Blog posts

I've been making baguettes every weekend for two months now. I pulled all stops in this round, I made a poolish and did a 22-hour cold retard. I'll write up my entire process when I have time since I know that'll help people give me more targeted feedback. For now though I'd really appreciate some feedback on my final product and my technique for sealing the seams.

Just a simple loaf. 

Recipe:

 Makes 3 loaves

125 g fresh milled spelt flour (125 g Spelt berries)

125 g fresh milled rye flour  (125 g rye berries)

125 g fresh milled Kamut flour (125 g Kamut berries)

700 g unbleached strong bakers flour

50 g freshly ground flax (50 g flax seeds)

800 g filtered water

24 g Himalayan pink salt

30 g local yogurt

250 g 100% hydration levain (procedure for this is in recipe)

It’s been a month since I last posted… That's why there are bunch of food photos to share! To save time, I didn't type out the bread formulae. Do let me know if you want them though. Updated: Formula for the Kabucha SD now uploaded.

Kabocha Sourdough 

This is a batch of wet dough from which I usually make 4 to 5 flat breads.  Tip o' the hat to Jeffrey Hertzberg and Zoe Francois:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0312649940?tag=froglallabout-20

Frallor are a small single-serving bread typically eaten as a breakfast sandwich here in Sweden. They have become a part of my bread rotation because they are easy to make as an everyday loaf. After I moved to Sweden, I had bought Martin Johansson's Bröd, Bröd, Bröd book and he has a number of variations on frallor. I'm not the best at following directions and often add my own influences to breads which has been fun to combine with the base frallor recipe since it is easy to adjust in a variety of ways. The photo above was from my most recent batch of frallor.

I’d been warehousing another Abelbreadgallery creation since our incredibly able Abel published this on TFL in Jan 2018.  And yesterday finally decided to give it a go.  At 75% hydration, this is near the upper end of my non-ciabatta type of bread limits.  Considering the length of time in retard and the growth of the loaf, both in retard as well as in the oven, I'm surprised at the tight crumb for a 75% hydration dough.  Nonetheless, a delicious slice of bread.

I baked Maurizio’s sourdough Pain de Mie today.

Based on his recipe and recommendations I made a 700 g dough to fit in my 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan, however, it came out rather small, I’d say it could easily have been 800 go for that size.

Anyhow, as per his recipe it is all white flour, 12% butter unsalted, 7% honey, 22% milk, 48% water, and 2% salt.

There are many reasons why I want to make a bread machine work in my life.  I've baked bread the long way and I love to do that. But my spine no longer wants me to stand up straight, and I get winded just walking the length of my house.  Kneading is fun and I love it, but it hurts now.  Bending over is a roulette of dizzy spells.  So having something on my counter that requires no reaching for parchment paper and pans, no preheating of oven and bending over to load/unload it, no kneading, etc...

This is my favorite bread in the world! What's your favorite?

Something for a Halloween dinner. Another sourdough loaf tied with string and baked in a Dutch oven. Use an almond or pecan for the stem.  Serve it with eyeball soup (tomato soup with mini bocconcini combined with stuffed green olives). An olive and rosemary roach as garnish.

Bread recipe here: https://zestysouthindiankitchen.com/pumpkin-sourdough-bread/