Blog posts

Firstly, thanks to Yippee on whose blog post this is based, and to other CLAS enthusiasts on this forum eg Ilya Flyamer, who have encouraged me to have a go.

hi Fresh Loafers 

I have started an at home bagel business and I have reach the point that I think my bagels are pretty great. All but the cinnamon raisin. They’re a disaster. I hate making them and I cannot figure out why they fail most of the time. 
the picture below is of the recipe I follow for my regular bagels. The process I use is a knead then rest for five minutes then shape then proof outside the fridge for between 30 to 90 minutes then slow proof in the fridge over night. 

Botched scoring but flavour and crust very nice on both. Ok, botched shaping on sticks too. 

A fun bake. Followed recipe from JH's 'Bread' to a T but baked boule in cast iron pot.  

Very nice bread, completed from converting the wheat sourdough starter to an active rye starter to out of the oven in less than 12 hours. The bread is soft and mildly sweet. The perfect vehicle for a nice spreadable butter, low lighting, and conversation! The flour makeup for this bake (for all intents and purposes) checks all the boxes for the C.B. clocking in at 48.3% whole stone-ground rye. 

I haven’t been able to definitively find out what the difference between shokupan and Hokkaido milk bread is.  What I think is correct is that shokupan has less sweetness to it than Hokkaido milk bread.  If that is the case then I think my recent formulas for Hokkaido milk bread with the decreased sugar probably are more like a shokupan.  For this bake I wanted to know whether or not I really needed the VWG in the dough or not.  I also decided that I would also shape differently for shokupans than Hokkaido milk breads to further differentiate them by look.

Baked my weekly 50% wholegrain baguette this morning per following spec:

25% wholegrain red fife from Breadtopia

25% WW from Bob's Red

50% bread flour from KA

77% hydration

Did a Biga preferment with all the flours for 24 hours in my 55-degree F basement

0.2% instant yeast

2% salt

Mix with a spiral mixer for about 25 min

Dough temp was consistently kept at around 80-degree F throughout the process

Bulk ferment for about 2.5 hours starting from the mixing, pre-shape, final shape, and final proof within another 1.5 hours

Another everything but the kitchen sink bread. A friend of mine suggested these add-ins so here we are!

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Add-ins

200 g mixed sliced olives

225 g old cheddar cheese, grated

27 g fresh chopped scallions

2 tsp minced garlic in oil

Main Dough

100 g freshly milled Selkirk wheat flour 

100 g freshly milled rye flour 

100 g freshly milled Red Fife wheat flour 

775 g unbleached strong bakers flour

I am not sure what to think of this sandwich rye loaf. Honestly, I am disappointed. That being said, the hard crust and dense yet soft crumb taste so good with a pad of butter. At 79% whole rye, not a brick at all. Please see below, I posted some photos of my method as well as my doctored formula. The link to the translatable original formula is also included. 

 I am always open to constructive comments. Thanks for stopping by.

Kind regards,

 Will F. 

Made another bread with all ruchmehl - a Swiss "semi whole" wheat flour. Used some quite old unfed rye starter from the fridge (maybe around 25 g?), 450 g ruchmehl, 330 g warm water, 11 g salt. Mixed with a hand mixer and spiral attachments until moderate gluten development. Did three folds about 30 min apart, then left at around 28ºC for a few hours, until nicely grown and airy. Preshaped, and then shaped into a batard, left to final proof overnight on the balcony. Baked in the morning on steel 230ºC around 15 min with steam, then 210ºC without steam until good colour.