Fig and Rosemary Bread

Our friend Ans came for a holiday to Thailand. She asked us what she could bring from the Netherlands. I knew immediately what I liked, because we’ve been looking for figs for a long time. Ans brought 4 bags of Organic Turkish Figs, thanks Ans!

During the visit I had no time bake. We took Ans and her friend Antoinette, for a tour in our neighborhood. We visited some Little Sisters, from our project, a local market where we and the people from the hill tribes do our weekly shopping’s, we did a trekking trough the local hills and mountains and visited hill tribes villages. In between we enjoyed the baked breads from the refrigerator and especially the Stollen I baked for Christmas. 

After a week our friends moved on and today it’s Fig-time. I’m inspired by Hamelman’s hazelnut and fig bread from his book ‘Bread’. In stead of hazelnuts and figs I use rosemary and figs. I cut each fig in four parts, they look so juicy. In our garden we have a rosemary plant, lucky us. It’s hard to find a rosemary plant here. I’m making cuttings to give to our friends, they all want a piece of our delicious smelling plant.

In the original recipe very strong Canadian whole meal flour is used. Since I only have all purpose flour, I used this in stead. I added some whole wheat bran and rye. 

This is what I used:

400 grams all purpose flour

75 grams whole wheat bran

25 grams rye

370 grams warm water

10 grams sea salt

3/4 teaspoon dried yeast

100 grams of chopped figs

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary

This is what I did:

Mix all ingredients, except figs and rosemary, on low speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the figs and rosemary. Continue mixing on low or medium speed until the dough reaches a medium level of gluten development. When you do the window pane test you still see some thicker pieces of dough.

Transfer the dough to a slightly oiled bowl. Cover and let ferment for 2.5 hours.

Pre shape into a ball, cover and let it rest for 25 minutes. I shaped the ball into a batard  and placed seam-side-up in flour covered banneton. 

Place the banneton into a plastic bag and proof at room temperature for 1 hour. Check with your finger if the dough is proofed enough. When your finger indent springs back very slowly, it’s done. When it springs back quickly, the dough needs more time. 

I placed the banneton in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for the night (8 – 12 hours). You could bake it the same day. If you bake it the next day, take it out of the refrigerator 1 hour before baking it. The temperature in our house asked for a longer time to proof and warm up.

Preheat the oven, with baking stone and your steam apparatus, to 230˚C.

I scored the loaf with 3 cuts. Place the loaf on the baking stone. Bake for 15 minutes with steam and another 30 minutes without. When the loaf has a nice brown color, turn off the oven but leave the loaf with the door ajar for another 10 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy this bread. The taste of figs is great!

Deng Deng protecting the rosemary plant

I found this at Joanna’s blog Zeb Bakes 

I send this to Susan’s YeastSpotting and Cathy of Bake Your Own Bread