wassisname's blog

*Edited to add formula.  Pretty sure this is what I did.  Now that I look at it again it could probably stand some tinkering.

I’d heard that freshly ground coriander seeds were altogether different from the prepackaged powder, but… Wow!  Now I get it.  And, as for what freshly ground coriander does to a hearty rye, I have not the words.  But I do have the bread.

There will be friends, there will be skiing, there will be beer... there should be pretzels.

The recipe from Local Breads yielded beautiful results - highly recommended.  No mention of  an egg wash in the recipe, but I added one just to pretty them up.  A lump of WW sourdough starter went in too, just because it was there and in need of a home.  I can't wait for another occasion to bake these.  Does Tuesday qualify as an occasion?

Marcus

The goal:  A simple, 100% wholegrain, sourdough bread that I can make on an after-work weeknight schedule. 

There have been some inspiring and mouthwatering nutty breads posted lately, so how could I resist.  I had to have some.  It's been a long time, and I forgot how good a few walnuts in a loaf of bread could be. 

 I love big, crusty, whole wheat, sourdough bread.  I may have mentioned that in a previous post... or two.  That flour, water and salt can transform into something like this never fails to amaze me.  My tired brain particularly appreciates that such simplicity can still produce such wonderful bread - anything more intricate just isn't in the cards right now.

Winter started with a bang this year and seemed like it would never let up!  After two months of slapdash, subsistence baking I finally managed to find enough time (and energy) to bake some decent sourdough.

A simple miche based on Leader's method in Local Breads seemed like just the thing so I mixed up a double batch using about 75% WW flour and 25% bolted "Turkey" flour.  With my kitchen being nice and cool the dough fermented for about 7.5 hours.  Loads of flavor.  Just what I've been craving.  I feel much better now.

Marcus

Back to basics in my quest for a whole wheat sourdough that doesn't take over my weekend or keep me up half the night.

The method this time is about as conventional as it gets, except for the long, refrigerated pauses.  Some of my previous attempts were so far from my usual routine that simply getting my head around them was a chore, and the bread suffered as a result. My brain will only put up with so much! 

I found one lonely six-pack of Oktoberfest at a local market and gave it a home and a higher purpose.  To make it extra festive I threw in a shot of  Jaegermeister, too.  I've made bread with beer and I've made bread with liquor, but this is the first time I've used both.

 Here's something that doesn't work...

Another attempt at WWSD without a bulk ferment.  It went less well this time.  I had to get these ideas out of my head, and now that that's done I can go back to methods with better odds. 

 This loaf is my grudging acceptance of the fact that everything can't always be about me - not even bread.  My daughter goes weak in the knees at the sight of square, squishy supermarket white bread.  The stuff gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies.  I won't buy it, not even for her.  But, instead of digging in my heels and inspiring a whole-grain backlash I decided to expand my horizons a bit.