Sept 14 - a fun challenge (thanks, Leslieruf!)

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IceDemeter on 19 Sep 2017 at 20:08

A couple of weeks back, leslieruf posted another gorgeous bake http://weightloss-slim.fit/comment/387329#comment-387329%3C/a%3E , and in the conversation about it issued a challenge for a one-day bake – to see whether “good” flavour could be built that quickly. 

 Obviously, “good” flavour is a matter of opinion.  My personal preference is for a very strong sour (far more than most folks like), and I most often use a variety of whole grains to give a lot of depth to the flavour (so it’s not just sour).   My husband, on the other hand, prefers a sweeter note from the leaven.  I wasn’t too sure about my ability to build my preference in flavour so quickly, and I didn’t want our “daily bread” to be less flavourful than usual, so I decided to try the challenge with a couple of roll formulas that I had used before, and then do more “usual” porridge bread for our “daily”.

 The original roll recipes were for an oat khorasan (kamut) mix for my husband (see original blog here: http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/52425/catching-myself-oat-kamut-rolls-july-7%3C/a%3E%29, and a rye pumpkin roll for me (see original blog here: http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/52515/aug-4-rolls-can-be-baked-while-crutches%3C/a%3E%29.%C2%A0%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%C2%A0The main changes on the oat khorasan rolls were to use my oat starter to create the oat levain (instead of the durum starter used the first time), and to change the timing so that the levain and poolish were both mixed at 7:00 a.m., and then were mixed in to the main dough around 12:30 p.m. --- and were in the oven by 3:30 p.m. (talk about quick!).

 I decided to change up the flours and hydration a bit on the pumpkin rye rolls (they were nasty to work with even after a cold retard with the original formula), and came up with this:

 

INGREDIENT

AMOUNT (g)

FLOUR TOTAL (g)

% WATER

WATER (g)

BAKER'S %

 

LEVAIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh Milled Rye

124

124

 

 

15.70

 

Water

104

 

 

104.00

13.16

 

POOLISH

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Rye

100

100

 

 

12.66

 

Skim Milk at 100 deg F

100

 

90.8

90.80

12.66

 

Active Dry Yeast (pinch)

0.5

 

 

 

0.06

 

DOUGH

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh Milled Hard Red

216

216

 

 

27.34

 

Pumpkin Puree

270

 

90

243.00

34.18

 

Blackstrap Molasses

20

 

21.9

4.38

2.53

 

Maple Syrup

20

 

32.1

6.42

2.53

 

Dry Milk Powder

60

 

 

 

7.59

 

Lemon Zest

5

 

 

 

0.63

 

Ginger, dried ground

4

 

 

 

0.51

 

Coriander, dried, ground

4

 

 

 

0.51

 

White Rye Malt

6

 

 

 

0.76

 

Red Rye Malt

4

 

 

 

0.51

 

Sage, dried, ground

4

 

 

 

0.51

 

Tarragon, dried, ground

4

 

 

 

0.51

 

Onions, dehydrated

40

 

 

 

5.06

 

Salt

14

 

 

 

1.77

 

All Purpose Flour

350

350

 

 

44.30

 

Active Dry Yeast (1/4 tsp)

1

 

 

 

0.13

 

Water

120

 

 

120.00

15.19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Dough Weight

1570.5

 

 

 

198.80

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

 

790

 

 

100.00

 

Total Water (Hydration)

 

 

 

568.60

71.97

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Split in to even pieces

20.0

79

 

 

 

 

Poolish and levain started at 7:30 a.m. - dough mix at noon.

 

 

 

Really stiff dough, even with the 100g of water.  Have another 40 ready if needed.

 

First mix to shaggy mass, then cover and rest for 5 minutes.

 

 

 

Realize haven't put in enough levain, so go back and add it, along with another 20g water.

First real knead is 200 turns, from 12:30 to 12:40.  Cover and rest.

 

 

Second knead is 100 turns, from 1:00 to 1:03.  Place in to ferment bowl, in oven with light on.

Rest for 60 minutes, then do stretch and fold, and again put in oven for 60 minutes.

 

Almost doubled by 3:00, so divided and pre-shaped, then let rest for 10 minutes.

 

Shaped and on to pans by 3:30.  Baked at 4:30

 

 

 

 

 

 

It worked out that I had chosen a good time for this experiment, since our temps were finally down to a reasonable 22 deg C. and there even was some humidity. Unfortunately, I ended up starting to not feel well as the last rolls went in to the oven.  The best-of-all-husbands stepped in to take them out of the oven, get them cooled over the evening, and then split and wrapped them and got them in to the freezer…  well – except for the 4 of the oat khorasan ones that he had for dinner!

 He unfortunately didn’t take any pics for me (all I have is one that I thought of at the last minute when I was making sandwiches a couple of days later):

 

I still had a couple of each roll recipe in the freezer from the original versions that I had baked, so we were able to compare the flavours directly.  We found no difference in the overall flavour, or texture (actually, slightly improved on the pumpkin rye, likely from a more suitable hydration), and I found it quite nice to not have to find refrigerator space for a change!  I was pleasantly surprised that there was still enough sour from the quick levain build to be tasted even with all of the other flavours in the pumpkin rye rolls, since I was positive that my usual 3-stage build with a cold retard of the levain and of the dough would be needed to build enough sour to be noticed.  It’s sometimes quite nice to prove yourself wrong!

 Thanks so much for the “challenge”, Leslie – we both enjoyed the results!

 

These shocked me with being so flavourful with such a short bake.  It was a great experiment for me, since I now feel a lot more comfortable with being able to come up with something that I would be proud to serve even on short notice.

Next try is definitely a loaf, just to see...

All the best, Laurie

such fun to try something different - and to achieve the result you did is awesome :).

I am intrigued by your oat starter .... and wowed by the number of ingredients in your pumpkin rye rolls!  glad you could get the flavour you wanted rom this bake.

hope you are feeling better now and I look forward to seeing the loaf sometime soon...

Happy baking Laurie :)

Leslie

 

The ingredient list for the pumpkin rolls looks horribly long, but really is mostly spices.  That particular combination of flavours with pumpkin is one that I worked out years ago as my base pumpkin muffin mix, and the addition of the sourdough tang just makes it better! 

I really enjoyed trying something a bit different, and appreciate your encouragement!  I'm still dithering about whether I want to try a one-day loaf with the same poolish / levain idea as I used for the rolls, or if I want to just crank up the size of the levain for a truly sour flavour and a quicker process.  It'll be a bit trickier now that our seasons are changing (I baked these last week when it was 30 deg C outside --- it is snowing here right now...)

Always fun to roll with the changes - and the challenges!

Thanks again, and keep baking happy, Leslie!