Blog posts

Lucy started off to do a more complicated bread by getting the 5 grain sprouts going on Wednesday but we forgot about the new Fig Yeast Water we started last Friday from the re-hydration soaking water left over from last week’s bake.  We wanted to include it in a SD / YW combo bake but it took a day longer than planned to get up to full ramming speed.

Hello TFL'rs on this late night! Wanted to share with you all my bake of the day. So I decided to make a "Honey Whole-Wheat Sandwich Loaf". I used K.A.F whole wheat flour and a little bit of K.A.F white whole wheat, this recipe I found used a "sponge" and what made the dough have great taste was the use of good raw and wild honey and melted butter and salt. I couldn't wait to slice into the loaf and taste the reward of a little patience (ate those slices in the picture right away with peanut butter on one slice ;p). Happy baking all!! . Here is the link.

I made these cookies using my great aunt's famous secret recipe. It feels like a betrayal to post it here but it also feels like a betrayal to post this picture without adding a recipe so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post in the comments. These are so good and highly requested that my aunt, no matter how old and tired she gets, makes over twenty batches during the holidays and gifts them to friends, family, and neighbor. Growing up I'd sit on the kitchen floor with her for hours and decorate and snack on hundreds of these. 

I'm very ashamed to say I more than likely ruined a piece of bread tonight...on purpose...Just gotta get this off my chest. It's stressing me out!!

So I've been making an 86% hydration sourdough artisan bread every few days as of recently. It has turned out great and my family loves it, and I really feel like my technique has come along SO much. Things have just kept getting better- until tonight.

Making bread, great bread, takes some planning ahead and some dough babysitting. It's work worth doing, but sometimes you need bread fast. That's why I'm seeking the "minimum effective dose" for success. I heard this term coined in The 4 Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss. It's not a groundbreaking concept, but he revolves much of his life around its pursuit, which is intriguing. He wants to find the balance of the best you can do with the least amount of work.

Last Sunday I held my third annual Bread Tasting Open House. This year I focused on a couple of areas - 100% rye flour breads, and a series of sourdoughs using different flours. For the latter the formula / recipe / technique was the same for all six of the breads; the only variation was that 25% of the flour was different. The six were:

So, you've seen some sexy artisan bread pics...maybe on Instagram or Pinterest and you realize the loaves were all made by ordinary folks. You think, "Hey, that looks good. I want to make some bread, too." Here's my perspective on how you can get started with the least amount of pain. I'll tell you right now, it's not how I got started, which is why I know exactly what I'm talking about. I flew too close to the sun too fast, and it cost me quite a bit of angst, flour, and sanity. Here's the easier way for those interested in the hearth-style/artisan breads.

After making multiple Tartine loaves, I decided to add some commercial yeast as insurance and to get a better crumb (wish I had taken a pic of the inside). This was definitely the best crumb bread I've made yet.

For a one-loaf recipe (500g flour), I dissolved 1/8 tsp commercial yeast into the 25g of water.  I added this yeast-water with the salt after autolyse. 3.5 hour bulk ferment and retarded final rise in fridge overnight.

Worked out amazing and still had the same flavor.

Hello, TFL'ers!

One of my new year's goals was to take a stab at sourdough baguettes and I finally had the chance to give it a try. I followed the recipe / method here with a few modifications:

 Me and my friend both worked in leadership in a big box store- she began talking about opening a bakery and soon it became the topic of most of our discussions. Id never made much that didnt come out of a box and she was a hardcore scratchmade hobbyist. Fast forward a year later, her husband died unexpectedly leaving her with two young kids. It was a hard time for her, and she left the big box world to try and recover. She began texting me several months later, asking me if I would be interested in helping her start up a bakery. I said yes, and we opened in November of last year.