天然酵種全麥麵包 + 小說情節的愛情故事

 假期放完了，開始恢復上班，不僅孩子們老大不願意，大人也覺得很痛苦，同事更是落井下石對我說她寧願只休二日(公司只放耶誕節一天、新年一天)，也不願意請兩個星期的假。每回休假，工作就會堆積，在沒有人可以cover我的公作情況之下，每每都只能自己扛。想當然爾這個星期非常辛苦，不但要趕進度，天公還不作媒，天天冷的我吱吱叫，老大學校更連放了兩天snow days，但有一個溫馨的故事，讓我在這冷冷的氣溫裡感到非常溫馨。

 這是一對年老夫妻，太太有些老人痴呆，雖然先生年紀也大了，但照顧老太太的無微不至。在家訪的最後，我和家屬聊了兩三句，才知道老先生老太太是青梅竹馬，四、五歲時就認識了。老太太大老先生六個月，在十九歲時兩人結婚，育有四名子女。他們的女兒告訴我，兩人除了因老先生年輕時從軍時被派往德國兩年，從沒有分開過。在分開的兩年裡，雙方書信不斷，即使現在年齡大了，只要一方有事離開，另一方一定擔心不已，連從小看到大兩人恩愛的女兒都覺得受不了。

真是不可思議，我還以為這種愛情故事只會發生在小說裡，現實世界裡根本不會有這種情節發生。看著老先生、老太太的結婚照和他們結婚50周年照，令我好感動，即使室外溫度只有個位數，但我的心情卻好暖好暖。

 這個麵包是我們家的必備麵包，原因無他: 百分百天然酵種+2分鐘毛毛蟲揉麵法(不曉得中文，所以自己隨便取的)。外皮酥脆有咬勁、麵包體濕潤有口感，且幾乎免揉又簡單，是我喜歡做這款麵包的最大主因。

 裂口裂的有點誇張，不過因為裂的很好，麵包高度比以往都高，相對的口感特別好，讓我一整天的心情都很好:)

 麵包裂口裂的好大，我的嘴角也跟著往上裂很大。

 這是隔了3天又再作的一批麵包。這次"爆"的更漂亮，只是我的割線還有待加強:(

 麵包裂口裂的大，也往上長的很高也很漂亮，幾乎要頂到鍋蓋，看來麵糰的份量配合鍋子的大小似乎剛剛好。麵包裂的棒，沒想到口感也升級。一整個開心~~~

Whole Wheat Pane al Cioccolato 不同的烘烤方式..一樣的完美的美味..義大利巧克力麵包再一篇

 這個麵包很能滿足chocoholic的口慾，因為麵包本身用了很多的可可粉和巧克力豆，光是用聞的就令人醉倒在其巧可力的香氣裡。

 原本食譜是用一般的商酵和poolish的做法。Poolish的水粉比例和酸酵一樣，所以若時間允許的話，我會用酸酵取代poolish來做麵包。

發好的酸酵會浮起來，若沉下去了，表示酸酵發的還不夠，需要在發一下。

 酸酵加水混合均勻，就可以加進麵粉等其他材料(鹽和巧克力豆除外)。這個麵包雖然很rich，但不加一點滴油，加上我用了25%的全麥麵粉取代白麵粉，麵包本身的營養積分頓時上升不少。

 上好的巧克力粉加上上好的巧克力豆，讓這個麵包巧克力到沒話說。

 這個麵包也可以用手"揉"(請參考之前的post)，不過這次是在非周末時間做麵包，時間調配上只能用Kitchenaide來揉麵。用Kitchenaide揉麵，我習慣先用手持dough hook將麵粉混合至不會到處飛揚的狀況，才繼續揉。

 在麵團剛形成後，我會讓麵糰休息個20、30分鐘，然後再加入之前沒有加進去的細海鹽，最後再打至薄膜狀態。接著加入巧克力豆，略略打一下直至均勻分布。

 打好麵糰經過一夜的基發，切塊、揉圓、休息、再整形，最後放入發酵籃做最後發酵。

我的烤箱是range oven，即使加水製造蒸氣，往往會從爐頭跑掉，造成麵包裂口裂的不漂亮。認清這一點後，我現在都是用瓷鍋加蓋來烤(鑄鐵鍋太貴了，捨不得買)。一般而言，瓷鍋都不會太大，正好我喜歡烤小一點的麵包，自己吃可以一次吃完一條，若是送人也不至於太鋪張。

是不是有蠢蠢欲動的感覺? 即使沒有mixer，也可以輕輕鬆鬆做出誰都拒絕不了的美味麵包(請參考之前的輕鬆手揉法)。

Famous Olga Bread 歐爾加麵包--我的在家美食之旅

這裡的學校開始放寒假了，不少中文學校的家庭要到多倫多祭五臟廟。我和先生有點猶豫，並竟開趟五小時的車，就只為滿足口慾，再加上旅館費用，所費不貲，對我們而言可是個不小的負擔。

羨慕朋友能到多倫多滿足口腹之慾，我也不能等閒地決定來個在家的美食之旅。這個年底狠心向老闆請了足足兩個星期的假，藉此機會好好大展我的手藝，好慰勞家中嗷嗷待哺的那幾口。

平時忙著上班，很久沒有嘗試新食譜，今天中午照著楊桃文化的宜蘭蔥餅食譜(當然加了我的最愛--全麥麵粉)，足足做了七個餅，外加一大鍋的酸辣湯，吃的老少大呼過癮。男生的食量大，七個餅全數吃完，我僅吃了半個，嚐個味道。餅裡包有大量的蔥花，加上適量的白胡椒提味，吃得大夥兒滿口留香，要不是顧及卡路里， 我想我會狠狠地吃上一整個餅。大概是太好吃了，根本來不急拍照，因為連渣渣都不剩。

好的開始是成功的一半，所以再接再厲，在家美食之旅第二發--Olga bread。以前還是研究生時，常到校園裡有家Olga Kitchen買三名治捲吃，但後來收掉了，之後好一陣子都沒能再嚐到其美味的Olga bread。後來Shopping malls裡開了家Olga Kitchen，其三明治捲還是一樣美味，只是價錢三級跳，就很少去了。只是美味的記憶在腦裡不曾忘記，所以拿出珍藏已久的食譜，當成在家美食之旅第二發。

麵包做法如下:
1. 高粉360g，全麥粉120g，蜂蜜84g，鹽1t, 蛋1顆揉成略有薄膜的麵糰。再加入奶油28g，揉至光滑可拉出薄膜。然後基發至幾近兩倍大。
2. 將麵團分割成16等份，揉圓，靜置20-30分鐘。

 3. 桿開成8-10寸大小薄餅，然後用平底鍋中火乾烙成兩面金黃的麵餅。

麵餅可以包生菜、火腿、起司，做成三名治捲，也可像我們家老大一樣，在餅上塗厚厚一層奶油乳酪，然後捲起來大口享用。運用想像力，可以做出千變萬化的三明治捲，大享口福。

這個餅外表像pita餅，但口感完全不同，比較像介於麵包和pita之間的感覺。餅真的好好吃，充分滿足了記憶中的口慾。在家美食之旅再接再厲!

Whole Wheat Pane al Cioccolato (Italian Chocolate Bread) 全麥天然酵母義大利巧克力麵包--濃濃巧克力香..+食譜

這個甜點麵包是我在五月時的新嚐試。會致力於巧克力相關的烘焙，是因為周遭友人中有不少chocoholic。為了造福眾多友人，我可是卯足全力、努力專研如何做出好吃的巧克力麵包。

以下就是我改良後的食譜:
天然酵母 102克(我的sourdough是水和麵粉重量比例1:1，麵粉部分是一半高粉一半全麥粉)

高粉 295克

全麥粉 98克

水 234克

蜂蜜 71克

香草精15克

可可粉(無糖) 25克

細海鹽 10克

巧克力豆 78克

1.  除海鹽和巧克力豆外，將所有材料混合成團，置發酵容器中，蓋上保鮮膜(我一向用旅館給的塑膠浴帽蓋在容器上，好處是可以重複使用)，麵團靜置20到30分鐘。

2. 加入海鹽，用手大略揉搓至海鹽分散均勻、溶解沒有顆粒。

3. 麵糰放回發酵容器，蓋上保鮮膜，室溫靜置30分鐘，然後將麵團攤開在料理檯上，約12吋X16吋大小。在麵糰三分之二處，鋪上所有的巧克力豆，然後折疊(請參考吳寶春大師的方法--左右兩邊向中間折疊，在由上往下折三折，像折棉被一樣)。再度放回發酵容器中，室溫靜置30分鐘。取出重複三折加三折，然後再靜置30分鐘。連同第一次加巧克力豆，總共折疊5次。
*若嫌這樣麻煩，也可以跳過步驟2和3，在加入海鹽後，直接用和麵機將麵糰打至有薄膜，然後加入巧克力豆，慢速再打1分鐘。多次折疊的方法，可以省略機器的操作，不費力氣的將麵團整到有薄膜。即使沒有mixer，也可以輕輕鬆鬆的做出專業歐包。

5. 麵糰置容器中發酵至手指頭插入，麵糰孔洞沒有立即回縮。因為沒有家商酵，我發了7、8個小時。若不想等這麼久，可以再和麵時加1/4小匙的商酵，以縮短發酵時間。

6. 麵團分兩塊，然後分別滾圓。蓋上塑膠袋，置桌面上靜置20分鐘。

7. 最後整形: 橢圓形、圓形或橄欖形均可。
8. 最後發酵；整好形的麵糰放在鋪了麵粉的厚棉布上，或置發酵籃發至麵糰約兩倍大，用指頭輕碰，麵團回彈緩慢，留有淺痕即可。我沒加商酵，所以發了好久。長時間發酵的好處是麵包組織濕潤，可存放比較長的時間。麵粉經長時間發酵，其風味比較多層次且濃郁。
9. 烤箱連同鑄鐵平底鍋(放在quary tiles的下方)一起預熱至425F。到一點水在鑄鐵鍋裡，把烤箱門關上。將麵糰割好線，放入烤箱，再到一杯滾水到鑄鐵鍋裡，立即關上烤箱門。然後將烤溫降至400F，烤20分鐘。將麵包調換位置，再烤15分鐘。
10. 烤好的麵包放在網架上納涼至少1小時後再切片食用。

烤好的麵包不但有著濃濃的巧克力香，吃起來更是滿口的巧克力，最點是幾乎吃不出酸酵的味道。可是呢東西好吃歸好吃，還是趕快送出去，否則自個兒的身材只會往橫的發展(讓別人肥去)，後悔就來不急囉。

哇! 好幾個月前寫的，還被埋在draft裡。想做的東西很多，要做的事情更多，時間為什麼不夠用:(

Homework 2--Whole Grain Porter Rye Bread (Zingerman's bread class II part 3)

After practiced the country wheat bread this was my second bread I tried to make at home. This actually was not in one of the three breads we made in the class. It was a bonus recipe using porter as one of ingredients. It was 100% whole grain again. After learning three awesome whole grain breads I really wanted to give it a try. I believed that it will be a wonderful bread just like the other three.

For making this bread I needed to get all the ingredients first. I have a quite a bit collection of different flour. Of course, most of bread ingredients like yeast, sugar and sea salt, etc. are fully stocked in my pantry. However, the main ingredient of this bread, porter, is definitely not on my stocking list. Simply to say that I don't drink any alcohol at all. Worst of all I didn't even know what was porter. After searching at Whole Foods and Costco I finally found this kind of beer at Meijer.

As soon as I got all the ingredients in hand the game began. Telling the truth this bread dough wasn't too hard to knead. In fact it's very similar to the other bread, multigrain bread, from the class. My house's temp was pretty low, 55F (this bread was also made in winter). So, I did the same way as making country wheat bread to place finished dough into a cooler with a jar of boiling water for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, it was hardly to tell any growing or not. I still gave it a fold, and then put it back to cooler with boiling water for 1 hour this time. Finally, it grew a tiny little bit. Because I was running out of time I couldn't wait any longer. I needed to move on. 

After final shaping I placed it on the lid of ferment container covered with cornmeal. Then, I put it back to cooler. Due to previous slow fermentation I thought it'll take a while to rise to the size ready to bake. So I didn't preheat the oven as I used to. As soon as I checked the dough it was almost ready to be baked. I had less than one hour to bake the bread, but needed about 25 minute to get oven fully preheated. According to the recipe, the baking time is 30 to 40 minutes. I knew I'll be late to pick up my kid, but I didn't want to put the dough into the fridge and bake it after I came home. I had a lot of bad experience at this kind of situation. This was the first time I made this bread. I wanted to follow every step like recipe described as close as possible.

I quickly scored the bread, and sprinkled some rye flour on the top (I forgot to sprinkle the flour first). As soon as the oven was ready I slide the bread into the oven and baked as the recipe directed with the tips from the class. I only baked it for 30 minutes (no time to bake it longer). The tapping sound from the bottom of the bread seemed hollow. I didn't have time to check the internal temp.

On the way between school and home I was so anxious about the result of the bread. Believe or not the bread actually turned out great. The texture was moist and soft, and the crust wasn't hard and thick even it looked dense. Because of the porter the whole bread smelled wonderfully and full with beer aroma. Since we didn't make this bread in the class I don't know that I can count it successful or not. However, there was one thing for sure: I couldn't stop just eating one slice. Not just myself but my whole family loved this bread. 

Who say the whole grain bread has to be dense and hard to chew? All four breads prove that the whole grain bread can be as yummy as white bread.

Homework 1--country wheat bread (it's 100% whole wheat!) (Zingerman's bread class II part 2)

After  "Wholey Whole Wheat Bread" class I took in January, I've practiced to bake some at home. This time I tried to make country whole wheat bread. In fact, I took home 6 loaves of bread from the class. It sounds a lot. However, having two bread-holic kids at home the breads were gone quickly. In three days there were only 1/2 loaf of country wheat bread and 2/3 loaf of sesame raisin bread left. I knew I have to make some more right away to stock up my bread supply. 

Mashed potatoes with some chunks and skin

The one I made was the country wheat bread which I learned from the class. It was made of 100% whole wheat flour. It sounds dry and hard, right? Wrong! It is very moist and soft. I think it's because of the mashed potatoes in the recipe. First of all I cooked the potatoes in the pressure cooker, and mashed it when it's still hot. I did leave some potato peels and chunks as suggested. When it's done mixing you can not tell there was any chunks or peels.

Import! Import! Good butter, good bread!

Even though I tried to use all the ingredients as close as what we used in the class. However, the fat content of the butter I used was not as high as what the one in the class, 82% and up. Because I only drink skim milk (no 2% nor whole milk) I added extra butter (4% of milk weight) to the dough, and subtracted milk the same amount of the extra butter. The extra butter not just made up lacking fat in the milk, but also lower fat content of butter I used.
 
I doubled the recipe, and planned to knead this dough with my 20-qt Hobart mixer. Kneading bread dough with hands is good workout, but kneading over a 6 lb dough is not. In most situation, when flour in the recipe is less than 1000g I use my 5-qt KitchenAid mixer to do the work. Since I doubled the recipe it had way more than 1000g of flour for the dough. Of course I used my big toy to do the task. It was a bad decision. Normally I don't have any problem of kneading bread dough size like this, but it didn't happen this time. After scraping the mixing bowl several times and tried to put dough together I gave up.  The dough just stick on the wall of the mixing bowl instead of dough hook. I ended up kneading by hands. Actually, it wasn't too bad as what I thought. Needless to say, it's a good workout after all:)

For the first fermentation I put the dough in a cooler with some hot water to speed up fermentation (we set our thermostat at 55F in the house, burrr...) (this bread was made in January) for one hour, and then I folded the dough and let it rise again for 45 minutes, until finger poke test was done. 

I only have 2 8x4-inch glass loaf pans, and 1 glass and 1 metal 9x5-inch loaf pans. For better bread baking results, I'll need 4 same size and same material loaf pans to bake this bread. Luckily, as a baking-holic I also own 8 1-lb pullman bread pans that's as many as my oven can fit. At first, I was worried that the pullman pans may be too big for the bread, but it turned out great. In fact, after slicing them they were better shape for sandwiches to me than the one I made in the class.

These breads weren't as dark as the class ones. However, the internal temp reached 190F after 30 minute of baking (I rotated once during the baking). The taste? It's absolutely fantastic! How about flavor? Well, I admit that the flavor of the bread was very close to the class one, but not quite the same. The one from the class had a wonderful honey aroma. Mine was lack of it. It's probably because the honey I used is from Costco. It was the only kind I have in hand:( The ingredients do make the end results different. For sure I'm going to invest good honey to make this bread next time.

Actually I hardly make 100% whole wheat bread. The only one I make occasionally is a bread machine's recipe. Of course, my picky family doesn't like it except me. It has common problems like most of bread machine bread has--dry texture with thick and hard crust. After tasting this bread my husband finally gave me an OK to make this bread to replace our regular sandwich bread which contains only 25% whole wheat flour. It means thumbs up to me. I finally made my family accept 100% whole grain bread. Big thanks to Zingerman's stuffs, Dan and Kyle!!

My 2nd Zingerman's bread class (Zingerman's bread class II part 1)

 

After my first bread class at Zingerman's I'm hooked on. I want to take more classes! Zingerman's offers varieties of baking classes. The classes I'm interested in are bread making, of course. As a main person at the kitchen of our house I want to give my family as healthy food as possible. Because of this reason I picked "Wholely Whole Grain Breads"  this time.

The class I took was in January. (Wow, it took me more than 6 months to finish this post.) As usual, it started with the introduction of bread making basics. The picture shows the 8 very important steps before starting to knead the bread dough. I never follow all 8 steps. That's probably why I always made some mistakes. It is a good habit to follow all these steps because it helps to make perfect loaves of breads every time:)

We made 3 breads within 4 hours. Is that incredible? Thanks to our very skillful and knowledgeable assistant, Kyle. He helped us to accomplish this impossible task. 

Look at this tight schedule. It did help us to finish 3 yummy breads in 4 hours. I'm wondering that I'm capable to duplicate the same schedule to finish all 3 breads at my kitchen. It is mission impossible!

The first bread was country wheat bread. It was 100% whole wheat bread made with mashed potatoes. The texture was very soft and moist. After tasted it, no one believed it's a 100% whole wheat bread.

This bread is very good for sandwiches. Or, just like JA toasted it, and put some yummy homemade apple butter on it. It tasted just like in heaven. I promise that you will not regret to make your sandwiches with this bread.

The second bread we made was whole grain sesame raisin bread. Because of sesame this bread smelled so great. Same as for the the texture, the sesame brought  a little bit crunchiness to this bread. The little sweetness coming from raisin made the taste of this bread very pleasant.

This bread dough was very wet and sticky. It resembled as a cookie dough to me. However, it turned out the nicest bread I ever had.

This bread didn't use any bit of white flour same as the first bread. It was made of oatmeal, whole wheat and whole rye flour. Not like most of whole grain bread, it's texture was just a little bit dense but very moist. It had the kind of texture I love.

The last but not least one was multigrain bread. The multigrain we used was Zingerman's famous 7 grain mix. It contains cracked wheat, cracked rye, cracked barley, cracked corn,millet, steel-cut oats and flex seed. The mix is very versatile. I used it to make my no knead multigrain whole wheat bread, and the flavor just melt into bread very well.

I really enjoyed the class this time just like the previous one. Nevertheless, I want to take some more! Hopefully, I can squeeze some time to pursue my dream of making bread.

P.S. Just registered another class, "Fabulous French Baguettes". I was thinking about this class for a long time. There is no more excuse when the tuition  is 20% off right now. I'm looking forward to having fun again especially working so hard recently at work. I definitely need a "bread" break.