Hello everyone:

My name is Steven King and like you, I am an amateur bread baker.  I am currently working on a bread baking book (I have purlished before and have written extensivley).  A bread baking book with a twist.  I am looking for yeast bread recipes that reflect the culture, heritage and people of your state.  Additionally, the recipe must include a story - the story behined the recipe.  3 recipes will be selected from each state for publishing and the winners will receive an autographed copy of the book, their picture will be posted along with their submission.  The ingredients must be readily attainable (if obtained online, please furnish the web address).   Recipes will be judged on instruction clarity, appearance, flavor, authenticity and accompanying storyline. 

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.  My direct email address, should you need it, is itsgoode2bking@gmail.com

Steven King

The formula:

300 g firm starter

620 g water

750 g unbleached AP flour (530 g Morbread 12% protein, and 200 g Whole Food AP)

100 g wheat bran

23 g salt

The technique was similar to the San Joaquin Sourdough posted on Fresh Loaf

Submitted to Wild Yeast's Yeast Spotting: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/

It was here last week, but not now...  What happened?  What did I miss?

Keith

This weekend I baked the second batch of bread from my newly-minted sourdough starter (so new I haven't named it yet).  The first batch was edible, although the crust was not as crisp as I would have liked, and the holes in the crumb were uniform.

My second attempt fared much better.  The crust was crisp and blistered, and the crumb was riddled with variously-sized holes.  And I wish I could describe the taste!  Suffice it to say that when I went to put the rest of the bread away before bed, I found that my five year old had ripped the crumb out of the middle of the bread and polished it off.

Here's a picture:

Sourdough redux

Great pic of my Pizza Margherita, I don't use recipes so this was a dough made with 25% farina. Was very delicious!

I've been making this bread for about two weeks now, and I am more pleased than I can say.  It's an original recipe, and it didn't come out quite as expected, but nonetheless, I think it is the best bread that I have ever made.  It is thick-crusted, but the crust is kind of soft and chewy like a ciabatta; and the crumb, while very open, is also moist.  And did I mention that it's sour?  It is almost certainly the sourest bread that I've had since I left the bay area five years ago.

Here's a pic:

If you're interested, you can find the recipe here:  http://wadam.livejournal.com/233566.html 

Here's a Canadian's first attempt at corn bread. It turned out extremely well. I baked them in a stoneware dish that has spaces for four loaves. The other two were promptly eaten with dinner. I wrote more about the recipe here: http://jeremyskitchen.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/corn-bread/ Any suggestions for my next baking project?