Blog posts

I've been meaning to mention that this site is one year old now. Check out the first post. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and participated in the discussions. May your bread always rise!

This weekend:

• Banana bread: good, as always. I haven't baked it since the holidays began. Nice to have again.
• Sourdough batch #1: refrigerated overnight. Great flavor, but too dense. About like a bagel. I still ate two-thirds of the loaf.
• French bread: Awesome. Perfect with the pot of soup I made on a cold, damp day. Pictures and more info to come.
• Sourdough batch #2: I thought I did everything right, but instead of springing in the oven it just sat there.

Well, this is my first blog. And It won't be very active at present. I seem to be working a lot of hours lately. About 60-70 per week. I have a full time job with a short-line railroad in SW Indiana. We move railcars for a major plastics/chemical plant in the area. I am also working part-time at a local grocery store bakery. Wish the bakery job paid more. They have offered to train me as a bakery manager. But the money doesn't seem to be there. And if it is, the present manager could become upset. I think I would be making more than she does after 17 years with the company.

As I mentioned in my previous post, last night I placed my new sourdough starter in the oven with just the light on to see if staying 80 degrees overnight would give it some pep. It did, having slightly over doubled in size by this morning. I also started a poolish last night so I could do a standard French bread if my starter wasn't looking lively. It too was ready to go this morning. "Hey," I thought, "Since I have both, why don't I try making a yeasted and a sourdough version of the same recipe and compare how they come out?

I've been feeding my starter every 12 hours since Thursday evening. It isn't too lively: I'm getting some growth and bubbles, but nothing close to doubling in size. I went ahead and fed it again this evening. I put it in the oven with just the light bulb on, which keeps it around 80 degrees. We'll see if a slightly warmer environment stimulates it enough that I can bake with it tomorrow. If not, I may cheat and make a sourdough that is spiked with half a teaspoon of yeast, since it *smells* like sourdough.

My parents went to visit my bro in Melbourne, Aus recently. So I got them to get me some Kalamata olives from a Greek shop. No wonder they're more expensive. They taste really nice!! Here is a Sourdough Kalamata Olive loaf. (i think i'm baking everything with SD now..) Ingredients : 10% or less Whole wheat, Bread & AP flour, sea salt & Kalamata Olives. PS* Btw, i noticed an increased in SD activity when i used Organic Unbleached AP flour.

Nicely flavoured, but need to increase hydration. 100% sourdough, with homemade muesli mix & cinnamon, Whole wheat & rye bread.

I tried baking with my starter yesterday but blew it. I left the dough too slack, so it ended up a puddle. I expected it to tighten up as it developed, but it did not significantly. Oh well, I'll try again in a few days!

Today the starter is looking real good. It doubled in size overnight. I'll probably try baking with it tomorrow.

I made pizzas last night using the Neapolitan Denominazione de Origine Controllata crust from American Pie. It is basically the same as the Neo-Neapolitan dough except it totally omits sugar and fats. I meant to make the pizzas the day before but didn't have time, so I just punched the dough down and left it in the fridge a second day. I made a couple of small ones for the kids.