the benefit of hindsight

persistence can be a good thing..but it can also be counter productive..sometimes you don't know if you should persist with something or not..if the thing you're persisting with has a positive outcome you think your persistence was a good thing and you might give yourself a little pat on the back for not being one to give up easily..on the other hand you might persist and persist and then realise that you've just wasted a lot of resources (like time, money, emotional energy) on something that didn't work and you then might blame yourself for not realising earlier that it would have been better to ditch the whole thing in the first place..

my thinking here is all about my sourdough starter which developed a case of black mould while i was overseas in may this year for two weeks..at the time i wondered if i should throw it away but i removed the mould, fed the starter, and it sprang back to life..great..life moved on..loaves were baked and i forgot about the mould..but one day i made my usual baguettes and they were dense..tried again a few days later..same thing..and once more..same..i thought i'd lost my mojo..a while later i thought my starter might be the problem so razzed up the feeding and gave it some intensive care..

i tried every regime possible..all rye..some white and some rye..filtered water..boiled, cooled filtered water..tepid filtered water..warmer environment..cooler environment..but all rye flour is all it likes..even introducing tiny increments of white flour sends it into a funk..i can't tell you how much discarded starter i've had to deal with in the process..couldn't waste it..some of you know what i'm like about waste..i've chucked it in yeasted bread..made too many pancakes for one person..but after all the persistence it's time to take it off life support and arrange the funeral..i now realise that it was on its way out all those months ago..hindsight's funny like that!

although i've started another starter it will be a while before i can bake
sourdough again..so it's yeasted bread in the meantime 

see you..it's time for me to desist..x

dried fig and chestnut sourdough

it's the autumnal equinox

crisp leaves flutter along gutters

crackling indecipherable whispers

the tick tock of the seasonal clock gently pulsates

and the big hand softly softly guides

the precious orb we call home through celestial space

last autumn i made a similar loaf but this time i added chestnut honey as well as chestnut flour to the dough and instead of incorporating the figs throughout the dough i made a filling of unsweetened chestnut puree, dried figs and chestnut honey and i spread this on the rolled out dough..i wanted a versatile bread so i purposely didn't make it very sweet

fig and chestnut sourdough

tea with hazel

ingredients

levain

1 large tablespoon (tbs) active starter
100 gms organic bread flour
125 gms filtered water

filling

8-10 organic figs cut small

2-3 tbs unsweetened chestnut puree

1-2 tbs organic chestnut honey

dough

250 gms levain
250 gms organic bread flour
100 gms wholemeal biodynamic flour
50 gms chestnut flour
1 tbs organic chestnut honey
1 1/2 tbs crushed murray river salt (less if using conventional table salt)
filtered water


method

levain

~ mix all ingredients, cover, and leave for 12-14 hours

filling

~ place the figs, chestnut puree and honey in the bowl of a food processor and pulse the mixture briefly without pureeing the figs and until the mixture just forms a cohesive paste

dough

~ place levain, flours and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix adding enough filtered water to make a shaggy dough
~ autolyse for 20 minutes
~ add salt, mix briefly, rest for 5 minutes, then mix again for about 30 seconds
~ remove bowl from stand mixer, cover the dough with oiled cling film, and leave to prove until doubled
~ remove the dough to a lightly flour dusted bench, divide in two, and do two stretch and fold cycles with a 5-10 minute rest intervals
~ roll each piece of dough into an oblong and spread the dough with the filling leaving 2 cm borders free of filling
~  roll the dough and pinch seams closed
~ dust with flour and place seam side up in flour dusted bannetons
~ cover loosely with cling film and leave for 2-3 hours to prove or until a finger pressed into the dough leaves an impression
~ invert the dough onto a wooden peel, slash, slide onto baking surface (i use a cast iron plate) and bake with steam at 250 deg c for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 215 deg c and bake for a further 20 minutes or until cooked

san daniele proscuitto, holy goat brigid's well 

and dried fig and chestnut sourdough

gone are the hot days of summer..mornings are dewy and cloudy skies tantalising with a promise of rain..i'm happy..very happy..x

kaiser rolls

since i made some not so good rolls for my sons birthday lunch a couple of weeks ago i've been making rolls regularly and the kaiser roll stamp i bought a few months ago is finally getting used..

100% wholemeal organic spelt yeasted rolls

organic white sourdough rolls

organic white and wholemeal spelt 'in it goes (left over milk from coffee
making and a broken egg that was stuck to the egg carton)' rolls

the kaiser roll stamp was purchased from scullery made

happy weekend..x

barley and lemon sourdough

i generally make about one sourdough loaf a week unless i have guests and i'd been thinking about adding barley to this week's loaf since i enjoyed it so much in a soup i'd made a while ago..i added lemon because i felt it needed an acid to balance out the richness of the other ingredients and because lemon barley water has such a lovely flavour..

barley and lemon sourdough

tea with hazel

ingredients levain

1 tablespoon (tbs) active starter

100 gms bread flour

125 gms filtered water

ingredients dough

225 g levain

300 gms white wheat flour

50 gms rice flour 

50 gms oat flour (i processed oat flakes until they were very fine)

100 gms cooked barley

1 tbs barley malt extract (i used saunders' barley malt extract)

1 1/2 tbs salt (i crush murray river salt flakes)

finely grated rind of 1 large lemon

filtered water

method levain

~ mix the levain ingredients, cover, and leave until very active (i refrigerated mine overnight, took it out in the morning, and it was ready to use by midday)

method dough

~ in the bowl of a stand mixer add flours, barley, malt extract and levain and mix with enough water to make a shaggy dough

~ autolyse for 45 minutes

~ add salt and lemon, mix briefly, rest for 15 minutes 

~ mix briefly again, remove the bowl from the stand mixer, cover with oiled cling film or a damp tea towel and leave until well risen

~ remove the dough to a flour dusted bench and repeat two gentle stretch and fold cycles with 15 minute rest intervals

~ shape the dough and rest until a finger pressed into the dough leaves an impression

~ slash and bake with steam at 250 deg c (conventional setting) for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 195 deg c and cook for a further 15-20 minutes

comments:

~ visually this loaf doesn't look very different to many other loaves that i've made but texture and flavour wise is a different story altogether..the crust is quite dense and crunchy and the crumb is open and soft but with plenty of body..even though i knew i'd added the lemon to the dough it came as a bit of a surprise when i first tasted it but, for me, it works..so far, of all the bread i've made, this is my favourite 

~ i wanted to add barley flakes to the loaf but i couldn't find any locally..next time!

roasted fennel and potato soup garnished with fennel leaves
and chilli oil

i think soup and bread is a perfect winter's meal..what do you think?

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