Sunday, January 24, 2010

Sweet Potato Rosemary Bread, In and Out


This time, I finally made enough dough to do an inside/outside test, one loaf baked in the baker, one out on the baking stone. The test was a little unfair because in order to get the best out of the baker, I baked the loaf at a slightly higher temperature than would have been ideal for it. Both came out well, but for this loaf at least, the pot-baked loaf was much prettier. Because the pot protected it, the inside loaf showcased the beautiful color of the sweet potatoes much more. I haven't checked for difference in the crumb yet--this is meant to be a fairly fine-grained, soft bread, but I'll update when I do. Pot or no pot, this is a really nice bread. It's made with a pate fermentee, which is really just a piece of yesterday's dough, but you can find instructions for making some here.

Formula: (adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart)
1.5 (about) cups Pate Fermentee
3 cups plus 2 Tblsp A/P flour
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper (I may have used more)
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp crushed dried rosemary (this is really to taste, the recipe recommended 2 Tblsp fresh but i didn't have any, it probably would have been even better)
3/4 cup to one cup water

Cut pate fermentee into small pieces. Mix all ingredients, knead, adding flour or water as needed.
1st rise: two hours at room temp plus 4 hours in the refrigerator (not necessary, scheduling related)
Shape.
Proof: 1-2 hours, until doubled.
Baked at 450, turned down to 400 later in, for about 45 minutes. Uncovered baker after about 20 mins.

3 comments:

  1. What is pate fermentee? My husband makes a bread in which he adds pureed sweet potatoes or squash to his normal dough and also puts some raisins in. We treat it like a dessert bread(we're not ones to like sweets other than great chocolate).

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  2. Rona, pate fermentee is basically a simple dough made the day before and allowed to rise and fall a bit--like adding a bit of yesterday's dough to the loaf...it increases flavor and gluten strength, and keeping time for the loaf.

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  3. So, Katya, What was the outcome of the taste and crumb test on this one? The one from the hot pot is so much more alive looking.

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