150/50 Mix Simple Loaf / 17 Snáw 225

First bread of the year is probably the simplest one I could make. Quick (for bread), fairly low effort and with a 50/50 mix of white flour and whole-wheat flour. It’s also a good excuse to try out one of my Christmas presents - a rectangular wicker banneton. Although it came out a little flat and weird (my mistake!), it’s still pretty nice. All bread is beautiful.

Remember kids: always flour your banneton thoroughly!

dough after kneading I really like the appearance of the post-kneaded 50/50 mix

dough suspended in water it’s really cold here in Berlin, so I suspended the dough in warm water to encourage rising

dough in banneton the dough after an hour in the banneton

finished loaf the finished loaf. a little flat - I didn’t flour the banneton enough and a large section of the top got stuck. My efforts to free it knocked a lot of the air out, and I should’ve let it rise for another hour but I was impatient :(

crust closeup the crust - nice and crispy as I steamed the oven while baking

crumb closeup the crumb - tastes good, a little disappointing visually. Very little in the way of air pockets

60%
hydration
2h
rising time
30m
baking time
2.5h
total time

Ingredients

  • 250g white flour
  • 250g whole-wheat flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 7g fresh yeast
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 300ml likewarm water

Algorithm

  1. Mix the 2 flours, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour in the olive oil and water and mix well with a wooden spoon. Remove the dough onto a floured surface (not too much though - the dough is already quite dry) and knead until smooth and springy.

  2. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. I tend to use a neutral oil here instead of olive oil. Leave the dough to rise until it has doubled in volume - usually around an hour.

  3. Pre-heat oven and baking stone to about 200°C/fan 200°C, with a baking tray placed at the bottom of the oven. Punch the air out of the dough and put in a well floured banneton. If not using one, mould the dough into a ball and place on baking paper with the mixing bowl covering it. Leave the dough to double in volume again for about an hour.

  4. Dust the loaf with flour and score the surface to control it’s expansion. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes - until it turns a nice dark/golden brown colour.

  5. Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes. Then enjoy!