StevenSensei's blog

This is a modification of the recipe originally published in Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads - (Bread Calculator / Recipe)

This week it was time to try another whole grain bread. The spiced Swedish Limpa bread looked like a winner. I was a bit hesitant given the use of fennel and anise seeds along with cardamom and cumin. More on this later.

I recently read and enjoyed Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson. I was pleasantly surprised as I was reading it that my method of baking sourdough is very similar to the process outlined in the book. With that in mind I figured it would be easy to pick up any of the recipes in the book and go to town with some very mild adjustments or experimentation. All of the variations of breads listed had my mouth watering and I was (and still am) keen to try some things beyond a standard sourdough. 

I have been craving a good solid whole wheat bread recently and thought I should also do some sprouted grains as well. I picked up a copy of Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads and got to reading. Of course the book starts with background and food science and stories. I enjoyed the detail he goes into with the development of this book, the recipes, and the methods specific to whole grain bread baking. 

I've been using a LeCreuset Dutch Oven for most of my baking, but I really wanted to make some sandwich bread. I have a few glass pans but figured with the popularity of shokupan (Japanese white bread baked in Pullman style pans) that it was time to invest in a pan and give it a try. 

I settled on this pan made by Majimaya Baking Supply in Tokyo. They do a lot of metal production for baking. I hope to visit the retail shop one day. Ordering online was not a problem and soon enough I had a 1.5斤 pan, which of course let me down a rabbit hole of actually how to use such a thing.

As a home baker in Japan there are quite a few constraints that can make baking more challenging than baking in a full western kitchen. With a bit of effort and improvisation good bread is still quite achievable. 

Let's start with fermentation. For the first few years I've used a digital temperature controller connected to a kotatsu (traditional heated table) to maintain a somewhat consistent temperature for doing bulk fermentation or growing sourdough starter. And it worked...surprisingly well. 

This blog post is used as an index to the bakes I've done and posted here for quick reference in the future