Blog posts

This is what happens when one tries to make the Oatmeal Bread from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book on a day that turned out to be too busy to make bread! 

The night before, I had cooked 1 1/3 cups of Roger's Porridge Oats* in 2 cups of boiling water, adding 1 Tbsp of salt once the porridge was off the heat.  I left the porridge to cool overnight in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. 

I have disappeared for weeks for a good reason: went to Argentina and got on a ship to Antarctic! (Trip itinerary here: http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic-expeditions/crossing-antarctic-circle/overview) Here's my trip report...

So many penguins! We are required to keep >5 meters away from them, but there are so many, can't get away!

I made a gluten free Black Forest Gateau  for a friends birthday. It was a challenge for me  since the recipe was written in German . I actually doubled the recipe and replaced the 100 grams of flour with GF flour and the cake turned out perfect. I thought I'd share the recipe in case there are any GF bakers interested, the recipe can be found here http://tinyurl.com/6ptz3fs

Guess I should have cleaned the bench before taking this photo! lol

I want to share with you how happy I am with the Brod & Taylor proofer (I am not a paid spokesperson, just a happy customer). It is well worth the investment. Why? Because it provides a consistent, controlled environment for your dough to proof. It works for building a levain, fermenting dough, and final proofing. I can achieve exact dough temps without it being a hassle. I can predict the timing of the dough much better since the temp inside the proffer is consistent. What a difference it has made in the final bread.

Once more, reminded by Karin's blog, i bake another recipe out of Hamelman's "BREAD". The recipe, cast away behind Volkornbrot with flaxseeds in Sourdough Breads section, was unintentionally overlooked. Karin (hanseata)has Praised the bread, and i had to bake a mutigrain SD sourdough sometime, so i did.

Baguettes made with San Francisco Sourdough dough

I still find it a funny experience to bake and then display small snippets of my life. Over the past fortnight I have perhaps pondered too deeply on this and my relationship with baking and bread … driven poor Nat to distraction I am sure.

So what do I want my bread to be like?

I made the Ciabatta from Professor Reinhart’s formula in Bread Baker’s Apprentice today.   Easy to make, though I can see where a novice might want to add more flour to the gloppy dough instead of trusting to the magic of gluten.   I added a heaping teaspoon of milk powder to soften the crumb.   I shaped a pound of dough into four large rolls.

It’s a simple bread.  Nice texture and good flavor, but nothing to write home about.  I think it would be good for a sandwich roll.