A Catch-Up Post on Breads

We have been so busy lately that I've been neglecting to

keep up with my Blog.

But I still seem to find time to bake, especially breads.

I've been on a hand-mixed kick when it comes to bread making.

I haven't used my Magic Mill in a few months.

I fed my sourdough starters, both of them Sunday night, 

and made two bigas using the excess starter.

The starters and the bigas were all left on the counter to rise overnight.

In the morning, the two starters went back into the fridge to await their next feeding

and the bigas went into two different batches of bread.

One of the bigas was made using white flour 

and the other with organic stone ground Spelt.

The white flour sourdough biga was mixed with 1000g of high protein bread flour

 and a handful of spelt (for good measure) 700g of water, 2g yeast (1/2 teaspoon) .

The sourdough spelt biga was mixed the same as above, 

but minus the extra handful of spelt, and just 680g of water. 

This batch went into the fridge for a few hours to retard the rise.

I didn't want all the dough ready to bake at the same time.  

Baked three medium size "rounds/ovals" and one baguette from the first batch.

Moe couldn't wait so I had to slice this loaf while it was still warm.

When the first bread was out of the oven, the second batch

was ready to shape and proof.

Netted six baguettes from this dough.

Similar crumb as the first batch.

Made excellent toast. 

~~~ * ~~~

Bagels fresh out of the oven. 

The dough was hand-mixed. 

Usually I knead the dough in the Magic Mill, 

but I had this bright idea that I would hand-mix using the autolyze stretch and fold method. 

Turns out this method is a lot easier to do with a dough that has a higher hydration. Bagel dough is a more stiff dough, at 56%.

But I decided to finish what I had started 

and I'm glad that I did.

We had bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon for dinner.

~~~ * ~~~

This bread was a "same day" bread.

Dough made earlier in the day and baked the same day.

Even baked the same day this bread develops a great crumb and crust.