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Time for Easter so that means a fruit bread is “de rigueur”. I tweaked and adapted a version that I made for Canadian Thanksgiving back in October.

Makes 3 loaves

Levain

148 g bread flour (I used a combo of spelt bran and sifted flour as well as bread flour)

118 g water

30 g starter

Porridge

125 g large flake oats

25 g oat bran (combo of oat bran and spelt bran)

345 g water

75 g plain yogurt

Main dough

633 g unbleached flour

17 g vital wheat gluten

I’m recently on a Japanese kick which you may be able to tell after my recent bake of seaweed shio koji bagels. Miso’s always been one of my favorite condiments. I use them not only for roasting veggies and marinating all kinds of protein, but also for mixing up a savory salad dressing or tossing with pasta so needless to say, it’s my broth base of choice for ultra rich ramen. Incorporating miso into bread seems to be a pretty good idea so why not give it a go?

I have to admit, my love for sourdough and whole grain happened more recently, bagel is the one that stole my heart first. I love it for its chewy and doughy texture that’s much more satisfying than an airy slice of sandwich bread. It’s therefore not difficult to predict at all that I gradually switched from white sandwich bread to more hearty whole wheat bread and finally to whole grain sourdough. My love for bagels still lingers, though after all the flavorful whole grain sourdough, they might taste slightly less exciting.

I suppose that I know I am jaded.  I got some half decent bread at City Market in Houston for 5 weeks.  It said it was sourdough and it looked OK on the outside but it wasn’t like any sourdough that Lucy and I make at home.  It didn’t look the same on the inside.  But it wasn’t 25% sprouted 6 grains using a 10% bran levain made from a NMNF rye starter either.

Majority of the heavy work and projects for the mid of the semester were done, I just have to compile them in a portfolio so now I can relax and prepare for exams and do some heavier baking/cooking. Still, I can't function well during hectic times without making bread so for a forced "bake", I made a simple bread: steamed buns; can be cooked indoors in under 20 minutes. I made this about 2 weeks ago when our professors were mad giving projects after projects, just before going to class.

I saw someone post a Granola Sourdough which looked pretty good so I threw 60 grams of granola into my standard recipe to see how it would come out. I was pretty impressed as the granola added a good subtle flavor and texture which I really liked.... I will be experimenting more with this soon. 

450 grams strong white bread flour

50 grams wholewheat

100 grams starter

10 grams salt

60 grams granola

325 grams water

How about the Anglo-Italian fusion for Easter: a combination of hot cross buns and panettone? Yes, I know, there's the properly Italian colomba di pasqua and I've made it too, but my bunettones are just a bit of fun.

I used a sourdough starter but didn't go through the faff of lievito madre, getting up at four in the morning etc., like I did back at Christmas time. Not orthodox, but ordinary, lively 100% wheat sour starter seemed to work well.

after seeing some lovely cut/stencilling by ana a.negra, I decided to try it myself.  I've always wanted to make sea weed bread, so I thought I'd do the two together. 

I live near the coast where dulce seaweed is harvested, so I swapped some bread for fresh seaweed from the local cockle man.  The seaweed took two days to dry in my oven, then I blitzed it into flakes.  I've made a low hydration dough here as I thought the cutting will be easier, which it was.

20% Canadian white

65% bacheldre a local flour 12% protein

5% light rye

that are perfectly ripe.  Made a tomato, fresh basil, cracked black pepper, tangerine balsamic vinegar, manzanilla olive oil, mini fresh mozzarella ball and parmesan cheese salad.

This is my second attempt at a similar bread.  I wanted to use my new Apple/Orange Yeast Water to make a Levain for this bread and not use any other sour dough levain.  When I did this a few weeks ago I didn't let the levain ripen long enough and the dough didn't develop correctly.  This time I let the levain go for a good 12 hours and then refrigerated and used it the next day.  No problem this time with developing the dough correctly.