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Last week I tried my hand at the Hamelman Semolina Levain bread with 125% bread flour liquid levain.  With semolina coarse grain #1 used instead of the powdery durum, for experimentation.  And it worked out, mostly just fine.  But the flavor just wasn't grabbing me.  Hence take 2 here has a few changes, while keeping everything else the same.  

I decided to do another bake with a higher hydration so used 775 grams of flour with 600 grams of water so 77% hydration and really pleased with the results. It resulted in a softer lighter crumb with various sized holes. All in all a delicious tasting bread and texture. This novice baker is feeling happy!

Since I baked earlier in the week, I decided to simplify my weekend and make a yeast bread that would not tie me to the kitchen for most of the day. Flipping through FWSY, I settled on the 50% Wholewheat with Bigga. 

My simple favorite: Norwich SD made w T65 and Rye (~10%).  Spontaneous compliments from my hubby, son and future daughter in law.

Okay, so I’m 3 days late for homemade bread day, but this is the soonest I could get a loaf baked this week.

My last bake was a butternut squash loaf, and I really enjoyed it. This time I wanted to try something a little different.

Formula:

I realized that baking bread only once or twice a month was doing a disservice to my beautiful, bright teal Kitchenaid. Sure, it makes a mean cake and yeah, it is awesome for pulled pork or shredded rotisserie chicken, but the main reason the hubby bought it for me was because I would pine for a mixer to make bread. So, I am reading recipes, watching YouTube videos, and trying to conquer my fear of kneading. I know that "the bestest" bread is made by hand, but the few times I attempted it, all I got for my efforts were aching wrists, and bread so tough and chewy it was basically inedible.

I hope this is not late for homemade bread day. There was no internet connection for several days, finally there is a connection now. I may not post for a while because our internet service provider scheduled a wide repair and maintenance, we're not sure if we will be affected. I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, the connection could be cut off anytime! I will surely repeat this bread and make a more "dramatic" post in the future. I missed uncle Dab's Mandela challenge last time and I don't want to miss this one now.

This has been a challenge in so many ways. Yesterday was the first chance all week to bake.

Friday am built my  levain

100 g refreshed 100% starter

100 g water

30 g wholewheat

70 gm higrade flour

Friday mid afternoon made hot water soaker with grains

20 g black chia

25 g sesame seed

54 g pumpkin seed (all I had)

50 g sunflower seed

34 g kibbled rye

11 g salt and 310 g hot water.

I love Jeffrey Hamelman's book Bread!  It offers many recipes that could qualify as my favorite, so I just don't bother to choose. Often, what I bake is driven by how much time I have, and for Homemade Bread Day I did not have a lot of time.  Because of that, I chose Country Bread.  It uses a biga that provides 50% pre-fermented flour for flavor, but also includes only a short prep cycle that fit my schedule.

Hi, fellow TFL members, old and new!

I've been meaning to write about my career change, and where it has lead me, but I have been too occupied with settling my family and was lazy to post anything.