Blog posts

This is sesame bread from Tartine Bread book. I followed Chad's formula and instructions to the letter, and it yielded a delightful bread. 

Sliced.. Mmm, the aroma!

Nutty and sweet.

I was thinking about lemon poppyseed cake but wanted to bake bread so I came up with this. It is great! light and aromatic and pretty darn tasty.

• 462g bread flour 60%
• 238g all purpose flour 31%
• 140g 100% hydration levain (9% water 9% flour)
• 554g warm water 72%
• 46g poppy seeds 6%
• 2g lemon zest .3%
• 15g salt 2%

1 hr autolyse with everything but the salt,

1 min slap and fold 

incorporate salt and 6 min slap and fold

This bread is inspired by the 'Golspie loaf' recipe by Dan Leppard in 'The handmade loaf'.  I always wanted to do a 100% whole wheat bread but they have a pronounced taste and I thought my main customer -wife- wouldn't be a big fan.  Imagine my surprise when I asked her to pick any type of bread she'd like to have and she settled on this recipe.  I modified it somewhat so I guess it's ok to post the full recipe which I followed:

Formula:

Preferment:

- 50 gr. Sourdough rye starter at 100% hydration

Today's bake: Forkish's FWSY Overnight Blonde

Did the bulk rise partially in a cool room, the remainder in the fridge. Pulled bowl out at 6:30 AM, let sit until 8AM, then shaped boule. Let proof 90 minutes then baked in dutch oven at 475, 30 minutes with lid, 15 minutes uncovered. Internal temperature approx 210.

Learned:

Forkish recommends letting sit a few minutes longer in the oven to continue to bake crust - I should have, needed to be a bit darker. I also think it could have baked just a few minutes longer.

Question:

Inspired by Tartine no.3, I used his double ferment method in preparing this bread. Using Kefir Whey to soak quick cooking oats overnight in 3:1 ratio (375:125). As it has significantly soften so I didnt boil it down, rather I only added the drained oats into the dough. Oatie flavor is apparent and complement well with almonds, however the crumb was a bit disappointing. It taste like a sandwich bread more than a boldly baked bread, it has moist n soft crumb, but its not open enough. 

I haven’t posted a blog for some months.  I have been baking regularly, though not every week.  And not much that’s exciting for a blog post (since when did that stop me, you say?).  Plus life has a way of shifting my familiar patterns every so often.  And bread-blogging has given way to other things.

But this weekend is quiet.  My spouse is on a long business trip around Asia.  I’m spending a quiet evening trying to provide for a kitty who’s used to two laps.  Listening to the rain (a blessed sound in the midst of our long drought).

Just finished making dozens of yummy 100% whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. This recipe came from a young friend who made the adaptations (http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2013/06/kates-in-the-kitchen-whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies/).

Sharing for those bread bakers who are tempted to make something sweet today too!

We have wanted to smoke some flour ever since we saw Evon from Malaysia using it in her breads that seemed always have interesting and unique combinations of ingredients.  Why we haven’t gotten around to it till now is a mystery but it finally got to the top of Lucy’s formula list.

Being an insomniac I got up at 4 AM this morning with the firm intention of cleaning out my baking gear...of course after 10 minutes of diligent work a number of small metal moulds caught my eye, I had once purchased those thinking they'd be perfect for small cakes but didn't use them yet.  Looking at them I thought 'pity they're not true madeleine moulds' (should be really shell-shaped, mine have only a slightly convex bottom).

The night before I had been reading Proust and his immortal ode to the classic French madeleine cake in 'A la recherche du temps perdu' came to mind: