Bread Day - Challah

I got to go visit back home this last week and see my new niece for the first time. She's SO SMALL! While I was at my parents I made Challah, and my other sister-in-law was really excited. She really likes bread and certainly had her fill. She's got a baby comin' in a little over a month. Pretty excited for that one, too. Anyway, being home I had access to Dad's camera, which is one hekuva step up from my cell phone, so I got some nicer pictures this time.

This picture came from the book Baking Artisan Bread, you'll find more on the book in the labels.

CHALLAH
Origins: This is a Jewish ceremonial bread used to celebrate the Sabbath. The braids in the traditionally separated the bread into 12 sections that represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Characteristics: Braided, light, fluffy.
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 4 1/2 hrs total Prep 10 - 15 minutes; Fermenting, shaping and proofing 3 1/2 hrs; 20 - 35 minutes baking.
4 cups unbleached bread flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp water, room temp.
2 egg whites, whisked until frothy
Sesame or poppy seeds for garnish

Bowl 1: Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Bowl 2: Whisk oil, eggs, egg yolks and water. Pour mixture from bowl 2 into bowl 1 and mix with a spoon until everything forms a ball. (I just start kneading when I get tired of mixing, and the ball only really forms when you're using an electric mixer.) Add more water if you need to.

Knead the dough on a flour dusted surface for about 10 minutes. The dough should be soft and supple, but not sticky, common theme in bread dough. When properly kneaded it should pass the windowpane test. Form into a boule (ball) place in an oiled bowl, coating the dough thoroughly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for an hour.

Take out the dough, knead for about 2 minutes to degas. Re-form the dough into a boule and replace it into the bowl, covering with plastic wrap to again ferment for another hour.

It should grow to at least 1 1/2 its size. Divide the dough into 2 parts, one 1/3 the size and the other 2/3. Divide each again into 3 parts. Form each piece into a boule and cover them with a towel to sit for 10 minutes. Take the large boules and roll each into a strand, fatter in the middle and tapered off at the ends (mine didn't do that so well. I'm not so great at that yet). Braid the strands together. Do the same to the smaller boules and place on top of the larger braid. Press down lightly to make them attach, it does only so much, but it's better than nothing.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and place the braided loaf onto the sheet. Brush the loaf with the egg wash the spray with oil. Cover with plastic wrap loose enough for the dough to rise 1 1/2 times larger. Allow about an hour to do so.

Have the oven ready at 325 F with the oven rack on the mid shelf. Brush with the egg wash again and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate 180 degrees and bake for another 20 to 45 minutes. By the way, the loaf gets HUGE! The bread should get to a lovely golden brown. Just to make sure, insert a thermometer. It should read 190 F.

Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for an hour before consuming. (That's part of the recipe. I disagree. Bread, especially this one, should be eaten warm, and oh it is so good.)

With bread,
~Chad

Bread Day - Barbari

Ok, so it's been a while since I last posted, I did have a bread day last week and I made Barbari, and bread native to Iran. They're little flat buns with a few slashes in them.

I had some trouble with this recipe. I want to blame the book, but it could have just been me, haha. Anyway, after adding the water to the flour mixture, it just seemed like too little, so I added another cup. This is where my frustration started. I got all of the water mixed in with the flour, but it was all clumpy. UGH! I decided to let it rest and rise so it would be easier to work with. Once I came back I kneaded it like was supposed to be done before. In the end it worked out. The taste wasn't that amazing but I really think that's because I wasn't able to work with it enough so it's true character wasn't found. Never-the-less, they disappeared quickly in my house full off people.

SO! Here's the recipe and my edits, . . . or edit.

BARBARI
Origins: Iran/Persia. It's called Barbari because of who originally made it, the Barbars, a group of people in Persia. Genius! In restaurants it's served with a cheese similar to Feta, Tabriz.
Characteristics: Small, flat and ovular with 2 slashes diagonal. Traditionally, this bread is much larger and thinner, kind of like a thin pizza crust, its slashes going lengthwise as opposed to diagonal. Not sure how it's supposed to taste.
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 2 1/2 hours
Prep; 20 minutes, rising; 1 1/2 hrs, baking; 30 minutes

This is the first recipe used from this book, Classic Breads. I forgot to take a bunch of pictures on this one. I took a few, but not enough.

STUFF

4 cups + 1 1/3 oz all-purpose flour
2Tbsp fresh yeast or 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup + 2 1/4 oz lukewarm water (I go with straight 2 cups, maybe a little more)
3 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Sift the flour into a large bowl and carve out a well in the center. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water then pour into the well. Now you get a little dirty, swish your fingertips in the water and add flour from the sides until it becomes a creamy mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

After about 15 minutes, remove the plastic and mix in the rest of the flour along with the salt. Knead the dough thoroughly and form into a boule (ball). It should not get sticky.

In another bowl, pour in the olive oil. Place the dough in the oil and swirl it around until it is evenly covered. Again, cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise for 40 minutes.

Take the dough out and put it on your work surface. Divide it into 12 equal portions and shape into ovals. Flatten the dough and slash diagonally twice. Grease with oil, cover with a towel and let rise again for another 30 minutes.

Preheat over for 425. Place the little guys in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Addition: If you like, half way through baking, take out the buns and brush with oil or water and sprinkle on either caraway or sesame seeds and let them finish baking.

With bread,
~Chad

Bread Day - Ciabatta

CIABATTA
Origins: It comes from beautiful Italia, though there is much dispute where in Italy it truly was born. When translated its name means slipper, referring to its shape described as somewhat elongated, broad and flattish and, like a slipper.
Characteristics: The crust is crisp and strong, surrounding a soft, porous inside.
Difficulty: Med - Hard.
I just read that this is a bad bread to start out with for beginners. Oops. I guess we'll see how we do.
Time: Day 1, 2-4 hours (poolish/biga)
Day 2, 1hr de-chill poolish/biga; 10-15min mixing; 3-4hrs fermenting, shaping & proofing: 20-30min baking.

I'm using a recipe from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" to make the Ciabatta. This book has two versions of the recipe, one made with Poolish and one made with Biga. Both of these are fermented dough, just done a little differently. I'm going to start with the Poolish version.

DAY 1 - Monday

POOLISH - normal recipe
2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 cups water, room temp
1/4 tsp instant yeast

Mix all ingredients thoroughly until there is no dry flour left. The texture or the dough should be like super thick pancake batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 3-4 hrs or until the sponge becomes bubbly and foamy. Refrigerated. It will keep for up to 3 days.
Note: The recipe for the ciabatta requires 3 1/4 cups of the poolish, so I added another cup of flour and matched it with enough water to make it the right texture, about 3/4 cup.Also, since I'm using Active Dry Yeast, witch isn't as aggressive as Instant, I used a total of about 2 tsp. We'll see how this goes.

DAY 2 - Tuesday

Right now my bread is in the oven with 3 minutes to go. WOOHOOOO!

I started by taking out the poolish from the day before and letting it sit for an hour to take off the chill. In another bowl mix:
3 cups of flour
1 3/4tsp salt
1 1/2tsp of yeast.
Add the 3 1/4cups of poolish and mix it all together adding 6Tbsp of water. Make sure everything is mixed thoroughly.

Dipping your hand in cold water every once in a while, scoop under the dough and lift it up, stretching it and pressing back down on the other side all the while rotating the bowl with the other hand mimicking a bread hook. Switch the direction a couple times. Continue kneading until 7 minutes is up.

Turn out onto a floured surface and pat it into a square about 8" x 8". Take a hole of the left corners, stretch out and up to fold over about 3/4 of the way over, do the same with the other corners. Spray with water or oil, dust with flour and cover with saran wrap. Let sit for 30 minutes

Fold, spray, flour and cover again. Let sit for 1 1/2 - 2hrs. Trying as much as possible to not degas the dough, cut it into 2 or 3 equal pieces. Place on a liberally floured towel and fold into rectangle shapes 6" long. Bunch up the towel to make walls in between the lumps. Flour liberally and cover with a towel. Let rest for 45-60 minutes.

Preheat over to 500 and place a heavy duty pan or cast iron skillet on the top rack in the oven.

Turn dough over onto a pan dusted with corn meal. Place in oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into skillet. Close oven. Spray oven with water 3 times in 30 second intervals. This simulates the steam injection bread oven. After the last spray turn heat down to 450 and cook for 10 minutes. Rotate and bake another 10 minutes or until done. Inside temperature of bread should be 205.

My results
Crust, kinda crispy. Inside, spongy. Tastes good. It has a taste unlike the breads I normally make, which in the bread world are on the sweeter side. Though it took a good chunk of time, this is a bread I truly love. I can't wait to try it again and make it better.

With bread,
~Chad