100% Whole Wheat Wizardry

This was a baking choice born out of necessity. I had but only whole-wheat flour left in my pantry, so I was forced to play my hand all whole-wheat.....I am seeing now as I proceed through more and more recipes that, while the basic recipe formulation for bread is a relatively precise art, there is a broad depth of options for the adventurous baker when put to the task. You can really freely mix and match different ingredients to suit your taste and palate. Basically in all the many loaves that I have now baked, there hasn't really been any catastrophes. I thought for sure that this all whole-wheat bread would end up feeling and tasting like a block of cement, but in the end it turned out (thanks to some great advice) very moist and delicious.

The Wail of the Whole Wheat: Death, Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

The Starter Sponge

-230g Whole-Wheat Bread Flour (use medium grind flour if you can find it)
-4g Yeast
-1 cup Water

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover with cling film and let rise for 4 hours.

The Dough


-120g Whole-Wheat Bread Flour
-5g Salt
-2g Yeast
-28g Honey
-28g Pureed Soaked Raisins
-85g Cooked Rice (any type)
-The Entire Starter Sponge

Combine all these ingredients and form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. The final dough will feel slightly firmer than a bread made with white bread flour, this is normal. Place the dough in a clean bowl and let rise for 2 hours or until it doubles in size. After rising shape the dough into your desired loaf shape. I placed mine in a round breadform, but you can simply put the dough on a baking sheet. Cover with a plastic bag and let proof at room temperature for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 450 F and turn the proofed dough onto a floured baker's peel. Slash the surface of the dough with a serrated knife to encourage expansion. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom most shelf of the oven. Slide the dough onto your now hot baking stone and throw 1 cup of water into the pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is evenly dark brown.

Save The Kaiser!

Alright.....I have returned. I think Summer is not always the best time to plan regular bread making sessions. There is far too much to distract the fledgling baker/sausage maker from his appointed task. One strays too easily from their focus, lured in by sun soaked activities and general bon temps. I did however make time to bake rolls.....Kaiser rolls or Kaisersemmel to be specific. I recently returned from a great trip to Toronto and I would like to dedicate these rolls to all the great Kaisers in that fine city. Apparently every rad rocker from the seventies and eighties ended up in Toronto and I was having a love in with all of them care of my Hawkwind t-shirt. Best random run-in has to go to the 62 year-old recovered methamphetamine addict who waxed poetic about the history of his favorite drug/Motorhead/Lemmy/Diabetes/mortality and spiritual awakening all in the space of 5 blocks! Pretty amazing Toronto....pretty amazing.

Onwards and upwards to the bread arts. Kaiser rolls are named after Franz Joseph I of Austria (who by the way had a pretty amazing mustache). Kaiser is the German word for emperor and these rolls truly are the royalty of the little breads. Kaisersemmel are very popular in Austria and Germany and are most commonly eaten with soups and liberally covered with butter or as sandwiches. They are easily identified by the 5 slashes on their top surfaces radiating out from the center. I did not actually do the slashes on my rolls but I am sure you can forgive me. The rolls can optionally be sprinkled with poppy seeds, sesame seeds or even caraway, for extra crunchiness.

Austro-Hungarian Riffage: Hawkwind, Space Ritual (1973)

The Recipe!!!!

Kaisersemmel


I was pretty loosey goosey with the quantities when i made this bread so these are just rough approximations. I also weighed the ingredients out in order to start making my recipes more flexible in terms of quantities.

Starter
-100g Unbleached Bread Flour
-60g Lukewarm Water
-4g Yeast (I used fresh yeast but you can use any type, just put more in if using fresh)

Mix the ingredients in a bowl, cover and let rise for 2 hours.

The rest...
-200g Unbleached Bread Flour
-3g Salt
-6g Honey
-4g Yeast
-120g Water
-10g Soft Butter
-Optional seeds for sprinkling

Add ingredients to starter and form a sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a floured kitchen counter and knead for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a bowl, cover with cling film and let rise for 30 minutes. Place the dough onto your counter again and flaten it out to a rough rectangular shape. Cut the dough into 8 equal sized pieces.

Lightly shape each piece into a ball by cupping the dough on the counter and moving it in a circular motion.

Not even close to the same sizes.....

Place the rolls on a nonstick baking sheet or a sheet lined with parchment paper, cover loosely with a damp cloth and let rise for 10 minutes. Beat 1 egg white with an equal portion of water. Paint this onto the surface of the dough and roll them in a shallow dish filled with your choice of seeds (I used sesame). This would also be the time when you cut the 5 slashes on the top surface of the bread. I forgot to do this, but if you are feeling more awake than I was....get into it.

Place the rolls seed side facing down onto you baking sheet, cover with a plastic bag and let rise for 20 minutes.

Pre heat you oven to 400 F and flip the rolls so the seeds face up. Bake for 15 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

My camera is taking pictures with a weird off color strip on the top of the images, sorry....time to invest in a new one.

Lazylady

Sorry everyone, I've been somewhat busy as of late and haven't been able to bake bread or grind some pork. I will be back on the production train very soon.

Future posts will feature Kaiser rolls, potato bread, egg bread and a gluten-free recipe! Also I will be picking up my beautiful new sausage stuffer this week, so look for the sausage recipes to start up again.....

Waiting room music: Belzebong, Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves (2011)

Workin' hard? or hardly workin?

Rosinenbrot

You may have noticed the new logo. I had the day off today and decided to put my rusty graphic design skills to good use. I also decided to take the time to make a loaf of Raisin Bread. Now I am not much of a sweet tooth, however I do have a soft spot in my heart for a toasted slice of cinnamon raisin bread with lots of butter. So we will take a turn on the sweeter side of the bread arts and since it has been so sunny and warm (finally), I will make a dessert bread. I guess it is pretty culturally appropriate for me, since cakes, pastries and all things sweet and buttery are a well-known (and much celebrated) part of Austrian cuisine. Apple Strudel is possibly the most perfect dessert ever imagined and I guess points to the very simple and less complicated nature of most Austrian sweet things. I feel raisin bread is a perfect ode to that no frills sense of baked aesthetic.

Soul Thrashing Black Bakery: Skeletonwitch, Beyond the Permafrost (2007)

Day 1

So I had a really good recipe for this bread from the superlative "Crust and Crumb" by Peter Reinhart, but I've decided to go rogue on this one and just make up my own recipe. It may be a bush-league move on my part, but I am going with it.

-1 cup Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 cup Cold Water
-2 tsp. Yeast
-1 tbsp. Honey

Combine the yeast and honey with water and mix thoroughly. Let the yeasty water stand for 10 minutes to start up the fermentation. Add the flour and make a wet dough. Cover with cling film and let sit in a warm place for a few hours, then refrigerate overnight.

-2 cups Raisin (any kind will do, I used golden raisins)
-1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats
-Water

This step can be done the night before or a few hours before you plan to make the dough. Soak the raisins and the oats (in separate containers) with enough water to cover by a few centimeters. Cover and let sit in the fridge if you are preparing these the night before. The soaking will help the oats soften for the bread making and the raisins will benefit from the extra water by not burning on the surface of the dough during baking.

A picture of my beard
(cause i forgot to take one of the dough)
Bread rhymes with beard..... 

Day 2

Baking day has come. Some of the more intrepid amongst you may have taken note that the previous few entries involved breads that required numerous days to prepare and ferment. This extra preparation time may seem a bit much for the casual baker, however I will say that it has yielded far more flavorful bread. This doesn't mean that recipes I provide with shorter fermentation times produce terrible bread, more that the ones with longer production schedules will produce breads with that little bit of extra love. That being said this raisin bread is a quick 2-day affair (even possibly 1 day if you use some baking powder) and since it is packed full of raisin/cinnamon/sugar flavor you don't need a long fermentation time, because those strong flavors would overpower the subtle ones gained through fermentation (run-on sentence?....take that English education).

The Dough

-The Starter from the previous day (removed from the fridge at least 1 hour before)

-3 1/2 cup Unbleached Bread Flour (possibly more depending on wetness of dough)

-2 cups Soaked Raisins

-1/2 cup Soaked Steel Cut Oats

-1/4 cup Sugar

-1/2 tsp. Salt

-1/4 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. This kneading process will be pretty sticky and messy at first, but be advised to just stick with it (bad puns anyone....!?!) and the dough will start to smoothen and form into a nice (but still wet) dough. Now place the dough in a bowl, cover and allow it to sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes, then transfer the bowl to the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it out into a flat rectangular shape. Dont' be too forceful as to not remove all the nice gases that have built up inside.

Next you will mix together 1 tsp. of cinnamon with 4 tsp. sugar to make....cinnamon sugar! Sprinkle generously over the top surface of the flattened dough.

I found the macro function on my camera!

Now that the dough has been loved by sugar and cinnamon, you need to reform the dough into your bread shape. If you have a bread pan you can easily just roll up the dough from one end and plonk it (if I keep up with that kinda speak I will be wearing custom made trucker hats and calling everyone "bruva" in no time.....) inside your (greased) pan. I do not own one of these pans so I will do it another way. I rolled up the dough half way from both ends and then pinched it all together to form what I would venture to call a ball. It looked like this.

Take that dough ball and plonk (!) it into your lightly floured breadform or board (if you do not have one) and cover with a plastic bag and let it proof for a few hours or until it has risen to twice its volume (roughly).

Preheat the oven to 475 F and place an empty roasting pan on the shelf beneath your baking stone. After the bread has risen and everything looks as it should, turn the dough out onto a floured baker's peel. Cut slashes into the surface of the dough to help the dough bloom or expand while in the oven (also called oven spring). Slid the dough into the oven and throw 1 cup of hot water into the roasting pan. Let the bread bake for 5 minutes at 475 F, then turn down the temperature to 400 F and bake a further 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the loaf.

The bread is ready when it has turned a dark brown and is hollow sounding when thumped. This loaf was very eager to expand. The bloom was out of control and the bread nearly double in size inside the oven!

A picture of the bread this morning after cutting into it. Delicious.

The Master of the Five Grains

Title.....terrible reference to an 80's fantasy novel and Megadeth.............nothing to do with bread.

Ok, I am going to post another bread I made using the famous sourdough starter. I am putting a hold on the sausage making for a time, until I can eat through the back log of wieners in the freezer. With Summer here and a recently aquired BBQ, I am sure I will prevail over the abundance of ground pork occupying the icebox. So onwards and upwards with another session of leavening.

Todays feature bread will be a German style 5 grain loaf. Germans and Austrians are pretty nuts about their whole grains and seeds. I don't think you could pass off what we call store bought bread in either of those countries very easily. Gooey, chewy, soft plastic bread is not going to cut it with the Germanic type. Whole grain, hearty bread is the fast track to any Bavarian or Tyrolean you might hold dear to your heart. This particular recipe has five grains: Rye, Brown Rice, Corn, Oats and Flax. Two seeds in this dough are more important than the others. The flax seeds come from the linen plant and are full of linoleic enzymes which are very good for digestion. The other important grain is the cooked rice. It will help the final bread retain some precious moisture and keep the bread from turning into a brick. Make sure you cook the rice thoroughly, even slightly past done, to ensure the bread isn't hard on the teeth.

Grain Elevator Music: Electric Wizard, Black Masses (2010)

5 Kernbrot

Firm Starter (made a day in advance)
-1 Cup Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 1/4 Cup Sourdough Starter

Combine flour and starter, form into a firm dough and let sit in a covered bowl for 3-4 hours in cool place. Refrigerate overnight

Dough
-Firm Starter from day before
-4 2/3 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 Cup Coarse Rye Flour
-1/2 Cup Cooked Brown Rice (You can substitute with Rice Flour, but the bread will be less moist)
-1/3 Cup Polenta
-1/3 Cup Rolled Oats
-1/4 Ground Flax Seeds
-2 1/2 Tsp. Salt
-1 Tbs. Honey
-2 1/2 Cups Cold Water
-3 Tbs. Whole Flax Seeds (optional to sprinkle on surface before baking)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Turn the dough out onto a slightly floured surface and knead for 15 minutes till you form a smooth surfaced dough. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and let stand in a cool place for 4-5 hours to ferment. Refrigerate overnight. Remove the bowl from fridge the following day and allow the dough to warm for at least an hour before using it. Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces and form into bread shapes. Place the loaves into breadforms or on a slightly floured board and cover with a plastic bag. Allow 3-4 hour proofing in a warm place then refrigerate overnight. Remove bread from fridge at least 1 hour before baking. Pre-heat oven to 475 F. and place an empty baking pan on the shelf below your baking stone. Turn the risen loaves out onto a floured bakers peel and slash the surface of the bread. I forgot to do this....but now is when you can brush the surface with water and sprinkle on some flax seeds. Slide the loaves into the oven and throw 1 cup of warm water into the baking pan. Bake for 5 minutes at 475, the turn down the oven to 450 F and bake for another 25-35 minutes until the crust is dark brown and hollow sounding when thumped.

This sourdough starter keeps on producing very flavorful breads with near perfect air pockets in the crumb. This bread is perfect with just butter, as well as most tart jams and marmalades.

Naturally Leavened Rye Bread

Having put so much effort into capturing, feeding, growing and loving my natural yeast friends, I will now put said 5 day starter into action producing a sourdough rye loaf. I guess all things that take a long time are worth the trouble, because in the end that extra time and effort will translate into (in the case of bread) FLAVOR. Now I have already eaten the bread that I am going to describe today and let me tell you.....it was amazing. Crazy good flavor, slightly sour crumb with a full rye flavor accented by the caraway seeds throughout. Future/Present me would like to congratulate Past Tense me for a job well done. Congratulations.

The Sweet Sounds of Rye: Irma Thomas, Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: The Irma Thomas Collection

Step One

Rye Sponge Starter

-1/2 Cup Rye Flour (coarse if possible)
-1 Tbs. Wheat Bran
-1/2 Cup Sourdough Starter (see previous post)
-1/2 Cold Water

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. You are looking for a very wet dough starter. Cover bowl with cling film and let sit in a warmish place to ferment for 4-5 hours. After fermenting, refrigerate bowl overnight.

Step Two


Firm Starter

-1 Cup Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 Quantity Rye Sponge Starter

Remove rye sponge starter from fridge and allow 1 hour to warm up. Combine bread flour and starter and form a relatively firm dough starter. Do not overwork the dough just enough to combine and make firm. Place starter back into the bowl and cover with cling film. Let ferment for 3-4 hour then refrigerate overnight.

Step Three


Dough

-1 Quantity Firm Starter
-4 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 1/4 Cup Rye Flour
-2 1/2 Tsp. Salt
-1 Tbs. Molasses
-1-2 Tbs. Caraway Seeds
-2 Cups Cold Water

Remove Starter from fridge and allow 1 hour to warm. Break firm starter into pieces and and combine thoroughly with all ingredients. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly stretchy. Place the dough in a covered bowl and allow to rise at room temperature for about 3 hours. Divide the dough in to two pieces and form into loaves. Since my brother and sister-in-law were kind enough to bring me two Brotforms (linen-lined wicker baskets) from France, I was able to proof my bread in a fancier way than I normally do. This is what they looked like before proofing.

This is the longer loaf after it was turned out onto a peel and slashed for baking.

Place the formed loaves into floured baskets, cover in a plastic bag and proof at room temperature for 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Four


Baking


Remove the loaves from fridge 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 475 F and place an empty baking pan on the shelf under your pizza stone. Turn out dough from basket onto a floured baking peel. Slide dough onto pizza stone and pour 1 cup warm water into baking pan. Bake loaf for 5 minutes and then turn down oven to 450 F. and bake a further 25-35 minutes until dark brown and hollow sounding when thwacked. Remove from oven, cover with a towel and let cool on a rack

The crumb on this bread was very special.

Perfect sized air pockets and super delicious.

Day Five Sourdough Starter

Ok so back in time again.....

I have been really busy and unable to get around to writing these entries as they happen. Don`t worry everything has been done sequentially on my end and things are looking good. As I stated in my day four entry, your starter is ready and capable of rising bread now, but it will greatly enhance the final flavor of your bread if you give the starter one more day of refreshing or feeding. You are going to add a large amount of extra flour and water at this point and you may need to transfer your starter to a larger container.

Sourdough Tunes: Black Sabbath, Master of Reality (1971)

Day Five
-4 cups of Unbleached Bread Flour
-3 cups of Cold Water

Add these ingredients to your existing starter and combine thoroughly. Transfer the mix to a larger container (if necessary). Cover container loosely and let ferment for four hours in a cool place. After four hours put the container in the fridge and it will be ready to use anytime you need to make bread. It is generally advised that you feed or refresh the starter every two days.....im not running a bakery so that seems a little over the top. I am going to give the starter a feed every week instead and see how it goes. The starter can also be frozen and stored for up six months. When you thaw out the starter be sure to feed it three times over a period of three days before using it.

Think of sourdough as a good pet....