by Reg
(South Africa)
I have baked like this for years (since 2006) and with tremendous success. We only consume home baked bread in my home.
The paste I use as a final “glaze” is what they use in Iran on their Barbari bread and I am surprised that it is not more widely known. It gives bread a unique golden colour and a very good and crisp crust.
Ingredients/Formula – refer to the attached pdf
BREAD – FORMULA – PAIN ORDINAIRE-SANDWICH-BREAD
Directions:
Combine the chilled ingredients (and poolish if used) in a bowl and reserve 10% of the water.
Initially mix with a dough whisk and then by hand until the dough comes together – it will be a heavy, gooey mass – and then snip it in two with a pair of scissors.
Process each batch of dough, separately, in a food processor – 10 to 12 seconds only to avoid overheating.
The consistency of the dough is adjusted with water, via the feeder tube. Stop the machine when the dough settles around the cutting blade.
Remove the dough from the machine and finish kneading it together, by hand, until it is smooth, elastic and slightly tacky.
Place the dough in an oiled plastic bag and seal it with a clothes peg. Ferment the dough inside the bag for up to 18 hours.
The longer the fermentation period the more complex the flavours will be so the fermentation process can effectively be retarded by placing the fermenting dough overnight in the refrigerator.
The fermentation will be complete when the dough is pebbled with bubbles on the surface but will, however, be over fermented if these surface bubbles have burst and the dough has sunk (deflated).
Invert the bag and slide the dough onto a lightly floured working surface. Press the gas from the dough with both hands and shape and fit it inside a non-stick sprayed Pyrex bread pan.
Finish shaping the dough with a plastic spatula.
Cover the pan, loosely, with plastic and place it in the microwave.
Microwave at 10% power; run for 3 minutes and pause for 3 minutes.
Repeat the process 2 – 3 times until the dough rises to the pan’s rim.
Brush glaze or paste and score lengthwise.
Preheat a combination convection and microwave oven to 250°C
Bake for 14 minutes at 230°C + 30% microwave.
Leave the baked bread in the oven for 10 minutes, with the door ajar, to dry and crisp the bread crust.
Cool the bread on a rack before slicing.
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