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Hi everybody!

I’ve been following all the wonderful things being baked by the testers for Norm and Stan and decided I need the excitement of a challenge. Over the years I have had more rye bricks than loaves but lately I use Beatrice Ojakangas’ “Whole Grain Breads” and get good results but I wanted the Sour Rye experience.  We used to have a great German deli that carried some but alas they are gone. I picked “Eric’s Fav Rye”.  Got a quick order of First Clear Flour from KAF, and last Friday evening began converting my starter to rye.

These sourdough loaves are from Beth Hensperger's 'The Bread Bible'.  There are two different books titled 'The Bread Bible'.  Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'the bread bible' is one of my favorite books. 

This  sourdough bread recipe was designed to bake in loaf pans.  It makes a very nice tasting basic sourdough bread for everyday use for sandwiches and toast.  It was my first attempt at making it and I changed a few things.... next time I will omit the yeast and give the loaves an  overnight in the frig. 

External Link To Recipe: http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/01/dutch-oven-sourdough-bread.html

Baking a big batch of NYBakers' test Hermits left me with the question: what to do with the leftovers? There's only a limited amount of gingerbread cookies that two people can eat - especially if it's very hot outside and Christmas still far away. And there was this pretty, unopened bottle of Limoncello, sitting in my pantry since our spring holidays in Positano/Italy, home of gigantic lemons and wonderful pastry.

What's better to celebrate July 4th than making/eating Chicago Style stuffed pizza?!

Followed the recipe here, I have been to chicago and ate their famous deep dish/stuffed pizza numerous times, I won't call this "authentic" (in fear of bashing from Chicago natives ), but it's indeed delicious and VERY similar to what I had from famous Chicago eateries.

I haven't made bread in a while;  busy at work and home.  I've been keeping my starter going so yesterday I had some time and threw together my "9's" loaf based on the 123 recipe on this site.  9oz starter, 18 oz water, (9 whole wheat + 9 bread + 9 white flour) and 2 tst salt.  I haven't been getting great gluten development using stretch and fold, so I made this one in the mixer.  Mixed for 4 minutes, let it rest for 30-60 minutes, then four more.  I did 2 stretch and folds over the next 4-8 hours and then let it ferment overnight in the fridge.

Still working on making a seed culture, using dark rye flour, so I can create my first barm, so I can make my first sourdough loaf. To make a long story short, conflicting information I had read caused two misfires with my first two starters. Both misfires hinged on the problem of knowing for certain when a seed culture has been successfully created. In one source, it said wait for bubbling and doubling. In another source, it said wait for yeasty smell AND doubling.