Monday, May 14, 2007

Unintentionally flat bread

I started on an Italian loaf last night using this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Biga (starter):

* 11 ounces (about 2 cups, although I needed more) bread flour
* 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
* 1 cup water, room temperature

Dough:

* 16.5 ounces (about 3 cups) bread flour, plus extra for working
* 1 teaspoon instant yeast
* 1-1/3 cups water, room temperature
* 2 teaspoons salt

For the biga: Combine flour, yeast and water in large bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest speed until it forms a shaggy dough, 2 to 3 minutes. (I am not certain what they meant by "shaggy", but my dough just looked normal, so don't worry about it.) Transfer biga to a medium bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature until beginning to bubble and rise, about 3 hours. (At 3 hours, mine had risen more than it bubbled, but apparently that works.) Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours (I refrigerated mine for about 16 hours).

For the dough: Remove biga from the refrigerator and let set at room temperature while making the dough. Combine the flour, yeast and water in large bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest speed until a rough dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Turn mixer off and, without removing bowl or dough hook, cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap; add the biga and salt to the bowl. (I accidentally added the salt to the dough with the flour, yeast and water above. It might have made a difference, but it was still great. Next time I will do what they suggest and compare the results.) Knead on lowest speed until ingredients are incorporated and the dough forms and clears the sides of the bowl, about 4 minutes. Increase mixer speed to the next setting and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a cool, draft-free spot away from direct sunlight until slightly risen and puffy, about 1 hour. (I wasn't certain what they meant by "slightly risen", so I just did 1 hour.)

Remove plastic wrap and turn the dough by first sliding a curved plastic bench scraper or flexible spatula underneath, then gently lifting and folding one third of dough toward center. Do the same with the opposite side of dough. Then fold the dough in half, perpendicular to the first folds. Dough should be shaped into a rough square if folded correctly. Replace plastic wrap and let dough rise 1 more hour. Fold again as described above. Replace plastic wrap and let rise 1 more hour.

To shape the dough: Dust work surface liberally with flour. Gently scrape the dough out of the bowl and invert onto the work surface so that the side which was on the top is now on the bottom. Dust the dough and hands with flour. Using minimal pressure, push the dough into a rough 8 to 10 inch square. Fold the top left corner diagonally to the middle. Repeat with the top right corner. Gently roll the dough from the top peak to the bottom until it forms a rough log. Place the seam on the bottom and transfer to parchment paper. Start tucking the bottom edges underneath, working from the center to the ends, and gently stretch the dough until it is about a 16-inch long football-type shape. Dust top liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Place baking stone on rack and preheat oven to 500° F.

To bake: Using a lame or a very sharp knife, cut a slit 1/2-inch deep lengthwise into the center top of the dough, starting and ending 1-1/2 inches from the ends. Using a spray bottle, spray the loaf lightly with water. Slide the parchment paper with the loaf onto a baker's peel or other large, flat surface, then onto the hot baking stone in oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400° and, using the edges of the parchment paper, quickly rotate the loaf 180°. Continue to bake until a deep golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 210°, about 35 minutes longer. (It will look like the bread will get too dark, but it won't.) Transfer to a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper. Cool to room temperature before slicing.


I didn't realize it until I started, but the "biga" (starter dough) had to refrigerated overnight before I could start on the actual dough. Not only that, but I accidentally proofed the yeast before adding the flour to the biga, so now I've got some extra dough sitting around. I'm not sure whether it would've made a difference but I thought it best to follow this recipe more closely the first time. So making the biga was quite easy and I left it in the fridge overnight to rise and bubble.

I continued this morning, making the remainder of the dough and combining it with the biga. I added a bit more flour than the recipe called for because it seemed extra sticky -- maybe that's how it's supposed to be though. In the end it was still more sticky than dough I've made before.

After letting it rise some more I started with the shaping of the dough. I failed miserably at this. The recipe says to "gently stretch the dough until it is about a 16-inch long football-type shape". Well, I just couldn't get the dough looking like that. It ended up in a vaguely football-ish shape but nothing like what was called for. Once again I had to let it rise.

After it rose this time I knew it wasn't going to turn out too well. It was still very flat. The dough expanded quite a bit but only outwards, not upwards. This is a problem I had with my bagels as well -- they are much more flat than I think they should be. Since this loaf was done with 100% white flour I didn't think I would have that problem. Apparently that isn't what's causing it though.

Nonetheless I pressed on. I would've preferred to bake this on my pizza stone but the loaf was just too big and I didn't have any parchment paper. Instead I used a greased pan. As called for, I baked the loaf at 500 degrees first -- which had the unfortunate side effect of turning the excess grease on the pan to smoke, which was not fun. I cooked it on 400 for another 30 minutes when I decided that it was done.

This loaf looks like crap. It's too dark, slightly burnt on the bottom, and far too flat.



The inside is very fluffy and tasty though!


The crust tastes a tiny bit funny, probably because I sprinkled flour a little too liberally on it before baking, but it is still quite good. The only problem I have now is eating it all before it goes bad.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Ben:

Are you still baking bread? Bread is my second passion after computers. I have so many recipes to share if you're into it. Also, did you know that Chris Tyler worked as a professional baker? We should talk yeast some time :)

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