Blog posts

I just finished my bake this morning;  the loaves came out of the WFO just lovely, and I am proud of the new night mixer I have trained and graciously added to the team. His end game isn't baking, in fact, its medical studies and the sort. But he mixes some amazing doughs consistently, and works very hard each shift. I appreciate his efforts, and have been reminding him daily that I find his work ethics impressive and honorable.

Three weeks ago I attempted Marcus's Polenta Pepita Sourdough formula, with a few adaptations. I substituted the pumpkin seeds with sunflower seeds, replaced the whole wheat flour with medium rye flour, and adjusted a few procedures to suit tropical conditions.

Pumpkin Seed Atta Sourdough Batard, Trial 1

This expanded but it has nice crumb.  What do you think? I was so surprised based on the boule expansion. I give up trying to fix this photo.  Sorry for the view!

Is this from not having a tight enough ball?  I tried to get it tighter but it was very sticky.  I will try this again.  waiting for that 12-14 hour preferment was so hard!  I went for the 12 since my kitchen is 75 degrees.  

Have you ever seen one of those little pouches of salad toppings and wondered what they'd be like in a loaf of bread?

I did. So today I tried it. I used my favorite sourdough sweet bread recipe, added two tablespoons of cinnamon, two teaspoons of vanilla, and the entire contents of the pouch to my sweet starter (the pouch is 3.75 ounces or almost a full cup) and went on like normal from there. I didn't presoak the fruit and nuts, just tossed them in before I started adding the flour.

In addition to my recent foray into selling at the farmers market, I have also been doing a small bake to order business out of my house.   I post a few choices for one day a week, and people order a couple days in advance.   Then stop by and pick up.   This is very constrained as zoning regs say that only 6 people per day can come to the house to purchase.   It would take a neighbor complaint to make enforcement kick in, but obviously it could only grow so much.  

We got some wonderful blackberries from the farmer's market, so I had the idea to alter my sourdough English muffin recipe to include blackberries and then I added pecans for something different.  They turned out really well, not too sweet, and were perfect with a touch of butter.  I have made the sourdough English muffins in multiple ways: plain, cinnamon raisin and blueberry before this new version.  I will keep experimenting!

We had a good crop of jalapeno peppers growing, so I thought I would look for a good recipe to use some of them and my sourdough starter.  I found the recipe below, and I really liked it.  I learned some things along the way that I would do differently next time, but my husband really enjoyed it.  We made tilapia piccata, grilled asparagus, and tomato/basil salad with smoked mozzarella to go along with the bread.  It was really delicious.  We ate outside with a great glass of wine. Heaven!

This was a strong dough mix compared to other doughs I had been working with.  My kitchen runs 75-78 degrees so I proofed my paves more quickly.  I wonder if I am not over working my dough.  Is this a standard crumb or did I over fold.  I have no reference point.

First off, many thanks to Karin (hanseata) for posting her bake of Dan Lepard’s pumpkin whey bread.  What a great idea, and not just for autumn bakes.  This is a sourdough, whey-less take on that lovely bread.