Blog posts

I baked Eric's Favorite rye for the first time today, on account of there might be some corned beef in my near future. After only 35 minutes proofing, my finger poke test revealed one loaf seemed really ready to be baked and I was worried about waiting for the other one to catch up since they were proofing on the same piece of parchment. The kitchen was quite warm as the oven was on full tilt. As you can see in the photos, the one one the right had a pretty explosive reaction to the steaming oven...that was the one that seemed like it wanted to wait another 15 minutes. 

Work has been intense and crazy. So I was thrilled when the executives decided at the last minute to build in a little break in the project timeline. As luck would have it, the break was the same week as the Viennoiserie 2 class at the San Francisco Baking Institute (SFBI). Viennoiserie 1 is offered a few times a year, but level 2 is offered only once a year. I wasn't able to take level 2 last year since it was fully enrolled when I tried to sign up, so I was happy to attend this year.

Did not intend to bake this weekend, but decided that since I had no plans for outings, that I may as well take advantage of the convenience of being home. A couple of months ago, I tried baking tahini bread that sounded yummy. And it was, but the sesame flavor was mild, and my preference was for more. So, that's where I went, and adapted the 3-2-1 basic formula and the result is SD Sprouted Wheat Sesame Bread.

Method included a 30 minute autolyse of:

I can not believe this bread!!

It is so good!

Just like the gorgeous dark rye grain breads you can buy at markets:)

So greedily wrapped with this one.

You are soooooooo Going to love it!

The first one was a fail fail fail!!

It began innocently enough, as these things often do.  Ever since I started baking in earnest several years ago I have been intrigued with Pane di Altamura.  Not that I knew exactly what it was, mind you, but the name appeared in many breads that had the golden glow of rich butter in the crumb from the durum wheat.  I was able to buy loaves from several local bakers, most notably Acme Bread, to sample.  These are good breads!  I started experimenting with various formulae and making my own.  Il Fornaio, Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Amy’s Breads, D

Long-winded title, I know, but I wanted to capture most of the bread in one go. This bread is almost identical to one created by WoodenSpoon a while back, and it has taken me until now to attempt to recreate it. I had goat milk from a friend that needed to be used, some extra cultured butter in the freezer, and I felt it was fitting to try it out!

It's been a while since I last posted, so I wanted to share some photos from this weekend's bakes.  A small get together with some friends always inspires me to bake a mix of some new breads and some standards. Clockwise from the left are: Royal Crown's Tortano (from Glezer's Artisan Baking in America), a caramelized onion focaccia (made with flour I brought back from Italy last fall), two boules of Pane di Altamura (more on this later) and three loaves of my go-to spelt sourdough.

Never one to leave well enough alone, I am on a quest for a favorite roll recipe.  I have been making the Weitzen Broetchen recipe posted on hanseata’s blog and nicely done in a video by Avioli  Breadlabs for quite some time to the delight of family and friends.  A local German master chef told me “these were the best buns he has had in a long long time since the old country”.  So thank you hanseata for the recipe.

Got the einkorn berries Friday so the experimenting begins. 350g were milled with a high speed mill 335g came out the rest being stuck on every available surface of the mill to the point that it had to be washed instead of brushed off like usual. The flour was fluffier than the white wheat that is my standard. I'd show you a picture but can't figure how to do it.

 This is my first bake after returning from a nice 10 day excursion to China and Taiwan for business.  My starter is not in a good mood right now so instant yeast was in order.

I decided to use some of the freshly sprouted whole wheat and durum flour that I had prepared before I left for my trip.  I used 81% sprouted flour in this bake along with a little bread flour to give it a little strength.