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TFL'ers bakes list...  Week #3.  This week's bake was inspired by Abe's Dip and Dab Polenta Sourdough.  Plan A was to follow this bake as described.  However, I had a great pour of bourbon last week with a friend who's into it a bit.  That led to a discussion on what it takes for a whiskey to be classified a bourbon.  One of those "rules" is that the mash has to be >51% corn.  In addition, this was a high rye bourbon.  And...  An idea was born.

Recently I changed from Robin Hood Bread flour to Anita’s Organic All Purpose flour.  I did a flour stress test and found that Anita’s is more extensible than Robin Hood, however, I’ve discovered in my past couple of bakes that it cannot absorb as much water.  In this bake I’ve reduced the hydration of this formula from 80 to 76%.  I did a bake of this formula that came out flat.  At first I thought it was over proofed, since I’ve been pushing proofing, but when I sliced it open it showed no signs of overproofing so my feeling is that it was over hydrated.

I've been making variations on this loaf for years starting from this recipe from txfarmer. With my tiny pan I've been able to pick up the pace often baking every 2 or 3 days. 

I've now got something that I really enjoy. It is soft, sour, strong enough for thin slices, and tastes great. Besides all that it is easy to make. I've even quit using my mixer. 

May 6, 2021.

10:35 am. Mix (by hand/spatula) to homogeneity:  (Thank you, Mariana, for that phrase.)

A former owner of our home had this BBQ enclosure built by the back patio. We never wanted to use it for it's originally intended purpose, because we didn't want bbq smoke etc accumulating on the painted ceiling of the patio cover. My very talented husband ran power out to it, and now I have an official summer kitchen. Just the thing for baking in the hot AZ summer! I did a test bake today. 

Two words I had never thought of stringing together before yesterday.  

But just for the fun of it I hand mixed the Bouabsa dough at its normal 75% hydration with it's quite low iDY at 0.16%.  Modifying the remainder of the method, the dough was BF'ed for ~100 minutes with "ciabatta-like" folds in the vessel at 30 60 & 90 minutes.  Then off to retard for ~20 hours.

i recently mentioned the need to get a new donor starter as mine was unreliable and was destined for the compost tumbler. Several member of the local bread enthusiasts group kindly offered me some of theirs. i chose someone close by  and put it to work straight away. i decided to mix the dough well and do the bulk ferment undisturbed for its entirety. Things didnt go quite to plan and a family emergency meant the dough was needing to be retarded, i chose the back verandah as the nights have been getting cool and i didnt want fridge temps.

For my reference-so that I'll remember which is which. Hope it's useful to you, too. 

I remember clearly when I wrote down the ingredient list that I was to use coconut milk in this bread. But I mixed 2% milk instead 🤦🏻‍♀️ Still it came out as a fragrant tasty bread! I braided the 5-strand loaf too tightly too.