Welcome friends! I woke up this morning deciding that I wanted to have beef
stroganoff for dinner, and this obviously is not a beef stroganoff recipe video...
That will appear somewhere around us. What I really like to have with beef Stroganoff.
Is a very hearty sort of bread rustic bread, and I really should
have started that yesterday. But I didn't, so I've got about six hours until I need
to get this bread out of the oven in time to have it for supper.
Even on the best day I am NOT a very good bread baker... so um wish me luck!
I'm gonna start out, I put salt in with my flour mixture, and I'm using I'm not
endorsing this brand, but I'm using their multigrain bread flour. It's a mix of
white bread flour, and whole wheat bread flour, flax seed, wheat germ, a whole bunch
of different things in there. What else is in there, cracked wheat, oh and rye.
so I'm not endorsing it but I'm using it. You can make up your own mixture at
home very easily. Next in is sourdough starter and I'm using a stiff starter.
This is what's called a stiff starter it's 50% hydration, so for every cup of
flour I'm using half a cup of water to feed it. So I'm going to take out about what I need.
I'm going to measure, oh I need 100g and I got 99g I think I'm gonna stand pat
with 99 grams. So into this bowl I probably should have measured it
directly into this bowl, but you know I am NOT a bread master. Next in is
room-temperature water. I'm going to put that in, and I'm just going to whisk
these two together.
Because I'm using a stiff starter this just distributes it better in the
final mix. And you don't have to completely dissolve it just you know,
most of the way. Now no ceremony, and in goes the flour. Use your hands, probably the
best tool, but because I'm working with the camera and I've got a whole bunch of
other things going on I'm going to use a spatula. You pretty much just mix
this into a ragged dough, and that's it! You don't have to mix it too much just
sort of a ragged dough ball. And I'm gonna cover it. The first rise...
anywhere between half an hour to an hour. it's just about thirty degrees Celsius
here in the studio today, I've got the heat cranked because it is freezing
outside! So I'll come back to this, I'll check it in about a half an hour and
then I'll sort of judge how far to go from there. Bread is more of an art than
a science so a lot of things aren't quite exact remember that.
So we're about an hour in not a whole lot of activity yet, but I'm still going
to start the folding process. And so that's fold, I'm just using a spatula, you
could use your hands. Just go around and you fold it in anywhere six to eight
times. And now that I'm talking to you of course...
I have totally lost track! I'm going to say that's enough. So that's it. An hour, fold,
lid back on, and we'll wait another hour. Great! So another hour has gone by, and
it's time to turn this out onto the countertop. So flour the countertop and
you can see the mix of different things in this in this flour mixture. Let's see.
This is wet and right at the edge of my personal ability to deal with it. So a
little bit of flour on top little bit flour on my hands and we pat this out.
Now here's the thing, what I've learned and I haven't actually been able to do,
is you need to move decisively. So you lift it over, and it's going to stick to
the table, lift it over fold it in fold it in.
Now the folding is a combination of shaping it, and also it's a way to
improve the gluten structure. I've had it explained to me dozens of times how it
actually works, and I've had at least six different explanations. Some of them
conflicting, so I'm not going to repeat any of them, other than to say it helps
with gluten development. So at this point I have here banneton which is essentially
a wooden basket, cane basket? It's got flour inside, and the idea is that we
want to get this dough into the basket seam side down. And I'm gonna cover it in
a couche, which is just a fancy French word for floured linen tablecloth or
tea towel. And sit this aside for another couple hours.
So it doesn't look too bad...
definitely would have risen more if I'd allowed it to ferment overnight. I just
don't have the time today. The oven is preheated to 475 or 480 degrees, and all
the recipes tell you somewhere between a half an hour and an hour to preheat the
oven with your Dutch oven inside. And that is incredibly important. Making sure
that everything is hot and ready to go is key to making this type of bread work.
Out with the Dutch oven and if you have a French cloche, you're miles ahead.
Now this is super hot! I put a little bit of flour in the
bottom don't know why that's just what I learned. And then you flip this over.
Now the idea is that we put this into the banneton seam side down, so the seam side is now up.
But you still should try to cut it open with lame which you know I've never really
gotten good at. Put the lid on and back in the oven for half an hour.
So it's really busy here in the kitchen. I've got a couple things going all at
once. I'm making, and I've just got it ready the caramel or caramel for
millionaire squares, millionaire bars millionaires shortbread? And it's also
time to pull the lid off of the Dutch oven for the bread. So I'm going to pull
that off now. Okay so when you take the lid off the bread is...
essentially baked. Over the next five to ten minutes you're just sort of watching
it, so that it reaches the right level of brown crispness on the outside that
you like. So keep an eye on it, keep a close eye on it. Take a look for the
millionaire's bar recipe and if you're watching millionaires bar recipe take a
look for the bread recipe. I'm running out of time because I've got to
get the beef stroganoff on the stove before Julie gets off work...
I'm gonna say it's ready to go.
Oh that is ready! Okay so without burning myself too bad, let's see if I can get it
out? Oh, comes out pretty easy, there we go. Now you have to let that cool completely
before you cut it open. If you cut it open too early you'll allow too much of
the steam to escape and the bread is just not going to have the right texture.
So you have to resist the urge. Because really what I want to do right now is
cut into that and have some, there's nothing I love more than steaming hot
bread out of the oven even though I know it's wrong! So patience, patience is your
friend at this point. I don't know if the mic will pick this up but you can hear
it cracking as it cools really great!
G: So what do you think? J: Oh pretty good, smells good. G: Good-looking piece of bread!
J: I don't recall you starting bread yesterday. G: I didn't, I woke up
this morning and decided I was gonna make beef stroganoff. J: mm-hmm
G: And I thought you know what I really want is a nice hearty dark brown
sourdough bread. oh and I should test it before I put the butter on. And so I
thought I'm not gonna have time, but I ploughed through and that's about six hours.
J: hmm it's got really good texture G: mm-hmm
G: So it it probably would have benefited on the flavour side from an overnight in
the fridge to get that sourdough flavour. J: It doesn't have that strong sourdough
flavour to it. G: Yeah but from a texture standpoint and just an overall flavour
standpoint that is. J: It's a nice rustic bread. G: it's a nice rustic bread, it's
better than anything we would have gotten at the grocery store today.
G: For the most part, well I mean there are those eight dollar loaves
at the grocery store they're pretty nice. But that um, so you
can make it, you can make it all in one day. worked it really well I think. J: I like it!
J: Yeah uh, you also said there's some others to go with this though? G: We're
gonna have beef stroganoff in a second. J: Okay! G: So come on back and check out the
beef stroganoff, I also made millionaire bars today, so all of those recipes will be
linked around us and give this bread a try. You know what you don't even
have to, it's not just a Dutch oven bread. I could have cooked that loaf in the
wood-fired oven... and we'll do that shortly as well