A Bounty of Breads
It's been a while since I last posted, so I wanted to share some photos from this weekend's bakes. A small get together with some friends always inspires me to bake a mix of some new breads and some standards. Clockwise from the left are: Royal Crown's Tortano (from Glezer's Artisan Baking in America), a caramelized onion focaccia (made with flour I brought back from Italy last fall), two boules of Pane di Altamura (more on this later) and three loaves of my go-to spelt sourdough.
Here is a crumb shot of the SD batard and a close up of one of the boules. The batard finished at around 1200g and each boule was around 700g.
The Pane di Altaumra is a formula that I have been working on for a few months with mixed success. It is worthy of a post all its own that I hope to finish soon. Meanwhile, these two boules are a comparison between a loaf made with domestic patent durum flour (on the left) and one made with Italian Semola Rimacinata Grano Duro that I carried back from my trip.
And their respective crumb...
The tortano didn't fully rise in one section, probably due to overhandling the dough, but it had a very complex flavor for a yeasted dough (it used a long-fermented poolish as leaven).
There was enough for all the guests to take some home for breakfast.
-Brad
Comments
Impressive variety and so beautiful! That had to be great fun to share with others.
It makes for good visual appeal to have the variety. And it is always fun to share an evening with good friends and good food. Everyone got to take some home and there was still plenty left for us.
-Brad
for Lucy and none of them would look that good either I :-) The Altamura project looks to be near and end and we look forward to seeing a post on it. Bet everyone was happy with the bread selection too. Well done and happy baking
Thanks. We tend to go through bread at the same rate as you and Lucy - about a loaf a week. We share the rest with friends. It keeps me out of trouble to have a few bakes a week.
BTW, you can check out my new post on the Altamura bread - I just completed it.
-Brad
I couldn't conceive baking that amount. And they ALL turned out so well. A sight for sore eyes.
Juggling the bakes in the oven is just careful timing. I tend to bake the SD loaves a day early since they taste better after resting a day or so. It certainly helps to be able to spread out the production over two days.
-Brad