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🍞 Holiday bakes and vacation breaks
Published 17 days ago • 3 min read
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Holiday bakes and vacation breaks
For Labor Day, we're typically doing one of two things:
Traveling on one last vacation before school
Cooking, grilling, and eating outside
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This year it's #2.
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And while I love traveling, I'm okay with skipping the hustle and bustle and to have any excuse to bake burger buns, hot dog buns, or something sweet.
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This week's newsletter has you covered whether you're a #1 or a #2.
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Let's get to it!
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In this week's newsletter:
Guides: How to store your sourdough starter on vacation, how to feed your starter less with the Sourdough Home
🏠Feed your starter less with the Sourdough Home
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If you're the proud parent of a Sourdough Home, turn your unit down to 50°F (7°C), feed your starter, and immediately stick it inside. It'll stay cool in there for three days without the need for a feeding.
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The best part is that when you return home, there's no ramp-up time to get it "into shape" before baking; it's just ready to go.
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If you plan to be gone for less or more time, read to the middle of the post, where I have various settings and schedules for keeping your starter at just the right temperature.
Frankly, this bread is good any time of the year. You get that one-two combo: Spicy and savory.
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It's one of those breads you can hardly wait for it to cool before cutting in—the aroma alone will get your mouth watering.
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Oh, and if you live in New Mexico, grab some of that fresh-roasted green chile you're seeing just about everywhere; use that instead of the jalapeño to take this to the next level!
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One thing I keep running into when I use wheat flour recipes, including this one, is when I use my KitchenAid stand mixer per the recipe, the dough gets so tight and confirms tightly to the hook (I use Bob's Red Mill stone ground wheat). My KitchenAid hook is a bigger white ceramic than that used in your video. Whenever I use 50% or higher wheat flour recipes, my loaves don't rise right and just aren't as good/crumbly. However, when I make mostly white flour (King Arthur), I NEVER have this problem or need to modify the recipe (I'm 250 ft above sea level), though I hand mix on the white flour recipes.
My guess is you need to increase the hydration of your dough when using that whole wheat flour. This added water will help slacken the dough so you can mix it more, and it should also result in a better texture in the final bread. I would slowly add water after you've mixed for a few minutes and it's just starting to come together around the dough hook. Adding water slowly while the mixer is running will continue to slacken it out as the mixing progresses.
The Swiss Hotel For Your Sourdough. (YouTube; Thanks, Alan!) I've been talking about how serious sourdough starter care is, and these folks take it to the next level. (LINK)​
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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