The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

introduction

sastalnaker's picture

Hi everyone,

June 6, 2010 - 1:54pm -- sastalnaker

Hello,

I've been perusing the site for a couple of weeks, but was finally motivated to register by some freshly baked loaves that I made with my new (5 days old) wild yeast starter. See my blog post. I won't call it sourdough just yet as it still lacks some character. However, I realized that I wanted to share the results with some like minded people who would appreciate them. Not that my partner doesn't like my bread; one loaf is half gone already.

loveysangel's picture

hello :)

April 21, 2010 - 10:13am -- loveysangel

My name is Sydney and I am quickly becoming fascinated by breads. I have been baking rolls for a couple of years but have recently branched out into bagels, thanx to mountaineer cookie co whose method for bagels made me a professional :) I am thrilled by all of the information available on this site. Everyone seems so knowlegdeable and friendly. I will keep coming back.

StephaniePB's picture
StephaniePB

I'm a long time home baker, and a recent convert to sourdough. I started lurking around here when I started getting into sourdough, I've learned a ton from the forums and blogs! I keep a personal blog elsewhere, but am finding I want someplace to keep track of my baking experiments. So...here I am.

I first tried sourdough baking around 10 or so years ago when I lived in NYC, and loved the results, but I think I knew at the time I still had a lot to learn about bread baking before seriously tackling sourdough. I now live in San Francisco, and find that my sourdough is often coming out too sour for my tastes. So that's my big challenge, how to make good sourdough that doesn't taste too sour when I live in the one place in the world with the dang bacteria.

I have two happy starters - one is a SF Goldrush I purchased ages ago, the other is a wild yeast starter I made here. I much prefer the wild starter, it's very irregular and can rise like crazy, which I love. The goldrush is much more like, well, commercial yeast, very even and reliable. Reliable's boring, though.

I'm in the process of converting my Goldrush to whole wheat (KA organic) right now, I'm curious what whole wheat starter will do to the final taste. I have only fed with white flour until now (KA Flour, unbleached, mostly AP for feedings, bread flour for baking), and it's fun to see how differently it's reacting with whole wheat. I always use tap water that's been sitting on my counter for 12 hrs or so, room temperature, 100% hydration. I have had terrible results with bottled water and filtered water, there's something in that tap water, I guess?

I'm hoping the goldrush will peak up later today so I can mix up a sponge tonight and bake tomorrow, but I'm not sure it will be possible. I did keep the discarded starter from this morning's feeding to use in pizza dough for tonght, though, so at least I'll get something in, even if I'm going to have to cheat with added yeast.

I also need to find my camera so I can start taking decent pictures!

JohnMich's picture

Introduction and French rolls

March 18, 2010 - 2:37pm -- JohnMich

Hi all! I'm a 72 year old retired accountant/finance manager who lives on The Gold Coast, Queensland ( beautiful one day, perfect the next!) I found this web site while looking for a recipe for French bread rolls and somehow got embroiled in a discussion about Cornish pasties and meat pies. What an active forum! For a few days there my inbox was stuffed with mail about these things - brilliant.

Recluse's picture

Greetings From Pennsylvania

January 21, 2010 - 8:39pm -- Recluse

Hello all,

I've been lurking and learning these past few days, and decided to come out of the woodwork :) I've been baking bread on and off since I was a kid, and flirting with sourdough for a couple of years. I have a short attention span, it seems, because I'm always flitting from recipe to recipe, and haven't taken the time to thoroughly learn one or two basic recipes by heart, or gotten scientific about it. So I've made a lot of mediocre bread, with the occasional startling success. And the more than occasional brick.

markinbhutan's picture

Hi from Bhutan, in the Himalayas

January 10, 2010 - 7:18am -- markinbhutan

Hi to you all, or Kuzu Zangpo La (that is about the limit of my Dzongkha),
I am writing from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. When I searched for Bhutan on this site I found one reference. The noted blogger Shiao-Ping has been here too, and enjoyed the buckwheat pancakes. These are my mother-in-law's favourites. My wife is Bhutanese, and I teach at a local private school. Oh, I am from New Zealand.

Koyae's picture

21 M College Student seeks decent, reasonably-priced loaf of bread

December 20, 2009 - 4:07pm -- Koyae

Hey folks.

I'm a Purdue-student who's studying computer-related stuff in Indy, and just generally trying to stay on top of things. My health-nuttyness is the main reason I'm here; "Tradition-Shmadition" I'll say most days, but the Oldschool definately has something to teach when it comes to food-preparation; only in the past 60 years have we been eating all these brand-new substances which are hot out of the factory spigots to such ill avail.

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