This popped from the oven this morning after an overnight fermentation. The measurements were fairly approximate, but probably around a 72% hydration. These were baked at 550, reduced to 500 after the oven spring on, an pre-heated and insulated cookie sheet. Altogether, they look pretty good!
This bread was made from a 75% hydration dough that was proofed approximately 24 hours at a cool room temperature (around 65 degrees). Not long before baking, I poured the dough out onto a floured surface and gently shaped it into a loaf by folding the sides underneath. With the oven pre-heated to 550, I slide it onto the hot stone and then scored the top with a sharp chef’s knife (to avoid degassing from too much handling and cutting.)
After the first few minutes, the oven was turned down to 450 for the remainder of the baking. Total bake time was probably around 40 minutes, but I didn’t measure it precisely. The internal temp was 195 at the finish.
This will be breakfast, along with fruit, coffee, and jam!
Here are a couple of loaves that just came from the oven this morning. I used 75% hydration and started with a poolish with 100% hydration, just flour and water of equal weights.
I used the Eagle Mills All Natural All-Purpose Unbleached Flour from Costco. Having recently baked with King Arthur Unbleached White, I had forgotten how much heavier this flour is. However, it delivers a wonderful (and healthy) loaf.
Good stuff!
Once again, this morning I’ve tested the concept that even a hastily prepared loaf of bread is better than none at all.
When I got home from work on Wednesday, after having just provided chili and bread for a workplace birthday party, I decided it would be good to start another batch of dough. Now, as any baker knows, once the process has begun, you pretty much need to stay on a schedule or the bread won’t be as good as it could be.
However, the forces of life tend to creep in and the schedule goes awry. Last night I had every intention of baking the bread, the oven already set to 550. Then one thing led to the next, got too tired, and headed up to bed. Around 4 AM this morning, I came down to an oven, still at 550 from last night (oops!), and the dough well proofed in my large ceramic bowl.
It was time to either put this bread in the oven or forget the whole thing. There wasn’t enough time to scale and shape. So, I basically just divided the dough into reasonable sizes, did the best I could to shape them without degassing, and slid them into the oven in two batches.
And once again, the baguettes wouldn’t win any prizes for looks, but they taste just wonderful. A very nice crumb and crust.
Sometimes it pays to just put the dough in the oven and see what happens.
While waiting for the sun to rise this morning, I happened to catch this video from the “Chow” network featuring the Chairman of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, Craig Ponsford. He has some pretty straightforward words for those of us striving to make the perfect loaf. Enjoy!
I’m still making slow progress on the kitchen. One day, more loaves will come from it.
I’ve discovered that the original no-knead recipe featured on this blog some time ago is also great for pizza dough.
The pie pictured here started as a lump of no-knead dough that I spread out into a crust shape after 10 or 11 hours of fermentation. I did all the spreading right on the pizza peel pictured above. I used liberal amounts of flour – stretching the dough into a disc shape, sprinkling flour across the top, flipping it over, repeating this process until the crust was roughly the same size as my work surface.
The reapplications of flour were necessary because as the dough is spread out, the non-floured inner dough is brought to the surface and tends to stick to the peel.
I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out as it was my first time making pizza this way. My traditional method has been to use a dough with a much lower hydration that is spread out on a cold greased pan – that also works well, but it’s a totally different method. When I had the crust fully formed, I jostled the peel a little bit to make sure the dough was sliding freely. It was. So I proceeded to layer on the toppings.
Unfortunately, I didn’t count on the fact that the added weight (and possibly moisture) of the toppings would increase the coefficient of friction between peel and dough. When it came time to slide it onto the baking stone in the oven, it wouldn’t budge.
In a somewhat clumsy rescue effort, Jenn helped me slide some parchment paper under the dough. That process tended to dishevel the dough and the toppings a bit, but ultimately, we made it work. And the result was fantastic!
We tried this again last night, this time putting the parchment paper over the peel first – thank the gods for parchment paper! It worked like a charm, and the crust was first-rate.
So that’s one more use for the versatile no-knead dough recipe. Enjoy!
It is so unlike me to do this. But I actually followed some instruction and process today. Using instructions from my new book by Ciril Hitz
, I put together some French bread “classic” dough (using a poolish), and here is the result. I made three baguettes, one boule, and a batard. We’re about to sample these with soup and salad. I let you know how they turned out. But so far, they’re looking good!
Back in the day, my mother was a nurse in Miami, Florida. My dad would fly down there periodically for a visit and on his return trip, he’d sometimes bring me a couple dozen very good bagels. I remember one time in particular, he not quite understanding the allure of a well made bagel (or any other kind), and with his suitcase nearly full, he managed to flatten two dozen bagels to the point where they looked like frisbees. But we enjoyed them anyway.
At that time, before the Internet and the plethora of exellect baking books available, I thought making a bagel at home was impossible. There must be some magic to it, or why wouldn’t everyone do it?
Which brings us up to this morning. I had these bagels already formed and in the refrigerator for an overnight ferment. I took them out and put them on the kitchen table around 3 AM so they’d be at the right temperature for the boiling phase. And then I overslept.
I came downstairs to find the bagels were so overproofed, that I couldn’t even pick them up. There was nothing else to do except roll it all back together again, divide, and reshape. By this time, I already had the water at full boil and the oven was up to temperature. I had no idea how these would come out, if at all.
This once again illustrates that even when you make a few mistakes (adding too much salt, not being one of them…), home baking results in a product that is very difficult to find at the grocery store. Here in Kansas City, and in many other large communities, it is quite possible to find a decent bagel. But even with the mistakes I made this morning, I really think these are better than anything around here.
The malt syrup used in this recipe is available at Whole Foods. I used a pretty standard hydration and the formulation and methods (well, sort of…) from Peter Reinhart’s, Artisan Breads Every Day.
This evening I baked a boule with dough refrigerated overnight. The flour mix was 57% Hodgson Mills Whole Wheat, and a 1/4 cup (3.8%) of Bob’s Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten, with the balance made of my standard Eagle Mills flour from Costco, with a 70% hydration. The final proof was done in a banneton.
I am reasonably pleased with the result, however, some larger holes were anticipated. We’ll be having this bread with soup this evening with some left over for sandwiches or toast in the morning.
Ciril Hitz has a number of excellent instructional videos on baking techniques. Check them out! His cookbook is listed in the column at the right side of this blog. This video features shaping the loaves. I can smell if from here! Tonight I’m making a boule. Bagels in the morning! Stay tuned!