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This is a bread that I have been wanting to try for some time. Jeff Hamelman did a great job of presenting it in his book, "Bread" and the story that goes with how he learned about it is heart felt. This style of bread is a long way from just about everything you might be familiar with. It isn't airy and light. It doesn't have a beautiful crust in the traditional way we usually think of a nice golden color, expanding at a well placed slash. What it is, is a compact, almost waxy mass of slowly baked rye and wheat dough in a high hydration formula.

After much searching for a whole wheat sandwich bread that would be soft yet nutritious, my friend Ben shared this recipe with me. Ben and his mother have perfected over the years and given us some choices on substitutions for ingredients, which is so nice.

I think the texture and crumb are simply perfect. The dough can also be nicely worked up into individual soup rolls, though I have to say that I much prefer it as a sliced loaf. If you'd like a step-by-step show of this friend me on FB.

This year is the Year of Tiger.  It’s a tradition for Cantonese to make cakes for the Chinese New Year.  The pronunciation of cakes, which is ‘GO’, is the same as the word ‘tall’ in Cantonese.  Seniors in the family like to wish their grandchildren grow tall and healthy (快高長大) in the New Year.  Therefore, cakes are an indispensable part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

Hello to everybody,

I would like to share with you guys my todays bread. I used 100% hydriation sourdough and ground caraway.

Formula:

I decided to try making a savory olive bread using my usual sourdough recipe, and just adding herbs and chopped Queen olives.  I would occasionally buy an olive baguette from our nearest supermarket, until they stopped making them.  It was a good thing I only bought them occasionally, they were delicious and somewhat addictive.  Anyway, having enjoyed getting the hang of basic sourdough bread, I decided this would be the perfect base for an olive bread.  Because I have lots of fresh Rosemary growing in the garden, that seemed like an obvious and delicious addition, and w

Greetings all,
Last week I tried the Portuguese sweet bread from the book titled "Bread and Pastry" by Micheal Suas. All I can say is that it is pretty darn good! I highly recommend it.

Question, I noticed that the dough can double its original size 4 times. However, I baked after the dough doubled in volume from its final shape. Would it be better to wait till the dough doubles its original volume 3.5 times?

The following is the formula.

Preferment

So I'm writing a recipe for everyone. Its intended so that anyone, regardless of experience can try to make bread. So far, I've been told that the recipe reads as a technical document. As yet, I'm not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. 

But please read and tell me if its not detailed, too detailed, or in general too wordy.

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4.00 Cups Bread Flour
1.00 Cup Water
4.00 Tbsp Water
1.00 Tbsp Instant Yeast
1.00 Tsp Salt
3.00 Tbsp Melted Butter

I've been working on this one for quite awhile. The original was a variation on the Basic Sourdough in the Bread Baker's Apprentice. Between trying different proportions of the ingredients and consulting the good advice on The Fresh Loaf, I've arrived at this version, which I'll probably stick with for awhile. I've pushed it up over 75% hydration, so I've had to switch from kneading to stretching-and-folding.