World Bread Day 2010

And now, in this very special occasion, I introduce you... the BAGUETTE (sort of...)!

Zorra has announced here the 5th World Bread Day and I'm very proud to partecipate (thank you Cindy for let me know ;) ).

And this is my little contribution for you all:

BAGUETTE con AUTOLISI

(qui trovate l'originale in italiano, thanks to Adriano Continisio: Adriano, you're my baking hero :) )

Ingredients:

250 g Manitoba flour (W300*)

250 g white flour (W250*)

315/350 g water

10 g salt

5 g yeast

Instructions:

At 4 p.m.

Knead 150 g of the Manitoba flour with 95 g of water in the mixer (a "heavy-duty" one, such a kenwood or a kitchenaid or similar) a vel. 1 for 5 minutes. Cover the dough.

Prepare a "biga": mix 100 g of the manitoba flour, 45 g of water, 1 g of yeast.

Let the two doughs overnight at 18°C (64°F).

At 8 a.m.

Dissolve 4 g of yeast into 100 g of lightly warm water, add 100 g of flour, cover and let rise at 26°C (79°F) for 1 1/2 hour.

Add the remaining flour, 75 g of water and mix at vel. 1 with the "leaf" (see the pics below), add the salt.

After some minutes, insert the "biga", at big chunks, and short after the other dough.

When you have a good dough, insert the hook and mix at vel. 1,5 for 3-5 minutes (until the dough will be smooth and shiny). Now, if you think necessary, insert the rest of the water (35 g), slowly.

Turn the dough on a floured surface and knead it for a couple of minutes. Cover for 45 minutes.

Fold the dough in three, as a envelope:

and let stand another 45 minutes.

Divide the dough in three and cover with a bowl (or a plastic film), let stand for 15 minutes.

Flatten very very gently the doughs in a square and then roll them up as you can see in the pics:

Form the baguette and let them rest in a floured dishcloth until doubled (60-90 minutes).

Heat the oven at 220°C with a bowl of water inside , slice the surface of the baguette with a blade and put them in the oven.

After 10 minutes remove the water and lower the temperature at 180°C

Cook for 15 minutes more and let them cool before serving.

Enjoy the World Bread Baking Day!

* the numbers represent the force of the flour, but usually you can find such information only in flours for professional use.

Resta di stucco... è un barbatrucco!

La ricetta è davvero super-classica...

Sostanzialmente qualsiasi ricetta va bene, basta che facciate metà dose con la farina di semola di grano duro e l'altra metà dose con una farina integrale (integrale, farro,..)

Il "barba-trucco" consiste nello stendere i 2 tipi di pasta dopo una prima lievitazione da 1 ora e sovrapporli. Poi si arrotolano assieme e si lasciano lievitare ancora per un'ora.

Il risultato, dopo la cottura (a 200° per 40 minuti) sarà il seguente:

Se proprio volete sapere qualche dritta...

Ingredienti:

PARTE BIANCA

200 g di farina di semola di grano duro;

100 g di farina O (meglio manitoba);

120 g di acqua (iniziate con 100 g e poi aumentate fino ad ottenere la consistenza voluta dell'impasto)

1/4 di cubetto di lievito (panetto da 25 g)

sale, zucchero, olio

PARTE SCURA

250 g di farina integrale;

50 g di farina manitoba;

... il resto è come sopra...

BBD #10: Breakfast Bread! Sweet Dough by Richard Bertinet

Really really thank to Melissa for hosting this month BBD and I am really grateful to her for choosing such a delicious theme!

I found this recipe in the Gourmet site, with a really helpful video, too!

Here you can find the original recipe and here the video, featuring Richard Bertinet. I just add that it is really wonderful: texture, taste,.. it has been, since my discovering the recipe, my favourite breakfast bread, with just a hint of sweetness (not too much, however), perfect with my homemade plum jam.

With such a breakfast bread, it can't be a bad day, even on Mondays!!

I offer to you the recipe, converted in metric mesurement, but I strongly suggest to check the video: it really helps!

Ingredients:

240 ml whole milk
14 g fresh yeast

500 g bread flour
56 g unsalted butter, softened
45 g superfine granulated sugar
10 g teaspoons salt
2 large eggs

"Equipment:
a flexible plastic bowl scraper

Instructions:

heat milk until just warm. Rub yeast into flour in a large bowl, then rub in butter. Stir in sugar and salt. Fold in milk and eggs with bowl scraper, rotating bowl, until liquid is absorbed and a wet, sticky dough forms. (Dough will be wetter than most you’ve encountered).

Scrape dough out onto an unfloured surface.

(Dough will be a sticky mess. Don’t be tempted to add more flour. By working the dough through a process of repeatedly stretching and folding it over onto itself, trapping air, dough will become cohesive and supple.).
Slide your fingers underneath both sides of dough with your thumbs on top. Lift dough up (to about chest level) with your thumbs toward you, letting dough hang slightly. In a continuous motion, swing dough down, slapping bottom of dough onto surface, then stretch dough up and back over itself in an arc to trap in air. Repeat lifting, slapping, and stretching, scraping surface with flat side of bowl scraper as needed, until dough is supple, cohesive, and starts to bounce slightly off of surface without sticking, about 8 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured clean surface. Form into a ball by folding each edge, in turn, into center of dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating ball as you go. Turn ball over and transfer to a lightly floured bowl and cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour."

Then pre-heat the oven to 200 °C (392°F), shape the dough as you prefer (I usually shape braid) and bake them until lighlty brown, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy the delicious smell in your kitchen, then open a jar of the best jam you own - but chocolate cream, for instance nutella, will be just as effective ;) - and indulge!

Bread Baking Day #9 - Breads with Oats!

NO KNEAD OAT BREAD

Here you can find the history and the credits of this recipe.
I usually make this bread in the Cindystar’s version. Of course, for the BBD#9 I added oat grains.

The “secret” of this recipe is simple: let the time does your work! It’s a song to slow life… ;)

Ingredients:
500 g flour (you can mix various type)
50 g oat-grains, (soaked overnight and well drained)
350 ml water
1 teaspoon salt
3 g brewer’s yeast (yes, just 3 g!)

The night before: soak oat in warm water. Mix in a large bowl flour and salt, then add the yeast dissolved in some water out of the 350 ml. Eventually add the remaining water and mix just until roughly combined.

Let it rise, covered, all the night.

The morning after: drain very well the oat. Turn the dough on a well-floured surface, flatten it lightly and spread evenly the grains. Fold the corners of the dough towards the centre, hiding the oat.
Close the dough in a well-floured towel and let it rise for 2 hours.

Half an hour before the end of rising, heat the oven (230°C – 450°F) and put inside a pan covered with a lid.
When the oven (and the pot) is very hot, take out the pot, uncover it, open the towel and with its help overturn the dough in the hot pot (the dough will be very soft). Work quickly in order to prevent the pot cooling, but beware of burns!
(I suggest you to check the very helpful Cindystar’s pictures!)
Put the lid on the pot, insert it in the oven and let it cook for 20-30 minutes. Then uncover the pot and let it cook about 15 minutes. (Exact time depends on the oven type).

Good Bread Baking Day!!!

Fugassa for the Bread Baking Day!

Questa volta in inglese, in onore del bread baking day ospitato da Wild Yeast… Fugassa è il termine dialettale veneto per “focaccia” ed è il tipico dolce pasquale di una zona piuttosto vasta che comprende anche il Friuli, dove tradizionalmente si portavano le focacce a far cuocere dal panettiere del paese.

This time in (my poor) English, in honour of the Bread Baking Day, hosted this month in the Wild Yeast’s blog…“Fugassa” is the Venetian word for “focaccia”, but it means a sweet bread with butter and eggs, not a salted flatbread as the “Focaccia Genovese”. It’s a typical Easter cake in all the Triveneto: Veneto, Trentino, and here in Friuli, too, where the housewives carried the “fugassa” to the bakery for cooking.

Ingredients:
150 g of a spare bread dough… already rised.
500 g flour (00, or all purpose)
150 g butter
150 g sugar
Finely grated lemon zest (1 lemon)
Finely grated orange zest (1 orange)
Vanilla flavour
10 g brewer’s yeast
5 eggs
Milk, salt.

For the frosting (if you like it):
50 g almond, 50 g granular sugar

(I divided all quantities in half)

USEFUL TIP: weigh the ingredients beforehand and put them aside, so you can take away the quantities for the various rise without lose the total amount!

Dissolve the yeast in a little milk, warmed, add 150 g flour and knead it together with the spare dough. Let it rise for at least 1 hour, covered.

After the first rise, add 150 g flour, 75 g softened butter, 2 whole eggs and a yolk (don’t throw away the white!) and knead it vigorously for 10 minutes (if you have a kenwood, or a kitchenaid or similar “heavy duty” mixer, that’s its time to work!!!).
Cover the dough and let it rise another hour.

After 1 hour (or so… let the dough have time to double) add all the remain ingredients and work the dough vigorously (or let the mixer do it for you… oh, I love technology!) for at least 10 minutes (the mixture must be homogeneous and stretchy). Cover the dough and let it rise for another 1½ hour (no, sorry, that’s not the last time…).

After that, break the rising, work the dough few minutes and shape it round.
Put the “fugassa” in a circular mould and cut a cross with a sharp blade. Whip stiff the spare albumen and add the almonds (I didn’t do the icing, because my husband doesn’t like almonds…). Spread the frosting on top of the “fugassa” and let it… yes, rise for 40 minutes, but I assure you it’s the very last time!

Spread the granular sugar and bake it in the oven (already hot: 180°) for 50 minutes ca.

Happy Easter!