February 28, 2008

My Sweet Loaf

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I've been busy baking the last 2 weeks, the baked goods I post in my baking photo blog without the recipes, just the photos. The photo blog is for a future project with a friend and I'm not sure how long we'll keep it or how it will develop. Yesterday I made a sweet dough that I adapted from the March 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine which is also adapted from the recipe of French master baker Richard Bertinet. The dough is difficult to handle because it is very very sticky and it requires 3 risings. I followed the recipe to a T and the result is a very light and flavorful bread which is surprisingly not very sweet at all. I'm not sure though if I'll make it again because it took me 12 minutes for the dough to come together and took a total of over 5 hours from start to finish. I prefer using the machine to knead bread because it's faster and my arms don't get tired. Maybe if the time comes when I have the need to knead, feeling masochistic, or maybe mad and want to slap someone but can't, I'll prepare sweet dough using this method again.:-)
In case anybody is interested you can watch the video of Bertinet preparing the dough here.



I made one loaf using half of the dough and the other half into pockets filled with bucayo which are already almost gone. Bucayo, mint, orange..mmm


Sweet Dough With Orange And Mint
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons mint-infused whole milk*
1 packet active dry yeast
1 pound 2 ounces bread flour
½ stick unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 T cointreau or 1 tsp orange extract
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
  • Stir yeast in flour in a large bowl. Rub in butter. Stir in sugar and salt. Fold in milk and eggs with a flexible plastic bowl scraper, rotating bowl, until the liquid is absorbed and a wet sticky dough forms. Scrape dough out onto an unfloured surface. Dough will be very sticky but don't be tempted to add flour. By working the dough through the process of repeatedly stretching and folding into itself, trapping air, the dough will become cohesive and supple.
  • Slide your finger underneath both sides of the dough with your thumbs on top. Lift dough up (to about chest level) with your thumbs toward you, letting dough hang slightly. In a continuous motion, swing dough down, slapping bottom of dough onto the surface, then stretch dough up and back over itself in an arc to trap in air. Repeat lifting, slapping, and stretching, scraping surface with flat side of bowl scraper as needed, until dough is supple, cohesive, and starts to bounce slightly off surface without sticking, about 8 minutes to 12 minutes.
  • Transfer dough into a lightly floured surface. Form into a ball by folding each edge, in turn, into a center of dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating ball as you go. Turn ball over and transfer to a lightly floured bowl, then cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.Stir zest and liqueur together. Gently release dough from bowl with scraper onto a lightly floured surface, then flatten slightly and spread orange mixture. Fold dough in half several times, then work, slapping and stretching as described above until zest mixture is incorporated. Form into a ball and transfer into a lightly floured bowl, cover with kitchen towel. Let rise again in a draft-free place at warm room temperature for 1 hour.
  • Gently release dough from bowl with scraper onto a lightly floured surface, do not punch down. Divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten with heel of your hand into a rectangle, 8 x 6 inches. Fold a long edge into center and press seam down with heel of your hand. Fold opposite edge over to meet in center, press seam down with heel of your hand. Fold in half along seam, pressing edges to seal. Repeat with the other ball. Put, seam down, on a lightly buttered large baking sheet. Brush tops of loaves with egg and let stand a few minutes until egg feels dry. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost double and springy, about 1½ hours.
  • Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush tops of loaves again with egg. Holding a pair of scissors at a 45 degree angle, make snips along top in a line down center of each loaf. Transfer to oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until dark golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
*To make mint-infused milk, bring 1 C plus 2 T whole milk and 1 bunch mint to a simmer in a saucepan, then remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve and return to saucepan, discard mint. Reheat to 130 degrees before using.


with mint butter

7 comments:

Chibog in Chief said...

oh they look lovely and delicious!! i will definitely try this recipe.i have been craving for a lighty and puffy brioche to make. yesterday i made one and it was catastrophic :-) it's supposed to be with choco chips but the chocolate melted all the way and the result was more like a loaf cake..i was really really pissed..i will try this recipe of yours, :-)

Anonymous said...

wonderful idea with the bucayo! but 12 hours for bread! You have much more patience than I;)

 gmirage said...

I haven't read the entire entry yet, your instructions looks so complete with every bit of detail, no wonder it took 5 hours...=D

They do look so yummy to me! (Well, all your food are). But I don't think I can have that 5 hours free...

In case you get lost finding me, I changed the url to www.kitchenmaus.blogspot.com its easier na hihi. Gandand gabi (hapon)!

Oggi said...

dhanggit that's too bad about the brioche. this recipe is worth the time to make, very yummy.:)

marvin, our bucayo is becoming versatile, heheh. it took me only 5 hours and i don't think i'll make it often.:)

gizelle, making the bread and writing the recipe are equally tiring.:D
yeah, i changed the URL last week. when i clicked on your site (sidebar food) i got an error and noticed the change.:)

Sidney said...

Your cooking is very professional but I already noticed that your pictures are as professional. And it is not easy to take good food pictures.

Anonymous said...

This is really beautiful! You should have entered it in the Weekend Herb blogging event! This probably would have won! Orange and Mint are beautiful together!

Oggi said...

Sidney thank you. Coming from you it's a great compliment!:)

worc thanks. I have read about Weekend Herb blogging event but has never joined, I keep forgetting to check it.:)

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