Chef Dan Barber held a special event at his restaurant Blue Hill in New York City. The project was called “wastED,” devoted to food waste. Specifically, it’s estimated that 30 to 40 percent of U.S. food supply is wasted. For two weeks, the “wastED” team cooked and served food that would otherwise have been discarded. Jim Lahey’s came up with a recipe using stale bread, a “wastED” ingredient, when he was asked to bake some breads.
By the way, this is precisely the approach we need to tackle America’s oversupply of bread. Meanwhile, if you have stale bread in your kitchen, here is a recipe to take care of that. No more discarding stale breads.
First, ground the stale bread into crumbs. Usually, I keep a jar of bread crumbs in the freezer ready to use in recipes that call for some kinds of crumbles. Bread crumbs can be very handy when you need a crunchy element atop potato gratins, eggs or use as pasta.
In this recipe, stale bread makes up two-thirds of total flour weight. Mix that, together with all-purpose flour, stiff biga, yeast and water in the stand mixer until they come together. Then I add the salt and let the dough rest for about two hours. After the bulk rise, divide the dough into two rounds.
Instead of using flour to shape the dough and for dusting, the recipe calls for a 1:1 mix of bread crumbs and all-purpose flour. While it’s not a big departure from using plain flour, it’s a mindful and deliberate approach in putting “wastED” items to work. Surely, it may not be a game changer. But it’s a start in the right direction. Overtime, a mindset keen on repurposing ingredients that we casually discard can be — hugh.
Ingredients
- 200 grams (4 cups) stale bread, ground to crumbs
- 300 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 275 grams (1 cup plus 3 tablespoons) water
- 100 grams (70% hydration) stiff biga
- 3 grams (1 teaspoon) instant yeast
- 4 grams (3/4 teaspoon) fine sea salt
- Olive oil for the bowl
Instructions
Combine 50 grams (1 cup) of the bread crumbs with 50 grams (1/3 cup) of the flour in a small bowl and set aside for dusting.
Soak the remaining 150 grams (3 cups) of stale bread crumbs in the the bowl of a stand mixer for about an hour or until soft.
Put the remaining 250 grams (1 2/3 cups) of flour, the biga, and yeast into the stand mixer bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 30 seconds or until all the ingredients come together. Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for about 4 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. As the dough begins to attach itself to the mixer, slow the mixer and add the salt. Return to medium speed and mix for 1 1/2 minutes; the dough is done when it begins to stick to itself more than the bowl.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and let it ferment at room temperature until it doubles in size, approximately 2 hours. The dough will be soft, sticky and elastic.
Cover a sheet pan with the flour-crumb mixture. On a well-floured surface, divide the dough in half. Shape each piece of dough into a round. Place the loaves seam side down on the crumb mixture. Cover the loaves with a tea towel. Allow the dough to proof at room temperature for 2 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
If you have two Dutch ovens with lids, put both pots in the oven and heat to 450°F.
When the oven is hot, use oven mitts and take out the pots. Using parchment paper as slings, lower the dough into the pots. Cover the pots immediately and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes or until the loaves are deeply browned. Cool the loaves on a wire rack.
Notes
Adapted from The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook by Jim Lahey
1 Comment
Fish Fingers and Chips with Tartar Sauce | Zero Food Waste - Ever Open Sauce
January 9, 2020 at 6:50 pm[…] combat food waste in the home kitchen, it’s best to to recycle throw-aways that can be repurposed. Remaining […]