Blog posts

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/classic-croissants.aspx

Hi all.

It has been some time since I baked or posted. In late January I started a new job. It is wonderful, but it has seriously cut into my baking time. I do log into the site very day, trim spam, help people with their accounts, and so on.

Seen here is cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread and a couple of sourdough loaves I baked on Sunday.  Neither came out perfect, but I can't complain considering how long it has been.  

Not posting much lately, but still fiddling around. One of the things I've been doing is messing with a formula that typecase posted here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/35925/need-help-scaling-recipe. Not quite there yet, but here's what the latest spin on it looks like.

Film at 11

This is sesame bread from Tartine Bread book. I followed Chad's formula and instructions to the letter, and it yielded a delightful bread. 

Sliced.. Mmm, the aroma!

Nutty and sweet.

I was thinking about lemon poppyseed cake but wanted to bake bread so I came up with this. It is great! light and aromatic and pretty darn tasty.

• 462g bread flour 60%
• 238g all purpose flour 31%
• 140g 100% hydration levain (9% water 9% flour)
• 554g warm water 72%
• 46g poppy seeds 6%
• 2g lemon zest .3%
• 15g salt 2%

1 hr autolyse with everything but the salt,

1 min slap and fold 

incorporate salt and 6 min slap and fold

This bread is inspired by the 'Golspie loaf' recipe by Dan Leppard in 'The handmade loaf'.  I always wanted to do a 100% whole wheat bread but they have a pronounced taste and I thought my main customer -wife- wouldn't be a big fan.  Imagine my surprise when I asked her to pick any type of bread she'd like to have and she settled on this recipe.  I modified it somewhat so I guess it's ok to post the full recipe which I followed:

Formula:

Preferment:

- 50 gr. Sourdough rye starter at 100% hydration

Today's bake: Forkish's FWSY Overnight Blonde

Did the bulk rise partially in a cool room, the remainder in the fridge. Pulled bowl out at 6:30 AM, let sit until 8AM, then shaped boule. Let proof 90 minutes then baked in dutch oven at 475, 30 minutes with lid, 15 minutes uncovered. Internal temperature approx 210.

Learned:

Forkish recommends letting sit a few minutes longer in the oven to continue to bake crust - I should have, needed to be a bit darker. I also think it could have baked just a few minutes longer.

Question:

Inspired by Tartine no.3, I used his double ferment method in preparing this bread. Using Kefir Whey to soak quick cooking oats overnight in 3:1 ratio (375:125). As it has significantly soften so I didnt boil it down, rather I only added the drained oats into the dough. Oatie flavor is apparent and complement well with almonds, however the crumb was a bit disappointing. It taste like a sandwich bread more than a boldly baked bread, it has moist n soft crumb, but its not open enough. 

I haven’t posted a blog for some months.  I have been baking regularly, though not every week.  And not much that’s exciting for a blog post (since when did that stop me, you say?).  Plus life has a way of shifting my familiar patterns every so often.  And bread-blogging has given way to other things.

But this weekend is quiet.  My spouse is on a long business trip around Asia.  I’m spending a quiet evening trying to provide for a kitty who’s used to two laps.  Listening to the rain (a blessed sound in the midst of our long drought).