That looks delicious! I'll take a piece, warm with butter, please. : )

Love seeing all of your baked goods.

Oh my, it looks amazing! Better than I’ve seen at any bakery. Once again wishing for scratch-n-sniff photos here …

Oh, my goodness. That is gorgeous looking. I am not a baker, but one of my sons is. Might have to add some of your French flour to our Italian 00.

That is one beautiful loaf, C! I am not surprised you get better tesults with a specialty flour; I make much better pizza dough with 00 flour than regular all purpose. Where did you find the french flour? Are you able to order such things through your son?

@User L’Epicerie.https://www.lepicerie.com/ $3 a #. Amazing flour and it is definitely from France. They ship out of NJ.

@maddielee I run on carbs always have. With my gym workouts plus life I need fuel😊❤️.

VERY nice. mmmmmm.

That looks delicious, C.

And for dinner my secret recipe for mac and cheese!

Make a custard with 4 eggs and enough buttermilk to make 4 c total liquid. Add 8 oz grated sharp cheddar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp dry mustard powder and cook 2 c dry small macaroni and add to above mixture . make 1 cup panco 2 Tb butter and 1 c grated parm topping. Bake ONLY 30 min at 350. Use real buttermilk full fat no substitute. this is heavenly. freezes beautifully in portions reheat in toaster oven to recrisp topping. will taste like you just made it… I promise its incredible.

Trail, that bread looks fantastic. The grain! Give me fresh baked bread and butter and I'm very happy. I love carbs and fat.

What do you think makes the flour so special? Anything domestic that's akin to it?

I am usually disappointed with commercial bread. I'm not a fan of sourdough. I want a nice rustic white loaf that can be sliced thin enough for sandwiches.

OK....that's it Trail....we're movin' in!!!

@Bunny there isn’t anything domestic that equals French flour or Italian for that matter. This is NOT like ” 00” Italian flour either.

As far as difference the weather snd the seeds used and the whole process is different.

My fear is that as every day passes the French bread we loved in France is disappearing. Everyone is in a hurry. Let ys hope the seeds remain and someone keeps growing and milling great flours.

There are wonderful flours in the US but nothing at all to equal this

This is specifically for breads. Slicing thin would be a problem in this boule shape when freshly baked. Best to shape in a longer batard or baguette for thin slices.

If you bake regularly would be glad to share measurements. Easier to show you… road trip??

I was able to order from Amazon. L'Épicerie was out if stock, though they have lots of nice Pillivuyt in store :-)

Bunny, that starch and butter problem- the struggle is real.

PS Bunny, I don't know if you remember the Grace Bkaing Co from our neck of the woods. When the husband and wife owners retired, they opened a regular bakery back East somewhere. The husband wrote a piece in SF Mag or some such that he and his wife kept their carb consumption identical to when they were in SF, but switched to only eating pasta and bread made from organic Italian flour and they shed pounds without trying. IDK if there were confounding factors, but that story fascinates me.

Yum!!!

That is a beautiful loaf of bread. The mac and cheese looks great too.

Trail, that bread looks amazing! I would love to know the measurements/recipe you offered.

Zalco, which brand did you order on Amazon?

What is the difference between t45 and t65 flour?

@drsaj https://www.google.com/search?q=difference+T+65+and+T+45&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS676US676&oq=difference+T+65+and+T+45&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390l2.20951j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

there is a lot of info at these links. It says in one place it is the equivalent of Italian ” 00” . I have used ”00” many many times… used to buy it in Atlanta in an 11 kg bag at a wonderful pizza shop! It feels like the ”00”, like talcum powder, but it doesn’t behave the same when baking. It does need way less water than US flours so definitely hold back when substituting this flour in other recipes. .These measurements take into consideration this flour so dont change the water amount.

645g T65

465g filtered water

1/4 heaping tsp Active dry yeast

13 g Kosher salt

dissolve yeast and salt in water. place in KA bowl use dough hook and set on ”1” speed and add flour while machine running. Use rubber spatula at first to get all flour into dough hook. Let mix for 5 min. Scrape into oiled container leave at room temp for 3-4 hrs til 4x. place in fridge. Next day:

Scrape out onto floured counter. Very gingerly fold left right then top bottom dusting off extra flour. round into a boule . Dough is very wet but this immediately gives a new texture to the dough. If you aren’t used to wet doughs watch some French baking videos on Youtube to see what I mean. This only needs the one set of folds due to the KA mixing.

MIXING BY HAND:

. If doing by hand then use a rubber spatula and mix the flour into the water by hand using a scoop / fold turn bowl maneuver till all the dough is smooth and elastic .

TIP- never add water to flour always add flour to water…. way easier . the continue as above. let rise etc.

Next day : Heavily flour a cloth and place in a banneton and drop your shaped boule into it. let rise 2 hrs room temp. place in fridge coveeed. Get a large Le Creuset or other heavy pot with cover preheated 30 min at 450. Take a piece of parchment 1/2 sheet pan size and place over boule in basket hold tightly turn over lift cloth off of boule , take hot pot out of oven remove lid place boule in replace lid baje 30 min covered and 20-25 min uncovered. Remove and cool.

This is my version of the Sullivan Loaf that was popular. I dont like his techniques so this is what I do . works beautifully.

If you have questions please ask. c

Zalco, I haven’t heard Grace Baking in such a long time. Were they in the East Bay?

Bunny, I think they were- Richmond, maybe? They had a great pound cake I used to buy at Andronico's.

Drsaj, I bought the Francine brand.

Trail, if I lived with you I'd let the bread do it's resting and while still hot I'd put butter into every single hole in it.

I do miss making bread, I just don't have the energy, but tomorrow I am making this! BTW, it's exellent and fast. and probably full of bad things. :)

Trail, thank you very much for the detailed instructions. I just wish I knew where to get the T65 flour.
Zalco, thank you very much for sharing what you found on Amazon. That's a T45 flour which is a pastry flour. If anyone finds a source for the T65, please let me know.

Wiping drool off of my chin……….😋

@drsaj I am sorry but it seems I started a run on the t65 from L’Epicerie and they are indeed sold out and any other supplier is insane as far as cost! I bought the huge bag and sure am glad . No telling what the cost will be when they re-stock. It’s probably on one of the ships in the harbor in LA!

Drsaj, I struck out twice. Thought I found some T65 from Switzerland, turned out to be from India.

Yep none to be had. will wait til supply chain opens again 😳😞

Butternut squash coconut soup with a yogurt/ white balsamic drizzle and bread

Nice looking loaf. I can almost taste it! I'm curious about the T65 too and hope to try it sometime. My neighbor is French and I think she was thinking of visiting her mom after she has a booster. I might ask her to see if she can bring some back or ship it to me if it is too much to carry. That would be fun, Meanwhile, I have some fancy flours I recently got with a gift card my son gave me that I am still working through. And I definitely want to try the mac and cheese when I can. I can have the pasta but no dairy for me right now. And I'm missing it.