Today's bake: KAMUT®, whole wheat, and unbleached white
The kitchen got a little festive after the bread came out of the oven; my husband cut some holly from the tree in our backyard. (Just a note: while the little red berries are really pretty, DON'T plant a female holly tree unless you're ready to sweep up bushels of them when they start to fall. And the prickly leaves are really nasty - the tree sheds 1/3 of its leaves every year!)
This loaf had 100gr Kamut, 300gr whole wheat, and 600gr unbleached white - 80% hydration. Until I remembered that I had left out the salt it was nearly unmanageable during the slap and folds. Once it had been given a 20 minute "time out" and the salt added, things progressed nicely. The crumb was not particularly open, but evenly distributed.
Here's the crumb shot from this bake:
We were running short of crackers, so I turned out a batch of sourdough crackers. They're quick, tasty, and help use up any extra levain that your recipe might produce. The starter hydration should be 100%.
Happy baking!
Comments
:-)
...and good catch on the salt. It's easy to overlook, but makes a real difference. Your bread turned out very well and I bet it tastes great.
Enjoy your holly tree, despite the droppage (comes with the package for any evergreen tree, whether it's leaves and berries or pods or needles and cones), they have a rounded, balanced form, nice glossy foliage and are so festive with their berries. Dressed for the holidays au naturel!
Cathy
Has to be as delicious as it looks. The Kamut really brings out the yellow color of the crust and crumb. Love the way the holly leaves, berries and walnuts set off the boldly baked loff. Well done and
Happy baking Gail
Very nice looking loaf and crackers. I have dough in the fridge for crackers to be baked tomorrow. I've never made sourdough crackers from extra levain, may have to try that.
Happy Holidays, Gail.
It's my favorite and works with different kinds of flours and oils - you just need to get a feel for the right texture and "hydration" (kinda hard to calculate when you are using oils instead of water). Some flours are "thirstier" than others. And watch closely if you use oil rather than shortening or butter 'cause they'll burn faster.
I've tried rye, whole wheat, unbleached white, triticale, and Kamut so far - the triticale was kind of touchy, I burned a whole batch!
I will try this. I've used whole wheat and unbleached white. The ones I baked today were unbleached white and I use oil and butter. Oh! so true about watching them closely. I had one batch that I thought only needed about 30 more seconds and they got pretty dark. I haven't bought crackers from a store in years and trying other flours/levain is exciting. The triticale sounds interesting, especially the texture they will have.
That looks good.
Thanks for all the kind words! I'm now 3.5 years into my 5 year plan - slow going, but all the kind and patient bakers on this forum have been so helpful.
Onward and upward!
.
mind sharing the recipe for the crackers? Cheers.
http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2013/11/sourdough-crackers-easy-and-versatile/
You can experiment to your heart's content with different flours and grains, spice and herb mixes, and the oil/shortening of your choice. I just love the crackers made with rye flour and caraway seeds!
I've had the best flavor with butter (of course!), but generally use organic vegetable shortening that we get at the food co-op. Liquid oils take a lot more watching in the oven 'cause it will cause the crackers to burn more quickly.
Recently I have been doubling the baking soda to get a cracker that is a little more like "Saltines" - though I really wouldn't describe them that way at all. They just rise a bit more and seem a little lighter.
Have lots of fun with this recipe - I do!