Bread: Back After a Short Respite

Spirally Loaf!

So I have been on a bit of a bread hiatus because of finals and then not being home much over spring break because I was catching up with friends. I am really sad that a lot of these people are going off to different places at the end of this year. But I will enjoy the time that is left. Anyway, I made up for it by making some loaves yesterday. I baked the first three this morning and will bake the last two this afternoon.

Three Loaves: Norwich More-Sourdough

The first three were Susan from Wild Yeast's Norwich More-Sourdough with some modifications:

• I used about 75% whole wheat sourdough starter (just using what I had around)
• I substituted course-ground whole wheat for the course-ground rye
• I added about 50g water (up to 610g) and then splashed in a little extra when the Kitchen Aid didn't seem to like the stiff dough, so maybe up to 640g all together.
• I added in 40g of wheat germ and 10g oat bran
• I also readjusted the timing, because the temperature in my kitchen is 70 degrees F instead of 76 degrees F.
• I added one extra stretch-and-fold during the bulk fermentation

This set of loaves is magically delicious. Maybe it's just because I haven't had homemade bread in two weeks. Feast your eyes. More to come...

Spirally loaf (Loaf #1)

Loaf #2

Loaf #2

Crumb of Loaf #1, tight but not bad.

Loaf #3 (scoring experiment)

I am hosting my next bread lesson this Saturday. I think we are going to make spelt ciabatta, pumpernickel, and croissants. Yum!

Happy Birthday Servius

Today we celebrated Servius' birthday with a lovely brunch of fresh-baked bread, his favorite, grapes, raspberries, cheese, and carrots. Instead of having the picnic outside as originally planned, we watched the Japan-USA final match of the women's' soccer World Cup. The game was fantastic. It was exciting and I was rooting for Japan, because the country has had a really bad year and certainly deserves some national spirit.

I love this swirl pattern!

I took the idea for this scoring pattern from the beautiful work at the Tartine Bread Experiment.

Results of Whole-Wheat Tartine

Whole Wheat Tartine Bread-- YUM

This is a bit of cheat-- it's just over 30% whole wheat, but it's still very healthy and amazing. This is the best whole wheat loaf that has ever come out of my oven-- either here or at my Alma Mater. Unfortunately, I can't take the credit for this one. Servia did each step of the process on her own (her first wild-yeast bread since college and her first bread since I was very young). I simply read the directions out of Tartine Bread and threw out a pointer here or there. But this is her beautiful loaf and it will be my breakfast for the next few mornings.

A detailed explanation of the recipe comes from TX Famer on The Fresh Loaf, whose breads are absolutely stunning (from what I've seen on yeast spotting).

Crust

Crumb

More Crumb [1]

Reinhart says in all of his books that whole wheat needs honey (or other sweetener) because it is too bitter. This is apparently not true, so long as the wheat has a long time to ferment and increase the flavor. The particular loaf does have some white flour in it, but the flavor comes from the whole grain and I think it's absolutely lovely.

For the white Tartine loaf I am giving to a family friend, I finally managed one semi-decent ear (my scoring technique is getting better!).

Ear! i.e. the protruding slash on the bread.

Gift Loaf.

Gift loaves always make me nervous because I can't check out the crumb first. The loaf is lightweight, though, which should mean that the water cooked out of it. I am hoping my computer-savior likes it!

Endnotes

1. The bread actually had more air holes than this but it was sliced so thin that it bent in on itself when I tried to lean it up on the other bread.