Friday, February 1, 2013

Taking Orders

My "famous" 100% wholewheat sunflower bread

Some days the bread rises and comes out of the oven so perfectly that I'm amazed and delighted. This is one of those days. See photo; imagine slathering a hot crust with butter, as I did for lunch. (Phone me to order a batch for your house.)

Yesterday I baked honey-oatmeal bread to fill an order, and the turnout was disappointing. Edible — it's always edible — but the crust tore and the rise wasn't as high as usual. The only difference besides the two recipes themselves was the freshness of the flour used today; it had been purchased more recently.

It's a mystery, really, but I'm tempted to make another batch tomorrow with this same bag of flour, and see what happens. With whole wheat bread-baking, fresh flour is essential to a satisfying rise.