There have been a few failures in House Pistachio regarding bread and it boils down to this: patience.
Four epís that could be used as sai weapons, several baguettes that could be used to stop drafts under the door later; I discovered that Pate Fermentée was not the best place for me to start the Breadbaker’s Apprentice challenge.
So I moved on to Poolish. A ferment that is, shall we say, much more forgiving.
Let me back up here and explain that Reinhart’s book is a gem. I have been a great bread baker in the past. I started to learn how through Laurel’s Kitchen when I was a teenager. Now some thirty years later, I am relearning how to bake bread with Reinhart as my teacher, teaching me to become an artisan.
All of the breads begin with a fermented dough. Depending upon how much flavor you want, is how long you ferment the dough. Poolish is NOT a sourdough. This fermentation takes place in the fridge. The refrigerator acts as a dough retarder controlling the fermentation of yeast when proofing. Lowering the temperature of the dough produces a slower, longer rise with more varied fermentation which results in more complex flavors. It also creates the crumb which should develop holes and be light and airy making bread rather than bricks. When you are ready to use the ferment, you take it out, and measure it just like any other ingredient.
Measuring can be a challenge with the sticky Poolish ferment. It resembles The Blob. No really. It’s the best way to describe it. Moving psuedopodally (Is that a word? Let’s say it is…) out of the fermenting bowl and into the mixing bowl it is nearly impossible to measure unless you have a kitchen scale. Which I do and recommend owning one very highly if you are a serious cooking type person. The ferment’s not slimy, though, just sticky. Really, really sticky!
The second part of this journey is the shaping process. I made ciabatta which has several stages of shaping/rising. There is only one kneading in this process which I use my Kitchen Aid mixer for slave labor. This is because it’s a sticky mess (which I mentioned before–if you skipped around). Most of the kneading is actually mixing. The recipe says to mix for 5-7 minutes, then to switch to 2 minutes with the kneading hook.
To avoid burning out your mixer, do not mix/knead/whip for longer than five minutes at a time giving your mixer time to cool down.
Disregard the warning if you have a Kitchenaid Pro. I wish I had gotten one of those but it took me twenty years and three husbands to get the KitchenAid mixer I have, so I’ll shut up.
You stretch the dough for ciabatta and use a “couche” to allow it to rise. I did not spend the money on a fancy couche. I have a mother-in-law that weaves. She volunteers at the Graue Mill to demonstrate spinning and weaving. She wove me some lovely linen kitchen towels which are just as useful, thick as a traditional couche. I just flour the heck out of it. It works.
The last step is the oven process and prepare the home oven for hearth baking. I’m going to let Peter Reinhart explain that.
And then it comes out… and goes on your table.
Links:
http://www.tmbbaking.com/
http://www.thefreshloaf.com
http://peterreinhart.typepad.com/
