up around 0730, kinda to attend to the dog, but kinda because i was sorta awake.
started working on finishing up the project from yesterday before the rest of the family was up and about. ended up reworking it almost completely, to make it fully compliant with the spec. felt pretty good about it, but then i realized i needed some tests.
while taking a break to stretch, i looked at the label on the flour i’ve been using for bread, and was gobsmacked to realize that — despite how it’s labeled — it’s not actually all purpose flour. it’s a brand called “white lily”, from the south, and it’s intended for — and kinda famous for — making biscuits. it’s 6.67% protein, whereas most “regular” all-purpose is more like 10%. luckily, we’ve got some bread flour on hand, that’s 12% protein, so i was able to mix up a new batch of dough that should be around 10% final protein. it was visibly different when mixed, but ended up having about the same amount of rise. (protein — the amount of gluten in the flour — matters because a lot of the more desirable qualities of homemade bread are dependent on the gluten.)
around noon-ish, finally grabbed a shower, then made lunch for the fam, and headed out to the office for a few hours. wrote all the tests for the new project.
came back in and made dinner, then shaped up a boule from the batch of dough from earlier. proofed and baked and it did end up looking better, although still not quite as good as the week-long sourdough effort. today’s loaf was baked on a stone with a water pan for steam; i’m looking forward to trying this dough batch in a dutch oven instead – i’ve generally gotten much better results that way. need to eat today’s babby first tho!
lunch: sandwich
dinner: chicken caesar salad