With the year slowly drawing to a close, the baking schedule for December is out of the works and online! The first delivery will be Monday, Nov. 27 and the last of 2017 will be on Friday, Dec. 22. We will not be baking or delivering bread over Christmas and New Year. The Bread CSA will restart in the first week of January; due to New Year’s Day falling on a Monday, the first delivery will be on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
The last week of October brought an unexpected surprise: I received, out of the blue and apropos of nothing, a large quantity of whole wheat spelt grains. Spelt is popular in Europe—in German, it’s called Dinkel and is a common ingredient in breads and beers—but it is not nearly as commonplace in the United States. Spelt is higher in protein and vitamins that regular wheat varieties and its gluten structure is less elastic and breaks down more quickly, making for more digestible breads. In the first two breads of this month, I’m mixing the softer flavors of spelt with the distinctive, tangy flavor of another low-gluten grain, rye. I’ve never tried this particular combination of flours and would welcome your feedback. The last two breads before the break are also new additions—adding mashed roasted potatoes with rosemary and polenta with cranberries to the dough, respectively—and I’d welcome any thoughts you have about those, too.
Here then, without further ado, is the December 2017 baking schedule: M Nov 27 Double Fermented Rye/Spelt'm F Dec 1 Rye with Fermented Sprouted Spelt M Dec 4 L’s White-Knot F Dec 8 Millet Porridge M Dec 11 Wild Rice Special F Dec 15 Bâtard 707 M Dec 18 Roasted Potato & Rosemary F Dec 22 Polenta Cranberry