Cold Rise Dough

Another great bread workshop yesterday- thanks to the five women who mixed their way to a high carb future (and had great humour when, during the low point of the afternoon, the mixer and its operator showered one participant with a pasty water/flour shower!).

I realized that I haven't ever posted pictures of my dough after it's cold risen in the fridge. Here are a couple shots:

This whole wheat, hemp bread had risen for a couple days, but its not unusual for the bag to look this plump overnight. I usually reuse these bags over again (until they pop with one particularly excited, active dough), but I've also used a large tupperware container.

The books that inspired me to try cold rising are ones I've mentioned before: 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg and 'Artisan Breads Every Day' by baker Peter Reinhart. For many commercial bakers and pizzerias, cold rising bread is nothing new- but for home bakers, these books brought the cold rise method to the masses.

There have been a couple significant benefits to our family in the practise of cold rising dough:

1. I make 2-3 batches of dough ahead of time and then bake it, as loaves, buns, pitas, pizza dough, cinnamon buns, etc, when I'm ready. The dough can be left in the fridge for up to two weeks.  For single people, there's the added benefit that you can bake in small batches. 

2. Slowing down the fermentation process really enhances the bread's flavour-- sourdough is based on this principle. I do notice that after a few days in the fridge, the crumb from cold-rise dough is lighter (more holes) and more flavourful.

If you have other benefits to add to my list, drop them in a comment below.

100-mile diet Bread for Edmontonians

Whole Wheat, Flax and Hemp Honey Bread

I've been meaning to bake a "Local Edmonton" loaf of bread for a while. Finally did it! All the ingredients were sourced from Alberta Avenue Farmer's Market vendors; all of whom live within the 100 mile diet parameters to downtown Edmonton.  

In the recipe, the ingredients marked with an * are the only ones I couldn't easily locally source. 

A big thanks to the Farmers who made this fantastic evening snack a reality:

John Schneider @ Gold Forest Grains grew the organic golden flax seeds and milled the organic whole grain flour
Arie Neufeld @Ma-Be Farms fed the chickens which brought me some beautiful eggs.
"Hemp Guy" (I'll remember his name sometime tonight)  sold me the locally grown and hulled hemp seeds.
Joseph and Christine Kent @ Coal Lake Honey Farm harvested then sold me some tasty, well priced honey.

The Recipe: 

(makes 1 loaf)

1. Heat oven to 375 F.

2. Mix EVERYTHING together (I'm not fussy about order of ingredients and neither seems to be my yeast):

- 3 C whole wheat flour

- 1/2 T instant yeast*

- 1/2 t salt *

- 1/4 C hulled hemp seeds (or substitute other seeds, but these are so high in omega 3s!)

- 1/4 C golden flax seeds

- 3 T vital wheat gluten (sold where most 'Red Mill' products are sold)*

- 2 T honey

- 1 egg

- 1 1/4 C luke warm water

3. When too stiff to mix, knead for another 2 minutes. Add water or extra flour if needed to make an elastic, smooth dough.

4. Leave it to "rest" for 5 minutes.

5. Shape into loaf or buns. Let rise up to 2 hours.

6. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden on top and hollow sounding (when you flick it)

7. Slice, slather with butter and enjoy.

For more Bread Making 101 tips check out this PDF I developed for my workshops.

If I had let it 'cold rise' in the fridge for a few days, I think I'd have had a little more rise. But I was happy with this considering its 100% whole wheat (this is mostly thanks to the vital wheat gluten!)