Blog posts

I make a delicious masa harina skillet cornbread.  The masa harina vs cornmeal brings a tasty, subtle flavor. because I like it so much, I've been thinking about trying a sourdough bread with masa harina, and now I've tried it.  I was surprised how easy it was.

There have been some other posts on this site about cornmeal or corn flour bread, and now I'm adding my own.  First, some pictures, then the formula.

Inspired by Tony (CalBeachBaker) I decided to make a batch of taralli this evening.  I made minor changes such as subbing in 10% whole red fife flour and using rosemary and ground peppercorns instead of fennel seeds.  They are really easy to make and quite enjoyable to eat.  I’d reduce the rosemary from 8 g to perhaps 6 g in the next batch as the rosemary was quite strong.

I made up a large batch of my Cheddar/Thyme bread Sunday for customers.  I just love this bread!  I find it fun to mix in the inclusions, as it breaks up the monotony of just folding. :)  I had to add an extra baking day this week, as this formula has become quite popular!  My daughter made sure that I baked an extra for us to have, too. :)

Formula (percentages inclusive of flour/water in levain):

Bread Flour (CM ABC+) 60%

AP Flour (Ardent) 30%

CM Red Spring (fresh milled) 5%

CM White Winter (fresh milled) 5%

Today's bake: Jalapeño Cheese Bread

Source: Sourdough Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads Sweets, Savories, and More - Sarah Owens

Note: Use baking sheets to catch the inevitable melted cheese.

Substitutions:  Substituted Bloody Butcher Corn for Corn Meal.

Looking to expand my repertoire with something less loafy, so thought I'd give English Muffins a go again after THIS ATTEMPT about 12 years ago! :)  I'm much happier with the results on these, which I will humbly chalk up to my gaining a bit of dough handling and reading experience in the intervening years! :)

I've been wanting to try Dave Snyder's San Joaquin formula, and I've also been wanting to try my hand at making a Pain Rustique loaf a la Prof. Calvert. So I combined the two, and it worked great.

Here's the formula, which I think has been updated a few times, with this maybe being the most recent -

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/53813/san-joaquin-sourdough-two-ways

Today's bake: Taralli Pugliesi - Italy

Source: insidetherustickitchen.com - Emily Kemp

Note: Modified the mix times to utilize a processor (FP).

• Flavor variations to try - Fennel seeds, red pepper flakes (chilli flakes), rosemary, oregano, black pepper, Parmigiano Reggiano. Use as much or as little as you like.

Substitutions: AP flour for 00

Spontaneous fermentation of water soaked raisins (sultanas). 3rd life cycle (refresh) [pic]

Kept @ 27°C for 3 weeks (once a week remake with water and fruit + previous ferment top-up)

Then used to seed a flour and water dough at a concurrent 27°C, kept in a volume of water.

7 days and 7 refreshes @ 1:1 or thereabouts daily (24hrs).

Next 8hrs, then 4hrs x3.

Typical float time = ~45 mins in all cases.

Looking good for a viable vigorous starter.