Wednesday, December 21, 2011

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 


1 comment:

  1. I tried posting this before but it doesn't seem to have worked.

    Figs are available at Rimping Markets and Bakersmart in Chiang Mai. Not as cheap as having someone bring them to you but they are available.

    Rosemary plants are readily available in various flower markets and agricultural shows.

    ReplyDelete