Blog posts

It's been a sad few weeks of my starter being underused. Now with work winding down and the parties beginning, it's time for some serious baking again.

Just made this basic biga bread for lunch. 60% of the flour is pre-fermented with an overnight biga, and the next day the other 40% is added with water and salt. Overall hydration is about 70%. Takes 4 hours from mixing to taking it out of the oven.

Hello breadheads,

I decided to switch it up for the holiday season and try my hand at some holiday breads. This bread comes from Croatia and is pretty dense (in the best way). The recipe is pretty simple as far as pan breads go and I love how chocolate chips, cherries, and walnuts are added in pretty large quantities. Could definitely go well with milk or egg nog I say.

David posted his SFSD years ago. What an amazing bread that I’ve made many times over the years. When I was hunting for a cherry- pecan combo bread up came David SFSD and Ian’s take on the formula. 

An amazing combo to be sure. I used dried UP Michigan cherries instead of figs , as one version suggested. Ha … cherries weigh less so I have a LOT of cherries. I folded them in with the final shaping and had lots of “ loose ends” lol. I love them slightly charred when toasted. Not everyone in my household would agree with the smoke lol. 

Greeting to all! Today I revisited a bread I haven't made in many years. It's one of too many breads I promise myself, after my first bake, to make often, and then years go by ...

This Miche is from a Jeff Hamelman recipe and was made entirely with Central Milling T85 flour. It's a 2 kg loaf. Unlike most of the breads I bake these days, it was baked the same day it was mixed,  without an overnight cold retardation. It has 20% pre-fermented flour. 83% Hydration, 1.8% salt. 

So light and crisp! Toppings are sauce and sweet sausage with Fresh Mozzarella, Monterey Jack and Parmesan. Love the flavor with incredible mouth feel. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the crusts. 




I made 2000g of my usual dough. This time I milled 260g of Breadtopia’s White Spring Wheat for the levain, added 7 g of ADY and 100 g of Apple Yeast Water because …. why not! 

This is the season to bake for friends and people who make your life better.  This recipe was for a Bundt.  Bundts are rather awkward to walk with especially during the winter.  So instead I baked this in two pullman pans.  I didn’t get a chance to try any, but I plan on baking this again in the coming week for a dinner party.  Reports from people who did eat it said they loved it.  Then again, since they didn’t have to bake it, what else would they say?  LOL.

Every time I make this, I am amazed at how much it expands in the oven.

Two are for a bake sale that benefits our library and one will go to our grandson in Hawaii. 
Paul

I had these L11 pans for a while but didn't really use them. Wasn't sure what to expect as they look small but I must say I'm really happy with the results. The slices are just the right size for this bread. And if one didn't have enough? Just cut another slice! All delicious!

Finally back from a lovely vacation.  I did a Locum for the past week and finally had a chance to bake.  I haven’t baked a chocolate bread in ages, I love chocolate and tart cherries, so this chocolate sourdough focaccia with tart cherries and sugared rosemary was born.  This is a variant of my recent focaccia, however, it has unsweetened cocoa powder, semi sweetened dark chocolate chunks, dried tart cherries and a small amount of sugar in the dough.  Surprisingly the sugared rosemary is actually quite yummy and goes well with this focaccia.

I've been thrashing my way through to a bread for my wife Carol,.  She suffers from a mess of intolerances, IBS and an autoimmune neuropathy that necessitates a/the Mediterranean Diet.  Said MD does not have a canonical definition, but means different things to different people.  Carol's requirements: