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My first blog post here.  :)

This loaf is a modification of the Tartine bakery formula and method.  I wish I could figure out a way to prevent solids added to the dough from popping out after shaping.  The cherries on the surface charred a bit much but the rest of the bread is so nice that I can overlook that fault.  Lovely untoasted with butter.

Cherry and Chocolate Sourdough Boule 

Formula:

100 g. leaven

375 g. water

500 g. unbleached organic white flour

10 g. sea salt

100 g. dried Montmorency cherries

50 g. dark chocolate, broken in pieces

 Method:

Mix 100% hydration starter with equal amounts of water and flour to yield enough for 100 g. of leaven plus extra if needed to store (i.e. 40 g. starter, 40 g. water, 40 g. flour).  Allow to rise to peak.  Mix 100 g. leaven with 350 g. water, add flour, and mix with hands.  Autolyse for 45 minutes.  Add remaining 25 g. water and salt.  Mix with hands.  Fold in chocolate and cherries.  Do stretch and folds in bowl every 30 minutes for 2 1/2 hours.  Pre-shape and rest for 20 minutes.  Shape and put in floured banetton.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Pre-heat dutch oven at 550F.  Place boule in dutch oven and slash.  Reduce oven temperature to 450F and bake covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 25 minutes.

 Crumb shot:

This is one of my all-time favorites.  I love the Classic sourdough baked in the LaCloche.  The crust usually comes out very well, and no tray with water is needed in the bottom of the oven. I bought a Bordelaise scorer online for about $12, and it really helps with the scoring.  Recently, I have used primarily white sourdough starter, but I have added a touch of whole wheat and rye starter, which give the bread a bit of a different taste.  It's fun to experiment.

Hello again. Been some time since I have posted. I have been making this Ciabatta bread recipe for some time now . Posted many photos.  I get a good tasting loaf and full of holes and nice crust.

I have noticed that a commercial loaf always has a good rise to it.  Mine seems acceptable but wonder if I am  letting it proof to long before I pour it onto the bread board and make into loaves let rise 45 min then put in the oven to bake.

The spring in the oven is about 30-40 % . Still little on the flat side not a full rounded loaf.

Every one loves the bread  but I thought I could do better.

Have a Happy New Year,

Bob

TFLers,

This forum has been my teacher and my mentor as I explore artisan bread. I've had some successes and spectacular failures.

As co-publisher and editor of GoodFood World, I often write about bread, flour, and grain. Here is the latest piece we've published on the subject of bread. Enjoy!

http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2014/01/wonder-bread-or-wonderful-bread/

And if you'd like more there are links to selected original articles on bread and grain on the "slider" to the bottom of the home page.

Much thanks to you all for your advice and encouragement!

Gail N-K

(Photo taken by Ken Kailing, my very talented husband!)

Being a 3-minute drive from Seven Stars Bakery here in Providence meant that I essentially stopped baking (other than the occasional buttermilk biscuit or cornbread) for 2013. I've resolved to change that for 2014, and have already made my first loaf of 2014 (Reinhart's transitional wheat sandwich bread).

Happy New Year (a little late) to everyone!

Okay the Hungarian rolls filled with walnut are absolutely to die for! This is one of the best things I have ever taken out of my oven!

I baked a half recipe of Bakery Challah:

This enriched dough is similar in many ways to my beloved Pulla, but uses more egg and water rather than milk. The crumb is more open in this loaf, but I do miss the cardamom and perhaps will add some next bake -- a kind of hybrid challah/ pulla bake.

I have had great sweet levain, YW levain pulla results, so I took a similar approach to this challah using about 10% each YW sns SL. This challah has a nice open crust and makes dynamite French Toast, fried in butter and topped with maple syrup or cinnamon and sugar or both. YUMM!

I am really enjoying this book! It is almost time to try the almond horns again . . . oink, oink. The problem is we are getting bombed with snow and I love the skiing, so ski mornings and bake afternoons. It is a happy combination!

Best regards, Brian

10% whole wheat, 10% rye sourdough with a long, cold fermentation outside.

I recently spotted a near-mint condition copy of The Village Baker, which has always been one of my favourite baking books that I've never owned.  I made his cream cheese snails again, which I haven't made in years.

Finally, I found a can of pumpkin puree in the cupboard so I whipped up some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Being new to the world of bread making, I don't like to keep my starter neglected in the fridge for more than a week, and I do like to see it fed and doubling in size so I can predictably bake a loaf as the need arises.

Like many people who maintain a sourdough starter, I occasionally have more starter than I have time or need for baking bread. 

I have made a lot of waffles in my day and the light and crisp waffle has usually eluded me.  But, coincidentally, when turning my excess starter into Belgian waffles, I wind up with really really great waffles.  They are always crisp. They are always light. They are always delicious. Forgive the lack of measurements, but please take heart, that the recipe is very forgiving.

I feed my 100% hydration starter enough flour and water to get my starter to double. Generally, this means I have nearly 4 cups of starter to cook with (reserving some starter that I again feed and place in the fridge....but it would be more efficient to feed the starter initially, separate some of it and put that in the fridge while the rest of it doubles up).

Pour the starter into a mixing bowl, add an egg or two, and add a 2-3 tablespoon fulls of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of honey, stir it all up. Then sprinkle some baking soda on top, stir that in lightly.  Heat up the waffle iron and you are good to go. I let the waffles sit out on a cooling rack while I eat what I eat, and once they are cooled off I place in freezer bags and put them in the freezer.  They toast up quite nicely.

Hey guys, this is my first Fresh Loaf blog, but I have been reading these pages for a long time. Bread is my thing. As I know it is for a lot of you. Anyway, I am a part-time baker (bashertbakery.com), full-time school teacher, but.... Friday was a rain-out day in South Florida (our version of a snow day, sorry everybody in most of the rest of the country right now)! So, no school, which means I could bake!

I decided on experimenting with seeds. Check out the fruits of my unexpected day off below: two country sourdough boules with sesame seeds and two sourdough rye boules with ground caraway. I used ground caraway because I screwed up and ordered ground instead of whole. I am using the Tartine method for high hydration dough, modified to accommodate my schedule. Which today meant I did a bulk rise of 3.5 hours, then shaped the loaves, then had a relatively short, room-temperature (75 F) final rise of 2.5 hours.

I ended up being very pleased with the results! Both varieties had nice oven spring, crisp crusts, and a moist, open crumb. I love the earthy quality the sesame seeds lend to the mild tang of the country sourdough. As for the rye with ground caraway... Not a bad experiment! The flavor of the caraway came through and complimented the rye, as always, but it was a bit more mild and even flavor compared to using whole seeds. Below, I have the formulas I used. Thanks for sharing my bake with me!

Leaven (100% hydration; enough for 4, 1000g loaves, with some leftover)

300g - Water

3tbs - Sourdough starter

50g - Organic rye flour

250g - White/Wheat Flour 50/50 blend

Mix and cover with a towel. Seeya in 8 hours or so!

Final Dough

Country Sesame (75% hydration; yield: two 1000g loaves)

750g - Water

200g - Leaven

450g - All-Purpose flour

450g - Bread flour

100g - Whole Wheat flour

20g - Sea salt

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Rye with Ground Caraway (80% hydration; yield: two 1000g loaves)

800g - Water

200g - Leaven

200g - Rye flour

600g - All-Purpose flour

200g - Bread flour

20g - Sea salt

1 cup ground caraway seeds