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The last bake of 2012, panettone, was supposed to cap off a year (actually 11 months) of usually decent individual and different bakes with different formulas that numbered well over 100 – quite an achievement that deserved a year end spectacular panettone.  But alas, it was not to be.

Sadly, baking gremlins worked their evil spells as soon as the fine looking, up to that point, panettone, hit the oven.

This was developed from a list of ingredients lifted from the display case at Arizmendi Bakery, in San Francisco. I consulted a few other similar recipes to help out with proportions. The technique is basically a stretch-and-fold approach I lifted from some Tartine recipe in a magazine.

Levain

City loaf

100% flour, stone-ground wheat, 80% extraction rate

89.9% water

24% starter

2.76% salt

Percentage of flour pre-fermented.  15%.

Final dough temperature.  23.5°C.

Autolyse.  2h.

Bulk ferment.  4h30m - 5h.

Divide & rest.  20m - 30m.

Proof.  12h - 18h, at 8°C.

This baby is simply divine..

Although cranberries are sweet, they are offset by the maple syrup and it is not too sweet.

Yummy....

You need to start this the day before, but its still a easy recipe.

Wanted to share this success. Like you all, I hate discarding so much starter, so I've been experimenting with uses - pancakes, english muffins etc. Got the English Muffins to where I'm happy - more batter-like than dough is the secret. Emboldened by English Muffin success, I wanted to experiment with some bread. I tried this formula:

2 days before baking:

Fed  25g of my 100% starter with 50g each KAP and water = 125 G.

City loaf.

I bake bread about twice a week for my family, and these days, it's usually either a sourdough from 50% whole wheat, 10% rye and 40% AP or a loaf of Buttermilk and Honey Whole Wheat. But for whatever reason, I was craving rye yesterday, so I set up this loaf. No caraway, as I'd run out, though i do like it.

Here's how I made it:

Formula

I helped a good friend plan a New Year's Eve party. We went with a Persian theme. When she suggested lavash, I was excited to give it a try. She broke out Food of Life and we found a recipe. There were two given: one was (heavily) enriched with butter and milk, the other was lean; it's basically French bread dough with sugar. We decided on the lean version.

happy new year eveyone.