We've been visiting my parents in the Pacific Northwest over the holidays, and naturally I wanted to bake bread. A friend of mine gave me some of her starter so I've been having some fun experimenting in a different environment using the tools available.
I was so inspired and moved by the response to PalwithnoovenP's challenge that I belatedly present my own entry.
There's a cooking blog I enjoy reading called Guai Shu Shu. I like this blog because the writer posts a lot of "home-style" recipes from various parts of south-east Asia (e.g. Singapore, Malaysia). I am really interested in the flavour combinations and cooking techniques from this region.
To celebrate my housemate's birthday my recent baking experiment was a number of beer-inspired breads.
This loaf was quite a bit more experimental. I was trying to emulate a really awesome loaf that is pretty much only available at a tiny gourmet market over the hill and toward the coast from here (in Pescadero, to be precise) but I ended up with something else entirely.
I'm starting off this challenge with a relatively simple loaf. This is my own version of the Tartine country loaf, simplified quite a bit from the original and timed to work in my kitchen with my starter. I skip the overnight levain altogether, and just use ripe starter. There's more acid transfer, but I actually like my sourdough sour. And I skipped the autolyse step as well. The regular turning at 30 minute intervals I retained, but then proof for an excessively long 10 hours overnight in a cool 65 degree kitchen.
These aren't the best looking baguettes in the world but they did taste pretty good for an all white flour baguette. I originally planned to sub out some of the flour for some whole grain flour but being in a rush to do things, I completely forgot. I needed these to go with a caramelized onion, bacon, cheese dip that I was bringing to a friend's house for New Year's eve.
Here is the link where I got the recipe:
First bake of 2017! I have quite the collection of ingredients in my downstairs fridge so I need to start using it up. One shelf has grown to two and if I don't thin it out, it will take over the fridge. ;-)
How do you master any given skill? Practice. Thousands of hours of work. Analysis of failures, and successes too.
Toward that end, my own personal self-imposed challenge for 2017 will be to bake at least 50 loaves of bread (hopefully more), documenting and photographing each one. I'll post the successes and also the failures here in this blog. I hope that by doing so, I'll be a better baker at the end of 2017 than I was at the start of 2017.
For my New Year's Eve bake? Pull, vat else! Hey I am working on my braiding technique and bake one of these a week. Also a chance to wish all my fresh loaf friends greetings, best wishes, health, health, happiness, interesting times and great baking! I also have a loaf of high hydration sanny bread on the go to balance things.
