VIENNA BREAD

Steps:

• Remove the pâte fermentée from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.
• Stir together the flour, sugar, malt powder (if using), salt, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the pâte fermentée pieces, egg, butter, malt syrup (if using), and 3/4 cup of the water. Stir together with a large metal spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients form a ball. If not all the flour is absorbed, add the remaining 2 tablespoons water, or as much as is necessary to make the dough soft and supple, not firm and stiff.
• Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook for 6 minutes), adding flour if needed to make a firm but supple dough, slightly tacky but not sticky. The dough should pass the windowpane test (page 58) and register 77° to 81°F. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. If the dough doubles in size before then, remove it from the bowl and knead for a few seconds to degas it (the "punch down") and then return it to the bowl to continue fermenting until 2 hours have elapsed or until the dough doubles in size again.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces for loaves, or into 9 to 12 smaller pieces (3 to 4 ounces each) for pistolets. Shape larger pieces into boules (page 72) or smaller pieces into rolls (page 82). Mist the dough lightly with spray oil, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• Shape the larger pieces into bâtards (page 73) or the smaller pieces into pistolets (page 80). Line a sheet pan with baking parchment, dust with semolina flour or cornmeal, and transfer the dough to the pan. Mist the dough lightly with spray oil and cover the pan loosely with plastic.
• Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the loaves or rolls have risen to approximately 1 3/4 times their original size.
• Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 91-94, making sure to have an empty steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Just prior to baking, mist the loaves or rolls with water and dust lightly with bread flour by tapping some through a sieve or by flinging the flour across the surface of the dough. Score the loaves or rolls down the center as shown on page 90, or leave the rolls uncut.
• Slide the loaves directly onto the baking stone, parchment and all, or place the sheet pan with the loaves or rolls in the oven. Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. After 30 seconds, open the door, spray the oven walls with water, and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 400°F and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the breads 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking and continue baking until they are a medium golden brown and register at least 200°F at the center. This should take anywhere from 5 additional minutes for rolls to 20 minutes for loaves.
• Remove the loaves or rolls from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving.
• BREAD PROFILE
• Enriched, standard dough; indirect method; commercial yeast
• DAYS TO MAKE: 2
• Day 1: 1 1/4 hours pâte fermentée
• Day 2: 1 hour to de-chill pâte fermentée; 10 to 12 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 to 4 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20 to 35 minutes baking
• Commentary
• This version of Vienna dough is improved by the pre-ferment method that I've been touting throughout this book. You will rarely find another version made in quite this same way, as most Vienna bread formulas are made by the direct-dough method. But the use of more than 100 percent pre-ferment adds so much character to the bread that I'll never turn back. Vienna rolls made from this dough are a huge hit at Johnson & Wales, where students eagerly line up for sandwiches whenever we send these rolls to the dining hall.
• BAKER'S PERCENTAGE FORMULA
• Vienna Bread %
• Pâte fermentée: 108%
• Bread flour: 100%
• Sugar: 4.2%
• Malt powder: 2.1%
• Salt: 2.1%
• Instant yeast: .92%
• Egg: 13.8%
• Butter: 4.2%
• Water (approx.): 54.2%
• Total: 289.5%
• GRACE NOTE: Dutch Crunch or Mottled Bread
• Dutch crunch is one of many names given to bread made with a special mottled topping. It doesn't refer to any particular formula, as the crunch topping can be spread on pretty much any type of bread. But if you grew up with a certain brand of Dutch crunch, you may associate it with particular styles of bread, like a chewy white bread or a light wheat loaf. Dutch bakers were among the many northern European bread makers who popularized this style of garnishing loaves, and the method caught on quickly in certain regions of America when it was first introduced. I find that Austrian-style bread, with its slightly enriched but chewy texture, is particularly suited to this treatment, which is a slurry paste made with rice flour, sugar, yeast, oil, salt, and water. However, feel free to use it on any type of sandwich dough or enriched breads (but not on lean French bread dough, with its hard crust). The paste is brushed on the dough either right before the final proofing stage, or just before the bread goes into the oven. (If you brush it on before proofing, the separation and mottling is greater and more dramatic; brushing it on just before baking results in a more even coating.) The paste is fermented by the yeast, and it grows while the dough grows. But because the rice flour has very little gluten to hold it together, it spreads apart and then gelatinizes and caramelizes when the bread is baked. This leaves a mottled, slightly sweet, crunchy coating on the bread that kids find especially mesmerizing. You can use the topping on loaf-pan bread as well as on freestanding loaves.
• Rice flour is available at most natural foods markets. You can use either white or brown rice flour or even Cream of Rice cereal. Alternatives would be fine cornmeal, cornstarch, potato starch, semolina flour, or cake flour (it's low in gluten), but they each deliver a different flavor and texture. Rice flour or Cream of Rice cereal is the most commonly used because it is, well, perfect for the job.
• To make the topping, whisk together, 1 tablespoon bread flour, 3/4 cup rice flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and 6 to 8 tablespoons of water to make a paste. If it seems too thin to spread without running off the top of the dough, add more rice flour. It should be thick enough to spread with a brush, but not so thick that it sits like a lump of mud. This makes enough for 2 to 4 loaves.