Basic Artisan Bread on a stone

How to Navigate around in Mr Nut’s blogs:  At the left of the tool bar directly above the blog is an input box.  Type in as much of  the title as you remember and then click return.

Hello loyal follower(s)
    I needed to find the recipe for Apple Pork Chops out of the hundred or so recipes in this blog.  There had to be an easy way to find it.   AND THERE WAS!  There is a white input box at the upper left hand corner of the blog screen next to a red symbol. Just type in a word or more for what you are looking for; hit return and Bingo, it appears.
I typed Apple and hit return, and got the correct blog.
   Anyway, yesterday I started baking two loaves of bread, of with the intent of baking the loaves on Parchment paper placed directly on a pizza stone.  It seemed like a doable technique based on the blogs for February 1, 2012  on 33% Whole Wheat Italian Rustic bread and Basic No-knead bread Oct 14, 2012.  The key was to keep the mixing to a minimum and reduce the liquid to yield a stiff but workable dough.  The ingredients were the same except I had no Dough Enhancer

 



Here are the finished loaves.  The dough was not as stiff as i would have preferred but they were ok.

the crust was a little darker than desired because I didn't cover them well enough and soon enough with aluminum foil.

Get a load of that crumb, it was fantastic along with excellent taste.

The end result was that Dutch ovens or bread pans are not necessary to make excellent artisan bread at home.

The pain in my leg is getting bad so it is time to wrap  this up.  ( 22 more days until back surgery)

Recipe follows:

À bientôt,
Mr Nut

 Baking Stone: Basic No-Knead Bread

February 28, 2012

European style: (Crisp-crust; large air spaces)

Inspired by The Basic No-Knead Bread from Jim Lahey’s My Bread page 61 

Yield: Two seven inch rounds 

  Planning was crucial: Mixing time for the ingredients was minimal, the first fermentation requires from 12 to preferably 18 hours. Then the dough was deflated, “shaped” into rounds and fermented for about another 1 to 2 hours. The longer rise tended to result in a more flavorful bread.  Even a 12 hour rise was acceptable. 

Totals for recipe; 624 g carbs; 3156 calories.

Ingredients:

7 cups (35 ounces; 980 g ) Bread flour.                  Carbohydrates 616 g ; Calories 3,080

1 tablespoon Sea salt

1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer   (optional)                     Carbohydrates 8 g ; Calories  76

About 2   cups water 

  

1.Dry ingredients: In the stand mixer bowl, using the Chef Whisk on speed one, mix the Blue  ingredients.

2. Wet ingredient: Change to the Flat Paddle at speed 2 and slowly add the Red Ingredient and mix just until you have a stiff but workable dough.   

3. The first Fermentation: (12 to 18 hours)  Move the dough to an oiled bowl (so yo can clean up the stand mixer).  Cover the bowl to prevent evaporation and let it sit at room temperature (about 72-75℉ a heating pad helps), out of direct sunlight, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size. This will take a minimum of 12 hours and preferably up to 18 hours. This slow fermentation makes a more flavorful bread. At the end of the first fermentation, the dough is ready when it has developed a darkened appearance and bubbles and long thin strands cling to the bowl when it is moved.  NOTES: Long low temperature (low 70s℉) fermentation allows both the yeast and bacteria to feed on 

the sugars in the dough, which enhances the flavor.

4.  Deflate dough:  Gently press down on center of dough to deflate. Holding edge of dough with fingertips, fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Add more  flour if the dough is sticky, aim for a stiff dough. Turn bowl quarter turn; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 4 more times (maximum of 6 folds). Divide the dough into two rounds.  Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

5.  Second Fermentation: Set out two 15-inch squares of baking parchment paper. Dust them with flour. Invert each round into the center of the parchment paper. Generously dust the rounds with more  flour. Smooth out and round the surface to form a round shaped, domed loaf and sprinkle more flour over the top. Tent the dough with larger bowls. Let them ferment for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the dough doubles from the deflated size.
6. Preparing the oven:  About twenty minutes before the end of the second rise, Place the baking (pizza) stone on the oven  rack just below the midpoint of the height of the oven and place a broiler pan on the bottom rack.   Preheat the oven to 450℉. 
7.  Baking: First heat one quart of water to boiling and set it aside.  Spray loaves lightly with water. Slide parchment sheets with the loaves onto hot baking stone in oven. Now pour the boiling water into the broiler pan.Reduce the heat to 425°F. Bake  for 30 minutes. (If the tops are browned  enough for your taste, cover them with foil to prevent further browning.).  Bake about another 25  minutes longer, until the center registers more than 200°F on an instant-read thermometer.  Note: the appearance of the loaves is more important in determining the doneness of the loaves than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31).  Cool  thoroughly on a wire rack.

SERVING AND STORING: Cool before slicing and storing. The flavor improves after several hours of storage. To maintain the crisp crust, store in a large bowl draped with a clean tea towel or in a heavy paper bag. Or store airtight in a plastic bag or foil: The crust will soften, but can be crisped by heating the loaf, uncovered, in a 400°F oven for a few minutes. The bread will keep at room temperature for 3 days, and may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months.

   

      

The long wait until back surgery

Hello loyal follower(s)

In twenty-nine day I will have back surgery for Spinal   stenosis. Cindy sent E-mails to our friends describing my condition. She said: "We finally saw the neurosurgeon yesterday.  He said that Clare has arthritis in the the lower spinal column along with the herniated discs; and this condition runs from L1 through L5. He said the appropriate surgery is a laminectomy where he will remove the lamina at L3 & L4 and gain access to the spinal column to remove all the stuff that is causing the  stenosis, and thereby the pain. The doctor ordered some flexion and extension Xrays of his back and determined that his back structure in the area is very solid so that they will not have to do a spinal fusion.  We liked the doctor and his fellow very much, and they were very careful to explain  to us what the surgery entails and all its risks and complications; all which have a little more probability for Clare, because he is diabetic.  (The listing of complications is sort of like reading a mutual fund prospectus).

The bummer is that they don't have an opening in the doctor's surgery schedule until March 21.  But the scheduler said that since the surgery is predicted to be about 2 hours (which she considered very short), - - - - - - So we could be in San Francisco for another 6 weeks.  We will not be going back to St. George until after the surgery.   The car trip here was miserable for Clare."
    I did make my warm tuna sandwiches yesterday and discovered I had left out the celery in the list of ingredients. The correction has been made in the recipe.  It was a challenge, because may of the ingredients were not available in our daughter's kitchen.

  It is uncomfortable to sit, unless the pain pills are at their peak, therefore the post on this blog will be sparse.

À bientôt, 

Mr Nut

Rustic Honey Rye Bread

Hello loyal follower(s)

    Bread making has been curtailed due to my diabetic condition.  The urge to develop a  new recipe using some of the newer neat techniques won out.  Last Monday utilizing the recipes for Rustic Rye bread from the June 11, 2011 blog and 33% Whole Wheat Rustic Italian bread from February 1 2012 blog, I wanted a new recipe.  The first recipe used a hard anodized aluminum Dutch oven while the second used no pot or pan just parchment paper and a pizza stone.

First of all I used the product shown, to disinfect the working surface of the countertop.  This product was the first choice of Cook's Illustrated magazine for sanitizing or disinfecting surfaces.  However, to disinfect you must spray it on the surface and let it set for 10 minutes to disinfect or 30 seconds to sanitize.  Then rinse with clean water.


Back to the bread---------

Keeping the mixing to a minimum, I over minimized yielding a poor quality dough (misadventure #1)

I followed the loaf formation instructions from the second recipe.

Here we had the mutilated loaf ready for the oven.

The broiler pan was place on the lowest oven shelf and boiling water was added to it when the bread was put into the oven (misadventure #2)

The internal temp was 200℉ so I considered it done, (misadventure #3).   Are you getting the picture of how this turned out.

The crumb looked good, but it was gummy.

Gumminess can be caused by to much humidity or maybe too much salt.

The salt checked out OK, it was less than 2% of the weight of the flour.
Maybe the broiler  pan of boiling water was too much water vapor.

ROUND TWO

As I write this the second attempt at the new recipe is just finishing up in the oven.

A little longer mixing time yielded a better feeling dough.  Here the dough was starting the second fermentation.

Round two ready for the heat.

The sugar in the second recipe was replaced by honey.

The exterior was great looking with a hard crust.

It took a long time to bake, and maybe I overdid it but I was trying to avoid the soggy crumb like the first attempt.

the crumb looked good and tasted good also.  Personally, i prefer bread with a little less rye flour.

I would use  five cups bread flour and three of rye flour rather than 4 bread flour and 4 rye flour otherwise the recipe was a success.

The recipe follows;

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Rustic Honey Rye

Modified from Kneadlessly simple by Nancy Baggett ©2009

Modified for cuisinart 7 qt stand mixer with 

Speeds 1 - 12

Yield two  9” x 5”  inch loaves

 Made without molasses, brown sugar, or any of the other ingredients used to deepen rye bread color as in the Swedish Limpa  from the grandmother of Cyndy’s recipe from circa 1910. This bread is lighter than many of the other rye breads. The flavor of the grain takes center is apparent, and, since the dough is not sweet, the pleasing slight bitterness of the rye comes through.

    Long first fermentation was used in this recipe.  The fermentation process is aided by the addition of dough enhancer (see blog of April 5, 2011).  A combination of caraway, fennel, and dill seeds lends the best flavor to the bread. 

Ingredients: 

4 cups (20 ounces: 560 g) rye flour

4 cups (20 ounces: 560 g) unbleached white bread flour.

1/2 cup ( 2.5 ounces: 70 g)dough enhancer. 

1/2 cup  ( 2.5 ounces: 70 g) Vital wheat gluten

1 tablespoon Sea salt

2  tablespoons assorted seeds, preferably 2 teaspoon each caraway, fennel, and dill seeds mixed together (or substitute 2 tablespoons caraway seeds). (save 1 teaspoon of seed mixture for pressing into top of dough just before baking)

2 teaspoons instant yeast.

About 4 cups  warm water  (110 -115℉).

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar.

1/4 cup honey.

Canola oil or oil spray for coating dough

Directions:

1. Dry mix: In the mixer bowl using the Chef’s Whisk at speed one, mix together the blue ingredients.
2. Wet Mix: In a separate bowl mix by hand the red ingredients.
3. Combine by adding the wet mix to the dry mix. Keep mixing to a minimun, and aim for a stiff dough. Move  the dough from the mixer bowl to another bowl (oiled ) so you can clean the mixer bowl.
4. Rest: Allow the mixture to rest for about five to ten minutes to check the consistency of the dough; it should be stiff but workable.

1. Move the dough to another large, oiled bowl. ( so the stand mixer bowl can be cleaned). Spray the top of the dough with oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. 

1. First fermentation: Set the dough out at room temperature 72-75℉ (use a heating pad if room is cool) for 12 to 18 hours. Only If convenient, deflate the dough about halfway through the rise.
2. Deflate dough:  Gently press down on dough to deflate. Holding edge of dough with fingertips, fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Add more  flour if the dough is sticky, aim for a stiff dough. Turn bowl quarter turn; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 2-4 more times (maximum of 6 folds).  
3. Forming the Loaves:  Gently scrape and invert dough out of bowl onto dusted work surface.  The side of dough that was against bowl should now be facing up and divide the dough into two pieces, form rounds and let them rest covered for about ten minutes.
4. To shape the dough:  After delicately pushing each dough round  into an eight to ten inch squares, fold top left corner diagonally to middle.  Repeat with top right-corner. Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom.  Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log.  Gently shape dough into 9-inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath.    Transfer the loaves to a15 inch square sheet parchment paper. Sprinkle or spray the dough top generously with water. Sprinkle on the remaining seeds, patting down to embed slightly.  Dust loaf with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let loaves rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, place broiler pan on lowest oven rack and heat oven to 500 degrees.
5. To bake: First heat one quart of water to boiling and set it aside.  Using a  single-edged razor blade, or sharp chef’s knife, cut slit 1/2 inch deep lengthwise along tops of loaves, starting and stopping about 1 1/2 inches from ends; spray loaf lightly with water. Slide parchment sheet with loaves onto baker’s peel, then slide parchment with loaves onto hot baking stone in oven. Now pour the boiling water into the broiler pan.  Bake 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and quickly spin loaves around using edges of parchment; continue to bake until deep golden brown.  When the color of the crust is what you desire, cover each loaf top with aluminum foil to prevent over browning of the crusts and continue baking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers about 200 degrees, about 60 minutes longer. Note: the appearance of the loaf is more important in determining the doneness of the loaf than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31). Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment, and cool loaves to room temperature, about 1  hour.  But it turns out you better bake it for the extra 60 minutes.

SERVING AND STORING: Cool before slicing and storing. The flavor improves after several hours of storage. To maintain the crisp crust, store in a large bowl draped with a clean tea towel or in a heavy paper bag. Or store airtight in a plastic bag or foil: The crust will soften, but can be crisped by heating the loaf, uncovered, in a 400°F oven for a few minutes. The bread will keep at room temperature for 3 days, and may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months.

Ramblings of M Nut: Ham Streak and "best by" dates on cans

Hello loyal follower(s)

      Yesterday I ate part of a can of Mandarin Orange sections that had a "best by" date of Jan 19, 2010, and did not get sick.  Coincidentally, in the new issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine (March - April 2012 issue: page 2) the real shelf life of can goods was discussed.  "Best by" indicates peak quality as determined by the manufacturer.  "In theory, as long cans are in good shape and have been stored under the right conditions (dry place between 40 and 70 degrees) their contents should remain safe indefinitely",
   I was going to eat part of  a can of  pineapple chunks that had a "best by" date in 2007 but it had a bad color and strange odor, not appetizing but safe to eat, but not by me.
     
 We had a ham steak and wanted to fix it in a special way;  Consulting CooksIllustrated.com for ideas, yielded no recipes.  But allrecipes.com yielded  several recipes. Cook's Illustrated is a great magazine because it discusses the development process involved in creating a good recipe.  However, it's recipes tend to call for unusual or strange ingredients.  The magazine is a real aid to beginning cooks such as myself.

 I choose one recipe from allrecipes.com and of course made a small change. The recipe called for pineapple slices.  I preferred chunks.

The ham steak was just a little to large for browning in a large oven proof skillet.
Therefore, it took a skillet to brown the steak and a cake pan to finish off the recipe.

Here the steak with the pineapple and the glaze was ready for the oven.

The steak is done in this picture.  Along with the steak we had scalloped potatoes (blog of November 20, 2011) and i make no errors this time with the potatoes.  And for vegetables (and color) we had steamed carrots and peas.  It was a easy meal to prepare.


I am running out of time, because it is nap time and then we are going to friends home for dinner.

Recipe follows for simple ham steak:

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Ham Slice with Pineapple-Orange Sauce

 From allrecipes.com Submitted By: Ruth Andrewson

INGREDIENTS:

1  fully cooked ham steak (about 1/2 inch thick)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 (8 ounce) can unsweetened pineapple chunks

1/3 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cider or white wine vinegar

dash ground ginger

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a skillet, brown ham in butter. 
2. Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. 
3. Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set juice aside. 
4. Place pineapple over ham; set aside.
5. In a saucepan, combine orange juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, ginger and reserved pineapple juice; mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
6. Pour over ham and pineapple. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until ham is heated through.

Mr Nut the Pizza Chef for the Aney's

Hello loyal follower(s)

    Yesterday was my chance to shine as a pizza chef and I was anxious to do a good job.  Of course it was necessary to start off with a one hour nap.  When I got up and went into the kitchen, I found my wife busily baking cookies and it was already three-thirty PM and the pizza guest were to arrive at six PM.  "When can I have the use of the kitchen?" I asked.  Cyndy, my wife and kitchen adversary said she would yield control before four PM.  And she did.  The first job was to sterilize the working surface where the pizza dough was to be rolled out (takes ten minutes).

The stage was set with all the ingredients and waiting for me to do my thing as Mr Nut.

The right of this picture was a large area of the countertop that was sterilized using a very strong and excellent cleaner that was recommended by Cook's Illustrated magazine, it is called Lysol Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner.  It is one of the few cleaners that kills Salmonella.  just spray it on and WAIT 10 Minutes to disinfect the service or 30 seconds to just sanitize the surface.

I disinfected the surface.

At Poppa John's pizza place they have a cute girl that comes in early to prepare the ingredients.  Unfortunately, here at Mr Nut's place there was only me for that chore.


Cyndy took this picture of me preparing the ingredients.

Everything was going well until the disinfected part of the countertop was invaded by Cyndy who went back on her word and was back in MY kitchen making a salad.

Notice the bag  of carrots on the disinfected countertop, it was the same bag from the supermarket ( not sterile).

But she did make a great salad that could of been make on another countertop.

Anyway I re-disinfected the countertop and things worked out and we had a great time with our Snowbird friends from Canada ( the Aney's).

OK! I did almost have a misadventure when I was going to pre-brown the crust. I almost put it into the oven  with  plastic food wrap still on the dough, but everyone   pointed it out to me just before it was to go into  the oven.  No picture of that error.

At the right was the first pizza ready for the heat.

 See blogs for April 11 and 23, 2011 for recipes.

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Apple Pork Chops revisited

Hello loyal follower(s)

Before the  discussion  the revisiting  of the Apple Pork Chops I want to share with you a picture of my biking partner and I from our biking adventure yesterday.  Biking seems to mask my leg pain.

The picture was focused on Jim and I rather than the background.  We were on a biking trail overlooking the flood plane of the Virgin river with the old part of St George in the background.  It was windy, thus the need for a windbreaker jacket.

Now back to the Apple Pork Chops.






We have made this recipe several times and I thought it should be rewritten  to include carb and calories counts as well as some minor writing changes.

The small bowl upper left was the sauce to be poured over the chops, apples and onions.

The apples were covered with lemon juice to prevent oxidation.

The little bowl at  the bottom right were the chopped onions.

Everything was together in the skillet ready for  about twenty minutes of baking.

Not the most colorful dinner, but we had some Couscous to use up, otherwise baked sweet potatoes would have been more colorful.


Go back and revisit the blog of April 12, 2011 to see  the changes made to the recipe.

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Mr Nut's 33% Whole Wheat Rustic Bread

Hello loyal follower(s)

    Yesterday was a successful day relative to bread making.  My new recipe for Rustic  bread turned out great. My only concern was the amount of liquid in the recipe.  Using the ratio of 5 solids to 3 liquids rule the recipe should have had 3.8 cups of liquid.  If you exclude the millet and Dough Enhancer the liquid should be 3.48 cups of which ,5 was honey leaving a little less than 3 cups. What seemed correct was 2.5 cups water plus .5 cups honey.  The recipe from the February 1, 2012 blog was changed so much that I can claim it as my own.

The loaves had just be formed and the then fermented for an hour before going into the oven at 500℉.

 The loaves had been in the oven for 10 minutes and it was time to rotate them and turn the oven temperature down to 400℉

They were done after 40 minutes.  I like the shape and the taste.  The honey taste did come through nicely.

The crumb was exactly what I was looking for with a variety of different sized air bubbles, moist with a rich chewy texture.  It should be noted here that the Millet was not necessary, I just like the crunch it gives the bread. 

The recipe follows:

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

33% Whole Wheat  RUSTIC  BREAD Modern Version

Mr Nut’s recipe based  on blog of February 1, 2012

Yields two 8 inch loaves

     The original recipe used a Biga (a traditional Italian pre-ferment) mixed the day before, and dough that required too much of  the bread makers  time with four one hour fermentation periods.  Upon examination; the Biga and the Dough could be combined into one mixture with a 12 to 18 hour fermentation without any kneading.  Yes, there still would be a second fermentation just before oven time. There were a few other changes or ingredient additions to yield a rustic bread.

 INGREDIENTS

4 cups ( 20 ounces; 570g) Bread flour.

1 1/3 cups ( 7 ounces; 200g) Whole Wheat flour

1/2 cup (2,5 ounces; 70g) Vital Wheat Gluten.

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer (see blog for April 5, 2011).

1  teaspoon dry instant yeast.

2 teaspoons Sea Salt.

1/4 cup Millet

1/2 cup honey

2 1/2 cups warm water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dry Mix: In the mixer bowl using the Chef’s Whisk on speed one, mix together the blue ingredients.
2. Wet Mix: In another bowl whisk by hand the red ingredient into the green ingredient.
3. Combine Ingredients:  Switch to the Paddle Blade in the mixer  and combine the Wet mixture with the Dry mixture keeping the mixing to a minimun.
4. Rest: Allow the mixture to rest for about five to ten minutes to check the consistency of the dough; it should be stiff but workable.
5. Move the dough to another large, oiled bowl. ( so the stand mixer bowl can be cleaned). Spray the top of the dough with oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. 
6. First fermentation: Set the dough out at room temperature 72-75℉ (use a heating pad if room is cool) for 12 to 18 hours. Only If convenient, deflate the dough about halfway through the rise.
7. Deflate dough:  Gently press down on dough to deflate. Holding edge of dough with fingertips, fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Add more  flour if the dough is sticky, aim for a stiff dough. Turn bowl quarter turn; fold again. Turn bowl and fold dough 2-4 more times (maximum of 6 folds).  
8. Forming the Loaves:  Gently scrape and invert dough out of bowl onto dusted work surface.  The side of dough that was against bowl should now be facing up and divide the dough into two pieces, form rounds and let them rest covered for about ten minutes.
9. To shape the dough:  Gently shape dough into 9-inch football shape.    Transfer the loaves to a15 inch square sheet parchment paper. Dust loaf liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let loaves rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, place broiler pan on lowest oven rack and heat oven to 500 degrees.
10. To bake: First heat one quart of water to boiling and set it aside.  Using a  sharp bread, cut slit 1/2 inch deep lengthwise along tops of loaves, starting and stopping about 1 1/2 inches from ends; spray loaf lightly with water. Slide parchment sheet with loaves onto baker’s peel, then slide parchment with loaves onto hot baking stone in oven. Now pour the boiling water into the broiler pan.  Bake 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and quickly spin loaves around using edges of parchment; continue to bake until deep golden brown.  When the color of the crust is what you desire, cover each loaf top with aluminum foil to prevent over browning of the crusts and continue baking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers about 205 degrees, about 35 minutes longer. Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment, and cool loaves to room temperature, about 1  hour.

Best way to put pizza in the oven

Hello loyal follower(s)

    What a great day, while making the 33 % Whole Wheat Rustic Italian Bread on Wednesday February 1, 2012,  a "light bulb" went on in my head.  Why not use Parchment Paper  on a bakers peel to help the pizza side off the peel into the oven.  Therefore yesterday (our pizza night) I very successfully used parchment paper instead of flour and coarse corn meal to insert the pizza into the oven.   Thus, the residual of burnt corn meal and flour was eliminated and of course the stuff that ended up on the floor was also gone.  I tend to be messy in the kitchen.  I am always learning something new (to me).

The pizza dough has been oiled with olive oil and allowed to ferment for 30 minutes.  Notice the peel with parchment paper waiting in anticipation.

A eleven or twelve inch pizza is more than enough for two normal adults.

The dough was ready for the ride to the oven.  Caution, the parchment paper is very slippery and I almost lost everything onto the floor because I moved too fast. There seemed to be no friction between the paper and the peel.

The crust was being pre-baked.  It takes  about ten minutes.

It was so easy to slip the pizza in and out of the oven with the parchment paper.

I changed the base ingredients from tomato sauce and tomato paste to one can diced tomatoes (drained).   Cyndy and I both liked the change.   I continue using cauliflower as one of the toppings.



Today I am  developing my version of the recipe from the blog of February 1, 2012.

I will let you know how it turns out in the next blog.



À bientôt,

Mr Nut

33% Whole Wheat Rustic Italian Bread

Hello loyal follower(s)
    February is finally here and I have only twenty days until I confer with a surgeon about back surgery.  Meanwhile life goes on.  From Cook's Illustrated magazine there was what looked like an interesting recipe for bread that utilized only the baking stone.  I actually followed the recipe with the exception of adding  Dough Enhancer which meant starting the recipe last Wednesday with the traditional preferment mixture called  Biga.  There were four one hour fermentation periods which really tied one's day up just making bread, but the agreement to follow  the recipe prevailed.  This recipe predates the advent of Jim Lahey's  kneed-less technique of of making rustic bread.  It does incorporates the concept of delayed fermentation by refrigerating the Biga.  Since I have a problem with diabetes, two smaller loaves would be better for me since one could be frozen for future use (yes, you could just  cut up the larger loaf and freeze the parts)

The concept of baking the bread on Parchment Paper was great.
 Here the bread was ready for the oven after the many (too many) fermentation periods. The loaf was 16 inches long.

It was oven time.  Next time I will make two eight inch loaves.

After ten minutes of baking the loaf was rotated (easy to do with the parchment paper) and the baking continued for about 35 minutes more.

The bread was done at 202℉ instead of the 210℉ called for in the recipe.  Remember water boils a  212℉. The loaf top was covered with aluminum foil to prevent over browning of the crust.

The crumb was even textured which was what you would expect because of all the kneading  involved in this recipe.  That would be one thing I would avoid by using the Jin Lehey approach.
The bread tasted good and generally it was a good recipe but it required a large time commitment. Honey would be a good a good addition.

I intend to rework this recipe for a more rustic  bread, as less of a time commitment.

This recipe follows:

À bientôt,
Mr Nut

33% WHOLE-WHEAT RUSTIC ITALIAN BREAD

Modified recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine. published September 1, 2003.

Makes 1 large loaf, about 2 1/2 pounds  

For a rustic Italian bread recipe with a chewy but tender crumb, crusty but not tough, we used bread flour, which gave our bread height and a thick crust. Biga (a traditional Italian pre-ferment) mixed the day before gave the bread a wheaty, multidimensional flavor. A mixing technique called autolyse developed the dough’s protein while reducing kneading time.

This recipe requires a stand mixer to make the dough, a spray bottle filled with water for sprit zing, a rectangular baking stone, and an instant-read thermometer for gauging doneness. It also requires a bit of patience -- the biga, which gives the bread flavor, must be made 11 to 27 hours before the dough is made.  

INGREDIENTS

Biga

11  ounces bread flour (2 cups, 312g)

1/4  teaspoon instant yeast

8  ounces water (1 cup), room temperature

Dough

9 1/2  ounces bread flour (1 3/4 cups, 270g), plus extra for dusting hands and work surfac

7  ounces whole wheat flour (1 1/4 cups, 200g)

1  teaspoon instant yeast

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer (see blog of April 5, 2011)

10.7  ounces water (1 1/3 cups), room temperature

2  teaspoons Sea salt 

INSTRUCTIONS

For the biga: 

1. Combine the blue ingredients.flour, in the bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on speed 1 until it forms a shaggy dough, 2 to 3 minutes.

2.  Transfer biga to an oiled medium bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room ( a heating pad may be helpful) temperature until beginning to bubble and rise, about 3 hours. Refrigerate biga at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

For the dough:

1.   Remove biga from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature while making dough.

2.  Combine the red ingredients using the Dough Hook on speed 1 until rough dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Turn mixer off and, move the dough hook leave bowl on mixer, cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap; let dough rest 20 minutes.

3. Remove plastic wrap, add biga and salt to dough, and continue to knead on speed 1 until ingredients are incorporated and dough is formed (dough should clear sides of bowl but stick to very bottom), about 4 minutes. Increase mixer to speed 2 and continue to knead until dough forms a more cohesive ball, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to large bowl (at least 3 times dough’s size) and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in cool, draft-free spot away from direct sunlight, until slightly risen and puffy, about 1 hour.

4. Remove plastic wrap and, deflate Use your hand to get under one side of dough; gently lift and fold one third of dough toward center. the dough.  Repeat with opposite side of dough.  Finally, fold dough in half, perpendicular to first folds. Dough shape should be a rough square.    Replace plastic wrap; let dough rise 1 hour. deflate dough again, replace plastic wrap, and let dough rise 1 hour longer.

5. To shape the dough: Dust work surface liberally with flour. Gently scrape and invert dough out of bowl onto work surface (side of dough that was against bowl should now be facing up). After delicately pushing dough into 8- to 10-inch square, fold top left corner diagonally to middle.  Repeat with top right-corner. Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom.  Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log.  Gently shape dough into 16-inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath.  Transfer to large sheet parchment paper. Dust loaf liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let loaf rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.

6. To bake: Using a  single-edged razor blade, or sharp chef’s knife, cut slit 1/2 inch deep lengthwise along top of loaf, starting and stopping about 1 1/2 inches from ends; spray loaf lightly with water. Slide parchment sheet with loaf onto baker’s peel, then slide parchment with loaf onto hot baking stone in oven. Bake 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and quickly spin loaf around using edges of parchment; continue to bake until deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 210 degrees, about 35 minutes longer. Transfer to wire rack, discard parchment, and cool loaf to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.