After reading Benito's recent bake, I realized it's been years since I made a simple white bread. Life finally gave me a little room to bake something reasonably quick, so I went with this KAB small Pain de Mie. (Benny, looks like you inspired several of us.... ?)
My first entry in the No Comfort Zone community bake: Berry focaccia with meyer lemon olive oil.
I have never made focaccia, mostly because I haven't been sure what to do with one after I bake it. There is just 2 of us, and we already are on the outer edges of how much bread we can eat without needing to buy larger clothes.And then I got inspired by watching this Italian Grandma make focaccia. Whether or not you ever make focaccia, she is well worth watching - she's the real deal, lol.
After enjoying a few days away, I’m glad to be home and do some baking. This one has been on my list for a while – 100% spelt, based on this recipe. I think I’m finally starting to see progress in my ability to apply the various things I have learned over the last 6 months.
Tweaks I made:
This was on my list of things to bake. It was good, though the anise flavor was a bit srong for me (and I like anise!). It overpowered everything else. It was a new jar, and likely more fresh than the fennel and caraway I had on hand.
I followed the recipe as described, but made it in a small pullman pan instead. So much easier for sandwiches and toast! It was fantastic toasted with butter and marmalade.
I have been getting much more relaxed about my bakes these days, a welcome improvement. My current mindset: it's bread. Nobody is dieing, nobody needs CPR, and the world will not come to an end if it doesn't come out the way I expected. And who knows what I may learn from the experience.
Today's bake - 100% whole wheat SD, baked in a small graniteware roaster.
Hard white spring wheat (home milled) 450 gm
Water 405 gm
Starter (100% hydration) 130 gm
Salt 9 gm
Bulk proof 7 hours (might been a tad too long)
Final proof in banetton 45 min.
The kitchen went from 68F this morning to 75F by early afternoon, and I wasn't watching closely enough how rapidly the proofing accelerated. Spring weather in AZ, lol.
@hanseata 's Aroma bread has been on my "need to bake" list for a while, and it seemed like a good time to give it a try. I scaled it down to make 1 loaf. My version:
340 gm home milled spelt
107 gm home milled rye
57 gm medium grind cornmeal
67 gm mix of pumpkin and sesame seeds, toasted1 Tbsp poppy seeds
7 gm fine sea salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
475 gm water
Today's bake - 123 sourdough. Recipe here.
I scaled it to a little bigger loaf:
150 gm levain
300 gm water
450 gm flour (400 gm KAF AP, and 50 gm freshly milled hard white spring wheat)
9 gm salt
Preheated oven and makeshift DO (our graniteware turkey roaster with a couple of small, rolled up damp towels) to 450F.
I have a levain build in progress for tomorrow, but found myself wanting to make something today. I opted for this Semolina Sandwich bread. I had to tweak it, as I only had 287 gm of semolina (Bob's Red Mill, discovered in bulk at our local Winco a couple of days ago). So the rest of the flour is KAF AP. Otherwise, I did the rest the same.
It smells heavenly! Crumb shot tomorrow.....
