The Fresh Loaf

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Field Blend No. 2 is the winner.

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

Field Blend No. 2 is the winner.

My father and my next door neighbor have both confirmed that Field Blend No.2 from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast is the best bread they've ever eaten.  I happen to enjoy it a lot.  To date, it has consistently produced the best tasting loaf for me.

The four loaves pictured were proofed overnight in two different fridges.  The front/expanded loaves were proofed and baked straight out of the main fridge.  The rear/undersized loaves were proofed in a 4.3 cubic foot fridge and taken out and left on the counter while the first loaves were baking (they seemed to be under proofed when I checked on them, so I wanted to let them warm up a bit).  I need to check the small fridge temperature, which we just started using.

The crumb on one of the smaller loaves looks like this:

As usual, there is peanut butter here because it is my lunch I am eating. It is a mixed levain and yeasted dough. I don't particularly enjoy having to add yeast and understand that I can probably omit the yeast and proof overnight on the counter instead of the fridge, and one day I will try this and report back. 

The reason I prefer this bread to the overnight country brown from the same book is because I find that making that bread, the way I do it, produces a loaf that is more sour than I enjoy. That is not to say that this would be the case if someone else were making the loaves.  I do not (for either loaf) usually use starter that was last fed 24 hours ago to build the levain. Instead, it is usually more like week old starter, fed 12 hours before, used to build my levain.  It just turns out that when I make the overnight country brown this way, it comes out more sour than I like. But when I make the field blend no. 2 this way, it comes out tasting really mellow.

Comments

hreik's picture
hreik

WIsh I could taste it now. With butter, then w butter and cheese and for dessert w peanut butter. Ha ha. Nice work

hester

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

It is quite amazing with butter. Even cold the next day. Since I have a grain mill, I will never know what these breads taste like with store bought whole rye and whole white wheat flour. But, I bet they are fantastic whether the whole grain flours are ground at home or purchased at the store.

 

greenbriel's picture
greenbriel

I'm dying to make this recipe, if my starter would just get with the program!

Beautiful loaves.

 

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

Good luck getting the starter going. Try a facebook request to your friends. Maybe someone has a starter they can easily share!

greenbriel's picture
greenbriel

Thanks David, I think my starter overheard me threatening to toss it and start again, and has started pulling its weight! Fingers crossed. I think FB#2 is going to be my first bake once I'm sure we're in business.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/317809#comment-317809

Trying the popular quick ciabatta recipe from this site today, to give family and friends a break from baguettes, and to see what trying to sling 95% hydration dough is like!!!

a_warming_trend's picture
a_warming_trend

I loved the idea of this loaf the first time I saw it in FWSY, and all of the TFL iterations have reinforced my desire to bake it. Seems like Forkish's ultimate take on a country SD loaf. Beautiful results from a big bake!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

of folks who who do not like sour bread and why so many bakers follow the Tartine and Forkish method of making  a more mild and faintly sour SFSD style bread.  love the bold bake and the crumb is pretty open and uniform for P&J sandwiches.

Well done and happy baking David.

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

But, for peanutbutter, I prefer the bread to be much more mild. Go figure!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

of folks who who do not like sour bread and why so many bakers follow the Tartine and Forkish method of making  a more mild and faintly sour SFSD style bread.  love the bold bake and the crumb is pretty open and uniform for P&J sandwiches.

Well done and happy baking David.