Tagged: bad crumb

Veganricha Recipe & Next Round – Familiar Outcome

So: today I had it in mind to make this great-looking cauliflower burger recipe from Veganricha. However, you can’t make a burger without a bun (you can, but where’s the joy in that?) so I decided to push on w/ the experiments.

Flour Mix: Same as previous.

Starter: same as previous. I am feeding the starter about 1x daily, usually about a tablespoon if I am not planning on baking that day, a quarter cup when I am (equal parts water and flour mix). It reliably doubles (or a bit more) in about 2 hours. I feed the starter, then when it’s starting its decline, I mix the dough.

Bread Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour mix
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 5.5 oz starter
  • 1.2 cup water (85 F) – this is a bit of a guess, but it was less than last time
  • 15 g chia seeds, 15 g flax seeds, ground and mixed w/ 60 g boiling water and left to cool. I have to think that this would be less aggressive and potentially more effective w/ cold water. I used some older, light coloured flax seeds I found in the larder.

Method:

Mix dry ingredients. Add starter to 1 cup of water and stir to disperse. Add flax – this was kind of a congealed lump. Again, might this not be more effective mixed first with a bit more water? Mixed in KitchenAid at second speed and added a splash more water. Rise for 2 hours in covered bowl. I then divided the relatively pliable, but still a bit sticky, dough into 6 and rolled small balls.

Now, I took oven-heating advice from here – that is, to place the dough directly in the oven and heat. I also was in the process of cooking the burgers per above and so the oven was both not closed the whole time and I had things at different heights. I took the rolls out at one point to see how they were doing (since I wasn’t watching the clock closely) which also likely didn’t help.

Results:

Little positive to report. Heavy rolls with reduced flavour, likely from the lack of butter. My sense is maybe too much starter – things seem to happen too quickly and a good crust doesn’t form, so the explosions of gas aren’t controlled. I am also inclined not to agree with the oven-warming method.

Crumb: 1/10 – relatively fluffy on cooling.Flavour: 7/10
Crust: 1/10

GF Sourdough #2; Focus on Crumb

I’d like to be less impatient, and not change multiple factors – do a solid design of experiment. But I am impatient, so I made more than one change. I added in a flax and chia slurry in place of the xanthan gum etc; I used more water; and I used a stand mixer to beat the wetter dough. Oh, and more butter.

Flour Mix:

  • 3x Buckwheat
  • 1x Soy
  • 2x White Rice
  • 1x Fine Cornmeal
  • 2x Coarse Cornmeal

Starter:

I used the same starter I had previously, now matured well and to the point where it will double after feeding in about 2 hours (at about 75 F)

Bread Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour mix
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 5.5 oz starter
  • 2 oz butter
  • 1.5 cup water (85 F)
  • 15 g chia seeds, 15 g flax seeds, ground and mixed w/ 60 g boiling water and left to cool

Method:

Mix dry ingredients. Rub in butter. Add starter to 1 cup of water and stir to disperse. Add along with flax slurry to dry ingredients and mix for 2.5 minutes in a KitchenAid at second speed. Add enough additional water to make a stiff batter. Set aside to rise in a covered bowl – I used a plastic gastronorm this time in order to have more visibility to the dough during the rise, and placed an elastic band around in order to see the volume shift.

This rose spectacularly – close to doubled in 2-3 hours. However, I left it. After about 6 hours I divided it, managing it with a little flour, and let it rest, whereupon it continued to rise. I heated the dutch oven and carefully transferred the dough for 20 minutes w/ lid on and 20 w/ it off …

Results:

I made big bread-tasting biscuits / cookies! Pictures to follow, but in essence no outer crust formed, and no oven spring occurred. The texture was a loose sponge.

Plus side – flavour was solid, and the ‘crust’ had good colour and flavour. Flax slurry didn’t affect the good taste at all. Starter is mature.

Thoughts: too much water / fat in butter not helping / too long a bulk rise?

Actions: back to 1 cup & a splash, form loaves when at 160% (don’t wait for 200%), remove butter. Yes, multivariate adjustment.

  • Crumb: 1/10 (on cooling, more like a crumbly cake, quite moist, pleasant. Not bready.
  • Flavour: 9/10
  • Crust: 0/10 (no crust!!)

 

 

GF Sourdough, Ginger Bug, Butter ‘n All

It occurred to me to try and follow ‘normal’ recipes as much as possible to start with, in order to have a base. The following was loosely based on one in Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes (Hamelman) for plain levain-based sourdough.

Flour Mix:

  • 3x Buckwheat
  • 1x Soy
  • 2x White Rice
  • 1x Fine Cornmeal
  • 2x Coarse Cornmeal

Starter:

  • Ginger bug – 1/4 cup water + 2 chunks ginger + 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour mix
  • 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup water

Mix to a very stiff consistency. Let sit for 2 days at room temperature. Feed after 2 days with 1/4 cup flour mix + water from ginger bug. Let sit for 18 hours. Should double in size after about 12 hours and be starting to ‘collapse’ at that point.

Bread Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour mix
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 5.5 oz starter
  • c. 1oz butter
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup water + a splash (room temp)

Method:

Mix dry ingredients. Rub in butter. Add starter to water and stir to disperse. Add to dry ingredients and knead briefly. Set aside to rise in a covered bowl.

After 18 hours, shape with care (this could be done ahead of time) and bake as follows:

Heat dutch oven at full (450 For close to it) for 40 minutes (at least). Place dough in lid and body over the top. 20 mins at full and then 20 without the lid.

Results:

  • Flavour: excellent (8/10)
  • Crust: superb (9/10)
  • Crumb: awful (0/10)

Basically, no rise or spring at all. Plan is to try and use flax / chia to get a good risen loaf, then adjust for flavour.