Blog posts

My nostrils flared, vacuuming the air with rapid snorts. 

"What's that smell?" I thought.

Convincing myself that my mind was playing tricks, I turned the knob of my kitchen sink and continued rinsing the dishes.

Ding!

Fifteen minutes had elapsed and my countertop oven had finished steaming. Wary of the hazards of hot water vapour, I slipped my arms into my long-sleeved oven mitts and removed the baking tray from the oven.

"Ahh dammit, I burnt the towel!"

My successful try for Anis Bouabsa's baguettes

In addition to Breadsong's post and Toad.de.b's post, I have a couple more loaves to add from Ken Forkish's Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast.  

Desem bread is a favorite of mine, in no small part because I can only make it in the winter. But it's also beloved because it was one of the first sourdoughs I ever made, and because it comes from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, a book that, though it is not without its flaws, is still a book that I love dearly and continue to bake from several times a month.

Sourdough with Green Olives and Lardons of Bacon

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This weeks bakes, adapted from Hamelman. Sort-of Vermont Sourdough and sort-of Five Grain Levain.

Think I have the slashing thing going now; thanks to all, especially dmsnyner.

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My stove oven is finally fixed and working again after 10 days without it!  First bake for 2013 - potato bread from the Tassajara Recipe Book.  We had leftover mashed potatoes that morphed into this bread, a light airy loaf ready for toasting as part of tomorrow's breakfast.  I tested out the Brod and Taylor proofer I got for Christmas and it works like a dream, especially good during the colder winter months. 

Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter Day 1 - Day 7 followed directions, everying went OK  but it did not expand or smell,  on day 15 tried using starter on live drill as prescribed in the recipe for making bread.  It did not rise bout baked it anyway and have a goog hard ball.

Have continued to add flower, water and apple cider vinegar but it does not rise.

Lately I've been trying to codify the variables of mixing and kneading dough in my DLX. Since it seems to act as a spiral mixer would, I used that as my base. Spiral mixers run at   about 100RPM in first speed, and 200RPM in second; that's the hook rotational speed. Bowl speed is more on the order of 15RPM. Commercial spiral mixers that I've checked use separate motors for each.