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I’ve been making mostly all white flour breads while down here this visit in Florida.  That has been because most of the baking has been for dinner parties and I never know if guests will appreciate whole grains in their bread. So for this bake I decided to sneak a bit of KA WW into the dough, 20%.  This shouldn’t affect the softness of the rolls significantly and with the cheddar cheese both in and on the rolls I figured that they wouldn’t be able to taste the WW much at all.  I decided to put 6 g of shredded cheddar cheese inside each roll.  The void left by the cheese when the rolls baked was the only thing I didn’t like about these rolls.  Perhaps in the future I’ll just put the shredded cheese on the rolls or just incorporate the cheese into the dough.

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For four by six rolls in a 7.5 x 11.5” pan

egg wash: 1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk, beaten…

Shredded cheddar cheese 

Prepare levain the night before or if preparing early in the day, refrigerate up to 1 day before use.

Cook Tangzhong mixing WW flour and milk constantly until it becomes a thick roux.  Let cool before adding to final dough.  Or add to cold milk and egg to cool it down.

Blend room temperature butter and flour (30 g) together and set aside to incorporate after the dough is well developed.

Whisk together dry ingredients flour, sugar and salt.

To mix by hand, add the salt and sugar to the wet ingredients (milk, tangzhong and egg) to dissolve.  Next add the bread flour (190 g), WW flour and mix with a silicone spatula until no dry flour remains.  Rest 10-20 mins.  Next perform French folds until the dough is well developed.  Smear the blended butter/flour onto the dough and then fold to incorporate and then perform further French folds until well developed.  Gradually add the mashed potato and knead to incorporate it well into the dough.  Form into a tight ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a damp cloth @ 82°F for 2-3 hours, some rise will be visible. Alternatively, you could mix the mashed potato and butter and then add the mixture to the developed dough until well incorporated.

Butter a large baking pan or line the pan with parchment.  Punch the dough down and then divide into 24 equal portions.  Form each into tight boules filling each with some shredded cheddar cheese.  I put about 6 g of shredded cheddar into each roll. Place in the buttered baking pan seem side down.  Cover them and allow them to fully proof about 4-6 hours, they should pass the poke test.

About 30 mins before the end of proofing time, whisk your remaining egg and milk and then brush the small boules.

About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.  If you have shredded cheddar left you can sprinkle some over the rolls as well if you like.

Bake the rolls uncovered for 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your rolls get brown early in the baking process.

Remove the bread from the oven but not the pans and then let cool for 10 minutes before pulling the bread from the pans. You may need to slide a butter knife down the sides of the pan to loosen the bread, but I have found parchment paper to be unnecessary if you greased the pan with butter well. 

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My index of bakes

We had another dinner party for a few of our friends last evening.  For dessert I decided to make another graham crust pie since the last one turned out so well.  I reduced the sugar in the graham crust recipe down from 50 g to 20 g.  I had read somewhere that the sugar was necessary for the structure of the crust so I was hesitant to eliminate it completely.  Having now tried only 20 g I think I could eliminate this additional sugar completely.  As I wrote before, the graham crackers I have here that were recommended are already quite sweet and the crust is quite sweet.  Next time I’ll try without any added sugar unless I try a different brand of crackers that are less sweet.

I’ve always wanted to make a pie with mango filling so when I found this recipe I had to try it.  The recipe calls for mango purée which is great because I found bags of this at the local Winn Dixie.  After tasting it I found it to be underwhelming, the mangoes puréed must not have been that ripe.  In the future I would buy frozen mango or fresh if available and use my food processor to purée them, however, here in Florida we do not have a food processor.  To compensate for the lack of sweetness of the mango puree I added an additional two tsp of sugar.

In the end the pie turned out quite well and was enjoyed by all.  I wanted to add some additional tropical flavour so purchased a can of coconut cream to make whipped lime coconut topping for the pie.  However, there was something strange about the can of coconut cream and it wouldn’t whip properly.  In the future I’ll do what I would normally do and just buy full fat coconut milk, refrigerate it to allow the cream to separate from the coconut water, then use that firm cream to make the whip.  It would also be smart to purchase a back up can in case the first can doesn’t separate well as can happen.  I did try to thicken the coconut cream by adding corn starch, but that wasn’t sufficient.  In the end I did buy some whipped cream and added some lime juice and zest to top the pie.

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Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar (try reducing as this is quite sweet, not sure if can eliminate completely so try using only 20-25g which worked perfectly could go down to 10 g or zero next time)
• 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

1. If you’re starting out with full graham crackers, use a food processor or blender to grind them into fine crumbs. You can also place them in a zip-top bag and crush them into fine crumbs with a little arm muscle and a rolling pin.
2. Stir the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl, and then with a fork, stir in the melted butter. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks.
3. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch, 9-inch, or 10-inch pie dish, cake pan, springform pan, or square pan. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tip: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. If making a pie, run a spoon around the bottom “corner” where the edge and bottom meet to help make a rounded crust⁠—this helps prevent the crust from falling apart when you cut slices.
4. For a baked dessert, pre-bake this crust per your filling recipe’s directions. I usually pre-bake for at least 10 minutes at 350°F (177°C). For a no-bake dessert, cool the crust completely before using, unless your filling’s recipe instructs otherwise.

FOR THE FILLING

1½ cups unsweetened frozen mango puree (from a 14-ounce package), thawed

6 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon cornstarch

½ cup sugar

¼ cup fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pinch of kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Whipped cream, for topping

Instructions

1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350˚. Break the graham crackers into pieces, then pulse in a food processor with the sugar and salt until finely ground; drizzle in the melted butter and pulse to combine. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes, then transfer to a rack and let cool. Leave the oven on.

2. Make the filling: Whisk together the mango puree, whole eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, lime juice, lemon juice and salt in a medium saucepan until combined and smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture begins to thicken and it resembles a thin pancake batter, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.

3. Place the cooled crust on a rimmed baking sheet. Strain the filling through a fine-mesh sieve directly into the crust. Bake until the filling is set but the center is still jiggly, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled and the filling is completely set, 4 to 6 hours. Slice and serve with the whipped cream.

Tart Tips

To make sure your crust is compact, use the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crumbs evenly into the pan.

Stir the filling constantly as it cooks and keep an eye on the heat—you don’t want the eggs to scramble.

For a silky smooth filling, strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve.

The tart will be jiggly when you take it out of the oven but it will set as it cools. Refrigerate until it’s completely set.

Make sure to taste your mango purée, if it isn’t that flavorful you’ll want to add more sugar.

My index of bakes

The recipe for the Borodinsky Bread by Beets & Bones begins with a scald/mash that is very similar to the one in the recipe by rus brot (see YT 9:08)

Here are the recipes:

Beets & Bones: original recipe  fgbc.dk/31o6   (hydration 98%)

     recipe with ingredients adjusted for clas  fgbc.dk/342i

rus brot: fgbc.dk/3126   (hydration 68-70%)

STEP 1: The scald/mash takes about 3 hours.  

From there, both recipes require about 5-6 more hours of preparation before baking.  The Beets & Bones dough is spread into the pan and the rus brot dough is shaped and pressed into the pan (see YT 23:00).

Here is a comparison of some slices from a couple of my attempts:

1) Beets & Bones:

2) rus brot

Note:

• Both were baked in the Zojirushi Bread Machine. Although the temps generated by the Bread machine (in comparison with those of a regular oven) are lower by 50-75F, the characteristic sag of the breads did not occur. I think it is due to the smaller dough amount baked and the round pan yielding slices of medium height (2.5").
• I used an equal weight of clas (plus 1/2 tsp DIY per 150 gr clas)  for the rye starter in Step 2 of the Beets & Bones recipe.

Textures: 1) soft, chewy and spicy; 2) firm and dense. (The hydrations differ by 30%.)

Neither are pasty or sludge like.

Variation with add-ins:

1. Roast Kabocha with olive oil in the oven and dice into small pieces as an add in. Include sugared orange peel and raisins too!  Mix in with the final dough just before filling the loaf pan. (2023-03-20) 

Inspired by a great post on Polish Pumpkin Rye.

This is a bread I made one year ago Saturday for my little sister, her favourite loaf....it was the last opportunity to bake for her, she died a few days later, March 9th, 2022 from multiple myeloma.  I miss her. 

Oat Flax Sourdough for Diane

• organic fresh milled Marquis heritage wheat, sifted, 500 g
• organic golden flax, coarse ground, soaked in hot water for an hour, 25 g
• organic cold rolled oats, cooked as porridge and cooled, 100 g
• sea salt, 10 g
• filtered water, 375 g 
• active starter, 115 g

I did a one hour autolyse, then mixed in the starter and did four series of folds over two hours.  After the first hour I added the salt, cooked oats and flax soaker.  After the bulk fermentation was complete the dough was turned out on the counter, rested for 15 minutes and then shaped.  The loaf was placed in a linen lined banneton with a little bit of rolled oats to coat the sides and cold proofed in the fridge overnight.  I baked the loaf in a pre-heated Le Creuset, 500 F for 22 minutes covered; 10 more minutes at 450 F then finished baking directly on an oven stone, 450 F for 20 minutes.