sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / cracker integrali al formaggio

September 23, 2018 | Simona

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / DSC_8407

one by one, they will soon be all gone
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The August-September selection of the Cook the Books club is the novel Sourdough by Robin Sloan¹. Intriguing title, I thought immediately, but did not know what to expect: I rarely read reviews before I read a book (sometimes do so after turning over the last page²). Being familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area contributed to the story's appeal, but even if you don't know the island of Alameda or the San Francisco Ferry Building, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Lois Clary's adventures in robot-aided bread baking.

The atmosphere is sci-fi, so don't expect your sourdough starter to behave the same way as that of the title. My adventures in sourdough-baking started some years ago with an evening class taught by Rhonda Wiedenbeck now of Beck's Bakery³. I got home that night with 2 tablespoons of Rhonda's sourdough starter (pasta madre), which I have fed, used, refrigerated, frozen (in between uses). I have a relaxed relationship with it. For regular feeding, I use the simple formula I learned in the class: I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator.

I have baked various types of sourdough bread⁴ (pane al lievito naturale) and this time what got me scouting for recipes was the idea of using the starter in between feedings that would otherwise be wasted. I found inspiration on the King Arthur Flour website which has a recipe for Sourdough Crackers⁵, made particularly appealing for the inclusion of whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). I halved the quantities and adjusted the ingredients to my taste, particularly with the addition of cheese to the dough.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers

Ingredients:

4 ounces / 113 g sourdough starter (see Note below on starter feeding)
2 ounces / 56 g whole-wheat flour (I use 1 ounce / 28 g Chiddam Blanc de Mars from Capay Mills⁶ and 1 ounce / 28 g hard red wheat from Beck's Bakery³ both stone-ground)
1 tablespoon / 1/2 ounce unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2-1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice, optional but nice (I use rosemary)
1 ounce / 28 g sharp cheese of your choice, freshly grated
olive oil for brushing
coarse sea salt for sprinkling on the surface

Note: For regular feeding, I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator. I repeat this morning and evening during the days in which the starter is not in the refrigerator. When I make the crackers, I take the amount of starter needed and use the rest in the preceding formula.

In a bowl, weigh the sourdough starter, whole-wheat flours, butter and olive oil, and stir to make a dough. Sprinkle sea salt and herbs (if using) and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir salt and herbs into the mix, transfer on your working surface and knead until you have a smooth, slightly tacky dough. (To make this step easier, I lightly oil my kneading board and wet my hands.)

Shape the dough into a thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

When ready to shape and bake the crackers, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly flour the surface of the dough and roll it into a long rectangle (top left photo below). Distribute the grated cheese over one half of the rectangle (middle left photo) then fold the other half over the cheese (bottom left photo).

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and transfer the folded dough onto it. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/16 inch / 1.5 mm. Transfer the dough and parchment paper together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on top. Cut the dough into squares (a pizza cutter wheel works well for this task). Don't worry if the cut doesn't go all the way through: a deep score is good enough (top right photo below). Prick the surface with the tines of a fork.

preparing sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1226

rolling and scoring the dough for crackers

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes, until they brown around the edges, or a bit more (the thinner pieces will brown almost fully, bottom right photo above). After 12 minutes, turn the baking sheet front to back to help the crackers bake more evenly.

Take the baking sheet out the oven and transfer the crackers to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (in my case they never last that long, because I also like to share them).

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1224

composition of shapes

I love these crackers: beyond their delightful crunch, the notes of rosemary (rosmarino) and cheese make them great on their own or with a layer of prosciutto, fresh chèvre or your spread of choice.

¹The book's page on the author's website
² The NPR review, the Guardian review the Washington Post review
³ Beck's Bakery
⁴ My bread collection
⁵ Recipe for Sourdough Crackers on the King Arthur Flour website
⁶ Capay Mills

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

cracker integrali al formaggio

or launch the cracker integrali al formaggio audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to the 34th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 11 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

crackers, whole-wheat flour, cheese, sourdough

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

June 27, 2018 | Simona

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / DSC_8328

everything is better with chocolate, including bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

On a recent visit to a local bookstore, I purchased Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout¹. A friend had told me the movie was really good, but I rarely watch TV, so the recommendation made me buy the book. I loved every page of it. The writing is superb and the characters of the stories are drawn with delicacy, precision and empathy.

I also like the author's choice in writing a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. In some of them Olive is the protagonist, in others she makes an appearance. Having been a math teacher in the school of her small town in Maine, she knows a lot of the residents. And her husband Henry was for many years the pharmacist and is a well-liked member of the community.

Olive's stern manners make students fear her. Christopher, Olive and Henry's only son, gets crushed between his parents and moves to California to build his own life, rather than the life his parents had planned for him (they design and build a house for him, which he promptly sells after getting married). Sometimes it is hard to imagine what Olive wants. She may say something rather rude one moment and the next she empathizes deeply with a stranger or refuses to leave alone a former student whose emotional trouble she senses.

There are a lot of doughnuts in the book: people eat doughnuts at the local cafe on the bay, Bonnie expects a doughnut (not cinnamon) when her husband, Harmon, comes back home from running errands, which include a visit to Daisy, for whom he will eventually leave his wife. Olive talks about her preference for doughnuts with Nina, a young woman with anorexia:

Olive finished the doughnut, wiped the sugar from her fingers, sat back and said, “You’re starving.”
The girl didn't move, only said, “Uh—duh.”
“I’m starving, too,” Olive said. The girl looked over at her. “I am,” Olive said. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?”
“You’re not starving,” Nina said with disgust.
“Sure I am. We all are.”
…
Olive Kitteridge was crying. If there was anyone in town Harmon believed he would never see cry, Olive was that person But there she sat, large and big-wristed, her mouth quivering, tears coming from her eyes.
…
Olive shook her head again, blew her nose. She looked at Nina, and said quietly, “I don’t know who you are, but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.”

I don't understand doughnuts: They don't appeal to me. Good bread, on the other hand, attracts me like a magnet. At the Temescal farmers' market, in Oakland, I purchased some chocolate sourdough from the Midwife and the Baker bakery² Made with 40% whole-wheat flour (farina integrale), it beats all the doughnuts of the world. I decided to try making some chocolate bread and to that end, I reworked a beloved recipe for buns³.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1051

homemade cheese goes well with homemade bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I ran a few tests and below is the version I liked best. I suspect Olive would mumble if I arrived at her place with a bag of buns instead of doughnuts. I would leave the bag on her table without making a fuss. She would eat one, thank me brusquely and add a morsel of her sharp wisdom, like: "Don't be scared of your hunger. If you're scared of your hunger, you'll just be one more ninny like everyone else." That's the best one can expect from Olive. But if I were going through a rough time, Olive would be there and not leave, sensing the sadness welling up from deep down inside me.

The recipe calls for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. Make sure to allow time for it.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

3/4 cup / 180 ml water
2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour
10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

25 grams millet
20 grams hemp hearts
35 grams walnuts, finely chopped
1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills⁴)
150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery⁵)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
55 grams extra-dark chocolate, finely chopped (I use 88% cacao, but I am used to eating 100%, so it tastes sweet enough; if you are not used to unsweetened chocolate, I suggest you use 70-72% cacao)
1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

The sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

The soaker
In the meantime, put the millet, hemp hearts and walnuts in a small bowl and cover with boiling water (1/2 cup / 120 ml). Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain the excess liquid (some will remain in the mix and that is fine). Stir the mixture into the sponge.

The bread dough
Add to the sponge and millet mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours, the cocoa and chocolate. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly oil your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead with wet hands until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to handle.

Fold the dough and place it into a clean, oiled bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Better still, make the dough in the morning and bake the rolls the following morning or later in the day. The slow rise in the refrigerator allows a more complex flavor to develop.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1043

oh, the dough!

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 77-80 grams.

Shape each roll as follows: Flatten the piece of dough then fold the corners towards the center, then fold again inward into a small bundle. Flip it seam side down on a piece of clean work surface and roll it with lightly floured hand to shape it into a tight ball. [This short video shows my hands rolling a larger piece of dough, but should still give an idea.]

Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Repeat until all the rolls are shaped. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and place the baking sheet in a warm place until the rolls have doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hour, depending on the ambient temperature. Check the rolls' progress and when they are 15-20 minutes from being ready to be baked, turn on the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C (bake a minute or two longer, if needed). Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

I LOVE these rolls. You can nibble one by itself or with cheese⁶ or with a slice of prosciutto. They are delicate, a bit crunchy, ever so slightly sweet. Move over doughnuts!

¹ The book's page on the author's website and the miniseries page on HBO
²the MIDWIFE and the BAKER bakery
³ On this blog: seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls
⁴ Capay Mills
⁵ Beck's Bakery
⁶ On this blog: English-style coulommiers

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

or launch the panini integrali al cioccolato e noci audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

This is my second contribution to the 33rd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

I am also contributing to the June edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, chocolate, walnuts, millet, hemp seeds

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali ai semi

October 8, 2017 | Simona

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0675

what happens when you drop a poppy seedpod
(on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat)

In the many years I have been hosting Novel Food I have contributed and received contributions inspired by a wide range of literature, from thick novels to flash nonfiction, from intense memoir to moving poems. One category of books notably absent from the Novel Food library is so-called self-improvement books, which examine a life's problem and offer advice on a way forward (I prefer to avoid the word "solution" which is better applied to math problems).

The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter¹ (recommended to me by a friend), together with some articles from the Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website² have helped me a lot recently to deal with some intense stressors and find again some balance in my daily life. I am not yet able to get into the sweet spot easily, but am working on it. If you are interested you can sign up for the Greater Good Science Center's newsletter.

The book did not per se inspire the recipe below, but it inspired me to bake bread again after a long hiatus. Baking bread (fare il pane) is one of the joys of life, but in the last year and a half I had it set aside for various reasons. With its focus on, among other things, bringing positive emotions into one's life, the book reminded me that baking bread is a reliable way for me to feel good. That and making cheese (fare il formaggio).

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0659

(homemade) cheese is (homemade) bread's best friend

I selected from my archive a recipe by David Tannis³ for seeded dinner rolls with whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). The recipe rightly advocates for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. I halved the quantities, made some changes to the list of ingredients and applied techniques I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute. The rolls are great: dense but light, soft but with the lovely crunch of seeds, the perfect size not only for the dinner bread basket (cestino del pane) but also for a sandwich. And if you slice them and toast the slices you have a great base for canapé.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

3/4 cup / 180 ml water
2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills or King Arthur Flour)
10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

25 grams millet
15 grams sunflower seeds
20 grams pumpkin seeds
20 grams hemp hearts
1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills⁴)
150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery⁵)
1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

For the topping:

Poppy seeds or sesame seeds

Make the sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

Soak the seeds
In the meantime, put the millet and all the seeds in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain (some water will remain in the seed mix and that is fine). Stir the seeds into the sponge.

Make the bread dough
Add to the sponge and seed mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly flour your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to manage.

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and also a small bowl with water and another bowl with poppy seeds. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 70-72 grams⁶.

Holding the roll by the seam with your fingertips, dip its top surface quickly in the water, then roll it gently on the poppy seeds. Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C. Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

Perfect positive emotion to make, bake, smell and taste these rolls, especially when topped with some of my homemade cheese, like the (French) Neufchâtel⁷ in the photo or my famous crescenza (which these days I am making with half Jersey cow milk and it comes out out-of-this-world good⁸).

¹ The book's page on the author's website
²The Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website
³ Recipe for Seeded molasses whole-wheat dinner rolls on the NY Times
⁴ Capay Mills
⁵ Beck's Bakery
⁶ The number of rolls the original declares to make is puzzling: it is impossible to make 30 rolls each weighing 3 ounces from the quantities listed. Also, by my test, smaller-size rolls rise and bake more evenly.
⁷ On this blog: homemade (French) Neufchâtel
⁸ On this blog: homemade Crescenza

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

panini integrali ai semi

or launch the panini integrali ai semi audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

This is my second contribution to the 31st edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, hemp seeds

pear sourdough bread / pane al lievito naturale con le pere

September 25, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

homemade bread and cheese: a favorite couple
(Italian linen from La FABBRICA del LINO)

Point Reyes Sheriff's Calls by Susanna Solomon¹ is a collection of short stories set in West Marin, one of the most beautiful areas of California. The title of the book comes from the Sheriff's Calls section of the local newspaper, the Point Reyes Light². Each story starts with an entry from that section. For example, the story that inspired me, "Dressed Only in Jeans," starts with this:

From the Sheriff's Calls Section in The Point Reyes Light, November 1, 2012

Stinson Beach: At 9:09 a.m. a frizzy-haired man dressed only in jeans was found locked in the library at Audubon Canyon Ranch.

I heard the author read one of the stories at an event before the book was published and from that day on I looked forward to reading the collection. When it came out, I purchased the version for my iPad and carried it around with me, reading a couple of stories at a time, like nibbling a special piece of chocolate. I dreaded getting to the last story, to the last page.

The stories are miniatures. They ask the reader to pay attention to the details of place and dialog. With precise and lively language, the author gives life to a delightful set of characters. Soon I cared about aging Mildred and Fred, young Alice and Thomas, and Police Officer Linda Kettleman. The reader is drawn into conversations, discussions and standoffs.

I like that the stories show the characters at their best, their worst and all the shades in between: they can be selfish and insensitive, but also generous and even heroic; they can be silly or stubborn, but also thoughtful and selfless. They deal with daily occurrences (shopping, cooking, doing laundry, watching a baseball game) and with life's challenges: growing up, growing old, being homeless.

A homeless man, Anson Baker, is the protagonist of "Dressed Only in Jeans." Linda is called by the library's staff when they find him locked inside. She sees through the lies he answers to her questions, but the librarians decide not to press charges, so Linda lets Anson go and leaves:

Anson watched her drive off. It was a nice day, clearing up and all, and the mist was rising off of Inverness Ridge… he could hitch into town, bum a meal, but there were too many people there. Still, the thought of eggs and bacon and sausage and sourdough bread made him crazy.

Asian pear Nijisseiki and fresh rosemary / IMG_3767

Asian pear Nijisseiki and fresh rosemary enrich the dough

Making sourdough bread is one of my passions. For Anson, I baked a boule enriched with Asian pears from Neukom Family Farm. I tried a few different variations (including one with oven-roasted pears and one with toasted cashews) and finally settled on one that uses pears of the variety Nijisseiki (a.k.a., 20th Century) and fresh rosemary (rosmarino) from my herb garden.³ I used basically the same ingredients of my recent Carrot sourdough bread⁴, because I love the flavor and texture of the result.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Pear sourdough bread

Important: this bread uses sourdough starter (lievito naturale or pasta madre) that requires a bit of advanced planning.

sourdough starter ready to be used

Ingredients:

For the preferment

50 g sourdough starter, refreshed previously, if stored in the refrigerator
100 g water
100 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I always use to make bread)

For the pears

180 g Asian pears Nijisseiki (a.k.a., 20th Century), possibly organic
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary needles

For the dough

220 g preferment (sourdough starter) prepared in advance with the ingredients listed above
220 ml water at 85 F / 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
40 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour + 35 g sprouted whole-wheat flour OR 75 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour
295 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
5 ml extra-virgin olive oil
8 g fine sea salt

Prepare the preferment
10-12 hours before starting to make the bread, prepare the preferment: weigh the ingredients in a container, stir well with a fork, cover and let ferment at room temperature in a draft-free place. (Adjust the timing as needed for your starter and your room temperature so that by the time you start making bread the preferment is bubbly active, as in the photo above.)

Prepare the pears
Shortly before starting the dough preparation, rinse pears well, quarter, core and cut into small dice, about 1/4-3/8 inch / 0.5-1 cm. You should end up with 160 g diced pears.

Add the chopped rosemary to the pears.

Prepare the dough
I start making the bread early in the morning, so I am sure the bread will be baked and thoroughly cooled by dinner time.

In a bowl, mix preferment (sourdough starter), water and instant yeast. The small amount of yeast I use helps keep the leavening process within a predictable time frame in the cool environment of our house.

Add the flours and stir with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk.

Add pears, rosemary and olive oil and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle salt on the surface.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 5 minutes. In the meantime, oil well a plastic tub with lid where you will transfer the dough when fully mixed.

Wet the spoon (if using it) and mix dough until it is homogeneous.

Transfer the dough to the oiled tub. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough and then flip it to oil the surface. This is your time 0. Cover the tub and let rest for 45 minutes.

This very nice video on The SF Baking Institute website describes and shows a couple of important techniques I apply to bread dough.

Stretching and folding: as Mac says in the video, the stretching part is of fundamental importance in gluten development
Pre-shaping and shaping rounds (useful for later)

The video is not long, but if you don't have time to watch it in its entirety, you can start at 4':30" and watch about 8 minutes until Mac shows how to shape a boule.

A) Stretch and letter-fold the dough in the tub, rotate 90 degrees then stretch and letter-fold again. Flip the dough so it is seam side down.
B) Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Repeat A and B two more times, at which point you will be at time 3 hours.

Check gluten development by stretching a corner of the dough to make a windowpane. If you don't get a windowpane, let dough ferment a little longer.

Shape the bread
Lightly flour your working surface and transfer dough onto it. Use a bench scraper to help you move and turn the dough.

Gently pat dough to flatten it into a thick circle and degas. Fold corners of dough towards the center, flip (so it is seam side down) and pre-shape into a boule on an unfloured section of your working surface, which offers some resistance (see video at 8'). Move the round towards you, then back with a slight rotation, all the while tucking dough underneath. Bring a bit of tension to the dough, but not as much as you will later, during shaping.

Let pre-shaped round rest for 20 minutes, covered (I leave it on the kneading board and cover it with the plastic tub turned upside down).

In the meantime, cut a square of parchment paper (approx. 14-inch / 36 cm long). Lightly oil the bottom of a lidded cast-iron Dutch oven so that the parchment paper does not stick to it. I used my 5-Qt one; a 4.5-Qt one should work as well.

Flip the dough (so it is seam side up) and flatten lightly, then fold corners of dough towards the center. Flip (so it is seam side down) and shape into a boule on an unfloured section of your working surface, which offers some resistance (see video at 12'). Move the round towards you then back with a slight rotation, all the while tucking dough underneath. Bring tension to the dough, but do not overdo or the surface will tear.

shaped boule ready for proofing

Gently transfer the shaped dough to the center of the prepared parchment paper. Pick up the paper by the corners and transfer to the Dutch oven. Cover (a clean shower cap works well for this) and let dough rest until doubled in size (also, until a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists), in my case about 3 hours, depending on the room temperature.

Prepare the oven and bake the bread
When the dough is 1/2 hour or so from being ready, preheat the oven to 500 F / 260 C.⁵

Uncover the dough, score the surface according to your preference, lightly mist the dough's surface, place the lid on the Dutch oven and place in the hot oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 475 F / 245 C. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven and lower the temperature to 450 F / 230 C.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes. At this point, check the bread's internal temperature: if it is 210 F / 99 C, it is ready. Otherwise, continue baking for another 2 minutes, then check again.

Carefully extract the bread out of the Dutch oven using the parchment paper flaps to lift it up. Place on a rack to cool. Restrain your desire to go at the bread with your knife: let it cool completely, at least two hours, but possibly longer. Slice and feast on it with all your senses.

homemade bread and fruit preserves: a perfect breakfast
(Italian linen from La FABBRICA del LINO)

Lightly sweet pears and lightly tangy sourdough alternate in each bite and rosemary adds an aromatic note. Warning: it is hard to stop eating it, especially when paired with cheese or fruit preserves.

Limantour Beach (Point Reyes National Seashore)

We like to visit Point Reyes National Seashore⁶ (one of the most precious jewels of our National Park system) and stay in Point Reyes Station. The photo above is from last December and shows one of the places mentioned in the book.

¹ Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls web page, which includes maps, excerpts and photos of the places mentioned in the stories.
² Point Reyes Light website
³ Bread baker extraordinaire Barbara of Bread and companatico has recently baked a traditional Italian pane con le pere (which includes rye flour, hazelnuts and butter). Reading her post also nudged me towards trying using pears in my sourdough.
⁴ Carrot Sourdough Bread on briciole
⁵ Baking in a cast-iron pan without preheat
⁶Point Reyes National Seashore

FTC disclosure: I have received the linens free of charge from the manufacturer, la FABBRICA del LINO. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting them on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

This is my second contribution to the 25th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

I am sending this bread to the September edition of Panissimo, a monthly event created by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena?.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pane al lievito naturale con pere

or launch the pane al lievito naturale con pere audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

bread, homemade bread, sourdough, pears, Asian pears

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pane al lievito naturale con le pere

pane e formaggio fatti in casa: che coppia!
(tovaglietta di lino de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Fare il pane al lievito naturale è una delle mie passioni. E in questo periodo consumiamo molte pere asiatiche, succose e dal sapore aromatico.¹

pere asiatiche Nijisseiki e rosmarino fresco arricchiscono l'impasto

Importante: per questo pane utilizzo della pasta madre quindi occorre pianificare in anticipo.

pronto all'uso

Ingredienti:

Per la pasta fermentata

50 g pasta madre, rinfrescata in precedenza, se conservata in frigorifero
100 g acqua
100 g farina di grano forte

Per le pere

180 g pere nashi o altro tipo di pere a polpa soda, possibilmente bio
1 cucchiaio di aghi di rosmarino tritati

Per l'impasto

220 g pasta fermentata preparata in anticipo con gli ingredienti di cui sopra
220 ml acqua at 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 cucchiaino lievito di birra secco istantaneo
75 g farina integrale per pane
295 g farina di grano forte
5 ml olio extra-virgine di oliva
8 g sale marino fino

Preparare la pasta fermentata
10-12 ore prima di impastare il pane, pesare gli ingredienti per la pasta fermentata in un contenitore, mescolare bene con una forchetta, coprire e far fermentare a temperatura ambiente. Al momento dell'uso la pasta presenta una superficie cosparsa di bollicine.

Preparare le pere
Poco prima di cominciare a impastare, lavare le pere, tagliarle in quarti, rimuovere il torsolo e tagliarle a dadini di 0.5-1 cm di lato. Dovreste avere 160 di pere a dadini.

Aggiungere il rosmarino alle pere.

Preparare l'impasto
In una ciotola capiente mescolare la pasta fermentata, l'acqua e il lievito di birra secco istantaneo.

Incorporare le farine. Aggiungere le pere, il rosmarino e l'olio d'oliva e mescolare fino a formare un impasto grossolano. Spargere il sale sulla superficie.

Coprire la ciotola e far riposare l'impasto per 5 minuti. Nel frattempo, oliare un capiente contenitore di plastica con coperchio che userete per la fermentazione.

Mescolare fino ad ottenere un impasto omogeneo. (Se usate un cucchiaio di legno, bagnatelo prima.)

Trasferire l'impasto nel contenitore oliato. Con le mani bagnate, tirare delicatamente l'impasto da un lato e piegarlo verso il lato opposto. Ripetere dall'altra parte, come se piegaste un foglio di carta in terzi per metterlo in una busta. Voltare l'impasto piegato sottosopra. Coprire il contenitore con il suo coperchio e lasciar riposare per 45 minuti.

Questo video sull sito del SF Baking Institute mostra un paio di tecniche importanti:

Tiratura e piegamento
Preformazione e formazione di una boule, o pane rotondo (utile in seguito)

Il video non è lungo ma se non avete tempo di guardarlo tutto, potete cominciare a 4':30" e guardare circa 8 minuti fino a quando Mac forma la boule.

A) Con le mani umide, tirare l'impasto da un lato e piegarlo verso il lato opposto. Ripetere dall'altra parte, come se piegaste un foglio di carta in terzi per metterlo in una busta. Ruotare l'impasto di 90 gradi e ripetere tiratura e piegamento. Rivoltare l'impasto in modo che la piega sia in basso.
B) Coprire e lasciar riposare per 45 minuti.

Ripetere A e B altre due volte. A questo punto il glutine dovrebbe essere ben sviluppato.

Formare il pane
Infarinare leggermente il piano di lavoro e rovesciarci sopra l'impasto.

Spianare leggermente l'impasto a formare un quadrato spesso. Piegare verso il centro gli angoli, rovesciare e su un pezzo di piano senza farina far roteare l'impasto in modo da creare un pochino di tensione in superficie (vedi video a 8').

Corprire con il contenitore rovesciata e far riposare 20 minuti.

Nel frattempo, tagliare un quadrato di carta da forno lungo almeno 36 cm. Ungere leggermente il fondo di una pentola di ghisa tipo Dutch oven . La mia è da 5 quarti (4,75 litri); una da 4,5 quarti (4,25 litri) dovrebbe anche andare bene.

Rovesciare l'impasto e spianarlo leggermente, poi piegare verso il centro gli angoli. Rovesciare su un pezzo di piano senza farina e far roteare l'impasto in modo da creare tensione in superficie (vedi video a 12'), ma senza lacerarla. Muovere l'impasto verso di voi con una leggera rotazione e allo stesso tempo rimboccarlo sotto.

pronto per la lievitazione finale

Trasferire l'impasto formato al centro del pezzo di carta da forno, poi raccogliere gli angoli e trasferire il tutto dentro la pentola di ghisa. Coprire e lasciar riposare fino a quando l'impasto sia raddoppiato di volume e una fossetta fatta sulla pasta colla punta del dito persiste. Il tempo necessario dipende dalla temperatura ambiente: nel mio caso, circa 3 ore.

Preparare il forno e cuocere il pane
Quando l'impasto è quasi pronto, preriscaldare il forno a 260 C.³

Scoprire l'impasto, tagliare la superficie a piacere, spruzzarla leggermente di acqua, mettere il coperchio alla pentola di ghisa e infornare.

Abbassare la temperatura a 245 C. Cuocere per 20 minuti. Scoperchiare la pentola di ghisa ed abbassare ulteriormente la temperatura a 230 C.

Cuocere per altri 15 minuti. A questo punto controllare la temperatura interna del pane: se è 99 C, il pane è pronto. Altrimenti, continuare la cottura per altri 2 minuti e controllare di nuovo.

Estrarre il pane dalla pentola di ghisa tirando su gli angoli della carta da forno. Trasferire il pane su una griglia e far raffreddare senza disturbarlo, almeno due ore, poi affettare e gustare.

pane e conserva di frutta fatti in casa: colazione perfetta
(tovaglietta di lino de La FABBRICA del LINO)

In questo gustoso pane pere dolci e pasta acida si alternano in ciascun boccone e il rosmarino aggiunge una nota aromatica. Attenzione: è difficile smettere di mangiarlo, soprattutto quando è accompagnato da del buon formaggio o conserva di frutta.

¹ Di recente Barbara di Bread and companatico ha preparato un pane con le pere italiano tradizionale (la cui ricetta comprende farina di segale, nocciole e burro). Il post ha contribuito a farmi decidere di fare il pane utilizzando le pere.
² Pane al lievito naturale con carote su briciole
³ Baking in a cast-iron pan without preheat

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto gli articoli di lino gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarli sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

Mando questo pane anche all'edizione di Settembre di Panissimo un evento mensile creato da Barbara di Bread & Companatico e Sandra di Indovina chi viene a cena?

carrot sourdough bread / pane al lievito naturale con le carote

June 22, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

homemade bread with homemade cheese: a winning combination

Eilish Eam, an Irish child alone in the world, survives in London by playing a glass harmonica¹ on the street. Erin Rushton, an American young woman plays the same instrument in concert halls. They are the protagonists of the novel The Glass Harmonica by Louise Marley.²

In 1761, the path of Eilish's life changes dramatically following her meeting with Benjamin Franklin, who lived in London for 16 years between 1757 and 1775. Erin's story is set in 2018. Eilish is deeply attached to a crippled child named Mackie, while Erin has a strong relationship with her twin brother, Charlie, who lost use of his legs due to a genetic disease. Franklin's important presence in Eilish's life is mirrored by that of Gene Berrick in Erin's.

The novel captured my attention from the first pages and held it until the last. It goes back and forth between the two stories, in the meantime describing the worlds in which they are set and a cast of characters that, besides Mackie, Franklin, Charlie and Berrick, includes the inhabitants of the house in Craven Street, London, where Franklin lived, Erin's agent and her mother.

Eilish's worries about surviving end once she moves into the house in Craven Street, where, among other things, she eats buttered bread for breakfast and tea. Erin finds "natural-yeast bread" in her brother's kitchen, a sign that the new treatment he is undergoing with Dr. Berrick includes a healthier diet. So, I decided to create a bread for the two E's of the book (Charlie actually calls his sister simply E).

smiling for the camera

A recipe for Beetroot Sourdough bread in the book How to Make Bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou and beautiful carrots in my CSA share gave me the idea to create a carrot sourdough loaf enriched with fresh thyme (timo). The amount of starter, root vegetables and flour come from the book. As usual, I substituted 20% of the white wheat flour with whole-wheat flour. The use of a small amount of instant yeast and the process to make and shape the dough come from what I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute. After using various baking options, I tried a variation of the cast-iron pan baking I read about on The Fresh Loaf site³ and that's the one I recommend.

starter ready to be used

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Carrot sourdough bread

Important: this bread uses sourdough starter (lievito naturale or pasta madre) that requires a bit of advanced planning.

Ingredients:

For the preferment

50 g sourdough starter, refreshed previously, if stored in the refrigerator
100 g water
100 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I always use to make bread)

For the carrots

160 g fresh carrots, possibly organic
Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme

For the dough

220 g preferment (sourdough starter) prepared in advance with the ingredients listed above
220 ml water at 85 F / 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
75 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour
295 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
5 ml extra-virgin olive oil
8 g fine sea salt

Prepare the carrots
Shortly before starting the dough preparation, scrub carrots well and scrape surface to remove a thin layer of skin. Grate carrots using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater.

Add the thyme leaves to the carrots.

Prepare the dough
I start making the bread early in the morning, so I am sure the bread will be baked and thoroughly cooled by dinner time.

Add the flours and stir with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk.

Add carrots, thyme and olive oil and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle salt on the surface.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 5 minutes. In the meantime, oil well a plastic tub with lid where you will transfer the dough when fully mixed.

Wet the spoon (if using it) and mix dough until it is homogeneous.

Transfer the dough to the oiled tub. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough and then flip it to oil the surface. This is your time 0. Cover the tub and let rest for 45 minutes.

This very nice video on The SF Baking Institute website describes and shows a couple of important techniques I apply to bread dough.

Stretching and folding: as Mac says in the video, the stretching part is of fundamental importance in gluten development
Pre-shaping and shaping rounds (useful for later)

The video is not long, but if you don't have time to watch it in its entirety, you can start at 4':30" and watch about 8 minutes until Mac shows how to shape a boule.

A) Stretch and letter-fold the dough in the tub, rotate 90 degrees then stretch and letter-fold again. Flip the dough so it is seam side down.
B) Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Repeat A and B two more times, at which point you will be at time 3 hours.

Check gluten development by stretching a corner of the dough to make a windowpane. If you don't get a windowpane, let dough ferment a little longer.

Shape the bread
Lightly flour your working surface and transfer dough onto it. Use a bench scraper to help you move and turn the dough.

Let pre-shaped round rest for 20 minutes, covered (I leave it on the kneading board and cover it with the plastic tub turned upside down).

shaped boule

ready for the oven

Prepare the oven and bake the bread
When the dough is almost ready, preheat the oven to 500 F / 260 C.

Uncover the dough, score the surface according to your preference, lightly mist the dough's surface, place the lid on the Dutch oven and place in the hot oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 475 F / 245 C. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven and lower the temperature to 450 F / 230 C.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes. At this point, check the bread's internal temperature: if it is 210 F / 99 C, it is ready. Otherwise, continue baking for another 2 minutes, then check again.

a little bit sweet and a little bit sour in an elegant balance

In this lovely bread, lightly sweet carrots and lightly tangy sourdough alternate in each bite and thyme adds an aromatic note. Warning: it is hard to stop eating it, especially when paired with cheese.

San Francisco sourdough bread has become a classic:

It was 1849, on an October day … — the exact date is lost in the mist of time — when Isadore Boudin, an experienced French baker, married the ordinary sourdough yeast used by miners of the time with a French-style loaf of bread to create a classic.⁴

My recipe pays a personal tribute to that classic and celebrates the beautiful city that I learned to love many years ago, as an Italian teenager, by watching the TV series The Streets of San Francisco.⁵The special occasion is the 13th installment of the World Culinary ABC⁶ which has brought us to visit the US (Stati Uniti) and which I am hosting.⁶

¹ Wikipedia: glass harmonica
² Google books: The Glass Harmonica
³ Baking in a cast-iron pan without preheat
⁴ A quick history of San Francisco sourdough bread
⁵ The Streets of San Francisco
⁶ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.

This is my second contribution to the 24th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

I contribute my sourdough bread also to the 13th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. M like Minneapolis (USA) is hosted by me, Simona of briciole.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

I am sending this bread to the June edition of Panissimo, a monthly event created by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena?.

And to the monthly showcase Sourdough and Yeast by Wisla (in Polish).

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pane al lievito naturale con carote

or launch the pane al lievito naturale con carote audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

bread, homemade bread, sourdough, carrots

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pane al lievito naturale con le carote

pane e formaggio fatti in casa: una combinazione vincente

Il pane al lievito naturale di San Francisco è diventato un classico (sourdough letteralmente vuol dire pasta acida):

Un giorno di Ottobre del 1849… Isadore Boudin, esperto panettiere francese, preparò del pane in stile francese lievitato con la pasta acida utilizzata dai cercatori d'oro e così creò un classico.¹

La mia ricetta è un tributo personale a tale classico e celebra la bellissima città che ho imparato ad amare tanti anni fa, quando ancora abitavo in Italia, attraverso i film per la TV Le strade di San Francisco.²L'occasione è la tredicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale che ci ha portato a visitare gli USA e per la quale fungo da ospite.³

adoro le carote

La ricetta per Beetroot Sourdough bread (pane al lievito naturale con barbabietole rosse) nel libro How to Make Bread di Emmanuel Hadjiandreou e delle belle carote nella mia cassettina mi hanno dato l'idea di creare un pane al lievito naturale con carote aromatizzato al timo. Dal libro ho preso le dosi di pasta madre, verdura e farina. Come al solito ho sostituito il 20% della farina bianca con farina integrale. L'utilizzo di un pochino di lievito di birra secco istantaneo e il procedimento per preparare e dare la forma all'impasto fanno parte di quando ho imparato al San Francisco Baking Institute. Dopo aver utilizzato vari modi di cottura, ho provato una variante di quella che utilizza una pentola di ghisa presentata sul sito The Fresh Loaf site³ ed è quella che raccomando.

pronto all'uso

Importante: per questo pane utilizzo della pasta madre quindi occorre pianificare in anticipo.

Ingredienti:

Per la pasta fermentata

50 g pasta madre, rinfrescata in precedenza, se conservata in frigorifero
100 g acqua
100 g farina di grano forte

Per le carote

160 g carote fresche, possibilmente bio
foglie di diversi rametti di timo fresco

Per l'impasto

220 g pasta fermentata preparata in anticipo con gli ingredienti di cui sopra
220 ml acqua at 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 cucchiaino lievito di birra secco istantaneo
75 g farina integrale per pane
295 g farina di grano forte
5 ml olio extra-virgine di oliva
8 g sale marino fino

Preparare le carote
Poco prima di cominciare a impastare, lavare bene le carote e raschiarne la superficie con una lama per rimuovere la pellicina. Grattugiatele con la grattugia a buchi grossi.

Aggiungere le foglie di timo alle carote.

Preparare l'impasto
In una ciotola capiente mescolare la pasta fermentata, l'acqua e il lievito di birra secco istantaneo.

Incorporare le farine. Aggiungere le carote, il timo e l'olio d'oliva e mescolare fino a formare un impasto grossolano. Spargere il sale sulla superficie.

Coprire la ciotola e far riposare l'impasto per 5 minuti. Nel frattempo, oliare un capiente contenitore di plastica con coperchio che userete per la fermentazione.

Mescolare fino ad ottenere un impasto omogeneo. (Se usate un cucchiaio di legno, bagnatelo prima.)

Questo video sull sito del SF Baking Institute mostra un paio di tecniche importanti:

Tiratura e piegamento
Preformazione e formazione di una boule, o pane rotondo (utile in seguito)

Il video non è lungo ma se non avete tempo di guardarlo tutto, potete cominciare a 4':30" e guardare circa 8 minuti fino a quando Mac forma la boule.

A) Con le mani umide, tirare l'impasto da un lato e piegarlo verso il lato opposto. Ripetere dall'altra parte, come se piegaste un foglio di carta in terzi per metterlo in una busta. Ruotare l'impasto di 90 gradi e ripetere tiratura e piegamento. Rivoltare l'impasto in modo che la piega sia in basso.
B) Coprire e lasciar riposare per 45 minuti.

Ripetere A e B altre due volte. A questo punto il glutine dovrebbe essere ben sviluppato.

Formare il pane
Infarinare leggermente il piano di lavoro e rovesciarci sopra l'impasto.

Corprire con il contenitore rovesciata e far riposare 20 minuti.

pane al lievito naturale con carote / IMG_3261

pronto per la lievitazione finale

pane al lievito naturale con carote / IMG_3266

pronto per il forno

Preparare il forno e cuocere il pane
Quando l'impasto è quasi pronto, preriscaldare il forno a 260 C.

Scoprire l'impasto, tagliare la superficie a piacere, spruzzarla leggermente di acqua, mettere il coperchio alla pentola di ghisa e infornare.

Abbassare la temperatura a 245 C. Cuocere per 20 minuti. Scoperchiare la pentola di ghisa ed abbassare ulteriormente la temperatura a 230 C.

Cuocere per altri 15 minuti. A questo punto controllare la temperatura interna del pane: se è 99 C, il pane è pronto. Altrimenti, continuare la cottura per altri 2 minuti e controllare di nuovo.

Estrarre il pane dalla pentola di ghisa tirando su gli angoli della carta da forno. Trasferire il pane su una griglia e far raffreddare senza disturbarlo, almeno due ore, poi affettare e gustare.

pane al lievito naturale con carote / IMG_3288

dolcezza e acidità in elegante equilibrio

In questo gustoso pane carote dolci e pasta acida si alternano in ciascun boccone e il timo aggiunge una nota aromatica. Attenzione: è difficile smettere di mangiarlo, soprattutto quando è accompagnato da del buon formaggio.

¹ A quick history of San Francisco sourdough bread (traduzione della citazione mia)
² Wikipedia: Le strade di San Francisco
³ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale
⁴ Baking in a cast-iron pan without preheat

Con questa ricetta partecipo alla tredicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. M come Minneapolis (Stati Uniti) è ospitata da me, Simona di briciole.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

Mando questo pane anche all'edizione di Giugno di Panissimo un evento mensile creato da Barbara di Bread & Companatico e Sandra di Indovina chi viene a cena?

E anche alla raccolta mensile Sourdough and Yeast di Wisla (in polacco).

cuchaule: Swiss saffron bread / pane svizzero allo zafferano

June 8, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

golden bread in the golden hour

The twelfth stop of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Switzerland (Svizzera), a country I have visited a number of times.

An area we particularly like is Engadin (Engadina). The photo below shows an example of the traditional decorations that grace the façades of buildings in the valley, called sgraffiti, from the Italian graffiare (to scratch)².

traditional decoration called sgraffiti

To celebrate this stop, I made my version of cuchaule, a traditional bread from Canton Fribourg that includes saffron among the ingredients. As usual, I took the basic elements from online recipes, then applied my experience and preferences. This is a nice, festive bread. I lightened it up to make it more of an everyday bread. The concurrent reading of a novel inspired one of the choices I made in terms of ingredients.

The novel The Wedding Bees by Sarah-Kate Lynch, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, tells the story of a young woman running away from her past: she moves to a new place every year following her honeybee queen (ape regina). The cast of characters is quite colorful and the protagonist, aptly named Sugar, tries her best to bring the smile back to their faces. Among them, Ruby, a young woman robbed of their smile by anorexia. The few 1/8 of a rice cracker portions she doles out to herself daily made me want to bake bread for her, the quintessential nourishing food of the culinary tradition in which I grew up, and sweeten it lightly with honey. Its yellow color is a way of bringing a ray of light in Ruby's life.

homemade bread with homemade cheese: a perfect couple

For my recipe I use a preferment, so preparation starts the evening before baking day. I also let the saffron infuse the milk overnight.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Cuchaule

Ingredients:

For the preferment (to be prepared the night before baking):

60 ml water at 80 F / 27 C
1/8 teaspoon / 0.4 g instant yeast
65 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I always use to make bread)

For the saffron-infused milk (to be prepared the night before baking):

150 ml milk (I used non-fat)
A pinch of saffron threads

For the dough:

65 g whole-wheat flour (I use locally grown and milled Hollis wheat)
200 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon / 3 g dry milk (powder)
1/16 teaspoon turmeric (curcuma), optional, for color
2.3 g instant yeast
20 g fluid honey
1 ounce / 28 g unsalted butter, softened
2 g sea salt

For the egg wash:

1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons / 10 ml water

Prepare the preferment
Pour water in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast on the water then whisk lightly to blend. Add the flour and stir until a soft dough forms. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. The morning after it will be bubbly.

Prepare the milk
Warm up the milk to 115 F / 46 C. Sprinkle saffron on it and stir. Cover and let sit for an hour or so, then place in the refrigerator. The morning after, take it out of the refrigerator.

Prepare the dough
Weigh the flours and place in a bowl. Add the dry milk and turmeric, if using, and stir in.

Warm up the milk to 85 F / 30 C. Pour onto the pre-ferment, sprinkle yeast on surface and stir to form a batter. Add the honey and stir, then pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Stir briefly with a dough whisk, spatula or wooden spoon. Add the butter and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle salt on the surface, cover the bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Stir some more until a cohesive dough forms. Empty the bowl onto your working surface and knead briefly until the dough is homogeneous.

Clean and oil the bowl. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough, then flip it and place it into the bowl. Cover and let rest for half an hour.

Stretch and letter-fold the dough in the bowl, rotate 90 degrees then stretch and letter-fold again. Flip the dough so it is seam side down. Cover and let rest until well risen (doubled in bulk) and the gluten is well developed.

This very nice video on The SF Baking Institute website describes and shows a couple of important techniques I apply to bread dough.

Stretching and folding
Pre-shaping and shaping rounds (useful for later)

The video is not long, but if you don't have time to watch it in its entirety, you can start at 4':30" and watch about 8 minutes until Mac shows how to shape a boule.

Shape the bread
Lightly flour your working surface and transfer the dough onto it (top side down).

Gently pat the dough to flatten it into a thick square and degas. Fold corners of dough towards the center, flip (so it is seam side down) and pre-shape into a boule on an unfloured section of your working surface, which offers some resistance (see video at 8'). Move the round towards you, then back with a slight rotation, all the while tucking dough underneath. Bring a bit of tension to the dough, but not as much as you will later, during shaping.

Let the pre-shaped round rest for 20 minutes, covered.

Gently transfer the dough, seam side down, to a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Cover and let the dough rest until well risen: a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists. How long it takes depends on the room temperature.

Prepare for baking
Preheat the oven to 350 F /177 C.

In a small bowl, whisk water into the egg yolk.

Bake the bread
When the dough is ready to be baked, score the surface with a shallow grid pattern using a sharp blade. With a pastry brush, paint the surface with the egg wash.

Place baking sheet in the oven and bake until the internal temperature reaches 200 F / 93 C. In my case it takes 35 minutes for the bread to bake.

Transfer bread to a rack to cool. Restrain your desire to go at the bread with your knife: let it cool completely, at least two hours, then slice and enjoy.

We particularly liked it with my homemade strawberry preserves and with my homemade Crescenza.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.
² Sgraffiti

I contribute my bread to the 12th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. L like Lucerne (Switzerland) is hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

This is also my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by me, Simona of briciole.

The roundup of the event.

Finally, this is my contribution to the 24th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

pane svizzero allo zafferano

or launch the pane svizzero allo zafferano audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

bread, saffron, milk, Swiss cuisine

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cuchaule (pane svizzero allo zafferano)

pane dal caldo colore

La dodicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è la Svizzera, paese che ho visitato diverse volte.

Una zona che ci piace in modo particolare è l'Engadina. La foto qui sotto mostra un esempio delle tradizionali decorazioni sulle facciate degli edifici chiamate sgraffiti.²

esempio di sgraffiti

Per celebrare questa tappa ho preparato cuchaule, pane tradizionale del Cantone di Friburgo. Come al solito, ho preso gli elementi fondamentali da ricette consultate sul web e ho poi applicato la mia esperienza e le mie preferenze per fare questo pane. L'ho alleggerito un po' in modo che sia un pane per tutti i giorni.

pane e formaggio fatti in casa: una coppia perfetta

La mia ricetta utilizza dell'impasto pre-lievitato quindi la preparazione inizia la sera prima del giorno di panificazione. E metto lo zafferano nel latte la sera prima di utilizzare entrambi.

Ingredienti:

Per la pasta lievitata (da preparare la sera prima del giorno di panificazione):

60 ml acqua a 27 C
1/8 cucchiaino / 0,4 g lievito di birra secco istantaneo
65 g farina di grano forte

Per il latte infuso con lo zafferano (da preparare la sera prima del giorno di panificazione):

150 ml latte (io ho usato quello scremato)
Un pizzico di stimmi di zafferano

Per l'impasto:

65 g farina per pane integrale
200 g farina di grano forte
1/2 cucchiaio / 3 g latte secco in polvere
Una puntina di cucchiaino di curcuma, facoltativa, per dare colore
2,3 g lievito di birra secco istantaneo
20 g miele fluido
28 g burro non salato ammorbidito
2 g sale marino fino

Per la superficie:

1 tuorlo d'uovo codice 0
2 cucchiaini / 10 ml acqua

Preparare la pasta lievitata
Versare l'acqua in una ciotola, poi aggiungere il lievito e mescolare brevemente con una frusta. Aggiungere la farina e mescolare fino a formare un impasto soffice. Coprire il contenitore con della pellicola di plastica e lasciar lievitare a temperatura ambiente per tutta la notte. Il mattino dopo vedrete la superficie cosparsa di bollicine.

Preparare il latte
Scaldare il latte a 46 C. Aggiungere lo zafferano e mescolare brevemente. Coprire il contenitore e lasciar riposare per un'oretta poi metterlo in frigorifero. La mattina dopo tirarlo fuori.

Preparare l'impasto
Pesare le farine e metterle in una ciotola. Aggiungere il latte e la curcuma (facoltativa).

Scaldare il latte a 30 C. Versarlo sulla pasta fermentata, aggiungere il lievito e mescolare fino a formare una pastella. Aggiungere il miele e mescolare, poi versare il tutto nella ciotola con gli ingredienti secchi.

Mescolare un po', poi aggiungere il burro e mescolare solo fino a quando si forma un impasto. Distribuire il sale sulla superficie. Coprire la ciotola e far riposare per 5-10 minuti.

Mescolare ancora per un paio di minuti. Infarinare leggermente il piano di lavoro e trasferirci sopra l'impasto. Impastare brevemente fino ad ottenere un impasto omogeneo.

Pulire la ciotola e oliarla. Con le mani umide, tirare leggermente l'impasto da un lato e piegarlo verso il lato opposto. Ripetere dall'altra parte, come se piegaste un foglio di carta in terzi per metterlo in una busta. Voltare l'impasto piegato sottosopra e trasferirlo nella ciotola. Coprire con della pellicola di plastica e lasciar lievitare per mezz'ora.

Con le mani umide, tirare l'impasto da un lato e piegarlo verso il lato opposto. Ripetere dall'altra parte, come se piegaste un foglio di carta in terzi per metterlo in una busta. Ruotare l'impasto di 90 gradi e ripetere tiratura e piegamento. Rivoltare l'impasto in modo che la piega sia in basso. Coprire e lasciar lievitare fino a quando l'impasto sia raddoppiato di volume e il glutine sia ben sviluppato.

Questo video sull sito del SF Baking Institute mostra un paio di tecniche importanti:

Tiratura e piegamento
Preformazione e formazione di una boule, o pane rotondo (utile in seguito)

Il video non è lungo ma se non avete tempo di guardarlo tutto, potete cominciare a 4':30" e guardare circa 8 minuti fino a quando Mac forma la boule.

Formare il pane
Infarinare leggermente il piano di lavoro e rovesciarci sopra l'impasto.

Corprire con la ciotola rovesciata e far riposare 20 minuti.

Trasferire su una placca da forno foderata con un tappetino da forno di silicone o un pezzo di carta da forno. Coprire e lasciar riposare fino a quando l'impasto sia ben lievitato e una fossetta fatta sulla pasta colla punta del dito persiste. Il tempo necessario dipende dalla temperatura ambiente.

Preparare il forno
Riscaldare il forno a 177 C.

In una ciotolina, mescolare il tuorlo d'uovo e l'acqua.

Cuocere il pane
Quando l'impasto è pronto ad essere infornato, con una lama affilata segnare la superficie con dei tagli a griglia.

Con un pennello da pasticceria spennellare l'uovo sulla superficie del pane.

Infornare e cuocere fino a quando la temperatura interna raggiunga i 93 C, circa 35 minuti.

Trasferire il pane su una griglia e far raffreddare senza disturbarlo, almeno due ore, poi affettare e gustare.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale.
² Sgraffiti

Con questa ricetta partecipo alla dodicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. L like Lucerne (Svizzera) è ospitata da Ivy di Kopiaste.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

skorpor: crostini svedesi / Swedish rusks

January 4, 2015 | Simona

crisp skorpor up for grabs
on Double Creek Pottery plate on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat

In the kitchen of the house in upstate New York where I spent a few days at a retreat last September, there was a bookshelf of cookbooks. My right hand pulled out Favorite Swedish Recipes by Emmie Berg and while I paged through it, the recipe for Round Rusks (Brutna skorpor) locked my attention.

Skorpor are popular Swedish rusks and a rusk is a light, dry biscuit or a piece of twice-baked bread. There is a version of rusk in many other traditions: for example, in Italy we have fette biscottate (twice-baked slices of bread). According to the wikipedia article on rusk, skorpor can be flavoured with herbs, dried fruit, nuts, or spices such as anise or cardamom.

The cookbook mentioned includes also a recipe for Rye Rusks. To make my version of Round Rusks I borrowed a bit from both recipes, added ingredients according to my taste and adapted the instructions to my bread-making habits. I used a small amount of sunflower honey as sweetener, and cardamom and orange zest to give the skorpor a nice nuanced flavor.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

dividing the dough and rolling skorpor

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for skorpor (Swedish rusks)

Ingredients:

50 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour
60 g dark rye flour
150 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I use to make bread)
1 teaspoon / 3.2 g instant yeast
150 ml milk + 40 ml water at 80 F / 27 C (I used non-fat milk)
20 g fluid honey (I use sunflower honey, miele di girasole)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon orange zest

How to prepare the dough
Measure all the ingredients and place them in a bowl. Mix with a a wooden spoon or a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes, then mix some more, until a firm dough forms.

Oil well a glass bowl or similar container where the dough will rise.

Lightly oil your working surface and transfer the dough onto it. Knead lightly for 10 seconds. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough and then flip it to oil the surface. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume (two hours or so, depending on the temperature).

How to shape round rusks
Line a baking sheet (half sheet size) with a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper.

Lightly flour a portion of your working surface and let the dough fall on it. With the help of a scale, divide the dough into 20 small pieces of 22-24 g each (depending on how many pieces you cut of the smaller size, you may get enough dough for 21 pieces).

Lightly flatten each piece of dough, letter-fold it, flip it and then roll it into a tight ball. Roll while tucking the dough under it, until the surface acquires a good tension without tearing. The working surface should be clear of flour, otherwise the roll slides on it, while you need some friction to create the tension on the dough's surface. [This short video shows my hands rolling a larger piece of dough, but should still give an idea.]

Place on the silicone backing mat or parchment paper in four rows of five, evenly spaced (adjust some to make space for the 21st, if you have it). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists (an hour or so, depending on the temperature).

skorpor Swedish rye rusks proofing / IMG_2361

proofed and ready for the oven (placemat from La FABBRICA del LINO)

How to bake and crisp rusks
30-45 minutes after the beginning of the second rise (depending on how quick your oven heats up), preheat the oven to 425 F / 218 C.

When the dough is ready, put the baking sheet in the oven and bake skorpor until light brown (8-10 minutes). Take the baking sheet out of the oven and transfer the skorpor on a cooling rack or towel. Let cool completely, then break in half each skorpor with a fork (forchetta).

splitting skorpor with a fork before putting them back in the oven

With a salad fork, I make a row of holes all around, then pry the skorpor open delicately.

Distribute the 40-42 pieces on the baking sheet and place in a 200 F / 93 C oven for 1-2 hours until they are crisp. Check them after 1 hour; in my oven, it takes 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven and leave the door ajar. Let the skorpor dry for up to another hour. Again, check them half-way through to prevent them from getting too dry.

Make sure you have some nice spread or creamy cheese to taste fresh skorpor. Store surviviors in an airtight container.

Crunchy, with the earthy flavor of rye (segale) and a hint of orange and cardamom, it is clear from the first bite why these morsels are popular. They have been an instant hit in our household and besides being good, they are fun to make (signed: skorpor's serial baker).

I am sending my skorpor to the January edition of Panissimo, a monthly event created by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena? and hosted this month by Sandra.

… to the monthly showcase Sourdough and Yeast by Wisla (in Polish).

and to Yeastspotting.

The parting shot goes to edition #154 of Black and White Wednesday – A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

The photo was shot in color with my iPhone and then converted to sepia (Lightroom preset Sepia Tone).

The gallery of images contributed to the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

crostini svedesi

or launch the crostini svedesi audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

rusks, bread, rye flour, Swedish cuisine

damper: pane australiano / damper: Australian bread

November 23, 2014 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

a taste of Australia on Italian linen (from la FABBRICA del LINO)

The third stop of our World Culinary ABC is Australia, a country I visited a number of years ago. Highlights of that trip were:

the visit to Sydney and its iconic Opera House,
snorkeling around Lizard Island, on the Great Barrier Reef (Grande Barriera Corallina)
a week touring Tasmania, where I found myself in a rainforest (foresta pluviale) for the first time in my life (and the seaplane flight into it was also memorable),
close encounters with adorable animals like wombats and wallabies.

To celebrate virtually going back to Australia, I prepared a pumpkin-enriched version of damper, a traditional Australian soda bread. There are a number of recipes for damper online, like this one, all quite similar to each other. I looked at them and then went my own way in terms of ingredients, in particular because I don't have self-rising flour which is listed in all the recipes. In the In terms of shaping the dough, I followed some of the images I saw.

This is a nice quick bread (pane veloce), with a crisp crust and a soft crumb. It is a good option for breakfast or when you need a bread substitute that can be made quickly (assuming you have the cooked pumpkin ready).

It is also a pretty bread, its crumb flecked with golden pumpkin (zucca) and green thyme (timo). In the photo above, it rests on a linen napkin by la FABBRICA del LINO (Seta decor collection), which I love because of its natural look, soft feel and simple elegance. Plus, it needs no ironing.

FTC disclosure: I have received the napkin free of charge from the manufacturer. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

The recipe below includes a couple of variations pertaining the flour and the liquid. My personal preference goes to the version with whole-wheat pastry flour and kefir.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Pumpkin damper

Ingredients:

7 ounces / 200 g roasted pumpkin or winter squash (see instructions below)
1 pound / 450 g flour divided as follows (see Note below about self-rising flour):

260 g low protein all-purpose flour or King Arthur Flour Perfect Pastry Blend
190 g pastry flour OR 120 g whole-wheat pastry flour + 70 g pastry flour

1 1/2 tablespoon / 16 g baking powder
1 teaspoon / 5 g baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup / 240 ml water OR 1/2 cup / 120 ml water + 1/2 cup / 120 ml [homemade] kefir or buttermilk, well stirred
2 teaspoons / 10 ml additional water, if using whole-wheat pastry flour

Note: all the recipes I have seen for damper use self-rising flour, i.e., flour containing some baking powder and salt. If you have access to it, you can try using it. To make my own, I adapted the instructions on the KAF site to the flours I had in my pantry and tried a couple of different flour blends.

How to prepare the pumpkin / winter squash
Different types of pumpkin / winter squash have different water content. If the specimen you choose is quite watery, drain it before using it. I would suggest not to use a dry squash like Kabocha, but if that is what you have, you'll need to increase the amount of water.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. If the pumpkin is hard, pre-process it as follows: pierce it with a blade in a few places, place it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat, and bake it for 15 minutes, then let is cool slightly. This makes it easier to cut it in half.

Cut the pumpkin (pre-processed or raw) in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (a grapefruit spoon is my preferred tool for this task). Place halves on the silicone baking mat, cut side down. Put in the oven and bake until tender, easily pierced with a blade. Let cool, drain any water, then scrape the flesh off the skin, again using a grapefruit spoon.

Let the pumpkin pulp cool completely and weigh the amount required by the recipe, making sure you avoid watery pulp. Mash well with a fork and set aside to use for the damper. Use leftovers to make this soup, these scones or this bread.

How to prepare damper
Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat oven to 395 F / 200 C.

Place the dry ingredients and thyme leaves in a large bowl and mix them well with a whisk. Place the wet ingredients and pumpkin in another bowl and stir. Pour wet ingredients onto dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk until the ingredients are just combined. The dough will resemble that of scones.

Turn the dough onto a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper lightly dusted with flour. Dust the surface of the dough lightly with flour and with delicate hands shape the dough into a circle of 8 inches / 20 cm diameter and even thickness. With a bench scraper, score 4 diameters deply in the dough to obtain 8 sections.

ready for the oven

Take the baking sheet out of the oven, transfer the silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper with the dough onto the sheet and place in the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the bottom bottom is golden. When ready, move the damper onto a rack and serve warm or at room temperature. The scoring prior to baking will make it easy to cut or break the bread into sections.

flecks of pumpkin like gold flakes

Once cooled completely, some sections can be frozen. Before serving them, place them straight in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.

I contribute my damper to the 3rd installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. C like Canberra (Australia) is hosted by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pane (veloce) australiano

or launch the pane (veloce) australiano audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

damper, pumpkin, soda bread, quick bread, Australian cuisine

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damper: pane australiano

un assaggio di Australia servito su lino d'Italia (da la FABBRICA del LINO)

La terza tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale è l'Australia, paese che ho visitato diversi anni fa. Momenti salienti del viaggio:

la visita a Sydney e alla sua Opera House,
snorkeling intorno a Lizard Island, sulla Grande Barriera Corallina,
una settimana in giro per la Tasmania, dove tra l'altro mi sono trovata per la prima volta in una foresta pluviale (e il volo in idrovolante per arrivarci fu memorabile),
incontri ravvicinati con animali adorabili come wombats e wallabies.

Per celebrare il mio ritorno virtuale in Australia, ho preparato una versione arricchita con zucca del damper, pane veloce (cioè senza lievitazione naturale) tradizionale. Su internet ho trovato diverse ricette del damper, come questa, tutte piuttosto simili. Le ho lette e poi ho fatto a modo mio per quanto riguarda gli ingredienti, in particolare perché non ho la farina autolievitante che viene usata in tutte le ricette che ho visto. Per quanto riguarda la forma, ho seguito alcune delle foto.

Questo è un pane veloce gradevole, croccante fuori e soffice dentro, ottimo per la colazione o per quando volete un sostituto per il pane veloce da preparare (ammesso che abbiate la zucca pronta).

È anche un bel pane, con lentiggini di zucca e timo nella mollica. Nella foto in alto è su un tovagliolo di lino di la FABBRICA del LINO (collezione Seta decor), che adoro per il suo look naturale, la morbiezza e l'eleganza semplice. Inoltre, non necessita di stiratura.

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto il tovagliolo gratuitamente dall'azienda produttrice. Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarlo sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

La ricetta qui sotto comprende un paio di variazioni riguardanti la farina e la componente liquida. Personalmente, preferisco la versione con un po' di farina integrale e del kefir.

Ingredienti:

200 g zucca cotta al forno (ricetta a seguire)
450 g farina per dolci autolievitante, contenente lievito chimico ma non vanillina o altri aromi (vedi Nota in basso), OPPURE 450 g farina 00 per dolci + gli agenti lievitanti elencati di seguito OPPURE 330 g farina 00 per dolci + 120 g farina integrale per dolci + gli agenti lievitanti elencati di seguito
16 g lievito chimico non vanigliato
1 cucchiaino / 5 g bicarbonato di soda
1,5 cucchiaini sale fino; se la farina lievitante che usate contiene sale, usate solo mezzo cucchiaino
1 cucchiaio foglioline di timo fresco
1 cucchiaio / 15 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
240 ml acqua OPPURE 120 ml acqua + 120 ml kefir [fatto in casa] o latticello, mescolato bene
2 cucchiaini / 10 ml acqua da aggiungere se usate la farina integrale

Nota: tutte le ricette per damper che ho letto utilizzano la farina autolievitante, cioè contente lievito chimico e sale. Se la trovate, potete provare ad utilizzarla. Io l'ho sostituita con farina + lievito chimico e sale fino.

Preparare la zucca
Diverse varietà di zucca hanno diverso contenuto di acqua. Se la zucca che usate è ricca di acqua, lasciatela drenare un po' prima di utilizzarla. D'altra parte, suggerisco di non utilizzare una zucca molto asciutta, come la Kabocha, ma se è l'unica che avete, dovrete aggiungere un po' d'acqua all'impasto.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Foderare una placca da forno con un tappetino di silicone per il forno.

Per evitare di far saltare la lama al coltello nel tentativo di tagliare a metà una zucca, bucarla in alcuni punti con una lama appuntita e metterla in forno sulla placca preparata per 15 minuti. Quando si è intiepidita abbastanza da poterla toccare, procedere come descritto nel paragrafo successivo.

Se utilizzate una zucca che si taglia facilmente, saltate il passaggio descritto nel paragrafo precedente. Tagliare la zucca a metà e usare un cucchiaino da pompelmo per rimuovere i semi.

Metterla in forno, sulla placca preparata, con la parte tagliata in basso e cuocerla finché non è morbida. Toglierla dal forno e, quando è tiepida, usare il cucchiaino da pompelmo per rimuovere la polpa.

Pesare la quantità di zucca richiesta dalla ricetta evitando di utilizzare polpa molto bagnata. Schiacciarla bene con una forchetta e metterla da parte. Con la zucca che avanza potete preparare questa zuppa, questi scone o questo pane.

Preparare il damper
Infornare una placca da forno e preriscaldare il forno a 200 C.

Porre gli ingredienti secchi e le foglioline di timo in una ciotola grande e mescolarli con un frustino. Versare i liquidi e la zucca in un'altra ciotola e mescolare, poi versare sugli ingredienti secchi e mescolare con un cucchiaio di legno o frustino per impasto di pane solo fino a quando si ha un impasto coeso. L'impasto somiglia a quello degli scone.

Spargere un po' di farina sulla superficie di un tappetino di silicone per forno o di un pezzo di carta da forno e rovesciarci sopra l'impasto. Spolverare la superficie con un pochino di farina e con mano delicata dargli la forma di un cerchio di 20 cm di diametro. Con un raschietto, tagliare l'impasto in 8 spicchi di uguali dimensioni.

pronto ad essere infornato

Sfornare la placca da forno, trasferirci sopra il tappetino di silicone per forno o un pezzo di carta da forno con l'impasto e poi infornare. Cuocere per 30 minuti, o fino a quando il fondo sia di un bel colore dorato. Quando il damper è pronto, trasferirlo su una griglia e servirlo caldo o a temperatura ambiente. I tagli fatti all'impasto rendono facile separare il damper in sezioni.

lentiggini di zucca

Una volta raffreddate, potete surgelare alcune sezioni. Prima di servirle, mettetele in forno riscaldato a 175 C per una decina di minuti.

Con questa ricetta partecipo alla terza tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. C come Canberra (Australia) è ospitata da Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

pane al lievito naturale con chicchi di mais arrosto / roasted corn sourdough bread

August 12, 2014 | Simona

simple, flavorful fare

If you drive by a farm stand called The Corn Crib, you must stop and buy four ears of freshly harvested corn, right?

And if a couple of hours later you open your CSA box and find another four ears of freshly harvested corn nestled between heirloom tomatoes and peaches, you grin at the unexpected surprise, right?

What would you do with the bounty that magically materialized in your hands? I cannot answer for you, but as soon as I got home, I turned on the oven and roasted the corn in two batches. I made Corn salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and lemon cucumber for dinner and while savoring its fresh, juicy flavors, I started thinking about other ways to use the abundancy of roasted corn kernels.

can you smell the sweetness?

I realized that corn kernels (chicchi di mais) are used in bread only in the context of cornbread. I do that too, in my recipe for Cornbread with roasted corn kernels. What about corn kernels in wheat bread?

I immediately did a trial run using a simple yeasted bread recipe. The result was encouraging, so I kept experimenting. I like a lto the Walnut raisin sourdough bread I presented recently, so I used that winning recipe as the basis. Let me introduce you to my roasted corn sourdough bread:

Roasted corn sourdough bread in the Dutch oven

beauty in the pan

Important: this bread uses a starter that requires a bit of advanced planning. The corn must also be roasted ahead.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Roasted corn sourdough bread

Ingredients:

For the preferment

30 g sourdough starter (refreshed previously, if stored in the refrigerator)
60 g water
60 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I always use to make bread)

For the corn kernels

2 nice, fresh ears of corn (pannocchie di granturco¹), still wrapped in their husks (if they aren't, wrap them in foil before roasting them) and with their silks attached (see important Note below)

For the dough

140 g preferment (sourdough starter) prepared in advance with the ingredients listed above
260 ml water at 85 F / 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
50 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour (I use locally grown and milled Hollis wheat)
25 g stone-ground cornmeal (I use locally grown and milled corn)
300 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, plus as needed to shape the bread
200 g roasted corn kernels
1/4 cup / 60 ml basil chiffonade
6 g fine sea salt

Prepare the preferment
12-16 hours before starting to make the bread, prepare the preferment: weigh the ingredients in a 2-cup container, stir well with a fork, cover and let ferment at room temperature in a draft-free place. (Adjust the timing as needed for your starter and your room temperature so that by the time you start making bread the preferment is bubbly active.)

Prepare the roasted corn
Note: even roasting 2 ears of corn, you will have some leftover kernels, but for efficiency's sake, I suggest you roast 3 or 4 ears of corn. Roasted corn kernels can be used in a number of other recipes, like:

Preheat oven to 450 F / 250 C. Place corn on a baking sheet leaving some room around each ear. Roast corn in the oven for 20 minutes. Let cool briefly, then remove the husks. Working on a shallow bowl or pyrex dish, use a knife to separate kernels and scrapings from the cob. (Save the empty cobs to make stock or broth.)

Make sure the corn is at room temperature by the time you are ready to start making the bread. With the help of a fork, separate the kernels, so they distribute evenly in the dough.

Prepare the dough
I start making the bread early in the morning, so I am sure the boule will be baked and thoroughly cooled by dinner time.

Add the flours and stir with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk.

Add corn and basil and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle salt on the surface.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 5 minutes. In the meantime, oil well a plastic tub with lid where you will transfer the dough when fully mixed.

Wet the spoon (if using it) and mix dough until it is homogeneous.

Transfer the dough to the oiled tub. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough and then flip it to oil the surface. This is your time 0. Cover the tub and let rest for 45 minutes.

This very nice video on The SF Baking Institute website describes and shows a couple of important techniques I apply to bread dough.

Stretching and folding: as Mac says in the video, the stretching part is of fundamental importance in gluten development
Pre-shaping and shaping rounds (useful for later)

The video is not long, but if you don't have time to watch it in its entirety, you can start at 4':30" and watch about 8 minutes until Mac shows how to shape a boule.

A) Stretch and fold the dough in the tub along both sides.
B) Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Repeat A and B two more times, at which point you will be at time 3 hours.

Check gluten development by stretching a corner of the dough to make a windowpane. If you don't get a windowpane, let dough ferment a little longer.

Shape the bread
Lightly flour your working surface and transfer dough onto it. Use a bench scraper to help you move and turn the dough.

Gently pat the dough to flatten it into a thick circle and degas. Fold corners of dough towards the center, flip (so it is seam side down) and pre-shape into a boule on an unfloured section of your working surface, which offers some resistance (see video at 8'). Move the round towards you, then back with a slight rotation, all the while tucking dough underneath. Bring a bit of tension to the dough, but not as much as you will later, during shaping.

Let pre-shaped round rest for 20 minutes, covered (I leave it on the kneading board and cover it with the plastic tub turned upside down).

In the meantime, generously flour a lined round bread basket or similar container (my brotform is unlined, so I have a square piece of cloth that I flour and use to line it). Flip the dough (so it is seam side up) and flatten lightly, then fold corners of dough towards the center. Flip (so it is seam side down) and shape into a boule on an unfloured section of your working surface, which offers some resistance (see video at 12'). Move the round towards you then back with a slight rotation, all the while tucking dough underneath. Bring tension to the dough, but do not overdo or the surface will tear.

Gently flip the dough and place it seam side up into the prepared basket. Cover (I use a clean shower cap for this) and let the dough rest until doubled in size (also, until a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists), in my case 3 to 4 hours, depending on the room temperature.

ready for the oven

Prepare the oven
Place a lidded 5-Qt cast-iron Dutch oven. in the cold oven and preheat the oven to 475 F /245 C. (You can bake the bread on tiles and use your preferred method for creating steam in the oven.)

Bake the bread
When the dough is ready to be baked, cut a piece of parchment paper large enough so that you can take hold of it by the corners and use them to help you lower the dough into the Dutch oven and later to retrieve the bread from it. Lay the parchment paper onto the back of a baking sheet. Flip the dough onto the parchment paper, lift basket and peel away liner.

Score the surface according to your preference. I got the star-shaped scoring you see in the photo from the recipe for White sourdough in How to Make Bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou: With scissors, cut the points of the star all around the top of the boule.

Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid. Pick up the parchment paper and lower the shaped dough into the Dutch oven. Put the lid on and place the Dutch oven back into the oven. Turn the oven temperature down to 425 F / 218 C.

Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes. At this point, check the bread's internal temperature: if it is 210 F / 99 C, it is ready. Otherwise, continue baking for another 2 minutes, then check again. In my case, it takes 32 minutes for the bread to bake.

Almost ready to be sliced

This is a lovely summer bread, with a gentle corn flavor. The roasted kernels look like golden pearls and act as little surprises when savoring a morsel.

You can enjoy this bread by itself or with a bowl of soup, cheese, salumi (charcuterie) and other dishes.

¹ Both mais and granturco mean corn in Italian.

I am sending this bread to the August edition of Panissimo, a monthly event created by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena? and hosted this month by Sandra.

And to the monthly showcase Sourdough and Yeast by Wisla (in Polish). The roundup of the event.

Finally, to Yeastspotting. This page has one portion of the roundup and links to the other two portions.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pane al lievito naturale con chicchi di mais arrosto

or launch the pane al lievito naturale con chicchi di mais arrosto audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

bread, homemade bread, sourdough, corn

pane al lievito naturale con uvetta e noci / walnut raisin sourdough bread

June 23, 2014 | Simona

IMG_1664 / walnut raisin sourdough bread

a feast for the senses

The seeds sprouting tomorrow are sown today.

This is true for the bread baker as well, when the bread planned includes a preferment, like sourdough starter (lievito naturale or pasta madre), for which a bit of advanced planning is needed.

I enjoy baking a variety of breads, yet if I were to choose one bread to carry with me on a deserted island, this walnut raisin sourdough boule would be the one: it has a crisp crust and soft crumb (crosta croccante e mollica soffice), a nuanced sour note, a sweet note thanks to raisins and a crunchy note thanks to walnuts. It carries centuries of tradition yet looks and tastes modern, it is simple yet provides a complex eating experience. It is the epitome of nourishing.

It does take a bit of advanced planning, but wouldn't you want to take out of the oven something as beautiful as the boule in the photo?

just baked

One inspiration for this bread was a recipe for Hazelnut and Currant Sourdough in How to Make Bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, which includes interesting recipes and a relaxed approach to baking bread hat resonates with me. Much as I like hazelnuts (nocciole), I found their flavor overpowering in bread, hence my preference for walnuts. What I got from the recipe is the amount of flour, sourdough starter and salt. Everything else comes from my taste, my experience and things I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute.

Important: this bread uses a starter that requires some advanced planning. The raisins should also soak overnight.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Walnut raisin sourdough bread

Ingredients:

For the preferment

30 g sourdough starter (refreshed previously, if stored in the refrigerator)
60 g water
60 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour (this is the flour I always use to make bread)

For the raisins

60 g raisins
125 ml lukewarm water or tea

For the dough

60 g walnuts (see below)
140 g preferment (sourdough starter) prepared in advance with the ingredients listed above
260 ml water at 85 F / 30 C
0.4 g / 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
40 g stone-ground whole-wheat flour (I use locally grown and milled Hollis wheat)
35 g sprouted whole-wheat flour (the one I use is also from KAF)
300 g King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, plus as needed to shape the bread
6 g fine sea salt

Prepare the preferment and the raisins
12-16 hours before starting to make the bread, prepare the preferment: weigh the ingredients in a 2-cup container, stir well with a fork, cover and let ferment at room temperature in a draft-free place. (Adjust the timing as needed for your starter and your room temperature so that by the time you start making bread the preferment is bubbly active.)

Place raisins in a small bowl and pour over them the liquid of choice. Cover the bowl and let rest overnight, until the raisins are needed.

Prepare the walnuts
If your walnuts are freshly cracked, toast them lightly in a dry pan, shaking the pan often.

Otherwise, in her “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone”, Deborah Madison gives instructions on how to treat walnuts to improve their flavor when they aren't freshly cracked, and make them less irritating for people who are sensitive to their skins. Bring a pan of water to a boil, add walnuts and let them stand for one minute, then drain them and absorb the excess moisture with a towel. Finally, spread the walnuts on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and place them in the oven preheated to 300 F / 150 C until they have dried out, 15-20 minutes. Remove them from the oven as soon as they are dry. (I do this for 6-8 oz. / 170-225 g walnuts at a time, since I use walnuts often in my recipes. Store walnuts in the refrigerator.)

Prepare the dough
I start making the bread early in the morning, so I am sure the boule will be baked and thoroughly cooled by dinner time.

Chop prepared walnuts with a knife. Drain the raisins.

Add the flours and stir with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk.

Add walnuts and raisins and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle salt on the surface.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 5 minutes. In the meantime, oil well a plastic tub with lid where you will transfer the dough when fully mixed.

Wet the spoon (if using it) and mix dough until it is homogeneous.

Transfer the dough to the oiled tub. With wet hands, letter-fold the dough and then flip it to oil the surface. This is your time 0. Cover the tub and let rest for 45 minutes.

This very nice video on The SF Baking Institute website describes and shows a couple of important techniques I apply to bread dough.

Stretching and folding: as Mac says in the video, the stretching part is of fundamental importance in gluten development
Pre-shaping and shaping rounds (useful for later)

The video is not long, but if you don't have time to watch it in its entirety, you can start at 4':30" and watch about 8 minutes until Mac shows how to shape a boule.

A) Stretch and fold the dough in the tub along both sides.
B) Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Repeat A and B two more times, at which point you will be at time 3 hours.

Check gluten development by stretching a corner of the dough to make a windowpane. If you don't get a windowpane, let dough ferment a little longer.

Shape the bread
Lightly flour your working surface and transfer dough onto it. Use a bench scraper to help you move and turn the dough.

Let pre-shaped round rest for 20 minutes, covered (I leave it on the kneading board and cover it with the plastic tub turned upside down).

Gently flip the dough and place it seam side up into the prepared basket. Cover (I use a clean shower cap for this) and let dough rest until doubled in size (also, until a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists), in my case 3 to 4 hours, depending on the room temperature.

Prepare the oven
You can bake this bread on tiles and use your preferred method for creating steam in the oven, or you can use a lidded 5-Qt cast-iron Dutch oven. I have used both methods with success and will describe the latter method here, which is easier and works well.

Place the lidded cast-iron Dutch oven in the cold oven. Preheat the oven to 475 F /245 C.

DSC_4979 / walnut raisin sourdough bread

star-shaped scoring using scissors

DSC_4986 / walnut raisin sourdough bread

baked on tiles

This bread is simply magnificent. The balance of ingredients is perfect, in my opinion.

Resist the temptation to add more raisins or more walnuts: you want to taste bread first and foremost. The additions have a supportive role and should not steal the show.

You can serve this bread with anything: a bowl of soup will love it, cheese will be thrilled to be paired with it, salame, prosciutto or bresaola will be its best friends. It is perfect to fare la scarpetta and above all, it enchants when tasted solo.

I am sending this bread to the June edition of Panissimo, a monthly event created by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena? and hosted this month by Valentina of Non di solo pane.

And to the monthly showcase Sourdough and Yeast by Wisla (in Polish). The roundup of the event.

Finally, to Yeastspotting. This page contains the first part of the roundup and links to the other two parts.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pane al lievito naturale con uvetta e noci

or launch the pane al lievito naturale con uvetta e noci audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

bread, homemade bread, sourdough