Ciabatta is a lean dough that is made with a poolish and something called the double-hydration method. This method involves adding water at two stages during gluten development. This is done to help incorporate the water of high hydration doughs. Continue reading
Focaccia is one of my favourite breads to make. It has a super high hydration (93% hydration in this case), but because it’s baked in a pan it doesn’t require any bread shaping skills. The possibilities for toppings are limitless, although it’s pretty good plain as well. Personally, I like baking focaccia in a lasagna pan, because it’s smaller than a sheet tray and has higher sides so the resulting loaf is dramatically thick. Eat it on its own, or even slice it lengthwise for sandwiches. You can’t go wrong! Continue reading
In the last few posts, I’ve been trying to cover some of the foundational topics of bread making. Today, I want to take a step back and talk about the steps involved in the overall process. My hope is that this will provide a general framework so that you know what to expect in a recipe, and even maybe start thinking about coming up with your own. Peter Reinhart says that the art of bread making involves 12 steps, I will try to give a brief description of each below:
In many bread recipes, a target temperature, or DDT (Desired Dough Temperature) is often specified for the dough for the end of the mixing process. Is it important? Mixing the dough in a specific temperature range encourages proper gas production during fermentation, resulting in the ideal loaf volume for the final product. The DDT may be influenced by factors beyond the ambient temperature. For example, if the water is too cold, it might take longer for the bread to properly rise. On the other hand, if the water is too warm, it will accelerate the fermentation process. By taking DDT into consideration, we can eliminate some of these variables and will achieve more consistency in fermentation, final dough and timing.
What is Desired Dough Temperature (DDT)?
Desired dough temperature is the temperature that the dough should reach at the end of the mixing stage just before bulk fermentation.
What is the ideal DDT?
The ideal DDT for most dough is between 23°C/74°F and 25.5°C/78°F.
What are the factors that affect the DDT?
There are a few factors that affect the temperature of the dough: air temperature, flour temperature, friction temperature and water temperature. The air and flour temperature is pretty straightforward: the temperature of the environment in which you are making the dough in and the flour temperature of the flour in its storage container. Typically, we don’t have a lot of control over these variables.
Friction temperature comes from the heat generated by the mechanical movement between the dough, agitator and the bowl. As the stand mixer continues to work the dough, the dough’s temperature will increase considerably. We need to take this into consideration in determining the temperature of the water that we’re going to use.
For instance, if you mix the dough for 1st speed for 4 minutes, and 2nd speed for 3 to 4 minutes, a rough estimate is that there will be a 24°F to 28°F increase in temperature due to friction temperature. In another source “The Modern Cafe”, Migoya states that the dough will increase 2°C/3.6°F for every minute of mixing. On the other hand, Modernist Bread, specifies that the friction temperature increase ranges from 6-9°C/ 10-17°F, and an estimate of 8°C/15°F is used. These are really just rough estimates, as the friction temperature will vary depending on the the size of your dough, the stand mixer, the type of mixer, the length of time in mixing and the speed at which the dough is being mixed at.
If you want to be more precise, there are two ways that you can calculate friction temperature for your machine:
1) Set the friction temperature to 26°F (in the middle of that range), and mix based on your instructions. When gluten development is achieved, take the dough temperature and compare it to the DDT as instructed. If the dough is cooler, then decrease the factor by that, and if it’s warmer then increase the friction temperature by that. Another way to determine a more accurate friction temperature is to prepare a sample trial dough. We begin but .
2) You can even use a probe thermometer to measure the temperature of the dough every minute to see.
OK, so how do you calculate the water temperature?
To determine the water temperature, you start by taking your desired dough temperature and multiply by the number of factors. If you are not using a pre-ferment, you would multiple the DDT by 3, whereas if you are using a pre-ferment (additional temperature factor) you would multiple the DDT by 4. You then subtract the result by the different factors’ temperatures. Once the temperature of the factors has been determined, the required starting temperature of the water can be calculated.
For instance, if your DDT is 23°C and you are not using a preferment, you would multiply 23 x 3 = 69°C. Then you would subtract 23°C (air temperature) + 23°C (flour temperature) + friction temperature of 8°C (mixing time) from 69°C to figure out the water temperature to use.
Step 1: Multiple DDT by 3:
23 x 3 = 69°C
Step 2: To determine water temperature, subtract Step 1 by all the factors:
69-23-23-8=16°C
And if you are using a preferement, you would do the following: if your DDT is 23°C, would multiple 23 X 4 = 92°C. Then you would subtract 23°C (air temperature) + 23°C (flour temperature) + 23°C (preferment) + 8°C (friction) to figure out the water temperature to use.
Step 1: Multiple DDT by 4
23 x 4 = 92°C
Step 2: To determine water temperature, subtract Step 1 by all the factors:
69-23-23-23-8=16°C
References
Myhrvold, Nathan and Migoya, Francisco. (2017) Modernist Bread. Bellevue, WA: The Cooking Lab.
Hamelman, J. (2012). Bread: a bakers book of techniques and formulas. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Hitz, Ciril. (2012). Baking artisan pastries and breads: sweet and savour baking for breakfast, brunch, and beyond. Beverly, Massachusetts: Crestline.
Migoya, Francisco. (2010). The Modern Cafe. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Reinhart, Peter. (2010). The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the art of extraordinary bread. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Reinhart, Peter. (2009). Peter Reinhart’s artisan breads every day. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Hitz, Ciril. (2008). Baking artisan bread: 10 expert formulas for better bread at home. Beverly, Massachusetts: Quarry.
Reinhart, Peter. (2006). Crust and Crumb: master formulas for serious bread bakers. Hong Kong: Ten Speed Press
Poolish, levain, biga, pâte fermentée – is there a difference? And what’s the point in preparing a part of the dough separately? In this post, I’ll try to clarify the terminology and the science behind the wonderful world of preferments.
What is a pre-ferment?
A preferment is a portion of dough that is mixed in advance of preparing the final dough. Its main purpose is to increase flavour, strength, and shelf life. Because it is mixed ahead of time, bulk fermentation as well as mixing time is reduced. Preferments can be stored either at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight, those that are stored in the fridge often assume more of an acidic flavour profile while room temperature preferments have a lactic flavour.
Preferments can be grouped into two categories: those that use commercial yeast, and those developed with wild yeast. Naturally-leavened starters require continuous attention and feeding to maintain, and can be kept alive for years, whereas other preferments made with commercially manufactured yeast have limited life expectancy. In both cases, the amount yeast is dependent of the duration of ripening phase as well as the temperature of its environment. Different preferments are used in different recipes because they ripen at different times due to the amount of yeast used and their hydration levels. *** For the most part, you can use any of these types of preferments for a given recipe, so long as you adjust the amount of water (hydration) of your final dough. Here is a rough breakdown of the general characteristics of each type:
Poolish
– wettest pre-ferment, 1 to 1 ratio between flour to water with a small percentage of yeast (0.03 to 0.5%), 100% hydration, mix 3-18 hours ahead of time.
– should be made fresh every time, but can be refrigerated for a few days/ or frozen
– easy to incorporate into dough
– makes dough easier to shape, increased in loaf volume
– sweet, nutty, slightly lactic
– ideal for breads such as baguette
– % to add to dough (20-70)
Biga
– firmer than a poolish, 60-65% hydration with yeast of (0.24 to 0.33%), mixed 12 hours before using
– generic Italian term for “pre-ferment”,
– acid profile
– ideal for pane francese
– % to add to dough (50-75)
Sponge
– normally a hydration of 60 to 63% with yeast of (0.1 to 0.2%), mix 12 hours before using, sponge does not have sugar or fats and gives the yeast a chance to jump start the fermentation process
– idea for enriched doughs
– % to add to dough (15-25)
Pate Fermentee (old dough)
– fully fermented dough from a previous batch saved to be added to the new batch so hydration varies, removed after bulk fermentation, stored in a container refrigerated overnight for 12 to 14 hours
– added after the clean up stage the next day
– adds strength and imparts acidic flavour from cold storage
– can be made 6 hours ahead, and up to 18 hours
– flour, water and yeast are mixed for about 3 minutes on first speed
– make sure that the flour is hydrated
Levain
– highest hydration (usually around 100% for liquid levain, though firm levain will be lower)
– wild yeast and bacteria cultivated from the environment
– needs to be grown and developed over several weeks, but if fed can live for years
– feeding frequency varies with temperature
– should be used within 18 hours after feeding
– more details to come on a levain-specific post
Reference
Myhrvold, Nathan and Migoya, Francisco. (2017) Modernist Bread. Bellevue, WA: The Cooking Lab.
Hamelman, J. (2012). Bread: a bakers book of techniques and formulas. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Hitz, Ciril. (2012). Baking artisan pastries and breads: sweet and savour baking for breakfast, brunch, and beyond. Beverly, Massachusetts: Crestline.
Migoya, Francisco. (2010). The Modern Cafe. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Reinhart, Peter. (2010). The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the art of extraordinary bread. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Reinhart, Peter. (2009). Peter Reinhart’s artisan breads every day. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Hitz, Ciril. (2008). Baking artisan bread: 10 expert formulas for better bread at home. Beverly, Massachusetts: Quarry.
Reinhart, Peter. (2006). Crust and Crumb: master formulas for serious bread bakers. Hong Kong: Ten Speed Press
Baker’s Percentage refers to a standard measurement used in most professional kitchens for yeast-raised products. It refers to the ingredients’ ratio to the amount of flour by weight, where flour or the combination of different flours always add up to 100%.
For example if you have 20g of salt to 1 kg of flour, salt is 2% of the weight of the flour. (N.B. salt is usually between 1.5-2.5% of flour weight.)
Another example, if you have 600g of water to 1 kg of flour, water is 60% of the weight of the flour, we can say that the bread is of 60% hydration.
It’s important to note that the formula’s total percentage will not add up to 100%, only the weight of the flour would. Depending on the number of ingredients, each recipe will have a different total percentage. Say you have a recipe for a bread that has: 100% flour, 60% water, 2% salt and 2% yeast, you would have a total of 164%.
If ever you come across recipes that only have the percentages and not the weight, and you want to know how much of each ingredient you need, you can easily calculate it. First, you need to figure out how much dough you want to make. For instance, my stand mixer works well with 1.5 kg of dough. You would first divide the total weight of the dough you wish to make, in this case it’s 1.5 kg by the total percentage of 164%.
1500/164 = 9.15
To find the weight of flour you need, multiply 9.15 by 100 = 915 g
To find the water you need to multiply 9.15 by 60 = 549 g and so on…
Easy, right?!
Reference
Myhrvold, Nathan and Migoya, Francisco. (2017) Modernist Bread. Bellevue, WA: The Cooking Lab.
Hamelman, J. (2012). Bread: a bakers book of techniques and formulas. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Hitz, Ciril. (2012). Baking artisan pastries and breads: sweet and savour baking for breakfast, brunch, and beyond. Beverly, Massachusetts: Crestline.
Migoya, Francisco. (2010). The Modern Cafe. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Reinhart, Peter. (2010). The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the art of extraordinary bread. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Reinhart, Peter. (2009). Peter Reinhart’s artisan breads every day. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press
Hitz, Ciril. (2008). Baking artisan bread: 10 expert formulas for better bread at home. Beverly, Massachusetts: Quarry.
Reinhart, Peter. (2006). Crust and Crumb: master formulas for serious bread bakers. Hong Kong: Ten Speed Press
Autolyse is French for autolysis, which refers to the cellular process of self digestion. In the world of bread however, it refers to a technique that was developed by Professor Raymond Calvel. You may see the term pop up in bread recipes every once in a while. It involves a slow and minimal mixing of flour and water for a short period of time followed by a resting period, before moving on to the rest of the bread-making process. In this short post I’ll try to provide you with a better understanding of what autolyse is, why we do it, and some of the different ways it can be done. Continue reading
Ingredient
1 3/4 cup vinegar (we used a combination of apple cider and white vinegar 50/50)
1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp celery seeds
3 tbsp salt Continue reading
Ingredients
50g water
150g glucose
390g sugar
260g heavy cream
120g gelatin mass
135g cocoa powder
100g condensed milk
100g neutral glaze Continue reading
Each summer, I work on a plan to better our existing culinary program at Jean Augustine Secondary School. Since the school first opened in the fall of 2016, I have been taking steps every year to improve the delivery of the program, and ensure that it is engaging and enjoyable for the students. We started off slowly, setting up our new kitchen and preparing meals for staff and minor events. Soon after, we were able to make a connection with a local food bank and our students are now serving the community by preparing meals for those in need. This year, I plan on introducing a few new things to challenge them: fermenting and preserving, glazing mini cakes and entremets, and artisan bread baking. Continue reading
