Looking for a book that takes you to the next level of bread baking?
Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads
book was at our local library, and the photos were so beautiful I knew I just had to try out a few of his recipes.I began (at my husband's request!) with the 100% Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread. It was a bit complicated with a whopping four pages of instructions, but my husband loved the finished loaf.
It involved making a "soaker" and a "biga," then letting them sit overnight or up to three days. I used freshly ground hard red winter wheat berries for my flour.
Then, I used my pastry scraper to chop the soaker and biga into 12 smaller pieces each, using a good dusting of flour to keep them from being sticky.
These pieces went into the bowl of my stand mixer along with a few more ingredients to create a final dough for the bread.
After kneading the dough and allowing it to rise, I rolled it out into a rectangle...
Sprinkled with cinnamon and a little sugar (optional)...
Then rolled it, let it have one final rise, and threw it into the oven for about 40 minutes. The finished loaf was gorgeous, with a deep golden brown crust, and the house smelled so wonderful.
I certainly can't say this is a bread I will make often since it was so detailed, but it was fun to try, and my husband absolutely loved the end result of my efforts.
Yum! Doesn't it look delicious?
For more recipe ideas, check out the Nourishing Gourmet, Ultimate Recipe Swap, and Real Food Wednesday.
Jaime ~ thanks so much for your advice about using Hard White Wheat when making bread. I recently purchased a grain mill and am trying to use it as much as I can, but I have a lot to learn. I'm going to check out your recipes, looks like you have some great ones! Lynda~
ReplyDelete