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mycroft's blog

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mycroft

a simple, very clean, 4-ingredient pancake. it is wheatfree and perfect for those who are into clean eating and health.

 

1 cup sourdough (mine is a rye, hence wheatfree. sometimes i take two weeks of feeding to convert it fully to buckwheat for gluten-free option)

2 cups wholegrain buckwheat flour

2 - 3 cups of milk (depending on consistency of pancake that you like0

just a small dash of agave nectar. (or omit this if you like)

 

i mix them up, keep it overnight, and cook as you would any pancake!

 

 

 

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mycroft

Was on a trip to Scandanavia and had to make a pit stop at the famed Meyers Bageri in Copenhagen, owned by Claus Meyers (one of the owners behind the world's best restaurant Noma).

The bakery is famed for milling their own flour daily and baking a range of Scandanavian favourites like 100% dark rye loaves and crackers. They also have well-loved sweet breads and pastries, the cinnamon rolls usually sell out when they open in the morning.

The flours they mill are for also for sale and I got myself a 1kg wholegrain rye bag and used it with spelt flour to bake one of my own usual weekly sourdough loaves. the total flour used was about 40% of the wholegrain rye, and 60% of spelt. the flavour really came through - rye lovers will definitely enjoy this.

 

 

 

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mycroft

-recreating the Sourdough Red Wine Bread by Yuko

Finally decided to take the plunge and used the cherished red wine at home for this recipe and am glad, I was well rewarded! the taste and flavour is amazing, perfect for me (just like Yuko, a big fan of both wine and bread.) started off on Friday evening and had the bread baked in time for brunch on Sunday. (12 hour autolyse, 6 hour bulk ferment, 18 hour retard)

the only slight deviation I made were, I used rye sour starter and spelt flour to replace the AP flour in the original recipe. so it was a wheat free formula, that and I am partial towards using spelt compared to wheat flour in bread, just a personal preference. also, i omitted the cranberries, simply because i didnt have any at hand!

i think i need more practise with shaping, the bread looks 'organic' (nice way of putting it), it split into a something resembling a smile.. hihihi, but other than that, i am happy with crumb, texture and flavour. definitely one to put on rotation!

original recipe here.. Yuko's Sourdough Wine Bread

 

 

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mycroft

So, I work in fashion, and I love baking for my friends, and this is what happens when you bake bread for people in the fashion industry, they turn it into a mini fashion shoot featuring expensive jewellery. but anyways...

so the bread in the photo is a SD Saffron Boule. This week, I have made a few baked goodies as gifts, the SD Saffron Boule, SD Lemon Boule, SD Jam Buns, Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka) Cup Cakes and some Melting Moment Cookies

 

The Saffron Boule recipe came from SallyBR's http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/29516/golden-saffron-sourdough and though mine did not come out as golden in colour as hers, the aroma was definitely very appetizing! I also love that she has adopted the 3,2,1 recipe which i find very useful when baking with the heart, and not the weight scale.. just winging it, I guess?

 

Lemon on the left and Saffron on the right

crumb of the saffron loaf (i made an extra for myself. no crumb shot of lemon though!)

personal gift tags with ingredient lists.

 

Palm Sugar Cupcakes, Melting Moments and Jam Buns.

mycroft's picture
mycroft

Inspired by 4akitchenblog 's Sourdough Wine Bread made with red wine, I have adapted the recipe and replaced the red wine with Japanese Plum Wine instead. The plum wine came in these cute little plum-shaped bottles.

The aroma of the wine is amazing throughout the process, i just couldn't stop sniffing the dough every now and then. No crumb shot for the moment, the bread will be given to a friend, will get her to snap a pic for me for updates!

350g  All-purpose Flour

60 g Water (give or take, feel your way through it)

150 g Japanese Plum Wine / Sake

1tsp salt

35g Starter (100%hydration) 

1. water, wine and flour, autolyse for 30 minutes

2. add starter and salt and let sit for 30 minutes

3. S&F three times. rest 30 minutes

4. S&F again. and let bulk ferment for 12 hours

5. shape and rest for a couple of hours.

6. i baked it on baking stone for 40 minutes with steam.

 

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mycroft

crumb shot of a SD coffee baguette. I upped the coffee intensity after the last loaf and other than the deeper gorgeous colour, the flavour is just amazing!! i am hooked on this coffee phase - and i have to say, the final loaves are also softer/ more moist. and also, after a brilliant suggestion from DavidEF, have also begin maintaining a starter fed with flour and COFFEE!

so this baguette came out of a few new 'baking toys' i found in the store last night, Mason Cash Baking Set and Stone and a Silicone Baguette Tray.

the new silicon baguette tray that really works some magic. The crust and oven spring is amazing.

SD starter fed with coffee. will continue to see where this goes!

mycroft's picture
mycroft

hello bread lovers!

this week, i finally got around to trying out a SD No-Knead Ciabatta recipe and was quite happy with the way it turned out. although i think i could improve on a higher baking temp the next round, i did not bake it covered, just the usual baking pan with a pan of boiling water at the bottom rack.

425 g bread flour 

2 cups water

30g starter

1.5 tsp salt

16 hrs bulk ferment, and one hour final rise. 250 celcius for 35 mins.

 

my second experiment for the week was to replace 80% of the water in my standard sourdough boule recipe with a special Malaysian coffee brew for a coffee-flavoured bread. the taste of coffee is strong and aromatic in the bread - may not appeal to everyone but I do love it very much! the coffee beans were roasted with margarine and sugar to give it the distinct Asian brew taste.

 

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mycroft

So in tradition, to 'close the kitchen' for this year before the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, I decided to bake two loaves of sourdough boules.

Straight forward recipe of starter, water, flour and salt. 12 hour fermentation, shaping and into the oven it went!

Pretty good close to the year right?

 

And also some other shots including some Dragon Cookies baked for the celebrations this weekend as well as some sourdough pancakes just for fun! :D

 

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mycroft

Hello!

Am typing this out while I am munching on these rolls for lunch. Had them baked this morning.

Just wanted to experiment on feeding old bread crumbs to my starter yesterday and it went really well. Fed the crumbs to the starter in the morning and in the evening, used the starter for a 100% spelt roll recipe. The dough rose quickly and 4 hours later, chucked it into the fridge.

took it out this morning and divided into rolls and into the oven it went! the result is kinda amazing, extremely moist and soft, even though this only a starter, flour and salt recipe!

 

 

 

 

 

mycroft's picture
mycroft

Hello!

This is my first post here after browsing on the site for a really long time. I just thought I would like to share this recipe of super soft and fluffy buns/rolls using the tangzhong method with a SD starter instead of instant yeast. I have been an avid SD baker and coming from an Asian background, am always trying to use SD into popular Asian recipes. This recipe was derived from several of my go-to recipes, including hokkaido milk loaf, sweet bun dough, SD rolls etc

Hope this will contribute to the growing recipe base of SD Enriched Bread. (ps, sorry i am not into bakers % and the hydration and stuff, so i will just keep it very simple).

1. 100gram active starter -  fed and active and happy! (my starter is a rye starter. I did not convert it to AP and used it anyways in this recipe which gave the final bread a slightly darker shade and great taste!)

2. tangzhong

2 TBSP bread flour

8 TBSP milk

2 TBSP water

- cook the flour, milk and water on a pan over medium heat until it turns into a gel-like substance. (or 65C on thermometer) leave the tangzhong to cool to room temp.

3. main dough

250g bread flour

250g AP flour

60g sugar

120ml milk (or half milk and half water)

40g butter

1tsp salt

- mix the two flours, tangzhong and the milk/water together. it will be a shaggy dough. let rest 30 mins

- add starter, salt, sugar and butter to the mix. Now, put your muscles to good use and knead the dough very very well. Throw the dough around on the counter a few times if you like.

- let rest for 3 to 4 hours to get the starter going before putting it in the fridge covered with cling wrap. rest in the fridge for 8 hours. (prior to going into the fridge, the dough should have starting rising a little)

- take it out of the fridge and bring it to room temp. anywhere between 2 to 4 hours. the dough should be up and awake now.

- divide the dough into 12 pcs and shape them anyway you like (with added filling too if you want). I did mine into round rolls and long rolls and added different savoury/sweet fillings into them.

- let rest till the buns puff up (another 1.5 hours or so). you can eggwash or milkwash them. (i milk washed mine)

- pop them into the oven at 190c (preheated) for 20 mins.

*you can cut down sugar if you are going to put fillings into the buns. Or, if you are going to eat it on its own, you can adjust the sugar to your taste.

hope this is helpful for those looking for a different SD enriched bread baking experience! Cheers

 

 

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