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Hey all, here is today's bake. I've recently fallen in love with Addie's (Breadstalker) method and it has taught me lots about how long to extend bulk, and key indicators of a nicely fermented dough. As such, I was searching her instagram for posts about a nice 25%-30% whole wheat loaf that I could try. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I just made up a couple ratios to my liking (learning the meaning of how sourdough isn't really recipe driven- it's a method!). 

I love sour cherries and I love chocolate, so when I came across this cake recipe I knew I had to make it.

Posting my freshly-milled, 100% whole wheat sandwich bread recipe…this one is an adaptation of my everyday sandwich bread that I posted here way back in 2007. Unfortunately the photos in that post are broken, but it was a white bread with wheat bran added in for interest and nutrition. Once I got my KoMo Fidibus XL in 2014, I switched over to 100% whole wheat bread. My family never even minded, because the bread still came out soft, fluffy, and mild-tasting due to using white whole wheat.

Hello there,

It’s been a very long time since my last post, and I have no idea of what that even was.  Mostly I use The Fresh Loaf as a resource, and I must say I am always amazed at the detail in most of the posts. I myself am a rather haphazard baker, mostly making the same thing (Tartine style loaf) over and over. 

I needed to get a challah baked quickly because we were hosting a last minute brunch for which I was going to bake a ham, cheese, mushroom, red pepper and onion strata.  So with little time to plan I bake this challah that relies on IDY for leavening.  I was surprised at the slight tearing that this loaf had between the strands.  At the time of baking the dough didn’t bounce back at all with the poke test.  This is usually quite a reliable sign that the challah is well fermented, but in this case it could have used a bit more time in final proofing.

These were pretty tasty. I used my KAB starter, KAB bread flour, and pretzel salt from Boise Salt Co. The recipe is from Little Spoon Farm. We have an all-time fave soft pretzel recipe from an Amish cookbook I bought at a craft fair, but that uses regular yeast and I wanted to use my new starter. These are equally good as our fave commercial yeast pretzels…maybe a little chewier? 

I am LOVING my new sourdough starter from KAB (KAF for the old schoolers).

I love to hear the crust "sing" when first out of the oven. Lovely crisp cracking sound.