• The recipe for bread with mayo, with dehydrated tomatoes and Provence herbs is offered by Chef Liviu Preda
Chef Liviu Preda is a lecturer at "American Hotel Academy" from Brasov. He has many prestigious awards: silver medal at the World Gastronomy Exhibition in Luxembourg (2014), the winning place at "Arena of Chefs” (2015) and 4th place in Europe at the Global Chef International Competition, held in Prague (2015). His passion for cooking started at the age of 4-5, right in his grandparents' household. His first dish was a soup from the rooster that would not give him peace, whenever he passed by the poultry yard. "Boil water because dinner has arrived!” Liviu said proudly to his grandmother, whose unhesitating answer was: “I hope you are ready to make your first meal!"
How do you recognize a bread with Maya?
"You are never thirsty or need water to digest it. Mayo bread produces salivation, digests 4-5 times faster than white flour bread, does not cause gas... it is pure health", Liviu Preda.
The bread consists of:
• Maya
• Preferably
• Final dough
With the help of the recipe below, 4 loaves of 400 g each are obtained.
Starter yeast, made from wholemeal flour and white flour
The yeast used is composed of two types of yeast, 65 g each: yeast from white flour and yeast from whole flour.
Preferably
Ingredients:
65 g – Mayo from white flour
65 g – Mayo from wholemeal flour
130 g – Flour
130 ml – Water
Preferred preparation:
The preference consists of 3 ingredients in a ratio of 1:1:1 – 130 g of yeast (65 g of white yeast, with 100% hydration and 65 g of protein yeast, with whole flour), 130 ml of water and 130 g of flour.
All three ingredients are mixed and left at room temperature until the preference triples in volume. The container is covered with a lid to prevent other microorganisms from entering the composition.
To remember! To know exactly the initial amount of preference and easily measure if it has tripled its volume, put a colored rubber band around the container, next to the initial amount. Thus, it is very easy to see how much the preference has increased.
Final dough
Ingredients:
– The previously realized preference
500 g – White flour, with a protein concentration of 11,7%
500 g – Black flour, with seed mix and protein concentration 16,7%
20 g – Salt
700 ml – Water
10 g – Herbs de Provence (optional)
150–200 g – Dried tomatoes (optional)
Final dough preparation:
Autolysis of flour: to 1 kg of flour (500 g of wholemeal flour with seeds and 500 g of white flour) add on average 700 ml of water in summer and 650 ml of water in winter. It is important that the water is cold, around 10°C.
In winter, less water is added because the flour is more moist at this time of the year. At the beginning, add 650 ml, then gradually add more water, up to 700 ml, depending on the absorption capacity of the flour.
Add the salt and, optionally, herbs de Provence and dried tomatoes. Knead the dough at low speed until homogenized.
If we find that the dough is too hard, we can add more water - about 50 ml.
Add the preferment, previously prepared, after it has tripled its volume. Continue kneading until the preference is incorporated into the dough.
The dough should not exceed 27 – 30°C, because at higher temperatures the growth agents in the yeast will be destroyed. Its consistency is optimal when it becomes elastic, non-sticky and easily clings to the walls of the vessel or when it remains stuck on the spiral of the mixer.
How do you knead the dough?
• If the dough is used immediately after it has been prepared, let it rest for two hours, at room temperature.
• If it is used the next day, leave it in the refrigerator, to be removed from the cold two hours before the final modeling.
In order for the dough to become elastic, 4-5 Stretch and Fold procedures (successive folding) are applied to it, at an interval of 15-20 minutes.
The dough is "a perfect” when it becomes so elastic that after pressing it returns to its original shape, like a spring, and does not break when stretched.
The dough is divided into 4 equal pieces, of approximately 400 g, or depending on the desired weight and, with delicate movements, shape each piece to give it its final shape. Then it is placed in silicone trays or forms, frames, baskets for yeast, depending on the shape we want to give the finished product.
After shaping, the dough is left to rise for about an hour - an hour and a half, until it doubles in volume.
Using a baking pan will cause the dough to rise in height.
Fermentation time: one hour – one and a half hours at 25-26 °C or two hours at 21-22 °C.
After the dough has doubled in volume, the upper part is raised, using notched knives. The notches play a very important role, helping to develop the product during the baking phase.
cooking
The trays are inserted into oven, at 250°C and 100% humidity. It should be noted that during the first 8-12 minutes the dough is still rising and it is very important to have high temperature and humidity.
After these 8-12 minutes, reduce the temperature to 220°C and 0% humidity. Leave to bake for another 15-20 minutes, depending on how many loaves are in the oven.
To check if the bread is baked enough, tap on the bottom of it. If it sounds empty, then it's perfect.
The bread is ready, but... the yeast must be fed
leaven is a mixture of water and white/wholemeal flour, allowed to ripen spontaneously. It forms cultures of bacteria, which can be of two types: for growth or for taste. The purer the water and the more protein-concentrated the flour, the tastier the bread will be.
In this recipe, 65 g of white yeast and 65 g of whole wheat yeast were used. In order not to lose the main ingredient of this recipe over time, the mayo must be stored "in life".
In general, the yeast is kept active only by successive feeds of flour and water, in order to constantly feed the microorganisms from which it is formed and to favor their reproduction. If a crop is not fed for a long time, then it dies. Growth agents feed on the sugar, moisture and protein in the flour.
Liviu Preda's recommendations
Feeding whole yeast: add 30-35g wholemeal flour and 30ml water to the container (proportions 1:1 always), then mix the ingredients firmly with a clean spatula. The yeast is left at room temperature for about two hours to activate, to receive the bacteria and moisture it needs. Then it is kept in the refrigerator until the next use. It can even be kept for a week in the cold, without being fed, if not used. It is important to remove it from the refrigerator two hours before it is used.
To remember: If you have different types of mayo, wash the spatula after each use! Otherwise, you risk mixing the cultures of bacteria developed in each type of yeast.
Feeding white yeast: add 30-35 g of white flour and 30 ml of water to the container (proportions 1:1 always). The procedure is identical to that of whole mayo.
Whole wheat mayo will rise faster than white mayo because the protein concentration is higher. Also, it is not a problem if the wholemeal yeast rises until it reaches the lid of the container and then decreases in volume; this is a normal process.
Do you have too much mayo and don't know how to use it?
Liviu Preda suggests you try it Breadsticks with mayo!
Mix: 100 g of mayo, 100 g of flour, dehydrated tomatoes/olives/flavoring herbs and you get a perfect dough for breadsticks. It can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
