Beer and bread has always seemed like a logical combination to me and I have made several variations on beer bread. This version is based on an American Rye Ale and uses only beer for hydration.
The French Broad Brewery is just down the road and I am lucky enough to have a friend who works there. Not a bad deal, trading beer for bread.
Ingredients:
Levain:
100% hydration fed with KA Bread flour – 300g
Loosely based on the formula for Le pavé d’autrefois
(Old fashioned slab) in the book, Le Pain, l’envers du décor (Bread, behind the scenes) by Frédéric Lalos.
His version used commercial yeast and a poolish.
Ingredients:
Levain:
100% hydration fed with KA Bread flour – 300g
Soaker:
Water – 564g
KA Whole Wheat flour – 107g
Dutch Regale’s Finnish Rye
From Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America
I found some cracked rye at my local health food store and then found this recipe which seemed like it might be an interesting balance of hearty flavors.
Cracked Rye Soaker:
Cracked Rye – 145g
Hot water – 145g
Soaked 8 hours
Flax Seed Soaker:
Golden Flax Seeds – 50g
Hot Water – 100g
Soaked 8 hours
Sourdough Starter:
In baking, like in life, when you think you have a pretty good handle on things something comes along that reminds you that you have a lot to learn. Today's lesson was that I don't yet have the skills for excessive handling of generously hydrated loaves.
The bake today was Hamelman's Semolina Sourdough with sesame seeds inside and out. I thought I could lay my loaf in a tray of seeds without something bad happening, but it left me with a wiggle in my batard.
As a long time lurker, it seemed like it was time to jump in and contribute.
I am an obsessive bread baker and recent convert to the joys of wild yeast. Today's bake was Hamelman's Whole Wheat Levain. Since it was my first attempt at this one, there were no modifications. As always there are things to improve on, but I was pretty happy with the results.
