The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Another Dave in New York

daveklop's picture
daveklop

Another Dave in New York

Hello from Dave K. in Brooklyn!

For the past two years I've been making the Pain au Levain from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook. I've had good success with it, and I feel like a proud papa to the whole wheat sourdough culture I've kept alive all this time. But I'm really ready to branch out to other recipes and to learn more of the ways of bread baking.

Like a lot of people here I baked my first loaves many (many!) years ago from "conventional" recipes using packaged yeast. I stopped baking when I moved to New York -- I found so many great old-fashioned neighborhood bakeries here that it seemed redundant. But one year my brother had an operation, and passed the time during his rehab by learning the King Arthur recipe. I was floored when I tasted it, and vowed to try it myself some day.

Also, I just got married & as a wedding gift got a Victorio grain mill. I'm eager to start mixing some cracked spelt or buckwheat or what have you into my loaves.

I'm excited to finally be jumping into this site & looking forward to tapping into the wisdom of its members!

dosco's picture
dosco

Hope you enjoy your time here. The site is definitely an excellent resource!

-Dave (from NY but now in Maryland)

 

daveklop's picture
daveklop

Thanks Dave. My first investigation is going to be 'what's my next loaf going to be?' I've been making the same recipe over and over and want to try something new. I have a couple of books by Dan Leader, but I've never quite figured out if my levain is the same levain that he calls for. So I guess my first job is to figure out how to convert mine into his. I think it's as simple as going from a 100% hydration to 45% hydration... i think!