Blog posts

My interpretation of, Pane de Altamura - Carol Fields, The Italian Baker (Page #95)

The bread of Altamura is the only bread in Italia, to be protected by, Denominazione d'Origine Protetta (DOP, Designation of Origin) 

This bake is inspired by the ancient bread from Altamura

Phase 1 -  The Biga

Commercial yeast kick starter: Scant 1/2 tsp. IDY (Exactly 1.4 grams)

Flour (100% semola rimacinata) 250 G. 100%

Too hot and too pregnant to bake as much as I'd like and honestly I haven't been too proud of my bakes recently, but here it goes. 

Rolls from The Perfect Loaf (but subbed sweet potato for white) 

Focaccia from The Perfect Loaf, but added peaches for chix salad sandwiches 

50/50 white/wheat laminated sourdough with figs and walnuts - awesome combo! 

This is my first attempt with this formula I’ve put together for a Japanese inspired sourdough using red miso paste and furikake.  Furikake for those unfamiliar with it is a seasoning blend that can vary that Japanese often use to top their steamed rice.  This particular one has nori flakes, bonito and sesame seeds as the primary ingredient.  I’ve based this on Kristen’s basic sourdough recipe.

Total Dough Weight 900 g

Total Flour 494 g 

Bread Flour 80%

Whole Wheat 20%

I am finally getting back to baking sourdough. I went into turtle mode and it’s time to crawl out of my shell. Maybe that should hermit crab mode since turtles can’t crawl out of their shells. ?

Anyhow, I decided a nice fairly simple porridge bread would be a nice thing to make. And it was! 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves

Porridge 

100 g large rolled oats

200 g water

45 g honey

40 g butter

Dough

700 g unbleached flour

My first post here!

I've been baking sourdough bread for the last few months (ever since yeast completely disappeared from the shops for a while here in the UK), having never baked any bread before. I have produced some frisbees a couple of times and a few times made gorgeous loafs.

But I only just now started trying rye. Coming from Russia, it's something I miss here (although I've never been a big fan of rye breads, I guess you don't know what you like until you can't have it!). So I decided to bake it myself.

This is a nice dinner bread I like to make when the herb garden is in full swing.  The thyme and sage give it a wonderful savory touch that is not too heavy.  You can adjust the herb amounts to taste. Dried herbs are more concentrated, so I use smaller amounts than fresh.

60 g 100% hydration starter (active)

300 g water

300 g bread flour

90 g whole wheat flour

8 g salt

2 Tblsp. finely chopped fresh sage

2Tblsp. finely chopped fresh thyme

I am having trouble deciding if this is a good crumb or fools crumb. I have underfermented breads before and they were very dense, but this loaf was not dense. Light and airy. It just has a unique pattern of bubbles. The bulk ferment was 4.5 hours at 76F. Followed by a cold proof for 14 hours. Any feedback or tips would be great. Thanks

I made a new sourdough starter a few weeks ago and this was it's inaugural loaf of bread! I went with a no-knead method for this first one instead of my typical bread with stretch and folds. I was going for simplicity on this one and I wanted to make a video about my no-knead process. Below is the video and the process:

Ingredients

KA Bread Flour - 450g

Rye Sourdough Starter 100% hydration - 74g (Was going for 70 but overshot)

Water - 300g

Salt - 10g

Video

Method

...just kidding, there's no butter sandwich. But, I baked another loaf this morning. I made A LOT of starter for some reason, and went on a long weekend. The levain was put in the fridge and three days later it was a pile of bubbly mush. 

"I'm tired of believing I need to ferment sourdough with a fresh levain.." I thought to myself. So, I decided to bake a loaf of bread with 3 day old, cold levain—without refreshing it one little bit. 

I stuck with a safe 75% hydration recipe of mine and trusted my beast of a starter. 

This is a strange and turbulent time...a viral pandemic upon us, the world in an ongoing struggle to survive and the best and worst of humanity on display every day. There is little comfort to be found anywhere as the debates, misinformation, disuptes and yes, death and suffering as a result of covid-19 fill our days.