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More baking!
Sep. 25th, 2011 11:59 amBut first, pictures of last week's effort:
(after some sampling, obviously). But: good rise, chewy but not-too-thick crust, lovely rustic air holes.
And with last week's other cooking effort:
That's fig jam on the left, rhubarb-fig preserves on the right. Both pretty tasty, although the figs rather lose out to the rhubarb in the preserves.
Now, for this week - wine and cheese bread!
A bit of history first: way back when, when I was a freshman in college, one of my suitemates was an enthusiastic (and very good) bread baker. She baked frequently, and then we all fell on the results, warm from the oven, tearing it apart and gobbling it up, much like a pack of wolves confronted with a nice plump lamb. On one occasion, she made a wine and cheese bread. It is my recollection that it was a whole-wheat bread, but that could be the color of the pictures in my memory fading. Anyway, it was made with red wine and cubes of Monterey Jack cheese, just sort of kneaded in when she formed the loaf, so there were still big nuggets of cheese scattered throughout. She did it as a normal yeast-raised bread, and shrugged off all efforts to get a recipe - I don't think she actually used recipes, in fact; she was experienced enough she just knew what to do.
I've been thinking about that bread for years, trying to build up the courage to try making my own. I kept looking for whole wheat recipes that seemed like the might stand the addition, but never found anything that seemed right. But now that I have a starter I have to do something with every week, I decided to go for it. I used red wine for the liquid and replaced 2 c of the flour with whole wheat flour. The instructions for the no-knead bread recipe I am using instruct you to let the dough rise overnight, then put in on a floured board and just turn and fold it a couple of times, then place it on a floured towel and covered with a second towel for the second rise. I did a bit more of a knead, then patted the dough out, covered it with chunks of cheese, and then sort of rolled/folded it up. I was afraid the wine would stain the towels, so put it back in the bowl to rise.
And the results:
So - not as much rise this time. I don't know if that's because the wine interfered with the yeast, the whole wheat made it heavier, the temperature was colder, or some combination of all 3. This also was a firmer dough from the start - the first one was rather loose. But it's still got the same crust, and it's still pretty tasty. I was thinking this would make a great tomato sandwich - not sure it rose enough to really work well, but I think I will give it a try. I was a little concerned when I took it out of the over that I wouldn't be able to get it out of the pot, what with the cheese that oozed out, and I couldn't really get anything in there and under it - but I turned the pot over onto the cooling rack, gave the bottom a couple of sharp taps with a wooden spoon - and the bread dropped right out. The color definitely has a purple tinge, so maybe my assumption that it was a whole-wheat bread was just due to the wine coloring regular white flour. My bottom crust is still a bit dark - I cook this in an anodized aluminium Dutch oven, preheated in the oven before putting the bread in - with the lid it's rather tall, so I have to have it pretty close to the bottom of the oven; not sure if the black pan puts off more heat than the recipe expects (the first version of this recipe I saw specified enamel-coated cast iron), or too close to the heating element - I may try preheating to a slightly lower temp next time.
(after some sampling, obviously). But: good rise, chewy but not-too-thick crust, lovely rustic air holes.
And with last week's other cooking effort:
That's fig jam on the left, rhubarb-fig preserves on the right. Both pretty tasty, although the figs rather lose out to the rhubarb in the preserves.
Now, for this week - wine and cheese bread!
A bit of history first: way back when, when I was a freshman in college, one of my suitemates was an enthusiastic (and very good) bread baker. She baked frequently, and then we all fell on the results, warm from the oven, tearing it apart and gobbling it up, much like a pack of wolves confronted with a nice plump lamb. On one occasion, she made a wine and cheese bread. It is my recollection that it was a whole-wheat bread, but that could be the color of the pictures in my memory fading. Anyway, it was made with red wine and cubes of Monterey Jack cheese, just sort of kneaded in when she formed the loaf, so there were still big nuggets of cheese scattered throughout. She did it as a normal yeast-raised bread, and shrugged off all efforts to get a recipe - I don't think she actually used recipes, in fact; she was experienced enough she just knew what to do.
I've been thinking about that bread for years, trying to build up the courage to try making my own. I kept looking for whole wheat recipes that seemed like the might stand the addition, but never found anything that seemed right. But now that I have a starter I have to do something with every week, I decided to go for it. I used red wine for the liquid and replaced 2 c of the flour with whole wheat flour. The instructions for the no-knead bread recipe I am using instruct you to let the dough rise overnight, then put in on a floured board and just turn and fold it a couple of times, then place it on a floured towel and covered with a second towel for the second rise. I did a bit more of a knead, then patted the dough out, covered it with chunks of cheese, and then sort of rolled/folded it up. I was afraid the wine would stain the towels, so put it back in the bowl to rise.
And the results:
So - not as much rise this time. I don't know if that's because the wine interfered with the yeast, the whole wheat made it heavier, the temperature was colder, or some combination of all 3. This also was a firmer dough from the start - the first one was rather loose. But it's still got the same crust, and it's still pretty tasty. I was thinking this would make a great tomato sandwich - not sure it rose enough to really work well, but I think I will give it a try. I was a little concerned when I took it out of the over that I wouldn't be able to get it out of the pot, what with the cheese that oozed out, and I couldn't really get anything in there and under it - but I turned the pot over onto the cooling rack, gave the bottom a couple of sharp taps with a wooden spoon - and the bread dropped right out. The color definitely has a purple tinge, so maybe my assumption that it was a whole-wheat bread was just due to the wine coloring regular white flour. My bottom crust is still a bit dark - I cook this in an anodized aluminium Dutch oven, preheated in the oven before putting the bread in - with the lid it's rather tall, so I have to have it pretty close to the bottom of the oven; not sure if the black pan puts off more heat than the recipe expects (the first version of this recipe I saw specified enamel-coated cast iron), or too close to the heating element - I may try preheating to a slightly lower temp next time.
