Blog posts

Hello!

I've been wanting to get into baking bread for a while, and coming across the Fresh Loaf site gave me the final push to have a go and get my hands dirty (doughy)!  So here is my first report in baking "artisan" bread from the point of view of a complete novice.

little treats for me and my friends..

ALMOND & ORANGE FLORENTINES WITH LAVENDER SUGAR

INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil for greasing the tray
2 egg whites
50gm caster sugar blend in a food processor with one tablespoons of lavender tea flower
200gm flaked almonds
Grated zest of 1 orange

Today, I took out a portion of the spent grain in the freezer that was leftover from making beer last week. (The beer is resting comfortably for another week after being decanted from the carboy into a second carboy).  The bread made from the spent grain along with a wild yeast starter and whole wheat soaker is rising right now - soon to be baked. 

Linda

I have never been one to put extra stuff into bread.   Flour and water all the way.   And yet, resolve weakens, fruit beckons, fresh loafers keep on posting.    What can one do?    A rhetorical question of course.    The simple answer is throw in a few dried cranberries.   I had already developed a nice seeded levain (after tasting Jong Yang's delcious one at the TFL Boston meet-up)  and thought - just swap out the seeds for the cranberries.   It works.   Two completely different breads on th

Last night's dinner was a favorite: White Pizza.

The white sauce is simply a cup of Bechemel sauce with a 1/2 cup of Peccorina Romano, and minced garlic added. The toppings are Mozzerella, Feta, fresh basil leaves, and 8 oz. of wrung-out thawed spinich with a splash of Balsamic vinegar. The dough is 50/50 Semolina and KA All Purpose with appropriate salt, water and a couple of tablespoons of EVOO for flavor and softness.

Baked 8 mins @ 500°F, convection mode.

This bread was nice. It doesnt have a picture so I read the directions twice. Pretty much mix and let bulk ferment. Turn out and rough shape into a rectangle handling it gently so not to overly degas. It has olive oil in it that helps the crumb texture. I once again used my cast iron cooker to bake with. You can see the edges of the dough turned up becase of the round cooker. I am working on getting a steaming setup, just need to work it into the budget. This dough would be great for pizza or top with whatever and bake it.

Floyd's post on Hokkaido Milk Bread, which mentioned red bean filling, started nagging me to make red bean rolls. Fortunately, I had a stash of home made red bean paste in my freezer, which was given to me by a good friend. So why delay?

To celebrate my new oven and lovely sunny weather here in London I mixed up some focaccia, which turned out super moist and super fluffy.

Well pleased with it, one of the easiest recipes I ever came up with - full recipe on my blog here

Tangzhong is the technique of heating a portion of the flour and liquid in your recipe to approximately 65C to make a paste (roux).