2026 - Cream pie challenge
Notes: while I am head over heals happy with this outcome. I am disappointed that I made an inexperienced amateur mistake. The glaze is too thick! Other than that, my bride said it was delicious!
Smile...
The finished product
This is my first bake of 2026 and is my go-to dough. I have made this bread well over a hundred times, and it is popular with many people who receive loaves from me. This bread is Jeff Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grains (from the second edition of Bread).
My first two bakes of pretzels were yummy, however, the dough was hard to deal with. In doing some research it seems that the hydration of that original recipe was too high. So I’ve adjusted the hydration down to 65% which I believe is the upper end of the scale for soft pretzels. The dough was much easier to deal with especially transferring them into the simmering baking soda bath and out again. I’m quite happy with these and they are now already all gone.
Ok we'll start with the most obvious difference: QUANTITY
I’ve been feeling uneasy these days, and, perhaps in solidarity, my starter has, too. For a few months now, it’s been highly acidic which has cut down on its ability to promote yeast growth. For my usual deli rye – 45% whole rye/10% whole spelt/45% bread flour -- I mixed the levain and, after 12 hours on the counter, it was clear that it had not progressed in the right direction. It felt and looked dead -- just a non-responsive grey lump.
Aim:
To covert a commercial yeast Semolina bread formula, into a low dose sourdough formula.
Dosa is an Indian flatbread made from just fermented rice and lentils, water and salt. It's exceptionally crunchy, slightly tangy, and utterly delicious. It's usually eaten with a chutney, raita, or some spicy potatoes.
I made mine with raw short grain white rice and raw black lentils (it's usually made with black gram, which is not that readily available in the shops here). I soaked rice to lentils using a 3:1 ratio overnight. The next day, I blended the rice and lentils with as little water as possible to make a thick pancake-like batter.
I ran out of all forms of wheat flour - which is what I typically add to whatever preferment - so had to come up with something for the rye biga I had already made yesterday night. I ended up adding more rye and buckwheat, making this a 80% medium rye, 20% buckwheat loaf, with 60% of the rye pre-fermented in the biga.
I attempted pandoro for new year's and am quite proud of the result! Very similar process to panettone (lievito madre, 2 doughs, obscene amounts of egg yolks and butter). The crumb is tighter than panettone and it doesn't have the same riot of flavors and ingredients (no candied fruit or raisins or chocolate, for example). But there's something more elegant about its simplicity? It's like a very nice brioche, but with that beguiling texture of these long-fermented dessert breads (soft but toothsome). I made a 1kg batch and split it between 2 500g star-shaped molds.
Happy 2026 to The Fresh Loaf community! May your starters thrive and your loaves delight you and yours!
David
