Local flours, pizza, and gifting bread

I did a lot of holiday baking this year, and part of that was gifting out bread. I made milk bread and potato bread.

This is the most even my milk bread has looked. I always weight each section, but this time, I was more careful about shaping the dough into rectangles before rolling them up, and that really helped.

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Years ago, I had potato bread from Macrina bakery, and thought that it was so amazing, so I wanted to give this a try. I feel like I'm missing something, but it was so long ago, I'm not sure what I need to change.

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My friend gifted me some flour from our local mill for Christmas, so I was very excited to try them out! I made the basic loaf from Full proof baking with 25% millet using artisan bakers craft from central milling (my current bread flour), espresso bread flour and Skagit 1109 from Cairnspring mills. And very non-scientifically, I also proofed them at different times. I tend to over proof, so I wanted to shape at different points to really get a feel for how the dough changes.

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ABC- shaped at 30% rise. Fridge at 35%

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Espresso- 45min later at 74C, shaped at 40% rise, fridge at 45% rise

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Skagit 1109- Shaped at 45% rise, Fridge 52% rise

I enjoyed noticing all the differences. Taste wise, ABC was the most plain. Espresso and Skagit 1109 were darker and wheatier tasting. Skagit 1109 definitely added the most flavor, and as described, couldn't handle as much water. I'm getting better at lamination. I can tell better how shaping underproofed dough feels. It was not lively at all. 30% rise was definitely too little. When I was shaping the last dough, it still felt like I could have pushed the bulk longer and got the dough more airy, but I didn't want to make the same mistake I always do, so I ended it.

It was also good to see approximately how much wiggle room I have. Between the first and last shaping was about 1.5- 2hrs at 73-75C.

I also got my hands on Caputo 00 flour for making pizza. I tried both of Maurizo's pizza recipes. They both turned out well. I think the 00 flour really made a difference in how easy it was to stretch the dough. One of the difference was the size of the recommended dough balls (290g vs 250g). I think 290g was perfect. The crust was crispy on the bottom and not too thin, whereas I made the middle too thin with the 250g ball, and one slice couldn't support its own weight.

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