July is the hottest month of the year in Central California. Today it was 99 ºF, the first day in 15 with a high temperature below 100 ºF. Tomorrow we expect it to be back above 100. Now, it's hotter in Phoenix (not to mention Death Valley), but still ….
This was supposed to be a 36 hour sourdough but I got stuck in my favorite airport O'Hare for about 4 hours longer than expected and didn't get home until 1:30 AM. Due to the extra hours in the refrigerator and the blueberry beer I used this one ended up real sour.
I wanted to make a mostly whole grain bread and this one came in at around 72%. I used freshly ground flour for the levain and for the main dough I added some First Clear for some gluten strength and Durum because it's one of my favorite flours.
Anyone browsing through TFL will sooner, rather than later, come across mention of the Tartine Bread Book. I'll confess, I don't have a copy of this, but it does seem to be one of the go-to books at the moment for sourdough, no-knead, and lots of other techniques. Likewise, if you want to make enriched breads, there's really only one port-of-call, and that's Cresci by Massari and Zoia.
I have been making a lot of baguettes lately. I had a particularly promising one the other day - took a bite, left the room, came back to find the dog eating it. That's what happens when you make a lot of baguettes, I suppose.
Breakfast on bun day
These were very good buns. We didn’t make a poolish or a YW levain since we didn’t have time on our side. It was already 11 AM and no time to grind flour or an autolyse it either. We used 40 g of YW and a pinch of ADY for the leavens. This was an all AP bake so not very healthy. But brats, Italian sausage and Boudin aren’t all that healthy either.
My wife made some Sangria for the 4th of July and had a ton of fresh blueberries and raspberries left over so I decided to use some of them up. My fellow baking friend Evon inspired this bake with her use of blue berries, cherries and cranberries in her recent sourdough breads.
Since my recent first attempt at making pizza on my grill using unglazed quarry tiles, I have been anxious to try again but with Ian's (isand66) tip of using parchment paper as the transfer tool.
The system worked perfectly. Thank you Ian for your suggestion. My pizza system is now complete.
Today I made a shrimp and pesto pizza. Whole wheat crust. Shrimp, pesto, asiago cheese, feta cheese. Sounds odd but works so nicely together. Learned this one back in my restaurant days. It was one of the most popular pizzas.
Well, I decided to try to make baguettes. I loosely followed dmsnyder's instructions and Anis Bouabsa's formula (scaled to 80%) from here, with some adjustments based on my schedule and my laziness. Specifically, I mixed the dough but did not knead it, let it rest at room temperature for about 45 minutes, then parked it in the refrigerator for about 12 hours without any folding.
Gorgeous and fresh!
Bite!
