Garden - The beginning of the 2012 season

Well it’s that time again, I am so excited, it’s February 11^th 2012. That means the first seeds of the season get planted today. 
 

As background, I live on 8 acres, and have two vegetable gardens. The main garden is for my annual vegetable crops, it’s 3,700 square feet, and its design is loosely based on the English Garden design of blocks of plantings, separated by access paths. I have a three year rotation plan developed for this garden. But to be honest, last year was the 1^st year of my gardens. I have a 2^nd garden for my perennial crops, i.e. strawberries, horseradish, and asparagus. It’s just over 1,500 square feet. I am especially excited that this, my 2^nd year for the strawberries, I will see my 1^st strawberries this summer, can’t wait.

Needless to say, the scale of my garden endeavor is ambitious, since I tend it myself without help. Last spring to get the gardens established, for weeks and weeks, I spent at least 4+ hours every workday evening and on Friday and Saturday, 12 hour shifts were the norm. On a few of the initial weekends, to get everything done, numerous 18 hour shifts on the weekends were required and at least one 24 hour stint. But after the initial work to establish the gardens, and after all the seedlings were in, things settled down, those extreme demands of my time were not required.

As for seedlings, I start a large majority of my annual crops from seed indoors. I built a 4 shelf grow station that any illegal plant grower would be envious of. Complete with 4 bulb 48” grow lights and heat mats on every shelf, all on timers. Complete temperature and light control. With it I produced hundreds of healthy vigorous seedlings last year. It works exceptionally well. I just wish I had a second one. I have developed a comprehensive indoor seed planting schedule that starts…oh yea, it starts today with my early crops, reaches a fever pitch around April, where I am wondering where I can find room on the grow shelf under the lights for just one more group of seeds, and ends well into the middle to end of the summer when I am sprouting my fall vegetables. I absolutely love this thing.

The best thing since bagels, my grow station

One this size from the Internet is nearly $1,000 with everything I have. I built it for less than $600

Another thing I love is ©Root Trainers, they rock. ©Root Trainer Tinus 350-4, are the perfect size, tall and deep allowing for and in fact encouraging long root structure (hence the name), but the most special thing about them is that they open like a book. In fact they come in “books” each with 4 cells, each book opens up to allow easier transplanting. The books are held in a frame, that hold ten books, that means each frame holds 40 seedlings. As far as I am concerned, they are one of the secrets to my seedling success. They are very hard to find to purchase, I do not even believe they are available in the States, except the smaller one that I find worthless, I have seen those on the Internet. But I have little to no use for those; I find that the ©Root Trainer Model Tinus 350-4 is the best one for my needs. This is the one whose availability to purchase I spent so much effort finding. I found them on numerous UK web sites, with big notices on their pages stating that they will not ship outside of the UK. That sucks I thought. I eventually found them available for me to purchase on only one web site for a Canadian company. I highly, highly recommend this product, there is nothing like it and I would not use any other seedling starting container while I can get my hands on these;

http://www.beaverplastics.com/Agriculture/rootTrainers.html

They are not cheap, they run about $20 per complete set of 40 each cells (one complete frame setup), at the time I bought them, that included the shipping cost. Did I mention that although they are somewhat fragile, as long as you are careful with them they should last a long time. I bought 20 of them!


Now for the bad news, although the salesman I was dealing with never specifically stated it, the impression I got when I purchased my ©Root Trainers from this company was that they were a wholesaler, not a retailer. I had to wait months from my initial contact with this company to receive them. They basically said I would have to wait until the next time they ran the “Tinus” run and they would make a few extra just for me. I think I might have initially contacted them in August, and I finally received them in the mail in January the following year just in time to use. I might be wrong and you may not have any issue whatsoever getting them to sell some to you, but I wanted to relay my experience just in case. If not from these people, I don’t know where you might find them for purchase. Enough said, so good luck if you do try to get these; they are definitely worth the effort.

©Root Trainer Tinus 350-4

I cover with plastic wrap to hold in humidity

I can fit 4 per shelf, that;s 160 each seedlings, times 4 shelves, I can grow 640 seedlings simultaneously

So now on to the growing medium, it is a given, to grow seedling indoors, a soil-less medium is what you need to use. Do not even think about regular soil. That won’t work. Even potting soil is undesirable. You need a quality soil-less medium specifically designed to grow seedling from seed. I have only ever used Pro-Mix BX, 3.8CF Compressed Item Number: SO-PMBX, and like all the materials I want to use, this is also hard to come by. Luckily for me, my local ACE Hardware store special orders it for me. It comes in big 3 cubic foot bales, and I went through 3 of them last year. This stuff is great and again, I highly recommend it if you can find it. But unlike the ©Root Trainers there are many other quality soil-less options available.

But I digress, I planted my 1^st seeds of the season this weekend, I planted 60 cells worth of Celery, and 56 cells worth of Leeks. Both start out on the same shelf, on this shelf my heat mat is set to 72°, and does a good job of keeping the soil in any ©Root Trainer set on it at about 68° - 70° depending on the ambient room temp. The warmer I keep the room the less work the mat needs to do to maintain that soil temperate. FYI- the heat mat is only capable of raising the temperature of the soil-less medium 20° above the ambient room temperature.

The following are my notes for starting both these seeds:

Celery –

Stratifying helps these temperamental seeds. To stratify, put in the freezer for several weeks at least. Then soak the seeds overnight in room temperature water to break their dormant stage. Some say to soak them in water that has just been brought to boiling, if you do this you are an idiot. How would you like boiling water to be pored over you. Water that is at or near 212°, cannot be good for the embryo of a seed. They are best started indoors, as the seeds need a consistent temperature at or above 59 degrees (germination temperature - no less than 55°, no greater than 70°). Celery seeds are very small and need light to germinate. Sow them by scattering them on the top of the soil. At most gently pat the seeds to ensure good soil contact, but I do not even do that, I simply mist the seeds gently with an atomizer. This works well for me. Do not allow the seeds to be covered by the growing medium, Put plastic wrap over the top to keep the humidity up. Keep the seeds moist and they should germinate within about three weeks. Last year mine germinated in 7 days. Once they are 2"-3" tall, they love to be fed a weak dilution of fish emulsion every week or two. Celery seedlings should have five or six leaves before they are ready to be planted out. I start mine a full 12 weeks before I plan to transplant. Transplant them to the garden when ambient temperatures are reliably above 55 degrees F. Steady and plentiful supply of moisture, more than most vegetables, heavy feeder, add a little compost with transplant, provide liquid feedings every two weeks.

2-17-2012:
90% Celery seed germination, considering that most literature states 14-21 days to germinate celery seeds, which can be quite finicky, I say 90% germination after only 7 days is "success". Now granted, I had to use a magnifying glass to see that I have germination, each one I saw, was a seed just sending out an initial tendril into the soil-less mix, but nonetheless, germination it is. In 7 days! 

 

Initial germination. You have to look close to see the seedlings

 2-25-2012:
All seeds germinated, great success. Simply a matter of maintenance now.

Two weeks later

3-10-2012:
One month after planting celery....

Growing Celery from seed is not hard, you just have to do it right

 

This was done right

 Leeks –

For best germination, seeds should be sown under cover. What this means is simply; after doing everything like normal, i.e. plants seeds in ©Root Trainer cells and covering with plastic wrap to hold in humidity, lay something over the top of the ©Root Trainers to keep the light from the seed. I did this last year; I also simple planted the seed deep enough (1/4”) that I did not need to cover with anything, as the soil medium itself shielded the seed from the grow light. Once they are 2"-3" tall, they love to be fed a weak dilution of fish emulsion every week or two. Once the seedlings are four inches tall, keep the tops trimmed to three inches, this will help the plants to be stockier and sturdier at transplant time. Use sharp, clean scissors for this once-a-week "haircut". At seven weeks, the seedlings should be about the diameter of a knitting needle. Harden them off during their eighth week, before transplanting them to the garden. As a note, last spring was very, very wet and I couldn't get my transplants out on time. Just speaking for the leek seedlings, they held up in the Root Trainers well into the 12th week without any negative results. 

Saw my first leek seeds germinate today (2-15-2012), that's germination in 5 days. Pretty good!
2-17-2012 Update: 7 days now since seeding, have about 70% germination. Failed to take a picture of these, would have been very hard to see anyway.


2-25-2012:

After two weeks of growth

3-10-2012:
One month after planting leeks. Now one thing to note, I do not let my leek seedlings grow unchecked, as they will get too tall too fast. So I cut them with siccors, keeping them no more than 4-6 inches until they are transplanted. This makes them easier to manage under the grow lights as well as promoting a stockier leek in the end.

One months growth

Vichyssoise to be! Yea, I know you don't know what that is, look it up.

So as I said, I am excited and anxious for spring. There is much to do between now and then, and I hope that since I now have established the perennial garden so do not have to do that piece this year, that I will not have so grueling of a schedule to get everything up and “growing”.  But I know that is a relative statement or rather a naive hope, since no matter what, having a garden on the scale that I do, without help, is without a doubt, a lot or work. But also a tremendous point of satisfaction. Not to mention, a crap load of harvest…

Some pictures from last years garden;

August 2011 Main Garden

August 2011 corn crop

August 2011 strawberry patch

September 2011 strawberry patch

September 2011 watermelon patch

2011 biggest Black Diamond Watermelon

Italian Batard (Authentic Sub Roll)

Italian Batard (Italian Sub Rolls)

One of my 1st batches, made with bread flour, glazed with egg white wash

Next Batch, Simply dusted with flour, not glazed

Latest batch, experimenting with glazes and toppings

Some dusted, some with garlic topping...

Some with egg white and some with Parmesan topping

Crumb is getting better, less dense more soft and airy

I grew up in the North East, an area that has awesome Italian sub shops; My adolescence included regular visits to many famous cheese steak shops in Philadelphia. So I have a high expectation for the quality of an Italian sub roll. It should be crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Although this description sounds like my description of bagels, it is not the same. The two are completely different. They simply share some of the same attributes. Anyway I digress. Now that I do not live anywhere near a decent Italian sub shop, I find that all the sub rolls around here are of the “Subway” style, soft, airy, without taste or substance. I expect a crunchy crust, a crumb that is soft, slightly sweet. A sub roll, lowly as it is, should still be flavorful in and of itself, just like any good bread. It should have a nutty, wheat flavor, the crumb should have visible air pockets, yet as I already said, still have substance to it.

One note on equipment, I do think it is important to use the proper baking pan for this recipe. The baking pan of choice is an actual “Sub” bread baking pan, and there is only one I would recommend. It is made by Chicago Metallic manufactures and I will share with you it is not easy to find a web site that sells just one. The pan specs can be seen on Chicago Metallic’s web site, here is the link: 

http://www.cmbakeware.com/products/half-sized-sub-sandwich-roll-pan

I found one web site that sold it in a pack of 5 for $170, but who needs 5. I found another web site that did offer it by the each, that was Granger.com, but they wanted $70 for a single one. That is twice as much per unit as the pack of 5. Unfortunately these were the only options I found. This pan is definitely worth every penny and all the effort one will expend to obtain one. It is commercial grade and very well built. I was amazed at its quality. But it needs to be said, this recipe will turn out just fine without this pan, you can use a sheet pan or bake directly on an oven stone. I simply believe that this pan is the optimum pan to make these rolls in since it has sides to each roll section and more importantly it is perforated so it allows an even flow of heat around each roll.

My curse with all my recipes is that I am after professional quality results. I want the results of whatever I am making to be as if a professional made it. So for me this pan was as essential as the flour in the recipe. It just wouldn’t come out right without it.

One last note before the recipe, I wrote extensively in my bagel diatribe, about my philosophy on technique, why I do Autolyse for example. In these following recipes, I will not bother to reiterate information that is already located in the bagel section. I highly suggest that you peruse that information before you move on to this recipe, as much of the technique information located there that is not included here is essential to understand. One thing that is not there is the following dissertation on the different kinds of preferment.

Preferment Defined:

I have not stated this anywhere yet, and as this is my first use of a Biga let me say that a Biga is simply a kind of preferment. Now I am not an expert, but from my research there seems to be three different types of preferment. The source of the following preferment information was this web site; 

http://www.artisanbreadbaking.com/discussions/artisanal_topics.htm

I did not author the following preferment information, it came form the web site listed above and I reprint it here although without permission, as a reference only. I hope I don't get sued.




Sponge - A sponge is a mixture of all the water, all the yeast and half the flour. It's mixed up into a batter.


Biga - A Biga is a mixture of some of the water and flour from a recipe mixed with some or all of the yeast. The usual ratio is a bakers percentage hydration of 60%. Because the mixture is allowed to ferment for some hours or days before making the final dough, the yeast has a chance to work fully with the flour. As a result, the baker can reduce the total amount of yeast by as much as 1/2. The longer a biga is allowed to ferment, the smaller the amount of yeast required in the biga. Since it is a 60% hydration, this mixture will knead like a French bread dough. When the mixture is smooth and well-mixed, it is placed in a covered contained for a few hours on the counter to develop, after which, the biga can be used or placed in the refrigerator for a period of extended development


Poolish - A poolish is the equivalent of a biga, but it is made with 100% hydration, which means equal parts of flour and water, plus some or all of the yeast for the recipe. The same comments apply regarding yeast and development.

Having said all that, let's make bread

Italian Sub Roll Recipe:

I like 10 ounce rolls, this single batch makes 4.5, 10 ounce rolls. A double batch makes 9 each. I do a double batch typically.

Do yourself a favor, weigh out all ingredients before you start to mix anything

Biga:

TWF – 390g

Hydration – 60%

Bread Flour – 390g – 100%

Instant Yeast – 3g - .8%

Bottled Water – 234g – 60%

Combing in mixer, adjust resulting dough to be neither too sticky nor too stiff. At this point it is best to err on the sticky side.

Knead about 5 minutes or until dough is soft, pliable, tacky but not sticky. Add more flour or water if required to obtain the proper consistency (I have never, ever had to add water to my dough, if it needed anything, it's always been a tad more flour). 
Dough temperature after mixing should be between 75° - 81° immediately after mixing.

Place dough into a rising container that has been sprayed lightly with oil, lightly spray the top of dough as well, cover with plastic wrap, and rise at room temperature until doubled in size.

Place the preferment into the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours.

Biga

Biga has doubled

Fermented Biga, after about 24 hours

Finished Dough with Biga:

With all 39g of the tweaking flour used:
TWF-780g - 100%
Hydration - 63%


With none of 39g of the tweaking flour used:

TWF- 741g - 100%
Hydration - 67%

Note: My experience has shown that 63% is too dry and 67% is too wet, strive for something in between. But is still must be dictated by the dough.



Dough alone::

*All remaining dough ingredient bakers percents are based on TWF of Dough alone:

Bread Flour – 351g – 90%
Tweaking Bread Flour - 39g - 10% (RESERVE)

Instant Yeast – 2g - .4%

Diastic Malt – 6g – 1.5%

Non-Diastic Malt – 17g – 4.4%

Bakers Non-Fat Dry Milk- 19.9g – 5%

Dough Conditioner – 1.5g - .4% (Optional)
Bottled Water – 259g– 66.4%

Leaf Lard – 17g- 4.4% (RESERVE)
Salt – 14g – 3.6% (RESERVE)

Allow Biga to stand at room temperature for 1 hour, then cut into pieces

Mix together-

Flour

Both types of Malt

Instant Yeast

Dry Milk

Dough Conditioner

DO NOT add Salt or Leaf Lard yet:

So...Add water to mixer
Add half of the Biga pieces to water
Add dough ingredients mixed above.
Add remaining Biga pieces on top of flour mix

Biga cut into pieces

Biga pieces added to water

Remaining pieces of Biga added on top of flour

 Mix until just combined.

Just barely mixed, ready to Autolyse

 Autolyse for 20 minutes. 

Just Autolyse

Another angle

Now note the difference in appearance between the before and after Autolyse pictures. The change is amazing.

Add Salt and Shortening

Knead 10 minutes, adjust with small amounts of bread flour as required for dough to become soft, supple, silky tacky but not sticky

Just done kneading

Dough should be 77° - 81° at the end of mixing

Don't allow the dough to get too hot during the kneading process

 Rise to double – mine took - 1 hour 15 minutes @ 73° room temperature

Just ready to rise

Rise complete

Place into refrigerator to ferment overnight. The dough at this point can be held in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Allow dough to sit at room temperature for 1 hour

Scale to 8 ounces

Degas as little as possible while roughly shaping into Batards

To shape into Batards:

Take each 8 ounce piece of dough and form into rough rectangle

Fold bottom 1/3 up over to about half way letter style, press to seal

Fold top 1/3 down over to meet the bottom of the rectangle, press with the side of your hand to seal while at the same time trying to increase the surface tension of the top of roll

Gently roll out with hands to about 8” to 9”

Allow to rest for 10 minutes on sheet pan with oil sprayed parchment paper in a plastic bag to keep moist while doing the shaping

Initial rectangle

Initial envelope fold

Final envelope fold

1st stage of making Batard finished and ready for resting

To finish the shaping of the Batards:

Take each piece and using the side of your hand, make a crease horizontally along the edge of the Batard. While doing this, the goal is to increase the surface tension over the top of the Batard. This tension is what will cause the roll to proof upwards rather than just outwards. This minimizes the tendency of the Batard to become wide and flat as it proofs. The more tension you can add to the top of the Batard as you shape it the rounder the Batard will end up being. Roll the dough over the crease with your hands extending the Batard eventually out to about 12”. If the dough is springy and resists shaping, do not force it, simply set it into the refrigerator to rest some more to relax the dough. DO NOT allow the dough to warm up during shaping, DO control when you allow the shaped rolls to proof. And that is not yet.

2nd roll out

Trying to add tension to top of roll

Finished roll, need to work on that adding tension technique

Lightly spray the baking pan with oil. Lightly sprinkle semolina flour onto baking pan. Once the shaping is finished, place the Batard onto the baking pan. Work quickly, don't let the dough warm up and start to proof yet.

Finished Shape, 10 oz. Roll

Ready to Proof

Now we allow the shaped dough to rise. It is essential to control when we allow this to start and stop. Remember that. If the dough warms up during shaping, and proofing begins on it's own, before you are ready, before all rolls are shaped, not good. Proofing must be controlled, and all finished shaped rolls must go through it at the same rate, at the same time, together.

Allow the Batards to poof to one and a half times their original size.


Preheat oven to 500°

At this point you need to decide what glaze if any you want to use on your rolls. Choices include;

Nothing

Dusted with some kind of flour, i.e. semolina or rye

Egg wash

Egg white wash

Sprayed with water

Butter

Oil

Etc., the choice are many

I like to use an egg white wash

Now you need to score the Batards, use a fresh razor held at an angle such that you slice the dough at an almost horizontal angle to the dough rather than at a 90° angle into the dough.For a truly great tutorial on scoring dough see the following link:


http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10121/bread-scoring-tutorial-updated-122009

Dough has proofed, glazed with egg white and I just scored it

Ready for the oven

A length wise score

I wanted to show you what the result of making this recipe too wet looks like:
The above pictures show what you want during the shaping and proofing process, a roll that "stands up". A Shaped and Proofed Roll that can support it's own weight. When ready to be scored and put into the oven, the dough has risen up at least as much as out. 

The following pictures show a batch that I made too wet, I did not add any of the reserved 39 grams of reserved tweaking flour. So the following represents 67% hydration, obviously too wet. Note how the rolls are flat after proofing, they can't support their own weight, they are very slack, not firm. Remember the dough needs to end up being firm, silky, tacky but not sticky. This batch the dough was sticky.

Too wet

What you don't want

Baking:

You want to induce steam to the initial 2 minutes of the baking process for these rolls. So place a steam pan on top of the oven heating element or on the bottom of the oven. Be prepared to have boiled water ready when the rolls are put into the oven. I have read that using ice instead of boiled water, steals too much heat from the oven. So I use boiled water. Also have a spray bottle with water available.

When all is ready:

Set timer to 2 minutes

Plug up oven vent if there is one; I stuff a paper towel into mine

Place rolls into oven

Pour boiling water into steam pan creating steam if you have done it correctly

Close oven door, wait 1 minute

Open oven door and quickly spray water on sides of oven to create as much steam as possible, I also jiggle the steam pan while I have the door open to spill water onto the oven floor to create even more steam. I do all this as quickly as possible. Wait 1 minute and repeat. Although you do not want to have the oven door open more than necessary, do not worry about losing heat, that is why we pre-heat to 500°.

Do not open the oven door again except to remove the steam pan when it’s time.

At the  minute buzzer, remove the steam pan, remove any "plug" you have in the oven vent.

Decision time;

You want to have predetermined beforehand what kind of crust you want on your finished rolls:

Less crust = higher temperature for a shorter remaining bake time, i.e. reduce from 500° to 450° and reset the timer to 15 minutes

If you want a heavier, crunchier crust;

More crust = lower temperature for a longer remaining bake time, i.e. reduce from 500° to 400° and reset the time to 20 minutes.

Rolls are finished baking when they are golden brown on top, and have an internal temperature of just over 195° - 200°

Not bad for a 1st attempt

The following are pics from my most recent batch. This is what I was after

500°, steam for 2 minutes, remove steam, reduce temp to 400° for 30 minutes

Almost perfect!

Meatball Sub with Cheese, here I come