Blog posts

Yesterday was teeth cleaning day at the dentist.  I usually bring in a few of my last couple 3 weeks bakes for them to sample for their lunch.  This time I put in a Nelson Mandela Rye, the 50% whole multigrain sprouter and the seeded 30% multigrain sprouter all from the freezer.

I fancied making rolls with nice smooth crust and sour, chewy crumb. These (recipe) thankfully didn't crack which was my main worry. Really good to serve as dinner rolls and they do make good toasties, or panini in a sandwich press. Recommended!

But I salvaged my loaves. 

Durum flour 60%, AP 15%, Golden Buffalo 25%. AP was the levain overnight.  Only other addition was salt and a tad of honey.

Made in loaf pans for a change of pace.  Glad I did that b/c of the oven disaster 20 minutes into the bake.  Top got a little dark b/c I had to leave them in the oven w the door open at high temp.  Taste is great. Fresh and toasted both.

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In the middle of baking these loaves last night, I was rudely interrupted by a skunk who decided that hanging around the pen of our two dogs in the backyard, was a good idea. I had the chinchillas out of their cages for a run and was heating up the oven to bake when I smelled that lovely odour of "Eau de Pepe le Pew". I ran out to grab the dogs, hoping against hope, that our streak of luck of skunks staying out of our yard continued. Well, the luck ran out.

Hi folks!

I have 3 bread books: Hamelman, Forkish and a third... about 3 years ago, when I used to bake bland, dull, straight dough breads and had no idea TFL existed, my sister gave me this book (maybe she got tired of eating my dull bread while having to call it delicious!), which was a rather poorly translated Brazilian edition of a book called "Pains et viennoiseries de l'école Lenôtre".

I'm a morning runner.  I run far.  And I run a lot.  Except on Sunday.  Sunday morning is my turn over and go back to sleep day.  My laze in bed reading day.  My nesting day.  

The last two weeks have been busy for me, but now exams are done! Well, for now at least, one more to go in November. For now, I’m free to bake and post again :)

This weekend, I decided to try a loaf with a mix of seeds, and after seeing CedarMountains beautiful seeded loaf i was quite inspired. 

Here’s the formula:

I was able to get one shot of the crumb from the Oatmeal Porridge loaf. This was sliced 2 days ago, I am really impressed with the moisture. This made the best grilled cheese. oh and we had just made some fresh peach jam and it was wonderful!

I've been incredibly lazy for the past three weeks or so. Beats me why. I'd like to blame the unbearably hot summer we've had but I know myself too well. No excuses. Just lazy.

It's turning cooler and just in time! I'm running out of the 12 loaves I baked a few weeks back to give me the practice and confidence I need in proofing and shaping bread. I've said it before and I'll say it again: practice, Practice, PRACTICE!