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Baking with the 3 GMA’s again this week for Easter where hot cross buns and babka are on the list.  Good Friday is Hot Cross Bun Day and we decided to make an overnight poolish for the buns and a small 200 g YW dough for the crosses.  The crosses were only 12.5% whole grains trying to make them a shade lighter in color than the buns.

Waiting ...

Our oven builders have all packed up and left ... and now the oven sits still and quiet except for the faint hum of small fan heater running day and night within its walls ...

... after Easter we hope to have the chimney connected and the granite stone laid at the mouth of the oven ...

... until then I continue to experiment with my sourdough and practice patience ...

I was curious (again) .... I was wondering if pepper, if baked, would hold its flavour and heat... well it holds it heat a little there is a nice tinge on the tip of the tong after a few bites. But I was supprised what a nice flavour black pepper actually has. 

The bread is light,soft with a nice crumb. So; all with all, it worked really well.

Black pepper bread

You can make this dough without the sourdough starter, remove the sourdough and increase the dried active yeast to 20gr. The sourdough just gives that nice extra flavour.

50% Rye with 3 Stage Sour

 These latest bakes brought me back to trying to reproduce a Czech Rye I'd had in Prague two summers ago, which I first posted on back in December 2012. http://www.thefresloaf.com/node/31232/memories-czech-rye 

I had to use up the rest of the ricotta I made so it was time to make an sweet Italian Easter pie to match the savory one, which we have almost completely devoured.  The recipe I used is from the website http://www.ciaoitalia.com  The only 'change' I made was to use wheatberries in place of the rice as indicated in the recipe.  Otherwise the pie was made per instructions.  I tasted some of the filling as I was making the pie and it is very flavorful with vanilla, orange zest, orange juice and cinnamon.  I have seen some pies t

Well, I'll be...! I finally got some photos to share and some material to put up on my blog! Even though I've not posted anything in the blog the last...oh well... nearly 12 months, I've visited TFL on a daily basis to try to keep up with what's going on in this wonderful community. One can find endless inspiration, stimulating discussions and plenty of food for thought in this place, and it just keeps getting better every day. After some starts and stops, I'm now easing back into my regular baking habits, and I usually bake a loaf or two per week.

Hello All,

I've just finished another 5 week stint of nightshifts baking in Dunbar, which is on the coast, just south of Edinburgh, Scotland.   I have run a couple of courses too, and kept up my commitments in Northumberland for the Farmers' Markets...so it's been a very busy time and I need a break...so does Alison, who has a much more stressful job than I have, though with more sociable hours, of course.

Last week I was getting ready for a short easter break when I realized I still had some kalamata olives, fresh rosemary and an opened pack with assorted italian cold cuts (salami, cured ham...) lying around in my fridge.  It was all a bit too much to eat in one go so I decided to try my hand at a foccaccia-inspired bread that would incorporate all these ingredients.

The result was surprisingly tasty; I didn't have high hopes -especially because I wasn't working from a recipe- but it turned out really well and very tasty.

Preparation and recipe:

I am getting kind of stuck in a sourdough boule sort of rut and given the various possibilities I could be stuck here permanently and yet I'm hankering to be able to make a decent baguette. Hence, I've been wandering about this site and seeing some tasty looking recipes that play into my desire to let the dough do a lot of the work. Thanks to all these fine bakers for sharing their methods! But I was getting confused trying to keep the variations straight, so I put them into a table so I could try and see what was going on.

Inspired by the arrival of the Queen Mary 2 in the port of Fremantle here in Western Australia I last night finished the story of my extended trip to the United Kingdom and the meeting of fellow TFL members Andy and Khalid.

a view of QM2 through the rigging of the state sail training ship LEEUWIN11

which im going for a sail on at the end of the month