Sourdough Baking Wednesday: Italian Bread with Hazelnuts

Since I baked this bread the first time I made it lots of times using sourdough instead of biga, halving the recipe, ad using my bread machine for mixing and after waiting for some time, baking it.

I find this recipe fantastic, the bread is soft as my children like it and it uses lots of my sourdough that I always try not to waste.

This time I had 100 gr of ricotta hanging around and some toasted hazelnuts so I added them to the recipe, adding a little more flour.

RECIPE

Biga
Source: Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice Page 107

Makes about 18 ounces

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached bread flour
1/2 teaspoon (.055 ounces) instant yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons to 1 cup (7-8 ounces) water, at room temperature

Directions
1. Stir together the flour and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball (or mix on low speed for 1 minute with the paddle attachment). Adjust the flour or water, according to need, so that the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff. (It is better to err on the sticky side, as you can adjust easier during kneading. It is harder to add water once the dough firms up.)
2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for 4 to 6 minutes (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook for 4 minutes), or until the dough is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. The internal temperature should be 77 to 80 degrees F.
3. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly to degas, and return it to the bowl, covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze it in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3 months.

Italian Bread
Source: Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice Page 172-173

Days to make: 2
Day 1: 3 to 4 hours biga
Day 2: 1 hour to dechill biga; 12-15 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20-30 minutes baking

Makes two 1 pound loaves or 9 torpedo (hoagie) rolls

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups (18 ounces) biga (recipe above)
2 1/2 cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached bread flour
1 2/3 teaspoons (.41 ounces) salt
1 tablespoon (.5 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1 teaspoon (.17 ounce) diastatic barley malt powder (optional)
1 tablespoon (.5 ounce) olive oil, vegetable oil, or shortening
3/4 cup to 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 to 8 ounces) water (or milk if making torpedo rolls), lukewarm (90 to 100 F)
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions
1. Remove the biga from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

2. Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and malt powder in a 4 quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the biga pieces, olive oil, and 3/4 cup water and stir together (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until a ball forms, adjusting the water or flour according to need. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft, but not batter like or very sticky. If the dough feels tough and stiff, add more water to soften (it is better to have the dough too soft than too stiff at this point).

3. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed with the dough hook). Knead (or mix) for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed, until the dough is tacky, but not sticky, and supple. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77-81 F. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

4. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

5. Gently divide the dough into 2 equal pieces of about 18 ounces each, or into 9 pieces of about 4 ounces each (for torpedo rolls). Carefully form the pieces into batards, or rolls, degassing the dough as little possible. Lightly dust with a sprinkle of flour, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rest 5 minutes. Then complete the shaping, extending the loaves to about 12 inches in length or shaping the torpedo rolls. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and dust with semolina flour or cornmeal. Place the loaves on the pan and lightly mist with spray oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

6. Proof at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until the loaves or rolls have grown to about 1 1/2 times their original size.

7. Prepare the oven for hearth baking, making sure to have an empty steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 500 F. Score the breads with 2 parallel, diagonal slashes or 1 long slash.

8. Rolls can be baked directly on the sheet pan. For loaves, generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and very gently transfer the loaves to the peel or pan. Transfer the dough to the baking stone (or bake on the sheet pan). Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the door. Repeat once more after another 30 seconds. After the final spray, lover the oven setting to 450F and bake until done, rotating 180 degrees in necessary, for even baking. It should take about 20 minutes for the loaves and 15 minutes for the rolls. The loaves and rolls should be golden brown and register at least 200F at the center.

9. Transfer the rolls or loaves to a cooling rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing or serving.

Mando questa ricetta a Zucchero & Canella per i suoi mercoledì.

Questo pane viene benissimo nella macchina del pane, faccio fare l'impasto poi aspetto un po' a seconda della temperatura e cuocio sempre nella macchina del pane.

Io sostituisco alla biga la pasta madre e dimezzo la ricetta, in questo caso ci ho anche aggiunto un etto di ricotta e un etto di nocciole tostate aggiungendo un po' di farina se serve.

Mellow Bakers : Roasted Potatoes Bread

This is my try with this recipe made subsituting sourdough for the preferment, my dough overriped so it is not the best looking bread but I loved it anyway !

Roasted Potato Bread
adapted from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread

Pre-ferment - the night before
9.6 oz bread flour
6.2 oz water (left out overnight)
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/8 tsp instant yeast

Final dough
1 lb, 1.6 oz bread flour
4.8 oz whole wheat flour
13.3 oz water (left out overnight)
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
1¼ tsp instant dry yeast
Potatoes, roasted, cooled, and diced small (Yukon gold are best)
Pre-ferment (all)

Combine the preferment ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 14-16 hours.

The next day, mix all of the ingredients, except for the pre-ferment, in a stand mixer on low. After 3 minutes, start adding the pre-ferment in small chunks. Correct the hydration by adding small amounts of water or flour if necessary. I needed extra flour. The dough should be slightly stiff.
Mix on second speed for 3-4 minutes.

Let rise 1.5 hours. Fold dough after 45 minutes.

Divide into two and make rounds out of each half. Let sit 10-20 minutes.

Create loaf shapes or fendu (pressing deeply into the rolling pin to bisect it) and let rise in floured bannetons (good side down) or on the counter, covered, for 1.5 hours.

Bake in a preheated oven at 450°F for about 40 minutes. Until the bread has darkened and cooked through. Let cool on racks.

Per i Sourdough Baking Wednesday di Zucchero & Cannella ho un ottimo pane con patate al forno, nella ricetta originale c'era un abiga che io ho sostituito con la pasta madre.

Sourdough Baking Wednesday : Roasted Hazelnuts and Prune Bread

This is really a wonderful wonderful recipe which comes from Bread from J. Hamelman. I really urge to try it because I simply cannot stop eating it !

The recipe calls for a stiff levain build and I used my stiff levain 12 hours after feeding him.

RECIPE ( 2 large loaves)

Stiff levain build :

bread flour 6.4 oz

water 3.8 oz

mature culture 1.3 oz

Final dough :

bread flour 1lb, 1.6 oz

whole-wheat flour 8 oz

water 1lb, 1.3 oz

butter, soft 1.6 oz

salt .6 oz (1T)

yeast .17 oz, instant dry (1 1/2 tsp)

levain 10.2 oz (all less 2 T + 1 tsp)

hazelnuts (roasted and skinned) 4 oz

dried prunes, coarsely chopped (I used figs in this recipe) 4 oz

1. Make the final build approx 12 hours before the final mix.

2. Add all ingredients to the mixing bowl, except hazelnuts and prunes (fig). Mix on first speed for 3 mins, Turn the mixer to second speed and mix for approx 3 mins more, to moderate gluten development. Add the nuts and prunes (fig) and mix on first speed just until they are evenly incorporated.

3. Bulk fermentaion 1-1.5 hrs

4 Fold after 45 mins.

5.Divide the dough into 1.5 pound pcs, and final proof fir 1 hr.

6. Bake with normal steam at 460f for 40-45 mins. Lower th oven temp to 420f after 15 mins to avoid excessive browning due to the prunes .

Mando questa ricetta a Zucchero & Cannella, é un pane veramente squisito che vi straconsiglio !! Come al solito se non funziona il traduttore Google fatemelo sapere !!

Bread Baking Buddies : Brunkans Langa

This month's Babe, Gorel of Grain Doe chose a bread made in a Stockholm's bakery which usually is baked in a very long loaf.

The bread is made with a sourdough made with Graham flour and Muscovado sugar.

I really fell in love with this wonderful loaf, I usually eat my bread for breakfast spread with some jam but this was so good it didn't need any jam. Even Andrea who is not so into bread loved it particularly, what can I tell you more ? Go and bake it !

I already own a sourdough starter so I just fed it with graham flour three days before baking but I didn't find the real flour so I just made it following Gorel's recipe.

RECIPE

Graham flour* sourdough:

Day 1, morning:
Mix 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour
with 120 g/120 ml/0,5 cups water.
Cover with cling film and leave at room temp.

Day 1, evening:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and leave at room temp.

Day 2, morning:
Add 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and
60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix. By now, the sourdough should be a little active (bubbly). If not, add a teaspoon of honey, some freshly grated apple or a teaspoon of natural yoghurt. Leave at room temp.

Day 3, morning:
Feed the sourdough with 60g/100 ml/0,42 cups graham flour and 60 g/60 ml/0,25 cups water.
Mix, cover with cling film and put in fridge.

Day 4
By now, the sourdough should be ready to use. If you don’t want to use it right away, you can keep in the fridge if you feed it as above a couple of times/week.

*Graham flour can’t be found everywhere. If you want to recreate an exact substitute, here’s what to do, according to Wikipedia:

Graham flour is not available in all countries. A fully correct substitute for it would be a mix of white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ in the ratio found in whole wheat. Wheat comprises approximately 83% endosperm, 14.5% bran, and 2.5% germ by mass. For sifted all-purpose white flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ having densities of 125, 50, and 80 grams/cup, respectively, one cup of graham flour is approximately equivalent to 84 g (~2/3 cup) white flour, 15 g (slightly less than 1/3 cup) wheat bran, and 2.5 g (1.5 teaspoons) wheat germ.

------------------------------------------------------

Brunkans långa
The long (tall?) loaf of Brunkebergs bageri
2 large loaves
Ingredients
600 g/600 ml/2,5 cups water
1125 g/2,48 lb high-protein wheat flour
375 g/13,2 oz graham sourdough (see above)
20 g/0,7 oz fresh yeast
150 g/5,3 oz dark muscovado sugar
25 g/0,88 oz honey
30 g/1 oz sea salt

Day 1
Mix all ingredients except the salt. Work the dough in a stand mixer for 10 minutes or by hand for 20. Add the salt. Knead the dough for 5 minutes more. Put the dough in a oiled, plastic box and put the lid on. Leave the dough for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes: fold one side of the dough against the centre of the dough, then fold the other end inwards, finally turn the whole dough so that the bottom side is facing down. Put the plastic box with the dough in the fridge and let it rise over night.

Day 2
Set the oven temp to 250 C/480 F. Leave the baking stone in if you use one.

Pour out the dough on a floured table top and divide it lengthwise with a sharp knife. Put the dough halves on a sheet covered with parchment paper and place another parchment paper or a towel on top. I dusted them with some flour at this point. When the oven is ready, put in the sheet or shove the parchment paper with the loaves onto the baking stone. Put a small tin with 3-4 ice cubes at the bottom of the oven. (The water releases slowly which is supposed to be better.) Lower the oven temp. to
175 C/350 F immediately after you have put in the loaves.
After 20 minutes, open the oven door and let out excess steam.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaves have reached an inner temp of 98 C/208 F.

Let cool on wire.

Ciao a tutti cari panificatori con lievito madre, questa settimana per il Sourdough baking Wednesday di Zucchero & Cannella vi propongo un pane fantastico dal sapore leggermente dolce che per la prima colazione è ideale. Il procedimento è un po' lungo ma ne vale proprio la pena.. il problema è che non ce la faccio a tradurre la ricetta di Gorel spero che vi accontenterete del traduttore, se non funziona traduco la ricetta fatemelo sapere !

Mellow Bakers : Cheese Bread

This is one of the breads the Mellow Bakers chose to bake in September from J. Hamelman Bread book.

As I read that some found the crust bitter from the cheese pieces sticking out I tried to push them in but some pieces came out anyway not causing too much damage. Actually we quite enjoied this bread.

I used Parmigiano Reggiano as cheese.

With this bread I'm partecipating to Zucchero & Canella's Sourdough Baking Wednesdays

Questo pane al formaggio viene da un bellissimo libro di J. Hamelman che si chiama Bread. Ho un po' di difficoltà con i pesi in caso vi sembri troppo provate con la metà.

Ricetta

820 gr farina

492 gr acqua

50 gr olio extravergine

1,5 gr sale

1 gr lievito secco

288 gr lievito madre

200 gr Parmigiano (metà grattugiato e metà a pezzettini)

Unire tutti gli ingredienti escluso il Parmigiano nella planetaria e lavorare per 3 minuti a velocità minima. L'impasto dovrebbe essere abbastanza sodo. Lavorare a velocità media per altri tre minuti. Aggiungere il formaggio e lavorare al minimo fino a che è incorporato.

Far lievitare per 2 ore e mezza.

Dare le pieghe a metà lievitazione

Dividere l'impasto a metà e formare in filoni lunghi o tondi.

Far livitare 1 ora circa o mettere in frigorifero fino a 8 ore.

Cuocere in un forno caldissimo per 40 minuti abbassando la temperatura dopo i primi 15 minuti.

Sourdough Baking Wednesday # 3 : Apple and Carrot Quick Bread - Pane Veloce con mele e carota Italiano a seguire

Few days ago I found out that Zucchero & Cannella just started a new group : it's called Sourdough Baking Wednesday and the name says it all ...

I thought of baking a cake with the sourdough leftovers that I hate throwing away and I found the recipe on what was Recipezaar and now is Food.com.

It's a very simple quick bread to make and I found it quite tasty. I decided to bake it in muffin sized hearts so they took around 30 minutes to bake.

RECIPE

1 cup sourdough

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 apple shredded

1 carrot shredded

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped almonds

Mix everything together, let it rest 10 minutes ad bake in 350° oven for about one hour.

Ho scoperto da pochissimo il blog Zucchero & Cannella dove ogni mercoledì si usa la pasta madre e così ho provato questa ricetta per usare anche gli avanzi della creatura...

Ricetta

• 236.59 ml pasta madre
• 158.51 ml zucchero
• 59.14 ml burro (io ho usato olio)
• 2 uova grandi
• 236.59 ml mela sbucciata e a pezzettini
• 118.29 ml carota grattugiata
• 9.85 ml cannella
• 4.92 ml lievito chimico
• 2.46 ml sale
• 414.03 ml farina
• 118.29 ml mandorle tritate
• 118.29 ml cocco

Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti, far riposare 10 minuti e infornare in forno caldo a 180° per un'ora (per i muffin 30 minuti)