Lunch Box Update

I finished 88 double four-patch blocks (the inside unit of my lunch box block). These are the blocks on the design wall. I really should have looked at this on my computer monitor at a much earlier stage in the design process but I'm learning! I need to make 90 blocks, 8 inches finished.

Wheat and Rye No-Knead Bread

First loaf inspired by Jim Lahey's new book, My Bread. This is my adaptation of his Pane Integrale bread recipe. It is smaller than the recipe (513 g.) but uses his hydration percentage. In addition to bread flour, whole wheat flour, water, salt and 1 g. of yeast, I added rye flour, millet, and flaxseed. I also added my sourdough starter. I let it ferment for 15 hours and then baked it in a blazing hot cast iron pot at 475 degrees. It's cooling.

My Bread by Jim Lahey

I was unable to resist.

I have been a big fan of Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe ever since Mark Bittman wrote about it in November, 2006.



I can't believe it has been almost 3 years. In that time I've become a baker. I have baked hundreds of loaves of this bread my way. I feel as if Jim Lahey is my bread mentor so it seemed only fair that I should buy his book. Lahey started out as a conventional artist but he became a bread artist. His story is explored in the beginning chapters of the book. It is very inspirational.

I bake a half-size loaf using a starter. I have made my own starter (and lost it) so many times that I can't remember. I end up not baking over the summer and either I'm not patient enough or unsure about it's qualities that I end up starting over. I currently have a starter that Linda made using Nancy Silverton's protocol with organic grapes.

My real quest is to figure out how to make Nancy Silverton's whole grain bread no-knead. That is why I bought Jim Lahey's book. Autumn is the perfect time to begin a bread quest. I spent almost all of yesterday reading his book and creating my own recipes. Let the testing begin.