My 45th experiment: Pesto atta bread

I am taking yet another recipe from Bernard Clayton to try out. I am using atta flour, with overnight fermentation to find out what result I'll get. This results in a really lovely loaf. I especially like the texture of this dough because of its silky texture and stretchability.

Recipe: Pesto atta bread (make one 4"x8" loaf)

Ingredients:

- 2+1/2 cup Golden Temple atta flour

- 1 tp active dry yeast

- 1 TB white sugar

- 1 tp coarse salt

- about 3/4 cup warm water

- 1/2 cup pesto

Procedure:

1. Proof yeast in warm water.

2. Mix atta flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry yeast. Mix to form a dough, adding water in increments of 2 TB until a soft dough is formed.

3. Allow dough to rest for 5 minutes, then knead once.

4. Chill overnight for delayed fermentation.

5. Warm up on counter.

6. Roll out to a flat sheet. Then spread a layer of pesto. Roll into a log. Prepare a pan greased with shortening. Place log in pan and brush its top with a little oil. Proof in pan until volume doubles. 

7. Just before baking, optionally brush top of dough with an egg wash of egg white and milk.
8. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes.

Results:

Day 1, 10:52pm, initial dough in a nice moist form, covered with a layer of flour:

Day 1, 11:10pm, dough after a few minutes of hydration and kneading, ready to chill:

Day 2

Day 2, 10:48am, dough taken out of the fridge to warm up:

Day 2, 12:48pm, dough warmed up for 2 hours:

Day 2, 1:09pm, dough being sticky to the plastic wrap because of its total lack of oil:

Day 2, 1:09pm, texture of dough:

Day 2, 1:11pm, tenderness of dough when punched:

Day 2, 1:14pm, dough stretched:

Day 2, 1:16pm, pesto spread on dough:

Day 2, 1:17pm, dough being rolled up:

Day 2, 1:18pm, dough rolled into a log:

Day 2, 1:20pm, dough ready to rest in a pan:

Day 2, 1:20pm, dough's height before resting:

Day 2, 2:24pm, dough risen 1 hour, and then brushed with egg wash:

Day 2, 2:24pm, dough's height when risen:

Day 2, 2:25pm, loaf to bake:

Day 2, 2:36pm, loaf baked 10 minutes:

Day 2, 3:08pm, loaf baked 40 minutes:

Day 2, 3:09pm, loaf's height:

Day 2, 3:09pm, loaf's internal temperature:

Day 2, 3:10pm, thermometer coming out slightly sticky:

Day 2, 3:12pm, loaf's bottom:

Day 2, 3:13pm, loaf's side:

Day 2, 3:13pm, loaf's head:

Day 2, 3:13pm, loaf's top:

Day 2, 3:14pm, 2 loaves compared:

Observation:
1. I am getting a better control of the hydration level of atta flour now.
2. This dough has a very wonderful texture, elasticity and hydration on the second day. It becomes very comfortable to work with.

My 14th Loaves: cheesebreads

This time, I'm trying out the cheese breads again, with the autolysed dough, that has undergone 3 days of retardation. However, due to my shortage of time, I did not give the dough enough time to warm up after chilling. Here are some loaves made from the dough. They are very tasty because of the long fermentation, but do not have a huge oven spring.

Recipe: Cheese breads

Ingredients:
Dough
- 2 cup grocery store brand unbleached wheat flour
- 3/4 cup + 2 TB warm water
- 1/2 tp active dry yeast
- 1 tp coarse kosher salt
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
Fillings
- 2 oz cheddar cheese, chopped finely
- 2 tp pesto sauce

Procedure:
Day 1: Prepare dough by autolyse. Allow to chill. Fold dough once every 12 hours or every day.
Day 2: Fold dough once.
Day 3:
1. Take dough out.
2. Dust counter and dough with flour. Then stretch dough on the counter.
3. Cut to 2 pieces. Stretch each piece of dough carefully to a sheet. Spread ingredients on top.
- For small dough, use pesto sauce and sprinkle a little cheese;
- For large dough, use cheese only.
4. Then roll up. Allow to rest until volume has increased to 1.5 times original volume.
5. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then 400F for 30 minutes.

Day 1, 12pm, dough prepared by autolyse, ready to chill:

Day 1, 5:32pm, dough after chilling 5 hours:

Day 1, 10:10pm, dough after chilling 8 hours:

Day 1, 10:12pm, dough's texture after chilling 8 hours:

Day 1, 10:13pm, dough's being stretched and folded:

Day 1, 10:15pm, dough ready for 2nd day of chilling:

Day 2, 9:32am, dough chilled for one night:

Day 2, 9:33am, one-day-old dough stretched:

Day 2, 9:34am, one-day-old dough's strength:

Day 2, 9:36am, one-day-old dough folded and ready for another day of chilling:

Day 3: 10:51am, two-day-old dough:

Day 4, 8:49am, three-day-old dough:

Day 4, 8:53am, texture of three-day-old dough:

Day 4, 8:59am, dough being worked on the counter without warming up:

Day 4, 9:01am, dough easily cut into two pieces:

Small loaf
Day 4, 9:06am, small dough being filled with 2 TB pesto, dash of cheese and rolled up:

Day 4, 9:07am, small dough's size after rolling up:

Day 4, 9:28am, small dough resting:

Day 4, 9:56am, small dough resting over 30 minutes:

Day 4, 10:07am, small loaf baked 10 minutes, browned but not well cooked inside:

Day 4, 10:42am, small loaf baked 40 minutes, nicely browned and well cooked:

Day 4, 10:42am, small loaf top:

Day 4, 10:50am, small loaf sliced:

Large loaf
Day 4, 9:28am, large dough being stretched:

Day 4, 9:30am, large dough rolled up with cheese pieces:

Day 4, 9:30am, large dough resting:

Day 4, 9:57am, large dough rested 30 minutes:

Day 4, 10:42am, large loaf baked 40 minutes:

Day 4, 10:43am, large loaf's top:

Day 4, 10:43am, large loaf's bottom:

Day 4, 10:43am, large loaf's height:

Day 4, 4:08pm, large loaf sliced:

Day 4, 4:08pm, large loaf's center slices:

Day 4, 4:09pm, large loaf's end slice:

Observation:

1. This time, I try out baking the loaves for a longer time to observe what I would get. The results are very nicely browned loaves. The small loaf has olive oil in it, which makes it very good especially after baking for a long time. The large loaf is very lean. So it does not seem to benefit as much from the high temperature baking.
2. The cheese cubes in the large loaf melts to give the big holes. The lean loaf might benefit from a little more salt since it does not have the complex taste of whole wheat flour and other ingredients.

I gave the small loaf out at work. It's been very well-received.