Two lovely mini loaves - August 4, 2017
Give me a good loaf of bread and some cheese and I'm good to go. This bake kicks up a porridge bread with 2 different kinds of cheese.
I added some lemon zest to the porridge which gave the bread a nice subtle citrus flavor and it went great with the smoked Gruyere and Havarti cheeses I used in the main dough.
I also added some almond flour to the porridge for a little extra nutty flavor and some sesame seeds on the outside for some extra crunch.
All in all the crumb was nice and moist and the cheese ....not much more to say :).
It's probably been done before but here goes. I'll compare the end results of baking 2 loaves ( recipe posted later) side by side, one in a Lodge Combo Cooker and the other in a stoneware Le Cloche. They are supposed to serve the same purpose, right. The dough creates its own steam. So my dough will be weighed and divided into 2 equal amounts. Baked side by side, same temp, same time.
My oven is residential propane fueled. My home is in the hot Mojave high desert (3500 ft elevation) which really should not be a factor? Post to ya later.
After recent successes with natural yeast (it turns out that even I, a repeat offender of saccharomycicide - 2008, 2012, can be remediated!), I decided to try Tartine Bread again. But with Jane Mason’s starter.
Taking a deep breath to re-read Robertson’s 26 page recipe (and you thought I was verbose!), I followed (mostly) his instructions to the letter again… and muttered variations of the same words I wrote in 2012:
I was looking for ideas on what to make this weekend and came across TomK's loaf by the same name. My recipe is not exactly the same but it is very similar. Thanks Tom for your post!
Recipe:
1. Toast in a frying pan, 50 g bulgur, 50 g Hemp hearts, and 25 g Sesame seeds.
2. Soak all above with 100 g dried Currants, 30 g honey and 200 g of hot water. I let soak overnight.
A KAF recipe, I've long wanted to make Pane Bianco, and today was the day. I followed the published recipe, except for substituting about 25% WW and the remainder AP for the BF that is called for. The dough was lovely and easily manageable, fillings included minced garlic, sundried tomato, fresh basil, and cheeses, mozzarella and parmesan. The top of the rolled loaf is to be cut along the axis, then the loaf curved into a tight "S". I shaped first and cut second, so am not sure if the layers may have been more crisp and spread better by the original recipe. Either way, it smells great.
Regular yeast, about five hours start to finish. Bread flour only.
It was a pretty wet, 'pouffy' dough
I haven't posted in ages, and maybe I have never posted to my blog here, but I'm so excited! What you see is my starter that I'm calling Gem Island Truffle because of it's savory not too sour taste and aroma.
I captured it and nursed it along from a feeble beginning. It finally began to show signs of being strong enough to push up some bread. What wonderful bread it was!
I bought an enormous amount of hazelnuts last week with the intention of doing a double batch of hazelnut and currant loaves over the weekend. Not long after the nuts went into the oven to toast up, I got a call from my brother, forgot to set the timer, we had a nice leisurely catch up and...well, you know how this story goes. While I do not recommend burning $18 worth of nuts, I do recommend creativity in troubleshooting and using what you have on hand.
I've been buying online Type 85 High Extraction flour from New York Bakers located in the San Diego area. Fair price and prompt delivery. Today I ordered the French flour type 65 for baguettes. Here is link:
