Blog posts

... Hours, that is. Today I made a Pullman loaf start to finish, in an hour and a half. And it's pretty decent, too.

I decided to try my hand at baking a bread in such a short time after I'd watched one too many episodes of The Great British Baking Show, known as the Bakeoff in the UK.  Over and over again the baker contestants had to create various kinds of bread in ridiculously short times, usually 2 hours or less. Up until now, I had always thought that a bread completed in short times would have little flavor and a limp crumb.

After Moe posted about a recent take on simple sourdough I got to looking through Susan's posts experimenting around with her simple sourdough approach. Her seeded doughs sure looked good. I thought I'd tweak my version of the simple formula to add in a few seeds. It turned out pretty tasty with some added nuttiness from the seeds.

In celebration of the opening of the Spring Street Pizza location in Tempe AZ. My humble rendition. 
Making of a clone.
The Iconic spicy Spring square. Spring Street Pizza.
It's not the journey, it's the destination.
First I want to deconstruct the spicy Spring into the individual components.
1. The pepperoni
This I have covered. Hormel cup& char.
2. The Fra Diavolo sauce.

Purple Straw is a soft white wheat that is not normally used for bread. It is called a Colonial Era honeyed wheat and hasn’t been around for over 50 years. I combined the fresh-milled Purple Straw with KAF high-gluten flour, and it worked perfectly. The Purple Straw is not easy to find right now. I bought mine at Barton Springs Mill a while ago. If you can find any, make sure to give it a try.

Batch 3 : And then I cut one..and then another and I couldn’t believe the crumb. These next ones are so ugly outside but wowser. Very pleased with flavor, incredibly tender and the YW really makes them flavorful , no sour in sight. Crisp crisp even after sitting at room temperature. Will be several weeks till all are eaten by just 2 of us. Will pass some along to son and his family as well. 

The tail of the tape
75% semolina 
25% sprouted whole wheat 
100% hydration 
1.3% IDY
2% Salt
1.25% Honey 
8% olive oil
8% Butter
Par-baked 12 minutes at 450° F
Build to follow.

Edited to add one more important parameter, the mix.

Hand mixed, two stretch and folds. Cold retard/bulk fermented 48 hrs. 2.5 hours warm to room temperature/ proof. 

Considering I somehow managed not to hit the start button on my stove and baked these at 540°F instead of 450°F, they came out pretty good .

Made with fresh milled whole wheat, spelt, and blue corn flour. Freshly milled corn flour smells amazing and is unlike anything you can buy in the store.

Very pleased. YW levain 80g . T 65 flour requires a lower hydration . First batch was 62.5 % I lowered to 60% and it’s perfect. 

More YW refreshing and will do another batch Sunday. I use my steel and my largest 100 yr old Granite Roaster lid to create a cloche for the first 15 min at 460°. Remove finish for 10 min. 

Butter tarts are famous in Canada (as are Nanaimo bars). Don't know why they never caught on in the US.

A quick post to celebrate the arrival of Autumn and the passing of yet another summer. This one is a variation of my November 2019 post, bread baked then to welcome the arrival of  that year's CSA organic grain harvest share. Now, as then, feeling very blessed and appreciative, especially in these turbulent times, for yet another harvest.