Our Crumb's blog

I bake 100% whole wheat pan loaves every week for my wife's lunchtime sandwiches.  The initial formula and process came from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.  But the good Br. Juniper's cumbersome "epoxy" method and profligate CY habit begs for simplification.  My current alternative is soft, tasty, simple and seasonally robust enough to share with fellow Loafers.  My wife loves it.

I hope everyone has had a good summer, baking and otherwise.  Judging from TFL blogposts, it's been a great one for many.  My only indoor project has been the following formula and process.  I recommend it to anyone with a mill, a fine tamis and willingness to go to a little extra trouble for a nice flavor.

Springtime is outdoor time.  Meaning less baking time :-(.  So I'm pleased to have worked up this 36h labor-lite levain.  It has very satisfyingly complex flavor, surprisingly light crumb and an irresistible crust when baked boldly.  Prep is facilitated by using the same flours (a modified Rubaud mix) for both levain and dough.  Many thanks to Ian(ArsP) via PiPs for novel (to me) process pointers.

Click the table below to go to a working Google spreadsheet

Baking from his book this winter, I've come to appreciate Ken Forkish's practice of growing higher volume levain refreshments and builds than had previously been my habit.  I like to feel the warmth generated by, and smell the sweetness of, fermentation in these larger levains, raising them in plastic vessels chosen to minimize the culture's surface-to-volume ratio when it enters log phase.  I'm a believer in The Mass Effect and the proof is in the baking: The loaves raised with these levains have been unfailingly delicious.

Santa gave me Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish.  I had studied it in a bookstore, having been alerted by Breadsong's nice post about his overnight 75% WW.  On my Christmas list it went.  No regrets: I've very much enjoyed learning Mr.

According to Floyd's clock, it has been exactly a year since I emerged from lurkdom @ TFL.  So it's a good day to thank our gracious and attentive host for his hospitality at The Loafers' Inn, and as well to thank Floyd's far-flung guests who have enlivened and enriched my bread journey so generously over the past twelve months.

I stumbled on an unfamiliar flour at a Wholefoods before Thanksgiving:  One Degree Organic Foods (ODOF) Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour (Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with ODOF and am just a new and satisfied customer).  I was intrigued by the "sprouted" part, impressed with the packaging and bought a 5#

I've been baking slight variations on this 2 kg miche weekly for a month or so and it's time to share.  It's very good.  So good that it's keeping me from moving on to my endless backlog of must-try formulae from books and TFL blogs.