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By adding some yeast to speed up my winter sourdough baking I received teriffic results. I used my Cuisinart 5 quart mixer for kneading and 8 inch proofing baskets.

White Levain Multigrain

270 grams H2O

¼ teaspoon (heaping) yeast

170 grams starter (100%)

460 grams flour

10 grams salt

1 cup mixed seeds/grains (add ¼ cup boiling water during autolyse)

Yesterday I very assertively backed my car into a snowdrift and my long-suffering neighbor came out and helped dig me out, yet again.   (My husband came out in the middle of all this and dug too but that's his job so no more about that.)   Anyhow, a situation like this calls for bread, and I didn't want to make some pointy-headed thing that only a bread enthusiast would enjoy so I searched through Hamelman and (drum roll please) found his Golden Raisin Bread.  

Hi,

In my blog entry Test Tube Baking [1]: White French Bread I investigated how the final proof  affects the outcome: Where does underproof end and where does overproof start, and what are the symptoms in the finished bread...

i just started making bread, so i bought some active dry yeast, as it was proofing it SMELLS like THE TASTE of my grandmothers bread but it did not taste like hers.

Sharon (fishers) posted [url=http://techno.boulangerie.free.fr/09-ReussirLeCAP/03-lesFormesEnVideo.html]this video series[/url] originally and we both felt it should be easily available to TFL members.  The series, entitled Formes de pains covers a variety of breads, either baguette- or batard-shaped originally, and demonstrates how to decoratively slash them as well.  It's a gold mine of both familiar and less familiar breads you would run across in a French market.

from my sourdough starter problems, I switched to commercial yeast breads for the weekend.  I've had "Crust and Crumb" out from the bookmobile for a while now, and thought these Peppery Polenta Crackerbread sounded good.  Turns out they are quite good!

I've been out of action for a while because my MacBook crash,  I couldn't manage my photos without my Mac,  and therefore have been busy baking, cooking,  taking pictures but not updating.

Enjoying the second Country Bread loaf made this weekend. I've got to admit, I'm a bit rusty. I've got to relearn when the preferment is at its peak, and when to end the second proof so that there's enough ummph for good oven spring. Still, the bread is tasty, thanks to Hamelman's formula.  Here are just a few pictures of the process. The first shows the dough ready for the initial, or bulk fermentation. You can see the gluten development in the second photo. By the way, I proof doughs directly on the kitchen counter on a thin coat of oil.