Skibum's blog

Well a very Merry Christmas to my freshloaf friends who celebrate it! this loaf made my neighbours little girl very happy just now!  The look on her face seeing a whole loaf of pulla made my day.

Happy baking! Ski

Well this is take two at this hydration. I forgot to steam the oven on my first attempt and ended up with a hollow brick. I used a well olive oiled counter and oiled hands to do the stretch and folds using my finger tips rather than my palms to massage the S&F's.  This made a nice loaf with a great crust and nice open crumb. Still doesn't look what a ciabatta should look like though. Oh well, press on!

Happy baking! Ski

I am LOVING the crust I get from the 00 flour! I now bake a pizza every 3 or 4 days and am getting better at forming the crust. Still don't have the courage to try a toss, but it doesn't seem necessary. This dough had been in the fridge for 3 days before I divided it today.

I brush a first layer of EVOO onto the formed crust, followed by home made tomato gravy, reggiano parmigiana, a layer of fresh basil, sliced prosciutto, a couple of kinds of fresh mozzarella, crumbled fried pancetta and more parmesan cheese.. I baked for 5 minutes, turned, baked another 5 and finished for nearly a minute on high broil as Ken Forkish recommends.

What can I say, it is great pizza! Sometimes it is the quality of the ingredients that make the difference.

Well we have snow to ski, but at -22C today it is WAAAY too cold to go outside, never mind ski. Good days to stay in and bake yummy things.

Happy baking, Ski

The only change from my last bake was upping the hydration. I proofed it on parchment paper that I did not flour well enough. After the turn, the dough was welded to the parchment, which no doubt affected the shape. Nice open crumb though. Next step 90%.

Happy baking, Ski

Well somehow the photo and text did not post the first time. I will try again. I have baked a couple of bricks in a row at 80 and 82% hydration using P. Reinhart's suggested dough handling technique, which involves a gentle letter fold.

I found a different technique on youtube, (breadhitz) which does not use the fold, but trims a small scrap of dough from the side and places the scrap on top to proof. Once proofed the loaf is inverted to trimmed bits down and baked. I loved the way this loaf turned out and love the way it tastes! I have eaten most of the loaf in less than a day.

Recipe: 50g liquid levain, 35g durham semolina, 240g bread flour, 7g salt, 6g evoo, 230g H20.

Happy baking! Ski

Can I call this loaf a ciabatta? Well that was the original plan and I shaped according to P. Reinhart, sort of. I only did one letter fold. Well things bloomed beautifully along the letter fold seam and this made a nice sandwich loaf. Gave half to my neighbours and made their little girl's day.

Total flour 350g. I used 35g durham semolina and the balance strong bread flour. I mixed this at 78% hydration using 7g coarse sea salt and 6g EVOO.

the proofed loaf.

Crumb.

This bread made for a great BLT sanny with roast chicken. YUMM!

Ahhh!  A couple of sanny slices.

Happy baking! Ski

Well I now have baked through a bag of 00 flour and absolutely love the pizza crust it makes! Of course the two grocery stores in my small mountain town no longer carry 00 flour. Fortunately I found an on-line source here in Canada to mail order 00 flour: gourmetwarehouse.ca.  Whew!

The dough for this pizza had been refrigerated for at least 5 days and still made an excellent result. I have taken a page out of Ken Forkish's book and finish baking the pizza under the 500F broiler which chars parts of the crust and finishes things off nicely.

I start rolling the crust out with a rolling pin, then shape the crust edge by hand, working the dough on baker's parchment. I start with extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil, followed by home made tomato gravy, prosciutto, Hungarian salami, cooked and diced bacon, chunks of fresh mozzarella and grated Reggiano parmigiana. Bella!!!

The bad thing is that there is a pizza joint in my neighbourhood making pizza I really liked.  Sadly with the results I have been getting, they won't see much of me again. 

I am frankly amazed at the difference 00 flour makes in pizza dough and crust!

Happy baking! Ski

It has been a while since I have baked something from Inside the Jewish Bakery -- too long.  Beigle or Hungarian filled rolls as described in the book are still one of the BEST things I have ever taken out of my oven!

Walnut and almond you say? Well I made a 1/4 batch of walnut filling and it was only good to cover half of the rolled out dough. Out of walnuts, I made a second batch of filling using almonds, so the inner part is walnut and the outer rolls almond. YUMMY!!!

I have frozen most of it, but there is still a slice on my cutting board and as my chicken dinner is cooking in the smoker, I sneak small slices of this beigle heaven!

Happy baking! Ski

This was my first pizza using Italian 00 flour. It was noticeably more slack and extensible than the strong bread flour I am used to working with. Boy did it make great pizza crust! Home made tomato gravy topped with fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, Hungarian salami, (my favourite!), prosciutto and Reggiano parmigiana.  Great pizza!  I need to start another dough batch.

Total recipe was 350 g flour @ 73% hydration.  I used 50g liquid levain, 30g durham semolina and 295g 00 flour, and 7g salt.

I can see why 00 flour is prized for pizza crust!  In my small mountain town a 1kg bag of 00 is $2.95. This compares to the 20kg bags I buy out of the bakery back door for $25. Sigh! I may have to take a drive into the big city.

Happy baking and happy eating!  Ski

I read here on a post one day that a pain du campaign must be at least 10% rye flour. This is a mini boule really with just 300 grams total flour at 74% hydration, 10% each rye and whole wheat flours and strong bread flour for the rest. I used 50 g liquid levain and 7 grams salt. I shaped as a boule taking care to get a very tight skin and baked Forkish style, proofing seam side down and baking seam side up. Wonderful oven spring on this loaf. I am tempted to call it oven spring! The final loaf is about 51/2" in diameter and has bloomed to 5" in height!

I haven't cut into it yet and will update when I do.

Crumb:

Happy baking! Ski