Cornmeal Pizza Crust - an Experiment

So, on Wednedsay at the bakery, a group of hearty souls attended our Pizza class. As usual, the recipes went well and were super tasty. All of the pizzas were baked directly on our pizza stones (actually kiln shelves made of corderite) so they baked quickly and had a nice crispy crust.

Our amazing helpers, Mark & Annie, were there as well - ensuring everything went smoothly. Mark brought in a pizza crust recipe that included cornmeal so we tried it. Overall the texture was a bit softer, but the crunch of the little grains of cornmeal was awesome.

The original recipe is as follows:
3/4 C water
1 T sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 T olive oil
*mix the above together in a stainless steel bowl. To that add:
2 C all purpose flour
1/3 C cornmeal
2 tsp kosher salt
*Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise covered in a lightly oiled bowl. Once doubled in volume, flatten the dough and add your toppings. Bake in a 475 F+ oven.

Our original batch came out a bit on the dry side. And the softer texture was due to the use of all purpose instead of bread flour. So, I would suggest the following slightly changed version...

1 C water
1 T honey
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 T olive oil
*mix the above together in a stainless steel bowl. To that add:
2 C bread flour
1/2 C cornmeal
2 tsp sea salt
*Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise covered in a lightly oiled bowl. Once doubled in volume, flatten the dough and add your toppings. Bake in a 475 F+ oven.

I will be trying in again as soon as I have a free evening... Good luck!

Brioche - My Favorite Bread

I used to think of brioche as being hard, dry & rather flavorless. Since school, I've been making a brioche recipe that is none of those. This bread is very rich & buttery. You'll see why when you look at the recipe. The dough gets mixed first without the butter, then the butter gets added in in 2 stages. Try it...

Brioche

Milk 8 oz (1 C)

Eggs 3

Yeast ¾ oz dry (1 & ½ tsp)

Sugar 2 oz (1/4 C)

A P Flour 1# 8 oz (approx. 4 ½ C)

Salt ¼ oz (1 tsp)

Soft Butter 6 oz. (1 & ½ sticks)

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients to the mixer bowl in the order above, except for the soft butter. Mix with the dough hook on speed two for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth & elastic.

2. Add half the butter to the dough and mix for 3 minutes. The dough will come apart at first and have trouble absorbing the butter, but be patient. Then, once that is incorporated, add the rest of the butter and mix again until smooth.

3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and loosely cover with plastic. Let that rest until doubled, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. To check that it is ready, poke the dough with your finger. The dent should stay when the dough has risen enough.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and deflate it by pounding the dough down flat. Now divide the dough into loaves by weighing or estimating – this batch will make three 14 oz or two 20 oz pieces. Shape the dough into the form desired – topknot, braid, loaf, etc. Place the loaves on a lined sheet pan and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

5. Let the brioche rest in a slightly warm place until doubled again. This can take from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on room & dough temperature. Meanwhile, begin heating the oven to 350 F. Once the dough is ready, when the dough does not spring back when poked but still seems slightly firm, remove the plastic and brush egg wash (just beaten egg) on the loaves gently.

6. Place the pan in the oven. Check the baking process at 8 – 10 minutes. You may need to rotate the pan to achieve even browning. The brioche is ready when it is golden brown and feels hollow when you knock on the bottom.

Bread @ Sur La Table

I just got back from Sur La Table in Newport Beach. We spent over 3 hours @ a 2 hour bread class. It's just so hard to cram mixing, rising, shaping, rising, baking, etc of real breads into any kind of tight time frame like that. So, hopefully the assembled group had fun and learned some bread baking basics. The recipe that seemed to be a big hit was the Ciabatta.

We folded some rosemary & garlic right into the bread during the shaping process, but otherwise, here's the recipe. The beauty of this one is that it doesn't require a sourdough starter - it uses a "poolish" made from water, flour & a bit of yeast. The poolish sits at room temperature and gives the yeast a head start. If you have a sourdough starter, just substitute that for the entire weight of flour & water in the poolish.

See what you think...

Ciabatta (Italian Slipper Bread)

Poolish:

Water 5 ¼ oz

Yeast ½ teaspoon

All Purpose Flour 5 ¼ oz

Leave 12 hours at room temperature

Dough:

Sponge from above

Water 8 oz (1 C)

Yeast ½ teaspoon

Bread Flour* 8 oz (1 1/3 C)

All Purpose Flour 5 oz (1 C)

Salt 1/3 oz (1 1/4 tsp)

*You may substitute up to 1/3 of the bread flour with whole-wheat flour.

Directions:

1. Mix together the ingredients for the Poolish in a stainless steel bowl and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature.

2. Combine the water, yeast, and Poolish in a heavy-duty mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook. Mix gently just to combine then add the flours and salt.

3. Mix on low speed, about 4 – 8 minutes, until the dough seems smooth and homogenous. This dough will be wet and may still stick to the mixer bowl. The dough will “mix” more when the dough gets folded.

4. Pour the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough once to coat the top with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise.

5. After 30 minutes, turn the dough out onto a floured table or pan and fold it like a letter for an envelope. Turn 90 degrees and fold again. Then place the dough back in the oiled bowl.

6. After 30 minutes more, do the same fold and turn as in step 5. This process gently develops the gluten, while the bread is also developing flavor. Let the bread rise for another 30 minutes.

7. At this point, the dough could hibernate in the refrigerator up to 8 hours. If this happens, allow the dough to come to room temperature (about 2 hours).

Turn the dough out onto the floured table or pan. Do not flatten the dough out as you would for other breads. Cut the dough into the sizes desired and place them on a greased lined pan. Cover with plastic loosely. Let the dough proof for 20 to 30 minutes, until puffy. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Place the breads in the oven and let bake for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the Ciabatta. If desired, sprinkle flour on top of the breads to give them a rustic look.

Jeniffer's Multigrain...

I love hearty, grainy sandwich bread. The nubby texture, pumpkin seeds, and rolled oats transform a regular cold-cut sandwich into a gourmet deli event. I admit that I've spent some big bucks at the store for this kind of bread, but it's never quite hit the spot. This kind of "healthy" bread tends to be dry, bland, and vegan. Well, here's a loaf that's got butter, honey, and all those good-for-you whole grains mixed into enough white flour to produce a soft and tender loaf.

This bread is tasty enough to eat plain, toasted with butter and jam, or piled high with bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, turkey... whatever you can think of! Happy baking!

--jeniffer*

Multigrain Sandwich Bread

from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2007

Makes two 9X5 loaves

6 1/4 oz 7 grain hot cereal mix (Arrowhead Mills or Bob’s Red Mill Cereal recommended)

20 oz boiling water

15 oz AP flour

7 1/2 oz whole wheat flour

4 T honey

4 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 1/2 t instant yeast

1 T salt

3/4 C pumpkin/ sunflower seeds

1/2 C old-fashioned rolled or quick oats

Put cereal in the bowl of a standing mixer. Pour in boiling water. Let stand, stirring occasionally until 100° (about 1 hr).

Whisk flours in medium bowl.

Once cereal is cooled, add honey, butter, and yeast. Stir to combine. Using dough hook, turn mixer on low speed. Adding flours 1/2 cup at a time, knead 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until ball forms. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 20 min. Add salt, continue mixing on medium low speed until dough clears the bowl. If it doesn’t, add 2 to 3 T of flour and keep mixing. Knead 5 minutes more. Add seeds, knead 15 seconds. Knead by hand on a floured surface until the seeds are dispersed evenly and the dough forms a smooth, taut ball. Place in a greased container w/ 4 qt capacity. Cover with plastic wrap. Rise until doubled 45 to 60 min.

Preheat oven to 375°. Spray the loaf pans with vegetable oil.

Transfer the dough onto floured surface and pat into a 12X9 rectangle. Cut in half. Roll the dough like a yoga mat and pinch seam closed. Spray with water or vegetable oil lightly, then roll it on the oats. Place seam side down and press into the corners of the loaf pan. Repeat with other dough.

Let rise until doubled (30 to 40 min). The dough should barely spring back when poked with your knuckle. Bake until internal temperature is 200° (35 to 40 min). Let cool 3 hours on rack.

To store:

Wrap bread in a double layer of plastic wrap. Can be stored at room temperature for 3 days.

Wrap a layer of foil around the double plastic wrap to store in the freezer for up to 1 month.