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Today’s bake was 50% whole grain (spelt, rye, & whole wheat) and 85% hydration. I was very pleased with the oven spring - in fact it was so strong it blew out my double score (likely some operator error there too). Considering the high percentage of whole grain I was quite happy with the openness of the crumb, although it’s a bit uneven. Probably a result of my limited shaping skills. This is one of the most delicious loaves ever!

Got a very classic but delicious combo. It’s hard to go wrong with corn for it’s at its peak at the moment. What better time to have corn bread than now?

Corn, Tomato & Basil SD with 40% Sprouted Durum

My first attempt at this formula. Overall I’m fairly pleased with the result, although I expected a bit more oven spring, a more pronounced ear, and a more open crumb. Perhaps the relatively high percentage of rye is the culprit or, more likely, “operator error.” It’s a very sticky dough and I may have shaped it a bit too tightly fearing it would ooze when unmolded from the banneton. It held its shape quite well when unmolded.

A lovely aroma, and I’m sure it will go well with the frittata we’re having for dinner.  

Hey gang. I made some sourdough pizza for my lady the other night, and as I was making the dough I said to myself, "I'm going to make some bread!"

I wanted to raise the hydration level of my basic loaf up a notch, from 75 to 77, and I had extra levain so I decided to add more for flavor and punch by going from 18% to 20% of the total, AND I decided to keep the normal timing of the batch. 

If you're looking for the perfect burger or sandwich bun, look no further.  These came out as good as I could have hoped.  Full of flavor and nice and soft but firm enough to hold up to a juicy burger.  The cream really makes a difference along with the small amount of potatoes.

I love frying my starter! Plop that baby into a sizzling oily pan and you've got fried sourdough. 

For lunch, I decided to take some extra starter and make a sandwich. 

In the pan is a salmon burger with blackened garlic, onion and rosemary. The kitchen had some extra basil so I plucked a few leaves and threw em in!

I baked a sourdough loaf using Kamut for the first time.  It wasn’t the easiest thing to find here in Toronto, but I recently came upon a new organic market that carries Kamut grown in Canada.  The colour the whole grain flour is a lovely butter like yellow.

This is a 20% Kamut, 80% strong white flour.  9% pre-fermented flour.

Really proud of the rise and crumb on this one - I had been on a quest for a light, springy whole wheat loaf as I remained stubbornly opposed to the fact that 100% whole wheat meant necessarily dense and heavy crumbs. 

Pleased to say this recipe worked out well (adapted from Full Proof Baking's wonderful blog) - she recommended doing a cold, overnight bulk fermentation and I think that really did the trick here. Very minimally handled overall. 

Recipe as follows:

50% Red Fife

50% Whole Wheat White Flour

I have been baking often but have settled on a handful of breads that I most enjoy eating. I have posted on all of them here over the years, in some cases multiple times documenting minor variations. But this week I saw a bread on another online forum that grabbed my attention and instantly went to the top of my ridiculously long "To Bake" list. It turns out that my intuition was spot on. This turned out to be an extraordinarily delicious bread.

Buttermilk-Spelt Sourdough Bread

from Cecilia Agni Hadiyanto on Facebook

This is my most successful attempt at Ken Forkish’s Overnight Country Brown (30% WW, 70% KA AP). I followed his formula and directions, with only a few deviations.