Bakenstein

"Beware; for this is a delicious biscuit"

In Three Volumes

Vol. I: A Recipe of Ingredients

In this experiment we begin with three glass jars containing sourdough starter. The jars had been sitting on the counter for a couple of days.

The contents of all three jars were emptied into a large glass bowl, and approximately one amount of salt was added thereto.

Scoops of flour followed.

Healthy splashes of water were added, and the work commenced. Stirring with a sturdy spoon, and adding more flour as needed, the ingredients were combined until a doughy consistency was achieved.

The bowl was emptied onto the wooden board, sprinkled with flour, and the inclusions were placed on top. For this bake we have dark chocolate chunks, classic white chips, and dried tart Montmorency cherry pieces.

A close up of the inclusions.

The inclusions were then thoroughly kneaded into the dough. This was one of the most time-consuming aspects of the process.

Next, the large ball of dough was cut into smaller pieces, rolled into balls, dusted with flour, and scored with a knife.

Next, the biscuits pieces were placed into baking pans that had been lined with parchment paper.

The baking pans were placed in an insulated proving box along with glass jars of hot tap water to keep the environment warm and humid.

The pans were allowed to sit in the proving box for several hours to allow the dough to leaven. In this case, the pans sat overnight, in preparation for a morning bake.

This morning, the biscuit pans were removed from the proving box and placed in the oven to bake at 400 F.

Voila. Bon Appétit!

Vol. II: The Starter

For more info on the history of this sourdough starter, click on the insert below.

Nathan Cassell (@pyxorium.com)

I’m trying sourdough for the first time. Mixed up this starter on March 24, now about 10 days in and it seems to be taking off. Going to name it “Baba O’Riley”.

After putting the biscuits in the proving box last night, I scraped small amounts of Baba O'Riley starter from those previous three jars and placed that into a new glass jar.

To this small amount of starter I added equal parts flour and water, stirred everything up with a chopstick, and let it sit overnight.

By this morning, the new starter had begun to actively ferment, producing air bubbles throughout the jar. This will be used for the next bake.

Vol. III: The Flour

I've been using Hungarian Flour for making sourdough breads, biscuits, and cookies. The packaging on the flour bag explains the unique aspects of the "Hungarian Patent" milling process. (Ardent Mills, Colorado)

The Ardent Mills website includes additional information about this extra fine flour.

Who knew there was so much involved with those bags of flour that are sitting on the shelf at King Soopers?

A search of the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection turned up this article from the Jan. 1, 1882 edition of the Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado), describing the J.K. Mullen & Co. Hungarian mills and grain elevators.

Specifically, the article mentions a mill at 8th and Lawrence and a grain elevator at 7th and Wazee, with a production capacity of 60,000 pounds of flour daily. Wow.

The Denver Public Library Digital Collections had this historical map of the area on their website, and I added two yellow arrows pointing to the grain elevator (upper) and mill (lower) locations.

Nowadays, the grain elevator and mill are no longer there. This area is presently the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus.

"The biscuits were soon eaten"