Multi-Grain Madness!

Struan is an ancient Scottish Bread. It's a multi-grain bread, with flour, uncooked polenta, cooked brown rice and rolled oats. These are two different Peter Reinhart versions. The pan loaf is from a recipe I got at his classes. It has just a hint of sweetness. I think I underbaked it just a touch.

I also think I should have waited more that an hour before having at it. This stuff doesn't need buttter or jam or nuthin'! The flavor is awesome.

This is a naturally leavened version of Struan. Rather than yeast, as with the pan loaf, this uses a firm starter.

It's coated with poppy and sesame seeds. Pretty nice oven spring.

I finally found durum semolina flour. King Arthur's to the rescue. Last weeks semolina bread, made with regular semolina, required the addition of bread flour for the dough to come together.

This is a variation of the Semolina Bread w/Apricots and Sage from Amy's Bread. I substituted golden raisins and fennel seeds. The base for the bread is a biga style preferment. Much better texture and flavor with bona fide durum flour.

So as not to get too wide before I get good at deep, a straight sourdough a la Frank.

Today was my first attempt to work without a net, so to speak. The shaped loaves went right into floured baskets, no cloths.

This is my first attempt at ciabatta. It's the Craig Ponsford ciabatta from Artisan Baking Across America. It starts with a biga pre-frement. One batch of the biga from Crust & Crumb yielded just enough for the semolina bread and the ciabatta. I love it when a plan comes together.

The dough starts out as more of a batter. It's "turned" 4 times during the 3 hour fermentation. Turning involves flouring the top of the dough, turning it out on to a well floured work surface and folding it on to itself a few times. Then it's back into the bowl. This happens at 20 minute intervals during the first part of fermentation. It's amazing how the dough firms up.