At SFBI, we did a 100% Spelt bread using dry instant yeast. To soften the bitterness taste of spelt flour, we did a poolish as the preferment for this bread. The result was very pleasing. Two things about that spelt bread I found worthy of a mention from my own perspective:
In a couple of weeks' time I will be visiting my favourite tea houses in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Oolong tea has become a drug to me; the first sip of this green tea very early in the morning before the whole household stirs, whilst seeing the sun rise, is like heaven to me. My tea is my ticket to heaven.
My son has been singing a song called [b]Down Under[/b]. Listening to this song with his i-pod ear-phones, he dances out of his room as he comes into my kitchen to check if there are any goodies to snack on. I asks him what song it is; he says, Mum, this song is [b]iconic [/b]and it goes:
Traveling in a fried-out combie
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,
We made olive bread at Artisan II course, SFBI, using double hydration method (see this post for a description of double hydration). At the time I felt the bread came out a bit dense because, with the double hydration method, you actually end up mixing the dough for quite a long time. The method is supposed to help build up the dough strength [b]before[/b] any add-ins are incorporated into the dough.
The best Walnut Sourdough that I've ever had was from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Imagine a rustic Country Sourdough studded with whole walnuts and no compromise on the open crumb. To me a simple sourdough like walnut sourdough is not something that can be easily made well; in fact, I've found any sourdough with add-ins hard to make really well.
Have you ever used shop-bought bread pre-mixes to make sourdoughs? I have several unfinished bread mixes at home from those days when I used bread machine to make pan breads; they are all reaching their use-by dates and I really don't want to waste them.
Very soon it will be Celtic New Year (see my Van Morrison post). It doesn't mean anything to me except that here in Australia spring is in full swing, spring is the season for new growth and that's what you get after New Year . Here in Brisbane Hong Kong Orchid trees are towards the end of their flowering season; when their flowers have all fallen, Jacaranda will be in full bloom. I put on my joggers, went around my neighborhood and took these photos of Hong Kong Orchid trees:
