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Susan, I baked "our" bread today and got the best looking loaf so far - I used my stone and huge ss mixing bowl because the dough stuck to the smaller bowl a couple of times. I also realized that I have been too impatient with the dough and found the perfect cure - sew a quilt at the same time! No pacing back and forth watching the timer, no stretching it before the 30 minutes was up. I let it sit on the little propane heating stove to warm up this morning as the pilot light gives a gentle heat. I was so thrilled with the loaf and had it sitting on the bread board covered with a cloth when the family arrived for supper. They all duly admired it and my son started to cut it for all to try. As he got to the center there were two huge holes, and you can imagine how I got teased. They weren't at the crust like the lazy baker ones but they were big enough for the girls to pretend they were spectacles. However, the flavor was wonderful and there is only one measly slice left for me, plus the crust stayed crisp. They polished off the pasta too - time was when there would have been another meal for Nana. I have been thinking about the exciting times you have had lately, first the tunnel fire when you were in Cambria and now the wild fires - are you ready to retire to the soggy northwest yet? A.

My first attempt failed, but this second one was much better.

Thom Leonard's Country French

The first time I was baking six loaves (3 different recipes, 2 loaves each) on one day, and I wasn't quite with it (tired). I did not take care of the dough well enough, I suppose. It took way to long to ferment and rise, and as a result was over proofed. When I slashed it, it collapsed, and never quite recovered in the oven. It was still quite edible with some soup though! 

So, back to the drawing board. Second time around I made sure I had a good gluten window. This time around I also did a longer autolyse, and waited to add the salt until much later. I did three folds along the way during the bulk ferment. Finally, I made sure I shaped a good really tight boule. The effort paid off. I had a minor collapse during slashing, but probably more due to me trying to slash "assertively". It came back just fine in the oven!

Thom Leonard's Country French Crumb

The crumb was nice, and the crust incredible. The taste was very complex and very sweet. Only a hint of sour. I baked this as an almost 3 pound loaf, so I did use only about 55 minutes of baking time, rather than the 70 minutes suggested for the 4 pound version. Internal temperature was 210F. I did not have high-extraction flour. Last time I did an approximation by sifting coarse whole wheat flour, but the bread came out a lot darker than it should. This time I used a fine whole wheat mixed with regular bread flour (Giusto's Ultra Performance). To keep the color down I used 50% whole wheat and 50% white whole wheat (both KA). 

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures 

When I read about changing my password this morning, I kept expecting to sign in by repeating the old password twice (like all automatic pilots do) and then brought to a page where I sign in my new password twice--but oddly, having a password that has 10 letters of odd caps and including two vowels only made me wonder if I were in 9th grade typing class again. It didn't help to be told to place a new password in the second box, when the old one was only 4 minutes old! A four minutes in existence password isn't old enough to be called old! Maybe former?

I am going to be asking people to discover kudzu and Juanita Baldwin who has explored the nutritional benefits of kudzu with labs and explore making breads with kudzu. This is important because of the protein and flavonoid content, fiber, as well as being a famine food. For anyone who knows a Great Depression survivor who didn't live on a farm, there will be no argument about this path I am exploring.

I have made yeast bread once in my life (not including the beer bread) and ducks wouldn't couldn't shouldn't eat it. A year wouldn't disintigrate it in Jacksonville, Florida in the front yard during rain, snow (1989 it snowed on Christmas Eve) and other weather.

 Kudzu Kwestions Charlotte:     http://kudzus.blogspot.com

I was sent the password from Hades, I think!

Can one make bread with Durham wheat. Have any of you tried it? I think it may make for chewy crumb.

Thanks

Can anyone help me?  I am new to bread baking nad want to bake a successful whole wheat loaf without resorting to a mix with bread flour. I have not been very successful using Reinhart's whole wheat recipe in his book.  I began by following the recipe to the letter.  I have added gluten to the poolish and the dough and still get a lackluster loaf.  I use bulgar wheat as the soaker.  I have laso tried spent grain.  The dough barely rises to the lip of the pan and then drops some when it bakes.  The taste is acceptable.  Are my expectations too high?

• World Bread Day '07 - The roundup - part 1 (A-F)
  Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France
• World Bread Day '07 - The roundup - part 2 (G-I)
  Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy
• World Bread Day '07 - The roundup - part 3 (J-S)
  Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saudia Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
• World Bread Day '07 - The roundup - part 4 (T-Z)
  UK, USA

After several busy weekends when there wasn't much time for bread baking, I had a nice leisurely weekend when I could experiment with baking some loaves from Daniel Leader's Local Breads. The two small loaves on the left are Meteils au Bleu (Little Bue Cheese Rye Loaves), a very mild and moist rye (made with a white starter) chock full of a regional blue cheese called bleu d'Auvergne. The volcanic looking boulder in the back is Pane Casareccio di Genzano that Zolablue and Bwraith both discussed a few weeks back, a very large open crumb pagnotta style bread. The seeded rye in the front is Chleba, Light Silesian Rye, and the boule on the right is Pain de Campagne, one of my favorite breads. A lovely weekend it was, baking my way through France, Italy and Poland.

Finally had a chance to do one of Peter Reinhart's recipes, from Whole Grain Breads.  Did the multi-grain struan, since that's his signature bread.  Here's the result, lightly dusted with black sesame seeds.  Tastes as good as it looks! 

Alan 

here's the recipe I followed:

Whole grains:

            Barley

            Millet

            Quinoa

            Oat flakes

            Wheat flakes

King Arthur Whole Wheat

Saranac Pale Ale

Soy Milk

Skim Milk

Kosher Salt

Sorghum

Organic canola oil

King Arthur “New England” starter

more photos, etc., at my blog, http://alan-ohio-bread.blogspot.com

I love making bagels ! I been a cook my whole life however I started baking bagels 1 years ago and the guy that trained me was really good and on the third day I was doing it all by myself , my boss said she never seen any one learn so quick !

now I'm trying new things cause I'm not tied down with the corprate bullshit ! I am starting to create my own yeast ,new bagels and expanding into other areas of baking ! I feel like I have great desicion making when it comes to baking and I want to start learning other types of breads and pasteries how ever I dont want to go to school for it !

I am also conflicted cause although I want to do these things and I can see myself doing it for the rest of my life I also want to be an addiction speacalist ! well these are my thoughts !