I baked ciabatta following the King Arthur Bread Baking Basics course. It was not as hard as I expected to work with the very high moisture content. Luckily rustic is the goal so my abstract shaping works. Ricky rates this as the best thing I baked this month.
Filed under Baking
I was expecting the levain process to be a lot less forgiving. It takes a long, long, hot, proof. I used the recipe from The Perfect Loaf almost exactly. Could have taken it out a few minutes earlier, crust was a little darker than intended. The end product is my favorite recipe so far. I will try this again with inclusions and spices.
Filed under Baking, Enriched doughs, Sourdough
My great grandmother was born in Transylvania. I was so excited to find a recipe from that region and for an enriched cinnamon bread which is nearby the cinnamon rolls we love to bake. I used the recipe from Zingerman’s bakehouse book exactly and it is delicious.
Filed under Baking, Enriched doughs
I used the recipe from Flour Water Salt Yeast. With just a small proportion of white flour, the recipe is a lot more manageable than the full whole wheat. It calls for making a lot more levain than the recipe uses. I didn’t want to waste it so I actually just included it all. To compensate, I reduced the proof time during folds and the final proof by about an hour each. I think the tradeoff was in terms of sour flavor. Ricky rates this as a top three bread ever.
When I first got my sourdough starter, at the beginning of COVID lockdowns like many many others, I naively substituted all the flour in a standard recipe with whole wheat. It did not go well. I ended up with a very solid disk. My partner is very willing to eat my experimental bakes but this was not edible.
This week I tired again, armed with many years of baking experience and a very detailed recipe from The Perfect Loaf. This result was much more palatable! Not a very open structure, but we liked the taste at least.
Allison C Kelly 