Bread Making Fun II

I've all ways loved good bread.  So making my own should be a no brainer, right?  Well when I lived somewhere that you could get great rustic breads and baguettes down the street and they were reasonably priced why make your own?  But that is no longer the case, the only places I've found bread I like are a bit of a hike and paying $5 is kind of crazy.  Plus I've gotten so sick of grocery store "artisan" breads that don't live up the name I decided it was time to get serious about baking.

I started with baguettes, but that was before I started this blog and lately I've been making this rustic type show here based on a Chiabatta recipe in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.  Things are coming out pretty good and these are a decent example.  The shaping and prep is pretty easy with this bread and it is making for some killer sandwich making and the best grilled cheese with this bread.


Know that post I did about how I measure while cooking?  Well it ignore it when I'm talking about baking.  I measure and weight things when I bake.  Get a decent scale and get used to grams!  MR. Choppy lives by the metric system!  Although he will translate for everyone else here.

With many of Mr. Reinhart's recipes you start with either a Poolish sponge or Biga starter.  I'm more partial for the poolish versions of his things at the moment.

I start the night before with 2 cups unbleached flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, about 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast and 1 1/2 cups of water.  Put this in the mixing bowl of a mix master or something similar.  Get one if you don't have one!  Add the water and mix well.  Just a few minutes with the paddle attachment is good enough.  It should be like thick pancake batter.  And then let it sit covered with plastic wrap overnight,  although old Peter says a few hours is fine, I think overnight is better.

You should end up with something like this the next day.  Now the book says you can break this up and store in the fridge but it is a bit sticky and hard to manage in my opinion so I just use the whole thing the next day.  The whole wheat added during the poolish stage works out very nice and helps keep some moisture in the bread once it is done.  Plus makes the flavor a little more complex.



Next you want to add 3 cups of unbleached flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, 2 table spoons olive oil, and about 3/4 of water.  I use a little less yeast to slow things down, especially in the summer when the house is hot.  Put the paddle attachment back on the mixer and start to mix.

I usually add the water slowly as the mixer stats to turn.   Add the oil at this stage as well.  Just mix to incorporate and add a little more water if you are seeing dry flour in the bottom of the bowl.  I will stop and scrape the paddle once or twice to also make sure there isn't a big lump of dry flour hiding in there.  After it is all incorporated but still wet and bit sticky looking, switch to the dough hook and give it about 2 to 3 minutes on low speed or until it separate from the mixing bowl.

Put a light dusting of flour on a board and pull the dough out of the bowl.  Make sure your hands are wet so the dough doesn't stick.  Don't be afraid of the wet sticky dough.  Having enough water is key with this bread and having wet dough is a good sign.  But if it is dry at this point, just keep going it is took late to fix it at this point and it will be ok just not great.  Now you want to next is the strech and fold.

Here is my best imitation of what I think you are supposed to be doing based on Peter's photos.  Pretend you are folding a letter.  YOu want to let it rest covered and oiled at this point for about 30 minute depending on how warm your kitchen is.  Then repeat this process and let set for about 2 hours until it just about doubles in size.

   

After the dough has doubled, you want to divide it in half and set it up to proof.  See, I have a handy video here that is easier than me trying to tell you in words.  Get a pastry scraper, it works wonders for moving things around like this.  Also, just a light towel dusted in flour works great for setting the loaves up to proof. Let your two little loaves sit for about 30 minutes and they should continue to grow a bit.  While this is going on heat up your oven to 500F and set your baking stone about 2/3's of the way up.  

Once the oven is nice and hot and the loaves have proofed you are ready to get cooking.  Put some corn meal on a pizza peal and transfer a loaf onto it.  Use the pastry scraper to support the loaf.  Then transfer from the peal to the stone.  Repeat with the other loaf.  Let the oven recover a bit and then spray the sides of the oven with water.  Close it up and wait 30 seconds and spray again.  Set the timer for 15 minutes and DO NOT OPEN until the timer goes off.  Now take a peak, they should be getting golden brown.  Might need another 5 depending on your oven.  When they are a lovely golden color, pull them out and put them on a cooling rack.  Don't mess with them for at least 30 minutes.  The crust still isn't like a good Ciabatta yet but it is getting there.  Just playing with the temp and steam to get it right.  But this is damn yummy as it is right now.

Next time baguettes!