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Variations on a Theme

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I'm still on this 5% levain, 80% hydration kick! Both of these loaves built on the formula I referred to in my previous post.

The first was inspired by Dave's recent rosemary and black olive loaf. I just added a tablespoon of fresh rosemary, 60 g black olives, and 60 g green olives:

Spelt, Rye, Einkorn & Organic AP

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Basically a 1-2-3 Sourdough formula using two fresh baby Rye and Einkorn sourdough starters.  Started respectfully on Friday and Thursday of last week, this is their first loaf.  Last night they had peaked in activity (4 and 3 days old) and I combined:

1)   215g sourdough starter,  predominantly a rye sour 

2)   350g water with 50g Whole Einkorn flour Tangzhong.      Making a 70% hydration dough

Pain Au Levain w Whole Wheat

Toast

My guru Abe, suggested I post this here.  I am new to sour dough but am hooked after just 4 bakes. I followed Hamelman's recipe, though with a much higher hydration %age (though he does say, "adjust the hydration"). 

Made 2 loaves: one the same day as mix, the 2nd after overnight in the fridge.  I should've refrigerated #2 right away, but we went out to dinner and I left it out a bit before over-nighting it and it over-proofed a bit. Was easier to score tho. Pics below. The nice topshot is of the 2nd loaf, the first pics of the same day bake.

A Weekend Roundup (And One Simple Formula)

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Phew. I've baked for a number of friends over the last few days! Many of them just wanted or needed a very generalized designation of "bread" for events, so I was able to experiment a bit with sourdough baking.

Disclaimer: All ciabatte described are "pre-dabrownman-flip-recommendation," so don't judge me too harshly...I still haven't acquired a second pastry scraper, so all ciabatta experiments are on a temporary hold...

Saturday, I baked some whole wheat ciabatte and a few small simple batards.

10% Red, 20% Einkorn, 30% White

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Last week's 10% Einkorn, 40% Hard White Wheat was deliciously encouraging.  Egged on by Josh, I wanted to explore this mix more by "pushing" both the Einkorn and the overall wholegrain level this week.  I also wanted to add a sharper accent with some red wheat.  Easy as 1-2-3:  10% Hard Red Wheat, 20% Einkorn and 30% Hard White Wheat.  I also upped the overall hydration to 84% (again, taking a page from Josh's nice post), to

Field Blend No. 2 is the winner.

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My father and my next door neighbor have both confirmed that Field Blend No.2 from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast is the best bread they've ever eaten.  I happen to enjoy it a lot.  To date, it has consistently produced the best tasting loaf for me.