May 6, 2021.
10:35 am. Mix (by hand/spatula) to homogeneity: (Thank you, Mariana, for that phrase.)
A former owner of our home had this BBQ enclosure built by the back patio. We never wanted to use it for it's originally intended purpose, because we didn't want bbq smoke etc accumulating on the painted ceiling of the patio cover. My very talented husband ran power out to it, and now I have an official summer kitchen. Just the thing for baking in the hot AZ summer! I did a test bake today.
Two words I had never thought of stringing together before yesterday.
But just for the fun of it I hand mixed the Bouabsa dough at its normal 75% hydration with it's quite low iDY at 0.16%. Modifying the remainder of the method, the dough was BF'ed for ~100 minutes with "ciabatta-like" folds in the vessel at 30 60 & 90 minutes. Then off to retard for ~20 hours.
i recently mentioned the need to get a new donor starter as mine was unreliable and was destined for the compost tumbler. Several member of the local bread enthusiasts group kindly offered me some of theirs. i chose someone close by and put it to work straight away. i decided to mix the dough well and do the bulk ferment undisturbed for its entirety. Things didnt go quite to plan and a family emergency meant the dough was needing to be retarded, i chose the back verandah as the nights have been getting cool and i didnt want fridge temps.
For my reference-so that I'll remember which is which. Hope it's useful to you, too.
I remember clearly when I wrote down the ingredient list that I was to use coconut milk in this bread. But I mixed 2% milk instead 🤦🏻♀️ Still it came out as a fragrant tasty bread! I braided the 5-strand loaf too tightly too.
Joy Ride coffee has a YouTube channel with what, for me, are quintessential quarantine videos. Videos often have a transporting sound track, and the visuals usually include beautiful tracking shots of Romanian scenery which have transported me out of lockdown. His quest for lacy crumb has been quite 'infectious', if you'll excuse the covid pun.
May 1, 2021.
This was an experiment to see if a 1000 g 93% WW dough could be baked in my low profile toaster oven.
I used a 10.25" diameter Lodge cast iron pan with two short handles.
I took out the toaster oven's rack, and used a smaller 7" diameter Lodge cast iron serving griddle/plate as a stand-off to hold the 10.25" pan off/above the heating elements' shields.
I baked it for 11 minutes at 450 F, and 23 min at 400 F, with bottom heat. Then 7 minutes at 400 F with bottom and top heat to brown the top.
Week #2 of working on my list of TFL'er bakes I've been wanting to try. This week was one of Ilya's rye bakes. Well, not exactly one of his bakes, but with his guidance and tips, I tried this recipe from Rus Brot.
