Made with 80% white wheat and 20% Einkorn both fresh ground and chia seeds. It is leavened with a combo of sourdough and yeast water. One of the best loaves made lately, of course they all are my new favorite at the moment
The bread consists of freshly ground white wheat, a little bolted rye and AP with caraway seeds and a bit of honey. It doesn't have enough rye ( about 12% of the flour) to call it deli rye but that was the inspiration. It has a fairly large natural leaven preferment at 70% hydration which is also that of the final dough. Very tasty.
This loaf was inspired by a post from lechem (Abe) this week. It made me remember that I should get back to Einkorn bakes that had been suspended for other interests. It is made with 100% fresh ground Einkorn ( except for the bit in the starter) with the addition of dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds. It is leavened with a combination of sourdough and YW. Very tasty, would make a great turkey sandwich. Have to remember this one come Thanksgiving.
The ciabatta, something I've not made in a long time, is the result of a request from new friends that own an Italian restaurant who complain of a lack of good bread in our area and wanted an easy recipie so they could make their own. Go figure everyone seems to want that but when you tell them that good bread takes time and technique they mostly lose interest. The reason ciabatta came to mind is that it uses commercial yeast, is fairly easy to make once you get used to handling high hydration dough, has minimal shaping and is surprisingly good especially for dipping in the olive oil they import. This is mostly white bread with the only consession to my preferences being some fresh ground high extraction white wheat and Kamut in the biga. The hydration in the final dough came to about 85%. This is the best tasting lean white bread I've made in memory and I think they will be happy.
It's been a busy summer with the vegetable garden which is the most productive it's been in a while. We have over 60 pints of tomatoes canned and at least as much green beans. Also have dried a bunch of the tomatoes and peppers. Speaking of peppers, I was amazed at how many jalapeños we got off just two plants, some are dried, some frozen, and we even pickled some. There are inumerable packets of various vegies frozen. And I found a new use for sourdough culture as a seed for pickling. Just add a pea sized piece to the brine and whatever else you are pickling in a jar with with a water filled ziplock bag as airock let ferment on the counter for about a week depending on temperature and taste and enjoy the best natural pickles imaginable. Also made sourkraut just salt and cabbage.
I hope everyone's summer was as productive and enjoyable as ours.
I decided to revisit what ancient grains I have on hand with this simple loaf. It is about 60% a equal combination of Einkorn, Spelt and Kamut all fresh ground with the rest being AP for a total of 500g at 70% hydration. It is naturally leavened with one build using 50g starter 100g flour mix and 70g water. The rest of the flour was started to autolyse at the same time. The leaven doubled in about 3.5 hours at 80F and was mixed with the other plus some salt. 3 S&F 15 min apart during which the gluten felt pretty developed but the dough collapsed totally between made me decide to use a loaf pan and since it was to be baked in a counter top convection oven a pullman pan was used so the lid trapped the steam. After about a 2 hour ferment the dough was double rolled and placed in the pan to proof, which took about another 2 hours. The loaf was baked at 425F for 15 min, the lid removed, the temp turned down to 400F and the loaf baked until a temp of 205F was reached. The taste of the loaf made me remember why I have these grains it is nutty and sweet with a grassy component. The thing the cutting board is sitting on is an antique Hoosier Baking Cupboard that was given to us by an older neighbor friend when she was cleaning out what she called junk. I tried to explain that it was worth something and wanted to pay but she wouldn't hear of it. It actually has the bin where the flour was kept as well as the covered hole in the top for loading it.
This is a version of classic burger buns leavened using YW. The dough was enriched with just about everything I could think of, DMS, butter, eggs and honey, that would make the buns soft and fluffy. There is about 40% whole grain component with a combo of Kamut, Spelt, Red Fife and white wheat. The rest is AP. The dough moved very quickly, almost as fast as commercial yeast probably due to warm kitchen temps but maybe due in part to switching the YW food over to peaches which seems to make the wee beasties very happy. The buns were baked in a convection oven at 325F and even with turning and switching levels only took about 17 min. They were brushed with coconut oil while still hot to soften the crust for that classic burger feel. The result was very tasty. One comment was that the buns were good but filled you up faster than store-bought and they could only eat one. I replied that that was my goal.
Decided to experiment with some summer sausage and cheese. The dough was made with a combo of fresh ground high extraction Red Fife, home ground corn meal, and AP. The leaven build was started at 5:30 AM with 30g starter, 50g Red Fife, 50g AP, and 70g water. At the same time started the autolyse with 114g Red Fife, 36g corn meal,100g AP and 170g water. The leaven moved fast because it is about 80F in the house and was ready after about 2 hr since I wanted to catch it still on the rise and very active. I mixed the two together added 6g salt and did 3 S&F about 15 min apart then let ferment which only took another 2hr. The dough was flattened into a rectangle, sprinkled with chopped summer sausage and sharp cheddar cheese, rolled into a log, and proofed on a sheet pan. It took only about 45 min to a little more than double. It was baked at 325F in the countertop convection oven that was a late birthday present and an interesting change from our regular gas oven. It was very quickly done, only about 20 minutes even at that low temp, of course the loaf did have a slim cross section.
The crumb has nice structure with a soft moist texture and a tender crust. The taste is good with the sausage and cheese not completely overpowering the bread like I was afraid it would. It makes a good novelty bread but not an every day loaf.
Got excited this week when I noticed that one of the four varieties of wheat planted in the garden was starting to form heads. This is white wheat and the best bunch. Can't wait for the others.
This loaf has sprouted flour that consists of Millet, Eincorn, Buckwheat, and Barley as well as a soaker of left over bolted rye flour from last week's bake and some fresh milled corn meal. Most of the hydration comes from YW and there is a small amount of starter added as well as some AP and VWG. The vital wheat gluten was added because last time such a mix was attempted there was not enough structure to the dough, we don't keep bread flour on hand and had to dig the VWG out of the freezer where it had been languishing for over a year maybe two.. The dough was mixed, the gluten exercised, and allowed to ferment only about 30 min before retarding. After the warmed and slightly risen dough was formed and placed on a bran covered basket it proofed for about 4 hours. It was baked in a DO.
Bread had good spring and the crumb structure was just what was wanted. The taste is nutty and sweet with just a hint of the starter. The more YW is used and the technique is improved upon the more it is becoming a standard in my bread baking process.
This loaf is based closely on the recipe from Sam Fromartz's book. It is 70% rye with the balance whole wheat at 80% hydration. I didn't have his mixture of rye flours so substituted high extraction fresh ground rye with the bran resifted and reground twice. The whole wheat is fresh ground Red Fife. I used 120g yeast water replacing some of the water in the final dough. The dough was also retarded after the mix to be formed, warmed and proofed after about ten hours. The dough had swelled a lot during the retard. The proof took two hours due to the need to warm the dough but it was still quite rapid. Fromartz says not to cut the loaf for 24 hours which holds with everything I've read. I just hope I can hold out, the smell is incredible.
Something I think rabbits since they have a definite it presence has been eating the plants, primarily broccoli, in the garden. Someone suggested that spreading shaved Irish Spring soap about would repell them. Going to try it if it doesn't work have to fall back on traps and 22s. It is tough to see all that work disappear.
