As with the Ciabatta experiments yesterday, all the doughs had a hydration level of 85% or higher, so they were quite wet! Wayne had his own little project to work on, so for the most part left us to mix the doughs ourselves, but was always ready to provide some advice if needed. I think we all benefited from being left to it; it made us really think about the mixing, & what to look for, how to tell if the dough was ready, if it could take the full amount of water or if some should be held back. I for one felt more confident about mixing such wet doughs; actually, considering how much water went in, they were surprisingly strong.
Despite the apparent strength of the doughs in the mixing bowl, they were very soft still, & needed at least three folds to get some real strength into them.
The School had some visitors today; a number of head teachers from local Schools, who happened to pop into the training room just as our Ciabatta dough was ready for a fold, which I had volunteered to do!
So there I stood, surrounded by strangers, trying not to panic as I gave the dough a good firm fold. Thankfully, despite nerves, all went well, & I even got a round of applause! =D Isn't it odd how nervous you can get doing something as simple as folding a dough, just because you're being watched?
After that the teachers headed off on the next part of their tour, I breathed a sigh of relief, & Wayne put an arm round my shoulders & said "Well done"!
The afternoon got quite hectic at times; as well as the three main doughs we were working with, we also had another batch of dinner rolls to make, this time with the addition of a chocolaty dough =) Tasty as they were & as fun as it is to shape dinner rolls, it's slightly stressful when all of the doughs are ready at the same time!
We managed it in the end though, & had yet another impressive collection of breads =)
These were my dinner rolls; I went for a cannon style (which held up mostly, but one did collapse!), a simple single knot, covered in poppy seeds, & a slightly more complicated double knot, using white & chocolate dough =)
From left to right we have the Pane Francese, then the Ciabatta with wholemeal flour, & finally the Pain Rustique. All of them had a really great open crumb structure, & the volume on some of them was incredible! I think of the three, the Pain Rustique was my favourite =)
I mentioned earlier that Wayne was working on a small project of his own today... Well, tomorrow, a number of representatives from the Real Bread Campaign will be braving the remaining snow & getting together for an informal gathering, & Wayne thought it might be nice if they had a suitably bready welcome...
So, he started off with a rather smashing lattice affair...
Then, using a variety of different doughs (some pilfered from our doughs I might add!), he created a series of letters...
Now, I'm not going to post a picture of the whole creation, that will have to wait until tomorrow I think =) But it does look rather good =D
Tomorrow should quite an interesting day; lots of quite well known bakers will be around, & hopefully we might get to meet them =D We'll have to see though, tomorrow is a Minor day, so I'll be spending most of it in the Dairy, but of course, we've got to grab a cup of tea or two, so who knows!
We'll be looking at lactic cheeses tomorrow, & (I'm rather excited about this bit) visiting some baby goats! One of Lee-Anna's goats has had kids in the last couple of days, so we'll get to go see them! =D
Oh, must remember to take my wellies tomorrow, & maybe even my Andrew Whitley book... Would it be cheeky to ask him to sign it tomorrow?? Oh well! =D
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