Blog posts

trying out my first loaf from hamelman's bread - whole wheat levain. Made some variations as I dont have a decent mixer and did 4 sets of stretch and folds within 2 hours and 15 minutes bulk rise. Added an autolyse of 1 hour too.

I based this loaf on Ken Forkish's 50% whole wheat bread with biga. Instead of 50% whole wheat I made this 40% whole wheat and 10% rye. The hydration is 80%. 

I am very pleased with the result. A nice open crumb and light texture considering the high percentage of whole grain flours. I also love the deep color of the crust, which is shatteringly crisp. 

Thanks to David for posting his take on this loaf. An amazing bread indeed. I happen to have a lot of durum flour so I did incorporate some into the formula David posted. I actually used it in 2 ways. My starter is fed only with durum and I added durum flour for 1/2 of the WW that David used. I also only had 9" pans. I was concerned as the bread volume didn't rise above the pans during the 4 hour rise...but whoa did it ever rise in the oven. I baked at 400 for 38 min to 205.

I've been lurking on this website for awhile, and decided it was finally time to woman-up and try some of the techniques that I've seen.

No, not a chilly winter, at least not here in Florida where it remains delightful through the winter months.  But rather a chilly twist to my proofing stage.  My kitchen runs warmer than many, and proving my baguettes can be a bit of a coin toss at times.  Anywho, a few bakes ago, when I split my Field Blend #2 dough into a DO boule and two gros baguettes, I decided to retard the shaped baguettes in the refrigerator for the proofing step.  Mr. Forkish suggests baking this dough, albeit as a DO boule, right out of the refrigerator, so who am I to disagree?

This is my Tartine "Basic Country Bread" with original recipe...

Recipe:

- 450 gr APF

- 50 gr Whole WF

- 375 gr Water  (%75 Bakery percentage)

-100 gr Starter (%100 Hydration)

- 10 gr Salt

Whole water  percentage is %77.2.. That is original recipe from the "Tartine Book"...

Last week it was so cold I spent a lot of time making kefir cheeses and web surfing.  Found a site that used kefir as a sourdough starter so I decided to give it a try.  Followed the starter directions and looked for a recipe online to make a loaf.  Found a blog site that had pictures so I followed it.  I produced two loaves - boules - that had some flavor but the texture was extremely lacking.  I decided to pursue an actual sourdough starter and basic sourdough bread so I hit the library.  I have a culture in progress and needed something to do while it mature

First post!

We tried to bake a 100% whole grain spelt SD with spelt sprouts at 100% hydration in September 2012.  The bread was a success on the inside for flavor and crumb but the outside was a disaster.... a flattish boule, commonly known as a Rustic Frisbee to be kind.  The half good, half bad bake from 2012 can be found here: 100% Whole Spelt Sourdough at 100% Hydration

It's been a weird few weeks in central North Carolina. We're not used to seeing this much snow here -- especially not this close to March!

This week in particular has been particularly rough. Long story short, I had planned a few different bakes for mid-week, only to be hit with two consecutive snow storms, the second of which led to an extended power outage.