I am a new bread baker. My Tartine Bread cookbook says to use white and whole wheat flour. Does this mean white whole wheat or all purpose flour? I read that all purpose flour has more protein. Please comment.
I was working on a SD version this morning but something went wrong, I suspect I measured the water incorrectly and added way too much. When I realized my error I started a second batch, but since I had no levain ready it was IDY to the rescue. I’m glad I made the second batch, other than an issue of tearing of the dough during one coil fold where I wasn’t gentle enough it turned out just fine even with the increased hydration to 110%. Another change was that I did final proof with a couche.
The Fresh Loaf is 18 today! 🎂🥳
Hard to believe, isn't it? At least for me it is. Part of the reason I started the site (and baking so much) was because I had lots of time around the house when the babies were napping. Both of those babies are in university now.
Following are my adaptations to the no levain no knead bread. I mix everything together just til moist using a large wooden spoon. Autolyse 1 hr or so.
I then do my version of bassinage by thoroughly wetting the counter scraping out the dough throughly wetting the top and patting out to a large rectangle then letter fold and tuck into a ball and place in oiled container. I do this 3x with 30 min rest inbetween ultimately using an extra 100 g of water. Dough responds exceptionally well and becomes like silk.
500g t80 French import
I love baking challah breads so whenever we host a brunch recently it has given me an excuse to bake another challah in order to make a strata. Strata for those unfamiliar with it is essentially a way of making French toast for the masses and somewhat like a bread pudding. It is best that the challah is a couple of days old and a bit firm. In fact, to have a firmer challah I particularly like using 50% WW for the challah used to make a strata.
Rye January continues
Today's bake: Ginger-Plum Bread Zwetschgen-Ingwer Brot (Germany)
The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg
This bread is made from a majority of Organic Rye-80% Extract (~medium rye flour), some Organic Heirloom Turkey Red Wheat-Cracked and a bit of whole rye which is in the culture.
There are in addition some prunes (Dried/Pitted), grated ginger, and chopped almonds as add-ins that provide a nice flavor and texture to this bread.
I'm using a large pullman pan (15-3/4" x 4" x 4").
I have been switching my limited repertoire of breads over to the "Don't be a bread hostage" way of doing it from the King Arthur website. It has certainly simplified bread making for me and I really like how this recipe makes a more manageable high hydration bread to work with and produces a very soft and fluffy crumb.This is the Trevor Wilson recipe for cranberry spelt bread that I made a few changes to approximate a compromise of both recipes.
I have a big birthday for my partner to plan. So part of that is to bake one of his favourite cakes, carrot cake. You will notice that baking cakes isn’t something I do very often, in fact I probably bake fewer than one per year. So I thought it would be prudent to do a test bake and ensure that the recipe I’m doing tastes good and that I can turn out a decent cake. I hope to make this a three layer cake and decorate it better, although my decorating skills aren’t that great.
I've been eyeing this one for some time -- http://theryebaker.com/vitebsk-rye/. My partner doesn't like the heaviness of whole grain ryes, so I figured a 100% light rye might intrigue her. Also, in a different thread, where I foolishly argued that I could see no reason to use light or medium rye when you could use whole grain, Ilya recommended that I try a light rye to see how it showcases flavors like fennel and anise.
