Spring is finally here so along with grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and steak it was time to crank up the grill and make some pizza.
My pizza set-up allows me to get the temperature over 700 degrees. I'm not sure how hot is really get since my thermometer only goes to 700 degrees so I would say it's probably closer to 800 or higher.
The absorption necessary to produce this soft loaf was relatively high, at 82%. This is the second loaf that I have made with Bob's Red Mill stone ground whole wheat flour. I used 78% absorption on the first run, which caused excessive loading on the mixer. Water was added to bring the absorption up to 80½%, which still resulted in a somewhat dry crumb.
This loaf was (of course) made with the re-mixed straight dough method. Here are a few more observations on dough mixing and re-mixing:
We decided to grind up some more whole grains to feed then 15% extraction to this Levain Beast. It loved the hard bits and doubled in less than an 2 hours again as we pulled out 100 g to make the naan.
I am new to this site so hello to all! I have been baking bread for a long time, but I am seriously trying to get into it more, learn about it and try out lots of different things. I have just signed up to here, got a lot of books in my wish list on Amazon waiting for pay day at the end of the month, and have been reading a great magazine that you can find here: http://bread.insanelyinterested.com/issue/issue-1/ The additions are free from 2012, and then look a reasonable price for 2013 and current editions.
I'm upping the ante to two bakes a week. One to trade at market and one to sell and raise money for more ingredients/pay bills while I try to find my own "spot". I figured I must give this formula its due and remake with proper hydration. I made one other change based on the flavor profile of the "botched" batch and split the whole wheat half Hard Red Winter and half Hard White Winter. I also added a longer autolyse. The previous loaf was a fine sammi bread but it had a bitter finish and these changes were to help that aspect.
Lucy has wanted to make some of these fine rolls ever since she saw them here
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38178/sacaduros
But ours didn’t open up like they were supposed to at the folds over the chunk of butter You are supposed to use a lower hydration sort of white hearth bread for these rolls but we used our recent 8 whole grain mix using the 85% extraction for the dough flour.
Looking for a seasonal specialty for my customers at A&B Naturals, I came upon an Italian Christmas bread, Pinza, that, after crossing the border to Austria, switched holidays - and turned into Easter bread, Pinze.
After a solemn blessing in the church, this lovely Styrian Easter bread (often adorned by a red egg, and cut three times, to symbolize the Holy Trinity) is served with the meat on Easter Sunday.
I have had lots of fun tinkering with this recipe. Today, I reduced the rye content again, added flax seeds and sprinkled in some sesame seeds. Still working on my shaping, but the bread was tasty. My husband really liked it. 
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I am coming "home" for the first time since 1990 along with family, and we are hoping to spend a few days in Devon - we lived in Ideford before coming to America. I am hoping some of our English TFL members might be able to recommend a vacation cottage we could rent as a center to explore Devon. There will be five of us, three adults and two teenaged girls, and while I don't mind sharing a room with the girls this old Nana thinks two bathrooms would be nice. Looking forward to clotted cream, pork pies - and any bakery suggestions would be lovely, A.
