A Couple of Hamilton Loaves for the Bake Sale

Thursday was the date for the semi-annual bake sponsored by the Cushing Hospital Volunteers. Mrs PG asked and I volunteered to bake a couple of loaves for the sale. In jest, I told the head of the volunteer group to charge a healthy price for the loaves. She complied with my wishes and had them priced at $10 each. Every US $10 bill has a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Treasury Department head, on the bill.

Both loaves had identical ingredients with the only difference being the boule had an hour longer retarded proofing. I have room and equipment limitations that make producing two loaves simultaneously impossible. Once again, I printed labels with a brief description of the loaves, the ingredient list, and an email address if the purchasers had any questions. While I've never gotten any requests for more loaves, I've not been cursed out via email or been subjected to a bomb threat either. There must be a modicum of satisfaction among the folks who buy my bread.

Starter
160 g at 80% hydration

Main Dough
280 g bread flour
65 g white whole wheat
20 g whole rye flour
245 g water at 85F
8 g kosher salt
All of starter
Attention to detail, time, and patience

While my initial work indicated that the dough should have been very slack and sticky, it really wasn't bad at all. I suspect that the WWW flour, which I keep refrigerated, took up more than usual water. The pictures don't show it well but I did use a "bold" bake to get a darker crust that would show through any flour on the outsides of the loaves.


The third loaf, shown on a cutting board, is what's for lunch currently. I pulled out my spelt flour from the back of the beer refrigerator for this one. It's a good bread but I'm not sure I proofed it long enough. I took it out of the refrigerator at least three hours before I baked so I'm thinking that I was good enough on this one. It's moist, has tang to it that may be from the spelt but might have been the result of more frequent starter feedings lately to reinvigorate it after the season changed.

Starter
160g at 75% hydration

Main Dough
280 g bread flour
100 g white whole wheat
20 g spelt flour
280 g water at 85F
10 g kosher salt
All of starter
Attention to detail, time, and patience

My thanks to the people from Mexico and Sweden who took the time to stop by my obscure corner of the internet for a page view or two.