Dough Notes

Finally! I must admit I've grown a bit tired (if one might say so after 2 posts!) of putting in nice words what was essentially a disaster... It's all good and well to describe the ups and downs of two amateur bakers, but when you happen to be one of them, all you really want to report of are the ups!
So, finally the long awaited success story. I should have known it, though. Of course it's good the learn and to read all the wisdom you can find about bread making there is on the internet, and of course it's general knowledge that, contrary to cooking, baking is somehow a precise science... truth is, you have to trust your feelings. The numbers are undoubtedly important and helpful so you can repeat a good result, but trust me, they are not the bible!
Well, let's get it over with, shall we? Take 250 grams of barley flour, 150 grams of strong white flour. Mix with a teaspoon of olive oil and a table spoon of honey, plus a teaspoon of salt and a good sip of dark beer (in case anybody reading this thinks a 'sip' is not a precise measure, you can substitute with 75 ml). Mix all this very well as usual, while in the background, your yeast is activating itself (50 ml of boiling water, 100 ml of cold water, 2 table spoons of sugar, 3 table spoons of dry yeast). Note to myself: Try fresh yeast and see if it makes a difference!

As usual, turn all these ingredients into a nice dough (but don't exceed 10 minutes of kneading, as it might not be good for the dough or your muscles might hurt the next day) and leave it covered in a warm place for 1 hour. More or less... I actually did end up leaving it for 3 hours, by then it did rise a lot!
Before turning the attention to the dough again, we prepared the 'twist': 1 fine chopped fig (we used a fresh one, but I have the feeling a dry one would be even better) and a handful of dried mushrooms, porcini for example. We did went mushroom picking 2 weeks ago, and we dried a big pile of boletus (the same family as porcini). Obviously, using self-picked mushrooms does improve the bread. Use enough of them, though, so they complement the fig!
I kneaded the dough a second time, stretched it out a bit, spread the fig and mushroom mix, rolled it and twisted it... as usual, use your imagination! A bread should not just taste good but also look pleasing to the eyes...
So, here's the verdict on the result (after letting the dough rest for another 40 minutes before putting it in the oven for 20 minutes at 210 degree: A nicely balanced (not too soft but also not a brick) loaf of bread with a good rustic crust and a moist but not too wet inside. The figs ad texture and fruitiness while the mushrooms enhance the overall flavour and add subtle complexity... sounds fairly convincing, don't you think?