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hi,I wondered what I am practising is right. I was running short of starter last weekend and thought of making more by creating a new one. My 100% organic dark rye flour did not have any activities after more than 16 hours. I was a little worried and added 3 tbsp of my old starter to the new one. The new one showed some activities of fermentation as there are some small bubbles within hours,say 3-4 but not rising as vigorously as the old starter that I have. My indoor temperature is at 28-30 degree celcius year round. So things are 'happening' quite quickly over here in my kitchen.

When I - driven from a real "Breaking Bad Bread" experience - challenged my baking buddies from The Fresh Loaf, Facebook and several congenial blogs to create a "Bread for the Knight with the Iron Hand", I promised myself to try all 30 loaves over time.

Well, let's say, almost all of them: the original 1914 German Army Kriegsbrot I'll better keep in reserve when times get tough.

So my spelt phase continues and this is one of my best yet, I think, but then again i am a BIG fan of nut breads.

This is a sourdough bread made with whole spelt flour, roasted hazelnuts and honey.  The flavor and texture are both pretty complex, but very enjoyable.

for details check out mybreadandbrot.com

Been quite busy for the last months, but I have some news for you all.  First, I would like to share some pictures of my latest participation in ARTE (Arts and crafts market, or Artisans of the emirates). Things have been evolving gradually for me, and I have become more confident with higher production volume; I’m now capable of baking 12 loaves at a time in my new oven : Giorik – Magnifico,  a countertop convection oven with humidifier, pretty much similar to Varda and Janet’s Cadco.

Hi everybody, I have a 4 month old,non yeasted levain and had been baking sourdough bread ever since. It was cultured from the scratech with organic rye flour. Though of late,my loaves are getting fluffier and on some occasion,they looked like yeasted bread? What gives? Appreciate some pointers,thank you!

I decided to make the "Sesame" bread from Tartine Bread, which is basically the basic country loaf formula with a cup of toasted sesame seeds added after the first turn.

For this formulation, I used 300 grams of home ground white whole wheat instead of the 200 grams of whole wheat flour.

Still practicing even though we are up to our eyeballs in baked goods, I had the bright idea to use up a piece of cheddar in the fridge in a loaf of bread.  I figured the Pain au Bacon would be a good starting place.

I think I got fairly good oven spring though probably still could be better.  This picture is of the loaf I slighly deflated getting it in the dutch oven.  The other loaf went in the freezer.

This loaf had a mind of its own! Or, maybe I'm just blaming its bad behavior on my poor administration of discipline. I'll keep that lesson in my back pocket for later in life when I'm a parent.

I used the Country Brown recipe from "Flour Water Salt Yeast." I'm really enjoying the results I'm getting when I use this book, so as far as placing blame, it's on me. I could really use some work on my shaping and scoring. 

Cari Amici Buona Domenica,

voglio lasciarvi le immagini di ONU Pane Che e tipico della mia Toscana Ed u n Personale tributo alla mia Città ....... la mia Bozza Pratese una lievitazione Naturale.

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Anna Giordani

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Il Chicco e la Spiga Blog

Un caro saluto a tutti e felice cottura.

Anna

I have been concentrating on Forkish's Field Grains #2 for consistency while I determine the best method for me to achieve the elusive oven spring. My goal was to find the right blend of technique, i.e., levain prep, percent of water, combination of grains, length of bulk ferment and length of proofing of the final loaves without over proofing in my quest for better height in my loaves as well as better scoring before baking.