Blog posts

A little story on how I got here.

I have always loved bread and dough products, but due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), I've largely avoided it for many years. The fructans in flour, which contains oligosaccharides, are a cause for my stomach getting bloated. They are higher in rye and wheat than spelt, so I have been using spelt to make yeast breads or buns now and then.

Graphic comparing levels of FODMAPs in different flours.

No, we aren't revisiting the Roaring 20's or peeking at undergarments here (at least not right now!).  Once more with a batch of the dmsnyder based Semolina Capriccioso, with a twist courtesy of alfanso.  Since these are capricious by moniker I decided to give them each a different look.  One long and one chubby batard, one and two scores across them respectively.

Lazy Gender Free Brioche

This recipe is a synthesis of two recipes. I like this recipe because you don’t have to use the mixer. The technique is based on what I saw on Cooks Illustrated. Except I don’t enjoy eating that much butter, and the recipe is based on Floyds Lazy Mans Brioche.

Dough

500g bread flour

250g milk

2 eggs

50g sugar

15g instant yeast

5g salt

1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, diced

Filling

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

So, I was browsing on Instagram and ran across a post by @nanascakekitchen for a really yummy looking dessert. It turned out to be a recipe for Sourdough Latvian Apple Cake by Teresa Greenway at Northwest Sourdough. So, I just had to try it. It's a fun way to use up any extra starter you might have. And it turned out so well that my daughter and her family told me that I need to make another one soon!

This weekend I baked a new loaf and as I did so, I marveled at how far along I have come as a bread baker  -- at least when it comes to making the sourdough boule.  I'm not going to lie... this is not matzoh.  But, if it were, I would be very very wealthy. 

The formula is my own though I am certain others have made it before me.

64% All Purpose Flour (King Arthur)
27% Whole Wheat Flour
9% Whole Rye Flour
2% Salt
1% wheat germ (totally optional. I had it and wanted to use it)

82% Hydration

As promised. Here are my Cantonese mooncakes. There are many styles of mooncakes in China depending on the region but Cantonese mooncakes (廣式月餅) are my favorite.  It is the "special mooncake" here in our country and the style of mooncake most commonly seen in the west. They are only available once a year and in Chinatown only. I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to mooncakes. My absolute favorite is a classic lotus paste with double salted duck egg yolk but I'll be happier if I can find triple or even quadruple ones.

I've been well and truly bitten by the rye bug! 

This weeks bake was a 70% rye, 109% hydration loaf, with sunflower seeds, green pumpkin seeds, raisins and i replaced some of the water with a dark beer! 

I had to deviate from my normal MO of doing normal stretch and folds because the dough (or should i say, really thick batter) was way too wet. I just used a bowl scraper to kind of stretch the dough up and fold it over in the bowl for a few minutes. 

Sorry about the picture really need to get a camera instead of relying on the tablet (any suggestions?).About the bread, it is the fourth loaf using yeast water and this one is entirely leavened with it. I also wanted to have a porridge bread and since millet makes a favorite it was used. The porridge was made by cooking one third cup millet in one half cup milk and one half cup water with a pinch of salt until the liquid was absorbed. The flours were 30g millet,65g Einkorn, 100g Turkey Red wheat, 120g white wheat, and 200g AP.

I've been making sourdough for just over two years now, starting when my wife and I moved to Santa Barbara. While out exploring our new city we wandered into a bakery (D'Angelo's Bread) off State St. and had some amazing sourdough. When I got home I got online and fell into a sourdough "rabbit hole" where I discover that all one needed to make his/her own bread was flour and water! I threw together a 50/50 mix and left it on the window seal for a couple days and the yeast bubbles started rising. I have been hooked ever since.

One of the drawbacks of the hearth-style breads such as found in FWSY is that the crusts are tough for little kids to chew. I've been baking a lot of FWSY inspired bread, and so we've stopped buying bread from the store, but that means PB&J sandwiches with "adult" crusts, which means lots of unfinished PB&J carcasses. Alright, a new challenge! How to make kid-friendly sandwich bread using a low-knead, high-hydration dough, as inspired by FWSY?