Buckwheat Bastards

These are Buckwheat Batards from Daniel Leader's new book, Local Breads (pictured with a leftover loaf of plain sourdough). They are made using a 'liquid levain' sourdough, and are very wet and sticky and hard to shape. Buckwheat from Anson Mills turns them that dark color and gives them a great flavor, sour and almost clay-like. The reward for all that stickiness is the texture--soft and open.


The shaping can still use some work. Libby, who misread the name as Buckwheat Bastards (obviously they'll not be known as anything else around here), had a whole loaf fresh out of the oven for second dessert.