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If you haven't tried Dabrownman's No Fuss, No Muss Starter - look it up right now. Amazingly simple and more energy and "oomph" than any levain I've tried so far... in my very short baking career...

This formula included a little bit of freshly ground purple barley and the crumb took on a slightly lavender tint from the grain. Love the way the levain perks up with the "little hard bits!"

Happy baking!!

Here's the crumb:

What to do when you are in the middle of making bread and your trusted Kitchen Aid goes kaput? 

Carry on, comrade - recipe for a hand made Sesame Sourdough loaf can be found on my blog here

When I got Hamelman's bread book, I decided to try new recipe every week

my 2nd bread was the Vermont sourdough with whole wheat - got stuck there

I just love it!. This is the 5th time I bake 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

I was very skeptical when I took the dough out of the fridge after 24 hours, as it didn't seem like it had risen at all. I felt like the youthfulness of my starter had failed me, but what the hell, give it some warmth and see what happens. After maybe 5 hours on the counter we were in business! Nice bubbling and doubled in volume! I couldn't believe it.

I'm already at my dorm for more than two weeks but the bread baking addiction hasn't stopped. I really need to get my hands on some dough manipulation or else...! They say to stop an addiction you must identify your danger zones; when you are most likely to do the thing you are addicted in like when you don't have something to do for two days because of your work schedule from 4 consecutive sleepless nights because new bread baking ideas are plaguing your mind like mad piranhas swarming on an unsuspecting prey! And did I mention that I brought my flour and yeast with me in my dorm?

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

This is the most sour porridge bread I've made to date.  I think the 2 day rest in the fridge for the Einkorn and European Style flour starter may have contributed to it.

I used some pearled barley and Organic Six Grain Flakes from KAF for the porridge and added some cooked grits with cheddar cheese.  I didn't measure the cheese added to the grits but it wasn't a large amount.  Feel free to indulge.  I always make a lot more grits than needed and eat them with dinner or breakfast later on.

This Friday’s bake was an unusual one even for Lucy.  It combined the low slow 2 hour baked scald of a Westphalia rye with a mainly white wheat and sprouted SD bread and bit of rye and spelt thrown in for some kind of effect only a Baking Apprentice 2nd class could understand.

My first use of my young (10 days) SD starter, and first attempt at FWSY Field Blend #2, which I've had my eye on for a while.

It's a hybrid dough, so unsure how well the starter did (a concurrent txfarmer 36 hour baguette attempt with pure levain is not going well so far), but the bread came out quite well and smelled amazing while baking, and afterwards.

I gave this to a very good friend as a going away gift so didn't get to taste it, but I requested the crumb pics and feedback was very positive! Can't wait to make it again. Maybe as baguettes!