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When I began baking a couple of years ago I soon found out that my family all loved freshly baked bread.  It was a rewarding feeling to be able to bake something fresh and wholesome for them.

Within a short period of time I discovered that each had a preference for a particular type of bread.  In other words, one loaf did not fit all.  My journey began to find the ONE loaf that would satisfy them all.

It has been about 3 years and I have finally found that loaf.

From what Lucy can tell these are either calzones or strombolis depending on how Italians feel at the time or how they slice them and if anyone who knows the difference between the two is present.  I’ve decided, once again, that Lucy is nearly worthless in these matters, like most other things but we will go with her suggestion of calling them Stromzones..

Baked in a cast iron skillet

Here is my first bake from The French Baker by Sébastien Boudet. Came out very nice. I had to retard the final rise overnight in the fridge. Sleep was in need. Next morning I took it out and let it finish rising at room temp for a few hours. Has rye in it and that contributes to the flavor of the loaf. The family and I liked the loaf very much. The recipe says it makes one loaf. It was to big for my cast-iron cooker so I split it into two loafs. Came out fine.

 Some years ago, I remember seeing tables lined up in a shopping Mall here in Dubai, where locally homemade Artisan crafts are displayed for sale. For months now, I have been planning on taking my home baking a step further, and the idea of selling bread to public was brewing slowly in my mind. So, I looked up for information on the Crafts Market, and found that “ARTE” or Arts and Crafts Market run a once in a month exhibition, were only locally handmade art work and craft items are featured by local Artisans.

It seems everyone is enjoying cheesy bread's lately and with Ian's last post on Calzone and watching 'Diner's Drive Inns and Dives' hosting an old favorite diner of mine and it's Calzone's.  It has certainly put me in the mood for one.   

Mike had taken Saturday off from work to do a mountain bike race and neighbors were all home.  So I was make K.Forkish's levain pizza's for everyone.

Before making the pizza's.

 When my husband and i were in England for the holidays, I brought my sourdough starter with me.

Member Omid posted an excellent and very comprehensive blog on Iranian Barbari bread which can be viewed here if you haven't seen it:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/36357/persianiranian-barbari-bread

The result is a wonderfully subtle bread with slightly nutty undertones and a structure not too dissimilar to french baguette.  End to end I was surprised at just how simple these were to make.  They are well worth a go.

Recipe

My wife requested an Italian style bread to go with her lasagna for this weekends belated holiday dinner with my family.  I couldn't just make a simple Italian bread of course, so I made a new version of an older formula I posted about early last year.  This is loosely based on Peter Reinhart's Italian bread from BBA where he uses a biga which I replaced with a durum based starter.  I also used some freshly milled white hard wheat, freshly milled spelt and rye flours along with KAF French style and Durum.

I had a request to make crusty sourdough rolls when my husband and I were visiting family in England for the holidays.  I brought along my sourdough starter in checked luggage (TSA searched it), but the "baby" white and rye sourdough starters came through very well.  In fact, they performed better than the "mother" sourdough starters back in the U.S.