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This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, and as usual, I have been asked to bring bread to the family dinner. Because it is going to be served with a number of different courses, I needed a rather plain sort of bread. At the same time, the 1-2-3 challenge presented itself. So how to combine the two… well, it is the harvest, might as well use the plethora of grains that are in my pantry as well as some flour from the local miller. He produces 100% wholegrain flour and a partially sifted flour.

well this week I learned a big lesson about leaving the house when dough is proving in the conservatory. What was originally a dull, yet pleasantly warm day quickly turned into an absolute scorcher and in just an hour my dough was ruined! My stretch and folds were  almost impossible due to the fact that (I think) the gluten was completely broken down (is that what happens?)

i baked it anyway and the results were flavoursome (first time adding spelt into the equation) but there was very little rise and they should’ve been at least 60 - 70% larger!

Hi everyone!

Ok, so this weekend, I posted for the first time in over two years, and I mentioned that I'm not very adventurous......and, yet, here I am, posting about making my first ever baguettes.  I have long drooled over the many wonderful baguettes posted here, with Alan's leading the pack.  So, I got a bit of a wild hare, and decided that I'd give the baguette shape a go.  I started with one of my standard formulas - 75% AP, 10% WW, 10% Semolina, 5% Rye @ 70% hydration.  After doing a bunch of reading, and watching the King Arthur baguette shaping video, I dove in.....

It seems that there’re not a lot of sourdough recipes on TFL that involve peanuts. In an attempt to change that, I tossed some peanuts into the dough…

Black Peppercorn Peanut Cranberry 50% Sprouted Kamut SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

150g      50%       Sprouted kamut flour

this was a spelt 20% Sd with an overnight retard of 16 hours at 82% hydration

My trip to Paris in June yielded these two useful results:  I was able to meet M. Bouabsa at his bakery for a few minutes and I came home with four 1K bags of T65 flour.  I’m certain that the flour isn’t the best quality as it was the house brand bought at the local Carrefour on my last full afternoon.  Held in abeyance until this weekend.

I love rye.  I love it so much that I even use it to make granola bars. 

Using pre-gelatinized flaked rye has yielded the best results. 

Friends asked me to bake for them so I made a Tartine Style Country from Trevor on the right and for the first time tried a 'Light Rye' from Martin Field's book Sourdough on the left....

Sadly, no crumb as Barney and I delivered the loaves in my new bag which was a bday present from a friend and used it for the first time..ha, ha....

Then I thought, I just up the rye and baked a 200g rye and 300g strong white bread flour loaf today...

It did turn out less dense than I thought and tastes great! Reminds me actually a lot of some German breads!!!