Brioche Tatin

Not everybody is a chocoholic (I know I am not, even though I do enjoy a piece of dark chocolate once in a while) but I don't know anybody who doesn't love caramel and now that I have learned to make it the dry way (check out this post for a description of the method), I plan to make it much more often. I had two-day-old brioches on hand (that's actually what gave me the idea to make this dessert) but challah would work just as well or even slices of whole-grain pan bread which might have dried out a bit. Pan d'oro would be divine of course, but I can't imagine ever having stale pan d'oro lying around...

Add one or two apples and some sugar and you are all set for a very delicious and very romantic dessert. All things considered, why not say it with apples, this Valentine's Day? I know I will. But then I'll say it with chocolate too. Better be safe than sorry... ;-) I didn't weigh anything but here is what I used: 2 individual brioches, slightly dried out 1 and a half Golden Delicious apple 1 tbsp of butter (for the pan) 1.5 tbsp of dark brown sugar 6 tsp of granulated sugar After preheating the oven to 450 F, I peeled and sliced the apples thinly, buttered a 9" tart pan and dusted it with brown sugar before arranging the apple slices in a pinwheel on the bottom, then I set the tart pan in the oven for 10 minutes. While the apples were starting to bake, I sliced the brioches (not too thick not too thin, about 1 cm is fine) and set a small saucepan with a heavy bottom to heat on the stove. When it started smoking, I threw in one teaspoon of granulated sugar. It melted very fast, so I added a second teaspoonful and swirled the saucepan some. I progressively added the rest of the sugar, swirling constantly, sometimes taking the saucepan off the heat to slow down the coloring. When I figured I had enough caramel, I stopped, took the pan out of the oven, drizzled the caramel over the apples and arranged the brioche slices over the whole thing. I turned the oven down to 350 F.

The pan went back in the oven for 20 more minutes. When it came out, the brioche was golden and the smell was heavenly.

All that was left to do was to flip the tart over on a plate. It was actually easier to do that I thought it would be because most of the apples remained stuck to the bottom, which made it child's play to take them out with a spatula and arrange them prettily on the waiting brioche slices. Et voilà, a brioche Tatin!

If you like, you can serve it warm with vanilla ice-cream. But you don't have to as it is delicious on its own and at room temperature. The Brioche Tatin goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.

Vermont Apple Bread

Lucky baker that I am, I just spent three most instructive days baking with Jeff Hamelman at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Central Vermont (more about this experience in another post) and the rest of the week visiting a French baker who makes extraordinary bread in Northern Vermont (more about him and his bakery in yet another post). When I came home, one of the first thing I did (after dividing my carload of bread between family and friends) was to feed the starter (which had been waiting in the fridge) and set it to warm up in the proofbox. I fed it again twice the next day and on the morning after, it was bubbling away and ready to work. I wanted to showcase the deliciously tangy raw apple cider I had brought back from Green Wind Farm (which also makes the creamiest whole-milk yogurt and a very flavorful maple syrup) and drawing inspiration from Jeff's Normandy Apple Bread in Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes, I made this very simple bread. If you don't have diced dried apples (I had bought mine at the King Arthur store), you can slow-roast the apple slices in the oven at 250 F/120C as Jeff does: it would probably boost the flavor of the cider even more. For a slightly sweeter bread, a splash of boiled cider could be added.

Desired dough temperature: 76F/24C

Ingredients (for two loaves):

333 g white whole wheat flour 333 g unbleached all-purpose flour 100 g water (I needed almost 100g on top of that) 227 g fresh apple cider 22 g salt 267 g mature liquid starter (100% hydration) 100 g diced dried apples (quick-soaked in hot water and immediately drained - I used that water in the dough as part of the total water), cooled

Method:

1. Mix flour, cider and half of the water with the levain in the bowl of the mixer until incorporated (add water as needed to hydrate the flour)
2. Let rest for 20 minutes (autolyse)
3. Add the salt and mix until dough consistency is medium-soft (adding water as needed) and the gluten starts to develop
4. Add the diced dried apples
5. Mix until incorporated
6. Transfer to an oil-sprayed dough bucket, cover and set to ferment in a warm place
7. After one hour, give the dough a fold
8. Ferment one more hour and transfer to a lightly floured work surface
9. Divide in two equal parts (about 750 g each) and shape each part into a rough cylinder
10. Let rest. covered, for 20 minutes
11. Pre-heat the oven to 480 degrees F/250 C, after placing a baking stone on the middle shelf with an empty metal recipient on the shelf immediately under
12. Shape each piece of dough as a batard and set to proof in a floured basket for about one hour in a warmish place (the dough is ready when a finger poke leaves an indentation that takes 1 or 2 seconds to spring back).
13. Invert the two baskets onto a semolina-dusted parchment paper set on a baking sheet and gently brush excess flour off the loaves
14. Score each loaf straight down the middle with a baker's lame or a serrated knife
15. Pour one cup of water in the metal recipient placed under the baking stone and set the two loaves (still on the parchment paper) on the stone
16. Thoroughly mist the oven with water
17. Close the oven door and lower the temperature to 450 F/232 C
18. Bake for 35 minutes
19. After 35 minutes, check the color of the loaves. If already well browned, tent a piece of foil over them to prevent burning and keep baking for another 5 to 10 minutes
20. Turn off the oven and let the loaves rest in it with the door ajar for another 10 minutes
21. Set to cool on a wire rack.

This Vermont Apple Bread goes to Susan, fromWild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.

Drunken Ciabatta

I loved the taste of fermented apples too much in this bread not to try again at the first opportunity. This time, I had not only apples but a few pears that were decidedly past their prime. I peeled and sliced the whole lot and set it to marinate for 5 days with some water and a sprinkle of sugar. Then my guests from France arrived and with them, a whirlwind of sightseeing and no time for baking. So I stuck the fermented mixture in the fridge where it rested for a week.
When time came to travel with our guests to our summer cabin on the St-Lawrence river, I packed the whole thing into a glass jar and took it with us in the cooler. Meanwhile I had finally developed my very favorite ciabatta recipe and started making it almost daily to satisfy multiple hungry stomachs here on the river. That gave me the idea of incorporating the fermented fruit (which tasted deliciously boozy) and its juice in the dough to make a new and inebriating breakfast bread. The Drunken Ciabatta was born.
For ingredients and method, please refer to the ciabatta recipe below.
I used all the leftover apples and pears I had (about 4 of each, i.e. 684 g after peeling and coring). I sliced them up and put them to macerate with 100 g sugar and 84 g water (I would have used organic apple or pear juice if I had any at hand but I didn't). I covered the bowl and left it at room temp for one week, stirring it vigorously once a day.
At the end of the process, after fermentation and straining, I had 380 g fruit and 406 g juice.
I replaced most of the water in the ciabatta by the fermented juice (I didn't have quite enough to replace it all) and I incorporated the fruit at the very last moment when the dough was already well developed and hydrated.

The taste is out of this world, so much so that I now have standing orders (from family and friends) for all kinds of fruit ciabattas. The next one will be blueberry. Stay tuned!
The Drunken Ciabatta goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.

Blueberry Bread with Spelt Starter

Even though (or because?) it is a three-party marriage ("un mariage à trois" as we say in French, usually with a snicker), the alliance between spelt, apple and blueberries really rocks!
The flavors complement each other with none of them trying to steal the show. Definitely a felicitous union although it could be be sweeter. That is, I could have put in a sweetener. I didn't because I usually prefer not to, but this time, just a hint of agave nectar or honey would have been welcome.
You know how they talk about the boys of summer? Well, this is a bread of summer. It brings back memories of fragrant hayrides and long hours among the bushes, picking to one's heart's content.

I love blueberries, their shape, their color and the way they seem to blush under the thinnest coating of mauve talcum powder. I actually read somewhere that this very thin powder is their sunscreen. They secrete it to protect themselves from rays that would otherwise turn them into raisins. I wish we were genetically programmed to do the same. Although maybe that's what a suntan is...

But too much suntan does turn you into a raisin after a while... So we don't have it as easy as blueberries and that's a fact.

Anyway, I was trying to come up with a blueberry bread that could be eaten on its own, a bit like a quickbread, and still be a "real" bread, the macho type with a nice crust and a chewy crumb. And save for the fact that it could have been a wee bit sweeter, this bread delivers. As is, it is actually excellent with Swiss cheese or white Cheddar cheese and obviously delicious with blueberry jam!
I would have used all spelt (a combination of white spelt and whole spelt flours but I ran out of white spelt, so I replaced some of it with unbleached all-purpose flour). Spelt flakes and/or spelt bran could be added for texture if desired. I had given my usual white starter (100% hydration) two feedings of spelt and it looked quite happy and rearing to go. So off we went...

Ingredients (for 1 small loaf and 1 big one):

• 288 g white spelt flour
• 171 g whole spelt flour
• 112 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 285 g water
• 115 g spelt starter
• 86 g unsweetened applesauce
• 229 g fresh blueberries
• 28 g almond oil (or other neutral oil)
• 13 g salt
• 2.8 g instant yeast

Method:

1. Mix the instant yeast in the flour
2. Put the flours, the starter, the oil, the applesauce and about 80% of the water in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add the reserved water as needed
3. Let rest, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes (autolyse)
4. Add the salt and mix at medium speed until the dough reaches a low/medium level of gluten development (when you pinch a piece of it off with wet hands and stretch it, you should see a thin membrane - or "gluten window" - with opaque spots and that means the dough is ready)
5. Place the dough on a flour-dusted worktable and gently incorporate the blueberries, taking care not to squash them too much
6. Spray with oil a large bowl or bucket, put the dough in it and cover tightly
7. Let ferment for 1 1/2 hour or so (if the dough is very slack, you may want to give it a fold after the first 30 minutes)
8. Spray the worktable with oil and gently put the dough on it, taking care not to deflate it or squash the blueberries more than necessary
9. Divide the dough in 1 small loaf and 1 big one (or 3 small ones)
10. Pre-shape the pieces in balls and let them rest, covered, for about 20 minutes
11. Shape tightly in the desired shape (I made one small boule and one big oval bread as I don't have 3 small baskets) and place in well-floured baskets or bannetons
12. Set to proof for about 45 minutes inside a clear plastic bag, well sealed
13. At least 30 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 F/232 C, after placing a baking stone and a shallow metal pan inside
14. When the loaves are ready, turn them out of their baskets onto a semolina-dusted sheet of parchment paper placed on a half-sheet pan or baker's peel and score them in a cross pattern
15. Pour one cup of water into the shallow metal pan, taking care to protect your face and hands
16. Slide the loaves onto the baking stone, spray the oven walls heavily with water and close the door
17. Bake for 35 minutes (turning them half-way during baking so that they color evenly)
18. Then remove the parchment paper from under the loaves and flip them over gently to ensure a crisp bottom (that's because the blueberries tend to leak during baking and make the bottom of the loaf soggy in places)
19. Bake another 5 minutes
20. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool. Enjoy!

This Blueberry Bread goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.

Double Apple Bread

The idea for this bread came to me as I was continuing my spring cleaning of the kitchen cabinets and encountered a half-full container of organic dried apples I had bought a couple of months ago at the farmers' market on 47th street. I had some fresh apples as well which I needed to do away with before our trip. I also had some newly bought muesli that I was eager to try.
I remembered reading in Joe Ortiz's The Village Baker that he made a bread with an apple starter and another one with some muesli mash. I didn't have time to make a foolproof apple starter (although I definitely will later on this summer or this fall because I love the idea) but I thought, hey, why not try to just ferment an apple with some sugar and water and see what happens?

If it didn't turn out to be palatable, nothing much would be lost except the apple. As for the muesli mash, it is very easy to make. Just soak the muesli with hot water overnight, in the morning add the flour and the sweetener (inspired by Jeremy from Stir the Pots, I used pomegranate molasses instead of honey) and let it rest between 24 and 36 hours.
But everything hung on the fate of the fermented apples. Would they make the bread or the compost heap? On the day of the baking, when I woke up, I still didn't know. I uncovered the bowl and hesitantly took a tiny bite out of a tiny piece and...the flavor was incredible, both sweet and alcoholic and very, very sophisticated. The juice that had seeped out was marvelous in its own right. It went straight into the dough. Imagine fall concentrated into an elixir and you'll have an idea of what it tasted like. I bet fermented apple pieces would be delicious in sourdough pancakes. That will be for when we come back!

The fermented apple after 5 days

Meanwhile, hesitation was no longer possible, the bread was begging to be made. I knew I wanted a healthy dose of whole wheat flour and I also wanted a very wet dough as the dried apples might soak up all the moisture otherwise and I would end up with an autumn-tasting brick.
So here is the recipe I came up with. I added a tiny bit of honey. For consistency sake, I should have stuck to the pomegranate molasses but, still under the spell of the magical potion, I completely forgot that it had been my sweetener of choice for the muesli mash. Ah well, not to worry! Pomegranate molasses being quite acidic, maybe honey was a better choice anyway, especially because I had forgotten to feed my starter the day before and it was definitely giving me sour looks.

The dried apples from the farmer's market

When I wrote the above post, we hadn't yet tasted the bread. Now we have and we love it. It has a crunchy crust and a flavorful crumb and the pieces of apple are a real treat. The interior could be a bit more open but I am not sure how to go about getting more holes with as much whole wheat. I'll have to experiment. As always, suggestions are welcome!

In any case, my family loved this double apple bread and that makes it a keeper for me as I always like to see them gobble up whole grains without noticing it. Next time however:

• I will NOT forget to feed my starter the day before
• Which means that I will NOT use yeast
• Which also means that I will go for a longer fermentation time
• Which probably means that I'll retard the dough overnight
• I will play around with the amount of fermented apples to try and get more of that awe-inspiring liquor which tasted like it was well on its way to transmuting into either calvados (apple brandy) or hard cider, and replace more of the water with it for added flavor
• I'll probably use a white whole wheat mash (I've never tried one before and I am curious to see how it turns out) which will either replace or complement the muesli

Ingredients (for one large loaf and a small one):

For the fermented apples

• 165 g firm apple (I used a Fuji), peeled, cored and cut into little pieces, left to marinate for 5 days in a tightly covered bowl with one stirring a day
• 37 g granulated sugar
• 26 g water

For the muesli mash

• 90 g muesli
• 40 g raisins, added to the muesli prior to soaking
• 140 g hot water
• 77 g unbleached all-purpose flour, added after a 12-hour soaking of the raisins and muesli
• 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or honey), also added after the initial 12-hour soaking

 For the final dough

• 400 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 400 g white whole wheat
• 420 g water
• 200 g mature liquid starter (hydration 100%) all of the muesli mash all of the fermented apples (however the juice is added to the dough at the beginning of the mixing and the pieces of apple themselves at the end)
• 37 g dried apple slices, roughly chopped
• 21 g pomegranate molasses (or honey)
• 20 g hazelnut oil (a neutral oil such as canola or almond would work too)
• 20 g salt
• 5 g instant yeast

Method (this bread is made over 6 days):

1. Five days before baking day, mix apple, sugar and water in a small bowl and cover tightly. Set it to ferment in a warm place and give it a stir every 24 hours
2. At least 36 hours before baking day, mix the muesli in a small bowl, cover well and let soak overnight or for 12 hours. The following morning, add the flour, cover tightly again and set to ferment in a warm place next to the apples. Forget all about it for the next 24 to 36 hours
3. On baking day, put the flour, the muesli mash, the starter, the yeast, the oil, 80% of the water and the juice of the fermented apple in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix at low speed until incorporated (adding water as necessary)
4. Cover the bowl of the mixer with a towel and let rest 20 to 30 minutes (autolyse)
5. Add the salt and mix at medium-speed until the dough reaches medium consistency (when you pinch off a piece of it with wet hands and stretch it, you should see a thin membrane - or "gluten window" - with opaque spots, which means the dough is ready)
6. Add the dried apple and mix briefly until well distributed
7. Place the dough on a flour-dusted surface, knead for a few seconds by hand and incorporate the fermented apples until well distributed
8. Place the dough in a large lightly oiled bucket or bowl and cover tightly
9. Leave to ferment for 1 1/2 hour, giving the dough one fold after 30 minutes
10. Divide in two (I made one large and one small loaf) and pre-shape each piece into a ball, cover and let rest for 20 minutes
11. Shape tightly into balls and set to proof for about 40 minutes in well-floured baskets or bannetons placed in a clear tightly sealed plastic bag
12. 30 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 475 F/246 C after placing inside a baking stone and a shallow metal pan
13. Invert the boules onto a semolina-dusted sheet of parchment paper placed on a baker's peel or half-sheet
14. Dust them with flour (if desired) and score them
15. Pour one cup of water in the metal pan, taking care to protect face and hands
16. Slide the boules into the oven (still on the parchment paper) directly onto the baking stone
17. Spray the oven walls with water
18. Close the oven door and lower the temperature to 450F/232C
19. After 30 minutes, rotate the boules and check the color of the crust. If already quite dark, lower the oven temperature and/or protect the boules with tented foil
20. Bake another 10 minutes
21. Turn off the oven and, keeping the oven door ajar, let the loaves dry out another 5/10 minutes
22. Set to cool on a rack.

This Double Apple Bread goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast, for Yeastpotting.