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π Back to school lunches. Packed and ready!
Published about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
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Back to school lunches. Packed and ready!
Some mornings, you want to take that alarm clock and toss it in the garbage.
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I know my kids felt it yesterday. It was their first day back to school after a summer of staying up late and sleeping in.
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It was a rude awakening, but hey, we warned 'em.
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As a kid, I didn't always mind the start of school. It meant a culinary change up. Packed lunches from home and, if I could find the change in my fanny pack, a $1.00 ice cream sandwich to finish.
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(Can you imagine eating an ice cream sandwich daily for lunch as an adult? The world might just be a better place.)
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In prep for this week, I baked a few loaves of sandwich bread so they had healthy lunches ready and waiting in their lunchbox. There's not much more satisfying than baking your bread for your lunches.
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So, this week's newsletter is all about those lovely pan loaves, from healthy, high-fiber options to soft and delicate bread to savor.
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Let's go!
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In this week's newsletter:
Recipes: High-fiber, super soft, and pain de mie sandwich bread
Baking Help: How do you schedule your sourdough starter so it's ready when you want?
Sourdough Links: Chad Robertson (of Tartine) masterclass video
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π High-fiber seeded sandwich bread
Sourdough starter discard clafoutis with cherries.
This bread is my secret weapon for my kids' (and heck, mine, too!) lunches.
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Packed with flavor and nutrition, it has an incredibly soft texture and mild flavor profile.
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This is the pan bread I could eat daily for toast and never be left wanting.
This sandwich bread is incredibly soft thanks to the tangzhong technique of pre-cooking some of the flour in the recipe and then using that when mixing the dough.
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But what's even more remarkable is that this technique also helps keep the bread softer for longer.
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It'll last a good week on the counter and be soft all the way to Sunday.
A learn near and dear to my heart, there's not much more to say than if you try this, I can guarantee you'll find it might be the best sandwich bread you've ever eaten.
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Tall words for a tall and tasty loaf. Fully justified.
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How do you manage a "ripe starter" by 8:45 am for the start of this recipe schedule? Are you pushing back your previous night's feeding to closer to midnight to ensure it is ripe around 8:45a?
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In general, this process has confused me when needing a ripe starter directly into a recipe (like this) or when making the levain, as most recipes start first thing in the morning. If a starter usually achieves peak ripeness around 8-10 hours after feeding, the feeding would need to occur around 12:45 a.m. How are you achieving ripeness by 8:45 a.m.?
Generally, it's okay to use your starter an hour or two before it's perfectly "peak." There is no perfect time. If there's a large delta, you can feed your starter a little earlier the night before to shift it a few hours. That way, it has time to ripen.
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If you need to delay it a bit, you can feed later, use slightly cooler water, or leave less starter in the jar (all of these will slow it down)! Or, if you have a Sourdough Home, dial the temp down just a bit to slow fermentation.
Ever wonder why I sometimes used diastatic malt powder in my recipes? In my guide, read about what it does and when to use it.
π What I'm Reading and Watching
Chad Robertson Masterclass / Meyers Madhus. (YouTube) I remember stumbling on this video about a decade ago, and I think I've watched it more than a dozen times at this point. So many subtle details about dough handling and baking! (LINK)β
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Happy baking, everyone!
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Maurizio Leo
P.S. If you like this newsletter and The Perfect Loaf and want to support me, pick one (or more?)!
Want to make bakery-quality sourdough bread from home? Subscribe for the best sourdough guides and recipes to take your bread from ordinary to incredible.
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