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I baked something I hardly ever do anymore (for some reason) - a simple white ciabatta. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to work with a soft, silky, high-hydration white dough with olive oil, and simply fold it into a rough shape. The bread was perfect cut into pieces for dipping into our New Year's Eve cheese fondue, as well as simply enjoying with butter or whatever. Even dry leftover cubes went into the bowls of stew made from the leftover meats, broth and vegetables from the broth fondue, to soak up all that tasty goodness.

   Cookies and yeasted Pretzels  were my gateway baking experience to bread! And this is a post about cookies. On November 2 I had the good fortune of meeting Dori Greenspan, noted cookbook author. I brought my wellworn cookbook,  Paris Sweets  for her to sign and she also signed a copy of her new latest cookie cookbook, Dorie's Cookies! 

These were a few of my favorite things

Whole Wheat Fig-Pecan with 75% hydration mixed flour Levain

Hamelman Olive with 125% hydration Rye Levain

SFBI Pain au Levain with caraway seeds, cornstarch glaze and 75% hydration mixed flour Levain

The past few weeks have been busy with work, the holidays, and travel.  As a result, I didn't have much time to bake.  Last week, I received a copy of Tartine No. 3, which I think was a not-so-subtle hint from my family to start baking again.  I decided to make something with rye flour after I found a few pounds of ancient rye flour sitting in the back of the pantry – Wheat Rye 10% it was!

We've been visiting my parents in the Pacific Northwest over the holidays, and naturally I wanted to bake bread. A friend of mine gave me some of her starter so I've been having some fun experimenting in a different environment using the tools available.

I was so inspired and moved by the response to PalwithnoovenP's challenge that I belatedly present my own entry.

There's a cooking blog I enjoy reading called Guai Shu Shu. I like this blog because the writer posts a lot of "home-style" recipes from various parts of south-east Asia (e.g. Singapore, Malaysia). I am really interested in the flavour combinations and cooking techniques from this region.

To celebrate my housemate's birthday my recent baking experiment was a number of beer-inspired breads.

This loaf was quite a bit more experimental. I was trying to emulate a really awesome loaf that is pretty much only available at a tiny gourmet market over the hill and toward the coast from here (in Pescadero, to be precise) but I ended up with something else entirely.

I'm starting off this challenge with a relatively simple loaf. This is my own version of the Tartine country loaf, simplified quite a bit from the original and timed to work in my kitchen with my starter. I skip the overnight levain altogether, and just use ripe starter. There's more acid transfer, but I actually like my sourdough sour. And I skipped the autolyse step as well. The regular turning at 30 minute intervals I retained, but then proof for an excessively long 10 hours overnight in a cool 65 degree kitchen.

These aren't the best looking baguettes in the world but they did taste pretty good for an all white flour baguette. I originally planned to sub out some of the flour for some whole grain flour but being in a rush to do things, I completely forgot. I needed these to go with a caramelized onion, bacon, cheese dip that I was bringing to a friend's house for New Year's eve.

Here is the link where I got the recipe:

80% Hydration Baguettes