The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello from Spain!

La masa's picture
La masa

Hello from Spain!

Hello all, I've been a long time lurker here, and at last I decided to join this community.

I've been baking for 2 or 3 years with more or less success, but now I'm getting consistently good results.

I bake mostly sourdough, and my everyday loaf recipe is:

190 gr whole rye starter (100%)

450 gr high gluten flour

270 gr water (68%)

8 gr salt

1/2 tsp (3 gr, more or less) home made wheat diastatic malt

 

This is the result, a bread I really like:

 

 

I've tried other recipes, yeasted white breads, sweet breads, but this is the one I always come back to. Hope you like it.

La masa's picture
La masa

Hello Barbiedoll, glad you liked my country :-)

A starter is a dough with bacteria and yeasts thriving in it.

A natural sourdough starter is made "breeding" the natural occurring bacteria and yeasts present in the flour. Goggle "sourdough starter" and you'll find lots of pages about how to start a starter.

Diastatic malt is sprouted grain (I use wheat) dried on a low heat and ground. It has the ability of converting part of the starch in the simple sugars that yeast like. It's not an essential ingredient in bread making, but I like the punch it gives to the yeasts.

It's hard to find here, so I make my own malt sprouting, drying and grinding wheat berries. It's really easy.

chouette22's picture
chouette22

Welcome to TFL! I did the same, I lurked for a long, long time (after registering though) before I posted anything.

Your bread is beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing more of your creations!

I was in Barcelona this past summer - even though I had been there before, I totally fell in love with this city this time.

Hasta luego!

La masa's picture
La masa

Thanks for your welcome chouette.

I like Bercelona too. Maybe you had the fortune to find a llonguet during your visit.

It's a traditional bread from Barcelona, not too common to find nowadays, formed in a very peculiar way. The dough is folded, rolled to form  a tight cilynder, and cut in pieces.

The result is a surprising loaf, light and airy.

There are two entries about it on a blog I like to visit:

http://tequedasacenar.com/a-la-busqueda-del-llonguet-una-noche-en-el-forn-casanovas/

http://tequedasacenar.com/llonguet/

It's in Spanish, but there are lots of pics.