You may know my frustration with this grain and trying to learn to bake with it at 100%. With much advice and good helpful suggestions from many here, you know who you are so thank you, I think my fifth bake is the best so far without having seen the crumb.
Every month, starting January 2020, my bakery offers a subscription "Taste Tester Box" following a predetermined theme. We have three options: a bread box, a treats box, and an everything box. The everything boxes are huge and our subscribers get roughly four pounds of breads and the equivalent of 6 of our quarter pound+ almond croissants. Each month features two or three different breads and three different treats.
These two loaves were made from the same batch. The boule did not rise as much and had a dense crumb. The Batard had a fantastic rise, nice open (maybe too open) crumb. The internal structure was very weak.
King Arthur All Purpose Flour 73% Hydration
5.5 hours bulk fermentation time
Dough temp throughout 79 degrees
Shaping technique maybe a little too aggressive on the boule?
Any ideas, suggestions would be welcome. :)
Finally got myself to do a rye bread. I didn’t grow up eating much rye bread and don’t understand it well. To me, it has a bad reputation of being a dense bread. But I do know that there can be a lot of flavor and nutritional value.
my first attempt at it is only about 25% coarse dark rye (Bob’s Red Mill) I think it turned out great! Will up the rye content in the next version.
I wanted to try baking a 100% (or close to 100%) white flour only hearth loaf as I don’t think I’ve done this before. It isn’t perfect, the scoring was off center in a way that altered the ultimate bloom and shape of the loaf. Despite the great blisters, I wonder if I allowed sufficient fermentation. I had to cut final bench proof short because of life getting in the way of baking LOL.
Hey, fellow bakers!
I just felt so compelled to share a small moment I had in baking baguettes.
I used the same recipe as last time (see blog with details here), but used DanAyo's procedure for baking artisan bread in a loaf pan (his helpful thread is here).
A "Cliff's Notes" version of what I did, beginning last night (started levain build before bed) thru today:
Inspired from Jasons Quick Ciabatta, (I've made dozens and dozens of times), I started experimenting with my discard. I've made Ciabatta using Peter Reinharts Biga, Poolish, Jasons Quick Ciabatta, to name a few. Jasons is nice because it's quick, but lacks flavor. Peters is nice because it nails the flavor but takes much time. (Something that's not available to me anymore) This is the best of both worlds.
My first entry in the No Comfort Zone community bake: Berry focaccia with meyer lemon olive oil.
I have never made focaccia, mostly because I haven't been sure what to do with one after I bake it. There is just 2 of us, and we already are on the outer edges of how much bread we can eat without needing to buy larger clothes.And then I got inspired by watching this Italian Grandma make focaccia. Whether or not you ever make focaccia, she is well worth watching - she's the real deal, lol.
