Orange and Mint Loaf

This is a delicious loaf from a recipe by Richard Bertinet. The crumb is very soft and moist, enriched, and has a hint of refreshing orange and mint flavor. Before making the bread I was afraid the mint flavor would be too strong for my taste. In fact the mint has merged with the orange nicely. You’ll not taste a distinctive flavor of it. I like this slight additional refreshing flavor. Suitable for summer.

Yea, summer has come. I will make more soft bread or breads with fruits in the coming days. Something more citrus, appetizing and colorful. : )

Love these little cuts on the crust.

Tender!

Recipe adapted the book “Dough” by Richard Bertinet. For steps please follow Gourmet.com .

Makes 1 loaf

Basic Sweet dough

125g full fat milk

7g commercial yeast

250g strong bread flour

30g unsalted butter at room temperature

20g caster sugar

5g salt

1 large egg

Addition

1/2 brunch of fresh mint (I used 3 sprigs)

Zest of 1 large orange

1/2 tablespoon Cointreau

1/2 egg beaten with a pinch of salt for an egg wash

Flour for dusting

A little butter for greasing

Sunflower Seed Rye

Love this! Different from last time, the sunflower seeds were toasted beforehand this time, and definitely has made the bread much nuttier. Couronne shape of the bread has increased the crust to crumb ratio. The rye, toasted seeds and high amount of crust resulted in a strong taste and went very well together, and filled the mouth with a long finish even with a small piece. It really impressed me how the shape of a bread will affect its taste. Of course I hope I’ll shape the couronne better next time so I’ll be even happier. Haha.

Recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Makes 1 pound loave

Firm Starter:

33g 100% hydration levain

38g unbleached high gluten or bread flour

17g water

Mix and ferment at room temp. for 4 hrs, until doubles in size. Then fridge overnight.

Soaker:

80g coarse whole-rye (pumpernickel-grind) flour or rye meal

85g water, at room temperature

Mix and soak at room temperature overnight.

Dough:

78g firm starter (take out  1 hr beforehand to get off the chill)

127g unbleached high-gluten or bread flour

5g salt

2g instant yeast

56g-85g water, lukewarm (90F – 100F)

1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1) Mix the ingredients except the seeds, adding water slowly to adjust the dough consistency. Knead for 4 minutes. Then add the sunflower seeds. Knead for extra 2 minutes until the dough passes window pane test. Avoid over-knead to prevent the dough from turning gummy with rye.

2) Bulk fermentation: 1.5 hrs until doubles in size.

3) Shape into couronne. Final fermentation: 1-1.5 hrs untnil 1.5 times in size.

4) Preheat the oven to 500F. Bake at 450F after steam for 10 minutes. Then lower to 425F and bake until golden brown for extra 15-25 minutes.

5) Cool completely before serving.

Sunflower Seed Levain

I made Daniel Leader’s Sunflower Seed Levain today. It is a pain au levain (70% white flour, 24% whole wheat flour, 6% rye flour, 25% stiff levain, 60% hydration & 2% salt) with 14% sunflower seeds (soaked in 35% water overnight and then drained). The bread is moist and sour and hasn’t got the taste of sunflower seeds. The five grain levain I made last time had more complex flavor. I wonder if it is because of my skills or the recipe. I’ll try some more sunflower seed recipes later to find out what’s wrong.

*** Today (the 2nd day) I ate the levain again. Surprisingly it was good and tasted different. It’s only a bit sour and has a nice balance of the tang, wheat and seeds flavors, and less moist (but moist enough). Now I understand it’s because the bread was still a bit warm when I ate it yesterday, which enhanced the sourness and moisture. How important “cool down completely” is. Now the bread is great. I’m loving it.

Hot Cross Buns II

Dan Lepard’s recipe. The dough was really easy to work with (no need to knead, just fold 12-14 times after overnight fermentation, as most gluten is developed after fermenting overnight). Believe many people can make it. Result is a very soft hot cross bun. Delicius & worthwhile to try! However I would like it spicier, will add more spices next time (Hamelman’s that I made last year was spicier, but this one is softer). Happy Spring!

Very wet mixed dough. But it’ll be fine after overnight. The wet dough is to facilitate gluten development.

Great Blog

Recently I’ve been busy moving to a new home (really home, not blog), and have not settled to bake (more truly I am more focused on home cooking this moment : P). Though there’s no bread to make, I am still enjoying some great bread blog on web. Here’s one:

http://mariana-aga.livejournal.com

Drool…………… ……