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A pretty loaf; more fluffy crumb and less sour than my Ultimate loaf, well-risen, excellent thinner crispy crust.  I suspect retarding overnight would increase the sour somewhat. 

60 grams 100% starter
180g water
300g high-gluten flour
6g salt

I just recently succeeded in completing a mother starter and so I've started to use it to make some sourdough. The first set of loaves came out rather dull looking but tasted quite good.

The second use of the loaves were exceedingly different.

http://chausiubao.deviantart.com/art/Pain-au-Levain-122190327

The starter was 14 days old, I expect it will get even better as it matures

I guess all the hard work and sleepless nights, even the dark circles under my eyes, are well worth it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33569048@N05/sets/72157617903700219/

Today, I baked a couple boules of Susan's "Ultimate Sourdough," a batch of Anis Bouabsa baguettes with sesame, sunflower and poppy seeds and a Polish Cottage Rye.

I've blogged about Susan's sourdoughs before. What else is there to say? I love both her "Original" and "Ultimate" sourdoughs. I can't say I prefer one over the other. The one I baked today was from Susan's recipe, but I left out the olive oil ... I think. At the moment, I can't recall whether I forgot it or not. Hmmmm ....

Today was just one of those days. That kind of day when any little thing that could go wrong does. But at the end of it, somehow, despite everything, I got some of the most gorgeous loaves I've ever gotten.

With a trip to disney and AP testing going on, there has been unfortunately no time in my life to bake, or at least to share my baking adventures. But some good things have come from this brief break:

1. I decided on a college! (I will be a freshman at Princeton University next fall) My tentative plan is to major in chemistry or chemical engineering and then do graduate study in Food Science (my cop out rather than going to culinary school)

I wanted to try one of Dan's breads for Mother's Day and thought his Double Raisin Bread with Toasted Walnuts sounded delightful!

Dan gives several options for making it: as a straight dough, as a pain au levain, and as a pain au levain with a little added yeast. I chose to make the bread without the addition of any yeast.

Something a little sweet for my daughter!  She loves brownies/chocolate. These small brownies are full of chocolate and sprinkled with a little expresso powder.

Terrible lighting for the photo..these really are  very dark chocolate.

M for Mandy!

More for the kids ;-D

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's,

Sylvia