Blog posts

Ever since I started baking sourdough bread, I knew that San Francisco sourdough would be my favorite recipe, especially after reading the glowing reviews Dsnyder and Codruta (codrudepaine) have given it. Having tried it a few times now, I reckon it's presentable enough for the tough judges on the Internet, so there goes my first post on TFL. :)

First sour dough made with out using a baking container. Not as much oven spring. wood burning oven runs around 500. When it cools I'll see what the crumbs like. It's the cranberry pecan loaf from breadtopia

Olive Oil bread--with a sourdough twist. Inspired by "Bourke Street Bakery: the ultimate baking companion" published by "Murdoch Books; year unknown, but very recently.

Loaf 1, cold proof for 11h.

Loaf 2, cold proof for 13h:

Lucy was trying to get back to her bread roots with lots of add ins.  This is also the 5th year since we started sprouting our own grains and adding them into breads.  Originally we sprouted them and added them into the mix when the stretch and folds began and then later started drying them and grinding them into flour too.

made this Yesterday with recipe from King Arthur's sour dough classes. Used mixing technique from Breadwerxs . The crumb is wonderful,and the flavor also.

   I wanted to get a nice nutty flavor for this one without using whole nuts so I used ground pecans in the porridge.  I also wanted to combine the nutty flavor with the wonderful flavor of corn so grits were added to the porridge along with oats and  oat bran.  For the main flour I used corn flour with KAF French style flour and freshly milled spelt and whole wheat flours as well.

Hamelman Vermont SD with 125% rye flour levain

My first foray into the Vermont SD was back in April with the straight formula: 125% bread flour levain with bread flour, plus the 10% rye flour used in the final mix as directed.  

A week later - the same bread flour levain but I used AP flour for the final mix.  The dough was more extensible and less "rubbery" to work with.  A change for the better in my book.  2 letter folds during the bulk ferment.

I baked two breads this week (so far). It wasn't until I was well into the process that I realized both were originally posted by Hansjoakim a few years ago. Both are leavened with rye sour.

"Hansjoakim's Favorite 70% Rye"

"Hansjoakim's Favorite 70% Rye" Crumb

This dough was pretty hard to work with and the crumb and oven spring wasn't as exciting as my other loaves, but I think it is my new favorite bread. The flours I used are white bread flour and 20% wholewheat. I'll probably add more wholewheat or grain to this dough next time. Since a 50% wholewheat dough at 88% hydration would be much easier to work with than a 20% wholewheat at 88% hydration.

Here are the process pictures: