Multiple Bakes

Sourdough rye, baked in a Dutch Oven.

Ordinarily, my satisfaction in baking bread is corporeal.  I like the feel of placing my hands in moist dough and sensing it as gentle kneading and stretching bring it together into a shapeable loaf.  The smell of baking bread never fails to make my mouth tingle in anticipation.  And when asked what is my favorite kind of bread, my answer is always, "Fresh." 

But every once in a while, I also have to think hard about making bread.  A couple of weeks ago I was making three different kinds of bread with three distinct sourdough starters.  I fed my starters at different times, they bloomed in their jars at divergent speeds, each recipe employed different combinations of flour when it came time to assemble, and each loaf leavened with self-determination.  My ovens were hopping.

Another rye with egg wash and caraway seeds.

The most challenging loaves were rolls.  Sue was making a new recipe of curried Sloppy Joe and I was trying to make soft buns to have with it.  All the recipes I found included yeast and milk in the mixture, neither of which I wanted to use.  I don't like eating milk and meat at the same meal, because it isn't kosher to do so, and yeast is just plain cheating.  I did add a little vegetable oil.

The oil did what I needed so the buns were soft as marshmallows.  Their flavor was enriched by heirloom spelt flour.  What was most interesting, however, was the star pattern that appeared inside each one.

Not all complicated bakes are so successful, but this was a good weekend.