My fellow baker and good friend A.K.A. “Yippee” from The Fresh Loaf site has been gracious enough to mail me several loaves of her awesome bread as well as some other goodies. It was high time I shared some of my bread with her. It’s taken me longer than it should have, but I needed to figure out how to get the bread to the post office since I leave my house to go into the city every day very early.
She had requested one of my breads with cheese in it, so I sent her a version of my ricotta cheese bread using fresh milled whole wheat and Kamut flour. I was going to add some potatoes just to make it extra special, but unfortunately they had a mind of their own and decided to hide from me in the refrigerator.
I used my favorite black smoked sesame seeds for the top to give it a little extra flavor.
I didn’t have time to take photos, but Yippee was nice enough to take some awesome shots and shared them with me for this post.
This bake really turned out nice and makes for some great grilled bread or as Yippee illustrated it makes a mean brined wild salmon sandwich.
Here are the Zip files for the above BreadStorm files.
Yippee’s Brined Wild Salmon…yum!
Levain Directions
Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled. I used my proofer set at 83 degrees and it took about 4 hours. You can use it immediately in the final dough or let it sit in your refrigerator overnight.
Main Dough Procedure
Mix the flours and the water for about 1 minute. Let the rough dough sit for about 20 minutes to an hour. Next add the levain, Ricotta Cheese, olive oil and salt and mix on low for 5 minutes. You should end up with a cohesive dough that is slightly tacky but very manageable. Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds. Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold. Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold. After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours. (Since I used my proofer I only let the dough sit out for 1.5 hours before refrigerating).
When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours. Remove the dough and shape as desired.
The dough will take 1.5 to 2 hours depending on your room temperature and will only rise about 1/3 it’s size at most. Let the dough dictate when it is read to bake not the clock.
Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 540 degrees F. and prepare it for steam. I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf. I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.
Right before you are ready to put them in the oven, score as desired and then add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.
Lower the temperature to 450 degrees. Bake for 35-50 minutes until the crust is nice and brown and the internal temperature of the bread is 205 degrees.
Take the bread out of the oven when done and let it cool on a bakers rack before for at least 2 hours before eating.
mookielovesbread 