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This is my first loaf from spelt flour. I wish I had pics of various stages to show you, as I'd love some ideas on why I got absolutely no oven spring from this loaf. The flavor, interior texture and crust were all good. The crumb wasn't as open as I would have liked, but not closed either. I followed the basic NYT/Lahey NK method. I've always used 1.5 cups of liquid for white flour and 2 cups for whole wheat. Knowing that spelt absorbed less flour than wheat, I used 1.75 cups for this loaf. I always got good oven spring using only 2/3's WW flour, but the only loaf that was 100% WW I baked in a pan - here - and didn't get a lot of oven spring either.

This is how I made this loaf.
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1 pound whole spelt flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 ounces plain yogurt
12 ounces water

Combine dry ingredients. Stir yogurt and water together, then add to flour mix. Stir until all flour is moistened, then knead briefly with heavy spoon in bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave on counter for about 12 hours. (At this point I had bubbles on top of the dough and the gluten strands were quite visible on tipping the dough bowl.) Turn dough out on floured surface. Do a few stretch-and-folds. (At this point I may have let the dough rest an hour or so, followed by a couple more stretch-and-folds and a 15 minute rest. I just don't remember.) Round dough and put in colander to rise. After a few hours, it wast risen only half as well as the white flour dough in this pic. It wasn't even quite to the top of the colander but passed the finger poke test, so I hoped it was ready to bake. (That is, if I gently poked the dough, the indentation was quite slow to fill in - the test mentioned in Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.)

Turn dough out on baking stone preheated well in a 500F oven. Remove at 20 minutes as the interior temp is about 210F.
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This was the most extensible dough I've handled. It never did develop much resistance to my folding or shaping. Is that an indication that the gluten was underdeveloped? Should I have done a few more folds, until the dough felt a bit firmer? After baking, I remembered that I often added 1/4 tsp ascorbic acid (Vit C) and a tablespoon or more gluten to my whole wheat loaves. I had assumed that the Vit C was redundant with the yogurt and didn't even think about adding gluten. Also, salt should have been 1.5 teaspoons.

I am so close! Finally found the little camera icon, duh, but still can't transfer a photo to the server. I'll keep trying, A

Since I wanted a small batch of these, I started with Floyd's recipe.  I also took note of MysticBunny's comment that she got the best flavor with an overnight sponge, knowing that this was very true of most breads.  To simplify things, I simply made Floyd's recipe using only 1/4 tsp. of yeast.  (I knew that reducing the yeast like this would stretch the rise time out to at least 15 hours.) Rather than a thorough mix or knead, I quickly mixed everything; let it rest a bit and then did a few stretch-and-folds.  I left the dough on the counter to ferment overnight.  The next day, the dough was at least tripled.  I wasn't ready to bake at this point so deflated, did another stretch-and-fold and refrigerated the dough.  Due to other circumstances, the dough sat in the fridge for a day and a half, not the few hours I had envisioned! 

I would have liked these a bit larger.  I'm not sure what thickness I rolled them to, but it was less than 1/4". The dough could have been a bit cool, or more likely I needed to let it relax for a few minutes.  At any rate, I couldn't roll them any thinner. I baked these for about 5 minutes, which allowed them all to puff and gave me a bit of color on the bread. The bread was delicious The dough didn't suffer too much from its long refrigeration.  Here it is, just before I shaped it.

Dinner was delicious

Everyone was hungry.

How frustrating! I spent most of the afternoon figuring out how to get the pictures into the computer but now I can't manage to send them! Zounds! What is the saying about not teaching an old dog new tricks? The instruction book doesn't tell me how either. Is anyone able to give me some guidance, please? A

A fruity flavor squares and low in fat.

Dough:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour.
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast.
1 teaspoon backing powder.
1 teaspoon vanilla essence.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder.
3/4 teaspoon salt.
1/4 cup sugar.
1/4 cup low fat yogurt.
1/3 to 1/2 cup water.
1 1/2 tablespoon oil.
2 egg whites.


Topping:
1/4 cup low fat cream cheese.
1/2 cup blackberry jam.
3 apples (peeled and chopped).


Crumble:
1/4 cup all purpose flour.
1 tablespoon butter.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence.
2 tablespoons sugar.
1/4 cup almonds, chopped.


1)To make dough: mix all the ingredients; knead for 10 minutes, until you get smooth dough. Let rest for 40 minutes.

2)Press dough into a baking pan, spread with cream chesses.

then blackberry jam,

and top it with chopped apples.

3)To make the crumble: work butter into flour then add sugar, vanilla, and almonds. Sprinkle the mixture on top of apples.

4) Cover and let rise for 30 to 40 minutes.

5)bake at 350 F . for 25 minutes or until cooked and browned.

my homemade blackberry jam:

http://arabicbites.blogspot.com

meedo

I found instructions to make an apple bread in a vintage American cook book by J. L. Croly (1870) which simply indicated to use 1 part of pureed stewed apples and two parts of flour plus salt and yeast, using either white or Graham flour.

The result is a really good bread. Full recipe is here http://bakinghistory.wordpress.com/2007/07/14/apple-bread/

It's been a while since I've had the luxury of daily check-ins with TFL. Lots going on this summer, and actually I really don't have the time even now! But I made some sourdough sandwich bread today for the first time (so far I have only made rustic loaves with my starter), and I wanted to get the recipe written down and share it with anyone else who might like it.

I already have a favorite sandwich bread, but wanted to try using my homegrown 100% hydration starter in a sandwich loaf. Specifically, I wanted to use my starter in my favorite sandwich bread. I started with a google search and came up with a method for using starter in your favorite recipe. The website (which I can't find now, typical) stated that this was a method modified from one in Sourdough Jack's Cookery. Take 2/3 of the flour from your recipe and add it to all of the water, plus 1 cup of active starter. Stir, cover, and set on the counter overnight. Then add the rest of the ingredients and proceed as usual. This method as written, however, only allowed for a 10 minute rest after mixing, followed by final shaping. I wanted a bulk fermentation followed by shaping and a final proof. So, here's what I did, using amounts from my recipe:

Night before baking:

Combine 1 C starter (at feeding time, I feed mine every 12 hours at a 1:4:4 ratio) with 4 C KAF bread flour and 2 C Brita-filtered water at room temp (or it might have even been straight from the fridge). Stir, cover with plastic wrap and leave out overnight.

Day of baking:

Pour sponge mixture into mixer bowl and add 1/4 C melted butter, 2 TBSP sugar, 2 tsp kosher salt, and 1 C flour. Mix until combined, then add remaining cup of flour until dough is fairly stiff (my usual yeast-raised dough uses about 6 C flour and 2 C water, plus 1/4 C melted butter, for around a 35% hydration level). The dough will clear both the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead at speed 2 for about 4 minutes or until dough passes the windowpane test. Transfer to oiled bowl and let rise in warm place until doubled, around 2 hours.

Shape into loaves and place into greased pans. Let rise for about an hour, or until light and risen nicely, then bake at 375.

This bread is tangy but not terribly sour. It tastes a little like Panera's sodo, actually, but is less chewy and has a very thin and soft crust. Moist, tender and fine crumb. Can't wait to try it in a ham sandwich!

After seeing so many lovely rye loaves here, I wanted one for dinner. Since I didn't have time (or enough yeast) for a yeast bread, I decided to try and find a quick bread recipe online. This was a bit sweet for my taste, but I might make it again with less honey. With the sweetness, I quite enjoyed it for breakfast the next morning. I'm also going to order the deli rye flavor enhancer from King Arthur for future loaves - whether yeasted or quick.

CARAWAY RYE QUICK BREAD
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I used all WW pastry flour ~kip)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or use all-purpose flour)
1 cup rye flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup buttermilk (plus 2 tablespoons to account for extra WW flour ~kip)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan.

Toast the caraway seeds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Transfer to a small plate to cool; set aside. (I ground these in a spice grinder before adding to the flour mix. ~kip)

Combine the flours with the baking powder, baking soda, toasted caraway seeds and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, honey and buttermilk. Stir liquid ingredients into flour mixture until just blended. Do not overmix; the batter will be lumpy. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes until top springs back when touched lightly. Cool slightly in the pan, cut into wedges and serve warm, if desired.

This bread is especially good warm. To reheat later, wrap a wedge loosely in a paper towel and microwave on half heat for 20-30 seconds.
http://www.apinchof.com/caraway1035.html

I think the formula/recipe was fine on this, but the dough was either a bit overproofed or underkneaded. How's that for confusing? :D

I know that whole wheat doughs rise faster than white doughs. I don't remember how long this dough sat for the initial ferment, just that it was less than 18 hours. I suspect that it would have been fine if I had developed the gluten by hand a bit more - maybe another fold and rest before the final shaping. As it was the dough was a bit soft when risen. I slashed it about 1/2 inch deep and saw the loaf start spreading outwards almost right away! I don't have a picture of the crumb. It was soft, but not the lightness desired in a sandwich loaf. Next time I'll try a more enriched dough for a sandwich loaf - probably Laurel's Kitchen buttermilk.

I was visiting with my sister in Wisconsin, and we joined several other family members for a July 4th get-together at my cousins' cottage. I decided to bring bread for my contribution and thought it would be best if baked fresh. So the night before I started 2 loaves each of white and whole wheat NYT No-Knead bread. In the morning, I folded each loaf and placed in an oiled ziploc bag. The bags were carefully placed in a soft sided picnic-cooler-on-wheels. At that point I realized that the cooler-on-wheels wasn't about to stand up straight and give the dough the gentle treatment I had hoped! It flopped over there in the kitchen and did so more than once more throughout the day.

Anyway, the cooler was stowed in the back seat and we headed off 100 miles to the cabin. After visiting for awhile I was going inside to bake my bread. Cousin Jeff told me that wasn't a good idea. It seems a squatter had been resident in the oven the week before. While the mouse had been evicted, the thorough cleaning needed after a bad tenant had yet to be done. So my cousin and I walked around the pond and up the hill to the other cabin. At that point I was very glad for the wheels! This kitchen was spotless, and even had a bench knife in the drawer to help with the final fold. When I opened the cooler, the zip bags were puffed out like plump pillows from the risen dough! Here I shaped and baked the loaves. The bread was very popular, with 2 requests for the recipe. I wish I had pictures - of all the family, and the bread that did just fine with that rough handling. :~)