Paulchens FoodBlog?!

Pane Francese

24 March 2009 3 Comments

This month’s bread “Pane Francese”of the gorgeous Bread Baking Babes was a real challenge to me.

For one it is yet again a free formed bread which I am afraid of… yes still afraid! Second I never worked with a “chef” before, never even heard of it… nso when I read the post at Sara’s blog I like to cook who is serving as the Kitchen Babe of the Month I was not to thrilled to admit!

But then… well there was no way to NOT bake the bread anyway so I dragged my lazy butt once again into the kitchen and out of my comfort zone…

I baked this bread twice.

For my first attempt I used my sourdough starter due to the lack of a “chef” (aka left over dough).
It all went quite well, the dough was a charm to work with and smelled divine once I had it into the oven.
But – the bread rather tore apart at the top and the bottom…

It still was yummy and very sourdough-y in taste, but I had the feeling it was not really baked through in the middle…

I guess is was because of my use of spelt I did not let it rise long enough before I finally baked it.

So since I now had a chef in the fridge I decided to give it a second try.
This time I let is rise longer before baking but it flattened quite and did not rise too much tho and the surface already tore while rising…. I was not pleased at all.
The crumb is way better than the first attempt (a bit crumbly tho)…

Well, it might all be due to the rye/spelt mixture or that I forgot to use rice flour to strenghten the spelt… *sigh* I liked the bread tho. I think I will make it again and maybe it will work out some time as designed…

So along with my sourdoughs Sundance, Sally, Harry and Carl this Chef is now living happily in my frigde:

For way better versions of this bread visit one (or all) of the wonderful Bread Baking Babes:

Thank you Babes for yet another interesting baking experience!

3 Comments »

Lien said:

wow it’s getting quite crowded in your fridge… I bet they party all night!
I never used a ‘chef’ too, found it much easier than a sourdough starter (and less sour which I like). Three times lucky for you i’m sure.
Tell me about rice flour strenghtenign spelt flour?? Never heard about that, I want to know all about it.
Thanks for baking with us again, you’re such a wonderful baking buddy!!

Liens last blog post..Lentilles from Castelluccio

# 24 March 2009 at 9:41 AM

MyKitchenInHalfCups said:

Yes, that sounds like an interesting idea that rice flour strengthens the spelt. Would like to know more.
I’d heard of a Chef but not worked with one. I really enjoyed it, found it an nice change and easy enough to do.
Thanks for baking again you are a star of a buddy.

# 24 March 2009 at 7:45 PM

astrid (author) said:

Lien, Tanna:
Thanks for your encouragement. This is what I love about baking with you Babes. :o)

Regarding the rice flour and spelt:
It wasn’t my idea at all it was Dr Mary (Breadchick) who came up with that idea when my Challa failed on me…

She wrote in the comments: ”

Astrid, AH HA! I haven’t lost all my marbles as I seemed to remember you are our “alternate grain Buddy”. Taste is much more important than looks my dear!

I have the answer to your blob and not holding shape and it is in Tanna’s question as well. 100% Spelt flour breads don’t have the structure to hold up to free form breads (no gluten!) and while they will rise, they won’t rise as high as bread containing wheat (again that whole pesky no gluten for strength). So, you get a lovely braid that just collapses onto itself.

Here are a few options for using spelt to make free form bread. Try using a combo of spelt and rice flour when making the bread. While rice flour doesn’t contain gluten per se it is a bit “harder” flour than the spelt and will give the dough a bit more density. Other gluten free flours that you can experiment with include pea flour, amaranth, and buckwheat (not wheat). All these flours have a bit more “strength” than spelt for structure.

Cut the rise time back. You aren’t going to get the big huge puffy bread. Once you notice it starting to rise, get ready to put it in the oven. When I’ve baked alternative grain breads in traditional shapes, I’ve settled up expecting 1/2 the rise I get with my wheat breads meaning about 3/4 of the time.”

I have been experimenting with spelt and rice flour ever since she gave me this tip and most of my following breads worked out pretty well, even the free formed ones. So all the kudos go to Mary :)

I am still not so sure about the spelt/rice ratio but most of the time it works (as long as I do not forget about it while preparing the dough) This time I was so pleased with the dough I did not realize that I forgot the rice flour.

# 24 March 2009 at 8:37 PM