Baking from Leader's new Local Breads
Well, I decided to just dive right in and try a recipe from Daniel Leader's new book, Local Breads. I haven't had a chance to read much of anything in it - I'm reading Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, and he tends to be absorbingly chatty. My freezer is full of breads to last another week or two, but I had to bake something.
As I mentioned in another thread, the photo of the Buckwheat Batard drew me to that recipe, and that's the one I decided to try. Having my own grain mill and a selection of grains makes me want to try the variety breads. I'm not following the recipe precisely. For one thing, my starter is 100% hydration, and his seems to be 130%. That may explain why my dough did clear the sides of the mixer bowl when his directions say it shouldn't. So I'll probably have a denser bread than he intends. Another difference is my use of whole (hard red winter) wheat instead of refined flour. My grain mill has got me eating a lot more whole grains, and I must say that I'm feeling much healthier (and even losing weight) excluding refined flours from my diet. So we have two major deviations from his recipe.
But I have the opportunity to explore his methods and explanations. And I get to notice errors of conversion, of which I've found two so far. (Does anyone know how to report these errors?)
The dough is down for its nap right now, and in a few hours I get to shape. I don't have a "room temperature" space by his definition of 70-75 degrees. My room temperature is 65 degrees, and outside is cooler than that. The oven with the light would be 80 to 90 degrees.
I'll report back later. I don't have a camera yet, and I suspect it wouldn't be anything terribly photogenic anyway.
Rosalie