Blog posts

I baked a couple of times last week.  Both were sourdoughs with a rye-fed stiff levain and approximately a 70% hydration, 50% whole wheat final dough.

Take 2 of Karin's challenge loaf almost ended in disaster, but turned out well.  I made more or less half of her Friesisches Schwartbrot recipe:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/18037/friesisches-schwarzbrot-friesian-rye

From the last whole grain multigrain SD bake with seeds and scald here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/35130/whole-multigrain-sd-bread-scald-seeds-and-more-aromatic-seeds

 we held back 60 g of the final dough before the scald was added to make some pizzas.

This month, Karen from the “brot and bread” blog was asking bakers on “the fresh loaf” to come together and try to recreate a special kind of multi grain artisanal bread that she has fallen in love with during her holidays in Germany. The sourdough bread was a very moist type of whole wheat bread with plenty of goodies inside.

This is the Ken Forkish recipe for Saturday bread.  I was very intimidated by a boule, but I went for it.  They are so gorgeous.  I halved the recipe since I do not yet have the 12 qt Cambro.  The recipe came out fine And the family loved it!

These baguettes were not as painful as they had been to make in the past. I handled them less and they did rise better than in the past.  The crumb was okay,no txfarmer style.  But, she has this down to a science.  The boys ate these up.  

  One of these days I will sprout my own whole wheat berries and grind them into flour, but for the time being I will use the KAF flour version.  The combination of the Sprouted Wheat flour along with the KAF European flour, spelt and potatoes made this a moist bread with a nice open crumb and chewy crust.

The KAF European Artisan flour is one of my favorites and contains a small amount of white whole wheat flour and comes in at 11.7% protein level which is ideal for artisan loaves.

Karen from Brot & Brad and the Fresh Loaf posted an exciting baking challenge to create a German style multi-grain rye bread called an Urbrot.  This was based on her recent trip to Germany while visiting Fredrick the Great's Sanssouci.  Please read her excellent write-up on her travels and a recap of all the challenge bakes from fellow TFL members here.

I baked this loaf usin the hybrid method as my family and Frds are very sensitive to sourness.

i added a pinch of yeast to shorten it's bulk fermentation time and increase the hydration to 70%. retart it in the fridge for the whole proof 6-7hours in the fridge.

the crumb Is soft and chewy. But I want it to be more open

This is one of the loaves I made yesterday. Sliced it about 1/2 inch thick, brushed it with a melted herb butter, and a light sprinkle of garlic salt, slid it under the broiler until it started to toast, and then pulled it out, dropped a pinch of a good, sharp, shredded cheddar, and put it back under the broiler until the cheese melted. Perfect when served with a good grilled steak!