Crackling crust experiment, failed.

Trying to make the elusive roll like the one on the right, and this baguette, I explored a boundary high humidity condition which was to be followed by dry baking.  I used the Baparoma which, in this case, is used like any poaching pan would be, and cooked a risen roll on top of the stove, much like bao would be made (catch that foreshadow).

Here's some images, 100 g dough balls, steamed 5 full minutes in heavy steam on the stove top (using a patch of parchment), then popping them into a 425F convection oven.  Although they came out nice and shiny, no crackling mosaic of a crust.  Still an interesting run.  Check out the middle image.  Pretty good rise of the steamed bun compared to the uncooked and proofed roll.

Click any of the images to enlarge.

 Dough balls, 100 g each, risen and ready for the stovetop steam tray.

 Steamed and shiny on the right, plumes of steam pouring off it.

After about 10 min in a convection oven at 425F.  Tasty, nice interior, but chewy crust like more like a bagel than a crackly roll.

Last night, I steamed a full 10 minutes with the same result. 

I'm trying this again with a lower temp dry oven.

crackly crust

(click to enlarge, CLICK!)

Bringing this post back to the top because it is one of my biggest obsessions in life.  I can't make it happen again.  Baparoma or not.  The right one is ethereal and elusive.  Damn you!  I'm returning to my philosophy MOOC to try to make sense of the world now.  Back in a while.


Original Post
Left derived from unbleached white 300 g, water 180 g, salt 5 g, Fleischmann's rapid 3 g.
Right is all that +7 g Crisco.  100 g dough balls cooked in a Baparoma with NO water in lower pan at 425F for 10 min covered and 10 min uncovered.  Pretty damn earth shattering wouldn't you agree?

The curious reader of this site will ask, why didn't I do this before?  The parameters at a glance: dough recipe (lean, but fat containing or not), bake on a sheet / tile / pan / steam pan / steam pan with or without  water in the reservoir, oven temp, convection or not, bake one loaf at a time or many, ingredient brands, etc.  It's more complicated than the several ingredients.  There are many combinations of the parameters to explore.

From here? repeat this, then baguette/batârd shape, try to move away from Baparoma steam tray given its limiting size (one small loaf at a time) - instead using a simple inverted dome moisture trap variant, evolve to sourdough-derived doughs baked like this, maybe explore other fats.

Mini lunch rolls/boules, the daily grind

I think it's in Silverton's La Brea book and plenty other places I've read about baking fully proofed formed loaves of dough right out of the fridge.  My fear was always the moisture built up inside while cooking would behave so differently than the exterior, a dense middle might result.

Time for some small risk taking.  We're in production mode: both off to work early, kid to school, and the city school lunch belched forth from whatever disgusting organization that sleeps with Columbus Public Schools is turning out disgraceful options.  So, we need good food prepared fast for lunches.

Little fresh breads, whether for sandwiches or dipping in nutella are versatile for Frankie (and for our dinners as well, the little round is a cool mini soup bowl).  So here's a quickie prelude to a series of posts on rapidly cooked breads with lots of flavor from slow fridge fermentation.

My first attempt made use of a typical lean dough, 65% hydration with a 2.5% oil enrichment, it's a versatile dough for us.  This dough happened to have aged in the fridge 3-4 days.  Last night I took it out, rounded 4 x 50 gram lumps and let them proof in the fridge overnight.  Next morning, I tossed them my Baparoma steam pan in a cold oven set for 425 F, 25 minutes covered and 10 uncovered and boom! Hot rolls.  A couple tossed in to the lunch bag loosely swaddled in a  paper towel so they could cool properly and I'm pretty sure they might be eaten first.

Some action shots: click to enlarge images:

dough balls rounded on the cover of a plastic container, the bowl gets affixed to the lid and dough can rise during the night with no contact, but still  prevented from drying out in the fridge.

The dough balls this morning.  A little flour dusted on them to prevent sticking to the pan.

 Note the dimpled surface of the bread.  Although I use a full yeast charge on this dough,  several days in the fridge result in a dough with some sourdough features.  The several day aging with full yeast is an interesting hybrid method between a straight, rapidly rising dough and a slow starter-derived dough.

Upcoming posts on this:  scale up, making about 16 of these at a time and using a regular half sheet aluminum pan for baking.  With more minis in at once, the overall humidity should be high enough to not have to use the Baparoma.  

Fire in the hole! A Firedome w chimney.