Potato-Rosemary Rolls

I am sure by now many of you are wondering if I secretly work for Peter Reinhardt… well, no. I just only own his baking book, and I am somewhat obsessed with trying to only eat breads made from whole wheat (good recipes for 100% whole wheat are rather difficult to find). So, I eagerly embarked on yet another adventure in delayed fermentation method bread making, this time finally attempting the Potato Rosemary bread that I have wanted to try for some time. Using Thanks Giving as my excuse, I ended up making 25 dinner rolls (all knotted up).

The dough itself was time consuming to make. First I had to boil a potato, which, though it doesn’t take much time still added a day to my planning. Then, on day two I simply made the soaker and biga as always (using the potato water from the night before). Unfortunately, I did not plan ahead properly and ran out of water, so I mixed some filtered water in to fill out the recipe. But that was only a minor logistical mistake; my forgetting to roast the garlic was a bit more of an annoyance. As a result, I ended up spending a lot more time than I anticipated roasting garlic (I chose the option of adding roasted garlic and pepper), cleaning rosemary and preparing the ingredients to be mixed. And then came day three, time to form the rolls. As I said, I ended up making 25 rolls, all knotted. To do so I had to roll a small section of dough into a rope, then tie that rope into a knot. Once risen, I brushed them with an egg white wash (I should have used more so the crust would have been glossier) and sprinkled sesame seeds over half of them.

The end result was definitely worth the labor. Fresh they were delicious, with enough flavors to merit eating without anything else. However, the subtle rosemary, garlic and pepper flavor and pillowy soft interior called for dipping in olive oil or soup (both of which paired perfectly with the rolls). I am even thinking of using them for burger rolls (doubling their size of the rolls of course) at some point in the future. And along side the turkey, stuffing and gravy at the Thanksgiving table (why I baked them in the first place)… the dinner rolls were perfectly at home. All in all this has been my favorite bread to date, even with the added labor and time.


Difficulty: Difficult

From: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Tips:

1) Plan ahead to limit the time in the kitchen.
2) Use more water than is recommended when boiling the potatoes since some water will boil off.
3) I found it helpful to mash the roasted garlic into the potatoes – as if making garlic mash potatoes. It made incorporating the garlic into the dough a little easier.
4) Get parchment paper – well worth the expense for lining trays when baking rolls.

Multi-Grain Hearth Bread

Building on my repertoire of Peter Reinhardt breads, I tried the hearth version of a multi-grain bread. Being a hearth style bread, it was lean (like the bagettes), but this time I used oil and honey to soften the crust slightly and lend a little sweetness. For the grains I used cooked whole grain rice, rolled oats (yes the type used for oat meal), and some corn meal. I used about even quantities of each (though slightly more rolled oats), which comprised a large portion of the soaker. As a result, the soaker was fairly drippy at first, though it did solidify somewhat overnight. For the final loaves, I chose to form two batards – baking them directly on my baking stone.

As a whole this bread turned out very well, soft interior and crisp crust (without being overly hard). It went excellently both as a sandwich bread and also just plainly with cheese. Actually goat cheese seemed to lend the perfect blend of flavor with this bread. All in all I think this was a far more successful departure into the multi-grain style of breads than the Anadama Bread I had previously made, and I plan on experimenting with a variety of different grains and possibly switching to the sandwich style (adding milk into the soaker). The only real disappointment I had was with the forming of the loaves themselves, but that is really just my ineptness as a sculptor. I think next time I make a free-standing loaf, I will just make a single batard.

Difficulty: Average

From: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Tips:

1) If you plan on using larger grains like whole grain rice, it is best to precook them.
For cooking rice I was recently taught a very helpful trick. Place your hand on the rice (in the pot/rice cooker) and pour the water into the pot/rice cooker until it reaches your knuckles… then you have the perfect amount of water.

2) Smaller grains (like rolled oats, corn meal, or any type of other flour…) can all be used without precooking them.

Anadama Bread

Wanting to break free of the monotony of the constantly making 100% whole wheat, I decided to try a variation in the Reinhart book. For this bread, the soaker is made with a significant amount of cornmeal and instead of honey I used molasses. Aside from that the process was pretty much the same as the 100% whole wheat bread. The end result was tasteful, though more crumbly than a more traditional whole wheat bread. Because of the cornmeal, gluten could not form in the way that bonds normally exist in bread. I personally think that this bread would make better buns than sandwich bread. Then again I also probably didn’t hydrate the yeast properly and I used regular filtered water instead of potato water.

Difficulty: Average

from: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Whole-Wheat Bagettes (Peter Reinhardt)

Using yet another variation of Reinhardts 100% whole wheat bread I tried the leaner hearth style bread, forming it into 4 bagettes (mini bagettes…). In this recipe there is no milk, honey, or oil, just water, flour, and yeast. Baking at higher temperatures and using a steam pan, the crust turned out thick and nutty with a soft , creamy interior. I think I left the bread in the oven a bit too long, leading to a much thicker and harder crust than it should have had, but even over-baked, I am extremely happy with these bagettes, they are perfect for dipping in soup.

Difficulty: Easy

from: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Tips:
1. careful with the baking times and going by temperature alone in deciding when the bagettes are done.

Adding Potato Water

The miracles of potatoes… well sweet potatoes in this case. Returning to the whole wheat bread recipe from Peter Reinhardt I switched all the water in the recipe to water left over from boiling sweet potatoes. Aside from that I stuck with the exact same choices I made with my previous whole-wheat loaf. The end result was even better than the last time, but I am not sure if it is because I am better at making bread or the sweet potato water. As an added bonus, the crust turned out crisp and delicious from the steam/hearth technique, which performed better than ever.

Difficulty: average.

from: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Tips:
1) next time you boil potatoes, freeze a cup of the water after it cools.

Peter Reinhart’s - Whole Wheat Mash Bread

Disaster. That word ran through my head over and over this past weekend (and yes part of it was from watching the Eagles give away yet another game to the undeserving team whose name we will not mention). Disaster, first when the mash did not resemble the gravy like characteristics described in the book, but instead it had more of a cream of wheat texture. Then when I tasted it before and after, there was not a distinct increase in sweetness as described in the book. But I had put 3 hours into this bread already so there was no turning back at this point.

I think I should take a step back at this point, and answer the question of: why on earth would I go through the trouble of attempting to make a mash based bread. Well, for one I wanted to use a mash in order to begin to build a sour dough starter, and thus needed to learn how to make a mash. Secondly, it was supposed to taste better and have a smoother, creamier texture. To me both are good enough reasons in and of themselves, so why not give it a shot…

So, the weekend drug on and I eventually found the time to make a biga, this time using buttermilk to compensate for the lack of a starter. I woke up the next morning and was terrified to find that it hadn’t risen at all… but after pulling it out of the fridge it rose as it warmed up. So with my heart thumping, that disaster was avoided, and I was at least confident the biga was acting somewhat as expected and began to do the final mix.

Two hours and two rises later, a freshly risen panned loaf of bread sat in my hand as I opened what should have been a preheated oven… but no it was cold. Disaster. Not only had the pilot gone out, but in the process of getting that fixed another leak in the old stove was discovered and fixed as my panned/risen loaf sat in the fridge. I came back to it the following morning, hoping that it was salvageable (Disaster) only to find that it had shrunken nearly to its original size. Three hours after pulling it out of the fridge it had finally re-risen slightly, but not nearly as much as before, or as I hoped. So I slid it into the oven and waited to see what would happen.

The end result was dense, mainly because of it falling in the fridge (probably due to yeasts dying in the fridge over night), with a slightly sour flavor. But despite all of the issues and failures and miss steps, the bread still had a creamy texture. In the end, I think I need to try this again being much more careful with the initial mash, as far as the other issues – I am amazed that it did as well as it did despite being panned for over 12 hours. And I am still really happy that I was able to get that creamy texture that has been so elusive so far, even if the loaf, on the whole, was a failure.

Difficulty: Difficult

from: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.


Tips:
1. Make sure you have plenty of time – making a mash is time consuming.
2. If using a biga and active dry yeast - activate your yeast first in 2 tablespoons of water before mixing it with the flour and buttermilk.

Rustico Cooking’s Focaccia alla Ligure

This was my very first attempt at baking bread. I can not remember now how or why I stumbled upon the webpage, but after reading the introduction about how to bake and reading the simplicity of how Focaccia is made I just had to try it. (Well that and the excess flour that we had sitting around as it approached its spoilage time…) Fumbling around the kitchen, completely unsure of what I was doing, and constantly doubting every move I made I somehow got the ingredients together, the dough rose as expected (which I have to admit made me very excited), and it was in the oven after I brushed rosemary onto the top. The end result was a simple, quick and delicious focaccia: a perfect introduction to baking, or a simple compliment to any meal.

From: www.rusticocooking.com/breads


Difficulty: easy

Tips:
1) I would start with this if you have never baked before
2) I would also add in more spices next time, I found that simply brushing the rosemary on top didn’t impart the flavor they way I had desired (plus they tend to fall off).