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Hello,
I first tasted Pan de Cioccolate, an amazing bread!, when it was served to students at SFBI's weekend Baguette workshop last October. I was so happy to see that bread again, when attending my recent class there :^)
The formula for this bread is in Advanced Bread and Pastry, so today I gave it a go.
My husband loves it too, and upon tasting it, requested that I bake it for his birthday and stick a candle in it! :^)

We took a little driving holiday down to San Francisco, and stopped at some really nice bakeries while we were away.
I took some pictures! Couldn't resist!:

Pearl Bakery in Portland, OR (large pugliese!):
 

It's much nicer to live with my wife, along with San Joaquin Sourdough, than alone. And if there is any bread that makes her happier than San Joaquin Sourdough, it's the Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread from BBA. So I baked some today.

The Bread Bakers Guild of America recently hosted a class, “Introduction to Artisan Bread”, at SFBI on June 18-19. I signed up for this one - it was a really good class!, with theory and lots and lots of hands on. SFBI generously donated their space for this class, and SFBI instructor Mac McConnell and assistant David were both volunteering their time.

Today I made a variation on Reinhart's Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread from Bread Baker's Apprentice.  As usual I mixed Pecans and Walnuts.  This time--being out of raisins--I used dried cranberries, soaked, drained and sprinkled with sugar.

Here it is:

It's very good.  The cranberries have a nice tooth and touch of tartness.

Glenn

While I enjoy a variety of breads, the San Joaquin Sourdough remains my “go to” bread. It's easy to fit into a busy schedule. It uses few ingredients. It always tastes delicious. It's wonderful freshly baked but also makes great toast, French toast, garlic bread and croutons for salads or onion soup. It is almost as good after being frozen as fresh. What's not to like?

This has been a very baking intensive weekend and I love it!!

Looks like summer has decided to pay London a visit, we had a nice and sunny day yesterday, a perfect day to make a fruit sourdough. If I start early enough, it will give me a whole day to proof the dough, warm room temperatures to speed up the fermentation, some sugar and fruit in the dough to get things going and to be ready to bake at the end of the night.

The recipe provides an icing on the biscotti.   Wonderful.   Sounds good.    But in my application the cold biscotti absorbs the icing.   The icing is not cold but it is warm.   Is there something I should add to it??    I want the frosting to cake and be visible on the outside of the biscotti.

Frosting
1 cup confectionary sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons milk
2 drops of lemon juice
2 drops of extract (of your choice)
1 tablespoon orange juice
Zest of the orange

I just finished a week at SFBI taking their whole grain bread class.  We made about 20 different kinds of bread;  they were all good and many were outstanding.  There were lots of interesting shapes, and we used many add-ins, such as dried pears, nuts, seeds and sprouted wheat berries.  This was the third week-long class I've taken there, and I'm starting to be able to work more efficiently and keep up with the more experienced students.  As usual, there was a mixture of home bakers and professionals.  It was a very productive week and I'm becoming more certain

Two loaves underway this weekend - Hamelman's Pain au Levain, and Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Whole-Wheat Flour - both use a stiff levain which I hadn't done before, so I made enough to do a good-sized loaf for each.