I swear I am not taking a cut from Chad Robertson (:P), I guess the formulas in the book just really works for me, so I keep going back for more. As I have mentioned before, it's not a cover-all bread book like "BBA" or "Bread", it only has a handful of base formulas (4 for lean breads to be exact), then some variations. Since I have posted about the Basic Country Bread and WW Country Bread, I am not going to post formula for this Semonlina loaf just to be fair to the author(s). if you like the breads, I think it's a book worth buying.
The procedure is similar to the other two breads, at 80%+ hydration, I am not suprised about the open crumb, but I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor combo - fennel seeds and black seame, both in the dough and on the crust, so frangrant! Both of those two seeds have such strong aroma on their own, I never thought they would mingle so well together! I was toasting them together before mixing into the dough, such heavenly smel! I knew it would be a winner then.
Open and colorful crumb, and trust me, it's an explosion of flavors in the mouth.
Recently bought a triangle proofing basket from here, I like the result. BTW, the basket is small, enough for 1lb dough probably. However, I did half the recipe this time since DH is out of town, so I had two 1lb loaves, one triangle and one oval, rather than the usual 2X 2lb loaves. I think it's actually better to shape into smaller loaves for two reasons:
1. High hydration dough tend to spread a bit on baking stone (Chad recommend to bake in a cast-iron pot thingy that I don't have), but it's much less noticable with smaller loaves;
2. The seeds on the crust came out just right after 35min in the oven, any longer, they would get burned a little, which happened to my bigger loaves before.
Last time, Sylvia wanted to see how my bastkets are floured, here's a picture of the oval one after being dusted with AP+rice flour - see the little bit of flour gathered in the left? I dumped those out after.
Needless to say, I will make this again, maybe try the other flavor variation in the book to combine fennel and raisin with semolina.
Sending this to Yeastspotting.
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That does it. I am ordering this book.... I know I won't be able to fully enjoy it until next year, but... what the heck, you make it impossible to resist it
:-)
Gorgeous loaf, TxFarmer, but you don't seem to make anything less than spectacular bread!
It's good sometimes to just read the books and look at the pictures when we are "baking deprived" huh?
Can you believe I am still waiting for it to arrive? I bought it used, and now I regret it... should have ordered new from amazon... (sigh)
maybe today?
I made the basic country bread a few weeks ago, and it was excellent. This looks like another I must try.
David
Good to hear you liked the book and the bread too!
I'm new to baking and this forum and following along, do you bring the loafs to room temp before baking? thanks
I did put the dough at room temp for about an hour before baking, but it's not about "bring to room temp", it's about "letting the dough to rise to the appropriate point". That "appropriate" point means it has expanded a little during proofing, but still has some strength left for ovenspring, you sort of have to judge by experience. Often times, after shaping, I immediately put the dough in the fridge to retard, so by the time I take it out it may need some more proofing, which is why I leave it at room temp for a while. If for some reason, it has proofed to the appropriate point when I took it out of the fridge, I would just bake it immediately, with no warm up.
Wow, your bread just looks Gorgeous!
Thank you for the floured basket photo! The basket coils seem to dampen a little after an overnight in bags in my frig. and if I don't use enough flour/riceflour, the dough sticks. I've been trying less flour/riceflour it's not to bad, but still a little sticking.
I think it's a good idea about the recipe posts and book purchase, especially since there isn't that many formula's in the book.
Sylvia
When I retard the dough, I just cover the top, rather than put the whole thing in a bag, maybe that way the dough won't get so moist?
I was thinking that the air would dry out the dough going into the coils of the basket if the whole basket wasn't put in a bag...maybe that's the problem, to much moisture....the wood on my baskets is very damp after the loaves come out and the flour also left hardens because of the moisture, and is hard to clean...that sounds like the problem...thanks, TxFarmer : )
Sylvia
TxFarmer, You have the midas touch. All your work is so gorgeous and I am sure delish. I enjoy looking and baking but cant possibly keep up with the baking.
Salma
THank you so much for teh kind words!
The bread is beautiful and the black sesame seeds set up a wonderful contrast.
I wish I could find them locally, but so far no luck - aside from a tiny bottle at the local market which sells for an extraordinary price.
Do you have an Asian market nearby? They usually have sesame seeds at a reasonable price. If not, you can use poppy seeds in place of sesame seeds here.
either. I love the look of them on bread. I've thought about ordering them and don't care to do that...some store around here must have them...but not any I frequent :/
Sylvia
...really speak for themselves. More perfect loaves! I think Mr. Robertson himself would be proud, txfarmer :)
PS: The recipe can be found on Amazon.com, if you use the "Look inside" functionality...
It means a lot coming from you, who always turn out pefect loaves and pastries.
Yummy! Txfarmer, yet another fabulous looking loaves, in and out!
If only i could get my hands on some durum flour... oh well..
I had to get mine online too.
yesterday and was wondering what I could do with them... Roasted. Cost just a little bit more than the white roasted. Is there a big taste difference?
I think white/black sesame seeds taste the same, they are about the same price here, so I usually just get black ones for the color contrast.
Wonderful looking loaf - and I do like the taste of fennel in bread.
I guess I need to add another bread baking book to my ever growing collection... My husband calls my baking: "The Other Man"...
Karin
Ha, my husband has given up the fight - no longer try to compete with baking for my attention. :P
Hello, txfarmer
All your bread look like I see in some professional bread baking books. I couldn't go to the book store in the mall to check out the book today because it was no parking lot space to park our car.
Thank you for taking a lot of time to post your wonderful work, txfarmer.
Akiko
Txfarmer, after I looked into the amazon website for that part of the recipe one could see, and read all of your notes, all of a sudden a nagging suspicion entered my mind.
I went to look at my overcrowded book shelves - and there it was: a copy of "Tartine" that I bought with a bunch of other books some time ago, and never opened so far. A severe case of baking book overload - or early onset Alzheimer?
Anyway, this bread will be my next "private" bread, after I bake my Pane Sicilianos, Pains a l'Anciennes and Multigrain Pitas for tomorrow's sale.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Karin
I have two copies of Dan lepard's "A handmade loaf" for the same reason - completely forgot that I had one already. To make it worse, at any given time, I can only to seem find one of the two, the other two is always hiding in unexpected places. :P