Rachel braids bread

I set out to make some bread again on Saturday, and Rachel decided she wanted to make a braid. So, we made two loaves, one with white flour, which would be braided, and the other with whole wheat flour. We had to split the sourdough in half, because I hadn't thought ahead to make enough, but it still seemed to raise them all right, if maybe somewhat slowly.

I'm very happy with the "stiff-dough levain" recipe I've been using from the library book, Local Breads, that Nicole checked out for my birthday. It has been easy to maintain, the yeast seems very active, and it imparts an excellent flavor without being especially sour. If anything, I'd say it's not sour enough, but that could be cured by leaving the dough in the fridge overnight, I think.

Rachel helped me braid the white dough, and we baked it first. It flattened out quite a bit during the proofing stage, because I neglected to constrain it, and the dough was quite wet. But, it puffed up in the oven, so the final result looked fine. It expanded along the seams, as you can see, which made it very easy to pull apart.

The second loaf went in my new oval banneton to proof, and thereby took on a shape that will be familiar to several of you from loaves around New Year's. Because of a concerted effort to add more water to the dough throughout kneading, I assume, it ended up quite moist. Very tasty. I will have to remember to use significantly more water for whole wheat dough in the future.

The loaves I've been making lately seem to end up with a buttery texture that is hard to account for given that the ingredients are limited to flour, water, and salt. But no one's complaining. Two days later both loaves are completely gone. We ate more than half of the braid for dinner on Saturday, about half of the whole wheat loaf for breakfast on Sunday, with various fruit preserves, and the remainder of the whole wheat for dinner tonight, with cheese.