Introducing BreadPots.com

Cambridge Open Studios this weekend

My studio will be open this weekend for Cambridge Open Studios, May 12-13 noon to 6.
We have a good selection of BreadPots. Perfect for Mothers Day, Weddings, and Fathers Day. I would say that half my BreadPots go to the men!

Of course there is my other work and lots of other artists opening studios as well...So if you are in the Boston area, we would love to see you.

On Sunday at 4pm I will be doing a no knead bread demo...with tastes. Info and sign up at Skillshare http://www.skillshare.com/Bread/1648007829/111079152
Use the code COS12 for discount. Proceeds will go to Project Bread.

Swedish Potato Bread from Don

Don in Cambridge NY received his BreadPot on Friday and Friday night sent me a picture of his lovely Swedish Potato Bread. Here is the recipe:

No-Knead Potato Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
• 1/2 cup instant potato flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients (white flour, yeast, salt, potato flakes) in the large bowl (3 quart or larger) and stir with a mixing spoon for about 15 seconds or more.
2. Add water to the dry ingredients and stir for about 3 minutes until the flour is mostly stuck to the dough. Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.
3. Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 18 hours (I usually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top.
4. Stretch and fold several times. Let rest for 20 min.    
5. The first rise is at room temperature (78 degrees) for 6+ hours (up to 13 hours)
6. The second rise is in a covered Banneton (proofing basket) until doubled in size (1-2 hours)
7. Bake in a covered BreadPot preheated to 460 degrees for 30 min.
8. Remove cover and check the brownness and temperature (205-208 degrees indicates it's done) 5-10 min. range.
9. Let cool completely on rack.

And today he sent a picture of the crumb!

New BreadPots

The current batch of BreadPots is fresh from the kiln.
There are plain ones, decorated ones, and five with experimental flashes of straw markings.
There are two with pre-ordered special inscriptions for a birthday and a wedding. Nice gifts.

Just a few left...

I have a handful of regular BreadPots left.
Also, one large cloche, one small cloche.

Once these are gone, I will take orders for the next batch which will fire in March.

Waiting for delivery

I had a gas leak at the kiln, fixed it, but did not have enough gas to fire the stoneware pots to temperature. I took the opportunity to change to a larger tank and get rid of the old ones that had to be refilled every firing. So I have a batch of pots in the kiln, waiting for 80 gallons of propane to be delivered. It is getting late for starting. I will be up late tonight. If  all goes well I will be shipping next week.
Because of a broken finger, I don't have many BreadPots this baking and gifting season.
They will go fast, so if you want one, let me know right away.

Saturday 11-2 if you want to come over.

a BreadBell cloche is good for croissants too

so it would seem anyway; there is almost too much oven spring. a traditionally laminated, all-butter dough baked covered for 6 minutes, then uncovered for a further 12 at 400F. fresh out of the oven, it smells like a warm, dry, early autumn morning in the viennoiserie district of choose-your-french-city. the sticky-looking filling is a pseudo-frangipane made tasty and more inauthentic by the addition of freshly ground green cardamom.

unfortunately, a disappointing texture in the final baked good and a distinctly bloated aspect unknown among the trim and lovely croissants made by pros and french baking nerds (see, for instance, this). is this due to my incompetent shaping? definitely. but it is also because i laminated the dough too many times. when the instructions say to "mark on paper or a slip of parchment each time you do a turn, for this dough will not hold indentations as puff pastry dough will," they know of what they speak.

fortunately, they taste great. perhaps next time, if i follow instructions to the letter, they will also look like this on the inside.

vt

BreadBellz

8"h x 9-10 square base

I have the one on the left remaining and another in the works. If you want a cloche, send an email.

New BreadPots

It has been busy in the studio with a gaggle of projects going at once. New BreadPots are in the works and will be ready in a couple of weeks. I have two new cloches made of a dark chocolate brown clay. BreadBellz. There have been orders for custom inscribed wedding present BreadPots. Nice. What a good gift for a wedding!

the base returns

some weeks ago, the cloche's base self-destructed in the middle of a baking cycle.  i brought the pieces to judy who, after much research, produced a New and Improved base.

for the new base's first flight, a very multi-grain bread: white wheat, whole wheat, rye, rough rye, pearl barley, and bulghur, to be exact. it has a nice crust, a really, really great crumb, awesome flavour, though less oven spring than a less whole-grain-y bread. having toyed briefly with breads requiring minimal intervention and few bowls, i am now all the way at the other end of the spectrum. here is the bread:

this formula involves 2 small bowls, 1 large bowl, no kneading, and

• 520g all-purpose unbleached white flour
• 72g rye and rough rye flour
• 30g whole wheat pastry flour
• 100g mix of pearl barley and bulghur, about half each
• 360g water
• 216g 100% hydration starter
• 14g salt

you will have a baked loaf about 6 hours after when you begin mixing the final dough (but you may also retard the dough after shaping. so far, up to 12 hours has worked for me). 

8-12 hours before mixing final dough

• make your 100% hydration starter by mixing equal masses of flour and water with a bit of your sourdough starter and leaving at room temperature until the whole begins to bubble. i do this in a 4qt glass bowl with a cover.
• saturate the rye and whole wheat flours with 180g of cool water (the other 180g goes into the final dough); store in a covered bowl.
• saturate the 100g mixed grains with water to cover, and then a bit more. no need to measure this water, as you will drain it completely later.

making the final dough

• drain the 100g mixed grains in a sieve and press out as much free water as possible. i measure and use this water as part of the 180g of water in the final dough.
• combine the 216g starter, 520g A/P flour, 180g water (slightly warmed; part of this was drained out of the grains), and the water/rye/whole wheat mixture, then mix thoroughly. i use a big spoon for this. leave to sit for 30-60 minutes.
• after 30-60 minutes, sprinkle 14g salt over the dough and mix salt in thoroughly. the dough will be too wet to knead easily, so i stick with the big spoon.  
• cover again and leave to bulk ferment at room temperature (should be about 72F). fold every 45 minutes for 2.5 hours.

pre-shape, rest 20 minutes, final shape, then proof (covered) for another 2 hours (or, better yet, do one of the proofing tests). i bake at 450F, with steam for 8 minutes, then without steam for 21 minutes.

i have also had good results from retarding the shaped loaves for anywhere from 8-12 hours before baking.

[another guest post from vt]

April BreadPots, freshly fired

Get Bakers Jobs, a site for professional bakers will be featuring the BreadPot this week.
Here are the BreadPots fresh from the kiln.
I fired 5 of them with combustibles in a saggar so they are mottled and marked with the fire.

rye

the cloche slays it again. after various experiments with long-retardation, i began to fool around with rough-milled rye and increasing the amount of starter in the dough (this is a formula from peter reinhardt, by way of wildyeast). this accelerates the first fermentation ("bulk fermentation") of the dough so that you could, if you wanted, have fresh bread in about 6 hours.

rye makes dough sticky beyond belief and appears to become workable by hand only after lots and lots of retardation in a nice cold refrigerator. i followed instructions for time and temperature (which did not include a long cold period), so did not benefit. if you choose to knead a rye-heavy dough by hand, here are some discoveries i have made.

1. dough on fingers dissolves most readily in warm water. hot water, apart from being uncomfortable, also cooks the dough onto you. 
2. answering the phone while kneading is not recommended.
3. wood toothpicks are best for getting dough out of the spaces between cellphone keys.
4. folding the dough is easier and more effective than kneading it. 

as a test, i split the dough into two batches of equal mass, one baked with the cloche and the other on a pizza stone with a steel mixing bowl over the top. the loaf you see below is from the cloche: mildly sour, lots of rye flavour, incredible oven spring, great crisp, caramelised crust, tender crumb with great aeration. 

this competent but much less delightful loaf is from the stone. still decent oven spring, nice-ish crust caramelisation, but the final rise in the oven was not as uniform, and the crumb is not as well aerated (no crumb shot though, sorry!):

[vt, yet again]

BreadPots and Wandering Educators

 Wandering Educators Artist of the Month

Cloche for ciabatta

I had a request for a BreadPot today from Barry who makes ciabatta. It has me thinking about the BreadBell cloche again. I have one small ($78) and one large ($150) now. The large one is like the one our Vaughan (vt) has been using and blogging about. Maybe Barry will post a comment with his ciabatta recipe...
 

 BreadBell 8" 1 1/2 lb bread SOLD

Large BreadBell SOLD

Here is the ciabatta recipe from Barry's blog
Sponge
1/8 tsp active dry yeast
2  tbsp warm water (105-115 deg F)
1/3  cup room-temp water
1  cup bread flour

Step 1.  Stir together warm water and yeast.  Let it stand for 5 minutes.  Transfer yeast mixture to another bowl, add room-temp water and flour.  Stir for at least 4 minutes until fully combined.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours and up to 1 day,

Bread
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2  tbsp warm milk (105-115 deg F)
2/3  cup room-temp water
1  tbsp olive oil
2  cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

Step 2.  Mix yeast and milk in small bowl and let stand 5 minutes.  Oil another bowl with olive oil.  In bowl of standing mixer, using dough hook, blend together milk mixture, sponge, oil, and flour on lowest speed until flour is moistened.

Beat for approximately 3 minutes.  Add salt and beat for approximately 3 more minutes.  Scrape dough into oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Let it set until doubled, at least 1.5 hours.

Step 3.  Cut two pieces of parchment paper, approx 12 x 6 inches.  Place on baking sheet and flour well.  Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and cut in half.  Transfer each half to paper and form irregular ovals approx 9 inches long.  Dust with flour.  Cover with dampened kitchen towel and let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until almost doubled.

Step 4.  At least 45 minutes before baking bread, preheat pizza stone on lower oven rack position at 425 F.   Just before baking, score the tops of the loaf with a sharp knife.  Optionally, lightly sprinkle with coarse kosher or sea salt.

Transfer loafs, on the parchment paper, onto the stone and bake for 20 minutes or until pale golden-brown.  Remove to cooling racks.  Let rest for 30 minutes or so to allow the crust to cure.

Note that this recipe sounds a lot more difficult than it is.  There are only four steps and each one is easy.  It is also very forgiving.  You can use all-purpose flour if you don’t have bread flour.  Or you can mix flours.  Results will vary in taste and texture, but it works.  Also, if your personal schedule dictates, after completing Step 2, you can store the dough in the refrigerator and go to work (or whatever).  It will rise more slowly in the fridge, which is fine…just try to let it rise to about twice the size you started out with, probably 6-8 hours.

Some Breads in the Tartine Style

Photo by Matt Korahais.

 I've been playing around a bit with the bread method described in Chad Robertson and Eric Wolfinger's Tartine Bread (the book is beautiful, by the way, check it out). Robertson's method uses a sourdough leaven in a wet dough--but one a little drier than Lahey/Bittman's no-knead.  The dough is turned three or four times during a long bulk fermentation lasting 3-8 hours, depending on temperature. After the initial mix, the dough gets a 20 minute autolyse before salt and a small amount of water are added in to finish it off.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

The recipe is geared toward two loaves, so each time I baked one in the cast-iron dutch oven and one in the BreadPot. I scored the loaves, but somewhat haphazardly, as the depth of the pots made it difficult for me to get my scoring knife in.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

For the second bake, a walnut pecan golden raisin loaf, the garnish was added after about 40 minutes of the bulk rise, during the first turn.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

I turned the dutch oven into a cloche by turning it upside down and using my skillet as the bottom.

Photo by Matt Korahais. Uncropped!

The crumb was light and airy, well-gelatinized and full of large, irregular holes.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

Photo by Matt Korahais.

One Year of BreadPot development

It was just one year ago this month that I started this BreadPot project.
With the help of my bread baking buddies, this blog and hard work in clay, they are much improved.
Those of you who know the experimental nature of my work might imagine that I might lose interest in the simplicity of these. I do love enhancing the value of this simple slow bread in people's lives with clay.
Well, I have been inventing ways to keep it interesting. First, I have used it as a teaching tool with two young potters. Second, I explored different clays, adding a subtle variation of colors. Third, I have decorated some of them with brushwork. Fourth, I actually put a few in saggars with combustibles and got natural markings that people seem to like. I have had my losses, but the experiments in each firing is what keeps me engaged. This picture was taken at the kiln after the last batch showing the clay test colors and other variations. There was even one that had a wedding inscription as a special order.

You may specify decoration or special strap handle for as long as these last. I also have one oversize cloche (mid left in this picture) like the one vt is using. He loves it. Call for price. I will be sending an email about them to my list this month and I expect them to go fast.  Word of mouth is my marketing plan. The BreadPots are at Left Bank Gallery in Wellfleet, as are my flame painted pots. Most of them are here at the studio.

no-knead, shaped bread, in the cloche

up until a few months ago, i was making bread with an involved 8-step process. good results, but sort of a pain too. i started experimenting with the no-knead, long-retarded bread formulas. below, you see photographic evidence of progress. 2 steps, no kneading, great crumb, great crust. the cloche, you will see below, continues to knock it out of the park.

full details and formulation coming soon. stay tuned.

My Version of VT's Sourdough

Couldn't make it in the BreadPot because I melted the brains of my broiler, but I wanted to post the results of my version of vt's 61% hydration sourdough. A finicky formula, but the results are outstanding. Great, great crust. I baked it under a large heavy pot at the bakery, which is how I make the sourdough that we sell there. For flour, I used mostly unbleached A/P flour, but all of the sponge was made with some local 'brown' or 'half-white' flour that I bought from Cayuga Pure Organics. Vt, may I have permission to reproduce your formula and instructions (with credit) on my blog? I'd like to show this loaf off.

it's alive!

obligatory "crumb shot"

close to good enough, i think. after the last few loaves (especially #7), this one was confirmatory. at 61% hydration, this sourdough loaf had a sticky (but not unmanageably sticky) dough, and was wet enough for a lot of oven spring without collapsing during unsupported proofing. it has great aeration. look at those lobes! marvel at the grigne (even if maybe there was a bit too much oven spring going on)! the only thing i would do now is extend the proofing time by maybe another hour.

more prosaically: the timing of various steps was convenient for work schedules. everything here was done while room temperature hovered in the 65F to 68F range. starting at 8am on monday, i got everything into the fridge by 10pm on monday and baked the bread at 3pm on tuesday.

the cloche-style breadpot continues to perform beautifully. great oven spring, mind-bendingly good crust. i think we have a winner.

ingredients

• starter (about 1 tablespoon worth)
• 450 g flour mix (30g whole wheat pastry flour, 420g white A/P)
• 275 g water
• 8 g salt
• 2.5 qt glass or metal bowl, with a cover.
• 7 x 7 sheet parchment paper
• peel or piece of cardboard for transferring dough
• couple teaspoons of flour for dusting dough

stage 1 starter

• 80 g warm water (body temperature, not much hotter than that)
• 1 tb starter
• 80 g flour mix

a 2.5 qt bowl is plenty, slightly smaller would work too. glass is nice so that you can see how much aeration is happening in the dough as it progresses, but metal is also fine. in this bowl, dissolve the starter in the warm water, then mix in the flour. shaggy or soupy is fine. cover and leave in a warmish place with minimal air circulation for about 8 hours until bubbly.

stage 2 first build

• stuff from stage 1 
• 36 g warm water (body temperature as before)
• 110g flour mix

remove 1 tb of the stuff from stage 1 and keep as your starter. add the 36 g water to the bowl and break up the dough slurry inside with a fork or spoon. add the 110 g flour mix and stir to combine. again, shaggy is fine. the dough should be much firmer and drier compared to stage 1. cover and leave undisturbed for an hour. stir after an hour, then cover and leave undisturbed for another 2 hours. you should see lots of little bubbles where the dough touches the bottom of your glass bowl. if you used a metal bowl, tough luck.

stage 3 second build

• stuff from stage 2
• 159 g cold water (from the tap is fine)
• 260 g flour mix

add the 159 g water to the stuff from stage 2, stir to break up and combine. add the 260 g flour and mix. a large wood or metal spoon is good for this. cover and allow to sit undisturbed at room temperature for an hour.

stage 4 adding salt

• stuff from stage 3
• 8 g salt

clean a counter space. sprinkle the 8 g salt over the stuff from stage 3 and mix with the spoon. scrape everything out of the bowl and knead to combine any dry flour scraps (squishing them against the counter with the heel of your hand is a satisfying and effective procedure known to bread nerds as fraisage) and the salt. the dough will initially be disturbingly soft and sticky. your fingers will be covered in dough. it will not be the silky bread dough you are used to. as the salt gets integrated, the dough will firm up and become much more congenial. knead on for a minute or so after everything is combined, then scrape back into the bowl and cover. leave in a draftless spot for about 30-45 minutes.

stage 5 stretching and folding, then retarding the dough
take the dough out of the bowl, do a STRETCH AND FOLD and put the dough back into the bowl. (what is a stretch and fold? this video illustrates.) repeat twice, with 30-45 minutes between stretch-and-folds, for a total of 3 stretches and folds over about 1.5 to 2 hours. after the third stretch-and-fold, replace in the bowl, cover, and put in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

stage 6 more stretching and folding
take the dough out of the bowl. surprise! it feels great, though cold. do a stretch and fold. replace in the bowl, cover, replace in the fridge. repeat twice, with an hour between stretch-and-folds (put the dough back in the fridge in between each turn).

stage 7 shaping, proofing, preheating
prepare a piece of parchment paper about 7 x 7 inches square, and a small dish with about 2 teaspoons of flour on it. shape the dough. this video is instructive. (note that she proofs in a banneton. i don't have a banneton. but, really, i don't think you need a banneton.) after shaping the boule, lay it on the parchment paper and leave to proof, covered by a large bowl. after 40 minutes, fire up the oven to 475F with the breadpot inside. (next loaf will proof for an additional 60 minutes.)

stage 8 slashing, baking
when the oven has been preheating for 20-25 minutes, uncover the dough. slide the dough on the parchment onto a peel (i use a sheet of cardboard). slash with a sharp razor blade. the cutting edge of the blade should be oriented at 45 degrees to the surface of the loaf. open the oven, remove both the breadpot base and top and place on something heatproof. close the oven door. slide the loaf off the peel into the bottom of the breadpot, then cover with the lid remembering that it is searingly hot. open the oven door, and deposit the covered loaf in the oven. close the door and set your timer for 15 minutes. remove the lid after the first 15 minute timer goes, and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes at 450F.

allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

[yet another guest post from vt, at the sap also rises]

The Wellfleet Connection

In July, Mark Bittman spoke in Wellfleet for the Truro Center for the Arts. I gave him one of our pots and thanked him for bringing me back to bread baking by writing about Jim Lahey's no knead bread method.
Today he wrote about it in his blog!
markbittman.com/on-forgetting-how-to-cook-part-ii