33 1/3 Loaf

I'm happy enough with my line of investigation on 360g flour loaves to continue for a while. There may be the occasional deviation into something off the wall for me but I can't help myself about that.

Anyways, I previously mentioned that I thought I may have been using too much dough for my brotform and now I'm fairly confident that I was right. The 360g loaves are similar in size to my 400g loaves at the end of proofing. I do need to tweak the hydration levels down but that's no big deal. Another pleasant result is that the texture of the crumb is turning out to be much softer and additional ingredients such as wheat germ or my 9 grain cereal only compliment the flavor and don't affect the texture very much if any. This isn't reinventing the wheel or something like that, only just another method in the tool box for building that better bread.

Starter
165g at 80% hydration, KAF AP

Soaker
24g wheat germ
16g water

Main Dough
240g bread flour
120g stone ground whole wheat
245g water at 85F
1 Tbs (15 ml) honey
9g kosher salt
All of soaker
All of starter


The weather has taken an unexpected turn to the pleasant for this corner of Kansas in August. If it continues on like this, as the forecast calls for, I may feel invigorated enough to wash and wax Mrs PGs car. It's really that nice. The color quality, if there is such a thing, of the sunlight is starting to change as well.  I think that if you're a photographer, you might know what I mean.

I took out the "English cucumber" plants a couple days ago in order to give the watermelon vines a chance to fill out the three watermelons that actually appeared this summer. The chile peppers remain an example of the vagaries of Kansas weather and why only the foolhardy or gamblers would put money into truck gardening in Kansas. The production levels coming out of my garden are quite convincing. In any case, the local supermarkets are promoting the arrival of Hatch, NM chile peppers and in my book, there may be a few that are better but I haven't found them yet so I'll stick with the Hatch when I want a chile at its best.

This week's guest of note on my blog dropped in from Thailand.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.