My takeaway from the latest trip to Rome – pita thin, but not flat focaccia. Chewy, spongy and delicious!
Ingredients:
Active Starter – 100 gr
Water (room temperature) – 430 gr
Molasses – 1 tbsp
Bread Flour – 512 gr
Salt – 10 gr (more to sprinkle on top)
Olive oil – 2 tbsp (more to sprinkle on top)
Directions:
Pour water into a big bow.
Add active starter
Add molasses, mix well
Add flour and salt
Mix all ingredients together with the spatula
Put in a warm place for 4-6 hours
Add olive oil, fold it into the dough, cover and keep in a warm place for another 8-10 hours. The dough should raise at least twice and be full of bubbles (total time depends on the room temperature)
Unload the raised dough onto a well oiled baking sheet (you can cover baking sheet with parchment paper)
Spread the dough evenly with your hands
Sprinkle with olive oil, rosemary, sea salt, red pepper flakes (all optional, can be any herb you like)
Bake in preheated to 450°F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown crust.
Put all ingredients except olive oil into big bowlMix well with spatulaAdd olive oil and fold it into the doughUnload proofed dough onto well oiled baking sheet
Wonder Bread
What makes this bread wonderful is a combination of flours – bread, spelt, rye and amaranth. Makes the crumb very soft and silky and crust – thin and delicious. And VERY HEALTHY!
Ingredients:
100 gr of active starter
Water (room temperature) – 350 gr
Bread flour – 350 gr
Whole wheat or spelt flour – 50 gr
Rye flour – 20 gr
Amaranth – 30 gr
Salt – 10 gr
Optional: seed mix (flax, sunflower, pumpkin) – 60 – 80 gr or finely chopped olives
Let your dough sit for 3-4 hours, it should raise ~ 70%.
Form the bread and place to the raising basket or towel covered form ( sprinkled with flour).
Let it proof for another 2-3 hours, depending to your room temperature, it should raise about 20-25%.
Put the formed bread into the fridge for cold fermentation overnight.
Bake in preheated to 500 °F oven in dutch oven or some over bread vessel with lid for 20 minutes
Remove lid, reduce temperature to 450 °F and bake another 20-25 minutes till you see golden crust.
Remove, cool completely and enjoy
Active starter, bread, spelt, amaranth floursMix everything, add seedsInitial doughAfter the 1st folding2nd foulding3rd folding4th foldingView from asideIn the basketAfter proofingIn the dutch oven
Sourdough Olive bread
No special equipment or technique required, just your hands and some planning ahead. To have a freshly baked loaf on Saturday morning you need to start the process Thursday evening by waking up your starter. Then on Friday you mix, fold, pre-shape and shape. Sounds like many verbs, but each action takes under 5 minutes, fermentation and proofing takes time. But the result is so rewarding!
Ingredients:
Active leaven – 100 gr
Room temperature water – 350 gr
All purpose flour 450 gr
Whole wheat sprouted (spelt) flour – 50 gr
Chopped olives (2-3 tbsp)
Salt – 10 gr
Directions:
Mix 20 gr cold starter with 50 gr water and 50 gr all purpose flour into a jar (or tall container)
Leave on a counter top overnight (10-12 hours at least or till it raises 2.5-3 times in volume)
In a bowl mix your active leaven with room temperature water
Add flour, salt, chopped olives
Mix everything with spatula just to incorporate
Cover with plastic wrap and leave in warm place for 30-40 minutes
Fold the dough 4 times every 30-40 minutes (depending on how warm is your house). You should feel the dough elasticity increase with every folding.
Leave it on the counter top for the bulk fermentation for a couple of hours.
After 2 hours (the dough should raise about 40-50%) put the dough onto working surface lightly dusted with flour.
Using the scraper pre-shape the dough onto a ball by pulling a dough from each side and flipping each side into the center (letter fold) Leave your ball sim side down to rest for 15-20 minutes
Prepare your proofing bowl or basket, it can be any bowl lined with tea towel sprinkled with flour (rice flour is best for that, but any flour will work).
Make a final shaping into a boule or batard and put the dough inside your vessel seam side up.
Leave on the counter top to proof for another 2-3 hours till your dough rises about 20-30%
Put it in the fridge overnight for cold fermentation.
The next morning place your heavy pan (dutch oven works best) into the oven and heat it for about 20-30 minutes to 500° F
When the oven is pre-heated pull your dough from the fridge, flip it over the piece of good parchment paper.
Using very sharp knife make a cut in the dough so it can raise
Sprinkle with some herbs or spices of your choice (optional), I use bread dip blend
Using gloves very carefully remove hot pan from the oven, open the lid. Quickly place your dough inside, cover the lid and put the pan back into the oven.
Bake on 500° F for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 20 min (or till your bread is golden brown)
Remove the bread from the pan and put on the rack to cool. Let it coll completely before cutting.
Before going to fridgePlace the cold dough on parchment paperBefore going to ovenAfter opening the lid
First thing first: you will absolutely need this product – fermented rye malt. It is this powder that adds that sweet & sour almost umami flavor that distinguishes this bread from any other. I couldn’t find it on Amazon, but it is available on Etsy and ebay from several vendors. The delivery can be long (2-3 weeks), it may come from Kazakhstan or some other distant place.
Here is the picture:
The rest of the ingredients are all wildly available:
For Leaven(for the night):
starter from the fridge – 70gr
room temperature water – 70 gr
rye flour – 70gr
For Brewing (for the night):
Rye flour – 80 gr
fermented malted rye – 25 gr
ground coriander – 6 gr (1 1/2 tsp)
boiling water – 250 gr
For Initial Dough:
all leaven
all brewing
rye flour – 170 gr
room temperature water – 50 gr
yeast – 0.5 gr (optional)
For Final Dough:
Molasses – 20 gr
Room temperature water – 80 gr
Sugar – 30 gr
Salt – 10 gr
Rye flour – 100 gr
Whole wheat flour – 75 gr
Coriander seeds (whole and/or crushed)
Directions:
The bread is done in 4 main stages:
1st stage – leaven:
Mix your starter with room temperature water, the add rye flour, cover and leave overnight on the counter
2nd stage – brewing:
Mix well brewing dry ingredients
Add boiling water, mix well so everything is incorporated
Place in 60° C or 140° F oven ( or on some heating pad) for 2 hours. Leave it in the oven after turning it off overnight
3rd stage – initial dough:
In a big bowl combine leaven, brewing , flour and water. Add yeast if you want the dough to rise faster, I skip it.
Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place (28° C or 82° F) for an 3-4 hours
4th stage – final dough:
mix well water, molasses, salt, sugar till salt and sugar dissolve
Add your wet ingredients to the dough
Add both types of flour and mix the dough well with spoon or wooden spatula
Cover with plastic and let it raise for another hour
Combine leaven and brewingAdd flourInitial doughRaised doughAdd flour for the final dough
Prepare the baking form by covering it with the parchment paper
Using wet hands extract the dough from the bowl, shape it a little and place into the baking form.
Press the dough into all corners of the form with your wet hands
Sprinkle with coriander seeds and press them a little
Leave it to raise for an 1-2 hours
You can bake it after raising or put in the fridge overnight.
Preheat your oven to 250°C or 500° F
Bake for 10 min then reduce temperature to 200° C or 450° F and bake for another 55-60 min
Sourdough Bread with Seeds
At least 12 hours prior to kneading the dough mix:
For the leaven:
10 gr (1 tbsp) of cold starter
70 ml (1/3 cup) room temperature water
70 gr ( 0.5 cup) flour
Makes about 120 gr of leaven
Seeds mixture (you can use any combination if you don’t have these particular seeds):
300 ml room temperature water
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp flaxseeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
For the dough:
Water with seeds mixture
White bread flour – 400 gr
Wholewheat flour – 100 gr
Salt – 10 gr
Cold water – 25 ml
Directions:
If your starter lives in the fridge you will need about 12 hours to activate it by combining 10 grams of the cold starter, 70 ml room temperature water and 70 gr of flour in a glass container, just so you can mark the level and watch it rise. Cover your container and leave it on the counter (temperature should be about 70 °F)
After 12 hours (could be up to 16 hours) it should at least double in size.
Pour your water with the seeds into a big bowl (you can use stand mixer bowl)
Add your activate starter (leaven) to the water, it should flow. If it doesn’t – don’t proceed!
Add white bread flour and wholewheat flour and mix to combine. If you use stand mixer use the low (2 out of 10) speed, mix till all the ingredients combined (about a min and a half on a low speed), or 2 min using your hands.
Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for almost an hour.
After an hour add salt + 25 ml of cold water and knead for about 8-10 minutes by hand or 5 min using stand mixer on speed 4 out of 10.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let to rest and proof for 40 min, the temperature should be above 72°F or 22 °C.
After 40 minutes start folding the dough. You can use coil folding or envelope folding.
Repeat folding 4 times, maybe 5, leaving the dough to proof for 40 minutes in between. Each time it will feel more stringy and pleasant to touch.
After 4 or 5 foldings, load the dough on the floured working surface and shape the bread, it can be done with the same folding and rolling it. Place into a container or bowl flat side down covered with the kitchen towel dusted with flour (rice flour is a good option). Put the container into the fridge for 12-16 hours for the cold fermentation.
Place cast iron pan (or dutch oven) into your oven, preheat your oven with the pan inside for 30 minutes to 450°F.
Take your bread out of the fridge, place onto a parchment paper. Cut your formed bread on an angle so that it has room to rise. I sprinkle the bread with some bread deep spice mixture (it’s salt with red pepper flakes and herbs).
When your oven is preheated – using gloves!!! take the pan out and place the parchment paper with the bread on it inside, cover the lid and quickly place the pan into the oven. Let it bake for 20-25 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Using gloves!!!! take the pan out of the oven, transfer the bread onto a cooling rack.
