Blog posts

With plenty of ripe sourdough and a love of chocolate I came across this recipe: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-chocolate-cake Without a doubt this is the best chocolate cake I've ever baked and probably eaten. I used two cups of dark brown sugar and a bunt pan. There's no need for frosting or the like. It's a great way to use extra starter.

After bringing my starter in from the cold he's had a few very active days on the counter-top. Inspired by the Poilane Masterclass I baked her signature Poilane style wheat loaf. It's a very low hydration, very high levain hearty loaf. The wheat really shines in this loaf and the crumb is firm and hearty. The crust is thick and crunchy. Grandma and Mom would have been happy.. as am I! She talks about keeping the bread wrapped in linen so I'm going to try that this week and see how it dries out.

I've long kept a personal diary online of my bakes to help track progression and variables and thought it might be nice to begin sharing them here. Over the years I've learned an astonishing amount from contributors on this site, I've fallen down rabbit hole after rabbit hole chasing theory on microbiology (you're amazing Debra! When will you offer classes again?? Years before I found this site I started my first starter with Artisan Breads Every Day!), dough strength, gluten formation, etc. It's not unusual for me to maintain several open tabs here for weeks on end.

This wonderful crumb was made last year 20th of August 2020(Winter), When I started to learn more about fermentation and type of flours.. This is I think the most successful Lacy Crumb that I made. From what I've learned, Flour plays a very important part in getting an open crumb.

380g - Flour Mix(310g Strong Bread Flour/70g Whole Wheat)

300g - Water - 80% Hydration

8g - Salt

80g - Starter

Method:

Inspired by this comment from Trevor Wilson, I decided to take a run at bread made from dough doubled twice before turning out for preshape. I didn't feel confident that I'd be able to shape something that far along so I also decided to indulge my wife's request for sandwich bread simultaneously and dusted off the 9x4x4 Pullman (sans lid).

I make bread almost every day. Being retired, I have  time to experiment, which I did not have when I was a chef in a commercial kitchen.  And, I do not have customers that expect consistency.  On the other hand, I have other things to do,  and seek to produce my bread expeditiously. 

Feb 3, 2021 - Abe's VSSD, take 2

I decided to start this during the day this time, so I could watch it and better understand the bulk proof. That allowed taking photos of the whole process.  It was a little warmer here than usual yesterday, about 4-5 degrees F warmer than the overnight room temperature than the last time.

Dough info:

Freshly milled hard red winter wheat 150 gm

Freshly milled hard white spring wheat 150 gm

KAF bread flour 200 gm

Water 340 gm (freshly milled flour tends to be thirsty, I went by feel)

Salt 9 gm

Feb. 3, 2021.  For the Durum Community Bake! https://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/480584#comment-480584

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67151/community-bake-semolinadurum-and-similar-grain-breads

Yesterday  i spent at home under our 5 day corona  lockdown, We had a run of 10 months with no community transfer. But a security guard has caught the virus from returning travellers in supervised Hotel quarantine and been out and about in the community . this triggered  a lockdown and vigorous contact tracing and testing and so far no other cases have emerged fingers crossed. The other Emergency is a large bushfire to the North of the city and already 71 homes have been lost in high temperatures and strong winds.