Here we report an experiment designed to increase a levain's natural yeast titre. Possible* novel aspects are (1) an "Overnight" version of Raisin Yeast Water (ORYW) and (2) growing SD levain in undiluted RYW. (*nihil sub sōle novum when it comes to bread baking but I don't recall seeing exactly this described before)
Materials & Methods
I humbly submit this week's baking epiphany:
The optimal length for bulk fermentation of our house miche can be conveniently reduced to the following dress code:
• When wearing a sweater (UK: "jumper"), then 3 hours @ 78˚F (25˚C)
• When wearing a T-shirt (UK: Arsenal or Chelsea but not ManU), then 2 hours @ 78˚F (25˚C)
Happy Easter everyone, in spite of it all.
I've been wanting to develop a SD Hot Cross Bun formula for several years, and, despite rossnroller's verdict that his CY version was better, I declare these to be not only a success but superior to all previous Easter's CY versions we've made.
I regretted Toad.d.b since the moment it chose me (I will never confess that I chose it for my TFL username). Having had a nano-epiphany while composing a post here a few days back, I've gone 'n done it: changed my TFL username to Our Crumb. And I've adopted an avatar with some ancient family food history.
There. Done.
dab, you'll have to call them crumbies now. Or crumbles. Or . . .
Happy Baking,
Tom
The recent flurry of chatter about SFSD, Larraburu Bros and Galal et al. highlights curious issues about the terroir of bread. It occurs to me that bread has a staggeringly more extreme element thereof than wine, cheese or olive oil. Forgive me if this is obvious and widely acknowledged. These are new(ish), or at least somehow suddenly more deeply considered, ideas for me.
Farina Bona is a unique flour produced in Cavigliano, a village in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Cavigliano sits in the Valle Onsernone that runs east out of Locarno, the lakeside town from which the better known (to bread bakers) Valle Maggia runs north.
Looks like this fellow Karl de Smedt had the same idea as Alt Altus.
I like his name for it better: Fleur de Levain.
Happy Baking,
Tom
Here is a simple method for processing leftover starter into a versatile ingredient that can favorably increase the complexity of a bread's flavor profile. It's a "toadie" in dabrownman's parlance. Perhaps a “cheat” in yours. Ok, it's not strictly altus. It had aspirations to become bread but never got the call. Hence “Alt”. Here’s the...
What for
Last week's 10% Einkorn, 40% Hard White Wheat was deliciously encouraging. Egged on by Josh, I wanted to explore this mix more by "pushing" both the Einkorn and the overall wholegrain level this week. I also wanted to add a sharper accent with some red wheat. Easy as 1-2-3: 10% Hard Red Wheat, 20% Einkorn and 30% Hard White Wheat. I also upped the overall hydration to 84% (again, taking a page from Josh's nice post), to
