July 18, 2013 - 1:38am
Weekly Baking Challenge
Hello all! We are going to be starting a weekly themed baking challenge for all who would like to participate :) As usual my efforts will be gluten free and I'd like to see everyone put their own twists on the themes too, for example I know some of you are sd geeks or rye-lovers. Let's see what we can come up with. First, let's decide this week's theme and when we will return our results :)
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If we decide on Friday or even Thursday then people have time during the weekend to do a bake but then have a deadline of the next Thursday deadline to upload results. I agree we need to decide on a theme and not a particular bread, it will provide flexibility for bakers and give us a freedom that will hopefully stimulate different types of bread.
i would love to start with something fairly easy this week as it is Friday tomorrow. Do we have any ideas so we can get going? I have the time and enthusiasm to get going asap.
Andy
Me too! Any ingredient anyone is loving at the moment (I would ask that these be additional ingredients rather then types of flour)? How about a certain colour as a theme? Or an occasion?
and most all of my breads take 3 days so have to know what we are baking by Wednesday - lets try to get organized to let everyone know what we are baking on Wednesday and keep it open till the next Wednesday. That way everyone has a whole week including a week end to get their effort done and posted.
I say this week we do a 100% whole grain, 100% hydration bread, biga, poolish, IDY, ADY, SD or YW or some combo leaven - in or out of a tin - since that is what I am baking tomorrow :-)
Happy baking
Wednesday is ordinarily best to post a challenge. It gives Time for sourdoughs to awaken before the weekend..
pI also vote for a 100% whole wheat bread for this week. I will get cracking on that, I know my sister will appreciate one of those.
Best
Andy
I was going for something more theme-oriented with the challenge rather than saying a certain type of flour because I am only able to bake guten free.
As I mentioned before, I can't take part in challenges which specify the type of grain or hydration because I have coeliac disease and can't eat gluten. That was why I was suggesting more open challenge themes.
That would include all the non gluten grains, quinoa,sorghum, corn, rice.... etc. Looking out for you. I wanted to see a who;e,range if 100% whole grin breads
Ah sorry I must have misread it. Well, I'm sure we'll see lots of whole grains with the healthy and hearty theme anyway :)
Any further thoughts on this, anyone?
I think there s nothing wrong with a more general challenge that can be attempted by all. It doesn't have to be grain specific.
Any ideas for a more general theme? I haven't had much time to think of anything.
Well, not necessarily more general. It could be quite specific, but more theme-y.
Hi all. As a couple of people are wanting to make a wholewheat bread but I wanted to keep it a little more accessible (ie some people might want to do rye or spelt or gluten free) I was thinking how about this for a theme:
Week One - Due Tuesday 30th July
"Hearty and Healthy"
Maybe go with that as a sort of easy warm-up challenge and see what people come up with?
This sounds like a wonderful idea and definitely a very good and fun theme that will allow for many bread variations. A new challenge thread? Time to brainstorm a few ideas now.
Best
Andy
Look forward to seeing what you come up with andy :)
Hope I can come up with something. -Varda
Spelt, Farro and WW at 100% hydration. Here are the details
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34169/whole-multigrain-sourdough-loaf
Happy Heart and Healthy Baking!
Beautiful!
Hope to see some brilliant breads by next week! Any creative interpretations of the healthy and hearty theme are most welcome! The next theme will be decided and posted by the 31st. Any suggestions appreciated up until then!
Hi Laura,
Here's an entry for your healthy and hearty challenge.
This bread is rye-sour leavened, 70% whole organic rye, 30% whole organic spelt, 12.5% seeds.
It's delicious! Looking forward to the other entries :^)
Happy baking,
:^) breadsong
So tall and proud. Just beautiful baking breadsong, It has to taste great! Well done as usual
Brilliant - This looks like it would make a delicious sandwich with some strong-vintage English cheddar!
Hi Breadsong,
This from HomeBaked???? One I hadn't taken of note of until seeing your results so now I will have to check it out especially since rye and spelt seem to make such a wonderful match when used together.
Curiosity - How big was the pan your pan? What was the wt of the dough? and finally - What temp. did you bake at and for how long?
(I guess I could look in the book but that would be way to simple *^ }
Take Care,
Janet
Hi Janet,
Yes, this was from Home Baked, such a lovely book!
This bake was not exactly according to Hanne's formula, but I'm going to blog it to show the formula change.
The pan used was a 9x4x4 Pullman, 1750g dough, baked at 400F for first 10 minutes, then reducing oven to 355F for balance of the bake - another 1 hr, 15 minutes.
:^) breadsong
Hi Breadsong,
Thanks for this. That is a huge amt. of dough for that pan! I would have guessed approx 900g. If I go over that when making a 3 piece sandwich I get squished pieces competing for space. I guess the rye and the spelt can get away with ii though…or at least you certainly did get away with it! I will have to check out the formula and add it to my list.
Take Care,
Janet
@dabrownman, your words are kind - I was happy this bread turned out as the bake preceding, and following,
this one didn't turn out as I'd hoped.
@Laura, that's exactly what I had in mind for lunch today - this bread, accompanied by some really good cheese!
:^) breadsong
I'll just post a quick photo of my challenge bread. Haven't got round to sorting out the recipe/blog yet. I'll get that on tomorrow.
Healthy and Hearty - Brown Rice & Millet Boule
I only had my phone on hand, so the photo's not great!
Hi Laura,
Looks like that loaf rose up really nicely and kept a lovely round shape during baking!
:^) breadsong
It did! Only problem was for some reason it got really brown on one side. I need to check my oven because that's never happened before...
even when on convection so rotating the loaf is just part of the toil :-) Still it is beautifully and boldly baked. Double B's are hard to come by!.
Happy baking
It's weird though, I always use the same oven, same stone, etc but have never had this result...
Hi all! Just wondering if everyone would be ok with dabrowman's idea for next week's baking challenge - a celebration bake for the birth of Prince George of Cambridge? I think this could be an interesting one.
Hopefully we will get some more bakers on board! Healthy and Hearty challenge still going until we announce the new challenge on Wednesday.
Any last breads for submissions this week?
And also, is everyone happy with the royal baby theme I mentioned, as suggested by dabrowman?
Ok, I'm going to assume that we're all up for anything and go with the theme suggested by dabrowman. Anyone is welcome to join in, the more the merrier!
Week 2 - Due Tuesday 6th August
"Congratulations Wiil & Kate"
I'm hoping to see some awesome and creative bakes to celebrate Prince George of Cambridge's birth. Even if you're not British, it's all in good fun :)
"What kind of loaf would brighten the eyes of a British Royal" I wonder to myself. I missed the challenge from last week. I just didn't see the post, I guess. Nevertheless, Healthy isn't much my style of bread, although Hearty might describe the loaves I love. However, I'm looking forward to seeing the entries this week. Maybe I'll find the time to make one myself.
Haha, I guess it's quite an open subject! Could go for a classic celebration loaf of some variety, something containing typically British ingredient or perhaps an English local bread....
For this challenge, just thought it would be cool if we baked something Will and Kate might actually eat on such an occasion. I haven't found much yet, but this seemed interesting. There is a harvest celebration traditionally August 1st, that includes baking bread from fresh harvested, fresh ground flour. I never heard of it before. It's called Lammas. Maybe I'm the only one who never heard of this before. But, here is the link to the website I found promoting it http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/local_loaves_lammas/ and a recipe http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/lammas_loaf/
From the article: "Taking its name from hlafmaesse, the Old English for loaf mass, Lammas is an ancient harvest festival. A traditional highlight was eating bread baked using flour milled from the first grain of the year." and furthermore: "Though no longer as well known as it once was, Lammas is still celebrated by many people in Britain, other parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world, notably by certain Christian and pagan communities."
The cool part is that yesterday was the traditional day, and so if baked in response to this weekly challenge, it would be a double celebration bread! I have the ingredients (Well, except the flour isn't freshly harvested or really freshly ground even), and it does seem like an interesting recipe. I may just try it. That is, if I get the time after baking some sandwich bread for my family first.
Sounds interesting although I'm a Brit and I've never heard of it. I'm not exactly good at this kind of knowledge though haha.
No breads this week?? :(
Here's mine, I adapted the very popular blueberry cream cheese braid recipe on this site to be gluten free (a mix of rice, corn and sorghum flours). For the filling I used strawberries, blueberries and white chocolate chunks to give a nod to the red white and blue of the British flag.
Laura, sorry I didn't get to bake anything for this challenge. I was really looking at trying that Lammas loaf, but I used up all my free (bake-able) time making plain bread for my family. I guess you win all the prizes! Your blueberry cream cheese braid looks wonderful. I can imagine that going very well with a nice British Tea, or for us Americans (the other red/white/blue flag), a cup of good strong coffee! I think Will and Kate would thank you kindly for a bite of that! Have you called them yet?
Just wondering if anyone wants to take part this week so I can set a challenge.
announcing the challenge for the week and starting a new place for people to post their bakes. That way thy tread doesn't get too long and cumbersome.
I posted mine last week
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34334/prince-georges-chacon
Prince George's Chacon