Blog posts

As I had posted in reply to cfraenkel, this Easter I tried  to make a Greek sweet Easter bread that has eluded me so far in terms of a successful bake. 

They haven't been a disaster, but also not what I had tried and liked so much. 

I pretty much have this one down pat. I am now working on an unfed l, overnight room temperature ferment style.

It's the early bird that catches the worm.

Bake off protocol initiated.

1. Preheat sequence - T Minus 30 minutes to completion.

2. Pre bake visual fermentation inspection ✅

95-100% of full fermentation achieved. 

3. The flip ✅

4. The Slash ✅

5. The Load ✅

6. Initiate steam injection ✅

Now we wait...

My goodness, how good fresh bread smells in the morning!

Hey everyone,

I've posted another recipe on my website, this time for a pocket-style barley bread we have in Egypt. This one was slightly challenging to produce a full pocket with barley flour since it doesn't contribute any gluten. Pocket formation seems to depend on a strong gluten network and I managed to get enough strength in the dough by using 50% wheat and 50% barley while pushing my oven to its maximum temperature.

Check out the recipe here: Egyptian barley bread recipe

My second go at this bread that uses sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour) in the tangzhong.  Read my previous blog post for details as to why this type of rice flour is especially good as a tangzhong and prolonging the freshness of bread.  You’ll recall that this rice flour is also used to make mochi, which I have made before and it also delicious so it is a good thing to have around if you like Asian treats.

Sometimes you get the bear.  Yes, really.  After a number of recent thoroughly edible but not very interesting bakes, I finally have one that gets me excited.

Sure, I could have let the final ferment go a bit longer but ... I'm getting ahead of myself.

It has been a massive source of frustration for me that, despite being able to produce pretty descent sourdough loaves, I have abjectly failed, so far, to make any remotely good pizzas and focaccias.

Even as a kid I remember trying to make pizzas and being so massively disappointed with the biscuity results. 

For my first bake back home in Toronto I wanted to experiment with my sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour which is gluten free of course).  I had read in Serious Eats the following which I found quite informative and interesting.

This bread ticks a whole bunch of health check-boxes for me and my ravenous teenager who is into healthy eating - whole grain, not wheat, and lots of fibre from seeds.

Foodgeek (Sune Trudslev) has a great description of this recipe with a matching video. He even has some fun suggestions of toppings you can use to make open sandwiches (smørrebrød) including, of course, smoked eel.

Last bake down here in Fort Lauderdale for the season for one last dinner party.  Fougasse really are fun to bake, the shaping especially is.  Trying a different flavor this time using sun dried tomatoes, pecorino cheese and oregano.  Once again this is a very delicious bread and perfect for those who want to maximize the crispy crust.  It is exceptionally difficult to keep bread crispy down here in humid Florida, but a few minutes in the oven just before serving does the trick.

One of my favorite new grains from Barton Springs Mill is called Stardust. It’s a hard white winter wheat variety grown in Oklahoma with a slightly malty and mild wheat flavor. I combined this with some freshly milled durum flour. I milled both using my my Mockmill 200. I sifted and milled twice with a #30 sieve, and then sifted with a #40.