Joybee's Baking Journal: Light Wheat Bread (sourdough)

Light wheat bread makes a great sandwich bread with a little more whole wheat than plain white bread. This recipe is 33 percent whole wheat flour (33% of the total flour weight). I modified this recipe, slightly from the one in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I made this a sourdough by using half the final dough weight in barm and adjusting the flour and water weights as necessary.

My Recipe:

The night before (feed sourdough):
My goal is to have 16 oz barm. I will also add the whole wheat flour at this point.

2.5 oz sourdough starter
6.75 oz whole wheat flour
6.75 oz water

The next morning:
The barm was bubbly and had grown at least double in size. To this I added

10 oz bread flour
.75 oz honey
.38 oz salt
1 oz powdered milk
1 oz butter
2 oz water

I mixed it all, with the paddle attachment on my stand mixer, until all the flour was hydrated and the dough formed a wet ball. Then I switched to the dough hook and kneaded for 6 minutes, adding more flour until the dough became firm, tacky but not sticky, the dough pulled away from the sides of the and did not stick to the bottom of the bowl. I transferred the dough to a large, oiled glass bowl and covered with plastic wrap and a towel.

After 4 hours the dough had doubled in size.

Then I shaped the dough into one loaf, put it in an oiled 9x5 inch pan and let sit for 2 more hours until the dough was cresting over the lip of the pan.

Finally I baked the loaf at 350 degrees (with the loaf pan sitting on a baking sheet--so the bottom of the loaf turns golden and stays soft) for 50 minutes, rotting the pan and covering it with foil after 30 minutes.

I removed the loaf from the pan immediately (it sounded hollow when thumped on the bottom) and let cool for about 3 hours before slicing.

Conclusions:

Bread is light brown in color and smells like sourdough. With a buttery, tangy flavor. This loaf tastes more like sourdough than some of the other recipes. It has a tight crumb that is soft and spongy with a soft, chewy, golden crust. Makes great sandwiches, it's more sturdy or dense (because of the whole wheat flour) than white bread, but I loved the flavor and texture
I think I may have found a good ratio of barm to final dough weight. The dough doubled in 4 hours, and then the shaped loaf only took 2 hours to come to size. I'm not sure if the amount of barm is the underling cause of this, it could be temperature or maybe the ingredients in the dough. I'll make other breads with the same barm to final dough ratio and see how well they rise.

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Joybee's Baking Journal: Oatmeal Bread

*Yay! I have my first follower (thanks Faith).

Bread baking is a true test of patience, especially when it is sourdough. I have wanted to make this bread for a week, but I kept forgetting to 'feed' my starter.

I like to feed my sourdough starter, or barm, the night before baking the bread. I let it sit overnight to be active and at room temperature by morning. Then if I start by 7:30am I can have the bread done by 5:00pm at the latest (allowing for 4 hour initial rise, and 2 hour final proof, but this varies depending on many factors).

Finally Sunday night I remembered to feed my barm and start the process of making the bread.

Oatmeal Bread
(variation of 'Multigain Bread Extrodinare' from The Bread Baker's Apprentice)

Night before baking (feed the barm):
The final weight of the dough is 2 lbs, I made 16 oz of barm.

I am experimenting with how much barm to add, I've used as little as one cup but this time I wanted to add as much as possible, hoping to get a good rise. I thought it would be a good idea to use no more than 1/2 the final dough weight in barm, so I would be doubling the barm just like when I feed it. (when I feed the barm, I at least double the weight with equal parts flour and water).

8 oz sourdough starter
4 oz water
4 oz whole wheat flour
6 Tbsp rolled oats

The recipe calls for a 'soaker' which means to soak the grains over night in water, I just added the grains to the barm which is very similar, they may get broken down more as the yeast feeds on them though. I also only used oatmeal instead of multiple grains because that is all I had on hand. I also used a little whole wheat flour in the barm to make up for not adding more grains, and just because I wanted to.

Next Morning (make the dough):
By the morning, my barm was bubbly and had grown to twice it's volume. And it smelled fabulous, a yeasty dough smell that is hard to describe unless you try your own sourdough. Remember that this barm is about 8 oz flour and 8 oz (maybe more)water plus the oats. So I subtract these amounts from the recipe.

5.5 oz Bread flour
1.5 oz brown sugar
.38 oz salt
1 oz honey
3 Tbsp powdered milk (as a substitute for the 1/2 cup regular or butter milk)

I used the paddle attachment on my mixer to mix the ingredients (on low speed) until they came together. At this point I dribbled in a bit more water so all the flour was incorporated. Then switched to the dough hook and kneaded for about 10 minutes on the #2 setting. During the kneading I added additional flour until the dough did not stick to the bottom of the bowl and was 'soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky'.

I then transferred the dough to a large, oiled glass bowl (rolling it to coat it with oil)and covered it with plastic wrap and a towel. I let it rise for 4 hours. At this point, I checked the dough and it looked like it had doubled in size, I shaped the dough into a loaf and placed it in an oiled 9x5 inch loaf pan. This I let proof for about 2.5 hours until it was cresting over the lip of the pan. I baked the loaf in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes (turning 180 degrees and covering with aluminum foil after 20). Once I took the bread out of the oven I immediately removed it from the pan and, the hardest part, let it cool for 2 hours before slicing.

Conclusion:

This bread turned out great! It is soft and fluffy with a tight crumb and a chewy crust. The flavor is subtle, slightly sweet with a hint of sourness. I can't wait to make it again. I may try adding more oatmeal.

The recipe for 'Multigrain Breda Extrodinare' can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice pg 187-189 (now on Google books)

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Joybee's Baking Journal: Chocolate Orange Bread (variation of Portuguese Sweet Bread)

A friend of mine, after tasting the Portuguese sweet bread, suggested that I try a chocolate bread with the citrus flavor. How could I resist?

I made the same recipe for Portuguese sweet bread, but this time I used 14 oz barm(7 oz water, 7 oz flour), 6 TBSP cocoa powder and only orange and vanilla extract, then in the final 2 minutes of kneading I added 1 cup of chocolate chips.

The dough was stiff, tacky but not wet or sticky. As with the other recipe, this dough did not rise much if at all.

Conclusion:

The bread is chocolate in color, with a tight crumb studded with chocolate chips. The loaves are small and dense with a soft crust. The chocolate flavor is mild, a little bitter (not too sweet), with a hint of orange. This bread is great by its self, or toasted with butter or cream cheese.

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Joybee's Baking Journal: White Sandwich Bread (Sourdough)

I love sourdough bread. I love the flavor, the sent and the texture. Most of all I love that I can grow my own yeast and not have to buy it at the store. There are some draw backs to using sourdough (or wild yeast), the yeast is not as concentrated as the store bought instant yeast and it takes longer to rise. The 1-2 hour initial rise can take from 4-6 hours, and the 90 minute final proofing takes about 2 hour. Sourdough bread can take all day to make, but most of the process is waiting. That is a reason I like it so much. It takes some forethought and planning, but once you have a refreshed active barm, the mixing process takes about 20 minutes, then you can go off and read a book, or do something else for 4-6 hours, come back and shape the dough into loaves, wait for another couple of hours and then bake it.

My KitchenAid makes the mixing and kneading process so quick and easy, I make better bread now because of it. The main thing I want from sandwich bread is a soft fluffy texture that won't fall apart or crumble. Kneading by hand this was difficult to accomplish. I always ended up adding too much flour to keep the dough from sticking to my hands, and it took much longer to knead it to the proper consistency, resulting in crumbly, dense loaves. Now with the KitchenAid my dough gets kneaded perfectly and is still soft and much wetter than when done by hand ending with a beautifully soft, light and fluffy bread.
Once again I used a recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. You can see the actual recipe on Google books (pg 266). I only veered from the original recipe by adding a large amount of barm. Keep in mind that my barm contains equal parts flour and water, so I just substitute some of the flour and water of the original recipe with barm, but my total flour and water weights are the same as the original recipe.

My Recipe

24 oz barm
9.5 oz bread flour
.38 oz salt
1.33 oz powdered milk
1.66 oz sugar
1 large egg
1.66 oz butter
1 oz water

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except I creamed the butter, egg, sugar, salt, and powdered milk together first(using the paddle attachment). Then I added the barm, flour and water (using the dough hook to knead it). I kneaded for about 7 minutes adding flour until the dough 'cleared the sides of the bowl but stick ever so slightly to the bottom'. This is much softer and wetter than you would expect, I needed to use a rubber spatula to scrape it out of the bowl, and oiled my hands to keep it from sticking to then while I transferred it to an oiled bowl to rise.

I let it sit for about 4 hours until it almost doubled is size and then shaped it into 2 loaves, put them in oiled loaf pan (8.5 inch loaf pans are a must) and let proof for 2 hours.

I brushed the tops of the loaves with egg wash before baking at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (turning halfway through baking and covering with aluminum foil after 20 min)

Conclusion:

This bread turned out great. Light, fluffy, soft, moist and perfect for sandwiches. It has a mild sour flavor from the sourdough, but it is not over powering. This is the best sandwich bread I have made so far.

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Baking Journal: Portuguese Sweet Bread (1st attempt)

It's been a while. I'm all moved in to my new place here in beautiful Hawaii. I have a nice little container garden started on the lanai, I also have a sourdough/wild yeast culture (called a barm) started. I may discuss the sourdough barm in later posts and I plan to post more often.

A few weeks ago my wonderful husband bought me a KitchenAid Professional stand mixer. Now I am making bread and other baked goods multiple times a week.

My latest venture in baking is Portuguese Sweet Bread A.K.A Hawaiian bread. This is an enriched containing a little over 12.5% fat (shortening and butter), standard 65% hydration, tacky but not sticky dough. I veered from the recipe by using sourdough barm instead of instant yeast. Otherwise I followed the recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice (which you can also find some of on Google books baker percentages on page 218).


My Recipe:

Sponge

4.5 oz of Barm (my barm is 100% hydration which is equal parts--by weight flour and water)
.25 oz sugar
1.75 oz water

Dough (same as in the recipe)

3 oz sugar
.25 oz salt
1.25 oz powdered milk
1 oz unsalted butter
1 oz shortening
2 large eggs
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
13.5 oz bread flour
3 oz water

I followed the directions exactly except that I mixed the sugar, salt, milk, butter, shortening, eggs, and extracts all together with the sponge mixing with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then added the flour and water, switching the dough hook and kneading for 12 minutes until I had a soft supple dough that was not sticky (I was supposed to add the sponge when I added the flour).

I transferred the dough (which smelled fabulous by the way...from the extracts and the butter) to a lightly oiled bowl rolling it around to coat it with oil, covered it with a towel and let it rise for 4 hrs.

The dough had not risen very much so I let it rise for another 3 hrs. It still had not doubled in size but I divided it in half and put each half into a greased 8.5 in loaf pan.

I proofed the loaves for about 4 hrs and then I brushed them with egg wash, and baked in 350 degree oven for an hour. And let cool for 90 minutes before slicing.

Conclusions:

The bread looks great, the loaves have the mahogany brown crust that they are supposed to have, and the flavor is excellent. The citrus extracts really give it a tropical flavor. However, the crust did not soften. The crumb is soft but the whole is not the light pillow loaf I was expecting.
Next time I will try using more barm, and I may even try it once with regular yeast.

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