tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post1855710921371310020..comments2024-02-07T09:58:57.969-08:00Comments on exorphin junkie: Beards' "Mrs. Elizabeth Overstad's Whole Wheat Bread"Cellarguyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11650364701367341204noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-68430607938360323962011-05-18T20:12:20.735-07:002011-05-18T20:12:20.735-07:00Hmm. Between 100% and 125% I cant' imagine the...Hmm. Between 100% and 125% I cant' imagine there's too much difference, but I keep mine at 125% because whenever Hamelman lists levain in a recipe, as opposed to stiff levain, it's at 125% hydration. It's trivial to feed with a spatula to stir things together, which leads to me actually feeding it regularly.<br /><br />As to other reasons why it's better: I'd have to imagine it ferments faster, because yeast would be able to move about quicker, but I can't really comment on that with any authority. Similarly, I imagine yeast / bacteria proliferate better in a wet environment in general - this one I'm pretty certain on.<br /><br />For quick reformulating of recipes, I take a look at the levain used in a given recipe, let's say its at 60% hydration and it calls for 16 oz. I would break it apart into its constituent ingredient percentages -- 100% flour, 60% water -- and then figure out what, of the 16 oz, is flour and water. In this case, I've got 10 oz flour, 6 oz water.<br /><br />If I want to use my 125% hydration starter, I would need to bring up the amount of water to 12.5 oz. So, from the recipe I'd add 6.5 oz to the weight of the starter, and subtract 6.5 oz from the weight of the water, and then just use my 125% hydration starter.<br /><br />Tartine does have recipes for complet / integral wheat bread, but they don't really talk much about it, only that pan complet is something to strive for.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228774778641277643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-89119083595427940772011-05-17T21:01:29.504-07:002011-05-17T21:01:29.504-07:00I think you're right about Beard's book. ...I think you're right about Beard's book. I won't be burning it any time soon, though. <br /><br />The book is a cultural artifact. Historically, I think it defines a strange moment in our western culture: after a time when everyone made bread, during a time when no one made bread, and many techniques were forgotten -- but before a time when home artisans rediscovered that they could make good bread. Beard's book was an early catalyst to the whole movement. If he got some things wrong, by today's standards, I'll forgive him, because he clearly was a pioneer. His book sparked a lot of interest for its time. Sure, we've moved on. It is still fun to try some old recipes. I still learn stuff when I try them.<br /><br />I have Hamelman's book, but I don't use it much yet. Most of his recipes also use bread flour or all purpose flour, and my interest is whole grains. I don't have the Tartine book, but from what I've seen of the various breads made from that book, in the excited bread blogoland, it seems similar in this respect to Hamelman's: enriched flours, not 100% whole grains.<br /><br />As for sourdough, I am loving it more and more. I'd be curious to know why you keep your sourdough at that high a hydration -- why is it better at 125% than say 100%, or 70% (the hydrations of my sourdoughs)? Right now I keep 3 different sourdoughs (the 2 70%'ers, a wheat and a rye, are for Reinhart's whole grain recipes, and the 100% rye sourdough is for Schoener's recipes) -- just so I don't have to reformulate hydrations. I suspect that this means I'm being extremely wasteful, and your way seems better. I'd be curious to know how you reformulate recipes for your starter 'on the fly', and if you have any tips.Cellarguyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11650364701367341204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-36611965304507389902011-05-17T19:19:52.236-07:002011-05-17T19:19:52.236-07:00Unrelated to my earlier comment, but I've mana...Unrelated to my earlier comment, but I've managed to borrow a copy of Beard on Bread. After a few pages, I can wholeheartedly recommend throwing it out. This was clearly written by somebody who doesn't really understand bread:<br /><br />1. A bizarre number of his bread doughs are enriched<br />2. He advocates storing bread in a refrigerator to keep it fresh longer (p13)<br />3. His "Sourdough" bread is out of control and blatantly wrong (p7)<br />4. He proofs active dry yeast, which is a pet peeve of mine. It's absolutely unnecessary to spike A.D. Yeast with sugar... it's a little slower to respond, but there's no reason to add the extra sugar. The result is the same in the end.<br /><br /><br />This book seems a lot like a chef who has decided that he, great artist he is, should bring himself down to the lowly art of bread making and cast judgement without really knowing stuff.<br /><br />His "broiled bread" recipe is insane, because if you understand oven spring, it's clear why this happened... but he listed it as a separate recipe, rather than a technique, because he doesn't get it.<br /><br />I'm only referencing Hamelman's book these days, at the bakery I work at. Sometimes I'll pull a recipe in from Tartine, or combine a couple I like. If I'm working with a sourdough starter, it's always one at 125% hydration and I reformulate biga / stiff sourdough recipes to use my 125% hydration starter instead.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228774778641277643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-9863404443033514672011-04-16T15:54:35.640-07:002011-04-16T15:54:35.640-07:00More amylase in bran? Well that's fascinating...More amylase in bran? Well that's fascinating -- and beyond me, right now. <br /><br />Before you mentioned that article (I can only access the abstract, from home, but I'll read the article before long), I had never even heard of the 'Michaelis Constant' -- the constant is explained in another article, which is more public, here, and is where I get my understanding of it:<br /><br />http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC183517/pdf/aem00060-0173.pdf<br /><br />However, this is all quite counter-intuitive to me: I assumed that the bran contains mostly fiber and indigestible starch, so therefore what are the yeasts munching on? And one can easily find articles that state that bran (or the phytate in the bran layer, or something else) inhibits the action of the Amylase enzymes. Eg., here is a public one:<br /><br />http://www.ajcn.org/content/34/6/1034.full.pdf <br /><br />Many of the sourdough starter recipes I've encountered advise one to begin with the whole grain, freshly milled into flour, and perhaps this is because there is more natural yeast in the bran layer (as they all state), but because there is also more food for them. Which makes sense, that the yeasts would be attracted to a layer of food. But then why do not the yeasts devour grains in the field, or in storage? The bran must be protective against yeasts, too. We are speaking of layers of accessibility, which to the plant is layers of nutrition and transport. It makes sense that a plant would separate its amylose and the amylases that will break down the sugars for its growth, and what better place to put the amylase than a non-starchy layer? All of which shows my general ignorance in plant biology -- I'll have to read up on it. <br /><br />There are a great many mysteries for me to unravel here, and I am a long way off from grokking janusian kinetics.<br /><br />It doesn't surprise me that the mystery involves not only the yeasts that are fermenting the dough, and their food-source, but also enzymes. Reinhart unabashedly pilfered (but credited) the ideas of Emily Buehler regarding enzyme's work in bread-making, and her writing is far more accessible to me than these scientific papers (I do read them, but my eyes glaze over and I start to yawn).<br /><br />Here is Emily's page, from which one can get to a site that has an essay on these enzymes, or even purchase her book:<br /><br />http://www.twobluebooks.com/<br /><br />Thank you so much for pointing me in this direction. I learn so much from you (and I learn how much I have yet to learn).Cellarguyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11650364701367341204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-69896340705524445002011-04-16T14:27:23.761-07:002011-04-16T14:27:23.761-07:00Whole wheat flour ferments faster than white flour...Whole wheat flour ferments faster than white flour - I couldn't tell you a specific reason, though. I've noticed it in my own baking, and I've come across a mention of it in a few books - off the top of my head, the Tartine Bread book. Maybe because it still contains the germ and the bran? Or, maybe the germ and the bran contribute more amylase and starch is converted to sugar faster?<br /><br />A quick googling seems to confirm that there would be more amylase in bran, at least:<br /><br />http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4834651<br /><br />I don't think forgetting the yeast until later would have any negative impact. I imagine it's akin to a long autolyse in terms of gluten development.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228774778641277643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6640298770028582012.post-57221400150949178782011-04-16T14:25:18.761-07:002011-04-16T14:25:18.761-07:00Take more pictures of your pizzas, man!Take more pictures of your pizzas, man!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com