the latest in bread

Rising Today's oven setup
the dough the oven

This week I tried my hand at half white/half whole wheat sourdough bread. Really, it was more of a 3/5 to 2/5 split, since I made the sponge with white starter and white flour and then added 2+ cups of whole wheat flour in the second stage of mixing the dough. The other new area of experimentation was in the oven. The small tin you see there was for boiling water. Many professional bread ovens have steam injection and I wanted to see what the effects of some moisture would have on the bread. They were many.

Sourdough - Half white/half whole wheat Sourdough - Half white/half whole wheat with caraway
plain, before baking with caraway seeds, before baking

Sourdough - Half white/half whole wheat

Big bread! The loaves definitely expanded more than they’ve been with pure dry heat. The crumb was moist and the crust was beautifully golden brown yet much softer than previous breads.
Here’s a shot of the loaf with caraway seeds, sliced.

Sourdough - Half white/half whole wheat with caraway seeds

I started the sponge late Saturday night, added the second round of flour and kneaded it before heading to the gym on Sunday morning. When I got home I shaped the loaves for their final rise and baked later that afternoon. After an excruciating cooling period (I wanted to rip in to the bread as soon as I pulled it from the oven), we had panini sandwiches for dinner with the plain sourdough, fresh mozzarella, and homemade pesto from the freezer. Delicious. Thankfully there’s leftovers of all the ingredients so I might get another treat for dinner tonight.

Mozzarella & pesto panini

3 Responses to “the latest in bread”

  1. michelle @ TNS Says:

    whoa! you made that? in your house? yourself?

    will you come to my house and make some for me?

    it’s beautiful! i want a great big fat slice smeared with some fresh salted butter. DROOL.

  2. sheri Says:

    Tee hee hee. How about you come to my house with the butter and I’ll bake the bread here? I will even give you a loaf to take home. Sadly there’s no way to bottle the “OMG BREAD” smell.

  3. summer picnic Says:

    I love a good mozzarella pesto sandwich for dinner too, but baking your own bread is impressive! I’ll be right over…

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