*Artisan a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. (of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.
We each choose and make one of these breads. In addition we will make a batch of breadsticks together.
Harvest loaf with poolish A little rye, wheat germ, bran and wholemeal make this bread slightly darker.
White cob with poolish As with all these breads this has a crunchy crust open texture and good flavour.
Wholemeal loaf with biga. Very succulent but still with a good crust.
Walnut bread (my wife's favourite) with biga This has a splendid taste, just on its own.
bread sticks with olives, herbs and pecorino Made using an overnight poolish.
Baking bread using an overnight fermentation and long proving time takes a while end to end but the work involved is minimal, the results look and taste great and you can always make oatcakes in the down time.
An overnight fermentation is a simple mixture of bread flour, water and a small amount of yeast which takes only a couple of minutes to prepare. The consistency of the mixture is softer ie wetter than the final dough which gives the yeast a good medium to multiply in. This prolonged fermentation develops more flavours in the mixture enhancing the taste of the final bread and also makes the bread easier to digest. Pre-ferments can be used in making almost all breads.
a biga which is a little stiffer ie drier and generally cooler giving the bread a slightly sourer flavour.
a poolish which is wetter, producing a softer/sweeter taste.
You may also see the English term "sponge mixture" used in recipes. This is equivalent to "poolish" which we have borrowed from France.
At the end of the class we will compare the appearance and flavours of our breads.
If we use the right size of casserole for our quantity of dough the sides of the pot will constrain the dough as it rises during firing. The only way is up! This means that we can use quite moist doughs without worrying about the bread dough spreading sideways. This in turn means we can use folding to develop the gluten rather than the normal heel of the hand kneading. The moisture and the gentler folding will result in a more aerated crumb ie bigger holes in the body of the loaf. The bubbling mixture in the column on the right is a lively wet dough just ready for dividing and shaping before going into a proving basket/bowl.
later the moisture helps in developing a good crust. This is is difficult to achieve in a convection oven which will blow the moisture out almost immediately.