Maryland chicken bread

OK, I will admit to it right away: The only chicken in this bread is the chicken fat I used to fry the onions. But it still makes for a great name and sometimes, that's important, too. Anyway, I was on the prowl again, trying to find another winning bread recipe. This time, it was all the chicken grease left from boiling down four pounds worth of chicken that caught my attention. I had already discovered that grease from bacon does bread good, and I like onions anyway, in particular fried and as part of my bread. So what would seem more natural but to use all that chicken fat as part of my latest batch of bread?

I started out in my standard way: Mix four cups of general purpose what flour with two cups of water and add my sourdough starter. Cover the bowl and leave alone over night; the result should be a very active, bubbly dough. The second stage calls for the addition of slat, an extra four cups of flour, and an extra cup of liquid. While I always stick to all purpose what flour and water in the first stage I do grant myself more freedom in the seconds stage. For example, I have used rye flour in the past and with good success. This time I opted for two cups of additional all purpose, and two cups of whole wheat flour. And for the liquid I used a cup of chicken broth (without the fat, I needed that for the onions). After all, I had more broth left over that I could likely use- so I may as well do the experiment.

After another night of fermentation the dough was almost climbing out of my bowl! While the rye in the past seemed to retard fermentation a bit the new combination yielded the strongest development I had seen so far. Of course, there is no telling whether this was due to the whole wheat flour or the chicken broth. While it will take another experiment to settle this point I would have to guess it's the whole wheat flour. Why? Mostly, because I want it to be the whole wheat flour, and to me that's reason enough.

So I got my dough, consisting of eight cups of flour and three cups of liquid. It was fermenting very well and I figured it had enough punch for at least two cups if not four of extra stuff, ingredients that would supply flavor and aroma, but would develop little or nothing to crumb and crust development. And it is here that all the chicken fat and the onions come in. I used all the grease I had; I think it was almost a cup of it. As for onions I had used about a medium sized onion per loaf of bread the last time and it had left me wanting more. So make that two medium onions per loaf. And with enough dough to make four loaves of bread that was eight onions to peel and chop. It was definitely the low point of this baking experience.

When frying the onions I started out with big pot full of onions but I was surprised how much the volume had come down by the time the onions were well browned. The remaining mixture of fat and onions was maybe two cups- definitely not more. And very greasy indeed!

Anyway, I mixed everything well and formed my four loaves. Usually my dough is on the dry side- easy to work with (like playdoo) and very sticky. This dough here was so greased up it would not stick to nothing. And it was so soft it would not hold a shape- so bread pans definitely are required equipment for this type of bread. With my loaves in the bread pans I let them sit at room temperature for the next three hours, while running some errands and a lot of kitchen cleaning.

When I returned to my bread loaves they each had about tripled in volume. The top surface which would usually have started to dry out after that much time in the open was still so soft I could not even score the bread properly- I basically just poked lots of holes into the loaves with the tip of my knife, trying to convince myself this was doing any good. I debated with myself whether there was any point in waiting any longer but decided against it. The dough was too greasy to expect it it dry more within any reasonable time, so I may as well go ahead.

I gave my bread the standard oven treatment: 400°F, for at least 40 minutes. What I actually did was spray the bread with water every 15 minutes, and then after 40 minutes start monitoring the bread carefully. I left it in until the crust looked like if should not take any more which was about 50 minutes. Then I removed the bread from the oven, and the loaves from the pans (which was easy with bread loaves greased like that).

And --- it was a very pleasant surprise! The bread smelled great; great enough to bake more in the future just to have it sit around and smell! Even better, it tastes pretty good, too! Good enough I am eating it without anything on it or with it- it does not need anything. Maybe a little bit more salt next time, either mixed in with the onions or added to the dough. After all, the dough had been fermenting so well I am sure it could tolerate the extra salt and still ferment pretty good. Oh, yes, and before I forget, I do think the bread would be even better with maybe a few more onions ---

Anyway, it has been a great experiment, and I am sure there will be refinements in the future. Also, the effect of whole wheat flour on dough development needs checking out. Or what other types of flour will do, like corn or rice flour. Or oatmeal, doesn't that sound interesting? So many breads to bake- I do have to make an effort to recruit more people to eat it!