I’ve recently been doing some bread making. It’s interesting. I tried a “no knead” recipe which ferments the dough for 18 hours or so, and it worked great. I also just tried a “no knead” (or little knead) loaf recipe that worked out well, too.
I’m now trying to make the original no knead recipe, but tweaked some. It’s interesting from a science perspective, because I know what I’m doing will change things. I dont know how much. In other words, I know enough to be dangerous.
The original no knead recipe is: 3 cups flour, 1 5/8 cups water, 1/4 tsp yeast, and some salt. mix, ferment for 18 hours, flatten dough, fold it on itself, rise for 2 hours, then you flip it into a preheated cast iron dutch oven and bake for 45 mins (30 mins with cover, 15 without)
anyway, i’m testing out what happens if i replace some of the flour with sugar, and add cocoa powder. i’m also trying out swapping flour for milled flax seed.
I know that if you ferment too fast, you’ll get big bubbles. that’s exacerbated by using sugar, which is gonna give the yeast more kick. one solution is to put the dough in the fridge while it extended-ferments. alton brown does this for his pizza crust. i think it’s interesting, but i think it will end me up with really dense dough. that might be a good thing, though. we shall see. i really should stick to my guns and have a more scientific approach, rather than correcting mid-stream.
however, knowing a little makes me look at something and say, “hey, it’s not going right, let me try to correct it” that’s the right approach, if you’re trying to get a good result. however, it’s not the right approach if you’re trying to get a repeatable process.
ultimately, i’d like to be able to make a simple bread that’s got some sweetness and some chocolate and/or cherries mixed in. i’m trying to go for what’s been sold by a local bakery here as “bon bon bread”
technorati tags:bon+bon+bread, bread+making
