“What’s on the menu next week?” I yell at Gert as he drives past.
“Dutch” he calls back through the car window.
“What bread?”
“Cheese”
“OK”
We have an easy relationship – he knows the sort of thing he wants but trusts me to get it right. It usually works.
Some time back he gave me a bunch of weird Dutch sourdough recipes that he had translated – no detail, just ingredients and quantities. They all begin with a litre of starter – doesn’t specify a hydration so I stick with my 100%. Generally works out at a huge 125% of flour weight.
I say “weird” because they never seem straightforward: so far I’ve adapted saurerkraut & cheese with onions & raisins and banana with buckwheat & peanuts. The cheese is comparatively straight: interesting mix of wholemeal and cornmeal, tomato juice (+ tomato puree) as liquid, a taste of honey.
Don’t usually bother with test bakes but this one turned out great – light crunchy crust from the cornmeal (used polenta), very cheesy.
What’s next Gert?
The PArtisan Baker 