pmccool's blog

First up, Hamelman's Quarkbrot.  The formula calls for 60% bread flour, 20% medium rye flour, and 20% rye chops.  It also includes quark cheese.  Since the medium rye flour and rye chops and quark cheese are scarce as hen's teeth in my corner of northern Michigan, I was forced to adapt.  My trusty Komo grain mill does just fine at producing whole rye flour and cracked rye, so I used those.  The cracked rye was treated to a hot soak, rather than the cold soak for the rye chops; this per Hamelman's suggestion in a different recipe.  And Hamelman suggests that yog

I'm beginning to wonder whether I bake better when the weather is cool.  This is the second bake in a row to turn out very well.

The bread is based on a rye levain that matures overnight.  It also has a hot soaker that consists of cracked rye, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, oats, and all of the salt for the formula.  For this bake, I subbed bulgur wheat for the cracked rye since I have more on hand than I can easily use up other ways.  The soaker is allowed to rest overnight. 

The formula for this bread is from the second edition of Hamelman's Bread.  It's a 50/50 white/whole wheat bread with a multigrain soaker.  It is leavened with both a sourdough levain and a yeast kicker in the final dough.  The multigrain soaker composition is entirely up to the baker.  In this version, I used flaxseed meal, whole millet, and a blend that includes sunflower seeds and flaked wheat, barley, rye, and oats.

I was jonesing for some rye bread and wanted it sooner rather than later, which ruled out taking time to refresh my starter and build a levain.  In leafing through The Rye Baker, I came across a Yogurt Rye bread that was leavened with yeast and thought "That looks interesting."  It's also a bread that I haven't made previously.  So I made it.

I've had Daniel Leader's Living Bread book for a couple of years now but have baked scarcely any (one?) of the breads that it features.  One reason for not having dived into it enthusiastically is that I am, admittedly, a rather pedestrian baker whereas many of the breads in the book exemplify a high degree of the baker's craft.  Another reason is that some of the breads are in the "That's cool but it isn't what I want" category.  And, a number of the breads call for ingredients that, here in northern Michigan, range between exotic and Unobtanium.  Since I'm cheap

Sometimes you get the bear.  Yes, really.  After a number of recent thoroughly edible but not very interesting bakes, I finally have one that gets me excited.

Sure, I could have let the final ferment go a bit longer but ... I'm getting ahead of myself.

A few months ago, I was given a one-pound package of einkorn grain.  While I've been interested in einkorn and other primitive wheats, the high cost (relative to modern wheats) has put me off.  I don't have any compelling health issues that would militate against using modern wheats, so my curiosity hasn't been enough to override the high price point.

Go Chiefs!

Ahem.  Well.  Yes, that needed to be said.

Tomorrow's Super Bowl festivities will feature pulled pork sandwiches because Kansas City.  A superlative sandwich requires a superlative bun.  For superlative buns, it's hard to improve on Portuguese Sweet Bread (this one compliments of Mark Sinclair.)  Although Ian, bless him, continues to experiment.

These are all suited up and ready to play:

It's a Brod & Taylor lightweight sheeter that my wife bought for me.  Due to various commitments, like our oldest grandson graduating from Missouri State next week, it will probably be three weeks or more before I get to play with it.  That may be a temporary reprieve for my waistline but I’m concerned about the long-term risks.  

This is what 14+ pounds of PSB dough looks like after it is turned into sandwich rolls and a loaf.  The loaf was egg-washed, the rolls were not.  The rolls are for a church picnic tomorrow. 

I used Mark Sinclair’s Back Home Bakery recipe to make a double batch.

Paul