The making of a pork jowl sandwich Ben Devlin - adapted from Pecha Kucha Brisbane presentation (17th December 2014)
BEERKARY combines our two favourite things; craft beer + baked goods.
We do pop-ups events and collaborate with bars and brewers
pork jowl in a honey, salt + spice brine (2 weeks before an event)
pastrami spiced + hot smoked
wheat, buckwheat, rye + spelt grains for sourdough
soaking the grains (4+ hours) to start the sprouting process
slow cooking for 10hrs at 80C
sprouted grains. adding sweetness + texture to bread
autolyse. (1-4hours) flour + water restarting enzymes in flour
hand mixing and folding. sourdough starter + flour + water + sprouted grains
cut + portion (the day before)
shape + prove overnight
score when ready to bake
bake for 20-30mins
preparing pickled apple. apple + vinegar + salt
preparing the dressings russian dressing + honey gastrique
charcoal grill to caramelise
carve
assemble + serve
Have with a beer (All Beerkary menus match to beer flavours and/or shared ingredients)
RECIPE
Honey and sprout sourdough, with pork jowl, mustard and apple.
HONEY AND SPROUT SOURDOUGH, WITH PORK JOWL, MUSTARD AND APPLE. This is a simple sandwich that will need a little bit of pre organisation, I would call it a lesson in patience, but the time and effort can result in something spectacular. (This recipe is set out by time, starting 5 days ahead) THE PORK BRINE: 1 pork jowl (approx 800g) 40g Sea salt 40g Sugar 60g Honey 2 cloves of Garlic 10 Peppercorns 2 Star Anise 4 sprigs of Lemon Thyme 800g Water Start five days ahead of when you want to serve the sandwiches. Wash the pork jowl and dry it on paper towels. In a medium pot toast the peppercorns and anise until they are fragrent. Add in the garlic and thyme, toast for 30 seconds, and then add in 1/3 of the water. Add in the salt, sugar and honey then bring to a boil to dissolve them. Remove from the heat and pour into a container big enough for the liquid and the pork. Add the rest of the water and cool in the fridge. When the liquid is cool add in the pork and make sure it is covered in liquid, rest in the brine for 5 days, turn it once every day. THE BREAD SPROUTS: 40g Whole wheat grains 40g Whole rye grains Start four days ahead of when you want to serve the sandwhiches. Wash the grains well in running water until the water runs off the grains clear. Cover the grains in water by at least double theyre size. Soak for four hours. Rinse the grains again and spread them evenly damp paper towels in an air tight container and leave to sprout in a warm but not hot area, spray with water every day. THE BREAD STARTER: 50g Bakers flour 25g Wholemeal flour 25g Rye flour 100g Water Start four days ahead of when you want to serve the sandwhiches. Mix these together with a spoon until there are no large lumps, let it sit in a cool cupboard (around 15*c-20*c would be great) with a cloth to cover it for 2 days. Hopefully some small bubbles will form around the edge and it will have a slightly sweet acidic scent. Discard half of the mix and feed it with the same amount of flours and water again, just mixing to remove the lumps. Keep covered in the cupboard and feed once a day, you should see the starter rise and fall daily after feeding, and it is ready when a spoonful of the starter looks puffy and full of bubbles, and it will float in water.
THE BREAD DOUGH: 200g and 50g Water 125g Sourdough Culture Beer by Brewtal Brewing (or other beer works) 30g Honey 100g of Bread Starter 400g of Bakers flour 50g Wholemeal wheat flour 50g Rye flour 10g Sea salt 100g of Mixed sprouted wheat and rye grains Start one day ahead of when you want to serve the sandwhiches. In a large bowl add in the 200g of water, 125g of beer, 30g of honey and the starter. Stir to combine. Add in the flours and mix well with your hands until all of the flour is absorbed. Allow the dough to rest for 30mins. Add in the salt and the extra 50g of water, mix with your hands until everything is absorbed and it is one nice dough. Cover the bowl and let it stand in an area that is not too cool, but not hot either, a warm cupboard or on top of the fridge perhaps. After 30 minutes fold the dough by pinching the bottom of the dough on one side and pulling it up into the middle of the top of the dough, turn 90 degrees and repeat, and again until you have done it to all four sides. After another 30 minutes repeat the process, and then scatter your mixed sprouts all over the top of the dough, and then fold every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours, which should be 8 folds in total. After this period the dough should look smooth and a bit glossy, it will have increased in volume and look lighter, if not give it another hour and 2 more folds. Then let the dough rest outside for another 2 hours, fold once more, and rest covered in the fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours. Pull the dough out of the fridge on the morning of use, fold it and let it come up to room temperature and rise to about double its volume. Dust your work bench with wholemeal flour and turn the dough out onto the bench as carefully as possible. Cut the dough in half and fold one bottom edge up into the middle of the top, fold the opposite bottom edge to meet it, then do the same with the other sides. Flip the dough over so that the seam side is down, repeat with the other half of the dough and rest, covered for 20mins. Pre heat your oven to 240*c and place your baking trays in to heat up. Flip the dough seam side up onto a lightly floured bench. Fold the bottom edge furthest from you into the middle of the top of the dough, tun the dough 180 degrees and fold the furthest bottom edge up to meet the first fold. Pinch the right hand side of the furthest edge from you and fold it up to meet the seam from the first folds, move 1-2cm along the dough and repeat, then all the way along the dough until you reach the left side, this should be 5-6 pinches. Repeat the process again but this time pull the dough all the way from the furthest edge to the edge closest to you. This process should give you a nice surface tension which will result in a nice round dough. Place the dough seam side down and gently roll out the ends to give them a nice point, then rest on a floured cloth seam side down and tuck the edges of the cloth up to keep the dough nice and tight. Repeat with the remaining dough, then let it rest for 20 minutes. Pull the baking tray out of the oven and quickly flip your dough onto them, seam side up, and place them back into the oven. Turn the temperature down to 230*c, then very quickly open the oven and spray a little
water onto the floor of the oven to create steam, then close the door. Let it bake for 8 minutes, then open the door slightly to let the steam escape, close it and bake for a further 8 minutes. The bread is done when it feels light and it sounds hollow when you tap the base, allow it to cool on a wire rack before cutting for sandwhiches. THE PORK JOWL: 1 piece Brined Pork Jowl Start the day that you want to serve the sandwiches. Remove the jowl from the brine and rinse it under water, allow it to dry in the fridge for 4 hours, and then remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Set the oven to 120*c, place the pork on a wire rack skin side up in a deep tray and cover with foil, making sure the foil doesn’t touch the skin. Roast for 6 hours, then remove the foil and turn up the heat to 220*c for 10-15min to give the skin a good crackle. THE GARNISH: 50g Yellow mustard seeds 50g Water 50g and 200g Apple juice 5g Chardonnay vinegar 200ml Grapeseed oil 10g Horseradish 2 Apples (preferably lady williams or red delicious) 100g Honey 100g Soft and bitter salad leaves Olive oil and vinegar Start the day that you want to serve the sandwiches. Place the mustard seeds into a metal bowl with a pinch of salt, bring the water, 50g apple juice and vinegar up to the boil and pour over the seeds. Cover and let them stand in a warm place for 1 hour. Shave the horseradish into the bowl and combine with a whisk. Slowly whisk in the oil to make a mayonnaise like consistency, and season with more vinegar or salt to taste. Grate the apples on a course grater and stir through. Place 200g of apple juice and 100g of honey in a medium pot bring to a simmer, reduce until it has a thick caramel consistency. Allow the glaze to cool to room temperature. Season the salad leaves with olive oil, vinegar and salt. THE SANDWICH: Slice the loaves bread into 12 2cm thick slices, cover 6 base slices with the mustard and apple mixture, then the seasoned salad leaves. Slice the pork jowl into 12 slices and place 2 pieces on each sandwich then dress them with a little salt and a teaspoon worth of honey glaze and some lemon thyme. Top with another slice of bread. Serve with a glass of beer, and relax ...you’ve had a long week!