Variety Is the Spice of Life

Over the past few months I’ve collected a host of recipes with different inclusions, like sun-dried tomatoes, olives, cheese, butter, herbs fresh and dried, spices, caramelized onion, chocolate, and dried fruits. It has also been fun to experiment with different kinds of flour: rye, spelt, Einkhorn, multi-grain blends like King Arthur Super 10, a combo of ten different grains that lends a nutty flavor, and Six-Grain Blend, another interesting mélange.

I particularly like the Simple Spelt loaf that I tarted up with flax and quinoa seeds and the Parmesan and Black Pepper loaf:

Deli Rye is also a reliable favorite, especially since I started adding fennel seeds and ground cardamom along with the caraway seeds.

I’m a sucker for cheese, so this Three Cheese number with Parmesan, Gruyère and cheddar hits all the right notes, and the aroma while it’s baking is divine.

An Everything Bagel bread was simply coated in everything seasoning before baking. But I recently tried a real bagel loaf, which was boiled for one minute, flipped and boiled for another minute after shaping — a scary process, for sure, but the loaf was toothsome.

Cinnamon and sugar swirl bread is on my radar, but my sources warn that cinnamon can mess with fermentation. I think I’m confident enough by now to try it, though. Surprisingly, whole wheat is also a challenge. I usually put about 50 grams in a single (500 gram) loaf, and have made some with higher ratios. It absorbs water differently than bread flour, doesn’t rise as high and tends to be sticky in larger ratios, but I’m anxious to make a 100% whole wheat version.

Hydration — the proportion of water to flour — is another component of this chemistry lesson. Doughs at 70% hydration or lower are easier to handle than high-hydration loaves, but the latter, if proofed properly, can have a beautiful lacy crumb. As a practical matter, however, that crumb doesn’t hold the butter and other goodies that one slathers on fresh bread. Those are better as art photos on Instagram.

Next up: a new environment.