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On Monday, I again baked my new version of Barley-Wheat Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread—a rather fast turnaround, as I just baked two loaves last Thursday. One was intended for the freezer, but I visited a friend in town in her clothing resale shop on Friday morning, and after a long conversation about myriad topics, including the lack of good bread in town, I looked through the clothes and found Levi men’s shorts in my husband’s size and the style he prefers. (These are even hard for me to find new.) She told me to take them home and either bring them back or pay her when I came by again. The shorts fit, so I asked if she would like the $3 or a loaf of the bread. She texted: “Bread, please,” so I took it to her. She texted me yesterday to say that my bread is wonderful, and I definitely should consider selling it. (One topic we had discussed was Farmers’ Market.) I promised my husband that if I bartered away one of his loaves (Grape Nuts Bread, especially this new version) is his favorite), I would bake it again, and we went through our one loaf quickly.
The block party sounds like fun, Len. I'm sure your treats will be a hit.
It rained most of the day here, so I spent much of my time in the kitchen. I made pizza Margherita for Friday dinner and experimented with the sourdough crust again. My intent was to make a more whole grain version than last time (durum flour and semolina were featured then). I made the following changes to the KAF sourdough pizza crust recipe: Add ½ tsp. honey to water and let the yeast proof. Instead of 2 ½ cups KAF AP flour, I used1 ½ cups whole wheat, ¼ cup semolina, ¼ cup dark rye, and ½ cup KAF AP. I reduced the salt from 1 tsp. to ¾ tsp.
I mixed the dough with the flat beater. I tried to knead it, but the small amount of dough was stubborn and would not gather around the kneading hook, so I did a lot of scraping with the speed on 2. I finally kneaded it by hand for 2 minutes, then placed it in an olive oil-coated bowl to rise for about three hours. For the second rise, the dough needed about an hour and 20 minutes after it had been fitted into the pan. I put too many tomatoes on it (that happens when there is a bumper crop), so the crust was a bit soggy, particularly in the center. It is an ok crust, but my husband and I prefer the crust I made last time, so I need to work out how to make it more whole grain. I also think it needs some olive oil in the crust.
After I fed my sourdough, I decided to use the fed starter in a bread. My current low saturated fat diet has required being more thoughtful and creative about desserts and afternoon tea treats. I baked the KAF Nutty-Fruity Sourdough, which is on their site, and which was also featured in Sift (Fall 2017), p. 46. It let me use 1 ½ cups of the dried fruit that I won’t be baking into scones any time soon. It uses some pumpernickel flour, which I have on hand. After reading comments on the site, I substituted in a cup of whole wheat flour for that much AP. I added 2 Tbs. of flax meal as well. I proofed the yeast with ¼ tsp. honey. I cut the salt in half, so I used ¾ tsp. I needed an additional ¼ cup of flour and used whole wheat. I initially mixed the water, proofed yeast, and the whole grains, then let them hydrate for 15 minutes, before adding the AP flour. I think the King Arthur people try to streamline, but with whole grains, it really does help to allow them to soak up liquid. The first rise was about 2 hours; the second, just an hour. I baked it in my Emile Henry long baker, and I brushed the top with an egg yolk mixed with some water. (The original recipe says an egg, but I had the egg yolk left from another recipe.) I baked in the covered baker for 10 minutes at 425F, then reduced the temperature to 375F for 20 minutes before removing the top. The bread needed another 15 minutes to register 200F. (I had forgotten to move the oven shelf down, as I usually do when using the long baker.) It did not have much, if any, oven spring, but it looks like the size depicted in the photo. I will report tomorrow on taste and texture.
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