November Daring Bakers Challenge - Potato Breads

This was my first Daring Bakers Challenge. I was a little worried about adding a starchy thing like potatoes to an already thick sounding bread but this really turned out amazing!!! I actually baked the focaccia for our Thanksgiving meal and came back with rave reviews!!

Below is the recipe as it was provided to me. I have added some "Lewis" notes (as did Tanya - the author). Follow them if you wish but as we Daring Bakers like to encourage - EXPERIMENT!!!!

If you haven't heard of the Daring Bakers we are an organization that encourages you to push your boundaries of baking knowledge. So if you are willing to venture out a little from your ordinary baking recipes come on over and join our circle! Visit The Daring Bakers - no experience necessary just have some fun learning new things and meeting other people with similar interests.

Tender Potato Bread

(from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid; who also wrote Hot Sour Salty Sweet)

Host: Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups)

Makes 1 large tender-crumbed pan loaf AND something more; one 10X15 inch crusty yet tender foccacia, 12 soft dinner rolls, or a small pan loaf .

Suggested Toppings:

For Loaves and Rolls: melted butter (optional)

For Focaccia: olive oil, coarse salt, and rosemary leaves (optional; also see variation)

For Anchovy-Onion Focaccia: Instead of oil, salt, and rosemary, top with onions slow-cooked in olive oil or bacon fat, a scattering of chopped anchovy fillets, and flat-leafed parsley leaves.

Potatoes and potato water give this bread wonderful flavor and texture. The dough is very soft and moist and might feel a little scary if you’ve never handled soft dough before. But don’t worry: Leaving it on parchment or wax paper to proof and to bake makes it easy to handle.

Once baked, the crumb is tender and airy, with tiny soft pieces of potato in it and a fine flecking of whole wheat. The loaves have a fabulous crisp texture on the outside and a slightly flat-topped shape. They make great toast and tender yet strong sliced bread for sandwiches. The dinner rolls are soft and inviting, and the focaccia is memorable.

Ingredients:

2 medium or 1 large floury (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.

Tanna Note: For the beginner bread baker I suggest no more than 8 ounces of potato (about ½ pound); for the more advanced no more than 16 ounces (about 1 pound). The variety of potatoes you might want to use would include Idaho, Russet & Yukon gold, there are others.

4 cups(950 ml) water, reserve cooking water
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 ½ cups to 8 ½ cups (1 kg to 1350g) unbleached all-purpose
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (130g) whole wheat flour

Making the Dough (Directions will be for making by hand):

Put the potatoes and 4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook, half covered, until the potatoes are very tender.

Drain the potatoes, SAVE THE POTATO WATER, and mash the potatoes well. Tanna Note: I have a food mill I will run my potatoes through to mash them.

Measure out 3 cups(750ml) of the reserved potato water. Add extra water if needed to make 3 cups. Place the water and mashed potatoes in the bowl you plan to mix the bread dough in. Let cool to lukewarm (70-80°F/21 - 29°C) – stir well before testing the temperature – it should feel barely warm to your hand. You should be able to submerge you hand in the mix and not be uncomfortable.

Add yeast to 2 cups all-purpose flour and whisk. Add yeast and flour to the cooled mashed potatoes & water and mix well. Allow to rest/sit 5 minutes.

Note about Adding Yeast: If using Active Dry Yeast or Fresh yeast, mix & stir yeast into cooled water and mashed potatoes & water and let stand 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of flour to the yeast mix and allow to rest several minutes. If using Instant Dry Yeast, add yeast to 2 cups all-purpose flour and whisk. Add yeast and flour to the cooled mashed potatoes & water and mix well. Allow to rest/sit 5 minutes.

Sprinkle in the remaining 1 tablespoon salt and the softened butter; mix well. Add the 1 cup whole wheat flour, stir briefly.

Add 2 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until all the flour has been incorporated.

Tanna Note: At this point you have used 4 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe.

Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will be very sticky to begin with, but as it takes up more flour from the kneading surface, it will become easier to handle; use a dough scraper to keep your surface clean. The kneaded dough will still be very soft. Place the dough in a large clean bowl or your rising container of choice, cover with plastic wrap or lid, and let rise about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently several minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky.

Forming the Bread:

Divide the dough into 2 unequal pieces in a proportion of one-third and two-thirds (one will be twice as large as the other). Place the smaller piece to one side and cover loosely.

To shape the large loaf:

Butter a 9 x 5 x 2.5 inch loaf/bread pan. Flatten the larger piece of dough on the floured surface to an approximate 12 x 8 inch oval, then roll it up from a narrow end to form a loaf. Pinch the seam closed and gently place seam side down in the buttered pan. The dough should come about three-quarters of the way up the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 35 to 45 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled in volume.

To make a small loaf with the remainder:

Butter an 8x4X2 inch bread pan. Shape and proof the loaf the same way as the large loaf.

To make rolls:

Butter a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake pan or a shallow cake pan. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball under the palm of your floured hand and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between the balls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 35 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled.

(Lewis note: these came out HUGE for me! They were still delicious but the consistency of this dough just didn't allow these to hold a shape. In my humble opinion this dough is best served as a focaccia or loaf.)

To make focaccia: (Lewis note: I used slices of potato and rosemary)

Flatten out the dough to a rectangle about 10 x 15 inches with your palms and fingertips. Tear off a piece of parchment paper or wax paper a little longer than the dough and dust it generously with flour. Transfer the focaccia to the paper. Brush the top of the dough generously with olive oil, sprinkle on a little coarse sea salt, as well as some rosemary leaves, if you wish and then finally dimple all over with your fingertips. Cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes.

Baking the bread(s):

Note about baking order: bake the flat-bread before you bake the loaf; bake the rolls at the same time as the loaf.

Note about Baking Temps: (Lewis note) Remember the size of you bread! Rolls will bake at around 400F for 30 minutes, but larger bread will take about 40 – 50 minutes or until brown on top.

Note about cooling times: Let all the breads cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Rolls can be served warm or at room temperature.

For loaves and rolls:

Dust risen loaves and rolls with a little all-purpose flour or lightly brush the tops with a little melted butter or olive oil (the butter will give a golden/browned crust). Slash loaves crosswise two or three times with a razor blade or very sharp knife and immediately place on the stone, tiles or baking sheet in the oven. Place the rolls next to the loaf in the oven.

Bake rolls until golden, about 30 minutes. Bake the small loaf for about 40 minutes. Bake the large loaf for about 50 minutes.

Transfer the rolls to a rack when done to cool. When the loaf or loaves have baked for the specified time, remove from the pans and place back on the stone, tiles or baking sheet for another 5 to 10 minutes. The corners should be firm when pinched and the bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

For focaccia:

Place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles, if you have them, if not use a no edged baking/sheet (you want to be able to slide the shaped dough on the parchment paper onto the stone or baking sheet and an edge complicates things). Place the stone or cookie sheet on a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450°F/230°C.

If making foccacia, just before baking, dimple the bread all over again with your fingertips. Leaving it on the paper, transfer to the hot baking stone, tiles or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack (remove paper) and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

I was just wondering what kind of bread YOU eat daily. Tell me about it in detail!
Here is the kind we eat in Naples, Italy. It is called Casareccia and it is a salted sourdough bread with a hearty crust (in Northern Italy the bread is generally unsalted). Just about everyone has a favorite baker for this type of bread. Ours is right down the street and it is made in a modified home kitchen -small production really. I think in America you call this type of bread a farmer's country bread? Here is a picture (with the requisite homemade wine).

When bad things happen to good starters…

Well, my first attempt at sourdough turned out to be a drawn out four day emotional event.

Day One: “Mix ingredients and put into a 4 quart bowl and let sit at room temp.”

…. Check…

Day Two: “Dough should have risen to twice it’s size, remove from bowl, add refresher and replace.”

…Check… looking great so far, starting to feel like a pro…

Day Three: “Dough should be removed and halved, then refreshed, then replaced again.”

…Check... this stuff is easy…

Day Four: “If dough has not doubled in size leave for an additional 12 to 24 hours.”

…hmmm dough hasn’t doubled, better leave for another 12 hours…

The result, a tragedy in 4 parts:

Day four I encountered what I imagine to be the one thing you never want to see in anything you may be cooking, mold.

Oh well, I’m definitely going to try this again. Perhaps one that doesn’t involve 6 days to 2 weeks of fermentation.

Now it’s time to try my hand at French Bread. Here we go!

Reminder: World Bread Day is October 16!

Sending out a reminder to all of my fellow bakers -

World Bread Day is October 16, so get out your dough mixers and timers and get ready to bake your heart out!

World Bread day is a chance for any and all bakers (old or new) to bake up their best recipes and post pictures of them so everyone can see your hard work! I believe it will be a smashing good time!

Shanah Tovah! - Happy Rosh Hashanah!

Today is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is a time of observance for “people, animals, and legal contracts”1. Rosh Hashanah also observes the creation of the world and marks the countdown towards Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur occurs ten days after Rosh Hashanah and is considered to be one of the holiest days for the Jewish people. Yom Kippur is commonly known as the Day of Atonement.

One of the longest running traditions of Rosh Hashanah is a large gathering of friends and family at the dinner table enjoying a large wonderful feast of traditional foods. One of these traditional foods is Challah bread.2

Challah bread is often baked braided and in a round shape to symbolize that the world has no beginning and no end; the three strands symbolize truth, peace, and beauty; and the spiral coil indicates the ascent to God.

Traditionally, Jewish families would not add any sugar to Challah bread that is sometimes referred to as “Sweet Challah”. Sweet Challah actually gains sweetness through the raisins that are an optional ingredient. Some Jewish Americans are taking advantage of the various ingredients available year around and adding different dried fruits: dates, cranberries, and apricots to the dough prior to baking. Also some believe that eggs are used in this recipe as a way of using up eggs prior to the strict Judaic Sabbath which forbids any form of harvesting (gathering fresh eggs would be considered harvesting). Three other traditions that have developed are: adding additional sugar as a sign of beginning the New Year in a sweet way, garnishing the loaves with seeds (such as poppy seeds or sesame seeds) symbolizes the falling of manna from heaven, and the covering of the Challah with a cloth as it is served at the Sabbath meal represents the heavenly dew that protects the manna. 3

Now that we are done with the history lesson, let us move to the baking :)

Here is my "mise en place" (MEEZ ahn plahs) which is French and means "everything in its place":

One of the major points in baking is to have all of the ingredients gather together prior to baking or mixing. The last thing you want to be doing is searching for "room temperature" butter at the last minute!






This is my first braided dough to complete. I thought the initial braiding went well but when the dough started to ferment a little longer I ended up losing a braid.


It should also be noted that the three braid twist that is common for Challa bread is started from the middle, not the ends. I am sure there is a metaphoric connection to this.

The final product is a labor of love for all of my friends celebrating this holiday.

What a beautiful and colorful way for bread to add to a celebration of people and family! I wish to all of my Jewish friends a happy and wonderful Rosh Hashanah and humbly offer to you my interpretation of Challah bread.

Tuscan Bread

An excerpt from “The Bread Bakers Apprentice”:

“What makes Tuscan bread unique in the bread lexicon is that it is salt free, which makes it wonderful for people on salt-restricted diets. Unfortunately, the lack of salt also makes it rather dull and flat tasting. Tuscans, no slouches when it comes to full-flavored food, remedy this by lavishing it with intensely flavored spreads and pastes, or eating it with flavorful dishes, such as garlic- and olive oil-infused white bean soup. A technique that is also unique to this bread is the use of a cooked flour paste, made the day before. This is different from a pre-ferment since there is no yeast added and the paste does not ferment, but the gelatinized starches release flavors that gives this bread a distinct quality, quite unlike any other bread.”

The challenge in making this bread wasn’t the dough or fermentation process at all. Instead, what made this challenging were the oven conditions. I had to recreate a hearth oven at home. The book gives instructions on doing this and your house will get very warm. To start out you have to pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees F for 20 – 30 minutes. After quickly placing the bread on the rack you have to spray the sides of the oven with water a couple of times to create the steam needed to form a good crust.

This bread was a challenge but definitely rewarding. I paired this bread with spicy spaghetti and both were wonderful. The bread is not overly bland but lends itself well to other bolder flavors.

If you would like the recipe for this bread leave a comment or pick up this wonderful book.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

The Sweeter Side of Life

This week I have been exploring the breakfast side of bread. I just bought a copy of a wonderful book: “The Breadbaker’s Apprentice”

I can't say enough about how much I LOVE this book. Peter Reinhart wants not just to teach you how to bake bread but also how to understand what baking bread is really about. As he puts it in the text, Peter wishes to turn you in to a “spiritual baker” not a “technical baker”. Now, if you missed the hippie wagon like I did this may put you off at first. What he is actually saying is that his intent is not for you to MEMORIZE recipes for good artisan bread, but to understand what is going on so you can play with the recipes and make them your own.

…But I digress…

The two recipes I baked this week came from this amazing book.

Cinnamon rolls were the favorite of the family. The bread is just sweet enough and the icing and the walnuts top off what is a fluffy and cinnamony roll. These cinnamon rolls were amazingly easy to make, took about three hours to fully ferment and about 30 to bake.

English muffins were the favorite of my beautiful wife for her eggs benedict. These English muffins are actually fried in a pan and then baked to completion. Again, you couldn’t ask for an easier experience for such amazing results. The only thing I will do different next time is allow the yeast to grow a little longer. This was an amateur mistake I made. I was using active dry yeast and mixed the yeast (per instructions) into the flour and kneaded the dough. After I sat down to let the dough ferment I realized the next chapter in the book was “Yeast and Fermenting”, my mistake was obvious in seconds. The recipe called for instant yeast which can gain enough moisture from the dough to grow, however (and the book mentions this specifically) that active dry yeast has to have a lot more water and time to ferment on it’s own…. they still came out pretty darn good.

Well gang, that’s it for this amateur pastry chef this week. We will see you next week with more goodies, burnt pans, and smiling faces.

As always I look forward to your culinary stories with bread and pastries and pictures are always fun.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

Welcome to the Table!

Bread

Pain

Brot

Pane

Xлеб

Pan

Growing up some of my greatest memories involved bread. Cornbread and chili, fried chicken and biscuits, spaghetti and garlic bread, steak and Texas toast, biscuits and gravy; the list goes on. Every culture has embedded in it’s society a love for this manipulation of ingredients. In Italy you commonly encounter slices of bread with your choice of olive oil or balsamic vinegar for dipping.

My intention is to chronicle my encounters with bread. I also enjoy baking lovely versions of bread. If you are a baker you will know that one of the hardest items to produce in a kitchen is in fact bread. Bread takes the most investment of your time. For example, it’s 4:30pm and you decide to bake a cake with dinner at 6:00pm – no problem. If however, you decide you need a baguette with that fettuccine; well, good luck with that.

What are some interesting bread encounters you’ve had?