My hubby can't get enough of these babies. If I ask him 'What bread should I make?' his reply is ALWAYS 'Baguettes!' I just use Chad Robertson's baguette recipe, but substitute 150g organic wholemeal stoneground flour for part of the all purpose flour in the final mix and add 65g extra water.
Well, the other day when I wrote about the Queensland floods, I didn't actually get on to write about that, but that's what came out. Thank you to those who offered encouragement and hope through your replies.
Well you may be interested to hear from the flooded area of Queensland. I live in Toowoomba where this week we have had terrible scenes of raging floods and loss of life, as well as destruction and immense devastation. One of the two major creeks that overflowed and became a raging torrent is just 50 meters from my back gate. In my lifetime I have never seen this amount of rainfall over so wide-spread an area. I'm not sure that anyone has ever seen it in this country. Toowoomba is atop the Great Dividing Range.
My conversion of Peter Reinhart’s Pate Fermentee and French Bread
To begin, this is just the process I used to work up to 455 grams (just a frac over 16 ounces) of 65% hydration Pate Fermentee.
Build up 100 grams of 100% hydration starter to 455 grams at 65% by adding 129 grams water and 113 grams each AP unbleached flour and unbleached bread flour (total flour added 226grams).
I delayed adding the salt for 30 minutes. (Who knows why! I just thought that if I added the salt straight away it might inhibit the production of the yeast.)
It rained all day here yesterday which is good as I decided to bake all day. I had chosen to make dmsnyder's San Joaquin adaptation and have another go at the 1,2,3 formula which has only been successful for me once. I am sorry that I didn't stick to the recipes and got my timing all out of whack! With the 1,2,3 recipe I added about 15% rye and maybe 20% wholemeal instead of all white. I didn't get the rise out of it that I was hoping for, but was saved by some oven spring.
I suppose it is rather funny to be making homemade sourdough bread and never having eaten any of it before. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be comparing it to. I was in the San Francisco airport this time last year and saw everyone advertising their sourdough bread and wondered what was so special about it. I didn't buy any! What a dummy!
I am such an excited little bread maker right now! Look.... Sourdough!!! Thanks for all advice from TFL members. I will add to this blog later this evening, but for now I have to go finish a painting.
Okay, now that I'm feeding my poor little starter the right amount, I'm sure it's happier, but I don't know if that's the reason for this sudden improvement. I've tried several new things with these loaves.
