ADVANCED BREAD BAKING ONE BY DEAN BRETTSCHNEIDER

Back to school to enjoy the 2nd instalment of Christmas gift from my boss, Caspar.  2-day Advanced Bread Baking. Seriously intensive stuff.

Bread making is exhausting.  Was on my feet all day (10AM to 4PM) for both days.  Dean worked the class really hard.

And I loved every minute!

Day 1 (Saturday)

The very first thing we did was got started on the Pain Miche Sourdough.  The prep of sourdough begins with a levain (pre-ferment), a combination of flour and water made several hours (sometimes days) in advance of mixing the final dough.  In view of time, we didn't make the levain in class.  Instead, Dean provided each of us with with the amount of levain required in his recipe.

Miche is a combination of flours, levain, salt and chilled water, mixed together to form a dough.  Then left to proof for 3 hours.  There was a lot going on since we would be making 6 different breads over the two days.  So it was important that we marked our own doughs.

Mixed 11AM - Ferment 3 hours - Knock back 2PM - Rest for 1 hour - Scale 3PM

While Miche was proofing, we made baguettes.  I never knew baguettes could be done so quickly.  

Mixed 12PM - Proof 1 hour - Knock back 1PM - Rest for 30 min - Scale 1:30PM

My baguettes turned out weird-shaped.  Knew I had no talent all along! :-)

Churned out some Feta, Caramelised Garlic, Tomato & Basil Rolls using baguette dough.

Everything else needed long fermentation so the rest of the day was spent prepping for the breads that we would be making the following day:

o Ciabatta. Made a biga (Italian Starter) to be used in making ciabatta the following day.  The biga was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  Soaked the grains that would go into the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench.

o Beetroot & Thyme Bread.  Made a Starter dough using flour, instant yeast, dried thyme and cold water.  This was covered with plastic wrap and left under our work bench to ferment overnight.

o Pain Miche Sourdough.  After Miche was knocked back and had a chance to rest (for 1 hour), we placed it in a proofing basket and bid it good evening.  It would spend a night in the fridge for slow fermentation.

Day 2 (Sunday)

9:30AM: Arrived in class and saw that Miche had found its way from fridge to bench, where it had been waiting since 8AM.  

10:30AM: Into the oven goes Miche.

Having left Miche baking happily we proceeded to make the Fruit & Nut Rye Loaf, ciabatta, and Beetroot & Thyme Bread.

Here's how the Pain Miche Sourdough (made with rye, wholemeal and white flours) turned out.

Comparing crumb structures (from the top): baguette, ciabatta, sourdough

BASIC BREAD BAKING BY DEAN BRETTSCHNEIDER

Today I spent a day in Basic Bread Baking at Brettschneider's Baking & Cooking School.  It's Part One of a three-instalment Christmas gift from my boss, Caspar.  Aren't I lucky?

The fun foundation class is thought by Dean Brettschneider himself.  Today we learnt the technique of hand-kneading the dough.

Using the same basic white bread dough, we were able to create two breads of very different texture:

- White Bread loaf that is well-risen, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside.  The crumbs are small and evenly distributed;

- Fougasse that is more of a flatbread with larger, uneven crumbs.

We also made focaccia but mine is hanging its head in shame. :)

My take-away from today's workshop:

(1) If the dough feels very wet and sticky at the beginning, it is normal.  Don't immediately add flour to make it easier to handle.  The ingredients take time to mingle, make friends, and work magic together.

(2) Kneading is essential for a well-risen airy loaf.

(3) The secret of easy and effective kneading by hand is to rest for 30-45 seconds several times during the kneading process. This allows the elastic flour protein to relax a little before further kneading.

(4) For a fluffy loaf with a fine crumb (or 'holes'), the dough is given a "knock-back" in between proofing to expel the gas.

(5) For Fougasse the dough doesn't require knocking back, allowing gas to be trapped, thus creating the porous interior perfect for dipping into soup or soaking up gravy.

(6) Bake loaves (in a tin) on the lowest possible rack of the oven.

(7) Fougasse needs to be baked on the highest rack of the oven.

(8) Baking your bread in a steam oven gelatinizes starch on the outside layer of the dough, producing a bread with a crisp and evenly browned crust.

(9) Baking your bread on a pre-heated pizza stone gives the dough a strong shock of initial heat, puffing up the crust. 

I am very much looking forward to attending the Advanced Bread Baking One - 2 day Intensive.