ckujawa's blog

So the baking continues. With three upcoming interviews I want to make sure I'm on my game, so I decided to do one of my favorite breads to make--with a twist. I LOVE making baguettes. Wait. Let's be honest...I LOVE EATING baguettes. Making them is Ok. Especially when they're higher hydration, which I find challenging still. But whatever...a challenge is a challenge and I'm not usually one to let that stop me. 

It's been a long, hot summer. Well...not so long, but hot. Too hot to fire up the oven here in the house--and I hate that thought. So as the temperatures are dropping, so are the levels in my flour store since I'm making up for lost time. Add to that the fact that I'm looking for a new gig--as a bread baker and you've got the perfect recipe for....well....baking. As I was researching one of the places I was applying to today, I came across a menu item that I had not heard the name of--the Bialy. I was curious because the photo they had on their site looked tempting.

Just pulled this from the oven about 20 minutes ago and can't wait to dig into it. We had cooked a turkey this past weekend and wanted to make sandwiches...but of course we needed a bread built just for such an occasion. So...I set to work with the breadcalc spread sheet and this is what I came up with.

Starter:
Levain @ 50%: 100%/3oz
Water: 50%/2oz
KAF Speacial Flour: 90%/3oz
KAF White Whole Wheat Flour: 5%/1oz

Final dough...
All the starter: 25%?...I didn't weigh it, just threw 'er in
KAF Special flour: 80%/ 12.25oz

Wanted to post this because I got schooled by this today. The recipe was the basic sourdough from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I added a significant amount of additional floor because what I was using was new to me and the dough didn't feel right. After 4 hours of bulk rise (also and fold every 30 minutes) I tried to shape it into batards and they would not hold. I couldn't get what I thought was the right surface tension, and they rose flat. I almost have up but figured at the worst is have good crutons. Glad I didn't give up though... The oven spring totally saved the day.

Had a few experimental mishaps (couldn't generate enough surface tension to get good oven spring, etc) so I needed a win. Made this pumpernickel using the recipe on KAF's website...can't wait to crack into it (my son's already planning to make rubens tomorrow).