Blog posts

But I I'm putting it in my blog because I don't want to forget this day.

First, although, like most, if not all of you, I have a passion for baking. With such a passion, only a fool would not be a member of TFL.

My passion, however, spills over into other domains. I am an unabashed Foodie. For example, two days ago I tested a brine-cured ham I am preparing for Christmas. It was perfect: ready for smoking. I celebrated with a glass of our home-vinted 2009 Barolo.

Kid #2 wanted something non-sourdough, so I decided to take  another shot at English Muffins.

[u]Poolish:[/u]

100g AP flour

100g water

1 packet commercial yeast

Ferment for ~12 hours

[u]Autolyse:[/u]

200g AP flour

150g water

Sit for 75 minutes

[u]Final Dough:[/u]

All of the poolish

All of the autolysed flour

75g AP flour

25g WW flour

75g water

(I forgot to add salt (d'oh!!!))

After getting my levain into some warmer temps it has finally gotten strong enough to bake with and the acetone smell is gone. I mixed it 70% hydration and let it ferment for 12 hours then made a loaf. Loaf is 1 kilo at 65% hydration, 20% levain and 2% kosher salt. I did not account for the levain hydration in the final dough total hydration. Just go with it. Results were great.

I thought it might be interesting to try [url=http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/our-version-of-tartine-style-bread/]The Weekend Bakery's version of tartine[/url].

I was quite a bit more patient this time, letting the dough tell me when it was ready and this is the best pulla I have ever baked! I topped it with the egg wash, sprinkled liberally with sugar, ground almond and slivered almonds. I totally forgot I was going to bake this as a chacon and went in to auto pilot and divided the dough into 2 balls then one ball into 3 for braids . . . Next time I will try a chacon pulla! A skibum moment!

Hello! 

My name is Aaron and I am a brand new bread enthusiast  Sure, I have enjoyed eating delicious bread my whole life, 31 years, but never baking! Until now.  i have been reading so many books and sites regarding bread making I finally gave it a try. Three nights ago I made my first brick, I mean loaf of bread. Tasteless, dense and downright terrible. So last night I tried again. Slightly more success but still the wrong density and no flavor. 

   This past weekend I decided to make 2 different styles of bread, with one being a classic Pain au Levain and the other a new higher percentage Jewish Rye.  I will post on the rye separately shortly.

I have made different versions of Pain au Levain in the past with moderate success so I wanted to change-up the flour a little and also add some barley flakes to hopefully add another layer of flavor.

Mmmm. English muffins.

So I used [url=http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/englishmuffins]floydm's recipe[/url] with commercial yeast and a glob (about 200grams) of leftover old fermented dough (I saved it after it overproofed). I made an overnight sponge with the yeast and also let the majority of the flour autolyse overnight before combining all into the final dough. I let it bulk ferment overnight and cooked them in the morning.

Its getting close, only a few more puddings left to review and then we will have a winner - five more reviews, including a Duchy Original, by Prince Charles - full review here

My kids were starting to complain about SD bread. So I made a loaf of My Daily Bread.

I went with a lower hydration on this one as well - in the KA the dough ball was only mildly sticky and the kneading hook certainly worked the dough over. It windowpaned after roughly 10 minutes of kneading.

Interestingly the final loaf was less crusty and slightly firm and springy. Hard to describe, but definitely less crusty than previous loaves.  It was cooked on a pizza stone at 500F for 10 minutes, then 450F for another 10 or so until golden and internal temp 205F.