Son of Pain au Levain

I've been so busy at SCRATCHbread that I don't think I've made old-fashioned, kneaded, bake-on-a-stone bread in months, at least at home. This week, two samples of Hamelman's Pain au Levain recipe, baked at 440 on my baking stone. The one on the right is exactly the same, except that it was rolled in flaxseeds. The inspiration for this bake was an illicit gift that I passed on over Passover to my cousin Alexander. As we all ate our unleavened bread, I slipped him a jar of contraband sourdough starter under the table. While advising him how to bake with it, it occurred to me how long it had been since my starter made anything but Tartine-style bread.

Alexander, incidentally, has christened his starter "Mattya."

Cape Cod Cloche

Cape Cod girls, they have no combs
Heave away! Heave away
They comb their hair with codfish bones;
We are bound for Australia


Heave awy me bully bully boys
Heave away! Heave away
Heave away and don't ye make a noise;
We are bound for Australia!


Cape Cod boys, they have no sleds
Heave away! Heave away!
They slide down hills on codfish heads
We are bound for Australia!

Guess where I got to get snowed in last weekend...

A foot and a half of beautiful snow deep in a many-windowed house in Welfleet, generously lent by Judy and Richard, good friends to me from the day I was born. They did themselves one better this time, opening their house to me and three dear friends for a wool-socked, Scattergories-playing sister weekend. The snow was deep, the kitchen was stocked, and we couldn't have asked for much more.

As I mentioned once before, Judy is a potter, and a big fan of the no-knead bread, and now she's experimenting with making clay baking vessels. One such attempt was waiting for us on the counter at the cape house, with the bread recipe etched right into the glaze under the lid. The compact shape and the recipe combined were almost irresistible, and I was glad when Judy encouraged me to try it out, and then to take it home. She doesn't consider it her finest specimen, but that only makes me want to make with it more--no danger of ruining high art, and the shape is just so satisfying--small without being tiny, and perfectly rounded. I made a nice no-knead raisin bread on the Cape, but took no pictures. Many more to come, both kneaded and no. I might even think about baking some beans.

I did take a picture of the bread I made after I got home, Hamelman's pain au levain, which I tested for the bakery. The test was successful, and as I write this there's a batch rising in the proofer for Saturday's crowd. Hamelman says that refrigerating the dough overnight isn't recommended for this variety, so I started from the beginning at about 6 am, and am just nearing the shaping point by 9:30.

Daily Bread: Semolina Levain with Corn Flour

Sweet golden bread, two pretty little footballs. I replaced the 1/2 cup whole wheat in the last loaf with 1/2 cup fine semolina, and the 1/4 cup rye with 1/4 cup corn flour. In response to some customer comments, I also tried upping the salt a little. Brought one loaf to Democracy Now and it vanished before the bagels on the same table. Matt found it a little dry/chewy, and I know what he meant. I think if I'd given it another half hour or hour to proof it would have had a more open crumb, but the taste is excellent and the chewiness has its own attractions.

Now I have to practice making slightly larger loaves, as the ones I made last week for the bakery felt too small. Bulk production spreadsheets upcoming.

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.