ww, quinoa, spelt and rye raisin walnut bread

ww, quinoa, spelt and rye raisin walnut bread

Ah, walnuts.  It is that time of year again, when the fragrant nuts are falling.  I find them underfoot when I'm out walking the dog.  The bruised green husks are drying up, or rotting.  I lift the odd one to my nose and inhale the scent.  Careful: don't let the husk actually touch your nose, or it will paint your nose brown.  And brown is not typically a great colour for noses.

I have fond memories of collecting bags full of walnuts for my father-in-law.  He would, every fall, plant some in an effort to get some of the seedlings to grow.  He loved working with walnut wood, and planted trees that he knew he would not live to harvest.  Usually the biggest problem was the squirrels, who followed right behind him and dug up the nuts.  One year we tried placing a screen over where we had buried the nuts, but the squirrels dug right through it.  It never deterred him from trying again the next year.

There is a Canadian animated short film that made the rounds many long years ago, that deeply affected me, and reminds me of my father-in-law: The Man who Planted Trees, based on the short story by Jean Giono.

The actual movie "The Man Who Planted Trees" can be watched online here

Synopsis: An old man carefully selects a number of nuts every day before his walk, and places each of them in a hole in the ground.  After decades of unending toil, the groves that result provide recreation and joy for many humans and animals. 

My brother-in-law, a graduate of Guelph Agricultural University, says that the film is utterly implausible.  But that never stopped him from planting walnuts with his father, nor from transplanting some of the seedlings that did grow, nor from working with walnut wood himself.

With every bite of this walnut-filled bread, I will remember my father-in-law as the man who planted walnut trees.

Here are the numbers for this raisin walnut bread, in percentages.  Walnuts and raisins are given in grams.

• ww 50
• quinoa 20
• spelt 20
• rye 10
• wild yeast @100% hydration 20
• salt 1.9
• water 75
• walnuts 107g (11)
• raisins 185g (19)
• golden flax seeds (a sprinkling)

Method: A la' Tartine: i.e. mix dough, let it rest and then add salt and 5% of the water.  Fold during bulk fermentation x 3 hours, Q30min.  Add walnuts and raisins on 2nd turn.  Divide, bench rest, then form and proof in baskets overnight in fridge.  Bake 40 minutes in an Iron Dutch Oven at 450 degrees, the first half with the lid on.

Results
This dough was a pleasure to work with.  It seemed really slack at first, but it was silky-gooey.  I wondered if it was the quinoa that was so sticky on my fingers.  But I wet my hands with water at each turn, and it helped.  Indeed, as the bulk fermentation progressed, the gooeyness ceased, the gluten strengthened and the dough became somewhat firmer.  The feel from beginning to end was substantially different.

The taste is great.  Strange how the crust was so much improved by just a few of those golden flax seeds on the top.  They add a distinct toasted flavour, and offset the sweetness of the loaf's raisins in the crisp crust.  The walnuts add something special -- of course, they turn the surrounding dough purple (you can't detect it so much in the digital photos, unfortunately).  This is just how many walnuts there were in a small package that I bought at a local store: there is really no need to fill the bread up with so many nuts you taste walnuts in every bite, as in the official Tartine bread that contains walnuts.  Who needs too much juglone anyway?

A very nice bread indeed.  There are lots of different textures here to consider as you chew.  I like it with cheese, or with nothing but a little butter.  It toasts well too.

Notes to Myself

• As I began to research the movie mentioned in this blog entry, I tried to google for it, but didn't for the longest time remember its name. It didn't help that I thought I was searching for a man who planted walnuts, when in the original story he planted acorns and beechnuts. But while looking for it (I googled for 'old man' animation), I came across this interesting cartoon, with an old familiar Neal Young song. Reminds me of what I do, every day, in palliative care. 
• As far as I know, the packaged walnuts I used were not on a list of recently recalled walnuts here in Canada, suspected of having an E.Coli contamination.
• Walnut oil contains omega-3 fatty acids, but likely the high temperatures of the oven are going to unravel some of the goodness.

Mango Bread

Mango Bread

I love mangos.  We don't eat a lot of them, because they don't arrive in town that frequently.  But when they do, we buy the odd one, and it remains a rare treat.

I found one in the bottom of the fruit bowl today, and I thought I had bought it last week and forgotten to eat it.  I decided to make a bread with it, and only when I added the fruit to the dough did my wife come by and tell me that she had purchased that mango the day previously, and had intended to eat it herself.  Perhaps she thought that the bottom of the fruit bowl was a good hiding place.  It was not.  'Bye 'bye, mango.

So where does one find a decent whole wheat mango recipe?  I found lots of interesting mango bread recipes online, most of them quickbreads.  That wasn't what I was after, however.  Once I filtered out those search-engine results, this is the bread that caught my attention:

Double Mango Bread, from Three Tastes: Tao in the Kitchen.

I didn't have any dried mango, so I used raisins and coconut (which I had seen used in various other mango bread recipes that were quickbreads -- this one from allrecipes.com by SackPac is representative of those quickbreads, that many seem to be enthusiastic about).

I also decided to use entirely whole wheat flour, rather than the bread flour that  Manju of Three Tastes used. 

Recap of the Ingredients:

• 8g yeast (=1 pkt)
• 141g lukewarm water  (= 2/3 c)
• 13g brown sugar (=1 Tbsp)

• 494g whole wheat flour (= 3 1/2 c)
• 5g sea salt (= 1 tsp)
• 0kg freshly ground coriander (= 2 tsp dried seeds) (Weighs next to nothing: use more next time)
• 13g  brown sugar (= 1 Tbsp)

• 178g mango fruit (1 fully ripe mango, lightly chopped)
• 65g raisins (= 1/2 c) (NB: I won't use these next time)
• 47g shredded coconut (= 1/2 c )

Glaze:

• 30g of milk (= ?)
• 7g of water (= 1 tsp)

Method

Here I'm following Manju's method.

The yeast is proofed in the lukewarm water, with sugar, for 5 minutes. *

Dry ingredients are mixed, and the yeast mixture added.  What you have is so dry, it will not all incorporate.  Do your best, but give up before your struggle becomes exasperation.

Add the mangos.  Knead for 5 minutes.  See how the dry stuff all comes together?

Add the coconut, keep kneading.

Add the raisins.  Knead them in.

Let rise to double.  I left mine for 60 minutes in the Excalibur on bread setting. (NB: this is a departure from the method given by Manju; and I don't think I improved it.  She suggested it be formed and placed in a pan to rise once.  Not sure why, but perhaps she was converting a quickbread banana loaf recipe?  In any case, next time I make this, I'll try not punching it down.)

Shape dough and turn into a buttered loaf pan.  Allow to rise again in a warm place.  Again, this took about 60 minutes in my excalibur.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Just before placing in the oven, glaze with milk mixture.

Bake 10 minutes and then turn the heat down to 400 degrees F.  Bake another 15 minutes.

Cool.  Eat.

Results

The raisins sort of overpower this loaf, so that it tastes more like a raisin bread with a hint of mango.  Even the coconut is pretty much lost: it is only once in a while that you get a hint of a taste of it. 

The raisins also caused the loaf to stick to the pan.   Too many raisins!

 

There are not enough coriander seeds to make a difference in the finished loaf, although crushing them and incorporating them into the dough during mixing is very fragrant.

I should have done the bulk fermentation and final proofing in one step, I think.  The original srecipe didn't call for a punching down, and I don't think I improved the final result to have two steps.

The original recipe called for 2-3 mangoes, but only 150g of fruit flesh.  I was over that amount with one mango -- but I probably could have used 2 or 3.  Next time I make this, if I do, I will forego the raisins.

Notes to Myself

• Next time, try doubling up on the mango fruit.  Don't put in any raisins.  Try dried mango fruit.  Walnuts would work here too.  And some people have tried cinnamon, or ginger, instead of coriander.  Next time, don't punch down the dough, but try bulk fermenting it in the tin and baking it directly once it has risen.
• * Let me pause and say that, as Josh (real baker, friendly occasional commenter on various blogs I've written) has often pointed out, proofing yeast isn't necessary, using today's yeast.  This methodology seems to be a throwback from an earlier time, when yeast production wasn't as perfect, or people didn't use enough yeast to ensure that it remained viable.  It seems to have been done, though, in many earlier recipes, and so you find it being repeated today by bakers from various backgrounds. 
  
  I can imagine only one possible reason why someone today might want to get the yeast hydrated and even munching away on sugar, prior to being added to the main dough mixture.  This is based on something I've read but can't confirm -- along with a misunderstanding of the yeast itself.  I'll elaborate: I have heard that salt will stop yeast from reproducing -- but not from consuming sugar.  So once you add salt to a dough, the number of yeast you have therein will not increase, but it will not stop them from eating up the saccharides and leaving behind carbon dioxide and either water or alcohol.  If you want more yeast in your dough, perhaps it would be best if you use a small amount, hydrate it well and feed it without the salt, and leave it for an optimal time in the presence of lots of oxygen. 
  
  But the question then becomes, how long does it take for yeast to reproduce, once hydrated and exposed to sugars?  Is the 5 minutes that a yeast is proofed long enough time for the yeast to double, let's say?  No, there is not enough time.  Yeast takes at least 90 minutes to reproduce in aerobic conditions.   Thereafter, its growth is logarithmic, however.  Likely what you are seeing, in the bloom of proofing yeast, is yeast beginning to feed and store up food for its asexual reproduction phase.  This treatise on yeast used in breadmaking suggests that yeast reproduction is going to take at least 2 hours to even be noticeable.
  
  Indeed, the people at King Arthur Flour have said that "there is almost no reproduction occurring in bread dough, and the rise we see is almost entirely due to gas production during fermentation".  Since this is so, then sating our yeast on sugar during a yeast 'proofing' stage is going to ultimately retard the yeast's activity in our bread.  Why would they eat our maltose and amylose if they are already stuffed on brown sugar?  It is like asking someone to have a helping of turkey and stuffing after they have gorged on pumpkin pie.
  
  You might think that much longer preferments might have an effect  on both the number of yeast and the bi-products they leave behind in their munching.  However, the Pasteur Effect tells us that when the yeast is busy reproducing, it is not so busy fermenting.  You can get yeast to reproduce in an aerobic atmosphere, but once the oxygen is gone, they get busy fermenting.  There is some oxygen incorporated into dough during mixing and kneading, but mostly we have an anaerobic environment.  The yeast's job, for the baker, is fermenting, not reproducing.
  
  Lets leave the asexual reproduction to the Fleischmann family.  Our way is more fun.
  
  My understanding is that the yeast we get in the active dry yeast or instant yeast form is coated with what is essentially the bodies of dead yeast, formed during the quick freezing process that occurs during their processing.  When you hydrate your yeast, you are removing this dead layer that encircles the yeast and allowing it to awaken from its slumber.  This is going to happen when you hydrate your flour in any case, so why would you dump the yeast in the water beforehand?
  
  Perhaps the reason the pre-hydration of yeast is still done is simply that by doing it, people can see for themselves the magic in yeast, and reproduce for themselves the age-old mystery associated with bread.  And that can be reason enough.
  
  

Raisin Sourdough Bread with Almonds

Raisin Sourdough Bread with Almonds

Made with my Discard

Today's musing
My mother used to tell a story about how she noticed a pattern when I was little: when I came home from kindergarten, I was always in a bad mood.  I would stomp in the door and through the house, a dark cloud over my head, and she didn't know what was going on.  Was I being bullied at school?  Was I finding the work too difficult?  She didn't know how to broach the subject with me, about my obviously worsening psychological difficulties.  She was worried about me.

Then one day, she watched again as I scowled my way through the kitchen.  This day, however, I grabbed a banana and devoured it greedily, and my mood visibly smoothed over.  The lightbulb went on over my mother's head.  I was hungry.

From that day on, she would pack an extra sandwich with my lunch.  The dark cloud vanished.

Reflecting on this story, I begin to think that prior to my making my own bread, and finding joy in that process, and changing my tastes to better enjoy whole grains, I have been hungry -- and miserable -- for most of my life.


Today's Bread
This is Day 2 of trying to get my starters into working order.  I'm just playing with the discards, making experimental loaves with them.

I'm using pretty much the same recipe as yesterday, but here I'm reversing the rye and whole wheat flours.  Now I have 30% rye and 70% whole wheat.  I've also backed off on the water to 60%.  This makes a (barely) kneadable dough, since there is still lots of wetness in the starter discards I am using.

The 'extras' I've tossed in (besides the yeast and salt) are a cup of almonds and a cup of raisins.  I used almonds because it is what I had.  I looked for walnuts, but that would have required a trip to the store.

Ingredients

    •    90% Starter 994g
    •    100% Flour 1104g:

•     •    70% WW 772g
•     •    30% Rye 331g

    •    60% Water 662g
    •    2% Salt 22g
    •    1% Yeast 11g
    •    Extras:  (25%)

• 1c Almonds 137g
• 1c Raisins 136g

Method

Mix up ingredients, kneading as required just to get everything incorporated. 

Set in an oiled bowl for an hour and a half. 

Divide, fold or knead.

Proof for 1 hour. 

Bake 450 degrees for 15 min, then 400 degrees for 30 min more.

Results
This is a lot of dough, for me.  The 60% hydration is a joke; it feels more like about 78%, with the wet sourdough.  I should have divided up the dough into three; I should have done this before I added the raisins and almonds.  If the taste of this bread is crap, I have two huge loaves of it to get through.

The loaves flattened out on the pizza peel, when I sprayed them with water.  I have been a lot more gentle with upending them onto the peel, since the last deflating disaster, and it seems to be helping.  One loaf I scored, and it deflated even more -- it bounced back, but I was hoping for more oven spring.

One loaf I spread butter on the crust, the other I left 'as is'.

The loaves taste okay.  I cracked into one of them before it cooled, it smelled great while baking.  It tastes good with just a bit of butter.  A crust with a bit of brown sugar, and this would be a dessert.

Baking them makes the almonds a bit softer, soft enough for a knife to slice through.  Walnuts would have tasted better.

The bread got a shrug from my wife when I asked her how she liked it.  She was eating it with jam.  That's not the way to eat this bread.

I prefer it with nothing but butter, or perhaps a bit of old cheese.  The sourdough flavour is there, but it is faint, compared to yesterday's 'loaf'. 

One of these raisin bread loaves is going in the freezer.  They are just too big to eat all by myself in a timely way.  And I guess they just aren't good enough to give away.

Notes to Myself

• If you have a lot of dough, divide it up before adding the 'extras', to experiment with different things you might want to try.  If you make a ton of one thing, and it doesn't turn out, then you have gained nothing.
• Eat some bread warm from the oven once in  a while: it has to be one of the most satisfying experiences a human being can have.  Why is that?  What evolutionary niche have we filled or exploited that this is so?
• Walnuts would have been better than almonds here.
• Find someone who wouldn't mind having some of your bread given to them.  Make a friend.