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Two experiments this weekend.  One I've been wanting to try and one a friend asked me to make.  I"ll try to get a more detailed method loaded in the next day or two.

I am presenting this bake of my 3.0 version of this bread to show how it does without any added VWG.  As I suspected the VWG really helps with getting the super tall loaf that I love seeing.  Without the VWG, the loaf is a normal profile, neither tall nor short.  I’m not mad at it.  It’s good to know that VWG isn’t absolutely required.

Hi Community,

First off, what a fantastic resource and community y'all are. Newbie here, and I almost instantly fell down the Panettone rabbit hole. I started in January and finally, FINALLY, this week I have a panettone that is beginning to resemble the image I had in my mind. I read so many past blog posts (especially Susan and MWilson) and consulted many, many recipes online, and even stumbled thru Italian sites with my 2nd grade-level Italian literacy.

I had mentioned previously about converting my Challah recipe that I have been making since the mid ‘70’s to YW. I posted pics of the Apple/Raisin YW that I used on the YW topic . . Freshly fed and fermented it did an outstanding job. The fragrance is intoxicating. Crumb shot in a bit. 

In a small jar I put a handful of raisins, a handful of dried sd rye cubes and some lukewarm water. I let it ferment in a lukewarm spot for 3 days. Third day evening, I added water to volume of 650ml. I fed it with a couple tablespoons of rye flour. In the morning I added more flour, to the consistency of pancake batter.  It fermented about 5 hours, then started collapsing.  At this moment I made the proper dough using all purpose flour and salt.  Didn't add anymore water. Bulk ferment was 2 hours, final proof probably around 1 hour.

Dan's recent questions, and all of the recent discussions about yeast water have made me think of ways of making it more reliable.

To learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS), please see here and here. 

Easy peasy Kimchi!

Quarter the Napa (~1.3kg) and loosen/separate each layer. 

This past weekend's bake was a new technique for me and I think it worked out pretty well.  The recipe is Oatmeal Bread from Bread (3rd Ed.).  I've made single loaves of this bread a couple of times, but it was always made straight through from start to finish.  This weekend was busy, so I did the mix on early Sunday morning and then followed Jeffrey Hamelman's recommendation to develop flavor with a straight dough and did a cold retard after 2 hours of room temperature bulk.  The dough had to be punched down numerous times and lesson learned... 

Mar. 7, 2022.   89th bake.

The goal here was to make a small enough boule to bake in my toaster oven, and use 300 grams of flour, not counting what's in the starter.

I was intrigued by Benitos recent bakes with a levain that contains brown sugar and decided to give it a go. It seemed to be a novel approach worth looking into. With many bakers around here pursuing Alt-sourdough lately I am surprised no one else has thrown their hat into the ring. Perhaps it turns away the purist or it's an aversion to sugar in the FWSY equation at least that was my thoughts.