Blog posts

I finally got a day to bake last week and commitments led me to bake a variation of Peter Reinharts Struan and Hamelman's Black Rye.

I didn't have the proper grains so I used rye flakes, wheat flakes, barley flakes, oat flakes, sunflower seeds, and a bit of flax. The results came out pretty much as expected and was pretty popular with friends.

I take my standard Banana Nut Bread recipe and add, bourbon soaked dried fruits (cranberry, sultana,raisin, apricot) and chocolate chips.  The cupcake is topped with cream cheese icing, shaved chocolate and a half a strawberry in the shape of a heart.

Very romantic, sweet and delicious for the ones you love.

Hello,
This bread is from Beth Hensperger’s book, Bread For All Seasons.
Each ‘season’ in the book has a marvelous introduction discussing breads baked to celebrate various holidays
and occasions, in different countries.
Browsing through the book, I found Ciambella Mandorlata, an almond ring bread; it was noted the French call
a ring-shaped bread la baisure, or ‘kissing crust’ – this seemed like a perfectly sweet thing to bake for Valentine’s Day! :^)

I love the smell of this bread. This is what makes it so alluring and eventually delicious.

Tamari-Roasted Mixed Seed Wholemeal Bread with Mixed Pre-ferments

No big experiments or breakthroughs this week.  I had a promise to fulfill: my mother-in-law wanted a loaf of sourdough.  I made a batch of San Francisco Country Sourdough (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25402/sf-country-sourdough-–-my-best-ever…not-sure-why) into three half-kilo batards.  One served nicely last night as a platform for roast turkey sandwiches and tonight for a side dish with white bean soup.  One for M-I-L.  And one for the freezer.

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread 2/12/2012

Today, I baked two more loaves of my evolving San Francisco-style Sourdough bread. (See: My San Francisco Sourdough Quest and My San Francisco Sourdough Quest, Take 2)

Every so often, I like to make a batch of sourdough English muffins.  My go-to recipe is one from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook, which I have blogged about previously.  Today's post is just a series of photos showing the muffins as they cook for your viewing pleasure; something only a bread-head would love.

Up first, the muffins waiting their turn on the griddle:

After feeling the heat for a little bit: