A Winter bread

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (10) 8 December 2018

MCF (50%); T80, petit épeautre and farine de châtaigne (the other 50%).

Another chestnut flour-flavoured bread. As WB (9) but I change the proportions slightly, replaced PMF with T80, and dropped the pumpkin seeds.

I messed this up a bit, made a very wet dough, slapped it until my right arm was about to drop off - but it still pancaked badly. However it was a remarkably tasty bread - and it had developed a distinctive malty taste after 48 hours (I have no idea why). I will make this again soon and will be much more attentive when making the dough.

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (11) 12 December 2018

MCF + PMF (two-thirds); Petit épeautre and farine de châtaigne (the other third), and pumpkin seeds.

Similar to WB9 but I changed the proportions around, and reduced the quantity of farine de châtaigne.

Like the other two chestnut flour-flavoured loaves - WB9 and WB10 - this wasn't an easy dough to work. But the other two tasted great, so I have high hopes for this one too.

Update edit: interesting bread. Quite heavy and strong-tasting. Again there's a hint of maltiness coming through after 48 hours … I wonder if it's the pumpkin seeds?

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (12) 15 December 2018

On the basis of the previous three pain au châtaignes (WB9 thru 11), it looks as though 75g of chestnut flour in a 600g loaf is the max it'll take.

This one ...MCF, T80 and farine de châtaigne, plus caraway seeds.

I'm not using spelt in this (I have an outstanding order for light spelt - but I wanted to try this as a spelt-free loaf anyway) - nor am I adding any pumpkin seeds. This will be a lighter chestnut-flour flavoured loaf than the previous three, and I'm trialling caraway seeds and chestnut flour as a flavour combination.

This was quite a stiff dough to work (again). My right arm was aching by the time I’d got it into an acceptable state. It rose nicely in front of the fire for the first prove. It seemed OK at knock-down (fairly stiff). I used a little bench flour to shape the loaf but it pancaked quite horribly in the second proving. How very odd. I've got various theories as to why this happened but I'm not convinced that any of them are correct. On verra.

 

[Wandering Bob]

Another repeat of Winter Bread (1) but this time with the addition of one teaspoonful of caraway seeds.

17 December 2018

This is either the fifth or sixth time I've made this bread since the beginning of November, and each loaf has been excellent. I'm curious as to why these always turn out well, but the chestnut flour-flavoured breads, whilst tasting great, have either pancaked or have not risen sufficiently. Today's bread won't answer that question ... but it'll be yet another interesting addition to this archive of 'winter breads'.

I gave this slightly longer in the oven, so it's a bit crustier. It's a very nice bread with a moist and tasty crumb, and a good crust suffused with the anise flavour of the caraway seeds.

Later footnote ..I won't make this again. The addition of caraway doesn't really add anything to what is a very good bread … sarrason/carvi bread always has a zing, but I think in this case it's a distraction and not worth further pursuit.

ATTACH=full]21312[/ATTACH]

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Another repeat of Winter Bread (1) but this time with the addition of one teaspoonful of caraway seeds.

17 December 2018

This is either the fifth or sixth time I've made this bread since the beginning of November, and each loaf has been excellent. I'm curious as to why these always turn out well, but the chestnut flour-flavoured breads, whilst tasting great, have either pancaked or have not risen sufficiently. Today's bread won't answer that question ... but it'll be yet another interesting addition to this archive of 'winter breads'.

Photos and notes to follow ..

Your archive of winter bread is very interesting to me. It's nice to see how much passion you put, not just to knead (congratulations, I would not have this constancy), but also to describe your successes. See the next winter bread on the next episode!

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (13) 20 December 2018

Similar to WB(9) (aka CB1) but no pumpkin seeds, and I've changed the proportions slightly (more PMF, less chestnut flour).

There's a supply problem with the T80 flour (and given that it comes from Bain-de-Bretagne, that sounds like simple incompetence) … but I'd also been wondering if the pancaking problems I had with WBs 10 and 12 (CBs 2 and 4) stem from the overuse of T80 and perhaps the amount of chestnut flour in the mix. So I've reduced the chestnut flour in this loaf to only 50g and there's no T80 - so if this pancakes, I'll have to assume that it's a problem of technique - but that mystifies me.

Later edit: It didn't pancake - it looks and smells great. I'm going to try some with a chunk of bethmale later.

Further edit … this is a really good bread, and the crust is packed with flavour. I may tinker with the proportions a bit, but this is a 'keeper' - I think I might call this my 'Christmas Bread'.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Winter Bread (13) 20 December 2018

Similar to WB(9) (aka CB1) but no pumpkin seeds, and I've changed the proportions slightly (more PMF, less chestnut flour).

There's a supply problem with the T80 flour (and given that it comes from Bain-de-Bretagne, that sounds like simple incompetence) … but I'd also been wondering if the pancaking problems I had with WBs 10 and 12 (CBs 2 and 4) stem from the overuse of T80 and perhaps the amount of chestnut flour in the mix. So I've reduced the chestnut flour in this loaf to only 50g and there's no T80 - so if this pancakes, I'll have to assume that it's a problem of technique - but that mystifies me.

Later edit: It didn't pancake - it looks and smells great. I'm going to try some with a chunk of bethmale later.


View attachment 21350

Looks great as usual

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (14) 22 December 2018 (Chestnut Bread 6, Christmas Bread 2)

I was very pleased with how WB(13) turned out. I've tinkered slightly with the quantities for this second go at 'Christmas Bread' - a bit more spelt, a little less PMF, and I've reduced the amount of chestnut flour to 40g.

It was hard work but I’ve made a good malleable dough. No fire today so I’m hoping it’ll rise against one of the radiators. Used a little bench flour at knock-down, and formed a ‘torpedo’ loaf.

It seems a little less crusty than the first Xmas bread.

Tried this for breakfast and it's blown my socks off - fantastic bread, and one of the best that I've ever made. I'll keep on reducing the amount of PMF, and increasing the spelt pro rata, until the quality starts to diminish. Then I'll create a Xmas Bread thread … this bread is so good, it probably needs its own forum.

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (15) 25 December 2018 (Chestnut Bread 7, Christmas Bread 3)

This will be a true Christmas bread, baked on 25 December - and arguably more meaningful than a million defrosted turkeys put in ovens today.

Still no sign of any more T80 (perhaps later this week), so I'm continuing the theme of replacing PMF with a similar quantity of light spelt.

This rose much quicker than I was expecting - 75 mins instead of 2 hours, in the first proving. I gave it a good dusting of bench flour to resemble snow …

The second prove was only 53 minutes too … it looked like it would have started to pancake if left for much longer.

It’s not a crusty bread. The increased quantity of petit épeautre means that it closely resembles a light wholemeal loaf, but with the unmistakeable chestnut flour flavour in the crust (and the extra interest of the seeds in the crumb). Good bread...

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Winter Bread (15) 25 December 2018 (Chestnut Bread 7, Christmas Bread 3)

This will be a true Christmas bread, baked on 25 December - and arguably more meaningful than a million defrosted turkeys put in ovens today.

Still no sign of any more T80 (perhaps later this week), so I'm continuing the theme of replacing PMF with a similar quantity of light spelt.

More later …

Thank you for sharing another great Xmas bread. I'm quite sure it's a goodness. I'm wondering how many good recipes could be done...Merry Christmas @Wandering Bob

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (16) 28 December 2018

Still no sign of any more T80 coming my way, so I abandoned my intention of making another WB(1). I could have made another sarrasin/carvi loaf, but decided to do that on New Year's Eve instead.

Today's bread is a variation on WB (8). I've changed the quantities around slightly from WB(8) and I've also included 1 dsp of pine nuts.

Made this as quite a wet dough because of the seeds and nuts. Slapped it a lot – then kneaded and stretched it in two sessions (no bench flour).

A bit more bench flour after 1st prove. It rose beautifully in the second prove (no hint of pancaking).

It looks like a handsome loaf.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Winter Bread (16) 28 December 2018

Still no sign of any more T80 coming my way, so I abandoned my intention of making another WB(1). I could have made another sarrasin/carvi loaf, but decided to do that on New Year's Eve instead.

Today's bread is a variation on WB (8). I've changed the quantities around slightly from WB(8) and I've also included 1 dsp of pine nuts.

Made this as quite a wet dough because of the seeds and nuts. Slapped it a lot – then kneaded and stretched it in two sessions (no bench flour).

A bit more bench flour after 1st prove. It rose beautifully in the second prove (no hint of pancaking).

It looks like a handsome loaf.

View attachment 21523

Wonderful as usual!
I'm not a great baker, at least not like you, I can do focaccia or pizza, but making bread is another thing. Complimenti

 

[Wandering Bob]

I'm having an enforced break from the Winter Bread experiments … still no sign of any more T80 flour (I asked again yesterday) and the "other" ingredient which I've been looking for since early November still hasn't appeared.

As an 'interlude', I reverted to making other breads :

30 December: A 'pain simple' (aka 3-2-1 bread) mix of MCF, PMF and the very last of the T80

3 January 2019 - a variant on the above, but with farine de sarrasin, rather than T80 - no photo

6 January 2019 - with my neighbour's 11-year old son, we made a couple of 300g loaves … a 'pain nature' (just strong white) and a 'pain au curcuma'. Side by side on a baking tray in the oven, this is how they looked after being cooked:

 

[MypinchofItaly]

I'm having an enforced break from the Winter Bread experiments … still no sign of any more T80 flour (I asked again yesterday) and the "other" ingredient which I've been looking for since early November still hasn't appeared.

As an 'interlude', I reverted to making other breads :

30 December: A 'pain simple' (aka 3-2-1 bread) mix of MCF, PMF and the very last of the T80

View attachment 21682

3 January 2019 - a variant on the above, but with farine de sarrasin, rather than T80 - no photo

6 January 2019 - with my neighbour's 11-year old son, we made a couple of 300g loaves … a 'pain nature' (just strong white) and a 'pain au curcuma'. Side by side on a baking tray in the oven, this is how they looked after being cooked:

View attachment 21683

A couple of talented bakers!

 

[Wandering Bob]

Winter Bread (17) 9 January 2019

I'm told that the new supply of T80 will arrive tomorrow evening. On verra…

Today's 'winter bread' will be a straightforward white loaf (MCF + PMF, no spelt), with just a small amount of chestnut flour/rye for flavour. There will also be sunflower, lin and pumpkin seeds for texture.

Made this as quite a wet dough because of the seeds and chestnut flour. Slapped it a lot – then kneaded and stretched it in two sessions (no bench flour). Some bench flour after 1st prove.

Oven for 32 mins at 210. It came out of the oven looking like a frosty bread