Blog posts

Meet Zhou Clementine, my sourdough starter! 

Exactly a fortnight ago I made "it" and documented my sourdough journey and success. I hope you enjoy it! Come along!

For years, I tried to raise my own starter to no avail. All of my attempts were futile despite my best effort to stick to the recipe as closely as possible. I don't know what was going wrong so after each attempt I go through a long period of reclaiming the broken pieces of myself before trying again.

This was inspired by dmsnyder’s miche with dark beer, although what I ended up with is not really that similar to his loaf.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45770/miche-made-dark-beer

 I really liked the flavour of the onions in the last loaf I baked using them, so I decided to try it again and kick up the % of onion bit. Last time I baked with dark beer, I couldn’t really taste it or tell that there was beer in the bread so I notched up the beer … a lot.

Formula:

A loaf made for my son...

About seven, eight years ago, I was busy tending a bread dough and did not meet my younger son's demand. He was in kindergarten then and just learned how to write. He  stuck this note on my bedroom door to protest being ignored. So I became the "Evil Mom".

I've kept the note on the door ever since...

Sunday morning two sourdough bread have just been baked. Very fresh from the oven. The recipe I use is here;

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/

I've baked two sourdough bread yesterday. The first is hydration 70% and the second is 65%. Although different ingredients, 65%hydration has got better crumb. 65% bread recipe is here,

http://www.breadwerx.com/how-to-get-open-crumb-from-stiff-dough-video/

Than you Trevor, my baking is getting better!

Ako

I'm blessed in that I have a husband who not only washes dishes, but also makes excellent beer and wine. A couple of days ago he was mopping up the 'warm' cupboard after his beer primary foamed over. I handed him a small bowl and spoon and asked him to skim some foam of the top of the beer for me - real barm!

After sitting for an hour or two the bowl of barm had subsided to a murky, foamy puddle of about 2 tablespoons in the bottom of the bowl. Then the adventure began...

This is the 3rd try at baking a bread for BBD #83.  The theme is to bake a bread that has flours other than rye, spelt and wheat in it.  The first one used wine for the liquid and it killed of the SD wee beasties here BBD #83 - 50% Whole 10 Grain Half Sprouted Beaujolais, Brie and Salami SD Rolls With Pistachios .  The 2nd shot was a complete success but my wife gave the loaf away to a friend so I didn’t get a crumb shot here

First time to join a challenge like this, I'm so excited! The deadline for bread baking day is on June 1, 2016 so if you're interested to join, you still have time to formulate and submit your entries! Just follow the instructions here:
http://www.kochtopf.me/bbd-83-brot-spezialmehl-bread-special-flour

*I don't have an oven and measuring tools so I take a different approach to baking. I hope this one qualifies...

With an early get-away tomorrow morning for a road trip north for family affairs, I just had to get in two final bakes.  The first was the Hamelman Pain au Levain with whole wheat.  Which I've raved about endlessly.  For a twist, I aded some diced fresh apple and toasted walnuts.  The walnut flavor this time, having been toasted, came through strong, but the apple still held back on the flavor profile.  Back to the drawing board.

The two foccacias shown here use a variety of ingredients that celebrate the arrival of spring: herbs from the garden, sprouted flour and lemon. That's where the similarity ends. Same dough, baked less than 18 hours apart, presented vastly different results. Has that happened to you before?

- Baked the first loaf on Tuesday around 6 pm. after leaving the dough to rest at room temperature for 3 hours. Result: open crumb.