Wild Yeast

Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

Wild Yeast One; Danish Two

Today is the one-year birthday of Wild Yeast. Holy crow, time flies! I’m not one for elaborate birthday bashes, so let me just say this: Thank you to all of you who read here, and to all of you who share your fabulous blogs with the world. A year ago, I never could have imagined that I would ever meet so many extremely cool people from every corner of the earth, let alone count you among my friends. You’ve made my year!

Now, about that Danish:

The Danish pastries I made last month were good, but not as flaky and crisp as I like them, because the dough wasn’t laminated. I had planned to try again, with lamination; little did I know that Kelly (Sass & Veracity) and Ben (What’s Cooking?) were plotting to force my hand by choosing Danish Braid for this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge.

When I read the recipe (from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking), I was a little surprised to see that the roll-in butter for the Danish dough was to be softened by beating it (plus a bit of flour) in a mixer to give it a spreadable consistency. The lamination in my (admittedly short) past has involved whacking a block of chilled butter with a rolling pin to shape it into a still-firm rectangle around which the dough is wrapped.

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(Baking) Rule #1

When I was a young teenager, I followed professional basketball rather – and this might be a bit of an understatement – closely. I can still recite the starting lineup, with jersey numbers, of my hometown (championship, then and again!) team, the Boston Celtics. I didn’t get to many games at Boston Garden, but I faithfully listened to each one on the radio and relished the televised games even more.

Naturally, I became familiar with players on the other teams as well. Although many of those opponents’ names have vanished from my memory, there is one player I will never forget: Rick Barry of the Golden State Warriors.  He is one of the game’s greatest all-time stars, an eight-season NBA All-Star and a Hall-of-Famer. But to be honest, and intending no disrespect to his all-around achievement, what stands out most in my mind about Rick Barry is that he shot his free throws underhand.

Yes, one of the greatest (and at the time of his retirement, the best) free-throw shooters of all time shot granny style. Or, as Red Auerbach pointed out in this Red on Roundball video (which, just to be clear, was shot way before my time!), the old way. Auerbach didn’t, but some would call it the wrong way. Shaquille O’Neal is reported to have said “I would shoot negative percentage before I shot like that.”

Perhaps people (like Shaq and – ahem – young teenagers) were laughing, and high school coaches were cringing, but Rick Barry didn’t care. He put the ball through the hoop every time.

Which brings me to my all-time, trumps-everything, supreme grand Rule #1 of bread baking (and of most things, for that matter): Do What Works For You. And Corollary #1: Don’t Do What Doesn’t Work For You.

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Flour 101

Flour is flour is flour. Ground up wheat. And wheat is wheat is wheat. Right?norwich sourdough crumb

No! While using the right flour will not guarantee perfect bread (no one thing can guarantee that, after all), a very wrong flour might all but guarantee a flop. When choosing a basic white flour suitable for most bread baking, there are a few things to look for.

What’s not helpful are the labels “Bread Flour” and “All-Purpose Flour.” There is no standardization for these terms, and some flours designated “all-purpose” may be preferable to some “bread flours” for most bread baking (especially “artisan” hearth breads). On the other hand, some so-called “all-purpose” flours are definitely not. You’re much better off looking at the characteristics of a flour rather than its name.

But in case you just want to cut to the chase, I’ll give you the bottom line up front. Here’s a list of flours that I have known and loved:

  • Central Milling Organic Unbleached All-Purpose. This is the flour I currently use. I buy it at Costco in 20-lb. packages. I believe many Costcos nationwide, and perhaps other club stores, carry it.
  • Giusto’s Golden Haven. I haven’t seen it in stores but I have a natural foods store that will special-order it for me. Giusto’s is based in San Francisco and I don’t know about availability in other areas. Organic.
  • Heartland Mill UBAP (unbleached, unenriched, malted “All Purpose”). I have ordered this directly from the Heartland Mill website. Unfortunately, exorbitant shipping charges prevent me from continuing to use it. Maybe it is available locally where you live. Organic.
  • Gold Medal Harvest King (alternatively labeled “Better for Bread” in some parts of the country). It is widely available in supermarkets. Non-organic.

What makes these flours wonderful?

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Sprouted Wheat Doorstop

“I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
–Thomas Edison

Have you ever wondered idly to yourself, “Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I tried to make bread with only sourdough starter, ground sprouted wheat berries, salt, and a little sweetener (brown rice syrup, say)?”

Or have you ever thought, “I’m in the mood for a doorstop, I wonder what would be the best way to bake one?”

If so, you’re in luck; here’s my short answer to both questions:

The taste wasn’t bad, and it was almost edible in small doses. I’ll try this again, but to tell the truth I’m a little sick of sprouted wheat for now. And are you sick of hearing about it from me? I thought so.

Sprouted Wheat Sourdough With Fruits and Nuts

This is how I used my sprouted wheat. The bread is easily adapted to any taste by including your favorite dried fruits and nuts. I chose blueberries, plums, walnuts, and orange zest. Try apricots, raisins, cherries, figs, almonds, pecans, or whatever else strikes you, or omit the fruit altogether for a more savory bread.

Date molasses is available in Middle Eastern grocery markets. If you don’t have it, substitute thawed fruit juice concentrate. Wheat gluten can be found in the baking section of many markets, or ordered online.

This submission for BreadBakingDay #11, bread with sprouts. This one-year anniversary edition is hosted this month by BBD’s founder, Zorra (1x umrühren bitte). I have loved seeing all the breads everyone comes up with each month and I’m sure this month will be no exception!

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Sprouted Wheat

Last year I took a workshop on whole grain breads at SFBI, in which we sprouted some wheat berries and used them in two breads. I loved those breads so much that afterwards at home I promptly got some wheat berries of my own, set them to sprouting, ground them up, and put them in the refrigerator with the intention of baking with them within a few days.

Well… one thing and another kept me from getting to that sprouted wheat for quite some time… and when I finally opened up the container I got a nose full of fumes that left no doubt as to what “grain alcohol” is all about. So consider yourself warned: sprouted wheat does not keep forever in the refrigerator; it will, given enough time, ferment itself into oblivion. If you’re going to go to the trouble of sprouting it, make sure you have a plan for using it.

That batch was destined for the compost pile, but I did better this time. If you guessed that this is a batch of ground sprouted wheat berries that I prepared for my BreadBakingDay #11 (bread with sprouts) offering, you were absolutely right.

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