Blog posts

Am I the only one who takes some sort of idiotic pride in using the minimum amount of flour to get the job done -- and by job, I mean, having the dough release from the basket without ripping?  And by "idiotic pride" I mean, using too little and having my dough stick/rip on occasion because I put it in the basket somewhat sticky instead of adequately floured?

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all the Canadians here!

We are having some friends over who've never had a turkey dinner and putting on the whole production with stuffing, sweet potatoes, and cranberries tomorrow.  I'd like to also bake rolls using Peter Reinhart's Wild Rice & Onion dough, which is still one of my all time favourites. 

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I don't have anything too exciting or interesting coming out of my oven these days. I've been baking once a week just to make sure we have enough bread to feed ourselves for the week. My storage starter is still doing great. It's been in the refrigerator for 8 weeks (unfed) and amazingly there's no sign of mold. Only a tiny bit of clear hooch is developing. Every Thursday evening, I take about 6-8 g starter and feed it once (usually about 1:3:3 or 1:3:4). I build my levain Friday morning and let it ferment while I'm at work. I mix my dough Friday night and bake on Saturday.

I was moved to post this after seeing dab's lovely nut apricot bread. This is a riff on isand66's date nut SD that he posted in the past. Here is quick review of how to put it together. I find I simplify more and more and the bread is just as good  . Here goes ! 

528g 100% hydration starter

autolyse for 1 hr:

100g spelt flour

250g durum flour

250g AP flour

422g whey ( or use milk if you have no whey)

We ground 3 times as much whole grain as we needed for the last bake so that we could test the notion that flour has to age after it is ground if not used in 24 hours.  So this bake has the whole grains as the last bake and the same add ins too.  The add ins have been hanging out in the fridge for a week.

We were counting down the days that we could come back to Phoenix, AZ.  One of the hi-lights of our last trip in May was Pizzeria Bianco.  This place has been heralded as having the best pizza in North America.  The jury may still be out on that one, but it sure blew our minds.  We also picked up a baguette from their bakery location, Pane Bianco.  I have to say, I am not a fan of this baguette.  Nice chew and crumb structure, but the flavour is more towards an Italian style (go figure) of bread - no nuttiness and a bit on the salty side.  The french style

These may not be the prettiest rolls I have baked but they sure are chock full of nuts and cherries and super moist from the porridge as well.

My go-to loaf is a essentially a baguette with my own twists.  I use 1/3 spelt flour and whatever bread flour I can get my hands on (we're remote - I mail order my spelt - bread flour options are sparse).  

I always bake with a poolish.  I'm not a diligent measurer - I just do what feels right.  I scoop, but don't scrape or sift.  

Here's my take on PDLarry's custard buns..

My doughs were at 60g each which is a little too big to my liking.

Other wise it turn out really yummy..