Marni's blog

So, I've tried Susan's newest sourdough - the challenge Eric presented.  I had one barely acceptable boule and one only a tad better.  But I'm having fun, and while the two boules did not get their pictures taken, their baby sibling did. 

I was refreshing the starter and thought, why not - I just added a bit more flour, a little salt and let it rise, shaped then baked it in my toaster oven.  I couldn't find anything to cover it, but I did try to steam it.  I was just being silly, but it rose nicely and tasted great, with a crisp crust and sweet/tangy flavor.  A perfect little roll for lunch.

I usually make pumpkin challah at least once in the fall, and set out to do so this time.  I was thwarted by the lack of pumpkin in mt pantry.  ( I could have sworn I had at least one large can in there...) I decide that seet potato would substitute just fine, and it did!  I think I might even like this better.

I pretty much followed a new pumpkin challah recipe I found online, but I almost never follow them exactly, and I veered off from the start by using sweet potatoes.  Anyway, they came out nicely and taste great, I added just a tiny bit of cinnamon, and there were occasional specks of sweet potato.

So, I've read David's scoring tutorial and now I have a question.  Knowing me, it was answered there and I've somehow missed it, but I'm wondering about different cuts.  I think it said that cutting a simple cross will help with upward expansion, my loaves here rose well, but I'm wondering if they would have risen more if I had cut at an angle.  These cuts were 90 degrees.  The tutorial said that straight angle cuts open faster and can halt the oven spring. 

So, should boules be cut at an angle, as a batard would be?  I haven't sliced these yet, so I don't know about the crumb, but my novice question is would a greater rise equal a more open structure or are too many variables involved (like hydration) to know.

The one on the left is a rosemary herb, and the right is regular sourdough, slightly undercooked to my taste.  They look flatter in this picture than they really are, they rose nicely, I just wondered if they could have risen even more.

I bake bread at least twice a week plus the cookies and quick breads that are the treats around here, but I just haven't had the time to post.  That combined with the fact that most of my bread baking is about getting sandwiches made that my kids will eat!  Panned loaves didn't seem interesting enough for me to keep track of, but hey, I'm baking like crazy and sometimes I like to look back and see the results of all the work.  Too bad I didn't get a shot of the eight loaves of challah last week.

So, I made this last week - It's called Clay's Sourdough Multigrain off the King Arthur site.  I rarely follow recipes exactly, this one called for wheat bran and I used wheat germ, also I subbed spelt for one of the flours.   I used Bob's Red Mill 8 Grain cereal for the grain mix.  It didn't  rise a lot, (the recipe said it wouldn't) but it was light and had a wonderful, developed flavor.  But- my kids won't touch it- it has "things" in it.

Because most of my bread baking is  sandwich bread, I try to find something different, just to make it more interesting for me.  I think my kids would eat the same bread every day.  This next bake is "Our Favorite Sandwich Bread" also from the KAF site.

Again I changed a few things.  My changes:  I doubled it, I used rice milk for the milk, I subbed Earth Balance margerine for the butter (and used a bit less) and I made it with half white whole wheat.  It needed close to 1/2c more rice milk to get the right consistency.

It rose beautifully and then took off again in the oven.  I haven't tasted it, but it smells great and made nice PB&J sandwiches this morning. I think it's a kid pleaser.  Straight bread, easy to make too.

One of the traditions of Purim (a very festive Jewish holiday celebrating an ancient victory) is to send gifts of food to friends.  Because the day is so full of fun, many people try to provide a laugh along with the treats.  This year, I decided pizza and beer would be fun.  How is that fun? 

Because they're cookies!

I made about 25 which my son, dressed as a messy teenage "pizza guy" delivered (with beer).  A strange combination, but it brought out the smiles. 

I'll get back to bread next week!  Thanks for letting me share.

Well here it goes, trying to post pictures on my blog - today I baked a traditional Jewish holiday treat called Hamantashen.  They are popular for the holiday of Purim which is next Tuesday.  I made about 110, a mix of prune, cherry and blueberry.  I'm not the most careful cookie shaper, but these are disappearing too fast for that to really matter.

I also tried the round braid that Trailrunner made recently.  That was so much fun!  I make challah almost every week and have never tried this before.  I just used a basic challah recipe that looked good. 

Here it is  just after shaping:

And just out of the oven:

Lately I've been brushing my challahs with a mix of egg yolk and dash of vanilla.  The taste is great and the smell even better.  The line is from rolling the strands , it was a technique I haven't used before and was much easier than my usual method, but I'll have to watch for those seams.

We haven't tasted this loaf yet - tomorrow night.

Whew - I admire those of you who post pictures regularly, it takes a while to do!  I love seeing everyone's pictures, so thank you for taking the time to show your work.  I loved doing this.

I realized that I've been a member here for a year now, and can hardly believe it!  The old saying "time flies when you're having fun"  couldn't be truer.  I've learned so many helpful techniques here - and I'm so thrilled to have my healthy active starter.  (It's also about to have its first birthday! ) 

I decided that as I've reached this one year mark, it's a good time to start a blog and learn how to post pictures here. Wish me luck, I'm pretty hopeless with the computer.

Thank you to all who share their knowledge here and make this such a great place to learn.

Marni