Blog posts

This is a copycat version of Bread1965‘s loaf from his Blame CNN post. I enjoyed the loaf he gave so much that for this weekend, this was the loaf to make! I tweaked the method and the amount of Levain to what works for my schedule but I tried to be as faithful as possible to the ingredients. 

This makes 3 approximately 650g baked loaves. 

This is my second tartine sourdough loaf with 70% hydration. 

My first loaf was not shaped properly, the skin of the loaf was torn and cannot hold the shape. This time I use the bench knife to shape and it much better than my first time. 

However, the crumb in the bottom is too dense, I don't how to correct this issue. My loaf was baked straight from the fridge without being "relaxed" at room temperature. 

I have a small deck oven with maximum heat for both top and bottom is 300 C. After 20 minutes, I turn down to 250 C for the last 25 minutes. 

I've been wanting to make a purple sweet potato loaf for a while now because purple sweet potato is my favorite kind of potato. In this bread, I used a TON of potato puree and a lot of cornmeal, and it gave me a really beautiful loaf. The oven spring on this loaf was amazing, but the crumb is dense and cake-like. The purple sweet potato gives off a really nice floral taste and the texture of the crumb is almost creamy. Tastes even nicer the next day.

I cut into while it was still a little hot, which disturbed the crumb pattern in this picture, but look at this color!

Sitting beside these 3 baguettes, why yes it is but before anyone rushes to judgment these are my usual schtick of yeasted loaves. Just wanted to advertise the fact that this starter is now mature enough to start baking more natural yeasted loaves. This is really a shout out to alfanso so he knows they are on the way. Was hoping last week the starter would be ready but it was just too young (just a week old).

I recently started eating real sourdough bread again.   I had avoided all bread for years until I understood that the lectins in seeded and whole grain breads were the problem, not the plain flour.  Anyway, I am looking for a great sourdough recipe that only uses unbleached white flour.  I have a great sourdough on my counter and have attempted a few loaves this past week.  Thanks much

After reading Trevor Wilson's Crumb Mastery, I think I have to rethink a lot of my processes.  His explanations are so good and a lot of it makes a great deal of sense.  I don't understand quite all of it but hopefully this will come as I keep working on improving my bread.  

Now Lucy has her teeth cleaned too!  She isn’t happy about it like we are and bit every vet she could clamp onto before and after the procedure.  Her breath is 1,000% nicer for sure.  So now she will get her teeth cleaned every year since we now have an insurance policy on her through Pets Mart.  She doesnlt know about that yet….

In high school, Louis Diat was my hero, and I baked croissants, brioches, and challah, so there was fresh bread and pastry in our house almost every day. (Most of the year, there was also a surplus of eggs and garden produce.)  By the late 1970s, I was pastry chef in pretentious restaurants in New York City. After that, I ran and owned restaurants and hotels in California for a few years, before changing my life. In all, I have baked a lot of stuff that looked and tasted just like what you would find in a good bakery.

Whenever I'm visiting my hometown Hamburg, I check out new bakeries. Two years ago I noticed people lining up in front of Bäcker Gaues, in lively Eppendorf quarter (where my Mom lives around the corner.)

Taking this as a good omen, I joined the waiting line. The shelves full of loaves and rolls looked promising, all with fairly dark crusts - boldly baked, as Ken Forkish ("Flour, Water, Salt and Yeast") would call it. A paradise for crust lovers!