Blog posts

Hello! I've been a Fresh Loaf reader since 2008, when my husband, Dado, introduced it to me. Together we're the team (TFL handle bagel_and_rye) who post about the activities of Chicago Amateur Bread Bakers from time to time. This weekend I finally got around to creating a TFL blog all my own.

. . . bake on a day like today.  I baked cheese bisquits from PR's ABED. I'm afraid I haven't had much appetite these past few days as the southern half of my province, my town and immediate nieghborhood have bee hit hard by record flooding.  My first thought was to bake something up for the troops in the 'hood, but they were gone by the time these were out of the oven.

The first photo shows my home on Grotto Road, Canmore, Alberta, Canada, looking soouth east:

Ok, so they didn't turn out as pretty as I was hoping: (but see how I took them into natural lighting for you :))

Clearly, I had no plan for shaping them, but i wanted to try without a basket this time because I wanted longer loaves than I have baskets. The smaller looking one turned out better. I haven't cut them yet, but I gave the better looking one to my neighbor so no crumb shot of that one. 

Finally, i baked some bread. It has been a busy period, full of duties, and errands. I wanted a good wholewheat bread, so i baked a Golden Date bread from Laurel's bread book.

AHH.. Golden date bread... sweet, healthy, soft, almost muffin like bread.

It's summer time.  Finally.  The grill gets cleaned up, and ready to be used as many times as possible until the rain and cold comes again in October.  I have been itching to try making some thin crust pizzas on my gas grill but now utilizing some unglazed quarry tiles.  The tiles really helped up the quality of my breads so I figured they should help my pizzas on the grill.  My past attempts making pizzas on the grill were both frustrating and disappointing.  Burnt bottoms due to the direct flame, and overall just not what I was after. 

are really hard. Wow. Just attempted them. Maybe I shouldn't have tried something challenging with my first ever effort at a poolish, too. They aren't baked yet, but they look pretty terrible. I added extra flour to the dough and it was still ridiculously soft and wet. I was using the poolish baguette formula from Hamelmn's "Bread". I think I will have to give it another go...but now I am even more apprehensive than before.

 Went with something similar to a classic loaf you'll find in an artisan bakery.  This was an old recipe I had on the computer from a couple years ago that I increased the rye to 20% from 10%.  I may even go further or add some wheat to the party next time.  

Long time no post.

I wanted to try something different and a good friend said that she really like Marbled Rye (Hi, Grandma Phyllis) so that is the reason for this bake (like anyone here needs a reason to bake bread). So I pulled out Peter Reinhart's :The Bread Baker's Apprentice" (aka BBA).  This is the Marbled Rye Bread from there (page 183).  I followed the recipe pretty much exactly.  I scaled the recipe for a batch and a half, two loaves to give away and one to make sandwiches thru the week.

Putting on my traveling shoes and tossing the gear, sourdough, scale, spoon scale, probe & oven thermometer into my suitcase.  Destination: Canada near the east Washington state boarder.   Life is fun!  - Mini

I was visiting my sister in Aspen, Colorado last week and baked these.  I didn't have a scale, so the following are volume measurements. The weight measurements I've given should be pretty close. I will also note that the dough was mixed by hand and there was no kneading involved (except for some turning of the dough to incorporate the butter).

Dough

1 c. whole milk (240mL)

1.5 tsp. instant yeast (5g)

2 large eggs (about 50g each)

6 TBSP. granulated sugar (about 75g)

3 cups AP flour (guessing around 400g)

1 tsp. salt (5g)