Baking at Altitude and a Super-Solid Galette Recipe
The trials and tribulations of baking at 2,200m above sea level - plus a reliable recipe for galette dough
What I’m reading: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. Recommended to me by my sister, I’m only halfway through but it’s beautifully written and thoroughly gripping.
What I’m listening to: Radio Cherry Bombe with Jess Shadbolt of King and Jupiter, New York. A really interesting chat about Jess’ approach to cooking and menu planning, much of which is drawn from her time at Ballymaloe.
What I’m eating: many fish tacos at Fish Shack, La Punta. Especially the coco-fried shrimp taco - so delicious.
Before I arrived in Mexico City, I (perhaps foolishly) hadn’t given any thought to how the environmental conditions would affect baking. There are, of course, a lot of different variables that affect the outcome of any baking project: ingredients, equipment, heat, humidity, ovens etc. - but although I’ve baked in fairly intense heat and in a range of different kitchens, I’ve never baked at 2,200m above sea level. I was warned by several fellow bakers in the Instagram community once I announced the pop-up, so I started to do some research. There are a few really valuable resources that I’ve linked at the bottom, but in general, my approach was to proceed with caution, and use recipes as a starting point, adjusting as I went to try and mitigate potential catastrophes.
Here’s a summary of my observations when it comes to high-altitude baking:
Liquid evaporates more quickly
Bread proves more quickly
Everything bakes more quickly (use a lower temperature/shorter baking time)
Everything (but bread especially) requires more liquid
Higher protein flour is better to preserve structure in baked goods
Eggs are your best friend - they increase the liquid content, plus the whites add structure (protein) and the yolks help to prevent dryness (fat)
Decrease the amount of sugar slightly to improve structure and prevent baked goods from drying out
Baked goods dry out more quickly, so they need to be covered or kept in the fridge to keep them fresh for longer
Potato bread
When I was mixing the potato bread, I noticed pretty much instantly that the dough required more liquid than I was accustomed to. I decided to make up the additional liquid with water reserved from boiling the potatoes, to add more starch (and flavour). I think additional egg would also have worked here (and the dough would have benefited from extra protein/structure), but I’m kind of opposed to adding fractions of egg (what are you going to do with 30g of beaten egg?).
I assumed that the bread would prove faster, mainly because of the ambient temperature, but I wasn’t prepared for how fast - and I assume this is to do with the altitude. I recommend reducing the amount of yeast (by about 10%) to control proving time. You can also control this by doing the bulk prove in the fridge overnight, and keeping a close eye on the buns for the second ambient prove. I also recommend doing the second prove in a somewhat airtight container (prover, if you have one, or an oven switched off, or on a tray with a large plastic container inverted on top - with some steam if possible to avoid drying out the surface of the buns).
Cake
My first trial run of the pistachio/lemon layer cake was a complete flop. And I mean a literal flop. I proceeded with the recipe as usual, and found that it rose, but then collapsed, and came out dry and tough. I made the following adjustments, which thankfully worked: I reduced raising agent by about 25% (i.e., instead of 1 tsp, ¾ tsp). The cake batter needed more moisture, so I reduced the sugar slightly (sugar is hygroscopic and absorbs moisture), and added a little milk. I increased the moisture level in the oven so that the liquid wouldn’t evaporate as much, and kept the temperature of the oven the same so that the structure of the cake would be set as quickly as possible. Acidity also helps to set the structure of a cake while baking, so while I used milk in the batter, I think it would have benefited from a more acidic dairy product (i.e. yogurt or buttermilk).
Cookies
Odette and I were trying to figure out why some of her cookies were spreading too much when baking, and my instinct (from baking many a choc chip cookie) was that there was too much fat and/or sugar in the dough. However, at altitude, this could also be due to either a baking temp that is too high or too much raising agent. Raising agents act more dramatically at altitude, so there’s a higher risk that your bake will rise and then collapse, or that you’ll end up with that bicarb-y flavour that I HATE. Anyway, the good news is that we tried all of these adjustments, and they came out perfectly - but the bad news is that since we changed all of the above variables in the same batch, we’re not sure what had the biggest impact. Soz.
Jam
Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitude: at sea level, it boils at 100C, but at 2,500m, it boils at around 91C. This might sound irrelevant, but a 10% difference really does have an impact, and it’s quite noticeable when making jam. I made a very straightforward raspberry jam (.75:1 sugar: fruit), with some lemon juice for acidity, and it cooked much more quickly, and set at a lower temperature. The good news here is that raspberry jam is super easy to make, and you can still use the old reliable set test (place a spoonful on a cold plate, leave in the fridge for 2-3 mins (with the pan turned off), and check to see if it wrinkles when you run your finger through it).
Recipe: the sturdiest of galette doughs
With all of these environmental adjustments making me feel slightly out of my depth, I was relieved that my galette dough didn’t require any adjustments. This really is a super reliable recipe: the pastry can be prepped in advance and refrigerated (or frozen), and is the perfect vehicle for almost any fruit.
You can also play around with shapes: I opted for vaguely square galettes, which could be cut into 4 (so that everybody got a good crust to fruit ratio in their portion), but you could also do a bigger rectangular one and cut it into squares, or a circular one and cut it into slices. You can also experiment with the crust by tucking it under for a rounder, cleaner look, or folding the pastry over once and leaving the rough edges exposed for a more rustic look.
The magic of these galettes is that they showcase fruit perfectly: we tested them with strawberries, apples and cherries, and then the day before the event, found some incredible figs at the market, which also worked beautifully. You could add a layer of frangipane or even crème pat under the fruit, although in the case of the cherries and figs especially, the juice runs out during cooking, forming a lovely jammy base. This is also a really fun opportunity to experiment with arranging fruit in different patterns (think rhubarb chevron), as the fruit doesn’t move much while baking. These would also be gorgeous served with ice-cream or crème fraîche, and are best eaten on the day they are made.
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