Blog posts

Hey bakers!

I have decided to experiment with 100% whole grain sourdough breads lately, so below is the recipe for my 100% Whole Grain Spelt Sourdough Boule. I saw someone advise to try using a lower hydration when working with whole spelt because of the extensibility of the dough. The lower (65%) hydration definitely works for me! This bread was great. A video of the whole process is below.

Levain/Starter Build

25g Sourdough Discard (from the fridge)
50g Whole Grain Spelt Flour (Bob's Red Mill brand)
50g Water (ambient temp.)

Put an egg wash on your loaf, sprinkle the seeds, then put on another coat of egg wash. The seeds won't fall off!

I realized that I hadn’t made any pizza in quite sometime.  My working on baguettes over the past several months got in the way ?. So 2 days ago I put together my go to sourdough pizza recipe from the pizza Community Bake.  I haven’t really many any changes to that recipe except that I now give the dough after cold retard 2 hours of RT final proof.  This has helped with a more open cornicione.  I’m still making 9” personal sized pizzas in my cast iron skillet.

When I was in the 4th grade, my mother taught me how to make "butter horn rolls".  Later, circa 1968, when I was in high school, my father was traveling a good deal, often arriving home about 5 am. I established the routine of having fresh croissants waiting for him, then I would catch the school bus at 6 am. 

Time to put cranberries in bread. They actually taste awesome with Feta and toasted sunflower seeds. I got the inspiration from a little French lunch place in my home town. They use this combo in their house salad. Soooo good!

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add ins:

150 g dried cranberries

75 g crumbled feta

60 toasted sunflower seeds (I buy raw and toast them in a dry frying pan)

Main dough:

700 g Strong Bakers Unbleached Flour

200 g freshly milled Spelt flour 

I feel like I keep going through Maurizio's recipes. They are so nicely written up and presented, it's difficult to avoid the temptation.

Blasphemy, I know what the Baguette Brigade will say about these, Blapshemy!!!  Oh well, I do not care.  I was in the mood to do something with chocolate and had started the mix for these Bouabsa baguettes.  I added 100 g of Lindt 70% dark chocolate which is always a good pick me up.  I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone add chocolate to their baguettes, but I have to admit I haven’t done a search.  In all likelihood it isn’t an original idea.

Since the baguette brigade has moved to blogging about bread I thought I should follow along. I have been making this bread for quite some time. It was one of the first videos that Trevor Wilson posted. He calls for pecans but I always use pepitas instead. I make it more often than any other bread because it is great for morning toast and is a good vehicle for Nutella.