I’ve been thinking about ice cream a lot lately since it has been so hot here in Toronto, really sticky humid. Going back to my childhood where we never had a single flavour ice cream in the house, it was always Neapolitan because no one could agree on a flavor. I was finally able to find freeze dried strawberries which is what I thought might work for the strawberry flavor and colour without adding too much liquid to the dough. For chocolate I used alkalinized dark cocoa powder. As I’ve done before I made one dough which is divided early on after French folding until full windowpane (I hand mix everything now). To one divided dough I mix in the freeze dried strawberries which I processed to a powder and to the other I add the cocoa powder. The three doughs are then rolled out, laminated and rolled out again. Strips are cut, twisted and then the whole thing rolled up.
The following for baking in a 9 x 4 x 4” Pullman pan no lid
11 g freeze dried strawberries process to a powder.
7 g dark cocoa powder (5%) with 10 g sugar
Overnight sweet levain
1:4:4
20 g starter 80 g water 80 g bread flour and 20 g sugar
fermented overnight at 70-72ºF
The next morning mix the following except for the butter.
282 g bread flour i
1 large egg
30 g sugar
126 g skim milk
30 g 2% plain Greek Yogurt
8 g salt
180 g levain
Total flour = 402 g
You will need an additional egg for an egg wash
30 g room temperature butter. Take out first thing in the morning.
After the butter hass softened mix it with 30 g of flour because this will make the butter far easier to incorporate.
Mix until fully incorporated and then rest to allow the flour to fully hydrate 15 mins. French folds until gluten fully developed. Then gradually add the blended butter flour slapping and folding until smooth.
Shape into a ball and divide into approximate thirds. Shape the largest third into a boule and set aside covered with a towel.
Take one dough ball and gradually add the strawberry powder, slap and fold until the strawberry is fairly even throughout the dough.
Take the final dough ball and gradually add the cocoa/sugar mix, slap and fold until the chocolate is even throughout the dough.
Lightly flour a work surface and the plain dough boule. Roll out to at least 12” in length and almost as wide as the length of your pan, set aside. Continue to do the same with the other two balls next rolling the strawberry dough out to 12” and placing that on top of the plain rolled out dough. Finally rolling the chocolate dough out again to 12” and finally placing that on top of the strawberry dough.
Using a ruler and pizza cutter, cut the dough into evenly wide strips about 1.5-2 cm wide along the length of the dough but leaving about 2-4 cm of dough uncut at the end furthest away from you. When all the strips are cut, twist the strips in alternating directions, clockwise and then counter clockwise. Once all the strips are twisted, roll the whole thing into a log starting furthest away from you getting a nice tight roll at the start. Once rolled transfer to your pullman pan on a parchment sling with the ends of the strips at the bottom.
Place in the proofing box set to 82-84ºF to proof until the dough comes to approximately 1 cm below the edge of the Pullman pan. This takes about 8-8.5 hours at 82ºF, the yeast isn’t likely to be osmotolerant so it will take longer than you would normally expect. You could consider spiking the dough with some IDY if you’re in a bit of a rush or want a less sour bread perhaps 0.5%.
At about 30 mins before you think your dough will be at 1 cm below the edge of the pan, preheat your oven to 355ºF with a rack or baking steel/stone on the lowest rack. At this time prepare an egg wash and gently brush it on the top of the dough. When the oven is ready 30 mins later, brush the top of the dough again with the egg wash. Bake for 45 mins turning once halfway through. Keep an eye on the top crust and be prepared to shield it with either aluminum foil or a cookie tray above if it is getting dark too soon. After 45 mins remove from the pan to check for doneness. Place the bread back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure that the crust on the sides is fully set and baked.
Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.
The dough is in the proofer now and I’ll update this post when it is baked.
Benny
