Blog posts

Well Bill and Katie, apparently all that General Chaos aka Sir Stinksalot needed was to be threatened with the arrival of a new kid on the block, "Flat Stanley" (from Katie's parchment experiments)! I used Bill's 1:4:4 for yesterday morning and yesterday night feeds. Each time the little guy doubled in a little under 8 hours!!!! Yippee!!!

So last night I really wanted to drill down on the proper amount of feeding for him every 12 hours (for now) and I tested 3 different formulations and the temp was 75.7 degrees yesterday and last night in the kitchen, with the following results:

I tried another batch of bread with my new white starter. This time, the basic sourdough from BBA. I just replaced the barm in the book's formula with my own starter, since it seems to be about the same consistency. I made the firm starter yesterday and let it rise on the counter for 4 hours, at which point it had doubled. So into the fridge it went. This morning I took it out, cut it into pieces, and let it sit for an hour, then I used the KA mixer to mix the dough. I used KAF Bread flour and gray sea salt.

Xma commented about trying seawater in bread on a diving trip. I decided to give this a try.

Please note: I have not researched health hazards that may result from using raw seawater directly in bread dough.

When I was living back on the coast of Maine, this was one of my favorite breads I would get.  The recipe is simple, just a regular ol' white bread with some oil added to it and then TONS of dill.

Also made some strawberry jam yesterday from strawberries we picked yesterday morning.  The first jam I'd ever made and I loved it!

 Just strawberries, sugar and agar-agar and lemon juice.

I hope you didn't think I was being rude when I asked for some help clarifying your instructions - and didn't direct the question to you because I wasn't sure whether you were available. I found your recipe and pictures and would like to try it, but I wasn't sure whether you refreshed your starter and left it on the counter overnight or put it in the refrigerator? I just split my starter, which seemed rather thick, and 1/2 is on the counter and 1/2 in the frig. In containers, LOL. So now I have two starters on the go.

I dont really know if these photos will help anyone. I wanted to post them so some folks who may be having problems with shaping batards and baguettes and transferring to peel could see how I do it (I'm not a pro, I'm just using this as the way that works for me). And on with the show....