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Now enamored with stiff levains (until the next thrill comes along), this adventure had me bake a batch of SJSD dough.  But instead of as baguettes, I am also somewhat enamored with batards these days (until the next thrill comes along).

One with sesame, and one with two scores.  Both just for fun.  I'm curious as to whether the sesame will depart a roasted flavor to the bread as it does with the Sourdough Italian .  Still getting a lot of great performance out of retarding them on the couche already shaped, and baking straight from the refrigerator.

Using my stiff levain - hence the "Son of SJSD" moniker, and adding a few extra grams of water to balance out the hydration, these three batards come in at around 475g each. 480dF, 10 minutes steam, rotate and then ~16-18 minutes more.  The final 2 minutes as vented.

Through the "looking glass" during steaming

Steam released, and rotated

The trio

Getting some fantastic oven spring

The kids

Today's adventure in baking involved the rest of the spelt flour, some orange juice, buttermilk, cranberries and honey.   The 50% spelt loaf came out nicely...after my burned, failed 100% attempt, so instead of leaving well enough alone and making another one, I decided to branch out.  I also wanted to use up the buttermilk and orange juice.

The recipe:

250 grams Spelt flour
250 grams KA Bread flour
200 grams levain
50 grams honey
100 grams orange juice
100 grams buttermilk
100 grams dried cranberries
10 grams salt
6 grams SAF yeast
Some brown sugar...I didn't measure

Soak the cranberries in the orange juice for 20 minutes and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Measure the spelt and bread flours, add the slightly warmed buttermilk, honey and prepared levain and mix well.  Allow to autolyse for 30 minutes.

Add the cranberries and juice, salt and yeast.  Mix well using your preferred method.  I used 5 minutes of slaps and folds.

I allowed the dough to rise in my warm microwave for 30 minutes...it was almost double...and then gently pressed it down and stretched and folded one more time before putting it into another 30 minute rise.

I then split the dough and allowed it to rest for 10 minutes before I stretched it and sprinkled some brown sugar on it and folded and rolled it up before placing it in parchment lined baking tins. Proofed to about 85% and then baked for 40 minutes at 375 dF after sprinkling a little more brown sugar on the top.

I also neglected to take any pictures of the preparation but the final result and crumb are pictured below.  

And while not as pretty as other loaves I've taken from the oven, these really are tasty.  A hint of sour from the levain and buttermilk, a little sweetness from the honey and brown sugar and tartness from the cranberries.

 The verdict from my in-house, not so independent taste tester was that the loaves are a keeper.