yozzause's blog

I recently had a friend visit from Scotland , Peter originally  came from the same small Hampshire village of  LISS that i grew up in . In fact Peter and his wife Hazel both came from the same village. they moved to Scotland after graduating from Uni and have worked there ever since.

I had already moved to Australia when i was 15. Anyway Peter had been visiting his sister in Adelaide who had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, Peter came and stayed with us for 2 weeks on his return trip to Scotland via Perth in Western Australia and Singapore for a couple of days then Dubai and back to Glasgow.

Peter had been here previously with Hazel and  we had toured the Southwest down to Albany and Margaret river. So this visit  being winter and all i asked if he would like to go North  and we decided upon Shark bay, Kalbarri and the monastic town ship of New Norcia

Peter didn't think the temperature in Perth was cold at all saying Glasgow was cooler and it was  supposed to be summer.

We set off in my wife's slideon camping vehicle a Toyota workmate V8  with a German Tisher slide on camper attached on the tray, i elected to also take my swag  as neither Peter or I felt like sharing the double bed together.

Our first day's travel took us along the Indian Ocean Drive which took us to some very pleasant coastal communities  rather than the busier Brand Highway that has big road trains using it. 

 We stopped at Dongarra a coastal town for a bit of a look  and then into the major town of Geraldton where we had  a nice roast chicken takeaway just on dusk. I had planned to stop at a free camp listed in an old book  but when we arrived it didnt seem to match the pictures and directed to a spot several  klm down a dirt road  So instead we pushed on a bit further to a free camping spot GalenaBridge beside the Murchison River that i had visited before.

It took just minutes to roll out my swag and have a bit of a night cap in the camper as well as re-arrange the rough plan that i had worked out. it seemed pointless to backtrack to visit Kalbarri when we could do that on the way back.  A reasonably good nights sleep was had although those road trains kept going all night long and  certainly make a bit of noise.

We were both up in time to see the sun rise and after a breakfast were on our way again, a quick stop at a remote Service station called the Billabong  Roadhouse also gave Peter the opportunity to have a drive of the beast, there had been very few roadside casualties Kangaroos and sheep and certainly no fresh ones so i felt he would be fairly safe, he was cautioned about swerving to miss any of our fury friends. We did come upon a fresh fox that was providing breakfast  for a magnificent Wedgetail Eagle where i explained  to Peter that Eagles have to take off into the wind  and if they had dined well can be quite slow and can become road victims themselves. Males weigh in at 4kgs with females over 5kgs  and wing spans of 6ft and 7ft 7in respectively. Peter did slow down and the eagle did show all the characteristics that i had predicted and with the camper being quite tall may well have  connected had he not slowed.

We drove into the town of Deneham  and had a walk along the foreshore and a nice fish lunch we then went the other side of the peninsula to Monkey Mia  world famous for the wild dolphins that come in and mingle with the visitors  we were to late for the organised feed time where there had been 4 dolphins come in that morning, but whilst

on the jetty 2 came by within a metre of the shoreline much to the delight of a young girl that ran alongside them on the beach for 100metres or more. As we were leaving to make for our overnight stay  a family of emus came by, dad with 6 of his juvenile youngsters that he had reared, the females lay a clutch of eggs and leave the males to it sometimes repeating the dose for another male. They were very friendly even sticking their heads into the cab of the camper van.

We drove back then to The Hamelin Pool Homestead for our overnight stay with hot showers and a good camp kitchen. Hamelin pool is also famous for its Stromolites  so we followed the sign that took us to the beach area and were able to walk along an elevated platform to see these strange  things.

Shark Bays’ stromatolites are significant because they represent a major stage in the Earth’s evolutionary history, one of the reasons forShark Bay's World Heritage listing. When the stromatolites were discovered by scientists in 1956, they were the first ever recorded living examples of structures previously found only as fossils in ancient rocks. Although SharkBay’s stromatolites are just 2,000 – 3,000 years old, the cyanobacteria that build them are similar to life forms found on Earth up to 3.5 billion years ago! This means the stromatolites are modern-day examples of life in Precambrian times. 

There was plenty of room at the homestead  so we picked a good spot  and the swag was rolled out onto the shells that form the parking area

Another good sleep ensued and again up in time for the sunrise a fellow camper asked if the slide on was mine as they had a similar set up i said that it was my wifes and that i was sleeping in the swag as my mate had the double bed to which she replied that i must be the snoring man! i could do little else but admit that i had been known to snore! We took advantage and visited the old shearing sheds where  there was heaps of information on the heyday of the shearing shed  and the hardships faced by those pioneers.

We were soon on the road again heading south a quick stop at the Billabong to top up a fuel  tank noting that diesel was some 20cents a litre dearer there than just before Geraldton, we were headed for Kalbarri  where i hadn't been before we elected not to drive to the gorge as Peter has been to the grand canyon so ours would seem tiny by comparison but it is on my list for a return visit with the wife during the wildflower season in a few months. i'd quite like to see the Grand Canyon too.

Kalbarri where  the Murchison river enters the Indian Ocean was very pretty indeed. apparently it can be very busy in the summer with lots of visitors and even more flies,we were spared both. Again the local fish was superb for lunch, we stopped off at many lookouts to admire the views and could see dolphins and sharks in the clear waters below

We pressed on and decided to stop at the place we had first given a miss to this was Oakabella homestead  it was find a spot in the paddock and Lorreta would be around to collect the $9.00 a head fee. We were soon set up and joined some campers that were French backpackers travelling around our big country, they spoke excellent English  and i invited them to share some

good Australian wine that i had bought along on the trip from my cousins vineyard. they thought it was delightful as they were drinking the chateau cardboard 4litr wine cask. We were soon joined by two more backpackers this time from Germany it was very interesting to hear of their travel exploits, they had worked in an onion factory to be able to have an extended visa and were travelling around Australia having a ball.

The senior contingent went to bed about 9.00 and left them to it. They were talking till about 11.30 we were sure that we had met the young man that would one day hold down the job currently occupied by Angela Merkal

 We were again up in time to see the sunrise, we were showered and  away before anyone stirred in the tents.  We called into Geraldton had a quick look around the Sunday market and found a nice place that did a real big breakfast which set us for the long drive down the midlands highway that would take us through lots of small country towns avoiding the main Brand highway with its triple road trains,  This route is supposed to be second to none when the native wildflowers come out in spring time.

We arrived at our intended destination the  Benedictine monastery town of New Norcia  Peter was keen to experience some of the monastical delights and booked in to the monastery retreat for the night and the light evening meal . i parked the camper down on the sports oval but didn't need to roll out the swag as i was going to sleep in the double bed in the camper i did break out a chair and a bottle of my home brew Ruby porter and sat back until i realised that i was being attacked by ants its amazing that they can climb half way up your body before the order is given bite now chaps and you suddenly realise that you have dozens of angry ants biting  i was able to dust them off but found the ground was alive with very busy fairly big angry ants  i decided to move the camper  just 20 metres or so where the ground was a little more moist which wasn't to their liking i finished my beer and went off to find father Peter  and was able to use the shower in the guests retreat we then went off to vespers in the church making it just in time the service was quite interesting with the monks chanting  and the congregation encouraged to participate unfortunately their are only14 monks left, there were once 170.  a simple evening meal was taken in the retreat  where 8 of us were fed  one of the monks came in from their area to have a chat with us which was very informative. Rain had set in as i made my way back to the van  and the track was awash  the field was also covered with a sheet of water i got into the van  and praised the lord that i wasn't in the swag tonight. Much rain fell and the morning found the camper in several inches of water but at least it was sunny.

 I had breakfast and started the camper up to go and collect father Peter i didn't require 4 wheel drive  but it was quite muddy. We joined the official tour of the town and all its historical buildings of particular interest to me was the bakery and flour mill.

I had known that for some time the name New Norcia bread had been sold to a Perth business  Unfortunately and a great shame is the bakery is  not part of the tour.

http://www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au/visit-new-norcia/eat-and-drink/purchase-new-norcia-products.html

After looking at that link i wonder just how much is still baked at New Norcia  especially as they also claim to be using flour from the mill, that has been out of action for many years. The old flour mill was quite interesting though.

At the conclusion of the tour we availed ourselves to the comfort of the old hotel for lunch and another product that is licensed out by the monastery  Abbey Ale.

From here it was just a short 132 klm back to the city, and our country trek was over. Peter had enjoyed a brief stay at the monastery and I would have loved to have been able to get into the bakery, perhaps I will have to chase up the current operators.

regards to all Derek 

Well we are back from our cruise, we departed from Fremantle port late afternoon onboard the P&O Pacific Jewel for a cruise up the West Australian  Coast and up to Indonesia and return.

We were soon into the shipboard life exploring the ship and getting ready for dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant, this would be the start of fine food in no short supply, following dinner there were many things to do ,There was entertainment at a variety of venues, my wife went off to see a floor show and i decided to go to bed early. Unfortunately as it turned out our cabin was on deck six and on deck seven there was an entertainment venue  and the amplified music especially the base was able to be heard. A complaint at the info desk did receive a visit from a staff member that agreed the noise was detectable. An offer of earplugs was accepted for an interim measure that i would follow up the next day.

First port of call was Geraldton which is the port for the Mid West of W.A where exports of grain and mineral sands are shipped around the world, our ship anchored out and shore was reached by tender. I have visited this town previously  and driven by many times on fishing trips up North. We had a pleasant time ashore purchasing a few rocks and rose cyrstals at the market. We were impressed with the development of the forehore which was formally railway sidings, its a shame the same thing wasn't being planned for Perth where railway sidings at Leighton Beach are to be developed  for expensive private housing rather than being open space next to the beautiful beach that we have there for the enjoyment of everyone rather than a privileged few.    

Back on board we were offered another cabin on deck 5  this was well forward and a quad with bunks above the 2 single beds and felt smaller than the cabin we were in, this was rejected as it was felt to be a down grade.Anyway the second night was not noisy as it was a Karaoke night (no base drum) plus i stayed up later this time. Next day we were at sea still heading north and the weather was appreciably  warmer. the following morning we were stopping at Broome i got up early to watch us arrive  and was able to take a picture of the sun rising over the masthead.

Broome is an old pearling town and still pearls are farmed here. we had visited once before so were familiar with the town and already done the touristy things so decided to head off into town

During our walk in this tropical very cosmopolitan town where Broome time is a very real phenomenon and whilst crossing the road where pedestrian crossings have signs that read Pedestrians must give way to to  traffic, my name was called out and it was my former manager who moved to Broome 10 years previously. We had a good long chat  under the shade of a tree in the middle of the road reserve catching up on all manner of things, I informed her of my impending retirement to which she replied that she had as good as already retired working in the Kimberley region.

The ship was alongside a warf in Broome which is used to export thousands of cattle north to Indonesia one of Australias biggest customers for the live cattle trade from the huge cattle stations in this part of the country.

From Broome we headed further north leaving Australia in our wake destined for the island of Lombok two nights and a full sea days sailing. There had been some talk of a cyclone in the area but nothing official just from phone conversations  of fellow passengers back home whilst in port. Although the seas were a little more lumpy there was nothing to hinder the progress, an announcement at midday did inform us that the depth of the ocean was 6,000 metres!

Lombok also required tenders to take people ashore and we were able to use the priority disembarkation cards given to us to help with our cabin inconvenience. Lombok is another world, immediately you are set upon  by all manner of people trying to sell you stuff. we decided to get out of the port gates and look for a blue cab that the brochures say you should use, again you are set upon by hoards of sellers or small children asking for money, We went back into the port gates and negotiated to have a car and driver, we wanted to get out into the country side and see the real Lombok.

Our driver took us out into the rural areas where rice is grown and people were going about their daily tasks, we declined the stuff that fellow passengers would be doing on their organised tours , weaving, traditional village and temples.

Lombok is predominantly muslim and most of the men were heading for the mosques. The driving was quite different to what we were used to but we never saw any road rage with small motorbikes being the main choice of transport.

Back to the ship and an overnight sail to Benoa the port for Bali. Bali is a firm favourite  for Australians where cheap holidays are just a four hour flight away. We had never been or had the inclination to go but know many that go year after year. Again the tenders were used to get ashore although this time there was a large catamaran also used to help get passengers ashore. again we hired a car and driver and got out into the countryside  for almost 4 hours the traffic here was chaotic but seemed to flow well. We got back to the ship in time to watch some really black clouds dump heavy rain on the island.

Another overnight sail bought us to what we were most interested in and that was the island of Komodo we were up on deck as we sailed in  and were escorted by a large pod of small dolphins. We were tendered ashore on an organised tour,  conditional for landing on the island which is a national park. Cold drinks were made available from ice chest presumably from the community  because P & O charged for everything.

Were taken for a bit of a hike through the jungle along pathways  of coral to prevent slipping in the mud, the guides were very good with a guard to the front and rear with forked sticks  to ward off any dragons should they decide to get to close, the trek was uneventful with only wild boar and deer being spotted, its a shame that our party didnt understand  QUIET with some jabbering away about nothing the whole way along. We were told that there may be some dragons at a place called the watering hole  and as we got to that spot there were 3 of the beasts  laying around. We were able to take pictures  and it seemed we were the spectacle for the dragons as much as we were wanting to see them. They looked quite lazy but just as we were about to move off a fourth dragon came out of the bush and surveyed the area but decided to keep on going along the same path we were to use       

So we saw the dragons and were quite impressed, we bought a carved dragon from the villagers that was quite a nice piece of wood carving for A$25.00 this is the main source of income for the village. the last picture is the beach area where we come ashore, the villagers come from around the next bay to set up for the tourists. 

We watched the sun set in this idyllic setting with young boys in their dugout canoes diving for coins being thrown from passengers

before we set a course for home the seas were a bit more bouncy on the way back but not to bad, My wife needed to sit up on the open deck  for some of the time to feel better, i on the other hand had followed a fellow passengers tip and placed a band aid over my belly button and it seemed to work from feeling queezy to no further problems. it got better the closer we got to home and after rounding the Northwest cape.

Not much to report on the bread on board other than i was told there were 6 bakers, didnt get an invite to visit the bakery unlike on the Queen Elizabeth.Some of the display items looked like thay had done a cruise or two previously. It was a good break and enjoyed by us both. i will now turn my attention to part 2  of Swansong

kind regards to all Derek    

I am on a countdown now from leaving  paid employ , for the last 10 years or so i have been with Challenger Institute of Technology which is a Government training organisation formally known as Tafe which stands Tertiary and Further Education.

I have had a number of rolls at Challenger being a Purchasing Officer, a stint with Hospitality Section as the technician and back at supply currently as a Contracts Administrator and auditor of credit card spending.

Fellow TFL’rs will have seen the breads and read of my exploits being able to use the in house Bakery that the Hospitality section has  attached to its training Restaurant  as well as the classes for commercial cooks and apprentices. Sadly this will all come to an end on June 30th my last paid working day  after accepting a voluntary severance whereby i get 12 months pay not to go to work!!!

Anyway I was asked if I would do a full day of Professional Development with the 13 Chef Instructors as they had requested  a baking day. I didn’t need to be asked twice I lept at the chance, the date set and  I started to plan a day of interest for both them and my self.

Kick off was going to be 8.00am  I decided we would do a full sourdough 3:2:1   but needed to have quantities larger than i have previously done so that became 6:4:2 kgs Just over 12 kgs this was then stretched and folded over 3 hours and taken on the 4th and placed on couches.

Dough 2 was Baguttes using a poolish that I prepared the previous day before I went home  this was to be used for our lunch

Dough 3 was the Hokkaido milk dough (tangzhong) which was also scheduled for lunch as we were making into buns. We Had a slight hiccup here as we discovered that the salt was still on the counter after the mix was placed into a proving tub, it gave me a chance to ask them what they would do, general consensus was that they would try to add the salt, we discussed the pros and cons. My thoughts were that the dough would then be over mixed  the salt was likely not to fully dissipate and would show up as coloured spots on the buns which would likely be tough. My plan was that the dough was essentially a Pate Fermente and that if we cut it into 500g pieces and stuck it in the freezer it could be used  in the coming weeks in the rolls that they would be making for the Restaurant.   

The fact that we were using a pre prepared Pate Fermente later in the day in another dough would show them the advantages of that. So another dough was required and if was going to be ready for lunch it would now be made an Instant Hokkado milk Dough with the simple addition of Bread Improver.

Dough 4 was also an instant dough this being a very rich fruit dough  using Honey instead of sugar and 50% fruit this was to be turned into Cinnamon scrolls using both cinnamon and roasted nuts in the roll up. Again a large dough so that all could have a go

Dough 5 was to be Dereks Home brew stout  with Wholemeal a touch of Rye and Sprouted Rye Berries. The home brew wasn’t quite ready for drinking anyway but was able to get the restaurant bar man to provide a very worthy substitute in a boutique Raging Bull Dark Beer from Margaret River an area famed for West Australian wines and this week monster surf waves. And to cap this off it was destined for the wood fired oven which was also being demonstrated.   

Dough 6 was the panini olive oil bread from Hammelman, this was one that i thought might have great potential for use in the training restaurant  this was a smaller dough than all the others  and used the Pate Fermente i had prepared the day before 

Dough 7 Last but not least was a gluten free offering, i had been in contact with Lauke’s flour mills from South Australia and they had kindly donated some of their Gluten free, yeast free, dairy free, multi grain mix. We do get a number of patrons to the training restaurant that are gluten intolerant or vegans and it quite important to be able to offer a substitute to enhance their dining experience.

I shall revisit this story with more details of the doughs with pictures in part 2

It will probably be after my return from a cruise that i am taking on P&O Pacific Jewel from Fremantle up the West Australian Coast calling at Geraldton, Broome then up to Indonesia calling at Lombok, Bali and Komodo before retuning to Fremantle.

I know its a hard life but someone has to do it. 

Regards Derek

Hi folks i got around to a bake  this week after 7 weeks holiday, and also being the last week of students at the college, i suggested a loaf based on one that i had seen in The Bourke Street Bakery book, Theirs was roasted Potato and Rosemary, mine was a bit different in that i was going to use 1/3 wholemeal flour, i was also going to use a biga,

i needed to make a 2kg biga, so quickly worked out the quantities of wholemeal flour that i would require and the water to have 2kgs this was simply 100% flour 65% water = 165%  2000g divided by 165 =12.12

Flour is then 1212 grams water 788g to this i added just 0.025% dry yeast 3.5g  that is 1/4% i also decided to add the fresh chopped rosemary 12 gramsto allow the flavour to eminate. This dough was mixed well and set aside for the next day, it has a small amount of yeast so that it ferments very slowly especially if it goes in the cool room for a period of time. As it was, there was a bit of an accident in the fact that someone failed to close the cool room door properly overnight so the temperature was not as cold as it should have been, and when i went to use it i thought that it looked well past its prime. and the confession of the coolroom was offered

Not to worry i was going to use it anyway.

The biga was incorporated to the main dough consisting of 4000g flour 100g salt 100g butter 100g eggs(2) Yeast 80g water 2000 the next evening. i cover the Biga in very warm water to get its temperature just right you can massage it in the water to assist, and even use that water for the dough. the dough was mixed well  and then the 1kg of roasted potatoe cut into 20cm chunks  was hand folded through the dough and then set aside to bulk prove in a container.

As the kitchen was in use for the training restaurant and they were short of students for the  Christmas Buffet i made another dough for the 100 dinner rolls that were required for the patrons. This was an instant dough that required no bulk fermentation i made this a 50% wholemeal with eggs and butter  to make them a bit more tastier. by the time they had been processed  and into the proover the  main dough was now  ready   to be scaled  this was done @700g with 6 or so going into bannetons and the rest onto linen couches on ply boards.

The dinner rolls were then washed and seeded and baked off, The main loaves were then placed onto baking trays and the ones off the couches were washed with the cornflour wash and slashed, the bannetons were decanted and all went into the oven or not quite all. i had 4 loaves that wouldnt fit in and as the other oven had merringues and puddings being cooked i took them into another empty class room and placed them into a couple of the ovens there. Water vapour was used inthe main oven but not in the overflow as there is no facility for that.

I baked the loaves out reasonably well and placed them in a safe place so that they could be distributed in the morning to training cafe in Fremantle. The aroma from the Rosemary  was very pleasant and when i got home i was able to sample the wares  i knew that they were not going to disappoint.

All in all everyone liked them a great deal and my last slice made great toast

Kind regards Derek

Hi Folks just a couple of pics of this bread that was much admired at work today

The dough was 4kg flour

2 kg Biga (a previously made dough with no salt 2kgs flour 1400ml water 10g yeast set aside in a container in the cool room 36 HRS)

100g salt

100g eggs

120g yeast

2100ml water

1000g roast butternut pumpkin

1000g   brown rice and barley

This is mixed to a soft dough and toward the end of the mix the cooked rice and barley is added so as not to macerate the grains. the rice /barley was cooked the night before with the absorbtion method

This dough was then bulk fermented, mine had to be done in a hurry hence the yeast quantity, it felt great to handle and was weighed off at 650 g for bannetons 250 for sticks and enough for 56 x 50g dinner rolls for the restaurant.

They proved quite quickly and were baked off with the use of steam/ water injection  and baked quite nicely. bread was cooled and sent off to the west end of Fremantle outlet of Quinlans  to be used for lunch and a few saved for tasting here. so i was lucky to get just a few photos to show you!

Had great feedback from the testers   

 All done from 4.00am to starting work at 7.45am

Happy with that!

kind regards Derek

Funny how these things happen,  RobynNZ in a response to JCrising recommended the Bourke street bakery as a good Aussie bread book and i concur, In fact after thinking that i had loaned my copy and was not going to be getting it back, my wife unearthed it under some piles of papers and to celebrate its return i decided to use it for some breads that i was going to be making with a bread enthusiasts group that i formed at work from staff and students whereby we bake some interesting breads for use in a retail outlet/training centre down in the West end of Fremantle.

We quadrupled the white sourdough and then made two derivatives from that same dough, the spicy fruit loaf and the sprouted ryeberries with caraway.

The dough was made after regular work and the recipe was followed  below is a pictorial account   white sourdough to the fore and the sprouted rye to the rear

spicy fruit bread derivative from the white sourdough

 On wednesday morning whilst baking off the sourdoughs after 36 hours cold fermentation i put through a dough inspired by our friend Khalid with his experiments with a Biga recently.

on the Monday evening i made a dough with no salt and only 1/2% yeast and placed it in the coolroom  on the Wednesday morning i made a dough with 2 kg flour and 1 kg Biga this was going to be used for the dinner rolls in the restaurant with enough dough over for 3 loaves which went into the just vacated bannetons  this dough had a bulk fermentation time of almost 2 hours  and the bread was superb

  and here is how it looked once cut 

kind regards Derek

Hi Folks been a while since i last had a bit of a bake at work, i had been tending my culture regularly but just didnt get the time to do a batch.

But that changed i made a dough during the lunch break just the bog standard 3 flour: 2 water :1 sourdough culture, also being 3 kgs: 2kgs: 1 kg:

The dough was stretched and folded every hour 1.00 2.00 and 3.00 the dough was taken at 4,00 scaled pre shaped rested and then moulded placed on couches and into the cool room for overnight.

Next morning i got in @5.30 am and was going to process another dough for the restaurant/cafe whilst i was waiting for the sour dough to bake.

I got everything into the mixer including the water only to find that the mixer would not start,  i checked the micro switches, and still couldnt get it to go, i then tried to fire up the oven with the same result nothing happening.

I quickly looked up and saw that bug zapper was off too, a sure sign that the emergency stop had been tripped, i knew where the switch was but where is the reset key, i contemplated the early morning call to the Hospitality technician and decided to wait until 6.00 but kept looking and eventually found the key and got everything going.

 all above the sourdough the loaves scaled @500g the stcks at 300g, below the 100g  2% everyting (almost) dough these mini loaves were

served cut diagonally and served with a hearty soup, the restaurant cafe outlet is in the west end of Fremantle next to the University

of Notre Dame with customers being students and pensioners that know good value @ $7.50 and the serves are generous!

So there we have it  the Sour dough turned out well  and the 100g mini's that were destined to accompany a french onion soup  were looking good in the oven too this was a reasonably rich dough, one i call MY 2% Dough

In this case 2kgs of flour 2% salt 2% milk powder 2%butter 2% egg 2% yeast .0.5% dobrim 500 bread improver which allows this to be an instant dough, water was not measured i'm afraid in my haste to get things underway. From the mixer onto the bench scaled preshaped rested (whilst i put the sourdough into the oven, and then shaped onto flutes on trays and into the proover. 

All in all a nice little wake up starter before the real job, a quick shower to start behind a desk for 7.45.   

Kind regards Yozza

Hi  just an update  on a point raised by Varda and Janet to the sprouting of the malted rye grains that i obtained from a local (AUS) brew shop.

The Rye berries pictured have sprouted after 24 hours and exposed to the air for a further 12 hours. These were sold as Malted Rye but obiously  these are still viable, most likely just rolled through malt powder rather than the berries themselves having been processed for any malt content. Most malt is commercially from Barley grain where the berries are sprouted  and processed for the malt.

In my circumstance the malt was washed off in the soaking process, in brewing it would have become part of the wort. the water could have been saved and used or there maybe unmalted rye available at the brew shops. A point to remember is not to soak for to long as the grain can drown  agood soak and the exposure to air does the trick and perhaps a few quick dunks to stop drying out to fast.

As an Aviculturalist ( bird keeper ) we  had a problem at one time with seed coming in from Queensland  that  when soaked failed to sprout so wasnt viable, checks were made with the Agricultural department and we found that the seed had failed a sample test for weed seeds and was then irradiated which kills the  viability of all the seeds in the bag the alternative was for the company to return the seed to its origin. obviosly the cheaper alternative  was denaturing the grain, which is probably fine as long as you dont want to sprout it. 

Kind regards Derek  

Well its been a while since i had the time to bake,but when i visited the brew shop and was impressed with the different grains that were there for brewing i bought some malted rye grains from Germany something gave me a giddyup.

So the sour dough culture came out of the freezer where it has been hiding since the term break here at the Institute  and after a couple of feeds it was away. So i soaked the grain which succeeded in taking the malt off the outside  and after 24 hours i drained and allowed the grain to sprout after another 24 hours it was ready to go into a dough.

Wednesday morning i went into work a little earlier and made up the dough knowing there was a big class of apprentices  that i could get to do the stretch and folds for me on the hour and allow me to shape during my lunch break, which is what we did.

4 dough pieces were scaled at 650 grams and shaped and  into new bannettons  that i recently purchased and others at 600 grams onto couches on boards and into the cool room. The next day i came in early 5.30am to bake off the sour dough and as i was advised the class for that day was small  i made up a dough for the restaurant dinner rolls to help out  where 40 patrons were booked in for lunch. i might just as well as i was only waiting around anyway.

The dough i decided to make was a semolina dough  this was an instant dough  and i used 3% dry yeast that moved it along at a good speed so that iwas able to finish all the baking actiity to start work at my desk  for 7.45am  

Below is pictures of the Sourdough, unfortunately i did not get any pics of the semolina rolls but i have to say i was impressed with the lightness and tastiness  of these rolls, i was also fortunate to get an invite to lunch at the restaurant and saw the patrons enjoying the rolls.  

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 The sourdough was  3:2:1 with the addition of butter @2% salt @2% eggs 2%  and sprouted rye berries  dry weight 250g @ 8.3%.  

I will post the semolina dough formula if anyone is interested

kind regards Yozza

Between sips of the left over home brewed stout, the Haloumi cheese cbes and diced onions were folded into the Turmeric douh over  three intervals of stretch and bench rests before being shaped and dropped into foil containers that allows for easy transportation as they were to be baked on our own the next day.

With drinks drained very quickly from the plastc cups, Derek then got busy with a quick rise white bread with black sesame  which was  eventually shaped into  numerous shapes and sprinkled with not only black sesame but white sesame and poppy seeds.

Smelling of earthy fresh baked bread ,we returned to the hotel renewed with energy and hope.

Here's a BIG thanks to Derek for his generosity and kindness. But more importantly for showing that when it comes to sourdough , you cant'  seem to be over-the -hill - it takes little strength and effort and it can be one of the most forgiving breads to make.

 Happy with the evenings work

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So there we have it  a great time was had by all, a pleasure to meet and bake with a fellow TFL BAKER.

After closing up i was able to give the ladies a lift to the city and their hotel offering a few suggestions of places worth visiting and a couple of bakeries worthy of a visit i suggested that we might meet up in Fremantle for a quick lunch  at the Old Shanghai food hall on the friday which we duly did, i was able to give Betsy the loaf of Haloumi and spring onion bread that she had no facilities for back at the hotel that i did at the Institute.

I also arranged to pick them up from the hotel after chack out on Saturday morning and took them down to my daughters rural property where we had morning tea followed by a trip up into the Darling Ranges to a vineyard  where i was hoping to see some wild Kangaroos but unfortunately seeing as it was so hot they were all hiding in shady spots. We returned to the daughters property in time for some lunch after which it was time to head off to the airport and say good bye.

I have already got my invite to KL which is just over 5 hours away and intend to renew our aquaintence in the near future.

I am submitting this article at the request of Betsy and Penelope  who were having trouble posting themselves.

Thankyou ladies and thanks for the book you presented me with too. Kindest regards Derek