We bakers are always looking for creative ways to extract lots of flavor from grains. For me, the search for flavor took me to my local supermarket.
We recently enjoyed a marvelous cruise from Vancouver (didn't get the opportunity to say hi to Floyd) up through the Inside Passage of Alaska. We had port calls at Ketchikan, Juneau (emphasis on the 'eau', with 320 days of rain a year), and Skagway. From there we sailed to Glacier Bay and spent a day marveling at the immensity and beauty of several glaciers. Then it was on to our debarkation at Seward. From Seward, we opted for the train excursion to Anchorage, then another train excursion to Denali, then a coach excursion to Fairbanks, and our flight home.
This bread has a history in experimentation. The other day I was contemplating what sort of side dish to have with smoked chicken and decided to try a savory porridge polenta style but made with various coarse ground grains. The mill was set on its widest and some barley, oats, Einkorn, rye,and Durum was ground, to that mixture some grits were added so that it came to 1.5 cups.
Multi-grain Levain – August 14, 2015
Finally, the air has cooled enough to go and into the garden and grill. What better way to showcase your favourite homemade hamburger with a lovely Spelt hamburger bun. These buns are perfect for hamburgers because they have just the right amount of resistance in the crust to hold all the trimmings but are soft enough to avoid a messy squidge out when you take a bite. for details stop by mybreadandbrot.com
So, my first loaf turned out really well. But I thought maybe I would tweak it a bit and see if I could adjust the flavor a bit. The original recipe for the levain was 35% in the final build. I decided to up it to 50% so that more of the whole wheat flour would be in the preferment. Certainly made for a very active dough. I only bulk fermented for a little over 2 hours and the final rise was a little over an hour.
I am always amazed what Lucy manages to come with in her spare time when no dreaming up bread recipes. This week she has developed a new piece of software that turns an existing piece of hardware into something truly unique and transformative for all bread bakers.
Last week I went on a short vacation to Vermont and usual we visited King Arthur Flour and several cheese shops. We also visited Sugar Bush Farms where they tap their own trees for 4 different grades of maple syrup as well as numerous varieties of cheddar cheese. We of course loaded up with a ton of different cheeses and assorted grades of fresh maple syrup.
A really crazy, busy week. I fed the starter, but did not get round to making the dough until the next evening. There was no time to make the loaf, so the dough sat in the fridge for another night and day. The next evening I took it out, briefly kneaded it and formed a loaf. Back in the fridge overnight. She did not look impressive by the next morning. I was in a rush and left the oven on too high a temperature. She burst out of her skin, and rewarded my neglect with a really tasty loaf with a great crumb. Thank you sourdough!
I've been thinking of different methods of baking crusty lean loaves in my clay pot (it's my only baking gear, no oven or fancy grills) lately. One that should be easy but gives me results as close as an oven can get, that means a brown crackly crust, scores that bloom and an open crumb. The heat of the pot is very uneven, the bottom is extremely hot while the top is too cool so the only way to get an even bake is to let the top and bottom of the bread face the extremely hot bottom of the pot.
