Bread, Bread, Bread

It's time for menu changes yet again and this time it's not sweets that top the priority list.  We (and I use that term loosely) are working on lunch right now, that is to say Sam is working on lunch and I am making random things for them to play with.  Last week I made a killer southwest coleslaw.  This week it's bread.  First let me say the F&B Director picked a day when we had 216 guests for dinner to throw this at me..."I found a bread recipe I want you to try today".  So for our first contender....

Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread

The F & B Director has been trying to get Quinoa on the menu for a while.  Now that we are serving it at dinner he is pushing to get included in other areas.  This bread was FUNKY to put it nicely.  It turned out dense with a nice even crumb but it stayed very moist after baking. Alone it is slightly gummy and I could taste the toasted sesame seeds a bit too much but mostly it just tasted like soggy whole wheat.  I double toasted it and made it into a veggie sandwich and it was less offensive.  Overall not to my taste, but not technically a fail.

Project # 2                                                   Pan Telera

He was pretty proud of this as I didn't know what it was prior to last Tuesday.  One of my nicknames at work is Rebecca-pedia, but this I had not previously crossed paths with.  It is a Mexican style sandwich roll which they make tortas on.  Lean and made from all white flour it is soft with an even crumb, a very thin crust and a mild flavor.  The people at work who had heard of it all recognized it so I guess this one I got right.

Project #3 was an Olive Herb French bread.  I am not a fan of oil cured olives, I think they stink, taste bad and are slightly slimey.  I was grossed out making the dough but the finished product surprised me.  It was mildly salty and the olive flavor blended nicely with the bread.

Project #4 which is on the docket for Monday is Roasted Garlic Herb French Bread.  Same basic dough as the olive bread but a twist on flavors.

My funny for the week...
When I left work (more like staggered home to pass out) on Wednesday there was a 50# bag of bread flour and a 50# bag of AP flour on the shelf in dry storage.  When I went in on Thursday there was an empty bread bin in the bakeshop and only the bag of AP flour in dry storage.  The AM baker swears she didn't fill any bins.  I made my batch of olive bread from a recipe I am familiar with and ended up adding quite a bit of extra flour to it.  I made a second batch of Telera and it needed a lot more water than Tuesday's batch.  By this point I'm suspicious but I wasn't sure until I took the telera out of the oven.  The dough went in the oven at about an inch tall and roughly the size of my entire hand, it came out 2 1/2 inches tall and only the size of my palm.   DING, DING, DING we have a winner.  AM baker lied to me :)  She dumped the bread flour in the AP bin, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the bread.