Pain a l'Ancienne

Pain a l'Ancienne involves mixing flour with ice cold water and then left in the refrigerator for a long period (8 - 48 hours) during the autolyse phase.  This long phase is meant to promote great flavor by allowing the starches to break down into sugars.  I followed the recipe that DonD provided on The Fresh Loaf. He recommends 24 hours in the fridge after adding salt and yeast.  I did it for 12 hours. Instead of using regular yeast, I used a quarter cup of a very active leaven from a Tartine Bread recipe.

It certainly works:

A very nice open crumb and an exceptional taste.  This one is a keeper. Many thanks DonD!

Sourdough Pancakes

One of the great benefits of keeping sourdough startes is the availability of discarded starter for sourdough pancakes.

Check out my blueberry version while cooking:

And the finished product:

I serve them with additional fresh blueberries and Grade B Maple Syrup. Yummy! BTW, try Trader Joe's Grade B Maple Syrup.  It's the best I've found in my area.

Tartine Olive Bread

Tartine Bread gives a variation on their country bread which adds olives, herbes de provence and lemon zest.  The aroma in the kitchen when baking this bread is something else. Bread, herbs and lemon combine for a sublime smell.  Note that I retard the dough after bulk fermentation in the fridge overnight to promote the sour taste.

Here's the finished product:

The crumb on this bread is pretty good:

There are not enough olives though.  It could do with twice what I added.

More Tartine Baguette

OK.  So I protected the bread from the top element direct heat by putting a cookie sheet on the top shelf like so:

The heat can still get around the edges but no direct radiant hear any more. I think this idea was a good one. Note that instead of using cornmeal or rice flour, I'm using parchment paper. I find it more convenient.

Here's the final loaves:

Good oven spring but quite as open-crumb as I wanted:

I'll work on this aspect of the technique.

Tartine Baguette

I just baked another bread recipe from my favorite book, Tartine Bread. I made their baguette recipe. I left the dough in the fridge overnight to retard and get a little bit of a sour flavor. The loaves took only 20 minutes to cook (versus 25 - 30 minutes in the recipe) which is making me think my oven is running a little hot. Either that or I should be shading the bread from the top element by putting a shelf in the top position and placing a cookie sheet on it. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Anyway, the results were outstanding if just a little darker than I like. The crust was lovely and crisp and the interior light and chewy. Just about to have a couple of slices with scrambled eggs (with crème fraiche), mushrooms and grape tomatoes. Yummy!

Tartine Bread

One of my favorite books is Tartine Bread. For me, reading this book is almost like meditation. The first chapter on baking basic country bread is an exposition of the bread making process with detailed descriptions of the ingredients, processes and techniques.  I shall report back on my results from using their recipes.

Baking Bread Adjustment

I found that if I turn the temperature down from 500F to 450F when I remove the lid from my dutch oven after 30 minutes of baking, I can bake the bread for another 10 minutes. If I don't turn the temperature down, I get 5 minutes of baking. Any more and the crust burns. I assume this happens because the oven temperature drops when you open the door. The top element will turn on to compensate for the loss of heat thus burning the crust. By turning it down to 450F, you avoid the top element turning on.

Smoked Salmon

One of my buddies gave me his recipe for hot Smoked Salmon. His salmon is absolutely delicious so I decided to try it. Here was the result:

It was just a little on the salty side, so I will adjust my timings on the next occasion I make this wonderful dish. Here's the recipe:

2 cups Brown Sugar

1 cup Kosher Salt

5 tbsp fresh ground Black Pepper

Fresh Thyme

Fresh Rosemary

Mix all ingredients together. Place a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil sufficient to completely wrap your salmon on a work surface. Put a sheet of plastic wrap on top. Place the salmon on the plastic wrap skin side down. Completely cover the salmon with about 1/4 inch layer of the rub. Wrap tightly with the aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for 8 to 10 hours - no more. Take it out of the refrigerator and rinse well. Pat dry with paper towels and leave for one hour. Smoke for 45 minutes at 180F or until the internal temperatur of the salmon is 150F.

Ciabatta

Over the last couple of days and this morning I made Ciabatta from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. I made it biga-style, leaving the biga to stew for 4 hours at room temperature and then about 36 hours in the fridge. That length of time really helps develop the flavors of the bread.  I made the final dough from the biga last night. It came out of the mixer pleasingly smooth and silky. I left it in the fridge again till about 3:00am (yes, I'm a crazy guy). I got up then and took it out to leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours. I shaped it into two boules around 5:00am. I then started to bake it around 6:45.  Here's the dough before it went into the oven. You can see the oven spring just waiting to happen!

I used a cold oven and cold La Cloche.  I left it in the oven for 40 minutes at 450F then took the lid off and baked it for a further 10 minutes.  Here's the finished product.  Just listen to that crust crackle!

Alton Brown's Flowerpot Smoker

I couldn't resist Alton Brown's Flowerpot Smoker.  Here's what mine looks like:

The terracotta pots I bought at Walmart (16 1/2 inch pots) for around $18 a piece.  The thermometer was also from Walmart ($17).  The hot plate was from Walgreens for $10. To finish it off, there's a cast iron smoker box ($12 from Amazon) and a replacement grate for a Weber grill ($8 Home Depot).  Here's the result - smoked chicken:

Delicious!

My Recipe for NYT No Knead

Here's my recipe:

15.5 oz Bread Flour
12 oz Water
2 Tsps Brittany Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp SAF Instant Yeast
1/4 Cup Ischia Sourdough Starter

Combine all ingredients until they just come together into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for 8 - 12 hours. Take it out and leave it at room temperature for a further 8 - 12 hours. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and stretch and fold twice: left to right and front to back. Shape the dough and leave on unfloured parchment covered with oiled plastic wrap for 1 - 2 hours. Half an hour from the end, preheat the oven to 500F with dutch oven inside. When ready to bake, slit the bread with a lame. Take dutch oven out and remove the lid.  Dump the dough, parchment and all, into the dutch oven.  Replace the lid and cook for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, take the lid off and bake for a further 5 - 10 minutes until the crust is nice and dark. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Le Creuset Dutch Oven Stainless Steel Knob

I use a Le Creuset 7.5 quart Dutch Oven to bake bread. I found out the hard way that the Phenolic Knob that's standard on all Le Creusets is only oven proof to 375F. At 500F is starts to make peculiar sparking noises. Really. However, I discovered that I could get a stainless steel replacement knob on Amazon for $10 including free shipping. Check it out: Le Creuset Stainless Steel Knob.

And here is the result.  Look at the crumb!

New York Times No Knead Bread

I've become quite fascinated with this type of bread baking promoted by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York. The technique is to mix flour (3 cups), yeast (1/4 tsp), water (1 1/2 cups) and salt (1 1/4 tsp) until they just come together into a ball. Leave the mixture covered for 18 - 24 hours.  Gluten will form automatically. After 18 - 24 hours, pour the dough onto a floured surface and fold twice.  Form into a boule and leave on parchment paper covered with oiled plastic wrap for 1 - 2 hours for the final rise. Half an hour from the end of the final rise, place your Dutch Oven in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. After 30 minutes of pre-heat, take the Dutch Oven out and put the boule inside, parchment and all. Replace the lid and put the Dutch Oven back in the oven for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, take the lid off and let bake for another 5 minutes or until the crust has become dark. Leave it to rest for half an hour then slice and eat!