My 31st experiment: Sweet potato walnut whole wheat loaf

Having got the hang of whole wheat bread, I find myself restless with varieties. I happen to have some leftover sweet potatoes. So the thought of sweet potato bread comes to mind. Sweet potato would go well with cinnamon and pecans, but I don't have pecans. I have walnuts. So I try out a sweet potato bread with walnuts and cinnamon. I also want to try out bread flour.

Recipe: Sweet potato walnut whole wheat loaf (make 1 medium loaf)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour
- 1 cup King Arthur bread flour
- 1/2 tp active dry yeast
- 5 TB non-fat dry milk powder
- 1 TB crushed walnuts
- 3/4 tp salt

- 1/4 cup sweet potato, mashed and boiled with 1/4 cup water into a thick paste

- dash of cinnamon

- 1 TB olive oil

- 3/4 cup + 2 TB warm water

Procedure:

Day 1
1. Dissolve 1/2 tp active dry yeast in 2 TB warm water.

2. Mix whole wheat flour, bread flour, dry milk powder, crushed walnuts, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

3. Add sweet potato, dissolved active dry yeast and 1/2 cup warm water into the dry ingredients in the medium bowl.

4. Mix the ingredients to form a dough. Incrementally add 2 TB of warm water at a time while mixing the dough. Give the dough about 15-20 seconds to hydrate.

5. After the dough has formed, allow it to rest a few minutes and then knead for 1 minute. Repeat this a few times until dough has become smooth.

6. Add 1 TB olive oil and rub the oil into the dough.

7. Allow dough to rest at room temperature for a little while. Then cover it with plastic wrap and allow to chill in fridge overnight.

Day 2
Punch dough down once. If too dry, add water. Then allow it to rest on the counter for a short time, about 30 minutes. Then let it continue to rest in the fridge.
Day 3
1. Take dough out to warm on the counter for several hours (8 hours).
2. Grease a pan with butter, then dust with flour.
3. Shape the dough into a log. Be careful not to punch down the holes. Place the dough in the greased pan to proof.
4. Preheat oven to 450F.
5. Bake loaf at 350F for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Result:

Day 1, 8:30pm, mashed sweet potato, about 1/4 cup:

Day 1, 8:51pm, mashed sweet potato cooked in water until it's boiling (to kill any bacteria and to make it a little drier):

Day 1, 8:54pm, crushed walnuts:

Day 1, 8:56pm, initial mix of the ingredients:

Day 1, 9:29pm, initial dough made:

Day 1, 9:45pm, because this dough seems so dry, I open up the dough to rub in the oil:

Day 1, 9:50pm, final dough made, with a very tough texture:

Day 1, 10:04pm, final dough ready to rest:

Day 2, 1:59pm, final dough rested overnight:

Day 2, 2:00pm, texture of final dough:

Day 2, 2:05pm, dough is too dry, extra 1-2 TB water added, and dough punched down and reworked:

Day 3, 05:52am, dough taken out of the fridge to warm up on counter top:

Day 3, 8:42am, dough warmed for 3 hours:

Day 3, 1:38pm, dough warmed for 8 hours:

Day 3, 1:54pm, dough shaped into a log and oiled, to proof in a pan greased with butter and dusted with flour:

Day 3, 1:54pm, height of the dough just after shaping:

Day 3, 2:54pm, dough risen for 1 hour:

Day 3, 3:01pm, dough's height after 1 hour of rising:

Day 3, 3:01pm, dough scored before baking:

Day 3, 3:32pm, loaf baked 30 minutes, top is covered with foil after the first 10 minutes:

Day 3, 3:33pm, height of loaf after baking:

Day 3, 3:34pm, bottom of loaf:

Day 3, 3:34pm, end of loaf:

Day 3, 3:35pm, side of loaf:

Day 3, 5:02pm, loaf yields 13 slices:

Day 3, 5:01pm, side view of the slices:

Day 3, 5:01pm, a center-of-loaf slice:

Day 3, 5:01pm, an end-of-loaf slice:

Observations:
1. Throughout the making and kneading of this dough, it appears that the dough is always very tough. I do not know if it's because of insufficient water or because of the use of bread flour.
2. On the third day, after allowing the dough to rise for 8 hours, the dough has expanded tremendously. Moreover, the texture and the strength of the dough makes it very easy to handle. It can be shaped without deflating too much, like what happens to the softer doughs.
3. I cover the top of the loaf after the first 10 minutes of baking. This prevents the top from over-browning.
4. The sweet potato gives the loaf a unique reddish brown color. The loaf also has a lovely sweet aroma of baked sweet potato during baking.
5. Judging from how the loaf holds its shape during the baking period, I think this dough has the perfect composition for hearth baking.
6. This loaf has a much closer crumb. The air bubbles in the bread are very fine. The loaf does not have much of an oven spring, and doesn't rise as much as my other loaves using the same amount of yeast (1/2 tp). I think the hydration level is the cause.
7. The taste of the loaf is not bad. It does not taste quite as sweet. The taste of wheat is strong. I think 1 TB of honey does a lot more to sweeten the bread than 1/4 cup of sweet potato.
8. A little tunnel seems to run through the center of the loaf. This is probably due to the rolling. I roll the dough out into a rectangle and then roll it into a log. I do it this way this time because the strength of this dough allows me to shape it.

Almond shortbread

After a week of hectic life, I find myself seeking relief in the warmth of my little haven at home. I decide to try something new: a shortbread petite.

Recipe: Almond shortbread (make 16 small pieces)

Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup almond meal
- 2 TB cornstarch
- 1/2 tp table salt
- 6 TB butter
- 3 TB white sugar
- 1/2 tp vanilla extract
- a few raw almonds, soaked and sliced

Procedure:
1. Mix flour, almond meal, cornstarch and 1/4 tp salt in a medium bowl.
2. chop butter into small pieces. Then mix in the white sugar. Use a fork to mix the two together while flaking the butter, until it forms a smooth thick paste. Then add in the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until the vanilla is well distributed.
3. Add the softened butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough. When forming the dough, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 tp of salt in very small batch at a time.
4. Make small 1" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.
5. Place a slice of soaked almond on each piece of dough, pressing it down.
6. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 18-20 minutes, until the top is lightly brown.

Results:
1:45pm, flours and salt mixed:

1:45pm, butter chopped and mixed with sugar:

1:53pm, butter flaked with a fork:

1:57pm, texture of the butter when softened by flaking:

1:58pm, initial look when the butter is mixed into the flours:

2:01pm, half-mixed dough:

2:03pm, fully incorporated dough:

2:05pm, dough shaped into a long tube and cut roughly into small pieces:

2:16pm, dough shaped into balls and pressed down into tart molds:

2:18pm, raw almonds soaked for a few hours and sliced:

2:21pm, dough balls with almonds pressed down on them:

2:46pm, dough in the midst of baking:

2:53pm, shortbread baked 20 minutes:

2:54pm, look of the top and bottom of the shortbread:

3:02pm, shortbread returned to oven to keep warm and to dry up:

3:48pm, the interior of a shortbread after it has been left in the oven for 50 minutes as the oven temperature drops from 250F down to 150F. No further browning takes place. The texture becomes nicely crispy and crunchy.

Observations:

1. It has been recommended that the molding tray be chilled before molding the dough so as to preserve the shape of the shortbread. I did not do that. I wonder how big a difference it could make.
2. I use table salt instead of kosher salt in this recipe because the recipe has no water added to dissolve the salt. So kosher salt may be too coarse to mix well. Moreover, I add 1/4 tp of the salt at the beginning of the mixing process, and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 tp during the dough formation. This results in having distinctively noticeable small grains of salts in the shortbread.
3. I probably should not have used soaked almonds, or at least, toast them dry before using them. Drying the almonds could improve on the shell life of the shortbread.
4. After baking them 20 minutes, they look good, and well baked. The color is beautifully light brown. They are a little softer than I'd like. So I place them in a rake and leave them in the oven for an hour longer while leaving the oven off. To prevent it from further browning, I let some hot air out of the oven first before leaving them there. So the shortbread is kept around 250F and slowly cooling down to 150F during the hour. This yields excellent results. After an hour or two, the shortbread has nicely dried up without becoming over cooked.

Wow! This is a big success for me, in the arena of cookie and shortbread baking. I have baked an almond cookie once and that was not all that successful. This experiment has gone much better. What I like very much about this recipe, compared with one almond cookie recipe, is that the shortbread has a more salty taste and less sweetness. I like the crispy and buttery taste very much.

I study this recipe and compare it with my rose water almond cookie recipe . What I notice is as follows:

Flour:
  shortbread: 2/3 cup flour + 1/3 cup almond meal + 2 TB cornstarch (= about 1 cup)
  cookie: 3/4 cup flour + 1/4 cup almond meal (= about 1 cup)

Butter:

  shortbread and cookie both uses 6 TBs

Sugar:
  shortbread: 3 TBs white granulated sugar
  cookie: 3/4 cup confectionary sugar!
Salt:
  shortbread: 1/2 tp
  cookie: 1/4 tp
Other ingredients:
  shortbread: 1/2 tp vanilla extract
  cookie: 1/2 tp vanilla extract + 1 TB rose water + 1 large egg

So the two recipes have about the same total amount of flour to butter ratio (1 cup of flour+almond meal, to 6 TB butter). The shortbread has more salt and much less sugar than the cookie. The cookie recipe uses an egg, making the dough much more moist.

Conclusion:
I think I've hit my favorite composition of shortbread, namely:
 1 cup flours + 6 TB butter + 2 to 3 TB sugar + 1/2 tp salt + 1/2 tp vanilla extract or other flavor

My 30th experiment: Gorgeous buns

I'm refining on my buns! Each occasion to cook for others is my opportunity to press on for better. I am now redoing the burger buns formula, this time with a different presentation. The ingredients and steps are almost the same.

Recipe: Sweet dinner buns (make 13)

Ingredients:

- 1+1/2 cups King Arthur's unbleached all-purpose flour

- 2 tp active dry yeast

- 1 large egg

- a little less than 2 TB (or 1/8 cup) white/brown sugar

- 1 TB melted butter

- 1/2+1/4 tp kosher salt

- a little less than 1/2 cup warm water

- additionally, about 1/4 cup high gluten flour to adjust the composition of the final dough

water roux

- 1 TB King Arthur's unbleached all-purpose flour

- 1/4 cup water

topping

- white sesame seeds

- egg wash made from 1 TB egg white

Procedure:

1. Prepare water roux using 1 TB flour and 1/4 cup of water. Once it's ready, allow to cool down until warm to touch.

2. Dissolve active dry yeast in 2 TB warm water. Mix well to ensure that all the yeast grains are dissolved.

3. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

4. Add the water roux and the dissolved yeast into the bowl and mix.

4. Break an egg in a small dish. Save a little (about 1 TB) of egg white for brushing later. Then add the rest of the egg into the bowl and mix.

5. Gradually add in warm water, 2 TB at a time while mixing. Allow the dough some time (10-20 minutes) to hydrate. Keep the dough on the dry side.

6. Add melted butter and knead thoroughly.

7. While kneading the dough, work on it for 1-2 minutes, then allow it 2-3 minutes to rest. Then knead again. If the dough appears to be too dry at first, try to withhold adding water. If after the second round of kneading, it is still dry, then add just small amount of water and continue working on it.

8. After 2-3 times of kneading, dough will become smooth and soft.

9. Allow dough to rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, until its volume has doubled.

10. At this point, if the dough is too soft or too hard, adjust its composition by adding either small amount of flour (1 TB at a time) or small amount of water (1 tp at a time). Keep kneading while making the adjustment. It takes a while for the adjustment to be effective.

11. If no adjustment has been necessary, then gently press dough down into a roll and be careful not to punch down any holes. If the dough has been kneaded thoroughly, then all the holes are already punched down, so just expect to give the dough a bit more time to rise again. 

12. Cut dough into small pieces of 1" diameter. (Each piece will continue about slightly more than 1/8 cup of flour and 1/2 tp sugar.) To save some for future baking, wrap each piece in plastic and freeze immediately.

11. Prepare egg wash by mixing 1 TB egg white with 1 tp water.

12. Shape each piece of dough into a ball. Place them on a piece of parchment paper. Apply egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Then allow to rise again until volume doubles.

13. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

14. Serve right off the oven.

Results:

8:41am, initial mixture:

8:56am, dough made and ready to rest:

10:55am, dough rested for 2 hours, volume more than doubled:

11:03am, dough punched down because it's too soft and needs to be adjusted:

11:03am, dough with 1/4 cup of gluten flour added:

11:05am, final dough ready:

11:10am, final dough made into 1" diameter balls:

11:27am, 11 balls fitting into one pan, generously greased with shortening; to prevent the buns from merging, each ball is very lightly dusted with flour:

11:28am, 2 balls on a small aluminum pan with parchment lining:

11:36am, dough balls in large pan brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame toppings; ready to proof under a plastic wrap cover:

11:36am, dough balls in small pan brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame toppings; ready to proof without cover:

12:42pm, dough balls rested for 1 hour; observe that the balls in the small pan are drier because they each stand alone and have not been covered, so they need additional egg wash:

1:11pm, dough balls rested 90 minutes:

1:25pm, small pan baked for 10 minutes at 350F, yielding round buns with nicely browned and a little hardened crust:

1:33pm, large pan baked for 10 minutes at 350F uncovered, then another 10 minutes at 300F covered with foil to prevent over-browning.

1:34pm, height of the buns baked in large pan:

1:35pm, bottom of the buns baked in large pan:

1:37pm, buns separated:

Observations:

1. In this experiment, I prepared the yeast separately from the water roux. This seems to yield much better result in the initial stage of the dough mixing. 
2. Though my ingredients are almost identical to the previous attempt on the same buns, the ambience makes today's dough moister than last time, so adjustment is necessary.
3. Even though the two pans of dough balls are made from exactly the same dough, the conditions under which they are proofed cause them to differ in their hydration level. Subsequently, the two buns on the small pan need much shorter time to bake.
4. Perhaps because of the size of the buns and the use of brown sugar, this time they brown much faster than last time. 

Excellent! Several days after I delivered these buns to a friend, she came back telling me that they were really good, even after a day or two. I really feel good that she enjoyed them.