Blog posts

I've been reading a lot lately about Spelt flour. My interest was sparked by a seemingly Spelt flour interest-spike among TFLer's, and that I've never baked with Spelt. I've also been wanting to create a 40% Whole Wheat sandwich sourdough bread. We routinely bake a pan-shaped 40% whole wheat straight dough, we're very happy with; however, I wanted a similar, but free-form baked sourdough primarily for grilled sandwiches.

The other day, as I was in the process of purchasing a book on Amazon when I noticed the "Other people also bought this" feature that was pointing out a book I have wanted to look at for a long time. Brother Juniper's Bread Book by Peter Reinhart is a classic and I think his first published book.

Paging through it today, I am taken by the variety of good looking bread recipes. There isn't a single photo in the book so when I say good looking I mean the recipes look interesting.Reinhart's writing style is clear and easy to follow as is the case in all of his later works.

I found this recipe called "The Easiest Focaccia in the World" posted online and I have to say they may be right. I was looking for something really easy to accompany a thin sliced sirloin and freshly picked garden salad. (sorry Northerners!!) Anyway, it doesn't get any easier than this.

Here is my slightly modified version. (added the whole wheat)  I apoligize, I had to add some flour and I'm not quite sure what the end flour weight is so you'll have to add to the original amount until you get it to come off the sides of the mixer.

100 grams WW flour

Another formula from Dan Lepard's " The Art of Handmade Bread" (recipe can be found here:　http://beginningwithbread.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/barley-and-rye-bread/ , but as always I encourage you to buy the book, well worth it.)

An original idea. The purpose of this entry is to ask about readers' experiences with flavored waters, stocks, etc. I'm not referring to milk, beer, apple cider, as these have been well covered. Other than the "Pain Marin" at restaurant Ledoyen in Paris, I'm not aware of other flavored breads along these lines.

Setting:

'Snowmageddon 2010', end of Round 1, waiting for Round 2. Between 10 to 20 additional inches of snow expected by tomorrow. We are digging out and digging in. It gives me a chance to try something new.

Background:

Well, this is actually the Chocolate Cinnamon Babka recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. I followed the recipe to a T except I substituted the chocolate for dark brown sugar, as per the request from my girlfriend, who barely ate any after it was done, haha.

Hey All,

Just wanted to share with you some baguettes that I made last night...  Nothing fancy, but I think they turned out pretty nice except for the slightly burnt bottom on a few of them...  These are 65% hydration using a firm 60% hydration sourdough starter and active dry yeast...  I think it's a variation on Eric Kaiser's Baguette Monge, but using American flours, and a firm sourdough starter instead of a liquid one...  It's probably closer to Dominique Saibron's baguettes that do use the firm sourdough starter... 

Yesterday was a milestone in my Bread Baking quest. The seemingly defiant Wholewheat has been brought to its Knees, Well at least to me.

This was a 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Boule i Baked yesterday. Constituted of 100% White Whole Wheat flour i milled, and baked under stainless steel bowl on a stone. It is very mildly sour, and very tender and creamy/ nutty somewhat moist crumb.

Credit and props go to:  thefreshloaf.com, and its members: David (dmsnyder), and ShiaoPing (ShiaoPing), for enlightening me on the stretch and fold method.

Inspired by Shiao-Ping's Miche, Pointe-à-Callière from mid-January, and by the excellent efforts of other bakers here, I decided to try my own hand at this loaf.  My wife requested some loaves for her sister's birthday coming up soon, and it seemed a good opportunity to try this.  I have never had Hamelman's book in hand, and have not baked this loaf before, so I followed Shiao-Ping's excellent instructions for this bake.