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I’ve been ordering berries from Barton Springs Mill for several years and have enjoyed every single product I’ve ordered from them. The flavor profiles they provide have been pretty accurate from my perspective, which is very helpful. Some nine or ten months ago, their Quanah wheat caught my eye. It is described as a hard red winter wheat and its flavor profile – buttery, creamy, malty – is right up my alley. A bag was duly ordered and, regrettably, it has been in storage ever since, waiting for me to bake my way through all the berries ahead of it in queue.

Recently I've posted about bakes using 50% spelt and 50% einkorn:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72911/50-einkorn-take-2
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72889/50-spelt

Today's loaf used the third "ancient" grain - emmer.  I've never used it before.

  I made a new version of my pretzel rolls to bring to my Cousin’s for Rosh Hashanah dinner along with some of my standard ones.  Everyone seemed to really like the new ones so I guess I must have done something right :). 

This version had some fresh ground rye along with some dark cocoa powder along with the Guinness which really gave the final dough a nice malty flavor.  

I used pretzel salt, black sesame seeds and everything bagel topping for the toppings.  As usual these were made with a lye bath

Phase 1 - the bulk fermentation

Phase 2 - the pre-shape

Phase 3 - the final shaping

This seems to a problem with almost every recipe that I try (see picture).

For these loaves I tried:

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/best-sourdough-recipe/

I followed precisely as written.

There was very little change to the dough appearance/behavior after an overnight cold ferment. It was pretty solid. When I went to move it from banneton to dutch oven I could feel it deflate more (not that there was a lot to begin with).

Flours:

I was watching random suggested videos on YouTube recently, and Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone popped up making sourdough puff pastry (recipe here).

This loaf is a slightly changed version of the bread in my previous 50% einkorn post

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72901/50-einkorn

Here's what I changed:

Pan de Cristal

David Snyder

September, 2023

Pan de Cristal is a bread that has intrigued me for some time. It is a white bread similar to an Italian ciabatta but of even higher hydration. I was a bit spooked by the anticipated challenge of handling such a wet dough until I viewed the instructional video made by Martin Philip, the fellow who took Jeffrey Hamelman’s place as head baker at King Arthur Bakers.

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS). 

After trying my hand at a 50% spelt loaf - see

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72889/50-spelt

I made a similar loaf with 50% einkorn flour. The stone-ground flour comes from a local restored water mill.  I've read a lot, mainly on this site, about how einkorn flour is runny and sticky and won't hold its shape.  E.g.,

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/recent-blog-entries?page=1