Alan posted delicious looking cinnamon raisin batards (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/60371/maurizios-cinnamon-raisin-levain-baguettes) so I had to jump on the bandwagon too. I scaled up the original recipe from Maurizio to make three boules of my usual size which is usually around 1100 g of flour.
The challenge for this weekend: Vollkornbrot from Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread. This is one of my favorite recipes because it’s surprisingly low maintenance for rye bread, and the results are fantastic.
My weekly bake this week, and I decided to go back to my favorite flour mix - 10% WW, 10% Semolina, and 5% Rye. Of course, the WW % is actually higher since I feed my starter with WW flour, but you get the idea! :) I tried very hard to be as gentle as possible with my stretching, folding, and I like the results thus far (still cooling, so haven't cut into them.) In particular, I think these loaves seemed to hold their shape after being removed from the bannetons better than any loaves I have made before. Here are the particulars, and some pics.....
I have 4 bins of "wheat" in the pantry. They are all fresh from the vendor, at a moisture content of ~11%. If I take samples of each, mill them, and mix each sample to the same hydration, the result will range from a "brick" (Kamut) to "soup" (spelt).
A basic sourdough, Rye, WW, Bread flour.. then bagelized.
I fed my starter, and, at peak, instead of discarding it, I saved it in a jar to use as a "levain" the next day.
This was the resulting bake.
Let the oven heat up at 500F for about 1 hour before throwing the bread in.
This was my second attempt at making bread. I replaced 20% of the four with whole wheat. I had trouble getting the bread to split naturally during the bake.
This was my first attempt at making bread
After making tortilla pizza a coupe of times we decided to go the other way with this one. Too hot for pizza made indoors, so we decide the gas grill, with a stone, was the way to go for Sicilian Pan Pizza. SPP isn’t like thick crust Chicago style pan pizza but it isn’t thin crust pizza we love so much either – it is more like focaccia with pizza toppings.
For the longest time, provolone equaled provolone dolce to me. I use it as a sharper alternative to mozzarella. Only until recently, it’s aged cousin, provolone piccante was introduced to me. Oh what had I missed! Provolone piccante is true to its name: pungent, salty and just full of flavors. I’d even go as far as to compare it with 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano!
Provolone Piccante Fennel Seed SD with 30% Sprouted Kamut
