Artisan Breads

This week we used Yeast Ledger, the starter for all of our breads.  So, technically these are sourdough breads, the starter just isn't quite old enough for a strong sour taste yet.  Using starter in the breads requires overnight fermentation in the cooler, so on Monday we didn't actually bake anything.  We were all hungry.

Country White and Rosemary Olive Oil

With starter, we use something called the autolyse method.  We mix all the ingredients except the salt and anything chunky, like dried fruit or chocolate chips, for about 5 minutes, then let it sit for about 20 minutes (up to an hour).  Then add the salt and chunky ingredients, mix for another 5 minutes.  The dough ferments overnight and the next day we shape, proof and bake.   Or, for the loaves, we ferment in a bowl, then shape and proof them overnight in the proofing baskets.  That's how we get those nice grooves on the tops of the bread.  Those just have to proof to get the chill out the next day, they we bake them off in the deck oven.  It was an interesting and tasty week.  I seriously want some proofing baskets.  I really like the look of the round loaves when they come out of the basket.  I also found a scoring design that I really like.  It turned out really well on the walnut bread.

Walnut Bread

Chocolate Cherry

The country loaf is a basic sourdough bread.  The round loaves we made could be used for bread bowls.  I can't wait to make this again when Yeast Ledger is more sour.  The rosemary olive oil bread is basically the same, with the addition of rosemary and olive oil.  Pretty good.  The walnut bread took 3 days to make.  Day one was the sponge, day two was the dough, and day three we baked it.  It is pretty dense and would taste great on a cheese plate with some blue cheese.  The chocolate cherry rolls were awesome.  It is really a strange bread with cocoa powder, dried cherries and chocolate chips.  We ate it with mascarpone cheese.  YUM.  We also made fig anise bread, but I somehow didn't take a picture.  I didn't like it very much anyway.  The figs were a bit sweet for my taste and the anise was too strong.  Everyone else seemed to like it though.

After drying

Plaque before drying

On Wednesday we baked off two of the breads and then made dead dough that we used for dead dough plaques.  Dead dough has no yeast and is used like clay to create bread plaques and sculptures.  It is also used to create display breads in artisan bread shops.  We had to design a small plaque with Easter or Spring as the theme.  Spring in Texas really make me think of two things:  wildflowers (bluebonnets) and baseball.  My original design incorporated both, plus a river.  However, the day we made it, time, materials and size kept me from including everything.  I was pleased with the finished product and was pretty impressed with my bluebonnets.  It's hard to see in the picture, but they are 2-D and everything was made free hand.  I used sesame seeds on the top but they are also hard to see and some of them fell off in the drying process.  Oh well.

English Muffins

Bread Sticks

Small Bagels

Thursday was pretty relaxing.  We had to prep the dough for a country loaf and a bread of our own to bake off for Friday's test.  Then we made bagels, english muffins and black pepper asiago bread sticks as a class.  That was kind of fun.  The bagels were boiled in a malt syrup and water mixture after proofing, then baked.  We made the english muffins in dry saute pans and the bread sticks were rolled in asiago cheese, twisted and baked.  We ate a lot that day.

Cornbread Rolls

Pulled Pork and Roll

The test on Friday was our final for the bread class and was pretty easy paced and relaxing.  Last week we turned in bread reports on a yeast bread of our choice, so that was the bread we made for our final, along with a country white loaf.  I chose cornbread for my report and concocted what I think is a pretty tasty cornbread roll.  I brushed them all with egg wash and topped them with salt, pepper, polenta or nothing.  I also made a batch of yummy pulled pork for the class, because cornbread just calls for meat and sauce of some kind.  It was a hit!  That was one of my favorite days because I was doing the things I love to do.  Baking and cooking and FEEDING people.  Everyone in the class made some pretty interesting breads and we go to taste all of them.  We ate a lot that day too.

I really enjoyed the bread block but am happy to be moving on to something new.  We start Petit Fours on Monday and we are all a little nervous.  It is known as the weed out block.  The syllabus for the class makes it seem like the next three weeks are going to be pretty tough.  I am going in with my 4.0 gpa maintained and I hope to keep it that way.  I just hope I survive and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-