Transitional Country Hearth Bread

Toast

I got Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads on loan from the library last week and made the 1/2 whole wheat hearth bread today. It came out pretty well I thought.  I like his "epoxy" method and will be experimenting with it further.

The Biga and Soaker both fermented about 14 hours before I mixed the final dough.  Anybody have an opinion on the optimum duration?

I made six small Batards: