Hi,
Well, it's the first day of spring and we had a mild frost last night. I hope the emerging buds on my fig trees make it through--love those figs!
Pat D. sent a great tip for storing leftover mash: weigh it out into 40 gram units and place in ice cube trays (spray them first with oil, she uses olive oil spray). Cover with foil, freeze, and pop them out, wrap. Then, you can use as needed. Thanks Pat!
Another tester, Hulling J., reported on a Chinese method for making mash that might simplify things. I'm going to test his idea out this week and see what happens.
Many of you have reported on what a hassle this mash method is. Some (well, a few) have been thrilled with the results, calling it the best whole wheat bread they ever tasted, and others said it was totally disappointing and unworkable. One tester said he might give up on whole wheat bread altogether after this painful experience. Ouch!! It is clear that my instructions were far from clear and, judging from the varied results, the type or brand of flour seems to make a big difference in terms of hydration and final texture.
Let''s see if the second formula, which was sent out on Sunday, is easier to follow, make and delivers a good result. Half of the testers received one version and the other half got a different version (ingredients are the same, but the technique is different). Some of the mailings bounced back to me, so if you did not receive the "Simplified" version, please e-mail me for a re-send.
May your bread always rise (and your starters too, which has been a real issue for some of the testers)!
Peter
