Milk Loaf

In an attempt to get my two young daughters to eat more home made bread instead of the super soft supermarket pap, I've been trying variations on the milk loaf from Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf. The fat in the milk helps make the crumb soft and the extra calcium is great for growing girls even though they already consume a reasonable amount of milk and yogurt. My first attempt was almost straight from the book:
250g strong white flour
250g plain flour
350g whole milk
20g maple syrup
25g unsalted butter
8g salt
5g dry yeast
I divided the dough into two balls, placed them both in the large 2lb tin and sprayed the top with water. I preheated the oven (non-fan) to 260C but turned it down to 240C when the loaf went in. I baked it for about 30 minutes with the last 5 minutes out of the tin.
The result was OK. I didn't get any oven spring but the loaf was quite soft. It was much tastier than any supermarket white loaf and fairly popular with my girls. The top of the loaf was very brown although not burnt.
My second go was similar but I used 100% strong flour just to see if it made a difference to the rise. Dan's recipe bakes the loaf at 210C (fan oven) for 15 minutes followed by 180C for 25-30 minutes. As my previous loaf had been very brown I decided to try this lower temperature. He also brushes the top with milk so I did this too.
This loaf was not a great success. The loaf didn't seem to be fully cooked after 45 minutes so it had to go back in the oven for longer. In the end it was in for about an hour - twice as long as the previous time. This meant the crust was quite thick. Also, when I brushed the top with milk it ran down the side. This meant the loaf stuck to the pan although I did eventually get it to come out. Again, the bread was edible but not as good as I would have liked.
For my latest attempt I made two loaves and decided to add some spelt flour in an attempt to make it more tasty - I normally like to eat wholemeal rather than white bread. I also increased the amount of flour per loaf as my tins are quite large. This time the recipe was (for two loaves):
900g strong white flour
200g wholemeal spelt flour
770g whole milk
44g maple syrup
55g unsalted butter
18g salt
8g dry yeast
In an attempt to get some decent oven spring I preheated the oven to 300C non-fan. I sprayed the tops with water instead of brushing with milk. On putting the loaves in the oven I turned the temperature down to 230C. After 25 minutes I tried to get the loaves out of their tins but struggled again. After a bit more time in the oven I managed to get them out but one loaf lost part of its crust as it was stuck fast to the tin.
Despite being damaged these loaves are a great success. They taste delicious - the little bit of spelt has really helped. There was a decent amount of oven spring and the crumb is lovely and soft. Most important of all I don't think I've seen my two girls enjoy my home made bread so much.
Next time I won't divide the dough into two balls - I think this is making the loaf stick to the pan as it sticks round the middle. I shall probably also try with more spelt and might also try rye or even wholemeal wheat, but the bulk of the flour will be white. At least I know there are no additives and the salt content is low.

Yeasty Brown Bread

When writing a blog it's always tempting to only record your successes and quietly forget about the failures, but analysing these is probably the best way to improve. So what happened? I was given some Tesco Brown Bread flour that was two years out of date. As it looked and smelt fine, and not wanting to waste food, I decided to use it to make a loaf. I intended following my normal procedure except I used about 3g of yeast and left the dough to ferment at room temperature, instead of putting it in the fridge. It didn't work out this way as the dough seemed too dry in the mixer so I added some more water. Unfortunately I didn't measure the amount so I ended up making the dough wetter than I normally would. Since I keep reading that "wetter is better" I didn't try to correct it with more flour.
The next morning the dough had almost filled its 4L container, which this quantity doesn't normally do. I knocked it back. During the rest of the day the dough filled the container again and then sank back a bit. This, combined with the yeasty smell, was a sign that perhaps things were not perfect.

I shaped the dough for the tin and left it to proof at 30C. After two hours it was still not quite at the top of the tin and the poke test suggested it was still not fully proofed. Running out of time and hoping that being underproofed would give good oven spring it went in the oven. There was no oven spring.

Disappointing rise

As you can see, I slashed the top. I thought it would help the oven spring but it just healed up. After it cooled it was time to taste. Tasted off, very yeasty. After a couple of days we have eaten about half of it - it tastes better toasted, but it's not great. The rest will go as breadcrumbs for a treacle tart or to the birds.

So why did it go wrong? As the dough was quite wet I think the fermentation was much quicker - it was much nearer a poolish or starter. Having seen the dough was wet I should have put it in the fridge. I've left dough to ferment at room temperature for this long before without the yeasty taste, so I think the quicker fermentation used up all the fermentable sugars, even though I had added sugar.

Initially I didn't think the age of the flour was an issue but I have since read in Andrew Whitley's Bread Matters that "The yeast may be exhausted or may not have a sufficient supply of fermentable sugars in the dough at the time of the final rise or proof. This may be due to using a flour with a naturally low level of amylase or flour that is a bit old." I have relegated this flour to dusting duty.

I don't think this photo shows it but the crumb looks odd.

Bacheldre Update

As my last post explains, I made 12 rolls with Bacheldre Watermill Stoneground Strong 100% Wholemeal Flour. I used one of them to make a sandwich and froze the other 11. I was delighted with the roll saying its taste and texture were superb. Having got through about half the rolls I need to qualify this. The taste is certainly excellent, however they are heavier than I would like. I think I must have chosen the largest (and so most risen) roll for my first one. I am pretty certain that if I make the dough wetter next time this problem can probably be solved. But there is another one - every so often they taste a bit gritty. I've notice that the flour contains some dark bits and I'm guessing these are what I can taste. Perhaps they are a consequence of the traditional milling although I haven't noticed anything like this with Gilchester flours.

So will I try Bacheldre flours again? Yes, but not until I have made 100% wholemeal rolls with my usual Waitrose or Marriage's flours and had another go with Gilchester Organics.

Bacheldre Watermill

I am always keen on trying interesting flours, particularly those from traditional mills. Bacheldre Watermill's flours are fairly widely available as they are stocked nationally by Waitrose and Ocado, although I bought my bag of Stoneground Strong 100% Wholemeal Flour from a local deli. It was expensive (£2.50) although it is much cheaper from Waitrose (less than £2). You can also buy it online direct from the mill but postage is high unless you spend enough. I used my new recipe and technique as described in my last post but scaled to 1kg flour to make 12 large rolls.

1kg Bacheldre Stoneground Strong 100% Wholemeal Flour
5g Doves Farm Quick Yeast (I don't usually bother scaling the yeast)
16g light brown sugar
14g sea salt
16g unsalted butter
700g water

I normally make wholemeal bread with 65% hydration but I found the dough wasn't coming together well in the mixer so I increased this to 70%. I followed all my usual methods (20 minute autolyse, 10 minute knead in the Kenwood Chef, 20 hour bulk fermentation in the fridge etc).
The overnight dough was very heavy and didn't seem to have risen very much in the fridge. I shaped into 12 rolls and left on the trays (in bags) to rise - in the end I left them for 2.5 hours until they looked ready to bake. My rolls normally spread sideways but these kept their shape due to the much stiffer dough.
As I was using two trays in the oven I baked them with the fan oven at 240C for 5 minutes, 220C for 10 minutes and a further 5 minutes at 170C (this last temperature was just because I was going to use the oven for something else).
I am pleased to say that despite the dough being much stiffer than normal the rolls have come out very nicely. Their taste and texture is superb - much tastier than my previous rolls (with about 30% white flour) or my 100% wholemeal bread made with Waitrose flour. However, I need to make 100% wholemeal rolls with the Waitrose or Marriage's flour to make a fair comparison.
My only disappointment with this flour is I'm not sure it's 100% British. So I shall need to revisit Gilchesters Organics and see if my new skills will produce a decent loaf with their 100% British wholemeal flour.

100% Wholemeal Bread

I have never liked white bread and I find it amazing that the majority of bread sold in the UK is plastic wrapped white sliced bread. I find it bland and boring, both in taste and texture. I prefer wholemeal bread but even these are pretty bland when bought as a plastic wrapped loaf from the supermarket. Unfortunately all my attempts at making 100% wholemeal bread have resulted in bricks. As I have developed my bread making skills I have increased the proportion of wholemeal flour from 50% to about 70 or 80% now (the rest being strong white bread flour). I am pleased to say that I have finally managed to make a very good 100% wholemeal loaf with a nice soft crumb that isn't at all heavy.

Excellent oven spring

I have to admit that the fantastic oven spring in the photo is actually only on one side making the loaf slightly lopsided. However the taste and texture are great and it certainly isn't heavy. Next time I will slash the top with a razor blade before baking for a more even rise in the oven.
So what is the secret? As reported on my previous post I am now using a Kenwood Chef stand mixer for kneading and am being very careful not to overproof.

700g Waitrose Organic Stoneground Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour
5g Doves Farm Quick Yeast
11g light brown sugar
10g sea salt (coarse but ground in a pestle and mortar)
11g unsalted butter
455g water (temperature calculated for a DDT of 27C)

With a Desired Dough Temperature (DDT) of 27C I subtracted 3C for the heat generated by the mixer to get 24C. With a room temperature of 21C this gave a water temperature of 27C (21 + 27 = 2 * 24).
I first used the K beater to mix the dry ingredients and then used it to rub in the butter. Then I switched to the dough hook and slowly added the warm water. Once the dough was formed into a ball on the hook I scraped the dough off the hook and removed the bowl from the mixer. I put it into a large plastic bag for about 20 minutes to autolyse. Strictly speaking this should be done before adding the yeast and salt but I just combine everything for ease.
The next step is to return the bowl to the mixer and knead with the dough hook for 10 minutes at slow speed. Every now and again I increased the speed a bit for a few seconds or stopped the mixer and used a spatula to scrape the dough from the hook. I'm not sure this is necessary but it isn't always obvious that any kneading is actually happening.
After kneading I put the dough into an oiled plastic food storage box, put on the lid and put it into the fridge until the next evening (about 20 hours).
I took the box out of the fridge for about an hour and then shaped it for a greased and floured large 2lb loaf tin, covered with a shower cap and left it to rise.

This is after about 40 minutes of final proof

Just before going in the oven

After about 2 or 3 hours it was ready for the oven. I sprayed the top of the loaf with water and sprinkled with rye flour.

I preheated the oven to 260C (non fan setting) but turned it down to 240C as soon as the loaf went in. After 10 minutes I lowered the oven to 220C for another 25 minutes.

Fresh from the oven showing the nice oven spring

Kenwood Chef

When I started this blog I intended contributing to it on a regular basis. Recently I have not written much although I have been very busy baking bread, with various experiments. I hope to update more frequently.

A few weeks ago I bought an old Kenwood Chef A701A off eBay and it has made a big difference to my bread baking.

According to Kenwood Chef Restore this would have been manufactured between 1962 and 1976 so it is at least 35 years old. It has all the scratches and paintwork chips that are to be expected on an appliance of this age but it has the original glass bowl and 3 tools (K beater, whisk and dough hook). The motor sounds and feels as powerful as ever. These UK made machines certainly have a reputation for their quality unlike the modern Chinese made versions. There were no instructions but I downloaded these from Kenwood Chef Restore for 50p.
The main purpose for the machine is for kneading dough. I use the K beater if there is any fat or butter to rub in but once this is done I switch to the dough hook. On minimum speed I slowly add the liquid until the dough has formed into one lump (perhaps stopping and using a spatula to ensure all the flour is combined) and then I scrape the dough off the hook and remove the bowl putting it into a large plastic bag for between 10 and 20 minutes. This autolyse step is to ensure all the liquid is absorbed by the flour and to let the enzymes in the flour start work to help make the kneading as effective as possible. I could, of course, do exactly the same if hand kneading and I will probably do so as an experiment in the future to see if the Chef really has made a big difference. I then put the bowl back in the mixer with the dough hook and knead on speed 1 for 10 minutes. Occasionally I have increased the speed to 2 for a few seconds and I have also usually stopped the machine, lifted the hook and used a spatula to redistribute the dough. It's not always obvious that anything is happening as the dough ball appears to be just stuck to the hook but I am pretty sure that the dough is actually touching the bowl and so is being stretched and hence properly kneaded.
So what improvements have I seen? The main one is the enormous improvement in oven spring that I am now getting even on wholemeal loaves. I have to admit that I have made a number of changes to my method at the same time as starting to use the Kenwood Chef so these may also be very important. The main one is being very careful to not let the dough over prove during the final rise. In my next entry I will fully describe my latest recipe and method.
As the Chef was very old its feet had squashed over the years to end up very flat. While kneading, the Chef would walk around the worktop and I wouldn't dare leave the kitchen or even turn my back in case it walked on to the floor. I have now bought a genuine replacement set of 5 feet off eBay and now the mixer does not move very much while kneading. The feet are slightly tricky to remove - having worked out the old rubber there is a pin to remove. This has to pulled and twisted out. The new foot is pushed in and then the pin has to be replaced. I just pushed it in as far as I could with a screwdriver - this seems to have worked. This was £4.50 very well spent.

Gilchester Success

I've previously tried Gilchester wholemeal flour but have been disappointed. This time I made 12 rolls:

500g Gilchester Organics 100% whole wheat strong flour
300g Marriage's Organic Strong white flour
200g Marriage's Organic Strong stoneground wholemeal flour
2g Dove's Farm Quick Yeast
14g table salt
16g unsalted butter
16g soft brown sugar
635g warm water

The water was heated in the microwave for 1 minute at 1000W taking it to about 30C. This was all mixed and then kneaded for about 5 minutes. Then into a plastic container, covered and left in the kitchen at room temperature overnight - this is why so little yeast is needed. The dough more than doubled in size in this time. The next morning I divided the dough into 12 rolls, put on greased and floured baking sheets and left to prove at 30C for one and a half hours. In this time they rose and started touching one another. Then baked for 15 minutes at 220C (fan).

The result has been a success with nicely shaped rolls. Mixing the Gilchester flour with some stronger flour has worked nicely.