So,

I love baking, cooking, cake decorating and than taking pictures of my work. It is rewording to take a look at your creation after so much time spent in the kitchen. Even if it was not you who baked it, post a picture of brads that left you in wow. I am looking forward to see all the beautiful pictures of our common interest; bread.

I also have a FB page where I would love to see you post the picture so people who visit my page can see what amazing bread you can bake. I am sure people will enjoy it tremendously. For those of you who want to do that please go to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bread-Pastry-Cake-and-Cookie/253290271359757#!/pages/Bread-Pastry-Cake-and-Cookie/253290271359757

bemonkey

This was our favorite, and there isn't much left of it.  I used a soaker for the rosemary herb.  Wish I could get fresh here in Thailand!  The internal temperature didn't quite reach 200F and the top got a bit dark, probably because of the oil, but it was soooo delicious, I can't believe I made it.

My sourdough boules are churning out of the oven regularly now.

Recipe:

DAY 1

100 grams sourdough starter at 100% hydration, mixed with 100g breadflour & 100g water  +1/2 tsp salt

Rosemary hot soaker: 1 Tablespoon dried herb & 100g hot water  +1 tsp salt

200g water mixed with 100g bread flour & 100g whole wheat flour  (I used water mixed with what was left in my pan after sauteeing onions)  +1 tsp salt

Leave out levain, autolyse & soaker overnight or 8-10 hours.  If I go beyond that I put it all in the fridge.  I add salt because it is 95F here & I don't want too much enzymatic action turning everything to mush.

DAY2

Morning:  Drain soaker, mix everything together, add several cloves of mashed roasted garlic.  Add 200g of bread flour.  Knead lightly to mix everything well.  Put in bowl oiled generously with olive oil, turn to coat.  Cover & let bulk ferment for 3 hours.  I did a stretch and fold at every hour using olive oil generously.  Preshape, put in bowl seam side down & put in fridge.

Evening:  Invert bowl, very gently shape again and put into floured couche in bowl (I have no banneton.)  Cover & put back in fridge.

DAY3

Soak terra-cotta cover to my improvised Thai La Cloche

Take out dough & wait until almost doubled, then put the Thai La Cloche in oven & preheat to 475F.  Gently invert bowl over parchment covered peel, slash it & sling it into the pot.  Cover & bake 20 minutes.  Take lid off, rotate loaf & bake another 25 minutes.  Check temperature.  I usually give up at 190 or 195 or so and turn off the oven.  After a few minutes I put the loaf on a rack to cool for an hour before cutting into it. 

I wonder, though, is there any way to get bigger holes in the crumb???

Hi everybody, I'm wondering what your favorite Challah recipes are. I'm trying to decide between Reinhart's BBA recipe, this Smitten Kitchen / Joan Nathan recipe, this Maggie Glezer recipe, or something else entirely! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Hi all,

I've just borrowed an original copy of the Laurel's Kitchen Break Book and I was wondering if anyone has a personal favorite from this book they can recommend?

Thanks!

Floyd,
The other day I was on here looking for info on scales and thermometers.  I remembered dougal and wildyeastsusan (I think) talking about the scales and ehanner talking about his infrared gun.  Well, I was thinking.  You know how iTunes has 'celebrity playlists'?  How about a place where there could be set categories like:
Howards favorite equipment:
loaf pans:
thermometer:
scale:
scoring knife:
and that sort of thing

Then if I want to see what he uses or dmsnyder uses, it would be real easy.  People that have been members for more than 6 months (or whatever) would be able to have a 'playlist' for others to look at.  Each item could just have the brand name, plus a one sentence description.  Maybe one of the tabs up there could be for this section, then when you click on the tab, you'd see each person's thumbnail. Click on that and get their 'favorites'.  Just an idea that I know is a lot more difficult than it sounds.

-Mark