Two sweets with fruits of the season, and two breads
Hello,
My neighbor had a bumper crop of Transparent apples this year and generously shared with us :^)
I used some to make Ciril Hitz's Apple Kuchen, from his book Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads.
The foundation for the Kuchen is Rum-Raisin Brioche! :^)
.. the baked Kuchen
...a crumb shot 
...close up of Butterkuchen (almond paste),
the rum-raisins and the brioche; before adding the apple slices and the crumbly, streusel topping...LOTS of good stuff in this Kuchen! :^)
Blackberries are ripening beautifully right now, with the heat we are having. I pulled out my old and treasured recipe for Glazed Blackberry Pie!:
... a close-up of the berry filling: 
I wanted to share the recipe for this delectable (imho) summertime tart!:
Glazed Blackberry Pie
(strawberries, blueberries or raspberries may be substituted for the blackberries)
5 cups blackberries
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 baked and cooled 9-inch pie shell
1 cup whipping cream
Crush and sieve 1 cup of the blackberries to remove seeds.
Combine cornstarch, pinch of salt, sugar, sieved berries and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until the glaze is thickened and clear. I let it come slowly to a boil, and boil gently for 1 minute.
Cool slightly, and add the lemon juice. Sometimes I add a little bit more lemon juice to brighten the flavor if I think it needs it. Now is also a good time to add a bit of liqueur of your choice, if that interests you!
Very gently, fold the remaining berries into the glaze.
Pile the berry mixture into the baked pie shell. Cool and chill.
Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
Yesterday I tried making a Vollkornbrot (just a small one, 8x4 loaf pan size). I added currants to Mr. Hamelman's recipe from his book Bread. I waited 24 hours to slice it - was so anxious to taste! It had a really nice flavor with the currants. I'm really looking forward to how this will taste tomorrow.
...an end view
side views... 
... and the crumb
Today's bake is Sourdough based on this formula from my Guild class; I tried to score the loaves to look like wheat. This was really fun to try!
and one last close up (I really like those bubbles!) 
Happy baking everyone!
:^) from breadsong
Comments
Breads and Pastries, all look wonderful, Breadsong! Volkornbrot... not baked that one yet..
You have such a talent.. I wonder, whom with do you share those wonderful bakes?
Hi Khalid and thank you!
I like to bake "thank you's", so one Kuchen was given to the guy who gave me the apples, and the other Kuchen was shared for a family birthday :^)
The blackberry tart recipe was scaled down to fit a 7-1/2" tart pan - didn't want to make a huge one as this is just for my husband and me. The same reason for making a smaller Vollkornbrot...but I also wanted to make a smaller quantity of dough, in case I messed it up...not having a huge quantity of rye chops and wanting to save some for future bakes!
Three of the four sourdough loaves were gifts...one for the hardworking folks down at our local boat launch, one for father-in-law, and one for a local wheat farmer I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday!
:^) from breadsong
Of course, everything lives up to your past work Breadsong. I can relate to the blackberry tart, at work yesterday we received a large quantity of fresh local blackberries. I spent a part of the morning preparing a pastry cream for numerous individual black berry tarts, then delicatly placing all those berries. It paid off when customers said, "Oh look at how pretty..."
The glaze on your tart looks great though and I wish I would have done something like that! It is quite striking.
As for the Vollkornbrot, where did you source your flour? I am looking at making that very soon, especially after special ordering a pullman sized loaf of Vollkornbrot from Zingerman's to see what a nice Vollkornbrot should be like. I had made up to 80% rye loaves before, but I feel I used the wrong flour as called for the recipe. Before I start making my own Vollkornbrot, I want to make sure I have the correct flour. I know there are many varieties of rye; rye meal, rye chops, coarse rye, whole rye, rye berries, dark rye...blah blah blah. Sometimes when I read one description of one of those varities, it sounds a lot like another. :p
Oh well, thanks for sharing those bakes with us!
Hello arlo, and thank you for your comments!
I bet your blackberry tarts were gorgeous - they must have flown out the door!
For the Vollkornbrot, I used a whole rye flour from Anita's Organic (a mill in British Columbia), and rye chops from King Arthur Flour. I took some pictures of what I have on hand:
Whole rye flour from Anita's Organic:
Pumpernickel flour from King Arthur Flour (has just the slightest gritty feel):
Pumpernickel Flour from Central Milling (feels like coarse sand):
Rye Chops from King Arthur Flour:
Cracked Rye from Galloway's Specialty Foods:
I was wondering also about the right kind of flour to use for Vollkornbrot awhile back.
Andy kindly provided this link, in his post:
http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/types-of-rye
:^) from breadsong
Beautiful baking, breadsong! You do use the most interesting ingredients: piloncillo sugar and amaranth to mention only two from your previous bake and now "transparent apples". What are transparent apples? The name has me intrigued! Superb scoring on the sourdough loaves and those pics of the blackberry tart are very enticing. Nice baking. :)
Syd
Hello Syd, Thank you so much!
I didn't take any pictures of my neighbor's tree...but did find this post just now, with beautiful photos and a really nice write-up about this type of apple:
http://lcscottage.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/malus-domestica-%e2%80%93-transparent-apple/
Transparents are my absolute favorite for making applesauce. The flavor of this apple, once a little heat is applied, is wonderful!
:^) from breadsong
Your baking just seems to get better with each post breadsong!
Each of the products in your post looks just amazing.
Lovely to see and read
All good wishes
Andy
Thank you so much, Andy!
I so appreciate your comments, and the information you gave me before, helping me to understand
the different types of rye.
:^) from breadsong
You've really mastered that lozenge-shaped score. It looks great.
Hello louie,
I really look forward to scoring loaves like this again.
I was trying to be very delicate, and taper the ends of each score, as you did so beautifully with your olive leaves.
Thank you so much for your kind words!
:^) from breadsong
I'm looking forward to trying out that scoring of yours myself, breadsong. And I'll never forget your landscape of waving wheatstalks, a real masterpiece.
louie, that's so kind of you to say - thank you! :^)
Thanks for the nice pics Breadsong :)
You're welcome, arlo :^)
...and hope you find some good flour for your Vollkornbrot.
I enjoy reading your post's and seeing your gorgeous talented baking projects....there is always something there for me to learn.
The fresh blackberry tart so pretty with the glaze. Love the Kuchen and fine assortment of baked loaves..all are just gorgeous!
Sylvia
Sylvia, thank you so much for your nice comments.
The Apple Kuchen from Mr. Hitz's book was so good with that rum-raisin brioche.
So glad you like the tart, too...I love that recipe and its celebration of fresh berries.
Can't make stuff like that too often, but what a treat every once in a while!
:^) from breadsong
Breadsong, it seems like my comments on your blog always start with "Wow!" Sorry to be so predictable.
The blackberry tart is gorgeous. I just found a recipe for blackberry curd squares (like lemon squares but with blackberry) in the first Tartine book, and was thinking about doing something with the amazing local blackberry harvest. I'll either go with your recipe or cheese danish with blackberries (if I get around to making danish dough next weekend).
And the cool scoring, birdseye crust and gelatinized starch in your sourdough each merits a "Wow!" of its own.
Nice baking.
Glenn
Glenn, thank you so much for your compliments! So glad you like the tart and the SD.
We're having a great year for blackberries here, too.
Your squares, and the danish, sound like lovely ways to use the fruit...can't wait to see what you make with the berries!
Thanks again :^) from breadsong
i've learnt sth from your post - Transparent apples! never came across this. Fresh apples, fresh blackberries SIGH. I can only stare at my screen and imagine...
Well done for the scoring for that ear of wheat. The colour of the crust and how the cuts opened up every so neatly and uniformly is impressive.
Hello, and thank you for your compliments on the scoring!
If you ever come across Transparent apples, they are a wonderful cooking apple and make the most delicious applesauce.
I didn't prepare the apples exactly as instructed by Mr. Hitz...just 'a flash in the pan' to try and get the slices to keep their shape. Once these apples heat up, they turn to sauce quite quickly.
I am really appreciating the fresh fruit right now, and will be sorry when the season is over!
:^) from breadsong