Monday, October 10, 2011

City Bread, A Second Attempt

City Bread
As I mentioned, I made some more city bread this weekend. I did not make the same mistakes this time, but the crumb still wasn't perfect. I also let the bread sit for 2 hours before cutting into it. The flavor still did not mature as much as I would like until about 5 hours.
Spiral Scoring
I also probably should have left it to brown a little longer. However, the internal temperature was 212 degrees F and the crust sang beautifully when I removed it from the oven.
Yum!
I also increased the amount of whole wheat from the original recipe. It was 2:3 ratio whole wheat to bread flour.
The ears did not bloom enough, sadly
I doubled the recipe and made a second loaf. It was a batard-- sort of. I don't have a batard basket, so I line a loaf pan with a floured cloth. It came out reasonably well this time, but we have a lot of bread around so I am going to freeze it.
Batard
The bread is about 82% hydration which is an awful lot. I am not great at working with it, so the crumb is not perfect. However, it is soft and moist but still light.
Crumb
There was actually some better crumb on the inside, but I did not have a camera with me at the time.
We ate about 3/4 of the bread.
We decanted a bottle of wine for three hours before drinking it. it was lovely.
Girls in the Vinyard, Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
We set out a splendid picnic with one of the last cucumbers from the garden.
Picnic
Great episode of Downton Abbey. More next week.

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