Blog posts

Lately I've been trying to codify the variables of mixing and kneading dough in my DLX. Since it seems to act as a spiral mixer would, I used that as my base. Spiral mixers run at   about 100RPM in first speed, and 200RPM in second; that's the hook rotational speed. Bowl speed is more on the order of 15RPM. Commercial spiral mixers that I've checked use separate motors for each.

Tasty with everything, I think!!

Hmmm Apple cider….

You will love the spicy chilli chicken rolls at the end of the post!!

Now I am going to make it easy today….

I used this as a sort of base recipe.

http://greedybread.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/bonjour-mon-amis-greedybread-mini-french-baguette/

This is the first bread bake in 2013 and we wanted to get back to our favorite every day bread type; a sourdough multi-grain with a multigrain scald or with multigrain sprouts or both.  This time we use a scalded soaker and finally got around to putting some cream cheese in the mix ala Ian’s many breads with cheese.

2 days before dough mixing we got the 100% hydration levain going over two builds that took 12 hours and then it was retarded for 36 hours in the fridge

Santa gave me Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish.  I had studied it in a bookstore, having been alerted by Breadsong's nice post about his overnight 75% WW.  On my Christmas list it went.  No regrets: I've very much enjoyed learning Mr.

Our holiday season was very relaxing, but we had guests visiting and I didn't get a chance to post on TFL much.  So, before we get too far into 2013, here are my last two bakes of 2012.

The first is my San Francisco Country Sourdough, a command performance since the batch from a few days earlier disappeared in a flash of hungry family.

Today I baked a sourdough loaf in a pot...

and cinnamon rolls too.

I've been looking to branch out with the grains I use in my breads. Flipping through Bread Alone, I found a recipe for wheat bread with whole wheat berries. A friend just happened to have a jar of wheat berries on hand, so I was in business!

First things first: soak the wheat berries overnight.

Karin had a great post for Dan Lepard's brat filled Stilton cheese puff paste appetizers here:

Dan Lepard's Stilton Crust Sausage Rolls - My First Bake of 2013

A fellow user asked a great question recently:  How does a baker tell when bulk-fermentation is finished?

Of course, I do not think we can begin to answer this question without firstly asking some other questions, like:  What is fermentation, and how does one measure it?  And why ferment in bulk in the first place?

My favourite question to ask baking classes or new baking apprentices is, what is bread?