This bake was loosely based on Reinhart's recipe in his new book "Bread Revolution" however I wanted to tweak it for my personal tastes to make them more tasty and maybe just a touch healthier.
For this recipe I have used sprouted spelt rather than wheat. Here are my other changes:
Decided it was time for my first foray into the world of sprouting grains. Rather than jump straight into a bake from PR's latest book I decided to conduct an experiment to firstly see if I could actually sprout some grains and secondly to bake some test loaves with different quantities of sprouted flour. Here's how it went.
The Sprouting
Took a bunch of organic spelt grains, rinsed them thoroughly 2-3 times and then put them in a pot and covered with water.
This was an "off-the-cuff" see how it comes out creation and the first time using a soaker for me. Probably should have picked an established recipe but overall it came out ok. More hydration would probably have given a better, more open crumb, but I wasn't sure how the soaker would fare.
Recipe
So I was browsing through one of my books looking for something new to make and the Tomato Sourdough looked interesting. I'd seen it before along with a beetroot sourdough but always glossed over them thinking them to be somewhat quirky and simply strange for the sake of being strange. How wrong was I ?!
So my first attempt at 80% hydration baguettes went so so, produced lovely tasting baguettes but the crumb was tight with tiny holes (see below)
My first crack at this very traditional Spanish sweet bread. Also known as "King Cake" this is traditionally served at Christmas. I have some good Spanish friends coming for dinner in a week's time so this was my practice run. It's not Christmas but hey, some things are too good to only have once a year !
My regular baguette recipe (from my local Artisan Bakery) uses about 66% hydration. This is my first foray into a much more difficult 80% hydration. This was a real challenge and the results far from perfect, but the experience gained along the way is invaluable and worth the trouble. I would say without any hesitation that these have been the tastiest baguettes I have ever made and the closest I have come to that genuine baguette flavour expectation.
I was pining for something sweet but not too unhealthy and whilst watching TV, saw a shot of beautiful Venice, a city that I have visited annually for the past 7-8 years, and this put me in mind of their wonderful Italian baking. A particular shop there sells all manner of Biscotti type delicacies as well as countless other delights but I always now pick up a bag of their gorgeous Cantuccini's which are nutty, citrusy and pretty darn addictive.
