It's been a busy couple weeks since I've posted. Two notable things have happened: Louis has been misbehaving, and I took a brioche/challah class.
Dec 4th: I can't remember what this was, but I'm guessing a 50% whole wheat overnight boule.
I noticed last time I went to a large retailer that the KitchenAid attachment to grind grain was on sale for $30. I had 20 percent off coupons. I knew that wasn’t going to work well, but I thought that if I made 10 loaves of bread it would not be such a bad investmenI am now a convert. Although it was a clunky noisy machine that works slow Lee
Today I experimented with a recipe from the Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook that I borrowed from the library. Jim Lahey’s techniques are very different from anything I have done before. Besides his method for propagating a biga, I tried his high speed mixing technique. I think it worked quite well, but I am waiting for it to cool enough to cut into it.
Since we are all about the bread....
Coming in at 65% fresh milled high extraction Durum flour, this one is bursting with flavor. The addition of the porridge and ricotta cheese takes it over the top.
This is the perfect bread for some home made tomato "gravy" and or grilled with some good olive oil and melted cheese.
On October 12, 2009 you could have bought 55,000 bitcoins for a whopping $55.22 using PayPal from Sirius. Today you would have $1 Billion - with a B. Never ,in the history of mankind, has so much wealth been created so fast by doing so little. This explains why all the naysayers are so horribly wrong about the times we live in today. Never ever, at any time in the 4.6 billion years that the earth has existed ,has it been so great and wonderful to be alive ......as it is today.
Finally, I achieved what I've been struggling toward for some time; 100% wholewheat bread which is pillow soft and tasty. A big step was receiving The Bread Bible for my birthday recently - while I haven't tried any of her recipes (which all seem to use white flour, with the odd dash of wholewheat) the explanation of techniques has made a big difference.
So, the ingredients, which are similar to what I've been using to date:
This is different from the traditional challah. From a baker's perspective, the sprouted wheat challah has many things going for it. The use of sprouted wheat and there is no other flour to help or mask its true nature. It is enriched with only egg yolks, producing a tender and creamy crumb. Lastly, no butter is added, making it suitable for a kosher diet. I think the store-bought sprouted wheat flour shines and finds its true expression in the making of this challah loaf, a recipe from Bread Revolution by Peter Reinhart.
Here is my fruit and nut sourdough.... not the rise I wanted as I meant to retard it only overnight but totally forgot it was in my fridge! Got home from work to a very over-proofed dough, however, the crumb and the taste were still pretty good.
450g white bread flour
50g wholewheat flour
100g levain
350g water
50g walnuts
50g pecans
50g hazlenuts
100g raisins
