Alnwick Food Festival
22nd and 23rd September 2012
I spent much of last week baking and preparing myself for the challenges and opportunities opening up from this local food festival, now in its 8th year; http://www.alnwickfoodfestival.co.uk
I have been wanting to try the Tangzhong method for a while when I want soft, fluffy bread. I also was very impressed with txfarmer's demonstrations of kneading technique to get soft and fluffy (and everything else she does!). I finally got around to it. I made up the Tangzhong yesterday and put in fridge overnight. There are good videos of this process on youtube, but it is easy. Just 5 parts water, 1 part flour (by weight) and medium heat, stirring till it thickens (149 degrees F).
Note: I had posted this on TFL's forum (Photos & Photography). However, I'm posting it again as a blog entry in case there are those of you who might be interested but missed my post.
This is my third take on Peter Reinhart’s Multigrain Struan from his excellent book” “Whole grain breads”. My first two bakes were on stone, but this one is in a Pan. I have made few changes:
1 – Doubled the recipe to fit two Pans: 1kg, and 700 gr. (The loaf shown is the 1 Kg)
2 – Used only white sourdough starter for the Biga.
2 – Added 113g White Bread flour to the final dough, not whole Wheat flour.
Day 3 - The last day of the Conference - as I arrived, was happy to be greeted by dew-kissed apples in the orchard, 
and another beautiful, sunny breakfast :^) 
I have baked and baked. Through a long winter I baked. Early mornings in my cold dark kitchen I baked. Every weekend I baked. For my friends I baked. For my family I baked … it was the same bread that I baked.
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1971, when I was a student, I traveled with my best friend, Andrea, through England, Cornwall and Wales. We didn't have a fixed itinerary, we just followed our nose to places we had read or heard about.
We didn't stay in hotels (only once, and that was as dusty as it was expensive), we preferred B&Bs, always looking for interesting old buildings. We slept in grand manor houses, rustic inns, cozy farm houses, and even a water mill from the sixteenth century.
Another gorgeous day for the Skagit Valley, and a sunlit breakfast waiting for us as we arrived for Day 2 :^)
…and, if you wished, you could have pie for breakfast! 
***
I've been absent from TFL for about a month. I had a rotator cuff injury that kept me out of the kitchen. Then a couple busy weekends. So I've only baked once or twice in the last 5 weeks, and didn't take any photos.
This weekend, we were home and I had time to bake. I decided to try Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough with Whole Wheat for the first time. A very nice bread. As you can see, I baked boldly. Thick crust and tender crumb. Very wheaty flavor. It would be a good base for a seed bread.
