Look out for episode 3 of the new Gourmet TV series 'Adventures with Ruth', screening tomorrow 1 November on PSB in which Richard Bertinet shows Ruth and Oscar Winning actress Diane Weist how to bake bread.

Richard Bertinet is a baker, chef and owner of The Bertinet Kitchen cookery school in Bath, UK.  He has written two award winning books on bread-making Dough - Simple Contemporary Bread (2005 ) and Crust - Bread to get your teeth into (2007).  His third book - a cookery book is due to be published next year.  (All books published by Kyle Cathie in the UK / Kyle Books in the US)

For the trailer for this and other episodes see the Gourmet website at http://www.gourmet.com/adventureswithruth/season-1

For more information about Richard Bertinet and The Bertinet Kitchen visit http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com

Here are two no knead loaves baked in an oblong cloche. Both were made using the same reipe, using 1/4 Cup of sourdough starter in lieu of 1/4 t of instant yeast. The difference is in the fermentation time (12 hours for the first and 16 hours for the second), and the resultant "explosion" of the crust with the second loaf. Has anyone else seen this type of reaction when Iusing sourdough starter? I do not get this reaction when using commercial yeast and varying the fermentation time as earlier described. The flavor is magnificent, by the way.

Yesterday's loaf with 12 hour fermentation.

Here is today's loaf with 16 hour fermentation. It's too hot to cut into, but I'm sure the crumb is very open.

Check out the shine inside of the split. Is this the sugars carmelizing when the lid was removed? The crumb in yesterday's loaf had a sheen to it in the air holes.

Well, I mentioned some time ago that I was considering attending the bread program at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Well, in an attempt to kick-start my career and get out of Ohio, I signed up and off I went. So here I am in Chinatown with aching feet and a big bag of baguettes and batards. I mentioned originally that I was going to blog my experience, and I have begun to do so.

The blog isn't all about bread, but bread is what ties it all together. I'll be doing restaurant reviews, bakery reviews, general NYC fun, and updates on my classes and progress. There are not yet, but there will be soon, pictures to accompany all of these things. Additionally, the layout of the blog needs some work but I'm on it and should have it all worked out soon.

I invite you to stop by my blog, have a read, and please, please leave comments. I will answer any questions I can regarding formulas and techniques if you leave them in the comments section, and I can always ask my instructor things that you wanted to know in the guise of me pretending it was my question! I hope he's not reading this. Sorry, chef!

Thanks, and may your ovens always heat true!

Corey

Baking, bread, cookies, cake

Hello everyone,

Hope you all are doing well. Hey does anyone know any Egyptian bread cook book or an African bread cook book or at least a website that deal with nothing but African bake recipes? Thanks and look forward in hearing from you.

Thanks! !

I've been out of town some lately, but really wanted to post the pictures of my Guinness Walnut Loaf which is a recipe that I got from Qahtan here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/1649/walnut-levain

It turned out to be delicious and perfectly timed since I just read a NY Times article touting the health benefits of walnuts here:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/walnuts-the-original-health-nut/?scp=1&sq=walnuts&st=cse

There are some yummy looking recipes in that article as well.

About the baking: One change that I made is that I retarded the dough overnight and should have reduced the yeast since the centers of the loaves dried out a little about a day after cutting into them.

I left the walnut halves on the top of the loaf whole.

Try this recipe for a simple but satisfying and healthy loaf!

Summer

Hi,

This is Jackie from PhamFatale.com. Please do click on the link below and head on over to my bread contest to vote for your favorite bread recipe. You could win an awesome knife. One lucky voter will be picked and win a Petty Phoenix knife from New West KnifeWorks (a $99 value).

Bread Contest

Good luck!

The voting period will be open until 11.59 p.m. (Pacific Time), on October 7th, 2009.

Hello, everybody!

So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard.  My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems...  Like so:

Naturally, in gratitude I've baked him lots of bread.  We're not quite done, but in approximately two weeks we will have (for $50) 150 litres of red wine!  Which leads me to my question:

I've seen and read a number of beer bread recipes.  But obviously, we've got plentiful wine...  Are there any breads which call for a splash of wine in the dough?  It seems like it would be possible, but I've never seen any; I'm still a student baker, so I don't know if there are any chemical or taste-related reason for this.  Does anybody know, and if wine bread exists, any ideas?  

Thanks!  

Erzsebet

Also, if anybody is interested in other pictures and a diary of our winemaking process, it's on my blog -http://erzsebetgilbert.blogspot.com

Well.  It has been numerous weeks since my last entry and I have discovered I just don't have the dedication it takes to keep a bread blog.

So... I mean to do a post on these sooner or later.

Mm... I think I may do a post on these also. (Well eventually.  :D)

I became very enthusiastic with my scoring.... (ah, thank you, Russ for your advice on my blog post before...)

And this was my first sourdough bread from the new member of our family, Loxley (a.k.a. the Loch Ness Monster of the Fridge)  I absolutely love sourdough... I find the oven rise is always so much more!  So far my favourite game into the kitchen is to take out 3/4 cup of sourdough starter and 3 cups of flour, then improvise the rest.

Here's another sourdough which i made with spices, buttermilk, fresh orange juice, raisins, dried cranberries and mostly whole wheat flour.

This is the dough for the blueberry buttermilk bread, without the blueberries yet added in.  The specks are lemon thyme.

And here it is cooked...

This isn't much of what bread I've been baking, but it's a tad bit.  Unfortunately i don't have the dedication to take a picture of every bread either!!

Update: Thank you to Kuret. I'll have to work on that so until then I just got rid of the pictures! :)

This batch came out particulalrly nice. Buttertop Honey Whole Wheat

Very soft crumb with a chewy crust. the recipe is available on my website at www.flyfishohio.us

I am an experienced home bread baker who routinely bakes artisan breads, whole wheat, multi-grain, and SD rye breads.  I have successfully used my KA, Bosch Universal, or even my Cuisinart for all types of dough.  

After reading King Arthur's Whole Grain cookbook, I was struck by their assertion that when they field-tested three methods for kneading:  bread machine, electric, and hand, the bread machine consistently demonstrated superior results. 

When I bake bread, I incorporate a preferment, autolyse and, depending on the dough, fold and stretch.  I wonder if anyone has had successful experience with a particular type of bread machine.  Having read Amazon bread machine reviews (I always read 5 and 1 star reviews), I am more confused than ever.  I do not necessarily want to bake my bread in a bread machine, but I would enjoy the luxury of being able to program a series of good kneading times.

Thanks,

Diane