… in the house this morning, so Brian took action and mixed up some of his favourite Toast dough and I threw it into the tins and now it is cooling.
In the meantime I am building a stiff levain to start on the Pain au Levains breads for Mellow Bakers for April by converting my 100% starter to one with a 60% hydration. So 10 grams of the original starter plus 24 grams water and 40 grams flour. That’s about as close as I’ll get without ‘A’ level maths. Tonight I will mix the starters proper for the recipe. If you click on the link above you will see Geraint’s beauteous breads, he’s set the benchmark pretty high with those.
Looking forward to seeing how they turn out. But for now – thank heavens for toast!
Zeb Bakes 
NO BREAD?
That was our condition here on Monday.
Only my husband doesn’t do bread. EVER.
He tells me I’m remiss in my duties.
(Why does he talk like that? I don’t know, I’m sure!)
So I threw together some toasting bread and now he is happy.
the end.
Brian said something like that heehee, he said ‘well, you’re the baker’. I said,’ there is rye bread, dearest…’ knowing full well what he would say to that. Except he didn’t. So he went off and made some dough with the Kenwood. Smart and lovely guy!
The levain bread is wonderful, I sold one to my workmate and we ate the other, all gone. Now I am working on the one with whole wheat flour, I made just the first S&F
I think I might try and make two tomorrow, three is pushing it :D
That’s pretty neat that he will make the bread himself! So are you eating ‘his’ bread for toast? Good luck on your Mellow Baker’s bread!! I made up some stiff starter last weekend, but how do you know if your stiff starter is OK? When I fed mine, I didn’t see much activity. Is it supposed to double or just increase a little in size?
He makes the dough and then I shape it – and yes absolutely I eat his bread :D As to the stiff starter, I have exactly the same concerns as you. And I can’t mix it in to the dough the way Hamelman says. I now always loosen the stiff starters/ pre ferments/ pate fermentees with some of the water first, otherwise I end up with patchy crumb to my bread. I don’t really see the difference, between a liquid or a 100% starter and the stiff version. I haven’t come across them anywhere else. Other clues are simply to sniff the starter and see if the smell gives you some clue as to whether it has ‘ripened’, it should also feel spongy and a bit lively if you squish it I guess. I wouldn’t expect it to double as it is so very dry in texture.
I love that your love can make the bread he loves. :)
‘Twas the day before Friday
And all through the house
Not a loaf to feed anyone
Not even a mouse
Then into the kitchen
Leapt Brian the Brave
There was no toast for breakfast
The moment was grave
He spoke not a word
but went straight to his task
The Kenwood was whirring
The kneading was fast
And soon he cried out
To Fair Jo where she sat
“Be a love, please come help
Give my good dough a pat”
Into tins went the dough
Where it rose like the sun
And in the blink of an eye
All the baking was done!
:) xxx
We are both falling about here :D What a fabulous poem dearest! Thank you thank you thank you !!!!!
It’s better if you sing it… ;-)
For a minute there I thought, I’d love to make that. Play with the stiffer starter, try and do some of those AWESOME looking loaves that Geraint did. Then I had a reality snap and decided that I would just watch to see how your gorgeous loaves emerge.
Low bread here too this week. Must have been something in the bready air…
Stiff starter is underway…. autolyse on going…. watch this space…. in the meantime I have had B the B toast for breakie :D
I am so impressed that your husband can make the bread. I doubt mine could even say where the bread flour is kept!
I noticed that your Toast recipe calls for strong flour plus extra strong flour. I’m not sure that we have more than one here in Australia, or am I wrong?
Hee hee, he’s impressed that I can make it, I am a very unpractical person for the most part, I’ll tell him what you said Amanda :D
Celia might be able to help you out here Amanda. I think she calls it bakers flour? Or high gluten flour, that is what very strong is, it has more gluten in it. I think you possibly can buy something called vital wheat gluten, I’ve heard people talk about it. Having said all that, I’ve made this bread with 100% strong flour and it comes out fine too. The effect of the extra strong, for me at least, is to give a more robust crumb with a chewier mouthfeel, so maybe better for sandwiches? I like it both ways :D
Amanda, Manildra sell bakers’ flour and extra strong bakers’ flour, although I’ve only ever seen them in 12.5kg bags. I’ve not found a huge difference between the two, so I just tend to use the regular bakers’ flour for everything these days!
Thanks ladies. I’ll just keep on using the strong bakers flour that I’ve used for years, then.