I figure the first question here is: What is your secret/individual/unique way to eat peanut butter? The almost universal answer is probably: on a spoon straight out of the jar … and yes I certainly have enjoyed my share of peanut butter that way. But from a very long time ago, 65 years ago, my favorite peanut butter sandwich has always been open face peanut and mayo. In the last year that has morphed into bacon hot chili jam, peanut butter and mayo on toast.
Happy chaos!
One should never worry about pronunciation when bread is this easy to put in the oven and brings smiles when someone takes a first bite.
All together now.
Aparna is our Kitchen of the Month and she will have the full recipe on her site. True to the Babe Code, she gave us lots of room to play with this recipe. Recipes on offering: Aparna adapted this recipe; make it with SourDough; make it NoKnead; Google the title and you can find any number of variations. Filling? Don’t be silly, sweet red bean maybe the traditional but in true Babe Fashion please use your imagination, I certainly did.
For something of a demo on applying the streusel check out this video. BUT what ever you do DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE STREUSEL! This is a winning topping. I have some left in the refrigerator and know I will find another fantastic way to use it.
Change? Fiddle with a recipe? Well of course. In the STREUSEL I replaced cornstarch with oat bran (my theory was oat bran will make it more crumbly, I think it did). I cut any place the recipe called for any kind of sweetener by 5 to 15 grams. To make the DOUGH, I used 140 g white whole wheat flour + 100 g AP flour to replace 238 g AP flour. FILLING I totally ignored any amounts and mixed some canned red beans, peanut butter, bacon hot chili jam and coconut flour to a consistency I could roll into balls.
Take a bite … and Smile!!
It’s not really about the filling, it’s all about that streusel topping. Go for it. Bake with us if you dare! Put your own touch on it and Smile!
Going fast …
We would love for you to bake along with us this month and try out these crispy topped rolls. Check out our Facebook group to see the participants’ baking results. If you would like to post your results with a Buddy badge on a blog, let us know in the comments or on the Facebook page.
What happens when you refresh your sour dough yeasties and then ask them to stay alive for 33 days in a dark refrigerator … I find they are VERY reluctant to greet you with bubbling smiles upon your return. I had 7 days to coach the little boys and girls back into bubbles. It didn’t go as well as one would hope.
I took the two that seemed to have the most bubbles yesterday … and I spiked it with a pinch of yeast.
Our Kitchen of the Month, Judy of Jody’s Gross Eats, presented us with SourDough Hawaiian Rolls and gave us two options … I should have gone with the sourdough discard seeing’s as how I was discarding everyday for over a week. I tried for the straight sourdough. My yeasties were sluggish and I didn’t get the light fluffy ones like I’m imagining all the other Babes did BUT I did get some incredibly glorious aromas and delicious rolls that my husband is crazy for.
I followed Judy’s Sourdough recipe in every way except I replaced 100 grams of bread flour with King Arthur’s Golden Wheat. So right there is a small degree that accounts for the lack of fluffy.
Ingredients added to the mixer and the dough comes together easily.Dough ball 948 grams.Last dough ball 107 gramsAll other dough balls 105 grams7 hours after shaping …Brush with cream …
BAKE!
Tops … brushed with butter.Bottoms …Side …Nine all together…Not the lightest crumb …I do love toasted!
The aroma of these is not not pineapple but it’s not pineapple … I think the vanilla does some alchemy with the pineapple and it is glorious.
All in all, I’m very happy. I believe anyone would be happy with these.
I’m giving my starter one more try before I start over. We’ll see.
Long ago and far away, I dreamed a dream … of a Sourdough Croissant Loaf … can there be such a thing?
Leave it to a Babe, in this case it is Cathy of Bread Experience who tuned us onto this one and is Kitchen of the Month.
Did I get any croissant effect? Um, well. You can always count of something unique if you’re coming to a Babe’s Bread Baking Kitchen Table.
Cast Iron bread loaf pan … is that butter?
Yes, dear friends that was butter that baked out of the loaf baked in the special French cast iron loaf pan. I divided Cathy’s recipe and baked one loaf for a friend in a cast iron casserole pan with lid.
Both loaves rose in baskets.
And I put both loaves into the fridge for a slow overnight rise covering them with a shower cap.
Butter baked out of only the one.The casserole pan: NO butter.Kept it frozen until I folded into the dough.I grated frozen butter.With butter folded in and dough now ready to shape.After resting overnight in fridge, turned out of baskets, scored and ready for the preheated pans and oven. You do want to preheat the pans and lids. You will note the special French pan comes with a mesh liner which makes it easy to drop into the super hot cast iron pan and I used a parchment round to drop the other loaf into the casserole cast iron pan.French special cast iron loaf pan.Cast iron casserole pan.Both loaves: Super crust!
I got two beautiful loaves I was very happy to share one with a friend.
Did I get croissant effect?Not so much.Did I care? Not so much! and I think fairly close to what Cathy’s looks like. Just do not compare me with Kelly’s A Messy Kitchen!
Even though so much butter leaked out of the one loaf, they both shared the croissant butter flavor and especially when toasted, the croissant flavor. Why did the one leak and not the other? Was it the liner? OR Was the special French pan so much heavier and so required longer preheating to reach the same heat as the other? OR Was it hotter because it was heavier and absorbed more heat than the casserole cast iron pan? I will try some alternative baking but didn’t have time for this bake.
How much did I change Cathy’s recipe? It’s pretty much a given that a Babe must! So yes I did but all I did was use 50% sprouted rye and 50% bread.
Bake it. There will be no regrets! This is just fabulously tasty!!!
Bake on …
And check out the other Babes bakes as well. I know each will be beautiful and as always Babe unique.
Oatmeal … how do I love you … let me count the ways … #1: Burger Buns
I do love oatmeal.
Super Bun!
Elizabeth – yes that Elizabeth of blog from our kitchen, has given the Babes our June bread, Oatmeal Burger Buns, and let me tell you, this is one not to miss that will be the star of your summer grill … and since I can attest that it works great in the oven and on the indoor grill, the star of your winter indoor grill as well. In fewer words, this is a star keeper. I suggest you check out all the Babes, because we all have our ways with the same recipe.
For my part – my way: in place of Elizabeth’s whole wheat starter, I used 200 grams of my refreshed the night before excited rye starter, in place of all purpose flour, 100 grams sprouted spelt, 20 grams bread flour and 130 grams white whole wheat, I added 20 grams of ground flax seed. I topped the buns with King Arthur’s Everything Babel Topping. I did use the added dry yeast, not sure why. For the ultimate ‘my way’ I added 50 grams of slow cooker caramelized onions! I highly recommend the caramelized onions!
Here’s where I added those caramelized onions!Heirloom Tomatoes.On my stove, top grill.Where’s my burger? Amazing crosshatch!
I think because I added those caramelized onions and all the liquid, my dough required more flour. Because I used whole grain flours, my buns required an extra 15 minutes (30 minute total) in the oven.
Let me count the ways after that first burger: #2 used for avocado toast, then #3 topped with Dishoom’s House Black Daal (page 215 from Dishoom: From Bombay with Love by Shamir Thakrar, Kari Thakrar and Naved Nasir – WOW of a Daal), next #4 topped with mushrooms & spinach, and finally #5 topped with black beans and broccoli!
My notes.
If you bake this we’d love to hear about it. I can just about guarantee you won’t be disappointed and more than likely it will become your routine bun.
I’ve baked bread and I’ve baked BREAD and then I’ve baked BREAD and then some. But, I’ve never gotten tired of baking bread. Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories suggested the Babes bake Dollywood Cinnamon Bread. It’s bread but it’s also Cinnamon Bread but then it’s Cinnamon Bread like you’ve knot known it before. Oh and it’s not a knot! It’s more pull apart log but different even so.
Karen found this recipe in a beautiful new book – and yes I succumbed and now have a copy in my library. I love all the stories Anne Byrn has, one for each recipe. And I’ve bookmarked too many to ever get them all baked but life should be full of challenges one chooses!
I used two rolling pins about the same size so I could cut without going through to the bottom.
Ready to slice …
The slice in allows all the goo …
To filter down and permeate the loaf … I will confess, the two best slices are the ends…heaven.
I did observe the overnight rest in the fridge. I will make it again with double the topping and open those slices more to allow that topping further in if that’s at all possible.
Karen’s got her adaption of Anne Byrn’s recipe on her site but I’d encourage you to check out the book and the other Babes baking this month.
Every bread recipe is the same simple basic: flour, water, yeast. And every time it comes out of the oven it’s
Dramatic Complex Different ~ Flour Water Yeast
Years ago, the Babes baked the infamous “Crock” aka Coccodrillo, Crocodile Bread AND Babe’s Nightmare. You will find the recipe in Carol Field’s The Italian Baker. At the time, it was the highest water ratio the Babes had ever dealt with. Now, along comes Kelly in AMessyKitchen bringing us Glass Bread with 106% water! There was at least one Babe with hellish memories of the “Crock” and the outcry was deafening. That Babe shall remain nameless at least here. It was not I. I found the “Crock” good bread and had no issues. Yeast can be fickle.
I strongly urge you to catch this sourdough version video because it shows the coiling turns so beautifully. I guess I would say this is a bread to be handled delicately once you turn the dough out to cut and then move to parchment paper. I was overwhelmed with how this dough transformed between coiling turns. Kelly advocates strong gluten bread flour to stand up to the huge amount of water and I would second that advice. Even I did not add flax or any whole wheat HOWEVER when I did the sourdough version I confess my starter is a whole grain rye and that is what I used.
Comparing my yeast and sourdough bakes, I think you will find the yeast has better color, better rise and many more holes. Both had wonderful oven spring but still the yeast was the winner there as well. The crust was crisper on the yeast. I did leave the yeast bread in the oven longer. I consider both versions excellent breads and would bake them again. I cut 6 rolls when doing the sourdough and find that the optimal size for sandwiches. I made travel sandwiches both times and it is excellent either way.
Using yeast…
King Arthur recipe: 500g water 500g King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour 2.5g (3/4 teaspoon) instant yeast 10g salt 15g olive oil, for the pan
To make the dough: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. (To measure by volume, see “tips,” below.)
In a medium bowl, mix the water, flour, yeast, and salt until thoroughly combined and homogenous. Note: The dough starts off very slack and wet. That’s OK; it will transform itself through time and folds.
Oil a two-quart rectangular baking dish (10” x 7”) with the olive oil. If you don’t have a 2-quart dish, an 8” or 9” square pan will work. Don’t worry about any pan you use being oven-safe; you won’t be baking the bread in it.
Pour the dough into the pan. Check the dough’s temperature by inserting a digital thermometer into the center. If it’s less than 72°F, move the pan to a warmer spot, e.g., your oven with the light turned on.
Cover the pan and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Start with a bowl fold: Use your wet hands to grab a section of dough from one side, lift it up, then press it down into the middle. Repeat this eight to 12 times.
My amateur video
Cover the dish and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Then do a coil fold: With wet hands, reach under the dough and stretch the middle upward until the dough releases from the dish. Roll it forward off your hands, allowing it to fold over (or “coil”) on itself. This is called a coil fold. Rotate the dish 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat. Continue performing this folding action until the dough feels like it won’t stretch and elongate easily, usually four to five times initially. Note: You’ll be doing this three more times, each time building strength and developing the dough. See “tips,” below, for more details,
Cover the pan and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Repeat the coil fold. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
At this point, the dough should be easier to handle and feel tighter. Repeat the coil fold using only two or three folds this time. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
Repeat the coil fold one last time, using only one or two folds if the dough is relatively strong. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for about 80 minutes.
To divide the dough: As gently as possible, turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, maintaining the rectangle or square shape – be careful not to deflate the delicate dough. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on top of the dough, leaving no exposed sticky spots. Then, working as gently as possible, use a bench knife or other sharp knife to divide it into four pieces. Gently place two pieces on a piece of parchment, leaving space between them. Repeat with the remaining two pieces of dough, placing them on another piece of parchment.
Allow the loaves to rest at room temperature for 2 hours, uncovered. While the loaves are resting, preheat the oven to 475°F with a baking stone or steel on a lower rack. (If you don’t have a stone or steel, see “tips,” below.) Allow the oven to preheat for 1 hour to ensure it’s thoroughly heated. The loaves are ready for the oven when there are a few large bubbles on the surface of each loaf and they feel light and airy.
To bake the bread: Carefully slide the two loaves (still resting on the parchment) into the oven onto the preheated stone or steel. If space is tight and the full sheet of parchment won’t fit on the stone or steel, cut the parchment between the two loaves and arrange them as best you can. Allow the other two loaves to continue to rest.
Bake the loaves for 15 minutes, then transfer them, from the stone or steel, directly onto a rack in the upper third of the oven for an additional 13 to 15 minutes. (Leave the stone in place.) Moving them to the rack allows the baking stone or steel to become hot again in preparation for the next two loaves. After a total of 27 to 30 minutes of baking, remove the loaves from the oven and allow them to cool on a rack.
Repeat the process with the two remaining loaves. Cool the bread fully before slicing.
Storage information: Wrap the bread loosely and store it at room temperature for up to several days; freeze for longer storage.
Formula for four: 470g strong flour 470g water (400+70)* 10g olive oil 11g salt 100g whole grain rye starter (100% hydration)
Method: Mix flour and water. Autolyse above for 45min.
Add 100g starter to autolysed flour and water and work it together well; Give that a 60 minute rest. Combine 70g reserve COLD water & 11g salt, add half and fold/mix together. Allow 10min rest Add remaining water/salt & mix well; add EVO & mix, Allow 15 min rest 1. Folds: Oil square cake pan, add dough and do a few large (coil) folds. 45 min rest 2. Folds: Large (coil) folds in thirds, then rotate 90 and fold in thirds, rest 45 min 3. Folds: Repeat folds, rest 45 min Folds: 4. Repeat folds, rest 45 min Folds: 5. Repeat folds,
In retrospect I believe I should have given the dough another 2 folds; every fold and rest really give this dough strength.
Overnight in fridge for cold bulk Room temp rest 60 minute . Heavily flour table and pour the dough out, ~ if you watch the video you’ll see I think the move that works the best: just turn the pan upside down, hold it 2-3 inches above and let it fall out. divide into 4 pieces – I did 6 for my 2nd bake and place on parchment. 60 min rest Bake on steel at 500ºF for 8min with steam, drop to 410 and bake for 20 minutes – I would give it 5 or more minutes more next time.
*Note that the 70g is mixed with the salt and kept aside to incorporate after initial autolyse..
Aparna, our kitchen of the month, you may have thought it was hard to find a bread we haven’t baked but honestly even though this little group has been baking for these many years and it does seem like we’ve baked just a huge number of breads, every month I marvel that wow it’s just water yeast flour, the same ingredients as last month BUT it’s just never the same and it NEVER gets boring. Thank you so very much for this introduction to this our 14th anniversary bread.
300 gm mozzarella sliced (thinner slices will work best)
400 gm Ricotta
BREADCRUMB LAYER :
Some chopped scallions
4 to 6 slices of BEEKEEPER’S PAIN DE MIE
100 gm grated Parmesan cheese
50 grams walnuts
Salt to taste
Red chilli flakes or crushed pepper to taste
1 tsp dried oregano
Also two very well oiled round 23cm trays
HOW TO MAKE IT :
Make the Poolish by mixing together in a medium sized bowl the flour, dry yeast, and water until a sticky dough is obtained. Add more water if necessary to achieve this. Cover loosely with a plastic film and leave to rise for about 2 hours. The polish should be somewhat bubbly and have doubled in size.
I mixed the dough by hand. Mix together the flours, water (more or less as required), oil and the poolish. The dough will be sticky. Add the salt and knead till it is soft, very pliable and smooth. Shape it into a round and place it in a bowl greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl loosely and leave it to rise till double in volume. Mine took about 2 and a half hours.
Cook the onions. While the dough is rising, get the toppings ready. Heat the oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Sprinkle a little salt and cook the onions on low to medium heat until they turn translucent and soft. Do not brown or caramelized them. Take the pan off heat and let them cool to room temperature.
Prepare the breadcrumb mixture. Run the bread slices (with or without crusts) in a food processor to make the crumbs. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Mix together with the oil, salt, red chilli flakes (or crushed pepper) chopped scallions/ spring onions, oregano and grated cheese. The texture should be of loose but moist crumbs.
Once the dough has risen, gently knead to deflate it. Divide it into two equal portions. Press out each portion into a roughly 9-inch circle (or oval) using your fingers. ****Since Aparna and I both seem to think the topping is the show of this bread, next time I will bake mine in a 10 inch or larger pan and make more topping to cover the larger surface area. If the dough feels sticky, oil your fingers lightly. Place in the oiled trays. I used a pie dish. Let the dough rise again, for about an hour till almost double in thickness and quite puffy.
Top with anchovy (maybe one day I’ll try anchovy but not this time), then the cooked onions. Next comes the Ricotta and a hard cheese (I used Parmesan ). Make sure to cover the surface of the dough evenly. Finish layering by spreading the breadcrumb mixture on the top.
Bake the Sfincione at 250C (480F) on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. The underneath of the bread should become golden and crisp. Then move the pan to the middle shelf of the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so, until it is crisp and golden brown on the top as well. Remove from the oven and let it cool.
Next time I will use parchment on the bottom so there will be no issue of sticking AND if the bottom seems too moist, I can take it out of the pan and return it to the oven rack for 2 to 5 minutes for crisper texture.
Cut and serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Hahaha. I did give one loaf away but the other loaf we very quickly took care of.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ALL BABES, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.
We know you’ll want to make Sfincione Bagherese too!
To receive a Bread Baking Buddy Badge to display on your site: make the topped flatbread in the next couple of weeks and post about them (we love to see how your bread turns out AND hear what you think about it – what you didn’t like and/or what you liked) before the 28 February 2022. If you do not have a blog, no problem; you can also post your picture(s) to Flickr (or any other photo sharing site) and record your thoughts about the bread there. Please remember to contact the Kitchen of the Month to say that your post is up.
For complete details about this month’s recipe, the BBB and how to become a BBBuddy, please read:
When I first saw the post for January’s Babe bread, I thought here’s a simple easy fun bake perfect for after the holiday crazy actions. A small stuffed roll perfect for just about anytime, anyplace and any occasion. Our host kitchen, FeedingMyEnthusiasms, has a good story on finding this bread you should find fun.
A quick read through the recipe and … Pepperoni…ha, I’m in!
My next reading brought me up short. I left the following on the blog: Ye gad, I’m just looking at that 3/4 cup of sugar! Really with pepperoni?! Sounds terribly sweet. How much sugar does this need? What amount of sugar will change the texture here? Adding this much sugar to something that seems savory is REALLY foreign to me. I get the feeling this is a very Americanized food, we just add sugar to everything.
Simple and easy … Then there was a long discussion of what if you don’t want meat!! That how I happen to have the sautéed mushroom with pepperoni spices idea. VERY good.
Holy Batman! I made them. Did I follow the recipe? Better than I thought I had on initial inspection but I divided the ingredients in half and only added 20 grams of sugar … and when the dough just wouldn’t come together – fully 3/4 of a cup of flour was not going to incorporate – I threw in the rye sourdough throw out from the night before. I threw that in and it was perfect. This took a full 90 minutes to double. We were having our “pod” friends (pod being like minded fully vaccinated friends) for pepperoni pizza dinner. SOOOO for filling I used pepperoni seasoned baby Bella mushrooms sliced, there were 4 half slices of cooked bacon added to the mushrooms … then there were two dough balls left when I ran out of mushrooms and bacon, perhaps there was a slice or two of cheese as well. The last two dough balls: one I filled with pepperoni and one I filled with ……..see below. These were seriously good 😊!!! They were a terrific appetizer for hungry boys before pizza!
Do we ever know bread? Probably not, just like can you ever have enough bread books? Probably not.
Unbeknownst to me, I’ve had a kuskavel in my rolling pin drawer for any number of years. Didn’t know it’s name. Didn’t know what it’s specialty was. Don’t remember where I came upon it. I just thought it was fun looking and might work on crackers which I tried once. Don’t really remember how that turned out.
This is the Kuskavel. See what I mean about fun looking.
Kelly from MessyKitchen is our host Kitchen of the Month and the bread she brought us is delightful! Flatbread from Sweden. Sounds simple and yes it is. It is one of those simple breads that is so much more than it’s simplicity. Check out Kelly’s site for all the background on this bread!
Before baking powder there was deer horn salt aka baker’s ammonia. And about that deer horn salt aka baker’s ammonia, yes you can get it from Amazon, and yes it really is ammonia, and yes it really smells like ammonia and yes it really SMELLS. BUT somehow it bakes away. I baked this first with baking powder and then took some really deep breaths (not over the baker’s ammonia) after Kelly assured me I would not smell it after baking and gutted it up and baked the recipe using the deer horn salt aka Baker’s ammonia. I could not discern any appreciable difference in texture or bake between the two.
1 g (¼ tsp) deer horn salt (baker’s ammonia), dissolved in water (you can use baking powder instead)
6 g yeast
8 g sea salt
25 g honey
20 g butter
235g milk (dairy or non dairy works fine)
1 teaspoon caraway, crushed in a mortar/pestle)
I kneaded a very stiff dough for 15 minutes. I probably added 10-20 grams water while kneading. Let rise for 6 hours at room temperature and knock back and briefly knead twice in the first two hours. (The dough can also be chilled overnight.)
Cut off 85 – 95 gram portions and shape into round balls. Flour lightly and let rise briefly, about 20 minutes. Roll out round dough circles to about 25cm or 9in with a notched or regular rolling pin. Dock well if using a flat rolling pin. If using a grooved pin, follow with the notched pin.
Preheat the oven to the highest possible temperature (500° worked best for my oven & stone. 525° seemed too hot) and ideally place the flatbread directly on a baking stone or steel and bake them into golden, soft flatbread. Bake for 3-4 minutes each. Mine took 4 minutes.
I did play with the flours in this recipe. My first bake was as Kelly wrote it. My second bake I took 100 grams from the whole wheat and make it rye. I used caraway seeds in both those bakes. We enjoyed both and I really couldn’t discern any difference between them. My third bake yesterday I tried 162 grams whole grain barley. The dough never really rose anything like the first two batches. While the dough came together, it remained crumbly throughout the entire process and was even very difficult to get onto the baking stone without cracking and breaking pieces off. In an effort to prevent breaking apart I didn’t roll it so thin and it did a little better.
Haven’t tried any of the barley flatbread yet but we’ll be taking it on a short road trip today and I’ll report back later.
I hope you’ll bake this one with us. Now that days are probably somewhat busy these flat breads are easy and throughly entertaining and engaging! As Kelly says: Hällakakor can be frozen and then reheated straight out of the freezer on a flat toaster, toaster oven, or hot pan. They should refresh well and taste like they were freshly baked out of the oven. They are lovely with butter and jam or syrup, or with mascarpone and jam. They are just as good with an herbed cheese spread or to sop up stew or curry. We would love for you to try out this flat bread with us this month and share how you used it! New recipes are posted every month on the 16th. Check out our Facebook group to see the participants’ baking results during that time.
Do you love the crisp fall air, leaf raking, fresh apples, pumpkin and spices? I’m ready for the air to be cooler and cinnamon is always welcome in my kitchen! Pumpkin has never been my very favorite but in this bread it is perfect. This is the bread of fall. Totally my new favorite with fresh home made apple butter. How can you beat that? OK, well maybe put peanut butter AND apple butter on a slice of this. Yes, maybe that would be even better.
32 grams whole grain rye or other whole grain flour
¾ tsp. / 6 grams fine sea salt
1-2 Tbsp. / 7-14 grams pumpkin pie spice or other spice of choice
200 grams pumpkin puree
2-3 Tbsp. / 40-60 grams maple syrup or honey (I used 40 grams of maple syrup)
Extra flour or water as needed
*Using yeast instead of sourdough.
To make a yeast version, add 1/8 teaspoon of dried yeast to the Pâte fermentée and an additional teaspoon in the final dough and omit the sourdough starter.
First Day: Make the Pâte fermentée
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and salt. To keep from dirtying another container, make a well in the center and add the starter. Pour the water in gradually and mix using a large wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk until everything comes together to form a smooth ball.
Adjust the water or flour as necessary to make a dough that isn’t too sticky or stiff. Knead the dough until it is soft and pliable and tacky but not sticky, about 4 to 6 minutes.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel, and ferment at room temperature for 1 hour or longer. The dough should swell to about 1 ½ times its original size.
Remove the dough from the bowl and degas it by kneading it gently. Return the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days. Or freeze in an airtight freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Next Morning/Afternoon: Make the Final Dough/Bake Bread
The next day, remove the Pâte fermentée from the refrigerator. Cut it into 10 – 12 small pieces using a bench knife or serrated knife. Place the pieces in the bowl of a stand mixer and allow them to warm up for about 1 hour.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup or honey, if using, to the Pâte fermentée and mix on low speed to break up the pieces. Gradually add in the dry ingredients and continue mixing on low speed until everything comes together to form a coarse ball. Add extra water if necessary to form a soft and pliable dough. ***In retrospect, next time I would add 30-60 grams of water.
Mix on medium speed using the dough hook and adjust with flour if necessary to make a soft, pliable dough that is tacky but not sticky.
Transfer the dough to a clean large bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.
Let the dough ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. Stretch and fold the dough after the 1st hour, then let it rest the final hour.
Remove the dough to a work surface dusted with flour. Divide the dough into two pieces and shape roughly into rounds. Let them rest on the counter for 15 minutes.
Shape the pieces into tighter boules, and place in lined banneton proofing baskets, between the folds of a heavily floured baker’s couche, or on cornmeal-dusted parchment paper. Let them proof 2 hours or until 1 ½ times their original size.
Proceed to baking or cold ferment the loaves overnight
After the loaves have proofed in the baskets at warm room temperature, proceed to baking, or cover the baskets tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight to cold ferment.
About 45 minutes before you plan to bake the loaves, place a Dutch Oven or other baking pot on the middle lower rack of the oven and the lid on the upper rack and preheat the baker to 450 degrees F.
While the oven is preheating, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of your baker. **** My parchment round was to fit the Dutch Oven with wings.
What has wings and flies in & out of a scorching hot 🥵 Dutch Oven?
Cut four 30-inch pieces of food-safe twine. ****I poured olive oil in the bottom of a ramekin, coiled the twine to fit and soaked the twine in the oil. Place the oiled strings crisscrossed on the parchment. It should look like a pie divided into 8 wedges.
If you cold-fermented the loaves overnight, remove one loaf from the refrigerator at this point.
Invert one of the boules from the proofing basket onto the parchment paper. Center it on top of the string. Tie the strings on top being careful not to pull too tightly to give the loaf room to expand.
Score the loaf uses small slashes, if desired.
****Pull the middle rack with the Dutch Oven on it out of the oven. Using the parchment wings, lift the tied pumpkin loaf (on the parchment paper) and carefully place it in the pot. Pull the lid off the top rack and place on the Dutch Oven. Push the rack into the oven.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes with the lid on and another 15-20 minutes with the lid off. The loaf should be a rich golden brown all around and register 200 – 205 degrees F in the center of the loaf. It should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
****I used the parchment wings to lift the loaf out of the Dutch Oven. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and let it cool for 1 hour before removing the strings.
To remove the strings, cut them with scissors and carefully pull them a little bit at a time. If you pull too fast, the string could leave residue. A small knife works well for scraping the string off as you go. ****I had no difficulty removing the twine.
After the string has been removed, let the loaf rest on the cooling rack until completely cool.
Repeat the process with the other loaf allowing the oven and baking pot to preheat to 450 degrees F. before baking.
I gave away my pumpkin shaped loaf (yes even with that horrid explosion spot). We kept the loaf for apple butter and peanut butter! Come on, I know you want to bake this.
Bread Experience is the host kitchen this month. If you want to bake along with us and receive your Buddy Badge, please send Cathy a photo and link by October 29th to be included in the roundup.
Send an email to breadexperience at gmail dotcom and include BBB October Submission in the subject. It’s time to get baking!
MyKitchenInHalfCups 