Artos, Greek Celebration Bread

I started the day by working on my seed culture. I have some sourdough starter in the refrigerator but have never made my own. Scout wandered by and I believe snorted in disgust. I told her that Peter Reinhart says that she should not be put off by the strong, unpleasant aroma but I believe that she is scornful. Both she and the other household members remain skeptical of wild yeast but I am having a blast.


I have the day off and have decided to bake the artos bread. I used my son's camera and failed to actually take any pictures of the process until the very end. I had made the poolish the other day. The bread was very easy to make, lovely aromas. I divided the dough and made two boules. We managed to sneak off for lunch during the proofing. I think that my son would have eaten the raw boules.

After waiting for them to cool, I can say that I enjoyed the Anadama Bread more. This bread was just a little too sweet, a little too spicy. However, my husband and my son's friends thought that the bread was delicious.

I had planned on making the bagels this weekend. My husband grew up around the corner from a bagel shop in New Jersey. Nothing that we have found so far here in Texas has matched those bagels. I ordered some supplies from King Arthur Flour but they won't be here until Tuesday. I really want to try the malt powder. I followed Peter's suggestion but the three bagel shops that I checked with do not use malt powder. Perhaps that is part of the problem. I found a home brewery store that is willing to sell me two pounds of malt powder. What if the recipe is absolutely amazing? At two teaspoons a recipe I should be able to meet my family's bagel needs for some time.

The home brewing store was interesting. Lots of varieties of malt, malt syrup. Who knew.