of MB.  It cuts pretty well but it frightens me to use it on hard bread.

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I bought a electric knife based on the recommendation of MB.  It cuts pretty well but it frightens me to use it on hard bread.

Just picked one up at a thrift store for eight dollars. Not necessarily the one recommended but we’ll see how it does. 

[repiv]

 

Figured I'd post this here since the contest entry date is over. Neglected to take a picture of the crumb for some reason.  Made the Direct French Lean Bread recipe posted here as I do not have the book yet.  Came out okay.  I prefer the texture of the country loaf I made, but this tastes great and that crunch right after I made it was incredible. Loved how quick this recipe was start to finish.  Has anyone built themselves a proofing box using heat tape and a PID controller? Right now I'm using my oven to do a 80-85 degree proof but it isn't exactly a perfect science and my kitchen stays on the cooler side this time of the year.

 

My desire to own the full book is slowly increasing.  It seems so much more approachable than Modernist Cuisine was.    Are there any other publicly posted recipes I can 'try-before-I-buy'?

[Wholemeal Crank]

On 12/3/2017 at 12:36 PM, teonzo said:

 

I would say so. Just think about these 2 questions:

1- how could you get a vacuum in the jar if the tool you are using is an oven?

2- if there was vacuum in the jar, what would happen to the bread when you open the jar and the dough is subjected to a quick change of pressure from 0 bar to 1 bar?

Bread in a jar is akin to jams or preserves, not to sous vide storage.

 

Please notice I don't have Modernist Bread so I don't know what they wrote there.

 

 

 

 

This sounds really interesting. If you can share what you find I would be grateful, thanks!

 

 

 

Teo

 

 

About the same time as I wrote here, I wrote to ModernistBread at Modernistcuisine.com with the same original question, and have not heard a peep from them.

 

I did find this page (Home Canned Cake from HealthyCanning.com) full of useful information, basically coming down on the side of, 'don't do it', because bread is such a great vehicle for botulism.  And they mentioned a couple of recipes which were reportedly promoted around or after WWII and formulated to have a safe pH when the recipes were followed precisely, which fits with the article I found traces of but haven't gotten my hands on yet. 

 

Another reference is a PDF of a Food Fact Safety Sheet from Utah State University Extension that also unequivocally recommends against canning bread.

 

I'm still curious about preparing bread in the pressure cooker, because I love the pressure cooker, but until I know more, I certainly won't be attempting to keep the result long-term at room temperature.  

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Dave the Cook]

1 hour ago, repiv said:

. . . Are there any other publicly posted recipes I can 'try-before-I-buy'?

 

 

Psst. Over here.