Blog posts

OK last dinner party of the Fort Lauderdale season for us as hosts.  One last pie that I’m making here in Fort Lauderdale until next visit whenever that is.  I loved the simplicity of the lime coconut pie but wanted to make it with the Ritz Cracker crust for a bit of saltiness to contrast the lime coconut flavor.  Also with the Ritz Cracker crust instead of the graham cracker crust I can control the amount of sugar and reduce it which is better in my mind.  I do find the graham crackers down here are very sweet so the crust turns out too sweet for me.

hello i want to open a bakery i have experience making bread> does anyone know of a quick and easy way  how to price bread or is there a formula on estimating all costs i would appreciate comments> i resent this not sure if !st message went thru

Today's bake: Durum Bread

Source: Bread - A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes -  Jeffery Hamelman

Note: Increased TDW  from 1.827kg  to 2.000kg

Discussion:

Left loaf was baked in the Challenger bread pan, the right loaf on a baking steel.

This is my first attempt baking this bread. I found this to be a fairly straight forward bread to make despite the use two pre-ferments.

Lately, I haven't been in the mood to update my blog, as all my energy and spare time are being consumed by gardening. Nevertheless, I wanted to create a quick post to show you something that might interest you: me using my electric sieve shaker... to sift soil. 

I have been using a Dough Enhancer from The Berry Farm but unfortunately they are no longer in business.  The ingredients on the package stated they the products were whey protein, diastatic dry malt and absorbed acid.  I have purchased the ingredients but have no clue what measurements of each to use.  I have loved my bread for 3 years but it is now heavier, and course crumb.  Does anyone have an idea how I can mix the ingredients for my great bread? Please help....

A close friend is having a dinner party today down here in Fort Lauderdale so I offered to bring rolls.  I’m almost out of bread flour to in order to ensure that I have enough for one last bake I’ve been adding some whole wheat to my bakes, even for company.  I switched Alan’s starter to whole wheat and it seems fine with it.  Instead of a bread flour tangzhong I used whole wheat.  Another change I made is that I added the butter to the tangzhong while cooking it.

 I had some leftover cheesy grits from a recent brunch at one of our favorite local places and it needed to go someplace besides my belly.  I decided to add some egg yolks and a mixture of freshly milled high extraction flours similar to my last bake.  

Anyone knows why this happens? I get a huge tunnel through the whole loaf, at the top, just below the crust. I use 347gr equal parts of flour and water, 7gr salt, and 3gr yeast. I fermented the dough for around 4hrs, along side some coil folds before finishing bulk fermentation. It was baked in a convectional oven at 220C*. 

Had a weekend down at Frankland in the Great SotherN district of WESTERN AUSTRALIA picking a single row of Pinot Noir grapes for some Home Made Wine for personal use. Hand picked and foot maserated. After we had that sorted  and the yeast pitched onto the skins fruit and juice  we decided to pick some Sauvignon Blanc from the vines we decapitated two years ago and hopefully will be back into full production next year. We crushed and pressed these grapes the juice filling 23 litres into the fermenter and yeast pitched in and the air lock in place.

Today's bake: Sourdough Bread with a Prebiotic Soaker

Source: CalBeachBaker/Michael Kalanty

Note: Prebiotic soaker, Med sourness -29 % prefermented flour

Discussion:

I though that I would post this 1st attempt of my regular sandwich sourdough bread with the newly added prebiotic soaker. I've taken the idea and the ratios from Michael Kalanty's online sourdough pizza with prebiotic soaker recipe and adapted it to this bread recipe.