Another Molasses Wheat Variation

Spring is trying to catch up to the calendar for us on the Middle Coast. More of my daffodils are blooming along with some tulips, and the trees are starting to bud out. Some timely thunderstorms passed through and dropped at least 0.5" of rain, just enough to open up the soil for the next round of storms tomorrow. Last year at this time, the peak of the springtime allergy season had already passed through. The allergy specialists are convinced that the worst of the season hasn't started yet and we should prepare for the mother of all alergy seasons. That doesn't sound like fun to me.

Today's loaf is a revisit of a flavor favorite, molasses wheat. It was also an opportunity to try the "halo slash" pattern. I think it would have looked better if I had used the "magic bowl" technique. As it stands, it still got some good oven spring and the interior crumb is nicely open.

Starter
150 g at 100% hydration

Main Dough
267 g bread flour
133 g stone ground whole wheat flour
280 g water
11 g kosher salt     
All of starter

I enjoyed the outcome on this loaf in that I deliberately upped the hydration level thinking that the WW flour would absorb much of it. It turns out that my guess work was successful. After an overnight retarded proofing, I used a long counter top proof of about 4.5 hours. This was pleasant work.

The exotic locale page views for the past week or so included South Korea and Ireland.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.