My 66th experiment: lemon zest mint yogurt bread

Every adventure brings forth the excitement of a surprise. But not every surprise is pleasant, at least, not always at the first moment. I have been curious about Bernard Clayton's minted yogurt loaf for a while. So today I try out a small version of it. It comes certainly as a surprise, just not exactly as I hope. It's just not what I imagine. The flavor of lemon zest is much stronger than the taste of yogurt and mint put together. Perhaps I just have to find the right things to eat it with.

Recipe: Lemon zest mint yogurt bread (one loaf about 2/3 size of a medium pan)

Ingredients:
- 2 cup atta flour
- 2 tp active dry yeast
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup homemade 1% fat yogurt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 2 TB dry spearmint flakes
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tp honey
- 2 tp olive oil
- 1/2 to 3/4 tp salt

Procedure:
1. Proof yeast in 2 TB water.
2. Mix all the ingredients, except water and oil, together in a large bowl. Form a dough. Allow dough to rest a few minutes. Then rub in the oil.
3. Allow dough to rest until double in volume. Punch it down. Then let rise again. Punch it down again.
4. Shape dough into a log and place in pan to proof until the rise is significant. Preheat oven to 350F.
5. Brush the dough surface with water. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes on middle rack, uncovered. When the loaf's top shows sign of dryness, rub the top with ample butter. Then cover loaf pan and return to oven. Resume baking until internal temperature reaches 190F.
6. If crust is soft, allow loaf to cool in oven that is turned off, If crust is hard, then allow it to cool on counter top.

Results:
11:26am, most ingredients:

11:36am, initial mixture of the wet and dry ingredients:

11:40am, intial dough forming:

11:54am, dough formed before oiling, hydration adjusted with about 1/2 cup water to arrive at this elastic shape:

12:10pm, dough oiled:

12:10pm, height of oiled dough:

12:32pm, dough rested 20 minutes:

12:32pm, dough's height after resting 20 minutes:

2:34pm, dough rested 2 hours covered with a plate (when I go away to do my own stuff):

2:43pm, dough punched down and reshaped:

2:44pm, dough allowed to proof in pan:

3:22pm, dough proofed 40 minutes in pan:

3:22pm, dough's height after proofing:

3:23pm, baking at 350F starts:

3:41pm, loaf baked 18 minutes, top becoming dry and lightly yellow, ready for buttering:

3:41pm, loaf's height:

3:43pm, loaf after rubbing generously with butter:

3:44pm, loaf resumed baking at 350F covered:

4:08pm, loaf baked 45 minutes:

4:09pm, loaf's temperature after 45 minutes of baking:

4:09pm, thermometer already coming out clean, though internal temperature is low:

4:21pm, loaf baked 58 minutes:

4:22pm, loaf's final internal temperature when baking stops:

4:24pm, loaf's height:

4:23pm, loaf's bottom:

4:24pm, loaf's side:

4:24pm, loaf's heel:

4:25pm, loaf's corner:

4:24pm, loaf's top:

6:37pm, top of loaf when cooled 2 hours:

6:41pm, loaf yielding 13 slices:

6:42pm, a center-of-loaf slice:

6:42pm, a heel-of-loaf slice:

6:42pm, the crumb and the crust of the loaf:

6:43pm, a bite:

Observations:
1. Well, I use only about half the yogurt recommended in the original recipe. It's because I am not sure how well my digestive system can handle the yogurt. The bread does not have a strong taste of yogurt.
2. The flavor of lemon zest is so strong that it overpowers everything else.
3. When I taste the dough, it feels so plain that I decide it needs some salt. So I add about 1/2 tp salt. Yet the resultant bread remains rather bland. It's moist, but just bland. It may mean that it needs some exciting food to go with.
4. Despite the unexpected flavor, this loaf is actually an excellent experiment on buttering the top of the loaf. I butter the loaf after the first 15 minutes. Then I allow it to bake covered. As a result, the crust has a golden color, and it is also hard enough to stay in shape when cooled. This is a very nice result.
5. The oven spring of this loaf is not strong. The crumb is dense. I think it might have helped to allow the dough more proofing time in pan.