Some weeks ago I was approached by the ABC through a very good friend about an interview on bread. I also provided a set of notes, and the interview was very well received, with hundreds of downloads. What follows is the notes I offered, which pretty much distil breadmaking into the essence of what it needs to be.
Nerding out on Bread!
Actually – the intent is exactly the opposite. There is
nothing quite as nerdy as a bread nerd in full swing, and that adds a lot of
mystery to what is a simple process with a bunch of complexities (see – back in
the nerdiness already!).
When I started making bread I didn’t understand the
difference between a recipe written by a chef and those scribed by a baker (FYI
– Chefs don’t always get it right…) – and I definitely didn’t understand the
importance of hydration, fermentation time, acid development and importance of
the right flour. What I hope to do in this piece is to provide a couple of
developmental shortcuts based on my own experiences and observations, and get
you to making consistently delicious bread. I have tri ed to keep the science
out of it as much as possible – but let me know when you want to get your nerd
properly on – and make it practical. My aim is that everybody has access to
fresh, delicious bread that can come out of your own kitchen oven. Full
disclaimer – right now my breads are made in a shitty, tiny oven that struggles
to get to anything like the temperature it needs to. But we cope, and our bread
is good.
First up – the definitions and technical stuff:
·
Sourdough or yeast doughs: Depends on
your timeframe and what you want out of your bread. Sourdough definitely takes
longer, but there are recognised health benefits from the additional
fermentation. Yeasted doughs can be made with long fermentation also, and can
taste every bit as good as a sourdough. This is absolutely personal preference.
·
Hydration. This is a really important
concept, and refers to the ratio of water in the recipe to flour. The wetter
the dough, the more difficult it is to work. At the same time, you can get more
lift in your dough, and a better ‘crack’ on your crust.
·
Flour. Not all flours are equal. You
absolutely need a high protein flour. Protein refers to the gluten content in
the flour, and without it there will be nothing to support your bread as it
rises. Look for a protein content of at least 11%.
·
Gluten. Gluten is a protein that forms a
web of fine strands that stretch and trap carbon dioxide in the dough as it
proofs. Carbon dioxide is released by the yeast as it feeds on the
sugars/starches in the flour.
·
Regardless of the type of bread you are making,
you will have yeast. It will either be a commercial, predictable agent
that you add, or a wild, natural beastie that you culture through a process of
nurturing and love. Yeast can be frozen, and is killed with heat – when it
passes through 56 degrees Celsius from memory.
·
Proofing. Is the process where dough is
left to rise – or for the yeast to convert the sugars in the dough. You will
often see this in a recipe written as “leave in a warm place until doubled in
size”.
·
Time. The constraints given in recipes are
often unrealistic, and rely on the overuse of yeast. The bread is ready when it
is ready… Unlike almost all other kitchen processes, you don’t get to control
your bread. At best, it is a mutually rewarding relationship – ie you should do
as you are told, and work with the dough when it is ready.
·
Heat vs Cold. Dough will rise at cool
temperatures, just more slowly. The longer a dough ferments, the more flavour
it develops. You can absolutely make a dough and leave it in the fridge
(covered) overnight. It will take a little longer to be ready to bake when you
get going in the morning but that is OK. Get it started, have a coffee and walk
the dog. If you want it ready earlier, then get out of bed earlier!
·
Bakers Percentage. You probably wont see
this bandied about too much in a Chef’s cookbook, but it is a really simple
concept that makes life really simple. It is a game of ratios, where everything
is measured against the flour in a recipe which is always 100%. This helps in
recipe development to, and you can set up a really simple excel spreadsheet to
help if you are so minded. By way of example: A recipe with 50% hydration means
that for every 100gm of flour, the recipe has 50 gm of water. You can also work
backwards – if you are making 500 gm loaves, and want a recipe for three
loaves, then your dough weight needs to be 1500gm. Using a 50% hydration, you
will need to develop a recipe with 1kg of flour (but more about that later).
·
Cooking temperature. Regardless of what
the books tell you I reckon that domestic ovens just don’t get hot enough. For
bread making at home, just crank up the dial as far as it goes. The big trend
at the present time is to bake in a dutch oven. What this does is to more
closely mimic a commercial baking environment – but it does have its
limitations. I don’t use it, as my baking volume is just too much, and I don’t
want to be limited to a single loaf shape. I just bake on a steel tray in a
standard oven (for now – I do have my eye on a stone deck bakers oven when the
house is completed!)
·
Steam. Is steam important? In a word yes.
It will help keep the skin of the dough moist during the initial part of the
cooking process. If the skin dries out too much, you run the risk of the crust
forming too early, and the finished loaf being overly heavy. I generally find
that when the oven is full, there is enough humidity in the dough to provide steam.
The best way to inject a form of control is to keep a tray in the bottom of the
oven. As soon as you load your dough into the oven, pour a little boiling water
into the tray.
·
Oven spring. This is another one of those
‘wanky’ bakers terms that will mark you as a certified bread nerd when you
start critiquing your and others loaves (as in “Nice oven spring – its gunna be
a good loaf…”). Oven spring refers to the immediate cooking process that occurs
when the loaf is first loaded into an oven. The yeast that is in the loaf has a
final burst of development up until it reaches that magical temperature of 56
degrees Celsius.
Now for the recipes:
Simple yeasted dough
|
Ingredient
|
Percentage
|
Test
|
|
Flour
|
100%
|
1kg
|
|
Water
|
65%
|
650 gm
|
|
Salt
|
2%
|
20 gm
|
|
Yeast
(Instant, dried)
|
0.5%
|
5gm
|
Method: Mix all ingredients together, and bring together
into a shaggy mass. Tip out onto a bench and knead together until the dough
comes together into a smooth ball. The knead time should be 10-15 minutes, and
the best way to learn to knead is to just do it… There are a number of demonstrations
videos on You Tube, and a number of methods that all work. My recommendation is
to look at stretching and folding as a preference. (Note – packets of yeast are
7 gm, and there is no problem using the whole packet in this recipe. I just
like to go slow in the fermentation).
Cover your dough, and leave to proof. The temperature of
your proofing environment will determine the time it takes for proof, but a
rule of thumb is that the dough needs to double in size. Knock the dough back, and
scale into the loaf sizes you want. In my kitchen I use the following scale
weights:
Bread rolls: 120-130gm
English Muffins: 100gm
Baguettes: 350gm
Loaves: 650gm
Roll the dough into a ball,
tucking the edges under (this helps build ‘surface tension’ that lets the dough
expand properly in the oven. Without proper tension, the loaf runs the risk of
falling flat in the oven – particularly when working with higher hydration).
Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Shape the dough into the shape you
want, and leave to proof for a final 45 minutes before baking. Again, look into
shaping demonstrations on You Tube to get your method correct – it definitely
affects the quality loaf you end up with.
Most loaves will take about 25-35
minutes to bake. The best test is to tap the loaf on the bottom when you think
it is done – if it sounds hollow it is done. Pull it out of the oven, and rest
on a rack to cool, and set the loaf. Try and wait at least an hour or two
before you attack the loaf…
A word on crust colour: I like a
dark crust, with a bit of depth to it. The colouration of a crust is more about
caramelisation than burn – and if you want to get a real nerd on, research the
Maillard reaction…
Sourdough
The first thing you need to do is
to build and then maintain a starter. This is a very simple process when you
get going, and has the advantage of extending the fermentation time. There are
plenty of tips online for how to create your own starter. I currently use two starters:
·
Harriet – I built this starter when I first came
to Australia in 2000, and have used it through a multitude of postings across
Australia and a couple of deployments…
·
Johnny – I have recently been given this starter.
It is a 200+ year old culture, originating in Turkey. This is only fed with
wholemeal flour.
Both cultures are very different,
and make very different (but equally delicious) bread. Both of my starters are
what is called a liquid starter (the other option is a ‘stiff’ starter), and
the recipe below is based on that. If you start reading bread books, you will
start to see the term ‘levain’ – this is the French translation and is
interchangeable with starter.
I keep my starter in the fridge
between bake days, and bring it out a couple of days prior. There is nothing
scientific about my feeding schedule, except that it makes for a very active
culture! I have left my starter in the fridge for up to 8 months without
feeding/baking with it (typically when deployed overseas). It develops a grey
liquid on top of the starter – just pour this off (don’t drink!) and start a
feeding schedule again. When getting ready to bake, I will feed every 12 hours,
and try to feed 3-4 times before mixing dough. It is as simple as taking a spoonful
of starter, and stirring in equal quantities (by weight) of flour and water.
Cover and leave on the bench until the next feed. A good healthy starter will
slowly increase in volume over 6-8 hours, and then collapse a little. The
choice of when to use your starter is a matter of preference, but a guide is
that the culture will be sweet as it increases in volume, and then become more
sour after it collapses.
My basic recipe follows:
|
Ingredient
|
Percentage
|
Test
|
|
Flour
|
100%
|
1kg
|
|
Water
|
66%
|
660 gm
|
|
Salt
|
2.66%
|
26 gm
|
|
Starter
|
45%
|
450gm
|
Method: is the same as for yeasted
doughs, but just remember that things will take a little longer.
Many commercial bakeries will add
a little bit of yeast into their sourdoughs. This will assist in providing a
little more standardisation to the process. I like the challenge of seeing what
comes through at the end of the process! If you do want to add a little yeast,
then it would be no more than about 2gms per kg (of flour).
I don’t use baskets to do my final
proof. Instead I have canvas cloths that I dust with rice flour and semolina
(to prevent sticking), and fold the cloth in between each loaf to help it hold
its shape.
Recipe variations:
The base recipes above can be
manipulated in many ways depending on what you are looking to achieve. Some of
those options are as follows:
·
Flour – Instead of just using white flour, try
adding Spelt or Wholegrain flour (up to about 40-50%)
·
Liquid – if you want a slightly richer dough, switch
out some of the water for milk
·
For sourdoughs, play with the starter percentage.
Just remember that the starter is 50:50 flour:water, so include that in the
recipe calculations. I have done breads with anything from 15-45% starter
·
If you are making pizza dough, add a little
olive oil into the dough. This increases the extensibility of the dough.
·
I don’t add sugar, but a honey wholewheat bread
is lovely.
Tips:
· Retard the dough. This just means to slow
down the development of the dough by chilling it. You can successfully retard
the dough for up to three days before baking. This can help in the home kitchen
by allowing you to work within your own schedules.
·
Preferments. This is specifically the
case for yeasted doughs, and allows for some of the development that you get in
a sourdough. It is as simple as taking some of the flour and water from a
recipe, mixing it together and letting it slowly start to ferment overnight. Use
equal quantities (by weight), and enjoy the results.
·
Developing your own recipes. I suggest recording what you are doing in a
journal. That will aid you in determining what it is you are doing well/to your
taste for further replication.
·
Shaping the dough. Watch videos. I reckon
I did it wrong for at least 10 years…
·
Scoring the dough. Scoring is done to
provide a direction for steam to escape as the bread rises in the oven. It
allows you to define how the bread should form in the oven.
·
Bench work. Don’t feel like you need to
add flour to your bench when you are working with the dough – all you end up
doing is mucking your planned hydration levels. It might seem
counter-intuitive, but when the dough starts to stick, first try wetting your
fingers instead of using flour.
Most importantly – Have fun! The
bread you bake will be more rewarding than anything you can buy.
I have had some really good feedback, including from a retired baker, whose family has been in bread since 1863! John would like to share his family starter with me - would be a stablemate to Harriet and "Jam Jar Johnny"...
