Source: Gisslen, Wayne. Professional Baking. Fifth Ed. John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Print.

Ingredients–1/2 recipe

.5 oz yeast, fresh

9 oz milk

1 lb 2 oz bread flour

1.75 oz sugar

.375 oz salt

1.75 oz eggs

2.5 oz butter

.165 oz malt syrup

Procedure

Straight dough method. 10 -15 minutes at second speed.

Bulk Ferment 60-90 minutes at 77°F

Portion out to 2.44 oz pieces and bench rest covered with plastic wrap for another 15 to 30 minutes before shaping

For Clover Rolls:

Break 2 oz portion into 3rds

Round out on palm to seal the seam. bake in muffin pan 3 balls to each muffin cup

Egg wash,  and bake on a parchment lined sheet.

Bake at 450°F for 10-15 minutes

One of my favorite lunch places, Lucia’s, has a sandwich called the Sam’s.  It has super thin sliced turkey on the softest focaccia I’ve ever tasted, and is topped with sun-dried tomatoes and herbs. Simple deliciousness. My only complaint is that they are not open on Sunday’s, which is usually when I get hit with the craving. My heart sank a couple weeks ago as we walked up to the their door on North Avenue and peered through their window into a dark room. When I learned we were making focaccia in bake shop my head filled with dreams of recreating the Sam’s sandwich at home.

I was only semi-happy with the outcome of my first bread. It was a little uneven, but I realized this was because I wasn’t forceful enough when marking the bread with dimples from my fingers.  The overall method was not difficult, so I plan to retry this at home with the goal of achieving the same wonderful softness of my beloved Lucia’s.

A little lumpy, but still delicious

Recipe

From:  “Professional Baking (Fifth Edition)” by Wayne Gisslen

Sponge

Water 6oz (175 g)

Yeast, fresh .12 oz (4 g)

Flour 8 oz (225 g)

————————–

Flour 1 lb 4 oz (575 g)

Water 14 oz (400 g)

Yeast, fresh .12 oz (4 g)

Salt .5 oz (15 g)

Olive Oil 1 oz (30 g)

Rosemary and Salt (or other desired toppings

Total weight 3 lb 1 oz  (1428 g)

Mix sponge

Add flour and yeast to mixer and start on speed 1. Add water while it mixes. When it cleans the bowl increase to speed 2. Add remaining ingredients (through salt)

Proof  at room temp until double in size

Transfer to a lightly sprayed sheet tray and add olive oil.

Make dimples with fingers

Add sea salt and rosemary

Let rise 30 minutes in proofer at 80- 90 degrees with 80% humidity

add heavier toppings

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Crunchy on the outside, chewing on the midddle

With 30% Fermented flour (ferment 14-16 hours at 70˚)

Recipe adapted from Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas

Total Dough

100% Bread flour 29 lbs and 0.25ounces  (*Flour is always 100%)

65-68% Water 18 lbs and 13.75 oz

0.5% Malt 2.32 ounces

2% salt 9.3 ounces

0.5% Instant yeast 2.32 ounces

Poolish (preferment)

33% bread flour —- 10 lbs

33% water —— 10 lbs

.10% yeast ——- .16 oz

Then add:

100% Flour —-19 lbs Flour

52.24% Water —- 8 lbs Water

.7% Instant yeast —  2.16 oz Yeast

2.99% salt — 9.3 oz

0.75% wheat germ —- 2.32 oz

Bulk Mixing:

Use spiral instead of hook.

Speed 1-3 minutes

Speed 2- 7 minutes

Scaled to yield 3 baguettes at 13 oz for 20 students

Baguettes should be 21” long with 5 marks.

Healthy and delicious

Soaker

1 lb cracked wheat

1 lb cornmeal

1 lb millet

1 lb oats

5 lbs boiling water

Mix all together at room temp for 4 hours- the refridgerate over night

Pate Fermintee

7 lb bread flour

4.5 lb water

.14 lb (2.2 oz) salt

6.5 gm fresh yeast

Dissolve yeast in water, then add flour and salt. Mix on speed 1 only, then preferment at least 12-16 hours. Up to 33% preferemented stater to add to dough.

Final Dough Mulitgrain

10 lbs whole wheat flour

3 lbs bread flour

6.05 lbs water

.34 lbs salt

.246 lbs yeast, fresh

1 lb honey

9 lb soaker

11.704  lb pate fermentee

My first week of bake shop has come and gone. I likely consumed entirely too many calories *tasting* my cookie dough, but I think I’m going to enjoy pastry more than I expected. I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth, and always crave a nice slice of cheese before a slice of pie or cake. But I think I’ve overcome my fear of the science of baking thanks to a fabulous invention: the digital kitchen scale.

When weighing out our first recipe for banana bread I realized how much ingredients can vary when measured in cups/spoons. Sure they’re mostly accurate, but even the slightest variation can have a great impact on a recipe especially for salt and leaveners (i.e. baking soda/powder).  Some of the recipes we made this week called for only a few grams of baking soda, and getting that amount on the scale required a steady hand.  I thought back to all the times I packed a teaspoon extra tight with the powder and how much more of the ingredient that meant was in the final product.

The other epiphany of sorts that I had was about eggs. Every baking recipe I’ve used in the past has called for simply a number of eggs. But what size? Medium eggs weigh 1.75 oz while large eggs weigh 2.  Size can make a big difference.

Not being able to improvise in the kitchen is going to take some getting used to. I’ve always been good at adapting a recipe with the ingredients at hand. Our instructor brought up a great point about the difference between savory cooking and pastry. With savory you can often save a dish or alter it during the process, but with baking you won’t know if a recipe has failed until the final product.  Let’s hope my products turn out.

Cheddar biscuits and Banana walnut bread...breakfast of champions?