Blog posts

Finally started baking bread in Canada. With the help of Floyd and the suggestions from others on TFL I got some baking supplies and baked a boule on Sunday. Using cups for the first time in a long while but made a dough that feels like a 67% hydration with 25% wholewheat flour.

Thanks Floyd for lending me some equipment!

Got a small bag of red fife flour to try as well.

I baked a couple of times last week.  Both were sourdoughs with a rye-fed stiff levain and approximately a 70% hydration, 50% whole wheat final dough.

Take 2 of Karin's challenge loaf almost ended in disaster, but turned out well.  I made more or less half of her Friesisches Schwartbrot recipe:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/18037/friesisches-schwarzbrot-friesian-rye

From the last whole grain multigrain SD bake with seeds and scald here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/35130/whole-multigrain-sd-bread-scald-seeds-and-more-aromatic-seeds

 we held back 60 g of the final dough before the scald was added to make some pizzas.

This month, Karen from the “brot and bread” blog was asking bakers on “the fresh loaf” to come together and try to recreate a special kind of multi grain artisanal bread that she has fallen in love with during her holidays in Germany. The sourdough bread was a very moist type of whole wheat bread with plenty of goodies inside.

This is the Ken Forkish recipe for Saturday bread.  I was very intimidated by a boule, but I went for it.  They are so gorgeous.  I halved the recipe since I do not yet have the 12 qt Cambro.  The recipe came out fine And the family loved it!

These baguettes were not as painful as they had been to make in the past. I handled them less and they did rise better than in the past.  The crumb was okay,no txfarmer style.  But, she has this down to a science.  The boys ate these up.  

  One of these days I will sprout my own whole wheat berries and grind them into flour, but for the time being I will use the KAF flour version.  The combination of the Sprouted Wheat flour along with the KAF European flour, spelt and potatoes made this a moist bread with a nice open crumb and chewy crust.

The KAF European Artisan flour is one of my favorites and contains a small amount of white whole wheat flour and comes in at 11.7% protein level which is ideal for artisan loaves.

Karen from Brot & Brad and the Fresh Loaf posted an exciting baking challenge to create a German style multi-grain rye bread called an Urbrot.  This was based on her recent trip to Germany while visiting Fredrick the Great's Sanssouci.  Please read her excellent write-up on her travels and a recap of all the challenge bakes from fellow TFL members here.

I baked this loaf usin the hybrid method as my family and Frds are very sensitive to sourness.

i added a pinch of yeast to shorten it's bulk fermentation time and increase the hydration to 70%. retart it in the fridge for the whole proof 6-7hours in the fridge.

the crumb Is soft and chewy. But I want it to be more open