Peter Reinhart’s Recipe Testers, a Kitchen Remodel and a New Job…

July 17th, 2009

Sorry about the disappearing act! Since early February I have been very busy putting together two additional features to the BreadTechnique website.  Both are reference pages for Peter Reinhart’s recipe testers group.  Over 250 people are involved in a forum and gallery.  The gallery is full of beautiful bread pictures and you don’t have to join to look! 

The recipe testers forum was originally created to support the development of Peter’s latest book, Artisan Breads Everyday, which will be released in October.  The testing is over but the recipe discussion continues at the forum site.

That’s not all that kept me away.  I also remodeled the kitchen, learning how to make cabinet doors and reface cabinets with veneer.   I added new lighting and my wife, Carolyn stripped and painted the walls.  I’ll be posting a video soon about the delay on YouTube.com.  In addition, I started a new job in technologyh.  I’m sorry for the delay and absence but it’s been a busy seven months!

Ciabatta you ask?  Well, I thought I had it all shot but not edited.  When I set back down to finish editing I discovered a reshoot of narrative is required.  My kitchen and I have both a new look which will make it’s way into the video soon.   I’m reshooting the narrative this weekend.

 More to come, meanwhile here is a picture of my new kitchen!finishedkitchen  It’s where I spend much of my leisure time and make the BreadTechnique video’s and I am enjoying it every day.

 

 

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French Toast from Ciabatta

January 26th, 2009
French toast with traditional powdered sugar dusting

French toast with traditional powdered sugar dusting

My mother taught me the joys of the kitchen when I was too young for kindergarten.  I remember making noodles, fried eggs, Waldorf salad, pie crust and french toast.  My eyes were at about the level of the string  of her apron. Her french toast was not like anything you would find at a breakfast chain restaurant.  It was really just a way to get a child to eat scrambled eggs!  She would beat an egg,  add a  tiny splash of milk and a little sugar.  She would dip a slice of very plain white bread – that kind that is like cake ( I WONDER what it was) in the simple mixture long enough to make it slippery with egg.   After a quick flip it was fried a bit of margarine.  Toothsome is a good way to describe it, but I was delighted because the whole thing would be soon drowned in maple flavored syrup.  It could have been made of kapok, cotton balls and binder twine, that syrup was key to enjoyment for a four year old.  

My mother’s recipe for french toast hasn’t stood the test of time but it got me through many a cold winter morning.  Restaurant french toast was different and a bit moister.  I took seeing an episode of the ‘Galloping Gourmet’ with Grahm Kerr to make me realize what french toast can be.

Good french toast is a custard locked in bread.  Slightly sweetened egg and dairy accented by nutmeg and vanilla.  With good french toast the syrup is barely necessary  or optional.  I present to you my procedure to make it this way. 

I’m recommending that you start with a loaf of ciabatta bread.  With any luck it is one you’ve made yourself.  Good ciabatta is like a sponge.  It should have large irregular holes and drink up liquid like a parched sailor.

French toast ingredients

French toast ingredients

Slice six generous portions of ciabatta set then aside.  Stale bread actually works best.  Next, thouroughly beat six eggs.  To the eggs add 1 1/3 cup of milk ( at least 2% milkfat), 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, two pinches of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg. All of this should be beaten until evenly blended.

Place the six slices of bread into a shallow pan ( a 1/4 sheet pan or small cookie sheet works nicely) and pour the egg and milk mixture on top.  Let it set for 20 minutes then flip the slices.  Wait about 20 more minutes.  Place the soaked bread on a wire cooling rack to drain.

Well drained slices will brown nicely

Well drained slices will brown nicely

Select a heavy skillet or griddle that will accomodate at least half of the slices.  Preheat the pan over medium heat to a temperature of about 375 degrees fahrenheit.    Use an IR thermometer or hold your hand about 2 inches above the skillet.  If your hand senses hot and not warm – that is good enough.   At a tablespoon or so of butter.  The butter should melt, sizzle and brown slightly.

Grate a last bit of nutmeg on top of the drained slices.  Flip them as they are  placed in the skillet.  Grate another bit of nutmeg on the wet exposed side and wait about two minutes for the first side to brown. 

Turn the french toast and cook for about two minutes more.  Serve these immediately to an eager breakfaster!  If you are preparing the french toast for a group, they will keep well in a preheated oven (225 degrees farenheit) while you finish the rest of the slices.

A guilty pleasure: French toast with butter and syrup!

A guilty pleasure: French toast with butter and syrup!

I am certian you’ll find this french toast to be delicious from the first bite to the last.

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Grilled cheese from ciabatta

January 18th, 2009
Grilled Cheese

Grilled Cheese

There are so very many ways that a loaf of bread can go wrong and fortunately, with knowledge, can go right. Today was one of those days that things went incredibly right. I think this is probably the best ciabatta I have ever made!

  As is always the case, allowing for things to happen slowly paid rewards. This loaf was the product of slow fermentation. From the first mixing of poolish to the final product was about 42 hours. On Friday at 9:00 pm I mixed poolish and let it ferment for 12 hours on the counter. The next morning at about 9:00 am I added the final ingredients.  Eager to get out of the house on some errands I placed the covered mixer bowl in the fridge. It was a busy day, so the ciabatta would have to wait for a day.

Sunday morning  at about 8:30 am I brought the dough out and let it ferment on the counter, still in the mixer bowl, until about 11:30 am.  After removing the dough  from the mixer bowl it was  placed on a well dusted counter and given ciabatta style fold.  After an additional hour the loaf was refolded and placed in the couche for the final rise.  The oven preheating  was begun to reach 550 degrees.

Large irregular holes are a hallmark of ciabatta

Large irregular holes are a hallmark of ciabatta

This was all too late for Sunday lunch, but great things were in store for dinner!

At about 1:30 the ciabatta dough was risen and the oven was ready.  The dough was rolled onto a  metal peel and then on the preheated baking stone,  water was poured into  the lava rock steamer and the oven temperature control reset to a lower temperature.  The final steps were under way.
After about 10 minutes of  baking time I rotated the loaf and was pleased to see that the bottom had lifted on all edges, away from the stone to form a well rounded loaf.  Oven spring is expected but when the hearth baked loaf becomes a sort of ‘balloon’ you know that the degree of proofing is ideal.

Included above are some pictures of the ciabatta slices as well as pictures of  the grilled cheese.   Try using  a combination of  a cast iron griddle on the bottom and a cast iron skillet as a topper to make a type of  crude pannini press.  Both the skillet and griddle should be preheated to 400 degrees (use an IR thermometer to measure the heat). Once the matching bread slices are buttered,ready2grill1

cheese can be arranged on the unbuttered surfaces.  When the griddle is good and hot each ‘bottom’  bread slice with cheese is placed, buttered side down, on the griddle. 

After the top slice is added  - unbuttered side down - on top of the cheese – the the hot skillet is put in place directly on the buttered top surface.  At that point the heat to the griddle can be turned off.

A cast iron skillet and cast iron griddle make a great substitute pannini press

A cast iron skillet and cast iron griddle make a great substitute pannini press

After about 90 seconds the skillet is removed and the sandwich is ready to serve.  No doubt, you  have a cast iron skillet (12 inch) on hand.  Start looking for the griddle.  I find this use of the griddle justification of  the $20 it will cost to buy one.  You’ll also find it great for pancakes.

It’s true that ciabatta can produce some slices with large holes that are less than ideal for grilled cheese. Keep slicing!  Some will make perfect sandwiches. 

Next week I’ll tell you about a way to use the ‘holey’ slices for a breakfast treat.  French toast from ciabatta is something that will make you eager to create your first loaf of ciabatta bread.  Wait and see!

twogrilledcheese1

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Ciabatta pleasures

January 13th, 2009

ciabattaisservedDevelopment of  each DVD project takes about 8-12 weeks.  Research and refinement of recipes means a lot of product will be made.  During that time  my family gets to eat a lot of the subject matter! Ciabatta is particularly pleasant for us. The loaves came out fine this weekend.

I’ve decided to take a small departure from the approach in the other videos. All focused almost exclusively on poolish but I’m realizing that many people just won’t invest the extra planning or time to use poolish. This time around I’ll be showing both the preferment method with poolish and direct method for ciabatta. To be frank, there are times I create breads without aging the preferment.
This is true when I’m asked to a last minute (early same day) event and want to bring a nice warm loaf of bread for the host. Look for this additional method in ‘Ciabatta at Home’.
postableciabatta1I also want to show a couple of traditions with the ciabatta we have for using ciabatta. This wonderful rustic loaf is usually a Sunday lunch bread. This means Sunday dinner is grilled cheese made with provolone cheese on an improvised cast iron pannini press. Maybe I’ll post a picture next week.
Please post your comments, I look forward to knowing your thoughts.

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Steam from your home oven

December 31st, 2008

Hello!

It has been a productive two or three days working to make the website better and add the blog.  I hope you are enjoying it.  The next video will be ciabatta and assuming you have a baking stone and other basic bread making gear there are four other things you’ll need. With the first three you’ll be able to produce billows of steam in your home oven like you have never seen before.  The last item will allow you to retain the shape your ciabatta loaf while proofs.

dsc00932

  1. 1. A cast iron vessel that is about two inches in height   That means a large skillet or a roaster pan.  Cast iron stores heat like nothing else you’ll find.  The height is important because the vessel goes on the bottom shelf and just above the baking stone which is placed on the middle shelf.  It’s unlikely you have room for a cast iron duch oven and a loaf of ciabatta in your oven.  If you do, I really envy you!
  2. A bag of lava rock  Choose the jagged irregular shapes.  Larger peices work best.  Avoid the briquette shaped item.  Three or four pounds of  lava rocks is a lot.  Purchase just enough to fill your vessel.
  3. A long safety glove to protect your hand and arm up to or past your elbow as you pour in water.
  4. A Couche   The couche is simply a cloth made of cotton, linen or flax used to shape a loaf without a pan that is destined for the hearth stone.  These are sometimes used in a basket or bowl retain the shape a boule (round loaf) while it is in it’s final rise.

If you don’t have these things, start looking now.  Once you see the steam generator in action you’ll be eager to start making thick crusted artisen breads!

The steamer trick is one I learned from a video from King Arthur flour.  Before that I  employed  the method of misting the oven with a spritzer and/or pouring boiling  water in a steel roaster pan.  What happens when you upgrade to the cast iron vessel and the lava rocks is amazing.  Because the water takes a few seconds to boil the oven door gets closed before the water begins to boil up into the lava rock.  As it reaches the lava rock the steam billows out of the oven door sides and top.  Keep children out of the kitchen for this operation.  I’ll post a short video soon on the youtube site showing this process well in advance of the release of the ciabatta video. 

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Welcome to BreadTechnique’s Kitchen Talk!

December 28th, 2008
If you are returning to my website you’ll notice a new look and feel.  First the videos are larger and run faster.  In the first incarnation of the website, the tool I used to create the site was simple but got things up and running quickly.  BreadTechnique is mostly a one man shop.  At this point I manage all of the enterprise needs myself, video shooting, editing, scripting as well as the site maintenance.  It’s  just me with help from my daughter, Emily. 
On the site there are currently three videos and five recipes.  I started this venture as a hobby business to share my enthusiasm for working with dough and working in the kitchen in general.  I have another domain that is as yet unused to offer a similar kind of instructional resource for pasta of all kinds. 
My earliest memory of my mother is that of making noodles.  She taught me to make noodles in a flour well – directly in the flour bin! To make the well she used a jelly glass, pushing it down and making a widening circle.   I’ll never forget that lesson, in fact it is my method for making the well in the flour.  In the spring I’ll launch a site for pasta techniques.  
When I released Bagels at Home about two years ago I was fortunate to have referrals and a link from Peter Reinhart’s blog  Without that jump start I’m not sure where BreadTechnique would be.  Peter is an amazing resource, experienced and thoughtful breadmaker.  His books are resources you should own.  His latest book is Peter Reinharts Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extrodinary Flavor.  The first of his books I owned was The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and my copy was well worn before I met Peter to get it signed.  You can find links to Amazon to purchase either title at my site.  If you have limited resources and need to have one or two good books, this is where you should start.

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