Blog posts

Every time I hit preview

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when trying to post to my blog the site blows up and says a problem with internet explorer caused the page to close.  This has happened twice this morning.  The time I had selected all and copied it to my clip board but when I went to repaste it - it too was gone!    Very frustrating Floyd.   Now it blew up again immidiately after I posted this.

Bauernbrötchen - Rustic Rolls with Old Dough

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Gerd Kellner, aka Ketex, is not only an accomplished baker, but, also, writes one of Germany's best bread baking blogs. A book with his recipes: "Rustikale Brote aus deutschen Landen" is available as e-book at Amazon.

When I saw his post on Bauernbrötchen, I wasn't only attracted by the attractive look of these rustic rolls, but, also, intrigued by his use of old dough as leaven.

First Sourdough

Toast

I've been cultivating a sourdough starter, and it was finally time to try to make some bread using it.  I made a small amount of dough (350g), enough for a demi-baguette and a very small boule.

I used a 100% starter and ended with a 75% final dough with 2% salt.

The dough rose for 8 hours at room temperature.  After shaping, I let the loaves rise for 1 hour before scoring and baking for about 20 minutes at 450F.  Two ice cubes provided steam.

Back to Basics Baguettes

Profile picture for user Laura T.

I decided to try making a straightforward baguette, as a quick alternative to my overnight version. It turned out pretty nice. Enjoyed it with the first bottle of this year's elderflower sparkling wine. Will write about this on my blog too.

Seeded Rye with Wheat Berries and Spelt

Profile picture for user Song Of The Baker

I have been craving this type of loaf since my last Swedish Rye bake about 4 months ago.  I miss the dense, seed and grain packed bread that, when sliced very thin, provides the perfect bed for open face sandwiches.

I used a Danish Rye formula to start from but made some additions and adjustments.  One being the use of whole wheat berries, boiled then roughly chopped.  Thanks goes to Dabrownman for his coaching on the scald.

The only downside to these breads is the 2-3 day wait for the crumb to set up and flavours to develop. 

Tourte de Siege

Toast

So I gave PiPs formula a go as I'm interested in upping my whole grain/rye chops.  I did miss the salt he has added to the levain so I came up a bit short on salt which is noticable but nonetheless very tasty.  In addition I opted at the last minute to increase the batch size and needed more seed to build the levain and made it up with white starter so its probably a 95% Rye opposed to 100%.  Along with those changes i used whole Rye opposed to medium Rye. 

Whole wheat, whole spelt and white flour sourdough bread

Toast

I was looking at my stock of flours, and noticed some opened whole wheat bags, so I decided to use those and empty them out. 

So I made a recipe in baker's percentages, intending to add a small amount of sourdoughstarter.

35% Whole wheat flour
35% Whole spelt flour
30% Wheat flour
70% Water
2% Salt

calculated for an intended dough weight of 1 kg this gives;
205 grams of whole wheat flour, 205 grams of whole spelt flour, 175 grams of wheat flour, 410 grams of water and 12 grams of salt.

SD roggen mehl1150 with dry longan

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my friend travels quite a bit in her work. Presently she is in China, Kunshan. she lived in San Francisco before, and worked with a German company. That was how she pick up to love sourdough bread especially rye. she bought me Roggen Mehl1150 flour recently when she was in Taiwan. Yes, i sent her hunting for flour wherever her work require her to be!!

 this bake is for her.

Baba alla napolitana with chocolate and cherry mousse

Profile picture for user d_a_kelly

For once, a recipe which isn't from Cresci! Though the baba dough is from another Italian pastry chef, Leonardo Di Carlo (a world champion pasticcere). He's got a massive new book out -Tradizione in Evoluzione: L'Arte e Scienza in Pasticceria - which is definitely on my "to buy" list when I think I can justify it.