A Bold Bake and I Need a Coffee Maker!

Sometimes a bold bake is intentional and sometimes it was caused by a distraction. If it worked out, don't fix it. This loaf was the result of a fortuitous distraction. The only thing missing was for me to have tried a wet towel on some heated ceramic briquettes in an old bread pan in the oven. Maybe next time if I can stage my bake time correctly.

The area is forecast to be under one of those notorious "Ring of Fire" high pressure domes that bring high temperatures and  never leave. At least the heat will be good for my pepper plants.

Anyways, I have one of those Italian bread pans that look a lot like a baguette pan except its for two slightly fatter loaves. I'm thinking about either pane Francese or a suspiciously similar fac simile. We'll see how that works out.

Here's the list of ingredients for this loaf.

Starter
152 g at 80% hydration,
75% AP flour, 25% whole rye flour

Main Dough
300 g bread flour
100 g stone ground whole wheat flour
20 g wheat germ
282 g water at 85F, 1/2 Tbs water correction added during final mix
10 g kosher salt
All of starter

I'm looking for a new coffeemaker. After forty six years of drinking the adult caffeinated beverage, I haven't lost my taste for good coffee. In fact, I want better coffee these days. My somewhat ancient Braun drip machine is durable and dependable for a good cup. My investigations have led me to the Aeropress, the French press method, the Chemex pour through style which has its own furious fanatics, and the coffee cone #4 filter pour through. I'm surprised that Amazon.com isn't filling my inbox night and day with offers of coffee nerd nirvana after entirely too much time on that site. The one drip maker that looks good is the $170 Bonavita that is hard to justify for only three cups a day. I invite all coffee lovers to weigh in with their favorite machine and why. Please, the Moccamasters by Techivorm look great but aren't in my atmosphere of cost.

I've added cucumbers to my fresh from the garden list. The ones available now are long and thin. I forget their name. They're alright but not as crisp as Mrs PG and I like. The snow peas are ready to pick and if I don't get out there soon, the expected heatwave may cause a shortened availability in my kitchen. I have to cook with them at least once this season. My soft neck garlic is showing signs that it will soon be ready to harvest. The hard neck garlic will likely be six to ten days later. The tomato plants have some fruit but not much. I haven't seen any sign of deer in my yard as of yet so I have put aside thoughts of a high powered assault weapon for herd thinning for now.

There haven't been new species of birds at feeders lately though some of the female cardinals appear to be molting and look disoriented.

Someone from Norway made their way over to this blog lately.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.