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The quarter sponge system was a method of professional breadmaking developed in Scotland and was designed to produce tall, airy tin loaves with the minimum amount of yeast possible. The quarter refers to the fact that a quarter of the total recipe water is used in the first sponge.

I've tried it a few times before, but the loaves were never as tall as they should be and lacked oven spring.

Not liking to give up on my breadmaking missions, I decided to have another go.

Been on something of a viennoiserie jag lately brought on, of course, by the holidays, visitors and deliciousness. With 7 dozen croissant, 4 dozen kouign-amann and one chausson aux pommes under my belt (gonna need a new one if this keeps up), a few brainworms have been nibbling on my thoughts.

I am still working on my steamed buns.  Today I prepped to try again with a new sourdough gua bao recipe.  I’ve added a tangzhong to make the flavour more complex and increase the hydration without making the dough handle like a higher hydration.  There is also some vegetable oil to help with moisture and tenderness.  I have kept the baking powder in the recipe since almost all the recipes I’ve seen have either baking powder or baking soda to help reduce any sourness, I’m not sure that it is necessary or not.

Today's bake: Lumberjane Loaf

Source: Sourdough Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads Sweets, Savories, and More - Sarah Owens

Thanks! to  cfraenkel for bringing this to our collective attention - her post can be found here:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71694/lumber-jane-loaf

Thanks! to Abe for forwarding the screenshot to me.

   This is a pretty simple durum semolina style sourdough bread made with high extraction home milled durum and Big Country whole wheat from Barton Spring Mills.  The added egg yolks add a nice extra kick of moisture and flavor.

I am a new bread baker.  My Tartine Bread cookbook says to use white and whole wheat flour.  Does this mean white whole wheat or all purpose flour?  I read that all purpose flour has more protein.  Please comment.

I was working on a SD version this morning but something went wrong, I suspect I measured the water incorrectly and added way too much.  When I realized my error I started a second batch, but since I had no levain ready it was IDY to the rescue.  I’m glad I made the second batch, other than an issue of tearing of the dough during one coil fold where I wasn’t gentle enough it turned out just fine even with the increased hydration to 110%.  Another change was that I did final proof with a couche.

The Fresh Loaf is 18 today! 🎂🥳

Hard to believe, isn't it? At least for me it is. Part of the reason I started the site (and baking so much) was because I had lots of time around the house when the babies were napping. Both of those babies are in university now.

Following are my adaptations to the no levain no knead bread. I mix everything together just til moist using a large wooden spoon. Autolyse 1 hr or so.

I  then do my version of bassinage by thoroughly wetting the counter scraping out the dough throughly wetting the top and patting out to a large rectangle then letter fold and tuck into a ball and place in oiled container. I do this 3x with 30 min rest inbetween ultimately using an extra 100 g of water. Dough responds exceptionally well and becomes like silk. 

500g t80 French import 

I felt like having fish burgers so decided to make buns for the fish.  I’ve had some luck with using potato so decided to add some mashed potato to my milk bread for buns.  Both the potato along with the tangzhong should made very soft buns.