Sourdough starter -- starter pack! And pizza dough.

Crap I'm embarrassed. I've been saying that you can find a lot of info about sourdough starter on my blog, but there's no actual starter-sitting/maintenance info!! I swear I did a massive post several years ago, but suffice to say that I don't know where it went. Did I post it on another blog? Facebook or tumblr maybe? who knows.

So forthwith, a getting-there-without-tears sourdough starter post. The French call it a levain, and it's a batch of happy yeast cells in a liquid medium that is used by itself or in combo with commercial yeast to make doughs rise. 

There are many tutorials out there about how to begin a sourdough starter from scratch, such as Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible (she makes a stiff starter, double the flour to water, but the principle is the same) and the King Arthur Flour blog, and several videos as well. (I started mine about 20 years ago from organic rye flour, organic grapes and bottled water.)

If I've given you some of mine, or someone else has, then you just have to feed the starter and it will live on indefinitely. Every time you use it, just feed the remainder and the cells will remain active and the starter is ready to use whenever. If you don't plan on using it more than once a week, the starter can live in your fridge, where the cell activity will slow down from the cold enough so it stays alive, but not exhausting its food supply.

To feed the starter, weigh what you have and feed it half its weight in flour and half in water. For example, if the starter weighs 150 grams, you will stir in 75 g. flour and 75 g. water. You will then have 300 g. of starter, that will be most active if you give it about 6 hours at room temperature. It should rise to about double its size in about 4 hours. If you don't plan on using it soon, leave the fed starter at room temperature for an hour, then refrigerate it.

If you don't plan on using 300 g. and you want to keep less, you can discard some before you feed it, as long as you keep at least 60 g., to be fed 30 g each of flour and water. This amount fits in a pint container or 12-ounce jar with room to rise.

When you do want to use the refrigerated starter, leave it out at room temperature for an hour or two and watch for it to rise slightly. Then use however much your recipe calls for. Weigh the remainder and feed it as before, half water and half flour by weight. 

If you won't be using your starter for a bit, it will be okay in the freezer -- the longest I have frozen mine was two weeks. When you want to maintain it again, leave the frozen starter out at room temperature until it thaws out completely. Feed it as above and leave until you see bubbles and it has that fruity, slightly beer-y smell -- it may not rise to fully double, but it will be fine.

If you forget to feed your starter in the fridge for a week or two, and there is clear or greyish liquid on top, it is still okay. Stir that liquid back in, discard half of the starter, and feed it. Leave it at room temperature until it rises, then either use or refrigerate. If it takes a long time to rise (more than 6 hours with no activity), feed it again. Usually the most neglected starter will bounce back after two or three feedings 12 hours or so apart.

⇒⇒⇒If you ever see pinkish or orangey spots or liquid, or black mold, do not hesitate to throw the starter out. This is a sign of potentially harmful bacteria. Contact me to give you some more 😁, don't feel that you have to save it.

Here as an act of good starter faith is the pizza dough recipe I use: (even though at the moment my home oven is not conducive to pizza-making -- i will live through you all.)

Sourdough Pizza Dough

220 g. room-temp water

10 g. (2 tsp.) active dry yeast

165 g. all-purpose flour

300 g. bread flour

15 g. (1 tbsp) salt

15 g. (1 tbsp) sugar (optional -- it makes it brown better and rise a bit faster)

200 g. sourdough starter, fed about 6-10 hours before 

50 g. olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Mix together the dry ingredients. Form a well, and add the wet ingredients and yeast water. Combine with your fingers, sweeping the flour into the well to form a shaggy dough. Knead it until it is smooth and elastic, and you get a gluten window. (in the mixer, go 3 minutes on low, then 6-8 minutes on medium). Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead a few times just to bring any wet parts and dry parts together. Put a little olive oil in the bowl and drop the dough back in, turning it over to coat. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise til it doubles (about 40 minutes) then knock it down and divide into pieces -- I usually make two 14" or three 10-12" from this size batch, or about 240 g. each for 4 individual pizzas depending on how thin you want to stretch it. 

Shape each piece into a ball, return them to the oiled bowl, cover, then rest in the fridge til you're ready to stretch. (Or freeze on an oiled pan until solid, then place in a freezer bag.)

I prep all my toppings first, then stretch and top and right into the 475 oven. If you want it puffier/more foccacia-like, let the pizza rise about 10-15 minutes with the toppings on.   

Rise, and shine! 

Fluffy, tender sandwich bread, by request

UPDATED with shaping videos -- see below!👇

I like making bread (no duh!) and my daughter likes eating bread. But not my bread, usually. "No offense Mom, but your bread is usually hard." I disagree! Crusty, because it's sourdough, but not hard. Unless it's been around for a little bit because it hasn't been eaten. Because it's not squishy white bread.

So, of course, I was compelled to make the tender, creamy-crumbed, slightly sweet Japanese-style milk bread you see here -- in a loaf shape that is perfect for toast, grilled cheese, and other sandwiches. 

Incorporating sourdough gives sandwich bread a boost in flavor and keeping qualities, and using tangzhong gives it that moist, soft interior and delicate crust, that stays that way on the counter for a bit. So of course to maximize my oven usage, I made two loaves -- the oven stays on the same amount of time anyway, and I have two loaf pans of equal size. I may try 3 loaves at once next time, but that might be pushing the capacity of my mixer. 
Update: since this bread has won my family over, i got two 12-inch long loaf pans and now make approximately 1 1/4 times the original quantity (shaping in 6 logs per pan). It does fit in my 5 qt mixer, but needs a larger bowl to rise in. Surprisingly, the two loaves still only take 30 minutes to bake. New quantities are in red. 

You do want to use a mixer for tangzhong doughs -- until the gluten is developed properly, they are very sticky like brioche, almost gluey. But when the dough is properly mixed, it rises nicely.
Debt of gratitude to Christine Ho's english-language blog, which is where I first encountered the tangzhong method. This recipe is very similar to hers, but with my tweaks and quantities.

Japanese-style Milk Bread Sandwich Loaves

Tangzhong:

50 g. all-purpose or bread flour 66 g
125 g. milk 166 ml
125 g. water 166 ml

In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the liquids until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking all the time, until the mixture thickens and the whisk starts to leave a track. It will just start to stick to the bottom and may come to a bit of a simmer, but it is done when it still drips in a trail from the whisk. Turn the tangzhong out of the saucepan to cool, right into your mixer bowl.
EDIT: You can also microwave the tangzhong, stirring every 20 seconds with a small whisk or a fork to get out the lumps.

Final dough:
100 g. milk or heavy cream 133 g
112 g. eggyolks (or two large eggs and a yolk) 150 g
300 g. sourdough starter, fed 6-15 hours before  400 g
110 g. sugar 146 g
10 g. instant or active dry yeast (if your starter is very active, 7 g. should be enough) 12 g

550 g. bread flour (or part whole wheat flour and part bread flour) 715 g
37 g. dry milk powder 50 g
10 g. (2 tsp) salt 13 g

60 g. butter, cool and cubed 80 g

Add the milk or cream, eggs or eggyolks, sugar, starter, and yeast to the room-temperature tangzhong. Mix with the paddle until it is smooth and the yeast is dispersed. Add the flour, milk powder and salt, switch to the hook, and mix on low speed for a few minutes until the flour is evenly moistened. 

(I now let this sit to autolyse for about 10-15 minutes, especially for the larger batch). Turn the speed up to medium and let the dough develop -- it will look very messy for a bit, then come together into a few sticky clumps. Scrape down the sides if needed. Add the butter, and mix again on medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic -- it will take a total of 7-10 minutes. Check for a gluten window.
Clean off the hook, pull the bowl off the mixer, and go through with a bench scraper or spatula to make sure everything is evenly mixed -- there may be some butter bits or egg hanging about in the divot of the bowl, and you want to get those in cleanly.  
Coat the top of the dough with cooking spray or butter, just enough so it doesn't form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let the dough rise until doubled... it should take about an hour, depending on how healthy your starter is and if the room is warm. 

Have two 9x5 loaf pans ready... mine are a dark nonstick, so they don't need much prep, but if they are not nonstick, a quick spray or parchment liner will help get the bread out prettily. 

When the dough has doubled, gently fold the edges into the middle to de-gas.

Shaping:

Turn it out onto the counter and divide in half, then each half into 4 pieces for the traditional Hokkaido-loaf shape. Take one piece, flatten it into an oval, and bring the two short ends to meet in the middle. Roll this up from an open end into a snug 4-inch long cylinder and place it crosswise in a loaf pan, seam side down. Repeat to have four cylinders for each loaf. It doesn't matter if they touch or not, but try to have the tops be relatively even.

Update: Alternate shaping -- twist: Divide the dough into only two pieces and shape each into a cylinder about twice as long as the pan. Twist together, tuck in the ends, and place in the pan.

Cover with plastic wrap or bags, and let the breads rise until they come to the top edge of the loaf pan. This will take about half the time of your first rise. *

Bake the breads at 350 F -- they should take about 25-30 minutes. The tops will sound hollow when you tap, and they will feel crusty with a nice golden color. Remove them from the oven and let cool a bit, then turn the loaves out of the pans onto a rack. If the bottoms lack color, you can put them back in the oven (out of the pans) to brown the rest of the way around for a few minutes, then remove and let cool completely.
As they cool and the moisture distributes evenly, the outside will soften and stay that way, so don't be sad that the crust is very firm when they come out of the oven. 

Do let the loaves cool completely before slicing -- the inside is very tender while hot and it will squash if you cut too soon. 

The sandwich loaves will live happily on your countertop, each in a gallon-size zip-close bag or something like it, for a good week. Or less, if someone keeps creeping up and slicing pieces off! 👀😋

* I didn't find it necessary to brush the loaves with anything before baking, but a little milk or cream will give them a darker, semi-glossy finish. Beaten egg gives them a much darker, shiny crust, but i find that that peels off after a few hours. You can brush them with melted butter as they come out of the oven, but again, the crust softens nicely even without.

Presenting Chocolate Croissant (and Pains au Chocolat) ! (part 2)

Welcome back! For the second half of the tutorial, it's rolling out, cutting, shaping into the actual croissant and filled-rectangle shapes, baking and finishing. You'll need a ruler or tape measure to get the best-looking shapes, and a sharp knife with a blade at least 8 inches long.

The batch size we made before yields 24 full-sized pastries -- croissants approximately 6 inches wide, or pains about 5 inches long. Croissants are shaped from a triangle, rolled up from the wide end to the tip, then curved to form the familiar shape -- 4 inches at the base and 8 inches high.


Or you can make them half-size, about 4 inches wide, from a triangle 3 inches by 6 inches. This means 48 pastries, 24 from each half of the dough.

 The finished dough softens relatively fast when it's rolled thin, and sticking happens. I find it easiest to work with half of the batch at a time because of this, plus it is easier to maneuver a shorter length when rolling. For this reason, the measurements here are for half the batch.

To start, flour the counter well and take the finished and rested dough and roll from the open ends (crosswise to the last folds) to make the square into a rectangle about 18 inches long by 9 inches tall -- it will be about 1/2 inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the dough in half to make 2 9 inch squares. Wrap and refrigerate one half, or put it in a gallon-size freezer bag and freeze it for another time. 

Your 9 inch square needs to be rolled out to about 3-4 mm thick -- a rectangle approximately 16 inches by 12 inches for full-sized croissants. Don't worry if it is a little too long or wide, but make sure that the 16-inch side is a folded edge (as versus an open end). It will be much easier to get the dough to a 16 inch length than a 12 inch width, but just keep at it, maintaining the even thickness by rolling from the center out. Try not to roll over the edges too much or they'll get too thin. Lift the dough from the counter often to make sure it's not sticking. As it gets thinner, it will start to become elastic and pull back. If it seems too soft, slide the whole thing onto a cutting board or pan and refrigerate the dough about 10-15 minutes. It might shrink -- wait to measure until it's cool.

Once you have the right sized rectangle, fold the 16-inch length in half so you have a double thickness rectangle 8 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

Now mark 4 inch segments across the bottom edge. Across the top, mark 2 inches, then 4 inches and another 4 inches -- the last bit will be 2 inches. Mark a diagonal line connecting the bottom right corner with the 2 inch mark at the top. From this mark, make another line to the first 4 inch mark at the bottom for your first triangle. Then go up to the second top point, down to the second bottom point, then up again twice more. You should have 3 triangles pointing up and two whole triangles pointing down, with a half-triangle on each side. 

Cut with a sharp knife along the marks, then unfold and cut the two middle triangles apart crosswise, as well as the four half-triangles.   Press the long (straight) sides of the two half-triangles together for the first croissant, stretching it out long for the maximum layers. Brush off the excess flour -- too much flour on the outside makes for crunchy (not crispy-tender) flakes.

Make two 1/2 inch cuts in the 4-inch base and spread it apart a bit. 

Now roll from the 4-inch base, stretching, to the tip. (Make sure the tip stays on the bottom... if it isn't weighted down, it will flip up and might burn, or your croissant might unroll.) Curve the ends into the familiar moon shape.

Repeat for the rest of the triangles, then the other half of the dough. As you shape them, put the croissants on a parchment- or nonstick mat-lined pan, spaced well apart. You can fit 6- 8 full-sized croissants on a 12x18 (half-sheet) pan -- don't crowd them or they will stick together once they rise and bake.

For half-sized croissants, the rectangle should be 12x18 inches, then folded so it is 6 inches tall. 

You can fit 12- 15 of this size on a pan.

Once all the croissants are formed, cover them with plastic wrap or another sheet pan and let them rise at room temperature until they double in size and feel very wobbly and light when you touch them -- it will take awhile, about two hours, but let the yeast do its thing.

Alternatively, freeze the shaped but not risen croissants until they are firm, then put them in a freezer bag to rise and bake as you please.

For pains au chocolat, roll the half-batch to a rectangle 12 x18 inches, and cut into 12 rectangles. Brush off the excess flour.

Put a few pieces of chocolate (we like milk chocolate) down the middle and roll up in thirds the long way, placing the end in the bottom center -- if the opening is on the side, it will tip over. Still delicious, but not as even-looking.

For half-sized pains au chocolat, start with the rectangle the same size, 12x18, and cut it into 2 x 4.5 inch rectangles.

As with the croissant, set the formed pains au chocolat on a lined pan, and cover to rise. (Or freeze, as above.)
 They will tend not to take as long as the croissant, so check them in 1 hr 20 minutes. (I didn't slash mine, but you definitely can, to get those beautiful markings you see on Instagram that show off the layers. Next time, I'll do some with slashes and update this post.)

When the shaped croissant and pains are almost fully risen, put a metal pan (like a pie or cake pan) on the floor of the oven (you will use this to create steam later, which will help the pastries rise), set the racks evenly spaced and preheat the oven to 370 degrees. 

When they are fully risen -- wobbly and light when nudged with a fingertip -- quickly toss about a cup of hot water in the pan on the bottom of the oven and place the pans with the croissants or pains on the racks. Close the door quickly to trap the steam, and bake about 12-15 minutes without peeking. Smells amazing!

At the 12-minute point, they should have risen nicely and started to brown -- it's harder to tell with the chocolate dough, but they should feel set and just firm. Rotate the pans top and bottom and front to back, and bake another 5-8 minutes. 

For half-sized pastries, check and rotate after 8-10 minutes -- they will go quickly!

I don't like to egg-wash the chocolate dough because it doesn't really make a nice color. Instead, after baking I brush them with a syrup that makes them shiny as the water evaporates. 

100 g sugar

50 g hot water

30 g corn syrup or honey (to prevent crystallization)

When they are fully baked, let the croissant and pains cool a bit before brushing the syrup on, gently so the delicate flakes don't come off. Let them cool completely on a rack so condensation doesn't make the bottoms soggy.

And there you have it! Beautiful, delectable and oh-so-satisfyingly handmade croissants et pains au chocolat, chocolate through and through. 

Thank you for sticking it out through this tutorial!! I'm really proud of these, and hope you will be too when you make your own. Let me know what you think!!!

Presenting the Chocolate Croissant!! (part 1)

Yes, these are chocolate croissants. Not just pains au chocolat, but croissants, shaped like crescents, made out of yeasted and laminated chocolate dough. As far as Google can find, this is the first English* tutorial on how to make them to ever exist on the interwebs. Like, ever. I'm not sure why.

*EDIT as of 3/8: Pinterest has informed me that tutorials for similar chocolate croissants exist in Chinese and Italian -- I don't know how close they are to these (I can't read either language well enough) but it doesn't look like they are the same from the pictures... just putting out this disclaimer. Shoutout to the international lamination nation. :D

First off, I am indebted to my cousin Angela's Instagram post about chocolate croissants in a random HK mall stall, pleading for anyone to make them in the Philippines, or for a class on croissants. I have taught many a croissant class at ICE and Monroe College (hi, students!!), but she's not in the same city.

Plus, chocolate ones! Here I have to point you to the stunning pix on Francois Brunet's Instagram -- he has the most riveting chocolate pains au chocolat photos (as well as myriad other absolutely stunning bread and pastry work. Seriously it's awe-inspiring.)

But no recipes, let alone tutorials. Sure, there are many that are filled with chocolate, some that have a layer of chocolate dough so they are striped, or even leopard patterned. But none like these.

So on to the figuring! 

My formula is based on one in Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach by Michel Suas, but adjusted to yield a quantity manageable at home having a stand mixer and a rolling pin but no sheeter, but the dough is easily mixed by hand as well. I use bread flour because of the added cocoa.

I jump at any chance to use my sourdough starter, so it features here too. It tastes wonderful -- the cocoa's bitterness is tempered by the almost leafy tang, and a bit of salt and malt or sugar bump up the lush flavor of both the chocolate and the yeasted dough. 

It's a two-part process but can easily by divided into more 30-minute sets -- no need to block off your whole weekend to make croissants! This part is making the dough and putting in the layers, and the second part will be shaping and finishing.

If you don't have an active sourdough or levain (but really if you like to make bread you should!), or if this is the only yeasted recipe you will ever make (no judgement!) you can make an overnight poolish. 

220 g. all-purpose flour 

220 g room temp water

2.2 g (1/2 tsp) active dry yeast or instant yeast

Whisk together, cover, let rise 10-16 hours.

Chocolate Croissant and Pains au Chocolat 

yields 24 full-sized croissant or 12 each croissant and pains au chocolat, or 48 half-size croissant

Detrempe (dough part):

500 g. bread flour

60 g. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

130 g. water 

140 g. milk 

7.5 g. (1 1/2 tsp) active dry or instant yeast 

440 g. sourdough starter, or the poolish from above 

93 g. sugar

15 g. (1 tbsp) salt

2 g. (1/2 tsp) powdered malt, 5 g.malt syrup, or 7 g. more sugar

29 g. butter, softened

With a mixer: Combine flour and cocoa in a mixer bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the water, then add that and the milk and starter or poolish to the cocoa and flour. Mix with the dough hook until no dry bits remain, then 1 minute on low speed. Add the sugar, salt, malt and butter, and mix on medium until the dough comes together and cleans off the bowl. 

to mix by hand: Dissolve the yeast in the water. Mix together flour, cocoa, salt, sugar, and malt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until it disappears. Make a well and add the yeast/water, milk, and starter or poolish. Mix with a wooden spoon, then your hands, until the dough comes together and no dry bits remain. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead a few strokes until it is smooth and uniform.

Cover the dough in the bowl and let it rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

❧❧

Lightly butter or oil a large piece of plastic wrap. Press the dough (it will be a bit puffy but might not have doubled) into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick on the wrap, fold it over to enclose, and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to 6 hours.

❧❧ 

Buerrage (roll-in butter part):

340 g. unsalted butter, cold

20 g. unsweetened cocoa powder

The goal is to get the butter to the same malleable texture as the detrempe but still very cold -- softened manually, not by temperature. Place the butter (in two or three pieces) on a large piece of plastic wrap, or a nonstick mat. (A piece of heavy vinyl, like from a shower curtain or book cover, works well too.) Scatter the cocoa powder on. Roll the butter so it is coated all over, then fold the plastic on top and start to work the butter and cocoa together by hitting it with a rolling pin.

Use the plastic or mat to fold and shape the butter as you strike. So whack and fold until the cocoa is incorporated, trying to keep the butter pressed together and even. It is a messy process, but pretty satisfying and therapeutic! When all the cocoa is worked in, shape the buerrage into a 10 inch square on the mat, about 1/4 inch thick.

Enclosing (forming the Paton)

Clear off the counter and dust with flour. Unwrap the cold dough and flip it onto the floured surface, trying not to have it fold over on itself. Press the dough out with your hands into a rectangle, 12 inches by 18 inches. (my dough scraper is 6 inches wide - super handy!)

 Center the roll-in butter square at the bottom 2/3 of the rectangle, with 1 inch on 3 sides and the rest of the dough at the top.

fold the empty 1/3 of dough onto the buerrage and dust off the excess flour. 

Now fold the bottom 1/3 over the middle, making a 3-fold, like a letter to fit an envelope.  Press the edges together to seal in the buerrage. You now have 2 layers of butter roll-in between 3 layers of dough. 

Press in short up-down strokes with the pin to get the rectangle even and align the layers, then keep pressing until the folded dough is about 1/2 inch thick. I like to do so on the diagonals, so the corners stay true. 

When it is thin enough so your knuckles hit the counter, start to roll to a rectangle to make your first laminating fold. My counter doesn't allow me to get around its side, so I turn the dough parallel to the edge so i can leverage to roll the length. 

Don't be afraid to flour the surface well -- you don't want the dough to stick and rip to make the butter leak out. Use your scraper to make sure the dough is loose from the counter, moving it around to maintain the even thickness. Aim for a rectangle 3 times as long as it is wide -- in this case, about 9 inches by 27 inches.

Now fold one side over the middle, aligning the edges. 

Brush off the excess flour and fold the other side over, making 3 layers. 

That was your first fold! You will end up with a 9 inch square. Wrap the croissant dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.  This gives the butter roll-in a chance to chill and firm up, and the gluten developed to relax -- both make it easier for you to do the 2nd and 3rd folds. (Yeah, you can rest and chill too.)

❦❦

Flour the counter again and place the rested, cold dough square so the folded edges are parallel to the edge of the counter. You want to roll so the open edges become the short sides of the rectangle and the folds become the long edges, so press across with the rolling pin to 1/2 inch thickness, as before. 

Roll the dough back out to a 9x27 inch rectangle, then make the 2nd fold just like the first, brushing off any excess flour and aligning the edges. You'll notice that it gets more cohesive and manageable as the butter layers get thinner, but pay attention so you don't have sticking, and it stays an even thickness -- the tendency is for the edges to get thin and the middle to be thicker, so to prevent that, make sure to roll from the middle out, with consistent pressure.

Wrap and rest as before, then repeat one more time, for a total of 3 sets of folds. Yay, the lamination is complete! Wrap the finished dough and let it rest in the fridge at least 2 hours, or up to three days. 

This got long enough, so rolling, shaping, baking and finishing will be the next post! Thanks for your patience, see you back here soon for that.

A Banananana loaf/muffin to make basically anytime.

I hoard bananas in my freezer. Gone now are the days when I needed them as an egg substitute, but I still feel wasteful if they get to that perfect mottled ripeness and don't get eaten, so in the freezer they go. While in the summer they make a great smoothie, in the winter you need something less chilly. Before I know it I have a stash enough to make several loaves of banana bread, which is delicious and always consumed quickly. Yes, I always end up making more than one loaf because I feel wasteful (again) of the oven space. Or less often I make muffins. Either form is quick and very easily adapted-- add nuts, chocolate, coconut, even sub gluten-free flour. Everything else is probably already in your pantry -- which is part of why this recipe comes together so easily; there are no eggs or dairy to worry about picking up from the store.

Easiest Banana Loaves or Muffins
Makes 2 8 1/2 x 4 loaves or about 20 regular-sized muffins -- coat pans lightly with cooking spray or line with paper.

Dry ingredients: Whisk until combined:
I usually do 1 1/2 cups (180 g) whole wheat flour and 2 cups (240 g) regular all-purpose flour because I like the taste, and the fiber/nutrition boost. 
1 1/3 cups (235 g) sugar -- again, you can do part brown sugar or all muscovado or coconut sugar.
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients: 2/3 cup (160 ml) oil -- coconut, corn, etc.

2 1/2 cups bananas (if previously frozen, they pretty much peel themselves thawed)

 Vanilla extract, lemon/lime/orange zest or extract, nuts, chips, etc. can go in too.

If you use a mixer, put the wet ingredients in first and mix on low until the bananas are smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. If the bananas were very ripe, you should have a batter that holds a trail when a spatula is run through:

If it is too stiff, adjust the thickness with coconut or regular milk, or water.

 Divide evenly between the pans. It will come about halfway up or a little more.

Bake loaves at 350 about 40 minutes, turning halfway through time. They are done when a skewer or toothpick comes out clean from the middle, or with a few moist crumbs. Muffins will take about 12-15 minutes, depending on size.

Store covered at room temperature -- the loaves go quickly if you leave a table knife handy. Muffins freeze well in a zip-close bag, to be thawed individually for a portable breakfast. (spread with Nutella, they are gone even faster. But not at our [still nut-allergic] house.)

Sourdough brioche is a thing that happened.

Sourdough brioche. Why? Because I can.
It's fall and not stiflingly hot anymore, and we could use some good bread in the house.

Cinnamon sourdough brioche loaf -- look at that spongy light crumb!

My sourdough mother has been underemployed all summer because of... well, life. But I took it out and fed it Friday night in anticipation of baking Saturday, and the poor creature rallied. (I have a liquid sourdough, fed equal parts flour and water by weight. If you have a biga or firm starter, you'll pull back on the flour in the dough to compensate.)

Brioche, of course, is an enriched yeast dough bursting with egg and butter. It's a natural for pre-ferments, but it's one dough that many pastry people make with commercial yeast and the straight method... because all that butter and egg make brioche the dough to turn to for breakfast rolls, burger buns, and various other "plain but not plain old" uses, often on the fly. It combines nicely without too much attention in a standing mixer, then you just let the mixer do its thing to develop the structure before rising and shaping.

It's nice to be able to take the time to make a brioche of value as its own self and not just a hapless vehicle. I do like the bright color that a lot of yolks gives the dough -- this uses a lot of egg and comparatively little butter. The yolks also give these great keeping qualities -- I've had a loaf on the counter for more than a week and it's still tender.

As you can see, this will make three household-sized loaves -- I like to make multiples... more on this on the next post. If you don't have freezer space or receptive co-workers/neighbors/etc, you can divide the quantities for one loaf easily.

35 g milk or water
300 g sourdough starter, fed 6-8 hours before
256 g Egg yolks
7 g Granulated yeast

516 g bread flour
56 g sugar
11 g salt

113 g unsalted butter, cool but not cold

The way I usually mix brioche is to put the liquids in the bowl with the yeast first and mix that together with the paddle to distribute the granules evenly. Add the bread flour, salt and sugar and mix for 5 or 6 minutes on low speed with the hook until the dough comes together... scrape down into the divot to get any moisture encapsulated there. It will look stiff and undermixed -- that's fine.
Add the butter in chunks and mix that in, then change to medium speed and let the dough hook do its job to get the (formerly scraggly) dough into a smooth, elastic and supple dough that hangs together off the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. If it doesn't, add a handful more flour, but it will take a good 7-10 minutes to get to this anyway -- yay for stand mixers!

When I make bread at home I just cover the bowl with plastic and let it rise in the mixer bowl, but if you have another use for your mixer bowl, turn the dough out into a buttered container that will accommodate it while it doubles its size.

Have some loaf pans ready -- for plain loaves, just buttered or sprayed. For cinnamon/sugar, parchment or foil will ensure that they come out with all the yummy nuggets intact.

Knock the (by now puffy and wobbly) dough out onto a floured counter and nudge it into a rectangle to divide easily into 3 pieces. Try not to handle the sticky dough too much or the butter will start leaking out and it will get even softer and stickier.

For a plain loaf, fold  one piece like a letter -- two edges onto the center. Ease it into the prepared pan, trying to aim the seam into the middle.

For a cinnamon loaf, you can sprinkle cinnamon sugar (200 g sugar/25 g cinnamon) on the rectangle, fold it and place it in the pan that way, or the more fun, less pristine way which is the "monkey bread method": have the cinnamon sugar in a wide bowl; cut off chunks of the risen dough about the size of golf balls or prune plums -- 1 1/4" or so? -- and toss them in the cinnamon sugar. Pile them in the loaf pan, still handling lightly.

Cover the loaf (loaves) with a towel and let the dough rise until it comes up to the top of the pan -- depending on how lively the starter is, it will take about an hour.

Bake in a 350 oven until the brioche is well-browned and the crust is springy/firm to the touch. The cinnamon loaf will color much faster because of the sugar on the outside, but it should take about 30 minutes.

the plain loaf -- nicely golden.

Let the brioche cool in the pans until you can comfortably hold a pan, then turn the loaves out to cool completely. Brioche cuts well with a serrated knife, but you can also just pull chunks off the cinnamon loaf willy-nilly...

Quick note: apologies for the lack of pix in this post... I'm still trying to figure out good lighting in this new kitchen.

Rainbow Chromatic/CMYK Croissants! Or, Ally baking.

I actually started these last Sunday after my croissant and brioche class (hi everyone who came from that!), the day of the New York Pride parade. But I didn't actually have time to finish them until this Saturday, the very last day of Pride Month -- skating in just under the wire to support the LGBTQIA+ community, and finally get an idea out of my head and into the world.

UPDATED with more pictures -- scroll down!

You've probably seen this London hotel's rainbow croissants, but I've never seen a recipe or technique that goes with it. And I wanted to make the colors run parallel to the croissant's sections, rather than perpendicular, so each one would be more likely to display all the colors side by side.

I started with a batch of croissant dough, made the usual way with 3 single folds. 

While that rested, I made a small batch (approximately 300 g of flour) of "dead dough" -- the detrempe without the yeast. I used all milk for extensibility, and all-purpose flour because I knew I'd be handling it a lot just to mix the colors in. I divided this dough into three pieces and colored one with egg yellow, one with sky blue, and one with rose pink/red red. (Gel colors rather then liquid, so the dough didn't get too soft.) I then took about a third from each and mixed them with each other to create green, orange and purple/violet doughs. Wrapped and chilled to relax the considerable gluten developed.

Cut to Saturday! Little 2 helped me -- actually she bugged me to make them even though I said it was too hot. I'm glad she did though, I would not have persevered if not for her!

 I figured out that my best bet for making the color strips very even was using a pasta machine. So each color was run through with a bit of flour to make a piece with consistent thickness.

I handcut strips and stacked them, slightly overlapping, to make the rainbow. (You'll see I tried a few different sequences of colors) 

Going through the pasta roller a few times to make the whole piece thinner. I stopped on setting 4. 

These went into the fridge.

Rolled out half of the plain dough, dabbed it with water to make the color panels stick.

Rolled over a few times to make sure they adhered well, then chilled a good while. I had to cut this piece in half to fit it in the fridge...

  
Rolled out again, to about 10 inches wide, then cut in triangles. Notice the different sequences...

 rolled into the familiar croissant shape, and set onto silpat-lined pans to proof.

I use a half sheet plastic cover to prevent them from drying out but also so nothing sticks to the soft dough and chances ripping the surface. 

 

I decided not to eggwash them so they retained more of their color instead of being yellow-tinged, but of course if it matters to you to be authentic you can eggwash them.. or brush them with glaze after baking.

Et voila -- Croissants arc en ciel! Happy Pride everyone... We are chuffed that these worked as well as they did. Next time I will try to make the orange truer in tone, make the color dough sheets thinner if I can, and pick a cooler/less humid day to do them!

UPDATE: We made them again ! 

This time I didn't use a pasta machine and just laid the colors out in wide panels striped parallel to the long sides of the rectangle -- i got a few that were each color, and a few i cut perpendicular to get as many colors on there as I could. It was much easier but each croissant was not as rainbow-y. I also used a much truer-toned blue color so it came out brighter in the baked finish. I think the happy medium is between the two tho!