For letter "Y" of my alphabetical baking challenge I decided to try and make the Yogurt, Apple, Rye and Cinnamon Loaf from the Bourke Street Bakery: The Ultimate Baking Companion by Paul Allam and David McGuinness. In the process of completing the recipe, rather than "Y", all I was really thinking was, "WHHHHYYYY?!?!?"
This was one of the most challenging and frustrating recipes I have ever tried to make on Alphabake. It comes from a wonderful book but there were some fairly detailed and complicated instructions involved for this bread that had not been adapted for the home baker. As a result, I had to make quite a few adjustments that possibly compromised the flavour of the bread. Here are some of the challenges I faced:
i) The recipe directs you to a different page in the book that has lengthy instructions on how to make a "white bread starter". Starters are always used for sourdough breads and often for white breads in order to give them a nicer, more distinct flavour and to help increase their longevity. It is a dough you create with equal amounts of flour and water which you allow to sit for a period of time (the length depending on the type of starter you are making), allowing it to ferment. It was not until I was just about to start baking that I thoroughly read through the starter recipe that was provided and realized that it took about ONE MONTH to make. It gave steps on how to help your starter grow over 5 days, and then this process would be repeated several times. That technique would create a lot of starter dough, an amount more appropriate for a commercial bakery, that you would continue to feed and use over a long period of time. The technique the book uses is not useful for the home baker just looking to make one or two loaves.
Still determined to make the bread despite this lengthy obstacle, I did my research and found a recipe for a different kind of bread starter called a "biga" that is used more in Italian baking and only takes approximately a day to grow. In my instructions I included the link to a biga starter recipe instead of the one written in the book. The amount of active dry yeast is so small so a kitchen scale HAS to be used for precision.
ii) I could not find rye flour so I reluctantly substituted it with whole wheat flour which I think compromised achieving the intended flavour. I also could not find fresh yeast so I used active dry yeast instead.
iii) There were so many steps involved in this recipe. I would have to do something with the dough and then let it sit for a certain amount of time, and then do something else with it, and let it sit some more. It was very time consuming and I was up very late that night.
Results:
The biga starter recipe seemed to work well. After sitting for over 24-hours it was very active and bubbly. I only needed to use a fraction of it for the bread recipe. After baking, I had a loaf of bread decent, with a very good consistency. I was supposed to tap the bottom of the loaf when I took it out of the oven and it made a lovely hollow sound like it was supposed to. It was the most satisfying moment in the whole stressful process. Unfortunately, The apple chunks in the bread took on the flavour of the yeast which was not too pleasant. I think the bread also would have tasted much better if I was able to use rye flour.
To conclude, I do not plan to ever try this recipe out again although I am glad I finally got introduced to the many challenges of bread making. I was not sure if I wanted to post this recipe up on the blog because it felt like such a failure. I cringe every time I think of the night I attempted to make it. Nonetheless, the whole point of the blog is to document my culinary journey, including the ups and the downs.
