Dorm Room Bread
The thing I feared most about college was that I wouldn't be able to bake bread anymore. Turns out, however, that my dorm building has a kitchenette on each floor - equipped with a small oven that begins to smoke if turned to over 450 F. Good enough for me. Here are a few of the loaves I managed to bake while pursuing a dual degree in Computer Science and English Literature. I didn't have time to post them until now.
Zhavaronki (bird-shaped rolls)
Just some simple rolls, but shaped like birds.
Heirloom tomato, garlic and basil focaccia
Made with tomatoes from my garden back home - this was before my tomatoes died this winter
Pineapple Challah
Challah with pineapple juice instead of water. It has a slightly sour flavor, but is by no means bad.
Maple Rye
This is basically a deli rye with some maple syrip added. The flavor is very good, but it came out a bit flat (not dense, just a flatter shape than I wanted). I tried starting the bread in the microwave to maximize oven spring. I then transferred it to the oven to brown it.
Anadama
I used Peter Reinhart's recipe, but shaped it into a boule.
Rye and Indian bread with blue corn
I recreated a bread that has waned in popularity but was more commonplace when there was more rye production around here ("here" being Connecticut). I used only rye flour and blue cornmeal (no wheat). The bread was a bit undersalted and bland. However, toasting it drastically changed its character and made it much sweeter.
Rustic/ugly sourdough
Very standard sourdough bread. The crumb turned out nice.
Hokkaido Milk Bread
Made this with my apprentice while visiting him. He happened to have some cultured butter.
Borscht Bread
I replaced the water in this whole wheat sourdough bread with borscht and some liquid smoke (which I'll use less of next time).
2 Hydration bread
This was a little experiment of mine. I made a starter with some tomato/pepper yeast water and used it to make 2 doughs: one at 50% hydration and another at 80% hydration. I rolled the very dense dough out and wrapped the wet dough in it. I then slashed it to help it expand, let it proof and slashed it again just before baking. The idea was to help the bread keep its shape and produce a range of textures - a denser bread from the outer part and a lighter one in the center. The dense dough also formed a much crisper crust than wetter doughs tend to.