Blog posts

Amber Waves of Grain, 2018

Profile picture for user alfanso

Last year I kicked off the year with two entries of 2016 in review.  The first was baguettes I baked, and the second was the batards.  This year I thought that I'd document a slew of selected baguettes from my favorite viewing angle.  Some are repeats from last year as this is not a 2017 review.  With few exceptions, all are different breads.

First bake for 2018

Profile picture for user leslieruf

Decided to mill some spelt and rye and use it in a simple 1:2:3 loaf and concentrate on open crumb and great oven spring.  My flour mix was 70% bread flour, 20% freshly milled rye and 10% freshly milled spelt.  

 I started off with a starter build of 1:2:3 late sunday afternoon.  Monday morning I built further 1:2:2 intending to use water at about 30°C but misjudged it and when I mixed it up it was more like 26°c. This was left at room temperature to mature.  Room temp started at 23°c.

Lamination question (to the croissanteurs)

Profile picture for user kendalm
Decided to try out a 16 layer version of croissants today and unfortunately over proofed them (having realized no eggs and making a dash for the market of last minute eggwash) ... Note to self - be prepared ! Its really quite annoying having one step mess the entire bake. So unfortunately I ended up with fairly sunken croissants but the objective here was to see if 16 layers is better then 12. Typically most recipes call for a double fold followed by a simple fold - that's 4 layers from the double multiplied by 3 from the simple fold.

Last bake of 2017

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and first bake of 2018. Made a batch of 50-50 fresh ground red spring wheat and AP flour. Mixed one half with olives and the other with seed blend (sunflowe, sesam, flax). Folds during NYE board game night, preshape and shape just after midnight, refridge over night, bake after the Rose Parade (~noon). Bringing to potluck this evening.