Blog posts

I’d been warehousing another Abelbreadgallery creation since our incredibly able Abel published this on TFL in Jan 2018.  And yesterday finally decided to give it a go.  At 75% hydration, this is near the upper end of my non-ciabatta type of bread limits.  Considering the length of time in retard and the growth of the loaf, both in retard as well as in the oven, I'm surprised at the tight crumb for a 75% hydration dough.  Nonetheless, a delicious slice of bread.

I baked Maurizio’s sourdough Pain de Mie today.

Based on his recipe and recommendations I made a 700 g dough to fit in my 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan, however, it came out rather small, I’d say it could easily have been 800 go for that size.

Anyhow, as per his recipe it is all white flour, 12% butter unsalted, 7% honey, 22% milk, 48% water, and 2% salt.

There are many reasons why I want to make a bread machine work in my life.  I've baked bread the long way and I love to do that. But my spine no longer wants me to stand up straight, and I get winded just walking the length of my house.  Kneading is fun and I love it, but it hurts now.  Bending over is a roulette of dizzy spells.  So having something on my counter that requires no reaching for parchment paper and pans, no preheating of oven and bending over to load/unload it, no kneading, etc...

This is my favorite bread in the world! What's your favorite?

Something for a Halloween dinner. Another sourdough loaf tied with string and baked in a Dutch oven. Use an almond or pecan for the stem.  Serve it with eyeball soup (tomato soup with mini bocconcini combined with stuffed green olives). An olive and rosemary roach as garnish.

Bread recipe here: https://zestysouthindiankitchen.com/pumpkin-sourdough-bread/

I've been experimenting with a new bread machine and gluten free.  And it hasn't turned out too badly so far.  There's a series I'm going to keep up until I feel like using the bread machine has become "routine" at https://www.nixgluten.com/2019/10/the-great-gluten-free-bread-machine.html There's also a part 2 so far.  Here are some pics from the experiment.

Cinnamon Raisin bread:

Given my real passion is sourdough, it is odd that my first forum post and subsequent blog entry are centred on the topic of gluten-free baking. This one is for a friend. I am not an expert in gluten-free baking (or baking, for that matter), but this procedure has worked out rather well for me.

10-29-2019.

6:45 pm.  Mixed:

480 g home-milled, coarsely ground Prairie Gold hard white spring wheat, HWSW, grown by Wheat Montana.

3 g malted flour, Rahr Malted Red Wheat, home-milled, coarse, from whole grains purchased at brewer's supply.

36 g home-milled, coarse, Kamut.

Initial flour: 519.

Friday, Oct 25, 2019.

7:33 pm. Mixed 650 g of home-milled Prairie Gold flour, hard white spring wheat, 36 gram unrefined granulated cane sugar, 559 g bottled spring water. 86% hydration so far.

8:30 pm. Folded in 10 g home-milled malt flour (purchased malted wheat berries from a brewer's supply), and 27 g of Bob's Red Mill Dark whole-grain rye flour. Total flour so far: 687 g.  81.36% hydration so far.

Autolyse time: 1 hour. (7:33 pm to 8:33 pm.)

I previously made the turmeric and leek loaf from Sarah Owens and it remains one of my tastiest loaves. I decided to make it again, but to follow my own process with the dough, to up the hydration to 80%, and to change the mix of flours. I hope it's as tasty as the first time! One of my loaves has a small tumor on the side because it was too big for my DO and it stuck to the side as I put it in - oops!