Thanksgiving Bread Baking Palooza and New Happenings

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (I know I'm a few weeks late.) I had been baking up a storm the days leading up to the feast, wanting to get rid of as much wheat flour I had in the house as possible. I made about three pounds of Pain a l'Ancienne. The French bread was delicious, with a perfect chew and springy texture. We had a big group of ten eaters for the special day and everyone raved about this bread. In addition, I made three babkas with freshly toasted hazelnuts and a nutmeg dark chocolate ganache. I tried a new take on babka and used all cake flour, and it turned out just fine and tasty.

All the goodness aside, I'm turning a new leaf, and have to rid gluten, all gluten, from my diet. For years I've been struggling with lots of health issues, including vitamin deficiencies, unidentified weight gain, weird moodiness, consistent fatigue, and all points towards Celiac Disease. I found out on my birthday that I'd need to be making this diet/life change. So, yesterday was my first full week of gluten free and I see a difference in how I feel already. I won't pretend I didn't cry over the fact that my hobby was hurting me, and I was baking bread so well. I'm embarking on a new baking journey and all I can say is thank god macarons are gluten free.

Take Two: Bread, French, Pate Fermentee, Lean Dough

So I did what I set out to do. I made pate fermentee last Sunday afternoon. I watched the lil baby dough bolus grow for three days. I planned on bringing freshly baked loaves into work, but my coworkers decided to work from home. I ended up giving one baguette away to the neighbors, which I heard inhaled it in ten minutes. That's the problem with bread; it's damn delicious and goes down way too easy. 

One thing I failed to mention was that you really do need to measure the temp of the water, since the pate fermentee is coming from the refrigerator. 

 1. Pate fermentee (454 grams) with the King Arthur Bread Flour, salt, and yeast. I dumped the water in after I took the picture. I weighed out the pate fermentee, but it turns out you can use really any amount, considering it already has the yeast, water and salt it needed. I ended up with over two pounds of bread after the double bake load, so I'd probably make less next time...not that I really dislike having ten plus loaves of bread...it's just I don't need all that!

2. Here's the glorious dough ball going for a spin in the KitchenAid. Make sure the pin in your mixer is tight, or you'll have the mixer gyrating and flour flying everywhere.

  

3. Here's the majestic dough ball after the first stretch and fold. Oh my, how bouncy thy are. I'm going to skip over the second batch story, where I burst into tears because I added too much water to the shaggy dough. Let's just say I was a mess, and could have really used the bench scrape I ordered, which arrived one day too late as well. 

4. Here are the baguettes proving. I happened to get my linen couche the day after making these. I also got a banneton proving backed as well. I'll be reviewing these items, with accompanying photos, in a separate post. Instead of a bread lame, I used a serrated knife. Again, I didn't get ears or even definition really. Maybe my angle was off? 

5. Here is the finished product. Delicious! I've frozen some of the loaves, including the boule you see in the bottom left. 

Take One: Bread, French, Lean dough

Three French Baguettes

Can you say baking bread five times fast? I cannot, but welcome to the first installment of posts on Color & Crisp, a brand new baby blog about baking. Yes, that's right, folks. This is a blog strictly for baking and making foods. No melancholic posts, unless about a baked good gone bad. I'm sure you're wondering what I used to make these fantastic 18" thick sticks of pure heaven.

Ingredients: King Arthur Bread Flour. RapidRise Instant Yeast, it's gotta be Kosher Salt, room temp water

Tools: KitchenAid Mixer, or if you want to be old school, one mixing bowl and wooden spoon, clean surface (ahem, bamboo cutting board from Ikea, a section of granite, etc.), a bowl scraper & pastry cutter

(I didn't have either but they say these tools make bread making easier), plastic wrap and sheet pans with parchment paper. because I don't have any couches, olive oil, bread lame (didn't have this either), small tea towels, small mixing bowls for fermentation times, non stick spray.

French Boule Loaf

I caved and bought a handful of classes on Craftsy.com, including this one bread course taught by Peter Reinhart. I watched Peter's class for a good four hours last Sunday morning, and decided to give the dough a go at noon. To cut the story short, I had finished product at 5 PM that day, and was practically late to a date. Common misconceptions about bread making, as I know thus far, including the fact that not once did I knead the dough. The contemporary method is the stretch & fold process. I was thinking I'd get to pound and punch a sticky ball of "shaggy" dough, but I was wrong. Very wrong. There's none of that, unless I'm doing a boxing workout at the gym and I'm being punched in the gut. Interestingly, Peter never explicitly explained how long one should bake the cake, I mean bread. Depending on the shape, does baking take more or less time? I suppose I went rogue with my proved dough. I'm not even entirely sure what over, under, or just right "proofed" dough is. I just kept poking the dough with my index finger, looking for springiness. I guess my guess was good enough, if not right on. I baked the dough on a parchment sheet on the half sheet on convection bake 500 degrees or 260 degrees Celsius, for five minutes, having immediately poured a cup or two of water into the preheated sheet pan on the bottom rack (to create a steamy sauna for my lovelies.) I swear I watched the dough bloom and I eeked like a fangirl. After five minutes, I turned the temp down to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and turned them after six minutes. I'd say they baked for a total of 21 minutes, unless I was so enthralled I have miscalculated.

I can tell you I was looking for that hollow sound when I thumped the baguette on the counter, and I got it. Each baguette and my baby boule had a nice rich brown color, and I could feel the crisp too.

Was I successful you may ask? *%$@ yeah! These bread babies didn't last more than 72 hours, and I didn't even mention how the crumb was fantastically dotted with medium and large-sized irregular holes. Those are what Peter calls artisanal characteristics, and let me tell you, I haven't had better bread; other than when I was in Europe.

I'll be attempting a pate fermentee very soon, and I cannot wait to eat it.