blackhatbaker's blog

Hello, bakers! There was no school today because of snow, so I thought I would post about some of my more recent baking endeavors. Here they are:

3-Stage 90% Sourdough Rye

Sorry for the lack of a crumb shot; I'll try to explain the crumb as best I can. It was pretty dense, probably because I underproofed a little, but not too bad. Still getting used to rye, I guess. The flavor was excellent; earthy, smooth, tangy, sweet, and something else I cant quite say. 

Yesterday was a busy day of baking.

Yeah... I bet you're wondering what I do with all of this bread.

-i eat it

-I give some away

-I try to stuff it into a freezer that is already packed with bread

It does get used, but I think I do need to try to slow down a little with the baking. Smaller batches would also probably help. Maybe if I get a permit for selling at farmer's markets, it could be fun to sell it. 

Hello, bakers! Yesterday, I had an appointment at 1, but I really wanted to do some baking. My solution? Get up really early. And it worked. I did have to drink coffee throughout the day, but it was worth it.

Before anything, I want to apologize for the poor picture quality. I didnt realize my phone's camera had the HDR function turned on, but it made the photos look all weird.

Moving on, then...

Today was a busy day of baking, for sure. 7 loaves! I'm planning on giving some to family and freinds, though, and if there is extra, I can just stick it in the (already bread-filled) freezer.

Rustic Sicilian Semolina Bread

Hello,  everyone! Gosh, it's been forever since I've posted, right? I've still been baking like mad; just haven't been documenting everything too well. Here's a little update on what I've been baking (not really in chronological order)

Ciabatta 

Pizza Bianca from ciabatta dough

Some changes I made for this bake of 3-stage pain au levain

-Levain chef premiere fermented for 3 hours

-Included a 2 hour RT autolyse without levain

-bulk fermentation lasted 45 minutes

-hydration increased to 72%

-used "high extraction" flour blend: 50% whole wheat, 50% all purpose

-Shaped into 1 miche, 1 boule, and 1 batard

some crumb shots

Hello, everyone. I thought it was time that I should try out a new bread making process, as I've been baking a lot of tartine bread and have made enough small changes that I feel comfortable with the formula. So, I decided to scale down the formula for traditional 3 stage pain au levain from The Bread Builders to make a little over 4kg of dough.

That was today's bake. Only one loaf, because I did go a little crazy on Friday.

Yesterday was like an early Friday, so I thought pizza would be fun. I improvised on this recipe, but about an hour into the process, I remembered that I had the pizza dough recipe from My Bread! Too late, so I decided, if I wasn't going to use Lahey's dough, I could still use some of his toppings. I decided to make the sweet potato pizza: sweet potatoes, onions, and olive oil. I also put together some pizza marinara with some leftover tomato sauce, some herbs, and some almond-parmesan. Here was the formula for the dough:

400g King Arthur All-Purpose Flour

325g water