Blog posts

Baked off the 20 hour retarded boule that was identical in every way to the non retarded one  baked yesterday.  The crust on this bread is even better than the non retarded one.  But the crumb is more airy on the non retarded one.  The taste is better on the retarded boule but the texture is better on the non retarded one.  I have to call this a draw.  Both have their strong points and both are very good SD breads.  It was a nice experiment to complete and not what was expected.  I though that the retarded loaf would win hands down but this

I really did intend to make one of the 100 recipes I have saved from assorted websites and blogs or one of the 1000 recipes from one of my bread books.....really...I did.  Well this recipe is kind of adapted from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  I started with the recipe for Italian Bread and changed the biga to using  my sourdough starter or le

A book I've owned for many years and still one of my all time favourites for Italian cooking is Carlo Middione's 'The Food of Southern Italy'. Middione's Sicilian Bread Roll in the Old Style or Nfigghiulata Antica he believes may predate calzone, going back to the Saracen occupation of Sicily in the ninth century.

It's been a while - but here I am, right where I need to be - in Paris at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie.  After a day of tour guiding "adventures" (including the return of the "Naked Baker" - a story for which the world is not prepared) I thought I would go over to the competition area, check out the day 3 baking and snap some photos.   Then rest my tired tootsies and post them to TFL.

This is me, taking photos - which I never do in Paris - not even at my Sunday dinner at a famous landmark - so set expectations accordingly - but here they are for you...

I'm soooooo tired!

I made my favourite Pasta today, I only do this a few times a year and spend the whole day making them. I always make them in bulk and freeze them, tho most of the time my extended family end up taking most of my stash!lol.....Hmmm I made 100 Maultaschen today, I wonder how many I will get to freeze and eat?

This is a bulk recipe that makes approx. 100 large Maultaschen.

Maultaschen

Pasta Dough

2 kilos of type oo flour

2 dozen eggs

salt

Filling

500 grams minced bacon (minced)

8 medium sized onions (minced)

Mornings appear a little darker here after we quietly slipped into autumn with little fanfare or apparent change in day-to-day weather. Both Nat and I have been waiting so impatiently for the cool change of a winter’s day. And although we don’t get the biting cold and snow here in Brisbane, it will make such a refreshing change from the sticky humid weather of late.

I wanted to create a rustic rye, whole wheat, SD bread that was based on David Snyder's  technique for Pugliesi Capriccioso where it is baked upside down and no slashing is involved - since my slashing is primitive to say the least.  I also wanted to incorporate some rye, whole wheat and berries of each as as a boiled soaker to improve the taste, sour and texture of the SD bread while keeping the crumb open, soft and specked with brown bits.   The crust I wanted crunchy right out of the oven and turning to chewy as it cools and ages over 24 hours.  Well this it

Monday 5th March 2012

was looking for a focaccia formula. Had a friend who used to make focaccia. His was very wet and had to be folded several times before baking. Does anyone know what im looking for. thanks