The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Lavender maple syrup loaves

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Lavender maple syrup loaves

I was quite inspired by WoodenSpoon's lavender & honey levain with salt crusted crust as featured on the homepage of the site, so I set about making my own version! 

I did make some modifications of the recipe, instead of levain I just used IDY and a poolish.  I also used 44g of rye, 46g WW, and 40g buckwheat, the remainder being white bread flour.  And I used 180ml of buttermilk, upped the honey to 50g, and replaced it with maple syrup.  I don't have any fresh lavender, so I used dried, and I use maldon salt flakes for the crust, no cornmeal.  I also experimented with a 5% tangzhong.  Finally, and most obviously, I didn't bake it in a pan. 

Baked at ~250C with 10 minutes of steam, then reduced to 200C for 30 minutes. 

Here are the results:

 

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks super.  How was the crumb and taste?

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Thanks, the crumb is quite tight, sandwich-loaf type which is what I was going for (for once).  Taste is very nice, I reduced the amount of lavender so it was quite subtle, but I think it could use more maple syrup, or maybe I need a stronger version (I used no 1 medium this time), to give it a bit more taste and sweetness.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I have used maple syrup many times and you don't really taste it although it adds a wonderful sweetness to the bread.  I used a maple syrup balsamic vinegar which actually added more flavor.

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Interesting, I never thought of adding vinegar to bread! 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

and the other great pictures are enjoyable as well, Paris, Konigsburg, Strasbourg, wow!  Sure you wanted to post all these?

Mini

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Haha, no but thanks for pointing that out!  I'm afraid the image posting system on this forum is very confusing to me, I tried posting just the URL but that didn't work, nor did the BBcode, this is the only way I could find for posting flickr images...

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

If you are simply linking to images on another website like flickr, tinypic etc then it's easy. In your post just put the full URL for the picture inbetween the following header and footer codes:

[xxx] https://www.tinypic.com/blahblahblah [/xxx]

replacing the xxx with IMG

doddle

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Thanks, I finally figured out where flickr was hiding the URL (had to go into the BBcode and fish it out from there), so now its fixed!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

but the photos were like looking at National Geographic and Nature all in one.  Well Done, Happy Baking and picture taking.

ghazi's picture
ghazi

Wow, bread is sprung to perfection. Great photos

Love the addition of buckwheat, turns almost anything into a masterpiece

 

sirrith's picture
sirrith

I've never tried baking with buckwheat before, I use it for crepes, but figured what the hey, why not try?  I don't mind the result at all :) 

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

that looks real nice!

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Thanks!

I do have a question about your original recipe; what is the final hydration including the levain? 

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

around looking all over for the ripped scrap of flour bag that I worked out the formula on and darn if I cant find it, but knowing me and my leanings I can safely guarantee that it was no lower then eighty and almost certainly no higher then eighty three. I think eighty is the best bet. if I find the paper I'l get back to ya for sure.

sirrith's picture
sirrith

Wow, that is much higher than I'd guessed.  Mine are around the 68-69% (don't know for certain as I added a bit more water during mixing)