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Hello everyone,

The leaves are a blaze of color this fall, but quickly dropping from the trees, some trees already bare.

This afternoon, despite the breeze, there were a few brightly-colored leaves hanging on.
 

I baked for many years without using a mixer or any special gear. I really enjoy mixing and kneading by hand, and think it is a great way to get to know about dough.

Sourdough Boule (adapted from Wildyeastblog's Norwich Sourdough)

Yield: 2 large boules

Time:

Mix/autolyse: 35 minutes
First fermentation: 2.5 hours
Proof: 1.5 hours, then retard for 2 – 16 hours
Bake: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

900 g all-purpose white flour
120 g whole rye flour
600 g water at about 74F
360 g mature 100% hydration sourdough starter
23 g salt

Method:

Recently a customer asked me to bake a fig anise bread.   She had bought a loaf from Standard Baking in Portland Maine, and loved it, but doesn't get up there often.   At first I was a little reluctant to go down this road, as I thought figs?   anise?   really?   but then decided to see what I could come up with.   A search on TFL revealed that there was just such a bread in Nancy Silverton's La Brea book.    As this has been on my list forever, I bought a copy, procured some dried black mission figs and anise seed,

after three long operations and weeks lying flat on my back. Now I can read your news; should be able to bake again in a month or so. hurrah!

I decided to experiment and try a new flour for me, it is half the price of KA AP Flour and what could be the worst thing that could happen. This loaf was based on Ken Forkish's "Saturday White Bread" formula with addition of three types of olives, rosemary and lemon zest.

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Hi all, does anyone have any tips to repair my cloche? The bottom part has cracked into  2 pieces, its a clean break so wondering whether there is any way to stick them back together with a non toxic heat resistant glue.

Is this my fault for placing the cloche in a hot oven from cold or is this a defective cloche?

I've only used it 3 times! So iit works out at £15 per loaf - joy!!!

Got quite a bit of spent grains from a friend who is into Homebrewing and decided to try making a bread out of it. The grains (mainly barley) were roughly cracked using a hand grinder before being heated for about 2 hours to create a malt extract from them. This means that they are no longer sweet but still lend a nice texture to the bread.

I haven't been baking nearly as much as I would like, but I'm making an attempt to bake on Sundays this winter.  I feel like any skill I have obtained since I started making bread has been lost, and gaining my skill set back might prove frustrating.  My girlfriend loves bread and I don't mind lavishing her with fresh treats.  A favorite bread of mine is ciabatta, but I've never made an attempt to add any cheese or mushrooms to the base bread.  I decided to use dried shiitake mushrooms reconstituted in water and baby bella mushrooms.

Made with 35% fresh milled local Hard Red Winter Wheat (Hollis).  I miscalculated with the olives and after pitting came up short but proceeded.  I will post my formula but I'd double this for sure.  The addition of an herb could also be nice but my olives were a mix of three green varieties brined with garlic and oregano.  Had I used enough maybe I wouldn't need any herbs.  I'll find out next time around.