The Bread Thread - Garlic Knots

[UnConundrum]

Garlic Knots

Easily serves 4 and more

Ingredients:
     400 grams flour (all purpose is fine)
     240 grams water (room temperature)
      25 grams olive oil
       8 grams salt
       8 grams sugar
       2 grams yeast

Preparation:
   
Place all ingredients in the TM bowl and process @ speed 5 for 3 seconds.




Process at knead speed for 3 minutes



Divide into 2 equal parts




Shape into balls






Store each in a container with oil for an hour





Use or place in the refridgerator.

Discussion:

I thought I'd start a thread on bread baking and share some of what I've learned over the years.  The recipe above is just a tool to use for the discussion, but it works too.  It's sitting out in my kitchen now, and I'll bake it later.....

First, I thought I'd go over baker's math.  With baker's math, you make a formula instead of a recipe.  The foundation is that the flours you use equal 100% and the other ingredients are percentages of the flour's weight.  So, in the "recipe" above, the flour is 400 grams which is 100%. 

Liquids are considered "hydration" and the percentage can vary from bread to bread.  Most "artisan" breads are higher percentages, that, in turn, result in more and larger holes.  A dryer bread is more dense.  The percentage is usually between 60% and 80% of the weight of the flour.  In the recipe above, if you add the liquids,  (the water 240 grams and the oil 25 grams) you'll see that it is about a 2/3 ratio (actually 66%) which is on the more dense side.  I make a LOT of breads in the 80% range by hand, but find that a machine is too harsh on them, making it more like a batter than a dough. 

Salt is an important ingredient that helps control the yeast.  Usually it's about 2% of the flour weight.  This works out exactly in our example.

Sugar is optional, and there is no percentage to talk about.  Just be aware, the more sugar you add, the darker your crust will be as it caramelizes, and there is risk of premature burning.

When you add oil (or butter, or any other fat) to a dough, as we have done above, it is considered an "enriched" dough.  I find that the oil in this particular dough tenderizes it.

Yeast is a little more difficult.  It is generally 1% of the flour's weight, but that was based on cake yeast.  With the more common yeasts the math is a bit more difficult.  For the new instant yeasts, you use about 1/3 of the cake yeast weight.  So, the actual math would mean we need 1.333 grams in the recipe above.  I rounded up to 2 grams. That still seems like a small amount.  Remember, we don't want to taste the yeast, but do want to taste the results of the yeast on the flour and sugars.  We need to give the yeast time to work to develop those flavors.  If you add too much yeast, it will rise quickly, but will taste of yeast and not the results of fermentation.

So, we have a basic formula of 100% flour, 60-80% hydration, 2% salt and .33% yeast.  My baguettes are just that with an 80% hydration, so a recipe would be 100 grams of flour, 80 grams of water, 2 grams of salt and .33 grams yeast for a very small loaf   Note that we add those figures to equal 182.33% (for the baguette dough and 168.33% for our garlic knots).  This may be strange, but we'll work backwards in a minute and this number will be very important.

There is another term called DDW which stands for desired dough weight.  This s the total amount of dough we wish to make.  My precision in the dough knot recipe was lost as I was converting back and forth to the metric system, but I was looking for two .75 pound dough balls or a total of 1.5 pounds (approximately 680 grams).  So.... I'm searching for a final weight of 680 grams.  And I know that with the formula I want to use, 680 grams should equal my 168.33 %.   If I divide the 680 by 1.6833 I get 404 grams for 100% or the weight of the flour.  I rounded that to 400 grams for easier math and weighing.  If I multiply the 400 grams by our 66 percent hydration, we will see that we need (rounded) 265 grams of liquids.  In our recipe, I split that between 240 grams of water and 25 grams of oil.  Two percent of the flour weight is exactly 8 grams. and .33 percent of the weight is 1.3 grams for the yeast (like I said earlier, I rounded up for the yeast for other reasons beyond this discussion.  If you add 400 + 240 + 25 + 8 + 8 + 2, you see that we have 681 grams, almost right on target   Using baker's math I can expand the formula to whatever ddw I need.

I'm going to take a break for lunch and put some of the garlic knots into the oven....  I'll reply to this post to continue the discussion and recipe.

[UnConundrum]

Before we move on, I forgot to discuss water temperature.  As mentioned, we don't want the dough to rise too fast, or too slow for that matter.  Temperature has the greatest affect on how fast the dough rises.  So, we have a formula for that too....  In most cases, we want dough to rise at about 22 C, which gives it enough time to develop good flavor.  There are 3 factors to the formula, air temperature, flour temperature and water temperature, with water being the easiest to control.  So if we have three factors and want the average to be 22C, we need 3 X 22 or 66 temperature points....  If we add the air temp and the flour temp, subtract that from our 66 points, we'll have the temperature needed to average 22.  So, let's say our flour was sitting in the pantry and is 18C, and it's just a little cool in the kitchen, let's say 20C, we have 38 points.  66 - 38 = 28  So our water should be 28C.  For those of you enjoying summer <BG> the same formula holds if it's really hot.  Someone said it was 41 the other day <OMG>.  That leaves on 25 points for both the flour and water.  Throw the flour in the fridge for a bit, and use ice water......  Of course, at that temp, I'd assume you have AC and the kitchen is no where near 41C, just using that as an example.

OK, so I finished the garlic knots.

You place the dough on a worktable (stone or stainless work best due to the oil in the tin)




Cut around it in a spiral to make a rope






Lop off pieces of the dough




Place the dough pieces on a pizza screen




Bake at 500 for about 6 minutes (that's convection).




Chop the garlic (to taste, here I used 2 cloves) in the TM and pour in EVOO to your taste (here I used about 1/3 cup)




Put the knots in a bowl.




Top with the garlic oil and toss.  Add some salt (like maldon) and toss some more....  Enjoy





If you have any questions about the process or baker's math, post them here

[brazen20au]

oh wow, thank you so much unconundrum!

i made garlic knots a while ago too, but slightly different method http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/2008/08/garlic-knots.html

[Amanda]

I've been making bread for years, now, but I'm afraid that my brain goes all girly when it comes to maths.
My eyes glazed over after the word 'formula' in the second paragraph.
I will have a cup of tea and try again, because it looks like it might be something I need to know, though, so thanks for that, Warren!
The garlic knots look divine, too.

[Amanda]

Excellent photo's, again, too.

[wombleydoo]

I'm afraid that my brain goes all girly when it comes to maths.
My eyes glazed over after the word 'formula' in the second paragraph.

ROFL! Me too! I can't even handle my primary schoolers maths. I think I'll have a cuppa or 10 and mull it over as well. Thanks for all the info. I didn't realise there was maths involved with breadmaking. I suppose I don't think in math's terms. I guess there are formula's for biscuits and cakes in regarding to proportions of ingredients, because they all use the same ingredients, but different quantities to produce a different kind of baked item. It's all very scientific 

[Thermomixer]

Hi Warren

Thanks for the info on your approach.  About 10 years ago I did a sourdough baking class with a woman who had been a solicitor and then decided to take up baking.  Spent time in Paris with Poilane and others and had the thermometer/hygometers to check the flour and make all the calculations/adjustments.

My bread works, but as you say - it tends to not do so well when you have the higher moisture content in the TMX, and for ciabatta and much sourdough it really needs the moisture.

I don't mind math(s) and so will try your formulae.

Also, many are surprised at the salt content, but again it is necessary for the final taste.

Thanks

[cookie1]

Imagine bread being mathematical. I do enjoy maths though and loved teaching it. Our lives are full of maths really.

[CarolineW]

Thanks, Warren.  Although my brain also reeled a bit, I love knowing the science behind things.  If you know how a thing works, then you can get more creative.  I really want to get to grips with this so that I can use it.  Getting my cup of tea to go over it again now ...

[UnConundrum]

Well, if any of you get hung up, just post a question, and I'll try to answer it.

[faffa_70]

Thanks so much for this info, I have been playing with my bread recipe - adding bits and pieces and sometimes its a hit and other not...maths is no problem for me so now I should have a hit most of the time. I am very excited! Thanks again!

[Djali]

wow, these knots really look delicious. I've never seen anything like that, maybe I'll give them a try. Thank you for the recipe 

[MrSpock]

Bread and Math. My two favorite subjects finally reunited. I think I'm in love!

I have a few questions...

I only have a regular oven. Is there a formula to convert cooking temperature and time from a recipe made with a convection oven?

What is the science behind when and how long the dough rises? For example, I tried two bread recipe where the ingredients were identical, but one required to have the dough raise one hour, then you had to fold it back down, and then rise another 3 hours. The second recipe said to put the dough in the fridge overnight, and then have it raise for 3 hours. What's the difference?

Finally, I often read that you can freeze the bread dough. when in the process do I do this? Before or after rising the dough?

Thanks for helping the Bread Newbie!

[Thermomixer]

Certainly best to allow the bread to rise once before placing in the freezer.  Not sure about your other question - possibly the overnight period in the fridge is alowing some yeast activity equal to the first hour??

[MrSpock]

I have yet another question...

I'd like to incorporate... stuff to my favorite bread recipe, for example, maybe some cranberries or olive. When in the process do I add them? As I make the dough? Or is it more complicated than that and I should stick to following already made recipes?