Candeal Bread Crown

Instructions

FIRST DAY, THE NIGHT BEFORE (9:30 pm)

Make solid preferment, biga.

1. In a bowl add the flour together with the water and the yeast. If we use fresh yeast, we will crumble it very well.
2. Mix with your hands until there are no traces of flour left. It is not necessary to knead it, but it is not necessary to leave an undefined mixture. The result should be a homogeneous ball of dough.
3. Cover the bowl with film or a disposable shower cap (that's what I use and we can use it several times) and leave it at room temperature until the next morning. In my kitchen there was a temperature of 68º-70ºF/20º-21ºC and it was ready in 12 hours (its size will be a bit more than double in volume), this will determine the time it takes to ferment. The hotter it is, the faster it will take.
4. In very hot periods, we can leave it for a couple of hours at room temperature and then refrigerate it overnight.

SECOND DAY, NEXT MORNING

Make the dough for Candeal bread crown (9:30 am).

1. En un bol mediano vertemos el agua y añadimos el prefermento sólido troceado. Con ayuda de unas varillas, removemos hasta lograr que se disuelva. No es necesario que se disuelva por completo, pero este paso nos ayudará a integrar mucho mejor el prefermento sólido en la masa.
2. Vertemos la mezcla sobre la mezcla de harina y añadimos la levadura y la sal. Mezclamos la masa, al principio podemos hacerlo con ayuda de una rasqueta para facilitar que se integren los elementos. En mi caso, hice todo el proceso de mezclado con las manos.
3. Una vez que tengamos la masa, más o menos amalgamada, pasamos a una superficie de trabajo limpia, sin nada de harina, y comenzamos a amasar. Realizaremos el amasado duro, el que os muestro en el vídeo, puesto que su hidratación no nos permitirá llevar a cabo otro tipo de amasado.
4. Combinaremos amasado con reposos, de este modo la masa irá desarrollando el gluten sin necesidad de trabajarla en exceso. Amasamos 2-3 minutos y dejamos reposar 2-3 minutos. La masa no tiene que estar 100% desarrollada, pero sí nos facilitará el proceso de refinado si hemos logrado obtener una buen desarrollo previamente.

Refinamos la masa (10:00 am).

1. Here comes the laborious part of the process because we have to refine the dough to get a good result on our bread. I'm not going to lie to you... It's a process that takes a long time and requires strength with the arms, in my case I think I did even abs, hahaha.
2. Stretch the dough with the help of a roller pin, it is not necessary to achieve a specific measure. To guide us a little, we will try to make the dough approximately 1 cm thick.
3. Fold as a triptych (remember the process of stiff dough? Here we will work in the same way) and stretch the dough to fold it again. Our goal is to achieve a smooth and soft textured dough.
4. In total I did this step 12 times, which will let you know that the refining process took me about 65-80 minutes. I don't remember exactly. During this process you will have to take several breaks to relax the dough. Otherwise it will be very tense and that will make the stretching/refining process very difficult.
5. Important, you must cover with film the dough whenever you make a rest, otherwise the surface will dry up and it will crack when you stretch it.
6. The result is worth it because the dough is incredibly pleasant to touch.

Divide and preshape the bread dough (11:15 am).

1. Once we have our refined and beautiful dough, you must know that the worst is over. What comes next is pure enjoyment.
2. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, they will be approximately 435 g. Remember that if you have dough leftovers, we must place them in the piece so that they always remain inside when we preshape it.
3. Roll the piece up on itself, making sure there are no spaces between folds. The shape will be slightly elongated, since we need this step to facilitate the process to shape the crown later.
4. Cover it with film and let it rest for 10 minutes. It is important that the dough is relaxed so that when shaping the bread, facilitate the process.

Shaping Candeal Bread Crown (11:30 am).

1. Take one of the pieces, leave the other one covered with film.
2. Shape it the same way we stretch our loaves. Put both hands in the center and start to slide them to the sides. Each one of them towards one side. With this process we manage to obtain the same thickness in all the bread, besides giving length.
3. We will have to repeat this step several times since we must achieve a length of 23.6 inches/60 cm.
4. Once we have the piece with the desired size, we will flatten the surface. We can do this with the palm of our hands (pressing hard) or with the help of a roller pin.
5. Cut the ends with the help of a scraper to obtain a clean finish.
6. Fold the dough over itself and press it gently.
7. With the help of a metal scraper or a knife, make cuts along the entire length of the piece every 2-3 cm. The cuts should not reach the end of the fold, our intention is to create "fringes".
8. Shape the piece into a crown, placing the fringes towards the outside and joining the ends. To do this we will use a little water, so that the piece stays together.
9. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Leave uncovered for 5 minutes and then cover with film.
10. Repeat the same process with the other piece.
11. Make a final fermentation of 2 and 1/2 hours at 68ºF/20ºC. The dough will increase its volume a little, but without doubling it. It is a type of bread that must enter the oven a little short of final fermentation.
    

Bake candeal bread crown (14:30 pm).

1. Preheat the oven to 410ºF/210ºC . Place the tray, stone or steel sheet in the lower part of the oven. The ideal is to preheat for 20-25 minutes before. In case you use stone, I recommend you to preheat for longer since it takes longer to reach the temperature.
2. This type of bread is baked without steam.
3. With the help of a toothpick, decorate the top of the fringes. In my case I have done it as I show you in the video, but you can do it the way you like.
   
4. Spray the surface slightly with water and put it in the oven. Slide the bread over the steel sheet, with the baking paper included.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, you will see that it acquires a beautiful golden color.
6. Remove from the oven and let it cool down completely on a rack.
7. Repeat the same process with the other crown.
8. This type of bread is ideal to consume in the same day, at most until the next day. This is due to the thickness that it has, it hardens faster because it does not have a large surface.
   

Notes for a perfect Candeal Bread Crown

• To make candeal bread I decided to make a biga. The reason for this is that we will be able to add flavour and aroma to our bread as we will not be using sourdough.
• Can it be done without preferment? Yes, it can, but keep in mind that the result will be a bread with less flavor. In that case, we must add to the final dough the amount of water, flour and yeast that we omit from the preferment. And proceed with the process from the moment we prepare the bread dough.
• These candeal bread is made with a flour I bought at the supermarket. It has a strength of W=200 and cake flour W=80. If you don't find this flour, it's OK, you can use another flour of strength that you have at your disposal. Bread flour or plain flour.
• I remind you that in this post I tell you how to calculate the strength of a flour. In my case I used it to achieve a strength of W=150. You can even use a lower force, between W=150-180. In that case, you will probably have to modify the final amount of water in the dough, reducing it to 240-250 g. But this does not affect the hydration of the preferment.
• Don't we do autolysis on this bread? No, in this variety of bread the process of autolysis is not carried out. It is a low hydration bread that we must work by hand to achieve the desired texture and refinement.
• The amount of final water will depend on the strength and absorption capacity of your flour. I advise you to add the lowest amount that I detail in the ingredients and, if necessary, add more until the whole is complete. Doughs are always rectified with water, never ever with flour.
• You can use fresh yeast or dry yeast, the result will be good in both cases. But keep in mind the proportion to be used in relation to the yeast you use. And remember that for every gram of dry yeast you use 3 grams of fresh yeast.
• It is important that you knead well to get a good result. If you get tired or the process becomes tiresome, remember that we must take a break. Rest continues to hydrate the protein and therefore continues to "knead" or facilitate the process of kneading with the consequent development of gluten.
• The refining process is hard, I won't deny you that. Do you still think it can be done with a pasta machine? Maybe it could. In my case I make it with stiff sourdough, but this bread has so much dough that you would have to divide the dough into pieces and refine them individually to be able to do it in a pasta machine. Maybe it's a bit much work, but it can be an option for anyone who wants to keep it in mind.
• To get a good result, the ideal is to make 10-12 folds to achieve a good refining of the dough. Cheer up!
• Respect the raising times and DO NOT force them with crazy temperatures. Otherwise we will get a bad tasting bread.
• This bread keeps up perfectly the same day we bake it. The next day you can eat it, but the texture will not be the same. If it is too much bread, it can be frozen in the same way we freeze other breads.
  

Archivado en

• Breakfast