Blog posts

This is Whole Rye and Whole Wheat from Bread - A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by  Jeffery Hamelman

I baked two loaves the other day of this delicious bread.  I have to say that I'm quite happy with the way they turned out. The crumb is mildly dense and has a nice, light tangy flavor. The crust is crisp and has toasty/roasted flavors. This bread will definitely go into the rotation. Recipe and process are below for those interested.

Well it is almost fall and soon Instagram will be full of pumpkin shaped breads. I have never tried to make one of these so thought it might be fun to do. I also haven’t shaped a boule in sometime so thought I was due.

Yes, posted before and guilty as charged!  However, I'm here to sing the praises of this extraordinary bread.  And can't think of a better way than to put it in front of your eyes again.  After these came out of the oven and cooled, and we'd had a few slices, I said to my wife - if I had only one bread that I would be able to bake forever, I think this would be the one.

Loosely based on (i.e. "inspired by") this formula: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Scottish_Wheat_Bannock_Bread

My take:

Our recent babka community bake gave me a hankering for what my grandmother would call 'bulkas/boolkes/bulkes' - yeasted cinnamon buns made with milk.

They are simple, soft and buttery, and not too sweet or as complex as babka. Lovely to eat when spread with butter. We also like to have them as the perfect food for breaking the Yom Kippur fast.

This is a Hamelman’s recipe that I’ve baked a few times. It is 75% Whole-Spelt flour that I stone-milled the day before baking. The Pate Fermentee is made 14 hours before mixing. I love the taste of this bread as it is full flavoured and quite different from our everyday Vermont sourdough loaf.

This latest bake is Pane Con Pepperoncini, Olive, E Pomodoro from Living Bread by  Daniel Leader.

I liked the overall consistency of the bread. It has a nice crust and the 00 flour has a nice creamy taste to it. My only modifications when making it next time would be 1) to increase the amount of red pepper flakes to maybe twice the amount, but then I have a real taste for spicy foods, 2) a little less hydration. Recipe and process are below for those interested.

Outstanding from the ease of working with it to the fragrance, glistening crumb fantastic crust. Not a complaint to be heard. 

I recently made a Brie appetizer that was topped with a combo of cranberries, pecans, orange juice, maple syrup and spices. I decided to use similar flavours in this bread. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Add-ins

• 150 g Dried Cranberries 
• 30 g Grand Marnier
• 150 g walnuts, chopped 
• Zest of 1 orange
• 30 g maple syrup
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg 

Dough

I finally got close to where I want to be with ciabattas!

I was going to a friend's flat for an Italian dinner yesterday, so decided to bring a ciabatta, although previously I only had partial success with this style of bread. However Rus Brot has a video recipe for ciabatta, and so far each and every recipe of his have been a great success, so I decided to risk it. The video is unfortunately only in Russian: https://youtu.be/beEhMiwIaHw