Baguettes Mark II

So been fine-tuning my baguettes, and found this video (https://youtu.be/n0U8RdRdFDU) particularly helpful.  The video is really good for seeing the texture of his dough (which I haven't managed to replicate yet, but at least I know what I'm going for...)  Written recipe here, but I'm going to copy it down here so it doesn't disappear on me, and I can make notes.  I'm particularly liking how this method makes it easy to have fresh bread 3 days in a row, and nearly-fresh for a few days after.

Basically he spreads the bread-making over three days.  Which sounds ridiculous, but the first two days are like 10-minutes of work and pop it in the fridge.  So if anything it's less restrictive than my older version, where I'm supposed to do something every hour or so.

Day1:

450g strong white flour.  (~3 5/8 cups is what the internet told me.  This was _hugely_ wrong; ended up being about 575g, when I finally got a scale.  ~2 3/4 cups was closer, but obviously the scale is better.  Thought the dough seemed a bit dry...)

290ml water.

2.5g / generous pinch  / ~3/4 tsp dried yeast.

7g (~1 - 1 1/4 tsp) salt.

Playing with an autolyse step here, which he doesn't call for.  For that, reserve a small amount of the water to dissolve the yeast, combine the rest with the flour, and let sit an hour before adding the yeast to the remaining water, and then to the dough, along with the salt.  Work it for 1-2 mins just to get it mixed through, then put in a covered oiled bowl in the fridge for 24 hours.  (Without the autolyse step, its just combine it all, work 1-2 mins, rest in fridge.)

Day 2:

500g (~3-ish cups) strong white flour.

300ml water.

5g (~1 3/4 tsp) dried yeast.

10g (~1 3/4 tsp) salt.

Autolyse again if you like.  Otherwise combine with yesterdays pre-fermented dough, cut into smaller pieces to mix in better.  Knead 8-10 minutes until it passes the windowpane test.  Should be a bit wet and sticky.  Put in a covered oiled bowl in the fridge for 12-36 hours.  (You can take some of this dough and bake it now, to spread your loaves over more days...)

Day 3+:

You can keep this in the fridge for up to ~36 hours, so you can have fresh bread for a few days.  When you get to the end on that window, bake the rest and freeze a few loaves as soon as its cool enough.  When you pull the frozen loaves out, spray them with water and heat in the oven 5 mins and they're nearly as good as fresh.

Divide the dough into ~250g portions (6ish).  Shape into a ball and let rest 5 mins.  Grab two sides of the ball and shake it out until you're holding two tendrils; fold them back into the middle (see the video.)  This helps make neater ends.  You'll end up with a rough rectangle maybe 6 inches square.  Roll it up from one side, crimping 2-3 times, to make a 6-inch sausage roll.  Let it rest about 5 minutes (or however long it takes to do the others, if you're doing all 6 at once.)  Then roll them, from the middle outwards, tapering to points.  Rest them, seam-side-up, in floured cloth, pulling up a little wave of cloth between each 2 loaves (which should otherwise touch, to encourage them to rise up instead of out.)  Prove 50-60 mins, until slightly underproven.

Pre-heat oven to 240C fan-forced, and put a heavy pan on the bottom shelf.  Roll the loaves out of the cloth and arrange in pan.  Slash with a razor.  Put them in with a cup of hot water in the heavy pan, for steam.  Spray loaves and oven walls at 1 and 3 mins.  Cook for 20-25 mins total, until done.

Note: I still have trouble getting my loaf bottoms to cook well enough - probably our shit oven's fault.  So I'll roll the loaves over for the last few mins to get them brown and crispy.

Turkish Pide

Love me a good Turkish pide.  This (https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2014/07/kiymali-pide-turkish-flat-bread-with-ground-meat-and-vegetables/) one I tried at home and was good (though we really only did the bread his style, and mixed our own fillings.)  Copying his recipe in case his blog goes away, but if anyone else reads this, go check out his stuff; he has some tasty-looking things.

Ingredients

• For the dough:
• 300 gr/ 10½ oz. / + 2 tbsp. all-purpose plain flour
• 5ml/1 tsp. salt
• 14 gr/4 tsp. dried yeast (2 packs of 7gr dried yeast)
• 8 fl. oz. /1 cup warm water
• 45ml/3 tbsp. olive oil
• For the topping:
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 400 gr/14 oz. ground beef or ground lamb or mixture
• ½ green bell pepper or 1 green pointy pepper, finely diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt (5 ml/1 tsp. salt is recommended) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg + 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. olive oil to brush the pide

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F
2. Stir in the dried yeast in a small bowl and pour in ½ cup warm water. Dissolve the yeast in water, mixing with your fingers. Set aside for the yeast mixture to get frothy for 5 minutes.
3. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
4. Make a well in the middle and pour in 2 tbsp. olive oil and the yeast mixture.
5. Pour in the remaining ½ warm water to the flour mixture. Using your hands, draw in the flour from the sides and work the mixture into a dough.
6. Knead for 3 -5 minutes, until you reach a soft, smooth dough. The dough gets sticky as you knead, so pour the remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil and stir in additional 2 tbsp. flour to help shape into a soft dough.
7. Place the dough in large bowl and cover with a cling film. Leave it in a warm place for 1 hour; it will be doubled in size.
8. In the meantime, prepare your filling. Heat 15ml/1tbsp. olive oil in a wide heavy pan and stir in the onions and peppers.
9. Sauté the onions and peppers for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until they start to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and sauté for another 2 minutes. Pour in the lemon juice and season with salt and ground black pepper. Turn the heat off.
10. Place the ground meat in a bowl and combine the cooked vegetables with the ground meat, mix well. The topping is ready.
11. Once the dough is risen, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for a minute then divide the dough into two pieces and roll into two balls.
12. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough balls into 2 oval shapes of 20 cm x 40 cm (about 8”x16”), with ½ cm (0.2”) thickness.
13. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and place the 2 oval flat bread dough on the tray.
14. Spread the filling evenly over the 2 flat breads, leaving 2 cm at the edges as a border with no filling (it is easier to spread the filling while the oval flat bread is in the tray).
15. Fold in the sides to act as border to keep the filling intact. Squeeze the oval dough at each end to make it pointy.
16. Beat an egg in a small bowl and mix it with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Brush the edges of dough with this mixture.
17. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until the pides are golden brown and crispy at the edges.
18. Once cool, cut into slices and serve.