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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Along came a..

..bread that distracted my attention from the experiment at hand. After looking at the 65 deg. C bread at Florence's Blog, I was mesmerised by its texture. I have always wanted to try out this water roux method but was not quite confident of getting the water roux starter right. Thanks to Florence, she put up the picture of the starter. Cleared my doubts about the starter. And thus, I present you this bread.

65 degC raisin loaf 2

65 deg C raisin loaf

Basically, I used my Cucina mixer cum 'arm power' to knead the dough as I do not have a bread maker machine. I made some adjustments to the recipe as I do not have an electronic weighing scale. Initially, everything went well, the dough was smooth.. blah.. blah.. blah.. but it took like forever to get to the membrane stage. Alternating between the mixer and hand knead, it must have took me around an hour (maybe this will help me to tone up my flabby arms). Then came the scare; when I added the raisins, the dough no longer looked smooth and was abit sticky.

After 1st proving, the surface didn't look too good either, I mean not like my previous experience with Straight Dough method and Sponge Dough method. I roll the dough like swiss roll, put into the tin and waited for 2nd proving. It rised but not as tall as I expected. Too late to do anything now. Heck care, just chuck it into the oven and bake. Oops.. erm.. in my haste, I forgot about the egg wash. XD

Anyhow, the bread turned out to be soft and fluffy, I kept poking at it to ensure that it didn't lose its fluffiness. In fact, I did that again before I post this.

65 deg. C or Water Roux Raisin Loaf

For water roux starter : (1 part flour : 5 part water)
50g Bread flour
250ml Water

1) Mix flour and water till it is smooth in a steel bowl. Using double boil method, whisk the mixture constantly.

2) Keep stirring till you see streaks left by the whisk. Remove from heat and leave aside to cool to room temperature.

*Note : Refrigerate the leftover water roux starter and use within 3 days. Discard when the starter turned greyish.

**Note : I used double boil method as I was unsure of controlling direct heat.

For the main dough : (yields about 600g of dough before baking)
Ingredients
(A)
250g Bread flour
20g Sugar
1 tbsp Milk Powder
2 tsp Instant Yeast

(B)
80g Water Roux Starter
100ml Water

(C)
1 tbsp Corn Oil
1/4 tsp Salt

(D)
50g Raisin (soak in water to plump them up)

Method (Based on using Philip Cucina Mixer)

1) Mix (A) with spatula in the mixing bowl. Use dough hook for mixer. Turn on mixer (speed 1) and add in (B). Beat for about 5 mins at speed 3.

2) Rest the machine for 5 mins. Meantime, knead the dough by hand in the bowl (wear plastic gloves). Turn the machine (speed 3) on for about 3 minutes.

3) Rest machine again while you add corn oil. Use the spatula to incorporate most of the oil into the dough. Turn on the mixer (speed 3) and add salt. Beat for another 5 minutes.

4) Repeat step (2) until dough reaches membrane stage. Add in the raisins towards the end of kneading.

5) Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for first proving for about an hour. Meantime, grease the loaf tin. To check if first proving is complete, put some flour on your finger and press into the dough. The hole should hold its shape.

6) Take out the dough and transfer to a slightly floured surface. Roll into a rectangle shape and roll up like a swiss roll, place into the loaf tin.

7) Let it rise for another hour. Apply egg wash or milk (I forgot). Bake at 170 degrees C for 25 to 30 minutes.

I wouldn't say I have achieved 100% success for this bread. I am still unfamiliar with the dough texture. And I read on the net that the starter is best used after 24 hours, I used it straight after cooling down. Now, I need someone to finish up the bread real quick so I can use up the leftover starter. :p

それじゃ~~

8 comments:

Yuri said...

Hey rei, well done! I'm so inspired to try baking bread. Going to get a breadmaker (on loan from bro-in-law) and try. Be sure to be bombarded with queries from me wor

KWF said...

don't worry, yuri, I'll start bombarding her first....heee...

rei, you very "fast hand fast leg" leh! I'm gg to try Florence's Tang Zhong also. I understand from Florence that we can incorporate this TZ into any bread recipe. Do we need to increase the liquid content or just leave all orginal ingredients as it is?

Rei said...

Yuri, I try lah, the experiment is still incomplete. Still learning about this method. :)

WF, as the Cantonese aptly put, '走得快,好世界'. Ahahah.. On the contrary, I think the liquid content is being reduced. If you study the Florence's recipe, the starter is considered part of the water content. If going by the ratio of 1:5, in 80g of starter, water content is around +/-60~65ml. Remember the cream cheese bread recipe? You used 160g of water for 250g of bread flour. This theory applies too. That is why Florence's recipe is using 105ml water instead. Erm.. I think I'm beginning to sound like a scientist. :p

Florence said...

Rei,
Nice bread.
Keep on experimenting and let us know the results ok!
The golden bread recipe is 100% flour with a 62.8% water content, 3% yeast and 2% salt.
Of course, besides this golden recipe, you have to take into consideration the various methods for preparing the dough.
There is a old dough/pate fermentee method and the 72 hour low temperature fermentee which I would like to experiment later too!
Will share then.

Rei said...

Hi Florence, Thanks for sharing the golden bread recipe (黄金比例). Will keep that in mind. :D I heard of the old dough method before but have yet to try. Too many things on the to-do lists. Ahahah.. Really appreciate you sharing your experience with us.

KWF said...

Wow, thanks rei and florence! Now I understand bread a little more.

rei, I'm still stuck with the mochi bread experiment. haven't got it right yet. :( I've tried 3 batches already. Sigh...

Cookie said...

Hi Rei, when you knead this by hand, did you have to keep adding flour?

I find my dough very very stickly. So after 15min I give up kneading.

Cheers
Cookie

Rei said...

Cookie : Nope, I didn't have to add in more flour. I used the mixer to help me in the initial stage so by the time I knead by hand, the dough has already come together. If you weighed the ingredients correctly and still get sticky dough, it may be due to the flour's water absorption. If you need to add flour, just add bit by bit to get the texture.