make it happen!
In my search for sun for my crops, I have had to get creative. Somebody doesn’t know it yet, but I have borrowed some space in the bedroom to raise a few seedlings. Now the fastest way to traverse the bedroom is . . . over the bed. I’m sure he won’t mind, cuz he’s from Iowa where farming is in everybody’s blood.
Today while I baked four loaves of Tartine Country White, I started quite a few seeds–definitely one of my more productive mornings in a long time! After checking some prices on Amazon, I decided to make my own cell packs for transplanting later. Â Here are some photos of the back 40 and of my pot making progress and . . . the bread:
Stopped by Mom and Dad’s on my way home from school. They have been busy today. The lights are all set up, the trays are in place, and, at the end of the frenzy, we had planted 147 tomato plants. If they all germinate, we will have 51 San Marzanos, 42 Mexico Midgets, and 54 Italian Heirlooms. We have quite a little production going on here!
Okay, it’s that time of year: gotta figure out what to plant when! Just looked up the estimated date of the last frost and it is about May 1, so I am going to back everything up from there. Here’s a pic of our saved and purchased seeds for the year. All ordered seeds have arrived. We still need to get Blue Lake green beans and a few other varieties. As suggested, I have been storing them in a closet on the north side of the house. Nice and dark and cool. We have quite a few varieties of winter squash saved, so we will separate them into the Eastfork, Pine Forest, and Piper properties.
Just before putting the bread in the oven, the baker slashes each loaf with a razor blade. I have been using a single-edged blade, but it hasn’t been working very well. Professional bakers use what is called a lamè. It is a double-edged blade on a wooden stick. Well, I sent William to the store for the blades; meanwhile, I went searching for something to make the handle. Success! Several years ago, I had hammered flat some copper wire. Didn’t really have any use for it except as a bookmark. Guess what? Its dimensions are perfect for holding a razor blade and slashing bread.
Oh, my! This is the second order.
| LETTUCE RUBY GLOW | ||
| LETTUCE ALL SEASON BUTTERHEAD MIX | ||
| TOMATO SAN MARZANO ORGANIC | ||
| PEA SHELLING PURPLE PODDED | ||
| EGGPLANT INDIA PAINT |
This recipe comes from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish. He has worked with Chad Robertson of Tartine Bread, and the techniques he shares have many similarities to those of Chad’s. It’s 8:09 AM and I have not yet tried this bread, but here is a detail I like: Ken does not slash the bread before baking. Instead, he proofs the bread seam side down, so that when it is put into the oven, the seam is up and that is where the steam escapes. It’s organic. Â I like it.
   
Ideally, I would like to get so that I don’t require weighing of ingredients to make the bread. I mean, what did people do before they could buy lames, banneton willow baskets, digital scales and oven mitts from Amazon?
Oh! Almost forgot. Here is a pic of the crumb.
Time for breakfast. Yep.
Today I mixed up eight loaves of the multi-grain and then did two more loaves of my country white. This time the country white bulk fermented for four hours, rest for 40 minutes and then was shaped and in the oven in three hours. I had trouble with my razor blade when slashing–I think it is just too dull. But, the resulting crumb was much more desirable. No more spelunkin’! And check out those ears!!!!!
Well, this time I did a little experimenting. Here are the stats: I did 4 1/2 hours of bulk fermentation, a 40min bench rest, and then popped the shaped loaves into the fridge at 10pm last night. This morning I took them out of the fridge at 7:10am and had them in the 500 degree oven by 7:30am. That means they were retarding for 9 1/2 hours. The proofed loaves were much easier to handle because they had a skin on them that was not conducive to letting the gases escape.
I used a different slash pattern–three parallel. One loaf had no ears–just very flat. Since they came from the fridge, I baked 20min w/lids on, then removed covers and did 25min more. They did not have the usual color, so increased time to for additional 7min and removed from the oven.
And here is what I found when I sliced the uglier one open :-0 Forget tunnels! These are CAVES!:
And the taste? Not noticeably more sour. Hmmmmmm. I would like to develop a bread-baking schedule that allows me to produce quality loaves during the week. That means I will have to span two days AND use the refrigerator. (I am mostly motivated to use the starter so I am not just feeding another child!)