Forgive me. I have strayed from the unending pursuit of the platonic ideal in bread baking, and have had some fun.
Hi, not sure if these photo's will work.
I just made the best loaf of my life :) this time the thing which made it work so well, I think, was being more patient.
I went to the shops when it was proving, I had found a nice warm spot in the boiler cupboard for it to sit and I let it stay there for an hour or so, just ignored it really.
Then I kneaded it for about 8 minutes or so, making sure I put in as little flour as I could, so the dough remained lovely and soft and springy.
I'm a product of the great depression and saw many ways of saving money. Mother Nature supplied most of what we needed on the farm. One winter the sourdough died. Dad took us to see Grandma and get a share of her starter. It was brought home on a hot water bottle and wrapped in a sweater lest it get too cold and die.
That was in 1938 and as far as I know it is still going strong. I'm starting my own sourdough now. I have been retired over 20 years and been baking just as a hobby. Hope the sourdough is as good as mother made.
Note: 6/13/2011 To make good crust and flavor for a baguette, especially in summer, I really watch out for the dough temperature more than the time and roomtemperature.
I pulled together in one recipe from my post of Amazing airy baguette that I posted before http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22286/amazing-airy-holey-baguettes
This bread is based on the light rye formula in "Bread", however, I skipped commercial yeast, and added cumin and orange for a middle-eastern-ish flavor. The pin-wheel shaping method was from wildyeast's blog here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2011/05/05/shaping-a-pinwheel/
Light Rye with Cumin and Orange
*Makes 2X700g loaves
- Levain
medium rye flour, 136g
water, 108g
I found this recipe in Dan Lepard’s Exceptional Cake cookbook. Given that it was book about cake, I didn’t expect to see baked goods with yeast in there, especially not for the dish called Krantz Cake.
Apparently (quoting Dan Lepard) yeast cake is a feature of German baking. I was curious to find out how yeast leavened cake would be different from baking powder or soda.
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you all know I'm still baking even if I'm not posting as often... Here's the latest from my kitchen:
1. Invisible Pizzas (We forgot to take pictures)
2. Baguettes
3. Olive Oil Brioche with Dried Pears and Toasted Walnuts
I was recently told about a bread that was common in czech republic. Rohlik or Rohilky, This bread is rolled like a cressant roll and topped with salt or caraway seed. I have searched many sites and cant find a formula for this bread. Can anyone help? Thanks
Sometimes, one needs to bake bread without having to plan ahead. This is from "BREAD"'s straight dough bread
section that needs no planning ahead. 5 Grain bread is an enriched, wholewheat bread that contains rolled oats, eggs, oil, corn meal, and flax seeds It is 50% wholegrain, with 40% wholewheat flour, and 10% Rye flour. The rest is high Gluten Flour, and i used a good bread flour+Vital Wheat gluten.
Total time from mixing to baking is 3.5-4Hrs. it is a quick bread, a very very flavorful quick bread that hits its pinnacle when toasted, i guarantee.
When a part of my life feels out of control, I turn my frustrations into baking bread . There is something so productive about turning those feelings whether they are self doubt, anger, frustration or sadness into loaves of bread.
