So here we are in New Hampshire.  Spring is arriving early it seems, which means we will soon have to hang up our baking hat for the business season.  Lately we have been experimenting with a daily loaf.  Looking for the right combination that everyone in the house will enjoy.  That is very hard if impossible, since one family member likes "wonderbread" style wheat and on the other end of the spectrum another enjoys a hearth style toothsome bread.  Others in the household, in between.  Even the english springer spaniel has a favorite in a crunchy sourdough baguette.  Is there any meeting halfway?  Probably not, but we are working on it.  You never know. :)

Below is our daily sourdough with a little bit of wheat and spelt.  The basic formula starts with Pat's (proth5) baguette formula with our slight tweaks.   I know, I know blasphemy!  The formula makes wonderful baguettes, which we have totally enjoyed (Thanks to you Pat!), but we needed a sandwich bread.  The pictures are of the resulting loaf.  We are happy with it and will keep on tweaking.  Might actually find that half way point that all in the household will enjoy .

Happy Baking all!

Thank you Shiao-Ping for sharing your wonderful skills as both a baker and a true artist!  Also thanks to MC for sharing with the "inspiring" story from Vermont.  After reading the blogs from Shiao-Ping and Farine I decided why not try???  Maybe the flavor will be what I am seeking. 

I followed as best as I could the formula that Shiao-Ping described, with only timing and my lacking a standmixer being an issue.  Therefore I used an autolyse of the flour, water, and starter, minus the salt for 30 minutes.  Then 6 stretch and folds one every 30 minutes.  After pre-shape and shaping, the dough was placed into the couche  and off to the fridge.  It remained in the refrigerator close to 14 hours.  In the morning the the cold dough went directly into the pre-heated oven at 500F with steam for the first 15 minutes and dropped to 450F for the remaining bake.  I am happy with the resulting loaves.  The flavor is mild and light and I agree with others that the resulting loaves are surprisingly light. The best description I can think of is "YUM". 

I cannot wait to see how they "age".  As usual my scoring leaves much to be desired, but you can't see that when it is sliced for a sandwich.  :)  

Once again thank you to the Artisans of TFL.

Best regards and well wishes.

So I was inspired by a very eloquent baker to try my hand at the SJ Sourdough.  We made our Vermont Cheddar and Broccoli soup also.  I can't wait to cut in to the loaf tomorrow to see how it tastes. 

Happy Baking to all!

As a parent of a 9 year old, I am attempting  to teach him how to be self sufficient.  This is my gift to him.  He has been growing his own vegetable garden for two years now.  Often giving extra vegetables to people camping in our campground.  All soups are made from scratch at home.  Tomorrow he will be learning how to make cheddar brocolli :)   Meanwhile he and I are learning to bake our favorite breads at home.  Last week he sat with me, watching videos about shaping baguettes and decided he was ready to try.  I'm proud of my little guy.  He is perfecting his stretch and fold and seems to be getting the shaping of baguettes down better than Mom.  The short baguettes in this picture he made today to bring to a friends house.  How cool is that!