Benito's blog

We are visiting my in-laws for Christmas, it has been so long since we’ve done this, and we have to bring bread right? A baker cannot arrive empty handed. So with my sister in law’s taste in mind I had to bake a sandwich bread. She practically lives on buttered toast. To try to make a variation on my other whole wheat Hokkaido loaves I decided to add my favourite seeds to this loaf, black and white sesame seeds. I realized it has been ages since I’ve added seeds to my breads so it was long overdue. I reduce the dough weight a bit to compensate for the addition of the seeds.

I’ve never had Bara Brith before, it is a traditional Welsh bread, however, it can be made more like a cake using baking powder.  A baker from the UK posted her recipe which seemed so simple so I decided to try baking it.  As I kid I hated Christmas cake, but as with so many things as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to like more things I used to dislike.

We are having Christmas dinner with my side of the family this evening and I offered to bring bread, of course.  My partner and I often make a meal out of roasted vegetables and butternut squash is in the rotation.  Some of these squashes are huge and more than we can eat at a sitting so we have leftovers.  Incorporating some of this into a bread seemed a good way of using up some leftover squash so I decided to make these rolls.

8 buns in 9” round pan

Ingredients

Sweet Stiff Starter 

I haven’t had tons of success with spelt in any great quantity, but didn’t want to give up on this ancient grain.  It seems to taste good when paired with Kamut aka khorasan also an ancient grain.  Gluten is made up of gliadin and glutenin.  Gliadin is the substance that gives the stretchy feel to dough, and glutenin provides the elasticity and the structure to ensure that it holds its shape.  While wheat has a balance of gliadin to glutenin , spelt has a higher ratio of gliadin to glutenin.

This one is a present, so no crumb shots unless the recipient sends me a photo.  Same procedure as my previous bake of this recipe with the only deviation being sprinkling sesame seeds on top of the dough after the second application of the egg wash.

For the detailed recipe click this link.

"These traditional French butter cookies are a snap to make. They positively melt in your mouth and make a great addition to any holiday cookie lineup. The cardamom-and-orange combination is perfect for the holidays, but if you aren’t a fan, you could simply omit those flavourings and add a bit more vanilla."—Giselle Courteau, co-owner, Edmonton

This is my second bake using the method I described in my last bake of 100% whole wheat.  In short, I sift out the larger flakes of bran with a #40 sieve, that bran gets scalded and allowed to cool in the fridge overnight while the levain ferments.  In the morning the dough is mixed and the gluten is developed before adding the bran.  The major difference with this bake is that I increased the hydration to 90%.  Despite that I believe that this flour could still take even more which I’ll do next time.