Friday, March 20, 2009

getting back to bread

My sourdough starter is chillin' in the fridge and I had a craving for a more substantial loaf, so flipping through my books, I came across a Tyrolean Ten-Grain Torpedo in The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  A two day bread and quite easy, though I found I needed to be close to home every couple of hours to tend to it.  I altered the original only by using a seven-grain cereal instead of a ten-grain (you can use how many grains you want).  I found this bread to be quite satisfying for a loaf made in my gas oven with minimal steam.  The crumb is open and and chewy, great for toast and sandwich bread.  It's really an easy recipe and you can make it any shape you like, feel free to use a loaf pan if you want sandwich bread.

Seven Grain Torpedo
Dough Starter:

2/3 cup (3.5 oz) bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 Tablespoon malt powder, barley malt syrup, honey, or sugar
3/4 cup (6.2 oz) water - room temp

1. Nine hours ahead or the night before, make the sponge.  In a bowl whisk all ingredients until very smooth (will look like a thick pancake batter).  Scrape sides, set aside, and cover with plastic wrap.

Grains:

1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (3.5 oz) cereal mix (seven, ten, twelve...I used seven)
1/2 cup  (3.5 oz) hot water

2. Eight hours or the night before soak grains.  Cool and refigerate 8 or up to 24 hours.

Flour mixture:

1 1/4 cups plus 1/2 Tablespoon (7 oz) bread flour
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast

3.  Combine flour and yeast and mix (if using a dough hook - mix on low speed for about one minute until dough is moistened.  Raise the speed to medium and knead for about 7 minutes.  The dough will be very sticky, allow to rest 20 minutes.

4.  Add 1 1/4 teaspoon salt and the grain mixture and knead another 3-5 until evenly incorporated.  The dough should be just barely tacky.  If it is still very sticky knead in a little flour.

5.  Let the dough rise.  Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning the dough over to coat top with oil.  Cover the container and let rise until doubled 1 1/2 - 2 hours (this will also depend on the temperature of your kitchen).

6.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and give a 1 or 2 letter fold to redistribute grains.  Round the edges and set back in container.  Oil surface again, cover, and allow to rise until doubles about 45 min to one hour.

7.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, shape into an 11 -inch by 2 - inch high torpedo (or loaf if you are making sandwich bread).  Set it on a prepared baking sheet and cover with a large container or cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.  Let dough rise until doubled about 40-50 minutes.  (It is fully proofed when you can gently press the loaf with your fingertip and the depression will slowly fill in.

8.  Preheat oven to 450.

9.  Slash the bread three times at a diaganal.  Spray with water.  If you have a baking stone, slide loaf onto baking stone, if not place loaf on sheet pan in the oven.  Spray the oven sides with water and close the door.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bread is golden brown (rotate 1/2 way through if needed)  The inside temperature should register about 208 degrees.

10.  Remove bread from the oven and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.




No comments: