Bread Baking Babes 8th anniversary!

Has it already been eight years that we've been baking as the Bread Baking Babes? I can hardly believe it but it really is our 8th anniversary this month. Congratulations to all Babes, old, new and retired Babes. A warm welcome to our newest Babe addition Kelly. We have baked a lot of loafs! It's hardly more appropriate for one of the founders of this group to pick the recipe. Thanks Tanna ("My kitchen in half cups"), who rules the Kitchen of this month, for a lovely savory recipe to bake this month. 

It takes some time to make this loaf, time for the bread to develope flavour. The lovely caramelizes onion taste goes great with some cheese. I didn't make 2 loaves but just one, that was a bit heavy to it to hold it shape, so it spread a little more than I would have liked it to. Still a lovely crumb and chewy texture. I pretty much followed the recipe, but I used 350 g white and 75 g whole wheat flour instead of all white, and reduced the salt to 12 g.

I dare you to bake this lovely loaf and tell us all about it, by baking, blogging, sending your pictures and details to Tanna (comments my kitchen at mac dot com) not later then the 29th of this month. Enjoy this bread and celebrate our 8th anniversary with us as a Bread Baking Buddy. Have fun baking.
And don't forget to check out how the other Babe Bakes turned out. Links to the babes in the left sidebar.

Caramelized onion bread

Yield: 2 medium loaves

(PRINT recipe)

Total Time: about 3 days (but most of that is dough resting)

starter

125 grams (3/4 c + 21/2 tbsp) white rye flour

0.3 gram (generous pinch) instant yeast

125 grams (1/2 c + 1 tsp) water at about 60°F (15°C)

dough

425 grams (3 c + 21/2 tsp) white flour, plus additional as needed for working with the dough

75 grams (1/2 c + 11/2 tsp) buckwheat flour

35 grams ground flax seed

15 grams (21/2 tsp) fine sea salt

1 gram (generous 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

350 grams (11/4 c + 31/2 tbsp) water at about 60°F (15°C)

50 grams (21/2 tbsp) honey

25 grams (13/4 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

50 grams (1/4 c) Caramelized Onions (you know how to caramelize onions, yes?)

dusting mixture for the linen liner and shaped loaves

1 part fine semolina flour

5 parts white flour

Starter: 10-12 hrs room temp.

Whisk flour and yeast together.  Pour water over.  Using wooden spoon or your hand mix carefully to insure all the flour is wet.  Cover the container and allow to sit on the counter at room temperature for 10 to 14 hours.  The starter will be at peak around 12 hours.

Dough: Whisk together white and buckwheat flours, salt and yeast.

Use approximately a third of the water to pour around the starter edges to release it from the sides of the bowel. Mix remaining water and honey in large bowl and add the starter; mix starter into water with wooden spoon.

Because you may not need all of the flour, reserve a small amount (arbitary, maybe 1/2 cup).  Mix the dry ingredients into the starter to combine then switch to a plastic bowl scraper.

The dough will now be sticky to the touch.

Note: At no point in this process of resting did my dough double in size.

Stretch/roll out and fold

Give the dough a stretch and fold about 10 times. The dough will get stronger. Then shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Stretch (or press into a rectangular shape) and fold it every 45 minutes or so for two times.

The third time do the same while you incorporate the onions and butter. You might have to roll out the dough several times and fold it to get everything well incorporated. Let rest again for another 45 minutes.

Repeat the 4th the stretch and fold-method, Then shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Shaping - 12-18 hrs refrigerated

Lightly dust the work area and hands with the dusting mix.

Divide the dough in half.  (I made one very large loaf).   Roll into two loose tubes.

Let rest 5 minutes.  Press each again and shape how you choose.

Quote from Bien Cuit:  "Transfer to the lined pan, seam-side up, positioning the loaves lengthwise. Dust the top and sides of the loaves with flour. Fold the linen to create support walls on both sides of each loaf, then fold any extra length of the linen liner over the top or cover with a kitchen towel.

Transfer the pan to the refrigerator and chill for 12 to 18 hours."

Baking

Pre-heat oven with baking stone and cast-iron inside to 500°F (260°C).Cast-iron skillet is for creating steam with ice cubes.  

You'll need to turn the loaves seam side down at this point. Score the top of each loaf. Transfer the loaves to the baking stone.

Add 3 cups ice cubes to the hot cast iron skillet.  

Immediately lower the oven temperature to 460°F (240°C).

Bake, about 25 minutes. Be sure they have reached an interior temperature of 95ºC.

Using the baking peel, transfer the loaves to a cooling rack. When the bottoms of the loaves are tapped, they should sound hollow. If not, return to the stone and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing and eating, at least 4 hours but preferably 8 to 24 hours.

(Adapted from: “Bien Cuit” by Zachary Golper, Peter Kaminsky & Thomas Schauer)