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I haven’t decided yet if I”ll make the bagels, which are part of the three breads listed for this month. While debating this extremely important issue, I baked Rustic Bread today (page 115 of Hamelman’s BREAD).
and the crumb was just the way we like it….
The bread takes a pre-ferment made the day before and allowed to rise for 12 to 16 hours at room temperature (around 70F). Next day, the final dough is mixed using a combination of regular, whole-wheat, and rye flour. The basic mixing and the folding method for kneading are very similar to that for Hamelman’s Vermont sourdough series, which happens to be my favorite way to handle bread dough. I did not need to adjust anything in the recipe, the dough came together beautifully.
Check the work of my mellow baker buddies by clicking here….
…. to bagel or not to bagel: that is the question! 😉
Bewitching Kitchen 
Sally, that crumb looks perfect – I love the open, holey, slightly elastic texture! Go on, try the bagels! 🙂
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Now there’s a handsome loaf! It does have a really nice flavour to it, the multiple flours work very well together here.
And the answer is “Yes.”
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My pre ferment is hanging out in the kitchen. I am waiting for some high gluten flour before I tackle the bagels.
Your loaf looks lovely. I hope mine turns out as well.
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I love the step-by-step photos, and your bread looks gorgeous! I’m excited to try this one!
My bagels are in the fridge, ready to be boiled and baked in the morning . . . we’ll see! =)
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Ooh Sally that looks just gorgeous! Bet you can make better bagels than me! I am going to try Celia’s version next time I can face them! I really like the composite picture too 🙂
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I vote yes for bagels! Beautiful sourdough.
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Gorgeous loaf! My crumb looked very similar. I was a little surprised, though, because I had seen ostwestwind’s rustic bread’s crumb which didn’t have any holes at all… But we liked it. Still have to post about it. Made the bagels already, too – my vote would ne not to make them… Almost all of them turned out absolutely flat and uncooked in the middle…
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THanks, everybody!
@ap: too bad about your bagels… I saw your post about it, disappointing indeed, it’s such a lot of work to make those
I still have a couple of weeks to decide if I’ll bagel, meanwhile I’ll be watching everyone else’s progress…
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What a beautiful loaf, the crust and crumb are perfect!
I vote yes on the bagels, they are delicious.:)
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Thanks for stopping at Küchenlatein leaving a comment. I always flour my bannetons with rice flour, it’s like teflon, and it never failed.
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Pingback: Mellow Bakers April 2010: (3) Rustic Bread + GIVEAWAY! « Family & Food
Well, this is a beautiful loaf! I think I may have to give this bread a try after all.
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