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For our dinner party tonight we will be seeing from friends from Fort Lauderdale Florida who we won’t see very often anymore since we sold our apartment there.  So I had a busy baking weekend to ensure that they have a good meal at our place.  I have made this cake once before, but having made this once, I made some improvements on it.

This is the best sourdough focaccia that I’ve baked.  Over the years the few times I’ve baked focaccia, a majority of the time I’ve either had too much or too little dough.  In retrospect, I think I’d been underfermenting as well.  For my 9x13” pan I made 750 g of dough and allowed it to ferment until it had a total rise of 170% which is far more than I have in the past.  Without having sliced it to peer at the crumb, this is the best looking focaccia out of my oven with nice big bubbles and I think the right thickness.

Made with fresh milled durum and Star Dust whole wheat. I added some Italian-style fresh ricotta for softness and some honey for a little sweetness.

Pecans were chopped roughly and added at the end of mixing. I probably should have laminated the pecans in which would have distributed them more evenly, but I chose to be lazy :).

I was once again out of bread so needed another loaf.  I decided to work on my 50% whole wheat sourdough pan loaf again but increase the hydration to 81% which is higher than I usually go with a loaf of this composition.   I’m not sure it made any difference to the crumb, but I’m happy with the loaf nonetheless. Now I don’t know about you, but I find it challenging to score a pan loaf so I tried something a bit different.  I did the usual of brushing water on the top and applying the pansies.  I then baked it without steam for 5 mins.

Made with fresh milled spelt and whole wheat. I mashed some steamed potatoes, added olive oil, truffle cheddar cheese, and finished them on my smoker. I also added some homemade Greek yogurt for some extra softness.

For ever I have resisted getting involved with sourdough, maintaining a starter, waiting hours upon hours for a loaf of bread. I don't view commercial yeast as inferior in any way, and probably more consistently reliable. Besides, I like only sourdough that is mild, so no good reason to get dragged in.

A friend gave me some starter which I've been using for English muffins and bagels, along with a bit of ady. Time to try a 100% sourdough loaf. Pullman the first day, round top the second. They turned out fine. No epiphany, no conversion though.

I've recently had a few great bakes that had glutinous rice flour in them and it seemed that it assisted with a strong oven spring, especially if cooked first as a roux (tangzhong/yudane).

To understand it further, let's look at an experimental bake of four small breads (each with 500g of dough and each where 5% of the flour was a rice flour):

I sliced my finger good on the sharp edge of the Pullman cover.

Most excellent results. Not as perfectly squared as some I see here. Very nice just the same. 

The bake time @ 425°F 45 minutes. The same as yesterday.