Nice to be back baking :)

 Here's some challah from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  My first try at challah, they're as tasty as they are nice to look at.  The inside is soft, sweet and light.  Exactly what I think of when I think challah.

-Joe 

I ran myself right out of bread flour today :)

First we have some poppyseed "bloomers." Last time I followed the recipe to make one loaf and it was gigantic! This time I broke it in two.

To bring to dinner at my brother's house today, I made a pile of grissini. These are super easy to make and very tasty, what with the extra virgin olive oil and rosemary in them.

My sourdough techniques have really come a long way. This weekend's loaf was far and away the best I've made. Delicious, sour, great crumb and texture, it had it all. I used about 25% whole wheat flour.

So what's for dinner? Turkey bacon lightly fried in a skillet then put on top of tangy Greek grilling cheese on my fresh sourdough. The whole sandwich goes back on the skillet and a hot cast iron skillet is put on top to press it down. Some green beans lightly sautee'd with garlic and extra virgin olive oil, and some garlic dill pickles to round it out.

Last week I had the pleasure of wandering around San Francisco with my wife. While at Fisherman's Wharf, we walked by the big window of Boudin Bakery a half dozen times in our trips to various attractions. A couple of times an employee was making baguettes and batards. It was really fun to watch the pace at which he formed the dough, and compare my own styles to his.

He first put a giant glob of dough into a machine that looked like a big rice cooker. He closed the lid, and a few seconds later opened it. The dough was pushed back up, sliced into about a dozen equal portions. It was so cool to see it mushrooming up out of the machine! He then tore apart the dough and made boules. To create surface tension, he used the table to hold the bottom of the boule in place, and kind of squeezed the top of the dough down into it, almost like he was wringing out a towel. It was very cool, and very fast.

Boy was this a busy weekend! Had the day off today, so I spent part of it baking.

First, the 'basic' sourdough recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Always a big winner.

Had a bit of a blowout on the boule ;) It probably could have used some more rising time before going into the oven. The oven spring was beautiful!

Here's Pane Siciliano, also from TBBA. It's a wonderful recipe. The interior is soft, almost fluffy, and the exterior has a nice crunch to it. The sesame adds a welcome nuttines.

There's pecan craisin and sourdough rye and pumpernickel breads on the top of my fridge. Banana bread on my counter. Sourdough craisin dinner rolls, herb rye, pumpernickel and pizza dough fill my freezer. 25 lb buckets of flour fill my basement. Sourdough starters crowd my fridge. My in-laws have threatened my life for making them fat with breads they can't resist.

It's a terrible addiction :)

-Joe

There's just something satisfying about eating a sandwich on bread you've made yourself. Soft, delicious bread. A sense of accomplishment. Anyone can go to the store and buy bread, and sometimes even more cheaply than I can make it for (I don't want to think about how much I spent in molasses on my last pumpernickel).

It's funny, because not that long ago, it would have been completely commonplace to eat your own bread. We've become a society so dependent on having others do things for us.

I'm a woodworker, and there's a similar satisfaction to working with tools you've made yourself. Again, the craftsman of old would have scoffed at such an idea, having made 95% of his own tools. Today, you can buy tools just about anywhere for 1/2 of what it would cost you to make them.

I'm determined to make the Whole Wheat recipe in the Bread Baker's Apprentice work. This will be my 3rd try.

Got started last night.

I put together the soaker with stone ground rye flour. It was 4.25oz flour to 6oz water. Covered, left on the counter.

Then I put together the poolish. I used KA whole wheat flour. 6.75oz, and 6oz water. The directions say to "mix the flour and yeast, and add the water until it forms a thick paste. Stir only enough to hydrate the flour."

First problem: 6oz of water was not even enough to pick up all the flour. I had to at least double the water to make something that didn't resemble Play-Doh.

It's still easy to cut yourself while slicing bread. Yesterday, when halving one of my Pane l'Ancienne from TBB, I put my hand on top of the loaf, and sliced along the side, like I always do. The knife skipped on the (beautiful) crust and right into the pad of my middle finger.
I managed to keep the blood off the bread! :)
I served it at a friend's party, and it was the talk of the food. Nothing trumps fresh bread!

-Joe

So last night I was thinking to myself, "I'd like to make some sourdough this weekend. Tomorrow morning I'll take out some of my ripe chef and make a starter with it. It can activate while I'm at work."
This morning, I went into the fridge, grabbed my tub of chef. Grabbed the scale and a spatula, took out the stone ground rye.
Then I walked over to the garbage can and dumped half of the chef.
Then I stared at the chef I had just discarded.
*sigh* Stupid auto-pilot.

-Joe