In a true sign that spring is finally here, this Thursday was the first Cornell farmers market, a weekly marketplace that brings fresh meats, produce, and other items right to the heart of the Cornell campus. This student coordinated event runs through the spring & fall semesters and provides a great opportunity for students and the rest of the campus community to experience the wealth of fresh and local items that central NY has to offer.
It was at this farmer's market that I first learned of the Cornell Bread Club, a collective of student baking enthusiasts who prepare a variety of fresh baked items for campus events and to sell at the weekly market. Sometime last fall semester I wandered over to the market to pick up a few tomatoes and spotted their table. The club's head baker, Abby, had baked up some amazing sourdough that changed my whole outlook on homemade sourdough. Her bread had great flavor and texture, and had risen into beautifully formed loaves. It really inspired me to up my game with naturally leavened bread.
From that point on I became much more attentive to the care and feeding of my culture, and have improved the quality of my sourdough immensely. So much in fact, that I decided to contribute a few loaves to the market myself. I made 3 big loaves of whole wheat sourdough and a couple experimental loaves of German style whole grain bread. And I'm happy to say they all sold out, along with a bunch of other delicious loaves contributed by other bakers including, apple, cranberry-walnut, cinnamon swirl!
Whole Wheat Sourdough
(adapted from Chad Robertson's White-Wheat Blend in Tartine No.3)B Flour WW Flour WWW Flour Wheat Germ Water Starter Salt | Mass 350g 500g 150g 70g 850g 150g 20g | Percentage 35% 50% 15% 7% 85% 15% 2% |
- Mix all of the ingredients and autolyse for 30min
- Fold once an hour for about 3-4 hrs. Then leave in the fridge overnight
- Scale out dough into 1000g loaves and let rest in a banneton for 1-2 hours
- Bake at 450 in a covered dutch oven for 45min until internal temp is 200F
Results
I got some really nice looking loaves from the whole wheat sourdough. The German-style barley & spelt loaf came out pretty cool too... I'll do another post on those loaves soon.
Conclusion
I was really happy with how these came out, and glad to see that other people seemed to like them too! It was fun scaling up my baking volume and selling a few loaves. Looking forward to next week's market.... I'm thinking something Easter themed!
