My 51th experiment: Hummus bread

After trying out a few recipes from the King Arthur Flour cookbook, I finally decided to purchase the book itself. It's a worthy investment for its quality. So now I am going to try out something new again, adapted from a recipe from the book.

Recipe: Hummus bread (1 medium loaf)

Ingredients:
Dough
- 1 cup King Arthur unbleached bread flour
- 1+1/2 cup King Arthur whole grain flour
- 2+1/2 tps active dry yeast
- 3 TB warm water
- 1/3 cup flaxseeds
- 1 large egg
- 1 TB lemon juice
- 1+1/4 tp salt
- 1 tp sugar
- 1/2 cup 1% milk
- 2 TB olive oil
- 1 TB sesame oil
Hummus
- 3/4 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 TB lemon juice
- 1/4 tp salt
- dash of cumin powder
- dash of garlic powder
- 1 TB sesame oil

Procedure:
1. To prepare the hummus, use a fork to mince the chickpeas into a paste. Add in lemon juice, salt, cumin and garlic powders. Stir everything in a saucepan on medium heat until the mixture is almost dry. Then add in the sesame oil and mix well to form a smooth paste.
2. Proof yeast in 3 TB warm water.
3. Mix flours, flaxseeds, hummus, sugar, salt, proofed yeast, and egg together. Then incrementally add in the milk, about 2 TB at a time. Mix to form a dough.
4. Once the dough has formed, knead for 5 minutes or until texture is strong. At this point, gluten is developing. Allow dough to rest a few minutes.
5. Add 2 TB olive oil and 1 TB sesame oil. Work the oils into the dough and continue kneading it until all the oils have been absorbed by the dough. At this point the dough becomes silky smooth and soft.
6. Allow the dough to rest until volume doubles.
7. Gently deflate the dough and shape it into a log. Grease a 8"x4.4" pan. Place dough into the pan to proof until its crom is about 1.5" over the rim of the pan.
8. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake on middle rack for 20 minutes. Then cover with foil and continue baking for another 13-20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 190F.

Results:
11:30am, hummus prepared:

11:30am, yeast proofed:

11:30am, a few key ingredients:

11:42am, initial mixture:

11:47am, initial dough being formed:

11:57am, dough being kneaded 10 minutes on counter:

12:03pm, dough being kneaded 5 more minutes; observe the change in texture:

12:05pm, dough to rest for 2 minutes; observe hands:

12:07pm, dough with oil:

12:17pm, dough kneaded 10 minutes after adding oil, and ready to rest:

12:46pm, dough rested 30 minutes:

1:09pm, dough rested 50 minutes:

1:19pm, dough shaped into a log to proof in greased pan:

1:19pm, dough's height before proofing:

1:39pm, dough proofed 20 minutes on warmed surface:

1:39pm, dough's height after proofed 20 minutes:

1:56pm, dough proofed 50 minutes:

1:56pm, dough's height after proofed 50 minutes:

1:57pm, dough's surface tension:

2:03pm, dough scored:

2:06pm, dough topped with sesame seeds:

2:06pm, dough's height just before baking:

2:20pm, loaf baked 15 minutes uncovered, then covered with foil and continued baking at 350F:

2:45pm, loaf baked 40 minutes, reaching temperature 180F; observe that the loaf is so soft that the thermometer cannot stand by itself:

2:45pm, thermometer coming out clean:

2:50pm, loaf stayed in oven for another 5 minutes:

2:51pm, loaf's height when done:

2:52pm, loaf's temperature when done:

2:54pm, loaf non-sticky, easily sliding out:

2:55pm, loaf's bottom:

2:55pm, loaf's bottom corner:

2:55pm, loaf's top corner:

2:56pm, loaf's side:

2:58pm, loaf's top:

3:42pm, loaf's top after 50 minutes of cooling:

3:42pm, loaf's height after cooling:

3:43pm, loaf's wrinkles when cooled:

5:17pm, slicing the loaf; the crust has hardened up, making the bread hold its shape:

5:20pm, clean knife:

5:22pm, loaf yielding 15 slices:

5:22pm, a center-of-loaf slice; observe that the holes are mostly in the center top part:

5:23pm, a heel-of-loaf slice:

5:23pm, crumb and crust:

This is how I enjoy it for breakfast, with a generous spread of homemade hummus,  and then either toasted until the crust is crispy, or eaten just as it is. For this bread, I make the hummus less acidic and a little more salty, without much oil. It's just spreadable. Perfectly simple and perfectly tasty.

Observations:
1. This loaf rises very rapidly, and springs up to an impressive height in just 2-3 hours. However, it also collapses in the oven.
2. It shrinks further when cooled.
3. Once the loaf cools down, the crust hardens, so the loaf starts to hold its shape nicely. The crumb is very soft and light. It is also non-sticky to the knife. So I am surprisingly pleased by the result.
4. The bread has a unique savory taste. Not an ordinary sandwich loaf, but a specialty bread. The chickpea is noticeable, but not out loud. Perhaps it's because of the presence of lemon juice, the loaf has a distinctive sour smell, though it does not really taste sour. The whole wheat flavor is strong as well. The small waxy flaxseeds leave the mouth something to chew on when the bread has already moved towards the stomach. It's definitely a high quality loaf.
5. In terms of texture, this loaf does not have the elastic, tissue-like, crumb that is typical of wheat bread. I think the presence of hummus makes the crumb less elastic.
6. This loaf is comparable to commercial loaves in terms of its texture, softness and lightness. Very interesting. I love it. So does Dough!

My 23rd experiment: chickpea round bread

Now that I've grasped the basics, I'm becoming more and more ready to try out baking in an impromptu fashion. Today I have some chickpeas cooked to make hummus. With the leftover chickpea paste, I decided to try making a bread out of it.

Recipe: Chickpea round bread

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup chickpea paste
- 1/2 cup high gluten flour
- about 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 tp active dry yeast
- 1/4 tp salt
- 1/4 tp dried dill weed and lemon peel flakes
- 2 tp oil

Procedure:
1. Dissolve 1/2 tp yeast in 1 TB warm water.
2. Add wet yeast into the high gluten flour. Add warm water in small amount and mix the flour to form a  dough that is on the dry side. Knead dough for 1 minute and allow to rest for 1 minute. Repeat this a few times. The resting will help the development of the gluten.
3. Add salt to chickpea paste and mix well.
4. Try adding a spoon of chickpea paste into the dough and work it in. If the paste can work well into the dough, then add the remaining paste. If the paste is too wet, then heat up the paste in a sauce pan to dry it up until its semi-solid. Then work the paste into the dough through kneading.
5. Allow the dough to rest in warmth until its volume has doubled.
6. Punch down the dough. Add 1-2 tp of oil. Allow it to rise a second time, until its volume doubles.
7. Punch down the dough again. Add herbs. Rub oil on the dough's surface and place it on a greased pan. Allow it to rise the 3rd time until volume doubles.
8. Preheat oven to 450F. Brush water on the surface of the dough. Score with a sharp knife. Then bake at 400F for about 10-15 minutes.

5:17pm, initial dough allowed to develop gluten without the bean paste; this bean paste turns out to be too moist and needs to be dried in pan before using:

5:58pm, final dough made and kept to a low hydration:

6:22pm, final dough risen the 1st time on warm stove top, taking only 22 minutes:

6:29pm, final dough punched down, rubbed with oil and allow to rise the 2nd time on a baking pan:

7:02pm, final dough risen the 2nd time on warm stove top, taking only 30 minutes:

7:05pm, final dough punched down, added with herbs, rubbed with oil again, and allowed to rise the 3rd time on stove top:

7:45pm, final dough risen the 3rd time, taking 40 minutes:

7:52pm, final dough scored, and brushed with water, just before baking:

8:07pm, loaf baked about 15 minutes:

8:07pm, loaf's bottom:

8:08pm, loaf's height:

8:21pm, the interior of the loaf after cooling 15 minutes:

8:21pm, a center slice of the loaf:

8:24pm, a bite:

Observations:

1. In order for the bread to hold its shape while baking, I keep the dough at a low hydration. The dough rises fast, nonetheless, because of the large quantity of yeast and the warmth.
2. The volume of the dough doubles in 30 minutes each time. This shortens the whole process to about 3 hours. This technique is good for making breads that are enriched, so that the flavor comes from ingredients other than the fermentation of the yeast. 
3. Like any bread made in a short time, this bread has almost no complexity of taste other than that of the chickpea and salt. It is like one of my very first loaves of lean breads.
4. The crumb of the loaf has very small holes. It's probably because of two times of punching down. Each vigorous punching destroy the bigger holes to form smaller fine holes in the dough. While this allows better fermentation, it prevents the formation of large holes. Again, repeated punching down may be suitable for enriched bread. With lean bread, this makes the crumb a bit boring.
5. This is a great experiment for making round bread.

To do:
This loaf turns out to go very well when eaten with a Panquehue cheese from Chili that I bought from Trader Joe's. The chickpeas and the cheese match nicely. Also, it may be more flavorful to have more dill weed and have it soaked before adding to the dough.
I'm going to refine my skill on hearth baking some time.