Blog posts

whole wheat

Genovese

Advice needed for how to make Knodelbrot from the Alto Adige

SusanMcKennaGrant on 14 Sep 2025 at 06:34

I made a similar version of this last month that came out pretty well, so I wanted to try another version of it.

Last time I didn’t make enough dough to fill both of the new, smaller size square bannetons, so I increased the total dough weight by about 25% which ended up working pretty well.

I love the way the scald helps promote a soft, fluffy crumb. I used some fresh milled Danko Rye and King Arthur Baking 6 Grain Blend, which contains barley flakes, rolled oats, rye chops, malted wheat flakes, millet, and quinoa flakes for the scald.

Today's bake:   Sourdough Bread-Prebiotic Leaven ~100%Whole Wheat

Source:   CalBeachBaker

Notes: 3 loaves 

2 @1250g, Pan Size: 7.88x4x4 In / 20x10.16x10.16 CM

1@ 2500g, Pan Size: 15.75x4x4 In / 40.01x10.16x10.16 CM)

Substitutions: None

I used the King Arthur recipe here. The Daisy flour I used tends to be wet and needs hydration cut back. I didn't do that and ended up adding more flour, which made the rolls drier than they should have been. Will correct that next time. All-in-all, they are pretty good. Had one with homemade corned beef the next day and my jaw got the workout I expected.

I started baking bread at home circa 2020.  I watched a few John Kirkwood videos which made the whole process seem reasonably simple. Much to my surprise my first attempt yielded a bread superior in taste to anything I could buy from my local in-store supermarket bakery.  I was instantly hooked.  My main pursuit since has been the elusive “perfect baguette”.

'life is good when the rye bread is good'

Rob/Bor

another one from 'the "who kidnapped Rob?" cookbook.'

Adapted from Sarah Owens. I changed the recipe to whole wheat (basically because I wanted to use up some of what I have in my cabinet.) I subbed in violife faux-butter, soy milk, and a flax seed faux-egg for the animal equivalents.

Results:

a fun experiment, but -- 

Inspired by some recipes from the internet I decided to bake a bread with sautéed onions and bacon, twisted in grated cheese for the final proof.

50% white flour

50% Ruchmehl

2% salt

22% whole wheat preferment

80% final hydration

25% (raw) onions (sautéed before incorporating)

25% (raw) bacon (lightly fried before incorporating)

more than enough grated cheese for the "crust"

The shaping was just a gentle twist in a huge amount of grated cheese.

Bulk and final proof at ca. 25-26ºC, baked for 30-32min at 200ºC with steam.

Doughnuts with LM Revisited

While pizza is a twice weekly affair, I wanted to put my ever-improving LM to the test by using it in an enriched dough. I cast an on eye over my blog where I found the recipe for doughnuts. Mentally scaling it down to a more manageable quantity, I opted to do a 2/3rds yield.