Today we had another full day in the Bakery!  Wayne was back in School so he took the class, & we ran through the recipes we were going to tackle this week, as well as looking at the basic outline for this Term.

It looks like it's going to be pretty full on, & we got stuck in straight away!

First up, was a Rye & Malted Wheat Tin loaf, using a rye levain, or sourdough starter. 

We made the mix in one of the spiral mixers.  The recipe made seven loaves, so there was plenty of it! 

It was the first time we'd used the spiral mixer, & also the first time we used a technique called autolyse; a process where by some of the ingredients are mixed together briefly, then left to stand for at least 30 minutes. 

This allows the yeast in the sourdough starter to begin fermenting & creating an active dough.  After the autolyse process, we added the remaining ingredients & mixed fully.

The dough was then left to prove for 30 minutes, before folding, & then being left to prove for a further 2 & 1/2 hours.  The dough was then divided into seven portions & shaped, before being left to prove again.

After that the dough was shaped again & dropped (gently) into a tin.  The dough was left to prove again, then sprinkled with crushed rye flakes & baked.

I was really pleased with how my loaf turned out; the seam was only slightly visible on the sides of the loaf, it was lovely & crusty & had risen well.  Success!

Next on our list was a Sunflower & Honey Batard! This dough we mixed by hand, a much more tactile process. 

We then followed a similar process with the this dough as with the Rye & Malted Wheat loaf, although the proving time was much less.  The dough was also shaped by hand, giving a much more relaxed shape.

Tory's loaf (pictured below) won the gold star of the day, although I was pretty pleased with mine too!  It's a softer crust, with a lovely nutty flavour from the toasted sunflower seeds & a subtle sweet flavour from the honey.

Finally, we tackled the Brioche Rolls!  We made this dough in the mixer as well; it's an enriched dough with sugar & eggs, & a lot of butter!  

We made two small Brioche Rolls each, sprinkled with sugar nibs, & a shaped Brioche which we baked in tins, as pictured below.  We weren't quite sure they were going to rise in time for us to bake today before we went home, but we popped them in the proving cupboard & they were soon ready =D

They were wonderful!  We had a smaller Brioche Roll from our leftover dough, which we ate warm from the oven... There really is nothing better than a freshly baked Brioche! 

The final thing we did was to make some starter doughs ready for Wednesday's session; a Fruited Loaf, a 100% Rye Bread & a Focaccia!  Can't wait!