The week of Madness starts here!

Monday morning at 5 am and I'm starting what will be a very busy week. I've got an easy run in to get me going, just two Spelt loaves for Oats cafe to keep them going till the main order on Wednesday.

By 0730 the house was filled with the smell of baking and the results were just about 
perfect. My new oven has a double fan system and I don't have to rotate the loaves or rolls half way through baking any more, they colour evenly on their own.

In fact they looked so good that I wish I had made an extra one for us, I do like to add one on every now and then, apart form the fact that it saves me baking extra for us it acts as a quality control as well.

My new scales have also arrived and I used them for the first time today,



they are a bit better than the old ones, which I have suspected of being slightly out for a while. They also have a bakers percentage function that will come in handy for sourdough bakes of more than 1 loaf.

In other news, the order I baked for Millie last week was for a birthday party, I copied a couple of pictures form Facebook of the bread in situ and the presentation made it look very appetising.

Sophie from Millie and Me was kind enough to say on Facebook, "Looked and tasted amazing," and on Millie and Me's page she wrote "Thanks Richard from Well Bread outstanding bread yet again."

Now I'm off to tend to my Rye starter for Wednesday's order, which also includes Walnut and plain Spelt, Soda Bread and Vegan Teacakes. Then on Wednesday afternoon I start preparing for LoveLife. I'll keep you posted.

Finished early

I had a big(ish) order for Millie and Me today, 30 Panini Rolls, A Ciabatta, A Pesto Twist and two Focaccia. (One Sundried Tomato and One Olive)

In the old days, that meant a five o'clock start and finish around nine.

Enter the new oven, doubling my capacity and meaning I can keep up with the flow of proved dough.

I was finished at eight!

Maybe I'm entering the big time, the thought of larger orders no longer fills me with dread and I can start canvassing for business secure in the knowledge that I can keep up.

Incidentally, here are the finished articles.

Of course the next test is the prep for Lovelife, where I intend to make around 10-12 different Sourdough products for sampling and hopefully ordering. The fun will start on Weds after I've delivered to Oats.

Sourdough Rye Bread

I posted a picture of my Rye and Honey Bread on Facebook and have had a few people asking for the recipe.

I use 100% Organic Stoneground Rye flour, only adding honey and salt and water. This is the flour I use, from Bacheldre Mill. I recommend it. My Rye starter is now 4 years old but you can make one in a week.

24 and 12 hours before making the bread I feed a portion of my starter, so that when I begin I have the right amount of active starter. 

For example if I need 450 g starter for 3 small loaves I will feed 50 g of stock starter from the fridge with 50 g each of flour and water 24 hours before mixing. Then at 12 hours before mixing I will feed the 150 g that now exists with 150 g each of flour and water which will give me 450 g of starter to work with.

The following table gives quantities in grammes for various combinations of loaves, it depends on my orders which one (or combination) I will make. A large loaf is around 950 g and a small around 700 g before baking

                        1 Lge               1 Sml               2 Lge             2 Sml         1 Lge + 2 Sml         2 + 2

Flour                400                  300                  800                  600                  1000                1400

Salt                    10                      7                    20                    15                      25                    35

Starter             200                  150                   400                  300                    500                  700

Honey               40                    30                     80                    60                    100                  140

Water              300                  225                   600                  450                    750                 1050

Method

Mix everything together except the salt, Leave for 30 minutes. I use my Kenwood stand mixer as the dough is very sticky

Add the salt and knead for 10 minutes in the mixer. I user the "K" beater rather than the dough-hook as its more efficient in the lower gluten dough.

Place in a plastic lidded container. Leave for three hours then refrigerate overnight.

Next morning turn the dough out onto a heavily floured board and cut into portions as above (950/700 g) It is important that the dough is handled very gently as it is shaped into loaves, don't be too rough because it will knock the air out and you'll end up with sludge. 

I put the loaves into tins as that is what my customers want.

Leave to prove for 5-6 hours until risen and cracked on top. About an hour before baking warm the oven to 230 degrees C.

 The following photo's show this more clearly and are taken from an earlier batch which was photographed in different lighting conditions, hence the lighter colour of the dough.

Bake with steam for 15 minutes, then without for another 10 minutes. Turn the tins in the oven to even the browning and reduce the temp to 180 degrees C.

Bake for about 20 minutes more until you get an internal temperature of 96 degrees C. You may need to turn again if the crust starts to darken too much. I use the internal temperature to judge when the loaf is done because Gluten sets at 95 degrees C; any internal temperature above that means that the loaf is "Done." I find that method more accurate than tapping the base. You only need to check one loaf out of a batch.

Turn out to cool. Leave for 30 minutes minimum before cutting.

The perception of Rye bread, at least in England, is that it is very heavy and close-crumbed but as you can see this version is lighter and quite open. 

This bread seems to keep forever, (well at least a couple of weeks and when it dries out you can always toast it)

I hope you enjoy the bread and my posts. Keep checking back for lots more sourdough ideas.

Extra Pair of Hands

My new oven is installed and ready to go, and tomorrow I will flash it up and see how it performs.

I can't wait.

The new, improved (Sourdough) Brixham Crumpet.

After refreshing, I had a lot of sourdough starter left over this morning, so I thought I would make some Crumpets. I posted this recipe idea last year but since then I have tweaked it a bit.

The starter can be old, it doesn't need any power, the Bicarb makes the mixture rise. So it's ideal for using discard before feeding. White or Spelt starter is best. 

These pictures are for a White starter.

You will need a set of rings to shape the raw mixture, I got mine from a hardware shop locally.

First, heat up a non-stick pan and lightly oil the rings, these will heat and the oil will stop the dough sticking. Not too hot though or the bases will burn before they are done.

Take 250 g starter at 100% hydration and add 1 tsp sugar and a good pinch of salt. Add half a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda and mix well. It will foam up,

Half fill the rings to allow for expansion,

 and cook for about 6 minutes. The crumpets will start to shrink away from the rings and the tops will start to set.

Carefully remove the rings and flip the crumpets over to brown the tops.

And there you are, about 2 minutes cooking on the tops and they are done.

Sourdough Cranberry Cookies

I made these based on a recipe that I found online, I wanted to find a snack that I could sell at the Lovelife event and modified the recipe to use what I had. Anyway the cookies were pretty good, if a little large, the recipe says 2-3 dozen but I ended up with 14.

I plan to do a few snack type things for sale, including Brownies and Digestive biscuits.

I also made some new rolls for a customer of Oats to try, these were sourdough with Sundried Tomato and Oregano, and made an interesting combination.

It's the roll on the right in this picture.

My new oven arrives tomorrow so I need to make some room in the Kitchen in the morning. I also need to refresh my starters so I will probably make crumpets with the discard.

My whole system needs reorganizing to cope with the doubled capacity, and I need more trays and tins as well. There's always something.

Here's the recipe :-

Basic Sourdough Cookies

Ingredients

§  120 g sourdough starter

§  112 g butter, softened

§  170 g  whole wheat flour (more or less)

§  130 g  organic cane sugar

§  1 egg

§  1 teaspoon vanilla

§  1/2 teaspoon sea salt

§  1 teaspoon baking soda

§  1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, mix together sourdough starter and butter. You can use sourdough starter that is more or less active because of the additional leavening agents.

Add one cup of flour.  Mix well.  Continue adding flour a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until you get very stiff dough.    Cover and rest at room temperature for 8 or more hours.  Remember, the longer it sits, the more sour it will get.

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C and get your pans ready.  These will be a little sticky, so you should either grease or use parchment paper.

Mix the egg, sugar, vanilla, sea salt and baking powder in a small bowl.  (Hold the baking soda for a bit.)  Pour this mixture over the top of your soured dough.  Blend well.  When it is well mixed, add chocolate or fruit to taste and blend thoroughly.  Lastly, sprinkle the baking soda over the top and mix well.

Drop by spoonful’s onto a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly brown and tops are soft set.  Cool on a wire rack.  

I've done it!

Faced with the prospect of increasing orders, I've invested in a second oven to double my baking capacity. I was going to leave it until after the kitchen refit, but circumstances have changed.

 

Now I have to sell loads of loaves to pay for it. I'm hoping that the Lovelife event in Brixham will be the start of it all, 
http://lovelifebrixham.blogspot.co.uk/ 

I hope to see you there ready to try a few samples and place your orders.