Thursday, May 16, 2013

We whip it, we whip it, we whip it….Bread!

Can you hear the beat? Just ignore me, I’m dancing to the music in my head.

P5140843 

Ilva as our Kitchen of the Month made us whip some dough. With a whisk! No really, a whisk!

Now eggwhites with a whisk I understand.
Understand whisking batter
Know that a cream of anything can be whisked

But I have to say that I had trouble envisioning a balloon whisk going through bread dough. First of all I wasn’t too sure my whisk would survive. And then I thought about how the dough would get in and under and between all the whisk threads. Yikes! *shudders* No fear though, the dough isn’t at all dough like, because you need to add as much water as you have flour.

I will let you digest that for a while…………………………………………………..

 

You’re there? Equal liquid – flour makes? Slurry!! We’re talking almost 100% hydration here. When I read the recipe use sifted spelt and whole wheat spelt I was certain I had both in my pantry. Turned out my spelt was whole wheat spelt….

P5140830  P5140833P5140837

 

So I did a “Labaratoire Baking” and mixed up a blend of flours using a combination of white rye flour, regular flour and whole wheat spelt. (not necessarily in the quantities given in the recipe. Which might not be wise. Ask me how I know)

The good thing is that my combination made an excellent biga, look at those bubbles in the picture above left. This is right out the fridge! A very nice smell as well. What I should have done was using this as a biga or if you will an “old dough”  and build a dough from there with new flour. But no, suddenly my conscience started to speak and I all of a sudden had an urge to follow the recipe.
Of course I could never ever shape some sort of loaf from this. I could use a pan with sides.. As it was nearing dinnertime my pan with sides became focaccia. I divided the dough up in two, draped it in two oiled oven dishes and started mixing a “topping”

 

P5140839White Topping

100 gr plain yoghurt
100 gr creme fraiche
2 tbs flour
fresh pepper/salt to taste
1 tbs za’atar
1 tbs home made chili oil
2 onions, chopped
(optional: I picked some fresh green from the garden; oregano/parsley/chives)

Combine and stir, that’s all!

I simply spooned the topping over the dough, sprinkled some bacon on top, sliced a couple of very nice sundried tomatoes, and kept the bag of rocket lettuce (arugula) for dressing later.

 

 

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I was amazed by the breadiness when the pans came out of the oven (25 minutes, 200C). After all this the dough was capable of producing a very nice airy bread. Honestly I expected some drier, lots of holes, hard crusted something and out came a real bread disguised as focaccia. This is not the best picture because the guys decided they didn’t want to wait until it was sufficiently cooled, hence the mashed together crumb.P5140844

 

 

This is the recipe (as in the real one, as in how it should be done)

WHIPPED BREAD
from Home Baked: Nordic Recipes and Techniques for Organic Bread and Pastry by Hanne Risgaard
makes 2 loaves
840 g/ 29.63 oz sifted spelt flour
160 g/ 5.64 oz whole-spelt flour
10 g/ 0.35 oz fresh yeast
20 g/ 0.70 oz salt
approx 800g/ 28.21 oz water

Mix the two types of flour in the mixing bowl, rub in the yeast, and add the salt and water. Mix the dough at high speed using a whisk until the dough no longer sticks to the sides and bottom of the bowl. Scrape the soft dough off the whisk, put a lid on the mixing bowl, and let the dough rest in the fridge overnight.
The next day, allow the dough to warm for a couple of hours before continuing.
Gently turn the dough onto a generously floured work surface, and dust the top of the dough with a little flour. Divide the dough into four equal-size pieces. Quickly twist the pieces together in pairs, preserving as much air in the dough as possible. Place the two twisted loaves on separate peels lined with parchment paper. Let them proof until nearly doubled in volume.
Preheat the convection oven, with baking stone to 250°C/480°F.
Generously mist the inside of the oven with water. Ease the loaves, along with the parchment paper, onto the baking stone. Spray a little more water into the oven. Repeat after one minute. (avoid glass)
After 5 minutes of baking, lower the heat to 210°C/410°F, then bake the loaves for another 20-30 minutes more. 

 

Please go and see my fellow Babes, see how they whipped up their bread! 

 

If you want to make this bread with us and be a  Bread Baking Buddy, then bake it, blog it and send Ilva a link by May 26th, to luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com with Bread Baking Buddy in the subject line and she will add you to the roundup.

 

10 comments:

  1. What a great rescue!! I love the look of that topping. Is there any left? I'll be right over.

    And how brave you were to use your whisk attachment. I was too afraid of things breaking.

    (I wonder why your dough was so much wetter than mine. Did I measure wrong?)

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  2. Biga ... I am telling you, you are brilliant! Focaccia ... and with those toppings, I can call something like that dinner. Well, you know if you add a glass of the vino.
    I think I need some focaccia baking here.

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  3. Eek! Elizabeth after your remark on measurements and reading the rest of the Babes on a 80% dough little bells were going off in my head... I measured wrong! I think I took all of the water and only the 840 grams of flour! (of which 400 was whole wheat and rye). OMG I am such a dork!

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  4. Wonder rescue, wow my mouth is watering. Can't help but laughing (just a little) that Ilva choose this bread so step away from filling and topping it. Just fantastic! I'd love to have a slice yummy

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  5. Oh Lien! Now that you mention it! I had forgotten about that... *hangs head in shame*

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  6. Wow, this turned out gorgeous! I just love the toppings you chose. Mine wasn't quite that wet, or bubbly, but close...

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  7. Super foccacia from a slack dough. No wonder your guys didn't wait for it to cool. Looks yummy!

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  8. I love your resourcefulness, next time I will turn it into a focaccia as well!

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  9. Wow! I love your toppings! Very inventive, Babe! xo

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  10. I love your version of the whipped bread! Gorgeous! And how clever to use a wide shallow baking pan instead of a loaf pan like I did. I love that it came out as a focaccia-type bread. And great topping! Now I have to bake it again. It was a fabulous and easy recipe. Perfect, Babe!

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