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It is 4:45am on a quiet and cool Sunday morning.  I am taking my time … a cup of tea while listening to the birds. I can smell mangos on the table next to me.

Nat and I packed a lot of effort into yesterday. The yard work is done, and in between all the mowing and trimming necessary after summer rain I managed to put a few loaves of bread through the oven.

Continuing my journey though The Bread Bible, I finally had both the flour and the time to move on to the third recipe, onion rolls. Since the basis of the rolls are the previous French white recipe, which with I've had repeated success, I'm not going to bother explaining that process. If interested, you can see my first attempt at that pain ordinaire here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25195/pain-ordinaire-bread-bible

I like experimenting with different flours to see the nuances they bring to breads.  Here is a recent bake using a small amount buckwheat flour.  It is a large batch that I built for the amount of starter that I had made the night before using the Hamelman method for Vermont SD.  It made 4 loaves that averaged about 750 gm after cooling.  Besides the beautiful color it brings to a loaf, it adds a nutty flavor that, it turns out, works surprisingly well with brie and camembert cheese spread on it.  The crumb is moist and chewy and the crust has a great crunch. 

Making a Panettone - using recipe from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker Apprentice.  Have my seed starter going for 5 days, getting ready to make the Barm.  Panettone to follow in a few days.  

Any pointers / suggestions from the group is appreciated.

Adam

I decided to return to my roots as it were, and reprise an old standard bread
recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book, Whole Wheat Bread. I topped the loaf with
a little egg wash and some sesame seeds before baking.  It's not 100% whole wheat but about 70% whole wheat - (2 1/2 cups ww flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour). I used to make this bread every week for
morning toast. After seeing and smelling it, I remember why - it's just good.

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

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Don't get me wrong, they are all delicious, I just love this 36 hr SD baguette formula and its endless variations. However, some favorites just jump out from time to time.

This is Take II because I actually baked this formula twice this week.  The first time I used dark rye instead of white rye flour by mistake.   The second time I got the flour right, but I may have done something else wrong.  Both bakes are very tasty.  Almost addictive to a giant sweet tooth like myself.  Even though I baked it for what seemed like forever though, it still came out not quite done.  Or, it came out something else I don't recognize.  Here is the picture that explains it.

I used to have a problem with my crackers, but then I took an arrow to the knee...

For the last month or so, I've been turning all my extra sourdough starter into crackers. With a couple of exceptions, they've been disappointing: not crisp enough, too crisp and burnt, no flavor, too much salt, etc. etc. That all changed a couple of days ago, mostly by accident. I've since successfuly reproduced the recipe three times, and may have it down now.