Filled Sourdough Breads Bake-off

[color=blue]Arhhh... any warm bread calls my name....

I understand the theory that bread can be retarded overnight in the fridge, or at a temp of between 50-60F (Leader) --- but my new fridge has a thermometer on it and the 'standard' temp is 38F (I can raise this to 44F max) --- and if I put bread in the fridge overnight it just sits there and make no effort towards 'doubling'.  When I take it out in the morning it takes forever to warm up and start rising and doubling, and doesn't ever seem to double as much as one that was never in the fridge.  Yesterday I let the fermenting mixture sit for 4 hours after I took it out of the fridge --- which kind of defeats the purpose of using the fridge as a timing tool.   Does any one else experience this?  It is my experience that refridgerated breads don't expand as much as others...although the sourdough flavour is much nicer (stronger).  Any thoughts? [/color]

once more into the breach.....
heres a rye, barley and linseed, stay tuned for the 9 fruit sourdough on sunday!

[color=blue]Hi TP,

I've tried it at the 'after mixing' and 'after shaping' stages.  My assumption is that the extended time in the fridge replaces the time that either fermentation or proving takes.... perhaps I'm wrong --- recipe instructions indicate that the dough should 'double' while in the fridge --- mine never does.... it just sits there at approximately the same size.   I do however get a great taste and wonderful crust. 

Perhaps it is the temperature of my fridge --- perhaps it's too cold (I don't know) --- what temp is your fridge? 

At both stages, after I take the dough out of the fridge and wait the couple of hours it takes to warm up, they then start to double (my wholewheat and rye breads take about 4 hours).   I suppose my question is: at the 'after mixing' and 'after shaping' stages, do your doughs 'double' while in the fridge? 

FYI- My current whole wheat and rye starters takes about 7-8 hours to double, the white one is growing in strength and now taking about 4 hours.  I tried your white 1kg flour/400g starter/800g water yesterday with impressive results... although the dough was very very  silky and sloppy compared with the wholewheat I'm used too.

Any thoughts?
Catharina [/color]

Catharina,

I don't have time to give a long answer now.
There is a bit that I wrote on using the fridge in this old tutorial on proving.

Essentially, the amount of 'rise' that you get in the fridge depends upon the starting temperature of the dough, and the activity of your starter. If the dough is warm to start off with, or your starter is very active, then you will still see a rise in the fridge. If the dough is cold, and/or your starter doesn't like cooler temps, then this will be less obvious.

You don't have to have your dough double in the fridge, as it will have matured anyway. It depends a bit on how you bake it afterwards. So, for example, if you put the dough int he fridge after shaping, and get it out the next day (not having risen much) when you turn the oven on, you could put it in the oven when it has warmed up.

You will then tend to get a very large oven spring, and may find that the dough 'bulges' in unintended places. One way to avoid this is to bake in a pot.

cheers
Dom

[color=blue]Dom thanks for pointing towards your blog...

[quote]"On the other hand, with a slow starter (like my usual one), and a dough that is cool to start with, you won’t see an appreciable rise after 12 hours in the fridge, and you will still need to prove for three or four hours to get best effect." [/quote]

This is exactly my situation - and now I know it's normal!  Thanks![/color]

DTO (Dough to oven)       24hrs

Bulk Fermentation            3hrs @ 22'C (room temp)

Final proof                       18hrs @ 2'C (fridge) then 3-4hrs @ 22'C

Sourdough Recipes

Here is another filled bread.

My basic sourdough laminated with strips of roast capsicum.





































Dough
(this is my standard recipe as it is extremely easy to remember)

200g starter at 100%
300g water
500g flour (today I included 10g rye, and 40g wholemeal)
10g salt
with a tablespoon of tomato passata for colour

each fold I added a few strips of roast capsicum to the dough, so that they were layered in to the dough as it developed.

After ~4 hours - shaped, put in banneton, and then in the fridge overnight.

This morning I baked from cold and put straight into a hot pot.
(Catharina, with my current starter and fridge I don't tend to leave any time for the dough out of the fridge. Although I wrote previously that you may need a while to see a definite rise, now I am not sure that it is needed)

will post a crumb shot later

dom

Here is a crumb shot of the capsicum loaf that doesn't really do it justice.
A soft savoury loaf, with the capsicum giving the bread a fairly mild flavour.



And here is my second filled vegetable bread for the weekend.
This is a mixed vegetable sourdough loaf. I was loosely inspired by memories of a fabulous vegetable bread at Babka's in Melbourne (anyone have a recipe or ideas for one??)

This is a basic dough (like the one above), with about 40% wholemeal flour, and a mix of uncooked chopped vegetables - red onion, carrot, leek and potato mixed into the dough at the start.
The onion gives it a stronger flavour than the capsicum loaf, and it is very tasty.

75% white loaf with brandied persian figs, vanilla rum (white) and cardamom.

Hey, it's only mid-May, don't let this bake-off die so soon !  Jeremy, Boris, TP et al ?  Mind you, Dom's breads look so good, that it can be intimidating to post a pic! ;)

I made Dan Lepard's wonderful sweet dough recipe today.  It's a relatively easy recipe that produces a reasonable brioche substitute.

This small loaf had frozen sliced pink lady apples and sugar between layers of dough.  The sugar caramelised, leaving a gorgeous sticky loaf. 

















And here are some more of my Belgian chocolate buns.

[color=blue]Dom - thanks for the update and your fav recipe.  Sorry for the delay in response, I've been away for 5 days or so helping to deliver a boat down the East Coast of the US. 

I am going to try your basic recipe this morning and see how it goes.  My white starter is now going great guns and doubling in about 3 hours --- so I have high hopes.  This moving country and restarting starter every time in a pain in the A.... next time I'm going to try drying it and smuggling it amongst the lotions and potions in my dilly bag.  

PS: Everyone's breads are looking fabby!  Seeing that picture with the vegemite in the background made my stomach growl and my lips smack![/color]

Catharina,

goodness
sounds like your starter is on steroids
 (do you use a very warm proof?)

can't do without my vegemite - fortunately the supermarkets in the UK stock it

cheers
Dom

I suspect that this is my last contribution for the filled breads bake-off

Sourdough Chelsea buns





































This is a recipe loosely inspired by Dan's recipe in the Handmade Loaf. It is an enriched dough (based on my hot cross bun dough)

Dough
200g starter (60% hydration)
500g strong white flour
340g soy milk
75g brown sugar
75g margarine
10g salt

Usual quick kneads and a fold or two.
I ran out of time, so it only had about 2 1/2 hours in bulk.

Then rolled out, covered with Dan's mix of caster sugar/brown sugar/margarine (butter)/nutmeg and lemon zest, then currants
Rolled up, and sliced into rounds
(this dough was too loose for this to be easy)

Retarded overnight in the fridge and baked this morning.

I didn't do as Dan suggests, and dredge the top in more sugar before baking. Nice as it is, the resulting buns are almost too sweet!

The crumb





































The buns leaked quite a lot of liquid in the fridge overnight, but they had risen well, and the sugary liquid around them caramelised on cooking.

cheers
Dom

Wow those look sweet! Dom they look and I imagine taste great!
Sorry TP, I haven't contributed that much, busy and now just going to pop off two loaves of just regular old bread into the oven and off to the suburbs to see mum! Memorial day weekend here, an excuse for yanks to go and barbecue rather than remember the fallen soldiers, sailors, marines from war, we should just turn our weapons into bread ovens and bake if you ask me, help feed the world!

Cheers all and a big hug to all of the participants, even Boris, wicked loves Mate! ( never used spelt, well blimey!)

Wow!Everybody! These are great pics of yummy breads! I have been too busy to post recently. These pics make me want to stuff something into the dough too! Thanks for the inspiration, Teresa

I know I said that I had posted my last filled bread, but here is one more.





































The loaf on the right is the Herby loaf (obviously).
Australian commercial bakeries always used to be full of pull-apart loaves. I am not sure if I ever bought one (they tended to be full of things that I don't eat or like). I suspect that their main reason for existence was to liven up some fairly ordinary dough.

However I didn't think that ought to prohibit a sourdough pull apart. I think that there are probably lots of different ways of doing this, but this was one technique that I found on the net. It is essentially a cheat's braided loaf.
This is a basic white dough.
After bulk it was divided into 16 small rounds.
These were rolled in herbs (fresh sage, dried oregano and thyme), and layered in a bread tin, with some crushed garlic and olive oil spread in between the two layers.

Cheers
Dom

Well, here is my contribution, Stuffed Roasted Garlic Rye Sourdough. The

only thing I would do different is put a little more garlic in the recipe.



















































Teresa

Whole Wheat Sourdough Grape Harvest Focaccia[img]http://djardine.mooo.com/albums/bbq/P7200852.JPG[/img]
Crumb shot[img]http://djardine.mooo.com/albums/bbq/P7200853.JPG[/img]

Just made some sourdough cinnamon honey buns with this filling:  Beat together some honey, brown sugar, and butter, with a pinch of cinnamon if you want, spread it on your rolled out dough and continue as for cinnamon buns.  They came out beautifully, with loads of spring.

Way to go, D!!  TP, LeadDog mills all his own flour too!

And Paddy, I love love love sticky buns.  We want photos!! :D

Fresh Rosemary.
The starter and the dough are 80% hydration.  Salt is 2%.  I cooked it for 20 mins at 460°.  The starter is 20% of the final dough.
Celia I do grind my own flour unless someone makes a mistake and buys some flour.

Here are a couple of breads I made ages ago in response to this bake-off but never got round to posting.

First a plain white dough rolled up with roasted peppers and dried tomatoes.





Second a bit more experimental. The dough was a mix of white flour and  buckwheat flour. The filling a whole field mushroom with time leaves and half a camembert cheese on top. It was an interesting bread that would have been best served while still hot. The down side was that as the mushroom cooked all its juices were trapped inside so it was quite messy when cut.