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My planned Solstice bake has not eventuated, it may still in a few days time.  Still this bake started on 20th, and finished today.  My very first 100% Rye bread - Madelaine Jude's Danish Rugbrod.  Here in NZ,  it is the winter solstice so maybe it is fitting.

20th June

9 am - 20 g Rye starter + 20 g water + 20 g rye flour leave on bench

8 pm Add 60 g water + 60 g rye flour and leave overnight

21st June 

8 am Add 60 g water + 60 g rye flour and leave on bench.  Cover 125 g whole rye berrieswith boiling water and leave to soak.

I finally got the color with 10 gram flowers steeped in 250 ml of hot water.  I compromised brighter hue by using higher % of whole grain flours but I am happy with the turmeric contrast. I would love to see larger holes in the crumb but not succeeding somehow...

Well, I'm back with a new loaf of bread! This time I wanted to experiment something new and I decided to mix two of my favorite flours to create what I thought would be the perfect loaf to me.

I choose to go for 20% whole rye flour (that I think it's the same thing as dark rye in US) and 15% whole khorasan flour and all the process was smooth and relatively easy. 

But...there is a but! 

Since going on a 1 day French baking course at Christmas I have been keen to continue my croissant baking journey. There are many blogs on here already but I wanted a place to be able to track my progress and perhaps help other's in the meantime - even if it's just to show how not to do it! 

The recipe I use is from the Bread Ahead baking book. 

500g strong bread flour (I can't get strong bread flour so I used bread flour which I think has 13% protein here) 

12g sea salt

55g sugar

40g softened unsalted butter

30g fresh yeast

I was in pursuit of a relatively cheap hobby and basically entered into the Google search bar: "stuff to do for free." One of the many lists I read through suggested I make some bread. One loaf later, and I was hooked!

Standard recipe, with added mixed seeds sesame, chia, poppy, and 1/6 durum wheat along with the white rye, bread flour and 100% dark rye starter / mother dough.

I seriously can’t believe it. There’s now a grain mill in my kitchen! Needless to say, I planned a bake with freshly ground flour the day I took it home.

Brie, Hazelnut and Goji Berries Sourdough with White Whole Wheat Flour

Dough flour:

I loved the look of Ru's seeded SD so decided to have a go.  I made the exact quantity that she did but because I couldn't find any black sesame seeds I used black chia seeds instead.  

I refreshed my rye starter that sulks in the fridge without being wanted for weeks on end.  Wednesday at 8:30 am I mixed together

20 g starter + 40 g water + 38 g rye (all I had in the pantry)  and left at RT.

15:30 pm added 13 g water + 13 g rye flour and left to mature.  

I always wondered how this was being done... my first try.

I now know what needs to be done to improve on this.  This has no real use other than the wow factor, in my opinion.

My first blog post is about this wonderfully classic teacake with a rich tradition.  Back when bread dough was prepared at home and then baked in the village baker's oven, bara brith (Welsh translation is mottled or speckled bread) was usually the leftover scraps of dough thrown together and sweetened with dried fruit. 

It did, however, grow into a standardized loaf consumed during teatime, still filled with an abundance of dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries...).