Monday, November 16, 2009

Daily Bread: Multigrain Pain au Levain


Testing bread in earnest now.

This morning I baked two loaves of multigrain pain au levain, using Daniel Leader's formula from Local Breads. The multi grains, which soaked for eight hours while the levain fermented, were sesame seeds, flaxseeds, coarse cornmeal, and oats. The dough also contained small percentages of whole wheat and rye flours. I forgot to add the seeds until halfway through kneading, rendering the dough very wet and gloopy, so kneading was a long slow process, with frequent rests.

One of the things that I'm concentrating on now that the weekend's loaves will actually sold to people is my shaping and scoring. I consider the loaf above to be a triumph. It also tasted good, dark and moist. I took it in to the architects' office where I used to work, and they, German, English, Japanese, and American, were very complimentary. I'll be filling in at that office quite a bit in the next month, and am looking forward to re-gaining one of my more enthusiastic and knowledgeable audiences.

Compulsive baking--win friends and influence people.

1 comment:

Ruby K said...

already an ardent supporter, neighbor!