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After some time without baking I am back with a repeat formula based on a mix of bread flour, whole wheat and durum. Roughly 180g bread flour, 80 g whole wheat and 40 g durum. The levain contained 15% of the total flour and the total hydration was 75%. The room temperature was about 16C. I built the levain the night before and processed the dough during the day. Below is the crumb shot.

Wish you happy baking in the new year.

Per our tradition, we welcomed in the new year with pizza, once again made the ‘killer grill’ way.  We no longer make pizza in the oven because it just doesn’t get hot enough and the pies are inferior in every way.

To start the year, I baked one of the most difficult yet luxurious Filipino breads, Ensaymada! It originated from the Mallorcan Ensaimada but the Filipino ones are very different from its ancestor that someone said they should go by a completely different name. The Ensaimada Mallorquina was more like a croissant, flaky and laminated with lard; the Filipino Ensaymada (Notice the use of a masculine adjective for a feminine noun and different adjective placement?) is brioche like, a soft rich bread. Our ancestors have really made it our own.

I scored a wondermill for 30$! 

We have a kitchen aid one but I don't like how hot it gets. When I saw this I had to snap it up! I am going to experiment in the next few days 

yay! 

As I am on a long holiday vacation now and school starts again just after the New Year, I decided to use this opportunity to make some viennoiseries before the year ends.

I made some sourdough pains au chocolat in my new oven to celebrate 2018 and the New Year. We are just minutes away from 2019 here! I have received so many blessings this year: from passing the board exam, becoming a licensed professional teacher, having a highly rewarding profession in many aspects, to having a new oven; I have so much to thank for and words are not enough to thank the Lord!

I've made bread with cider before and always like the sweet flavor it imparts.  I decided to add some roasted white sweet potato to this one and it really helped create a super moist crumb.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how moist this crumb turned out.  The flavor was fantastic and this bread is the perfect sandwich bread for some pastrami or any deli meat.

Please note, white sweet potato is not as sweet as the orange type and the water content is less so if you use them instead, you need to adjust your hydration accordingly.

My wife complains that I never make her simple white bread so to be nice a few weeks ago I made my version of a "simple" white sandwich bread.  I had to sneak in some whole wheat of course and added Ricotta Cheese to help make it nice and soft like she prefers.

I used 1085 grams of the dough for the loaf pan and make a couple of rolls with the left-over dough.  Probably could have used all of it in the pan and it would have worked out fine.

The temperature for bread baking seems to vary greatly.

Some recipes recall for 230º C others 250º, some for 225º C some 220ºC, some recall for two different temperatures. A higher one on the first 10min and later lower temperature for the rest of the bake.

https://www.landwatch.com/default.aspx?ct=D&pid=333007320&mltmid=23111

Cedar Mountain’s Grass Roots Bread - Mixer Version