Tartine 80% Whole Wheat, GF Cornbread, Macarons

I was in a Chad kind of mood this week, so I baked an 80% whole wheat boule ala Tartine.

Tartine 80% Whole Wheat

80% whole wheat flour
20% all purpose flour
5% wheat germ
85% water
2% salt
20% levain

• 5 hours of bulk fermentation at room temperature (about 69 F) with S&F at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 min.
• Preshape and bench rest for 20 minutes.
• Shape retarded in the refrigerator (about 38F) for 16 hours.
• Baked in an enameled cast iron combo cooker at 450F for 45 minutes (cover on during the first 20 min).

The whole wheat bread tasted great, but it was a bit dense from being overproofed. 16 hours in the refrigerator is long time for 80% whole wheat, but my schedule didn't allow for baking it sooner. No biggie.

I bought some Cup4Cup, a gluten free baking blend made by Thomas Keller (of The French Laundry). I made cornbread muffins for a GF friend who would love to have cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving. She loved the muffins and so did I. I couldn't tell that they were gluten free, but I think cornbread is something that can be made with mostly cornmeal/polenta and no wheat flour and still taste just fine.

Macarons

I took a macaron class on Saturday. I have been making macarons on and off for a few years now. Sometimes they turn out perfectly, and other times not so much. I wanted more consistent results so I signed up for the macaron class at the San Francisco Baking Institute. I highly recommend the SFBI. Whether it's one of the week long courses or weekend workshops, it's a treat to learn from the talented and knowledgeable instructors in a facility with high quality equipment.

During the 8 hour class, the 24 students along with our instructor, Miyuki, made 15 different flavors of macarons. We learned the French meringue method (uncooked sugar) as well as the Italian meringue method (cooked sugar) for the shells. She exlained the differences between the two methods as well as the pros and cons. Most of the fillings were premade for us, but the students made variations on a 64% chocolate ganache. There was chocolate, chocolate orange, chocolate strawberry and chocolate cherry ganaches. The other flavors were peppermint, eggnog, chocolate praline, raspberry, pistachio, lemon, passionfruit, cassis, rose, vanilla, and mocha. Each student took home a big box of macarons.