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I promised Varda that I would practice brioche a tète (just doing my bit to make sure the terrorists lose…) and my word is my bond. Sometimes it takes years to get your money but that’s how bonds are.

Anyway, my last batch was pretty enough to do a write up and take some pictures (still not my thing).

Since I can’t both shape and take a picture, you should refer to Varda’s blog (someday I'll figure out how to paste a link..) on the topic of brioche to see photos of me shaping. The basics don’t change, but there are things the pictures don’t show. And so, a list:

 I made this loaf before I left for my trip to China but didn't have a chance to post it until now.  It used freshly ground sprouted Durum flour and freshly ground & sprouted Whole Wheat flour along with some KAF high protein Sir Lancelot flour.

This bread turned out as good as I could have hoped for with the only thing I would change being to use a higher percentage of the sprouted flours.  It had a nice earthy flavor from the sprouted flour combo with a mildly open crumb.

I baked Eric's Favorite rye for the first time today, on account of there might be some corned beef in my near future. After only 35 minutes proofing, my finger poke test revealed one loaf seemed really ready to be baked and I was worried about waiting for the other one to catch up since they were proofing on the same piece of parchment. The kitchen was quite warm as the oven was on full tilt. As you can see in the photos, the one one the right had a pretty explosive reaction to the steaming oven...that was the one that seemed like it wanted to wait another 15 minutes. 

Work has been intense and crazy. So I was thrilled when the executives decided at the last minute to build in a little break in the project timeline. As luck would have it, the break was the same week as the Viennoiserie 2 class at the San Francisco Baking Institute (SFBI). Viennoiserie 1 is offered a few times a year, but level 2 is offered only once a year. I wasn't able to take level 2 last year since it was fully enrolled when I tried to sign up, so I was happy to attend this year.

Did not intend to bake this weekend, but decided that since I had no plans for outings, that I may as well take advantage of the convenience of being home. A couple of months ago, I tried baking tahini bread that sounded yummy. And it was, but the sesame flavor was mild, and my preference was for more. So, that's where I went, and adapted the 3-2-1 basic formula and the result is SD Sprouted Wheat Sesame Bread.

Method included a 30 minute autolyse of:

I can not believe this bread!!

It is so good!

Just like the gorgeous dark rye grain breads you can buy at markets:)

So greedily wrapped with this one.

You are soooooooo Going to love it!

The first one was a fail fail fail!!

It began innocently enough, as these things often do.  Ever since I started baking in earnest several years ago I have been intrigued with Pane di Altamura.  Not that I knew exactly what it was, mind you, but the name appeared in many breads that had the golden glow of rich butter in the crumb from the durum wheat.  I was able to buy loaves from several local bakers, most notably Acme Bread, to sample.  These are good breads!  I started experimenting with various formulae and making my own.  Il Fornaio, Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Amy’s Breads, D

Long-winded title, I know, but I wanted to capture most of the bread in one go. This bread is almost identical to one created by WoodenSpoon a while back, and it has taken me until now to attempt to recreate it. I had goat milk from a friend that needed to be used, some extra cultured butter in the freezer, and I felt it was fitting to try it out!

It's been a while since I last posted, so I wanted to share some photos from this weekend's bakes.  A small get together with some friends always inspires me to bake a mix of some new breads and some standards. Clockwise from the left are: Royal Crown's Tortano (from Glezer's Artisan Baking in America), a caramelized onion focaccia (made with flour I brought back from Italy last fall), two boules of Pane di Altamura (more on this later) and three loaves of my go-to spelt sourdough.

Never one to leave well enough alone, I am on a quest for a favorite roll recipe.  I have been making the Weitzen Broetchen recipe posted on hanseata’s blog and nicely done in a video by Avioli  Breadlabs for quite some time to the delight of family and friends.  A local German master chef told me “these were the best buns he has had in a long long time since the old country”.  So thank you hanseata for the recipe.