trailrunner's blog

I had enough orders this week so I have some crumb shots and some not as most was going toward orders. I made my usual 100 % sourdough bagels from Wild Yeast blog but I used whey from my kefir for all of the liquid including feeding the staters..I use 1/2 rye starter and 1/2 white staters for the formula. They were all spoken for but the fragrance and shape are lovely so I have high hopes for the reviews on texture and flavor . I also had more orders for the Oatmeal Bread.

I keep noting the folks on here that are milling their own flour from whole grains. I have never tried it and would like to get my feet wet. What did you buy ? Do you like it or do you have misgivings and think you would prefer another one ? A general overview and  review would be great and help me make a selection. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated. 

As an additional piece  of info where do you get the grains you mill ?  Online or local ? Thanks in advance. c

This is a straight dough. Old recipe..regular cup/tsp measures. Sometimes the tried and true is the best. I did wet the shaped dough and pressed the top into the oatmeal,read about it here on TFL ..worked like a charm !  The bread is for a customer so no pic of crumb. 

Here is the dough just before going in the oven. c

It is hard to keep up on the forum lately. So many innovative techniques being used . I decided to combine several things that I have wanted to try . So far noone else has done this particular set of combinations so hopefully it will be informative. First I made a sourdough focaccia. I used my kefir whey for all of the liquid. I added some sun dried tomatoes and topped with dried orgeano and New Orleans olive salad from our favorite place Central Grocery. It was wonderful. The crust top and bottom was crisp and browned...oweing in part to the black steel pan .

Wowzer....today at church a member brought a huge bag of extra grapes . Hmm...I had a 1/2 batch of semolina pizza dough at home just waiting for something creative to happen. Voila !  This is SO yum !! I can't  even describe how good it is. I used raw sugar and EVOO on top and sprinkled with Herbs de Provence...lots of lavender. Whoa...we have devoured a 1/2 loaf !  Made Conchiglie con Salsiccia e Peperoni as well. Grated parmagiano reggiano ..what a Sunday night feast.

I fed my starter with my whey from kefir. I have been making a lot of kefir cheese lately ..we use it to fill crepes and make Mexican dishes and also lasagna. It is so yum but I have a LOT of whey. The starter was very happy . I then used the whey to replace the water in 3 different formulas. I have never made an olive loaf. I looked around on TFL and found mebake's take on Hammelman's formula in Bread. I used the whey and added extra as did mebake . I also used it in my More Sour Norwich formula.

All I can say is WOW !!  These are fantastic. Thank you Ian for posting and da for continuing the adventure. I too made some changes . I adjusted the formula below to reflect them.

Main Dough Ingredients

200 grams AP flour  Starter at 65% hydration

175 grams AP Flour Starter at 100% hydration

300 grams KAF AP flour

112 grams semolina flour

100 grams rye flour

50 grams kefir cheese and 50 grams sour cream

50 grams Unsalted Butter (cut into pieces and softened)

16 grams Kosher salt

My husband and I grew up in New Orleans. It is a tradition to use up the rich fat foods on this day, the day before Lent begins. Buttermilk pancakes were the order of the morning. We have a vintage griddle from early in our marriage...42 years this past Friday. Husband made his wonderful buttermilk pancakes. I sliced the berries and my best friend had sent me 2 jars of his homemade maple syrup from his trees in Wisconsin. What a great way to start the day and to savor our rich lives. c

The formula you posted for the potato/ricotta bread was a winner !!  I am so glad that my refridgerator contents contained all that I needed . I made a couple changes . I used leftover scalloped potatoes that contained some bits of ham and onions. I mashed them with some milk to what I hoped was a good consistency. You were right about the dough being goopy :)  Whoa...it was. I had already put in all the water , I am used to working with really wet doughs, but I still thought perhaps this was too wet. I added about 1/2 c more flour as it was working in the KA.

I have been making Susan's, Wild Yeast Blog,  100% sourdough bagels for a couple months now...every 2 weeks. They have been perfect every batch. That is not something I can usually say about formulas . I have been stressing my KA and doubling the batch...the motor juuuust manages to do what needs to be done. I give a minute or so by hand on the counter top. The lovely thing about the 100% sourdough is that you needn't do the float test and there is never a worry about the " wrinkled " finish to which many yeast raised bagels succumb.