Blog posts

I was never, and am not now, a big fan of commercial whole wheat flour. Over the last couple of years, have become a huge fan of the whole wheat flours that I mill fresh.

I admit that there has been a long, and sometimes steep learning curve to producing whole grain breads that I really like. Much of that I attribute to the assumptions of the authors of most books on baking. In part that is because the authors think whatever professional bakers do, must be the best way to bake. However, bakers bake for their profit – not their customer’s health and well being. 

Our winter arrived very, very early and with a bang. Blizzard conditions in the alpine areas nearby and flash flooding and gale force winds at home. I packed a fire and spent the day baking. These came out of the oven first. A quick, one rise recipe. I took a few pictures immediately, because they are not going to last.

Recipe here: http://www.mymoroccanfood.com/home/2015/8/15/moroccan-semolina-bread-fig-and-tahini-pinwheel

Today I started an experiment to see if I can make a wheat-based (or mixed wheat and rye) version of Concentrated Lactic Acid Sourdough (CLAS). I wanted to see if I could get the flavor and acidification benefits of the CLAS without using as much rye flour in the mix.

My reasoning is that rye makes the dough more difficult to handle, and the 100% whole wheat breads I make are already quite challenging for me. Another way to say it is I wanted to be able to add more CLAS without adding (as much) more rye.

Also, I just thought it would be interesting to see if it works.

Earlier this week Abe sent to me a link of the just published Cinnamon Raisin Sour Dough on Maurizio Leo’s The Perfect Loaf.  In a move of unusual rapidity for me, I built a BBGA spreadsheet entry for the bread and concurrently fed my levain in preparation.

As is often the case in the alfanso household, I went rebel and turned his posted tapered batards into baguettes.  How unusual for me!  But I wasn’t finished there and made some changes to the whole process.  As follows:

I’ve been drooling over the beautiful breads that David has been producing with extended retardation and his description of “severely yummy” was very enticing. So I stayed true to his recipe and method aside from using strong bakers unbleached flour for all the white flour and adding 30 g of yogurt to tenderize the crust. The whole grain flours were freshly milled and I used Selkirk wheat berries for the whole-wheat. I did not sift out the bran as per my usual practice. The first batch was retarded 17 hours and the second batch a bit more than 18 hours.

A pair of loaves from a couple of weeks ago. One was made with poolish and the other with pure sourdough.

Sourdough Loaf

Followed Maurizio, except as noted.

Process

Make leaven at a 1:2:2 starter:flour:water ratio with half whole wheat and half white flour; ready after 4 hours

Mix 249g bread flour (KA 12.5% gluten), 99g WW (KA), 100g levain, 241g water

Rest 45 minutes, then add 9g salt and 9g water

Rest 45 minutes, then pinch in porridge

Today (well, and yesterday) was time for round 2 of my sourdough bagels.  The last batch were ok, but very dense, and HARD!!  So, I changed two things this time around.  I upped the hydration to 61% (from 59%), and I let the bagels proof at room temp for about 90 minutes after shaping.  The rest of the process I left the same, and, with the bagels now out of the oven, I think I'm on the right track.  Oh, wait, I did also add 25g sugar, so I guess I changed three things!  Here's what I did.....

Preferment/Levain - 339g

I got a bee in my bonnet the other day about making a simple loaf of 50% whole wheat sandwich bread.  Nothing special, just a good solid bread for toast, sandwiches and the like.  One thing I wanted to do was to keep the level of effort fairly minimal (somewhere just above using the bread machine....) :)  I read a bunch of different recipes, and this is what I came up with:

300g AP flour

300g Whole wheat flour

366g Water

30g Milk

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp sugar

14g Salt

1.5g ADY

We finally got some time off to visit our SIL and daughter In their new Seattle home over the Memorial Day weekend and meet Mabel for the first time too.  We had a really nice time over the 5 days and got to see the city up close.  Mabel is cute as a button….. and smart as a whip unlike other baking apprentices who are bred to be stupid.

As bakers, we spend a lot of time on the "How" and very little time on the "Why". When we do bring up why, it tends to be why we do things in a particular way (e.g., which temperature to proof a particular dough) rather than why we choose to make a particular style of bread. 

I do not see thoughtful discussions of why people decide to learn to make baguettes.   Home bakers seem bake them because commercial bakers bake them, and people are in the habit of eating them, and so people like baguettes. Then, home bakers, bake what people like.