Monday, May 9, 2011

WGB Challange

Okay, I'm throwing down the Gauntlet for a new bread baking challenge. As may of you know I was part of a challenge offered by Pinch my Salt to bake my way through Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice book. Even though I fell behind with a move and a new baby I managed to mostly complete the challenge and it pretty much changed my life. I never buy bread from the grocery store! French bread, sandwich bread, rolls, hot dog buns... you name it I can make it and I can make it tasty. The only problem is I mostly use white flour and I would much prefer to have the added health benefits of whole grains in my growing family's diet. I must say the only 100% whole wheat breads I make are dry, dense, and disgusting! So I challange myself to bake my way through Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book, New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor. I hope that I will exit this challenge equally changed, ready to bake delicious, healthy breads for my family.
Sound interesting to you? Please join me! It's so much easier and more fun with a group.

This leaves you plenty of time to grab a book and get ready to bake! Please leave a comment if you're going to join so that I know who my fellow bakers are.

Here's the schedule:
(We're not going straight through since I feel we should do all the transitional breads first then move into the 100% whole grain, baby steps right?)
5/29- 6/4      Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread p.99
6/5- 6/11      Transitional  Multigrain Sandwich Bread p.107
6/12- 6/18    Transitional Rye Sandwich Bread p.119
6/19- 6/25    Transitional Cinnamon Raisin Bread p.140
6/26- 7/2      Transitional Challah p.149
7/3- 7/9        Transitional Country Hearth Bread p.156
7/10- 7/16    Transitional Multigrain Hearth Bread p.161
7/17- 7/23    Transitional Rye Hearth Meteil p.178
7/24- 7/30    Transitional Rye Hearth Seigle p.181
7/31- 8/6      Transitional German-Style Many Seed Bread p.210
8/7- 8/13      Transitional Rustic Bread & Focaccia p.264
8/14- 8/20    100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread p.95
8/21- 8/27    Multigrain Struan p.103
8/28- 9/3      Oat Bran Broom Bread p.109
9/4- 9/10      Rye Sandwich Meteil p.112
9/11- 9/17    Rye Sandwich Seigle p.116
9/18- 9/24    Potato Onion Rye Meteil p.122
9/25- 10/1    Potato Rosemary Bread p.125
10/2- 10/8    Anadama Bread p.129
10/9- 10/15  Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread p.132
10/16-10/22 Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns p.136
10/23-10/29 Whole Wheat Challah p.144
10/30- 11/5   Whole Wheat Hearth Bread p.153
11/6- 11/12   Multigrain Hearth Bread p.158
11/13- 11/19 High- Extraction Flour Miche p.164
11/20-11/26  Three Rye Hearth Bread Variations (choose 1) p.169
11/27- 12/3   Power Bread p.185
12/4- 12/10   Whole Wheat Sprouted Grain Bread p.189
12/11-12/17  100% Sprouted Grain Bread p.192
12/18- 12/24 **Julekage, Panettone, and Stollen (choose 1) p.245
12/25- 12/31  Whole Wheat Mash Bread p.195
1/1- 1/7         Multigrain Mash Bread p.201
1/8- 1/14       Steamed Boston Brown Bread p.202
1/15- 1/21     Spent-Grain Bread p.205
1/22- 1/28     Whole Wheat Brioche p.215
1/29- 2/4       Volkronbrot p.219
2/5- 2/11       Bavarian Pumpernickel p.225
2/12- 2/18     Hutzelbrot with Dried Fruit p.229
2/19- 2/25     Swedish Limpa Rye Bread p.233
2/26- 3/3       Santa Lucia Buns p.236
3/4- 3/10       Hapanleipa and Vorterkaker p.241
3/11- 3/17     Whole Wheat, Multigrain, and Pumpernickel Bagels (choose 1) p.253
3/18- 3/24     Whole Wheat Focaccia p.260
3/25- 3/31     Whole Wheat and Multigrain Pizza Dough p.267
4/1- 4/7         Whole Wheat Pita Bread p.273
4/8- 4/14       Whole Wheat Naan p.278
4/15- 4/21     Chapatis, Parathas, and Roti p.281
4/22- 4/28     Injera p.283
4/29- 5/5       Whole Wheat Matzo p.285
5/6- 5/12       Lavash p.289
5/13- 5/19     Thin Wheat Crackers p.291
5/20- 5/26     Seeded Crackers p.293
5/27- 6/2       Graham Crackers p.296

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I just ordered the book. :)
    COUNT ME IN!
    Susie

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  3. I'm in. I also did not finish the other book, but am interested in healthier breads.I heard Peter talking about the sprouted grains in April so I may make some of the breads both ways. Nancy

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  4. I think it is going to be nice to make all the breads from that book, I finished the other challenge, I really enjoy it. For this one I will have to pass, not because I do not want to, it is because I can not buy the book (lot of expenses and short income)....good luck you all.

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  5. My book will arrive between Friday, 05/13/11, and Tuesday, 05/17/11. It will give me to check out the first few recipes you have listed and get any items I'm missing.
    Susie

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  6. I dug out my copy of his cookbook. I loved reading the recipes but was initially turned off by the time involved with the method. By planning ahead on a weekly schedule, I think I can do it.

    We also need a place to post our result pictures to compare.

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  7. Ya a place to post photos would be great.
    Susie

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  8. Interesting! I'm doing the Mellow Bakers right now, but we are in the last quarter I believe. I do have this book. Going to have to give this some thought!

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  9. Although I'm still doing the BBA hosted at akuindeed.com, this looks very tasty to me!! I'm in, in fact my copy came today!

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  10. Hello????????????
    Will you be commenting at all to us? I haven't seen you write in at all. :)
    Will you be posting every recipe here and we are to put our link under it?
    Will there be a place to add our photos or just our blog link or what?
    I'm ready to make the first recipe this coming week.
    Susie

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  11. Sorry I've been trying to wrap up some stuff around my house so that I was ready to start baking this week. I've decided to start a google group and am contemplating a flicker group as well. Thanks for baking with me!

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  12. Thanks Jenni. Let us know about the groups so we can join up. ;)
    It will be fun.
    Susie

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  13. Kudos for making the shift to whole grains, for the health of your growing family.

    I've been baking my way through this book slowly -- in order -- and will continue to do so until its done. I'm pretty sure I can't follow your schedule, but I'm already partly on the way, at my blog "exorphin junkie". I'll watch what you're doing though, and try to link to the breads I've already tried if you let me.

    The thing is, I get distracted easily with other recipes. If I get to Reinhart's Anadama recipe, for instance, I might bake half a dozen other Anadama recipes to compare them to his version. Or I might bake 2-3 different versions of each Reinhart recipe (e.g. yeasted vs sourdough) until I think I 'get it'. I blog both failures and successes.

    Depending on the level of my distraction, I get sidetracked pretty easily. Still the common thread of 'exorphin junkie' seems to be my self-challenge of baking through Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book. Sometimes I think that if I ever get to the end of his book, I'll just stop blogging about bread entirely.

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  14. Cellarguy,
    Your blog looks great. I hope you do post your entries here from your blog so we can see what you came up with.
    I'll be following your blog,
    Susie

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