New stone ground flour recipes from the Southern Ground cookbook that I have been wanting to try are the focus of this post as well as a couple of other recipes. I had recently stocked up on flours from Carolina Ground including one recommended for biscuits.
Cathead Biscuits
The first recipe was a cathead biscuit recipe from John Alunni over at The Cutting Edge classroom. Typically I use White Lily but for this trial I substituted Carolina Ground’s Crema Pastry flour. The outcome was good to me, but it wasn’t going to be as light as with White lily flour. The improved depth of flavor was expected as I’ve noticed with all of the stone ground flours. I’ll work on it a few more times before serving to guests, or give them an option.
Almond Cantucci
Next up was the Almond Cantucci from the Southern Ground book. These are much like biscotti’s in that they are twice-baked, but they have a nice chew in place of the hard crunch of a biscotti. This recipe calls for ground anise seed, for which I had bought a mortar and pestle. Sometimes I don’t read all of the directions and in this case measured out and added whole anise seed. I ended up having to start over! These sweet and are very good with coffee. I gave my wife some to take into work with her.
Artisan Rye Bread
The artisan rye bread recipe I have been trying to master is the wild yeast version from Breadtopia, and is a 50/50 mix of rye flour and stone ground flour, along with molasses, and three kinds of seeds: anise, caraway, and fennel. I have quickly discovered that buying the volume of seeds required from the local grocery store was very expensive so I found an online supplier. These bags should last a bit!
I’ve made this rye several times now, and I only get fair to middling results. The dough is extremely sticky and very difficult to work with. When I started using stone ground bread and wheat flours in the pain de compagne recipe, the dough became easier to handle as these flours will absorb more water. I assumed that the stone ground rye would behave the same, but it does not! For this trial I reduced the water from 400 grams down to 360 grams. It was easier to handle but next time I’ll try it at 340 grams. If it had perhaps another inch of oven spring then I’d have called it a success. This loaf was given to a friend to test for me.
Pain de Compagne
Last up is my workhorse sourdough recipe from King Arthur that I have swapped in stone ground flours. I make this one often enough that I no longer need the recipe. The new shaping techniques were used here with good results. The first photo shows the ingredients just before adding the 800g of lukewarm water.
Be sure to book a stay at the historic Sidecar Inn to enjoy recipes such as the above!
