We 3 gmas loafed this week!
This week we made a "Country Bread" Pane Casareccio from In Nonna's Kitchen, by Carol Field. This recipe starts with a Biga, that triples and collapses on the counter for 24 to 48 hours.. then a triple rise and then a shape / rise one hour / bake... Good recipe... very good sandwich bread.
Helen had some shopping to do, so once her loaves were put in the loaf pans they over-proofed a bit... but still had a great crumb as you can see in the lead in picture. 
She said the crust is nice and thin and easy to cut beautiful sandwich slices. They look all buttery and good in this picture.
Barb made her loaves in many shapes... cooked one
in the oven inside and one in the counter top oven on her porch.
Nice! This week was Barb's pick and I am thinking she chose a good bread. I know mine is tasty... It is not as pretty as the ones my sisters made. But very, very good.
I haven't gotten the technique of nice smooth rounds yet... this dough was so full of bubbles.. I really enjoyed working with it.
Nice soft sandwiches and great toast. We had a good time, as usual, we came up with different looking endings... but all good, enjoying our time together... Helen picks this week... I wonder what we will be making???
Happy Baking, one and all....
Diane, Helen, and Barbra
By the way... can someone tell me how I know if my raisin yeast water is
ready" to bake with???? I had it on the counter for about 2 weeks before I put it is the fridge... what now?
2 week's without feeding it - get it out and feed it some honey :-) Shake it real good before you feed it and see if it bubbles and then hisses as you open the lid, I would, while it was out, make a levain with it and see how it does. I would start with 25 g of YW and 25 g of flour for the first feed then, 4 hours later, feed it 40 g of flour and water and then 4 hours later feed it 60 g of flour and water. If it doubles in the last 4 hours you are ready to make something with your 250 g of levain.
All the bread looks great - sounds like a panettone recipe with all the tripling and rising. The crust is amazing with all the ups and downs it went through. What a workout.
The one baked in the mini oven really puffed itself up well and the bold bake is really good. Nothing like the mini oven to put crust on bread!! Another nice round of baking.
Happy baking GMA's
I will check and see if it hisses at me. ;-)... I will make the levain also... YOU are a wealth of information and inspiration.
Enjoy hearing from you.
Diane
and 100 g of flour and see how it does. If it doubles in 12 hours you are ready to go. Then you can strain it, fill'er back up 3/4 with water, put 3 T of old YW back in with 8 of the old raisins and as many new raisins as you used originally, Add a Tablespoon of honey and 1/2 tsp of sugar. Shake it really good and let it sit on the counter for a least 3 hour shaking it every 30 minutes. If it bubbles and hisses at you when you open the lid then it it ready for the fridge. I've got mine on minniola, apple and cherries right now. What a beautiful color.
Happy yeast watering,
It worked... my yeast water is alive and well... thanks dabrownman.
Diane
Ad you work with it you will see it can replace any recipe that has commercial yeast in it and it is a powerful leaven and can raise Cain from the dead of you can find him, It puts great holes in heavy breads when mixed with SD for 100% whole grain breads, rye and pumpernickel. It is as versatile and hard to kill as SD too. Glad it worked out, Now I have to get some cherries to feed mine:-)
Happy baking