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I have romantic notions about pain de compagnon feeding agricultural crews. My grandfather was a farmer, and his dinner table routinely fed a dozen workers. There were usually about 4 - loaves of bread on the table, each weighing a pound. As a young man, I worked wheat harvest crews, but by then we used “combines “and there was less physical labor, but my mother insisted that I show my wife how to scythe, shock, flail, and winnow rye. That is real work, that brings one to the dinner table hungry. I always liked the idea of one, big, hearty loaf that would feed a dozen hungry workers.

I’ve been wanting to do a fruit and nut sourdough for sometime and decided my first bake of the year would be that time.  I’ve made raisin walnut commercially yeasted bread in the past so wanted to do something different, so chose cranberry walnut.  I started out thinking that would be follow Maurizio’s cranberry walnut sourdough recipe, but then got intimadated by his 88% hydration and also wanted to try lamination again.  So I sort os used his beginner sourdough recipe 78% hydration and added 10% dried cranberries and 10% lightly toasted walnuts.

Mixers returned to us, inspected, brand new and unused. Just the box has been opened. Limited quantities and colors. $550 PLUS shipping (no shipping if you come to our retail store). Price good while supplies last!

This is the results of Forkish's Overnight white bread

The directions state dough requires 12-14 hours bulk fermentation with a temp between 76ºF and 78ºF.

DOUGH STATISTICS

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DOUGH FORMULA

PRE MIX

I have a sudden fondness for coffee flavored baked goods lately. Nowadays, people pair cheese with not only wine and beer, but also coffee. Since wine, beer and coffee bread already exists, there’s no reason not to upgrade it by adding cheese, right? :)  

Coffee Provolone Piccante SD with 30% Sprouted Black Quinoa

Started making sourdough after reviving some starter a friend gave me.

This is the best 100% whole wheat bread that does not have any milk or fat added that my wife and I have ever eaten.

Yesterday, we finished off Monday’s bake with lunch, so I wanted to bake today.

On the levain feeding side of life: My 100% hydration AP levain was last fed on 08 Dec.  After two feedings yesterday, 07 Jan, it was quite happy again.  Posting these last two sentences to disseminate the knowledge that a well developed 100% AP levain in the back of the refrigerator can sustain a full month, at the least, without being fed, and spring back to life in a pair of feedings.

Our friend, who'd sampled a fair amount of my breads before, was joining us for lunch yesterday.  But she'd never had my ciabatta.

It was a cold blustery day, and I felt like some comfort food.  

Daniel Leader's book "Simply Great Breads" has a formula for yeast-raised fry bread.  

Years ago, I learned a simple way to make fry bread, without any leavening agent, just plain AP flour, salt, water, and powdered milk.  As the moisture steams/boils off, it sufficiently aerates the dough.  But I had forgotten the exact recipe.  Lightly dust with sugar while the oil is still wet on the fried bun.

 Cold temperature means the LAB are producing acetic acid (tang) and warm means the LAB are producing Lactic acid; Bran acts like a buffer, besides providing all the great minerals and vitamins, in the dough. Bran allows the LAB to continue to produce acid at pH levels that would normally shut down the LAB from producing acid at all. 84 F is the best temp for yeast to reproduce and 92 F is the best temperature for LAB reproduction. At 93 F yeast are reproducing at a restricted rate like it was 44F.