Moving right along, we are at bread #40 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice book, and I can say that I see the light at the end. (I can also certainly say that i was not incredibly excited about tackling this bread, since most white breads have a very boring flavor profile to me.) I have made plenty of white breads in the past, and so I just knew that this was going to be an ordinary loaf. However, since I am only using my wild yeast starter as the sole leavening agent, I was very curious to see what would happen to the flavor and texture once the longer fermentation process was implemented. I chose to tackle variation 3, since it involved a preferment and I was using my sourdough as my leavening agent. Since I am participating in the BBA Challenge, I cannot post the recipe, but someone has posted the recipe for variation 2 here. This bread actually involved a preferment (A pre-ferment and a longer fermentation in the bread-making process have several benefits: there is more time for yeast, enzyme and, if sourdough, bacterial actions on the starch and proteins in the dough, thereby creating greater complexities of flavor), egg yolk, sugar, and butter to enrich the dough. After kneading the ingredients together to get a soft dough that window-paned, it was then rolled in an oiled bowl(I used the same mixing bowl) and covered to let double in bulk. The dough was divided after fermenting and shaped into a loaf and 4 sandwich buns. I opted to sprinkle the top with poppy seeds.
The verdict? Well, let's just say that this was the BEST white bread we have ever eaten. The sponge or preferment, really gave the bread wonderful flavor, and the fat from the butter and egg yolk softened the crumb which gave a more delicate texture. What a wonderful surprise! yeastpotted.
5 Comments
Sandra
4/12/2011 07:01:13 am
Hi Oriana, I really did like the taste of this bread and will make it again-- Good question as to what to do next... I think we should start one up together- what do you think?
Oriana
4/13/2011 08:42:55 am
Sandra
4/14/2011 01:42:18 am
Oriana, I know it's a hard thing to do-- plug along and bake every single recipe from a cook/bake book, but that is part of the challenge that I find the most appealing-- especially since it forces me to try recipes that upon first glance I would never try. But, in saying all that, I think I will take a short break and just bake some other stuff before doing another book. Leave a Reply. |