PatrickT

Beautiful loaves, as always, @Ann_T. I'm really glad you mentioned the reduced salt again because I wanted to share something with you on that. When we were traveling recently, we ate at a restaurant that had this salt substitute right on the table. I immediately thought of you and Mo and tried it on my eggs. I thought it was delicious. Not sure if you can find it in your area or not, but if you can, give it a try. Cheers!

Gorgeous baguettes @Ann_T - and all in spite of your power challenges!

I found a recipe for sprouted whole wheat in a cookbook from the early 80’s and just knew I had to try it. I converted the original yeasted recipe to sourdough, which produced a wonderful loaf. The recipe calls for 50% whole wheat, whole milk instead of water, and alfalfa sprouts, of all things! The result is a deliciously tangy, nutty, and moist loaf worthy of any sandwich fixings. The original recipe was a first place winner at our State Fair - and I can certainly see why.

Apple and Sour Cherry sourdough, with Masala chai replacing the water. The flour combination is Central Milling Artisan Bakers Craft Plus, Rob’s Red Mill Whole grain Spelt and Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Dark Rye. Delicious flavor with a soft crust and crumb.

While I've never actually tried this before myself, reading his guide on the subject leads me to believe that you would use a given pate fermentee for baking another loaf of the same kind. In other words, while he says you can use this method with any kind of bread (regular, enriched, etc.), what I take from his explanation is that he will use that pate fermentee to bake the same kind of bread. I'm therefore assuming the same would apply to the hydration. If it was different, you would want to make the necessary adjustments when adding the pate fermentee to achieve the desired hydration of your final dough. Just my thoughts - hope that helps!

Thank you! The couple I made it for said it’s their favorite loaf I’ve made to date. Happy to post the recipe if you’d like to give it a whirl sometime for Matt. Your loaves are incredible!! That pate fermentee process seems to be working ideally for you. Very exciting - thanks for sharing and please keep updating us with your experiences! 😃🙏

Beautiful loaves @Ann_T! 😍 I hope to try Pate Fermentee this week or next. This morning’s loaf - Blueberry Lemon sourdough - baked for friends. Heavenly aroma!

WOW. Well that certainly worked well! 😂 I'm going to try to remember to do this for my next bake. To clarify, you didn't add any other leavening agent for these loaves - just the Pate Fermentee?

I'll be eager to hear your thoughts about it and see your results!

That looks fantastic!! Thanks for sharing this. Definitely going to try that one. 😍

Great! I’ll be curious to see your results and how it works for you. When I watched it, I immediately thought of you. 😃

@Ann_T - Wondering if you have ever tried the Pate Fermentee method for your bread making? Here is a video from Chainbaker that demonstrates the concept, with some additional explanation here.

Thank you @Ann_T! Your baguettes are perfection, as always. 😍 My recent bakes (pictured below) include a sourdough version of Bernard Clayton's Heidelberg Rye, a Dill Pickle Sourdough (inspired by a Dill Pickle Pizza we had at the Minnesota State Fair - also pictured - which was outrageously good!), and a Buckwheat Sourdough with molasses and golden raisins. I must say that buckwheat has a completely unique flavor that I really love.

Trevor Wilson’s Champlain Sourdough - a mix of bread flour and a 2:1 ratio of spelt to rye. Delicious flavor!

Appreciate you sharing - thanks! I’m just starting the pizza journey so have a lot to learn and experiment with.

Yes - perfect! Thank you so much. 🙏

@Ann_T - couple of quick questions for you. When you make your pizzas: 1. What’s the total flour weight for your batch of dough? 2. How many pizzas does that make? 3. Roughly what size are they? Thank you in advance! 😃

These were noticeable in the final purée, so I just finely chopped up the ones that remained. More vitamins! 😂

@Smithy @heidih Thank you both! I cut the peppers in half, seeded them (and saved the seeds so I can try growing some myself next year 😃), roasted them in the oven and then puréed them with a drizzle of olive oil (but forgot to remove the skins - newbie mistake). They were incredibly flavorful!

Roasted red pepper sourdough mini loaf with shredded Parmesan Reggiano cheese. I made this with “lunchbox peppers” from our neighbor’s garden. They are very small, bright red peppers that have a bell pepper shape and are as sweet as sugar. Absolutely incredible aroma and flavor with this loaf! Will definitely make this again.

First focaccia. I would have preferred a more consistently airy crumb, but the flavors are just outstanding. This is roasted garlic, green onions, black cherry tomatoes, black olives, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, olive oil and basil. The tomatoes and basil are from our garden.

Did NOT expect the swirl! Very cool - thank you. The dough looks pretty much the same as the vid to me. Might have to try this sometime!

I wonder if this might be a loaf version of "Bulochki" - a Russian sweet bun made with raisins? I found this recipe on YouTube for Bulochki. When you have a chance to cut it and taste it, I'd be curious to know if it sounds like this might be close to the dough in your bread.

🤣 Thank you! And is that an egg wash on that, do you suppose?

Looks and sounds delicious! 😋 Can you please post a pic of the crumb when you slice it? Curious to see how dense it is.