8.28.2010

Bread: School lunch edition

It's the new school year, and, another year of school lunches.

Frankie's bread preferences for school lunch aren't in sync with what I've given her.  She's currently in a PB&J phase and her bread of choice is the Giant Eagle "Italian."  It's a squishy white semolina loaf with, dare I say, a very nice flavor.

I'm no snob when it comes to bread.  I like my crusty artisan loaves and crackly baguettes, but I do love white squishy bread (and boloney and mustard).  However, white bread has always been an insurmountable challenge. I've never been able to reproduce it in my kitchen.  I dismissed it as an industrial process formulated with secret knowledge only Dick Cheney is privy to.

This morning, I studied all the labels in Giant Eagle's bread case and tried to identify the ingredients responsible for: volume, moisture retention, sweetness, texture and a preservative - although, if it's good, the preservative won't matter.  Any loaf, good or manufactured will last at least a couple days.  I was pleasantly surprised that I recognized most ingredients in the loaf she liked; my pursuit gained importance.  The toughest attribute to reproduce in a home kitchen is volume.  I've never been able to get that one.  Moisture retention can come from whole grains, even in a low concentration (bulgur, semolina).  Texture is usually tight, indicative of a fast straight dough process, also easy to reproduce.  Sweetness - also pretty easy, a handful of sweeteners are all you need to play with.

Formulating any new dough, I start with 600 grams grain : 400 grams liquid (my standard starting place = 67% hydration) and a notepad.

Recipe
water, 390 g, near boiling
white vinegar, 10 g
bulgur, medium grind, 10 g
semolina, fine smeed, 40 g
salt, 10 g
yeast, dried, 1 packet (contains ascorbic acid)
vegetable oil, 20 g
sugar, 10 g
dextrose, 10 g
unbleached white, Montana Sapphire, 560 g

Process particulars
Straight dough method.  Hot water and bulgur set until water cooled to 120°F.  Then added everything and spun it in a bread machine dough cycle for 7 minutes, dumped into a container to rise at room temperature for an hour.  Punched down and let rest for 20 minutes.  Shaped into a batard on a floured counter and covered for 20 minutes.  Slid whole thing onto my perforated stainless flat baking sheet.

Baking
Baked in preheated 425°F with 2 tablespoons water tossed in bottom for steam shot.  After 5 minutes, cooled oven to 400 and let cook 40 minutes.  After a few minutes, placed a loose foil tent over the top to prevent dark browning.  Pale is the kid's preference.

Removed from the oven, let cool an hour and sliced.
Giant Eagle                                              Mine

Conclusions
Texture inside looks spot on.
Crust: tougher and more crisp than store bought
Taste?  Kid will check it tonight at dinner.
Wife suggested cooler baking temperature and I think maybe a tad more shortening.
Any ideas?

Post mortem
Kid never got to taste it.  It was obviously not the squishy white bread I yearned to make.  I think the recipe was good, but the loaf was crustier, drier and didn't age well.  I'll be trying different baking methods and will report back if I get something closer.

8.24.2010

todo

My culinary todo list:
1.  Harvest my rapidly growing basil and keep drying it for use in all things ragu (this is kinda done/in progress and not new but cool to me).
2.  My mother just made us a free form Challah that was amazing.  It reminded me that one not always braid said bread just because.  A free form boule took on a beautiful newness.  I'll be making it regularly for the kid's lunches.  Thanks Ma.
3.  As the weather cools down, I'll be cranking up direct grilling, i.e., roasted roots.
4.  Hunting for some good cucumbers to try out some pickling recipes found on Twitter (@1kitchen1girl).
5.  More Firedome pizza!  No new mods, far from perfect, but, it's done.  Despite the dearth of posts, I've been trying lots on it and I think I've got it as good as it'll go - and I'm happy with it (almost).
6.  Been watching pretzel making vids on YouTube and I'm almost ready to break out the lye.  I can't wait!!
7.  School's starting and the largely European teachers of my girl's school are in for some treats.  Overnight baking and all.

Ambitious list, stay tuned.

Alton's vid on pretzels using NaHCO3, he wimps out on properly using lye.