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I've been baking rye sourdoughs over the last few days, for a special customer request. They turned out fairly nice, but I still have challenges with my rye starter staying strong enough to rise the bread properly. As a result some of them were a bit dense and wet (unlike the previous rye bake, where they rose nicely; not sure where the difference lies). Still fairly happy with them. From left to right they are:

Last week I posted my first run of the Hamelman Vermont SD as baguettes.  Quite happy with the results.  But a recent thread started by ifaey about problems with higher protein baguettes had me rethinking my own run.  

This bread was inspired by dabrownman and lucy’s “a special Saturday” sprouted multigrain bread (April 14). He commented on my 100% sprouted struan bread (April 16) and suggested I should try making this bread, since I wanted something with similar characteristics to the Vermont sourdough.

Hello everyone,

I have a question of this flour "  King Arthur Special Patent Flour " , which I found at local bakery supply wholesaler.

SPECIAL PATENT

12.7% Protein.50% AshMalted, Enriched

Well friends, I have had this appliance for a month or so now and LOVE it! Vacuum sealing food in plastic keeps it fresher, longer, saves space in my freezer and compared to double zip locked bags, I can actually see what is sealed and frozen.

My soft pull apart dinner rolls have stayed baking day fresh, shrink wrapped and frozen. You just need to stop the vacuum motor before it squishes the rolls, breads etc. What sold me on the product was the idea, I could re-heat my slow smoked BBQ pulled pork butt sous vide style. I comes out just like day one pulled pork.

40% W.W. English muffins

Hello friends, the aim for today’s experiment, will be to modify an existing recipe, (http://www.cooksrecipes.com/bread/english-muffins-recipe.html,) to create a formula for 40% W.W. English muffins.

Formula:

The Will Falzon method, 40% W.W. English muffins

Ingredients:

So, like an Icarus who flew too high too fast, long before he learned how to build an airplane, last weekend I got too cocky thinking that I could do variations of my own, without having to research proper recipes.  The result was two utterly lifeless loaves, which, albeit still edible, definitely wished they have never been baked at all. 

My starter is at day five, Slow-Moe2 is looking active and smelling delish! However, still far from a stable strong starter. I needed to bake something, quick bread was just the ticket! One spur of the moment Irish soda bread. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-products/a42756/irish-soda-bread-recipe/

Photo #1 - Good housekeeping recipe, Irish Soda bread.

Photo #2 - Slow-Moe2 at day five after 40g/40g/40g feeding. Such a happy little guy! 

I've made exciting progress on my 100% whole grain loaf (pain integral). This particular loaf is made from home-milled whole wheat (77%) and whole rye (23%), and 85% hydration (I also dusted it with some white flour). It's been my ambition since I started to bake naturally fermented bread to make whole grain loaves like this (with good oven spring, open crumb, pleasing taste, and hardy crust). I still have a lot of improvements I want to make but I know it's just a matter of time now :)

For as long as I've been an attendee at TFL University I continually see postings galore for both the Vermont SD and the Norwich SD.  Which, in an odd way, had me keep my distance from them both.  Until today.  Mr. Hamelman's Vermont SD is the first, foundational entry in his book's entire section of levain based breads, preceding even the venerable Pain au Levain entries.  I'd skipped over it before.