Hello! I’ve been baking with my starter for about 5 months now. I work from home, so I usually make 2 - 3 loaves per week with my starter. I feel like I’ve got a pretty good basic loaf and have been trying some variations with that, to some moderate success and some pretty epic failures. So far I’ve done pretty easy stuff – craisins and white chocolate chips, espresso and chili chocolates, muffalletta, cheese and jalapeno – some of these have gone well, and some not so much. I was watching an old episode of Bake Off and I noticed that they do a soda bread with goat cheese. I know that soda bread is VERY far down the spectrum from sourdough. But just wondering if anyone has used a softer cheese in their baking? One of the things I find frustrating when I’ve used cheddar (and even really the chocolate chips) is that they seem to evaporate in the loaf and don’t leave much flavor behind. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
I pretty much exclusively use KA bread flour because my husband and kid don’t like whole wheat or any other variation on flour that I’ve used.
I can’t really speak to soda bread, but I can say that one of the joys of home baking for me is I decide the budget and outcome – specifically how much (a lot) of fancy cheese, nuts, chocolate etc. I want to use. A long way of saying I doubt you’re doing anything wrong. Up the ingredients you want to taste more of by 20% and see how things go, just know the bread maybe a little denser as a result.
I have similar experience when I’ve added cheese. I can’t really answer the soft cheese question except to say that I LOVE all cheese and particularly soft cheese and for me, enjoy best making a great crusty loaf of whatever and spreading the soft cheese on top along with some chives or capers sometimes. Now, I have added a blue cheese and that flavor does come through . But still, the soft and specialty cheeses are expensive enough that I prefer to add them as a topping where I can really enjoy them.
Oh … re flour types. You might try Einkorn for your picky bread eaters It has a non whole wheat taste but even the “whole grain” version … a unique nutty taste that I think flies with lots of whole wheat “haters”. Spelt and Kamut are others to try that don’t really have the kind of bitter taste that some just do not like. I like to mix about 1/2 or just shy of 1/2 bread flour with some Einkorn. I love the Breadtopia bolted Einkorn, Spelt and Kamut, but if you want to ease into things … Jovial brand Einkorn is readily available in U.S. markets. I’m in the NW corner of Montana and I can buy it in various natural food stores here. Einkorn is a little tricky to work with so if you decide to try it, review some of the recipes here or maybe 80% bread flour and 20% Einkorn to start.
. But still, the soft and specialty cheeses are expensive enough that I prefer to add them as a topping where I can really enjoy them.