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Posted a little bit later than intended, but its out there now, my mid-week bake, another attempt at a Honey WholeWheat and a Chocolate Sour Cherry loaves.

I am trying to achieve that lovely soft wholewheat texture you find in American breads – think gourmet WholeFoods and delis type, not the horrible Subway kind that squashes in your hand.

Tumminia and Pane Nero di Castelvetrano

 Fellow TFL'rs,

Just to let you know this blog entry covers 4 different bakes and is a bit longer than I would normally like to post, but hopefully some of you will enjoy it, or find something of interest along the way.

First the sweet stuff.

I made this Pain au Levain, from Hamelman's book, as a gift for my sister who lives in France. My mom went to see her, and she called me next day to tell me that the bread was fantastic, and the kids loved it.

I respected the formula, but I increased the hydration from 65% to 67%. I baked it the same day that the dough was made, as hamelman suggests. Next day my mother flew to my sister, and that evening they had my bread at the dinner table. They told stories, shared memories and probably laughed and had a good time. I miss them.

Ok

About time I started a blog... I struggle a bit with spelling. I blame it on the autistic/ dyslexia; most say I’m just lazy.

I'm so passionate about making bread at the moment... I started with dean Brettschneider book global baker. Have mastered ciabatta, baguettes, fennel dinner rolls, and puff pastry. I'll post picks. But its now time for sourdough.

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Click here for my blog index.

Chocolate croissants, chocolate soft sandwich loaf, now chocolate baguettes, see a trend?

In my second blog entry,  I wrote that I baked three varieties of bread for my friend;  WW bread (with right amount of salt!), cocoa-flavoured bread with cranberry & walnuts, and the other one. For the first two bread,  I’ve already shared the formulae in my earlier blogs.  So, today I’d like to share the recipe for the last one,  which is actually the favourite of this friend I baked those breads for. 

I have finally found a relatively affordable, reliable source for Bread flour in Dubai! I wanted to test run it by baking Poolish baguettes.  I have sourced the flour from a local mill. They had always stocked this product, though only sold it upon demand, which seems to be non-existant Market wise. I believe, that only high end western style Artisanal cafes spread around Dubai malls such as PAUL, LE Pain Quotidient, BREAD and Co... etc, would order such a premium Product. Now its Me, too  :P

The competition at this year's Leavenworth County Fair bread division was sparse. As I posted a few days ago, I entered a sourdough and a horiatiko psomi loaf. Because place ribbons aren't handed out for the entrants' self-esteem, I'm pleased that both of my loaves won blue ribbons.

Sourdough

Horiatiko Psomi