Blog posts

Under the ‘pressure’ from Akiko – “…tell me how it turns out, even if you are NOT SUCCESSFUL. Please tell me the truth…,” I handled this bake with intense focus as if I were sitting for an important academic examination. I even violated the baking curfew I had vowed to administer. But I can tell you now, I’ve had no regrets doing so, even though the after-effects of sleep deprivation made me walk around like a zombie the following two days.

I first experienced the magic of wild fruit yeasts when developing my three sourdough starters two years ago.All three of them were built from wild yeasts in raisins. Today, my second jar of wild fruit yeasts are brought to life.Through the glass, I can feel the energy of these invisible microorganisms, see cycles of new lives, and almost picture my new breads!My heart is filled with joy.I’m looking forward to the many fun and exciting experiments to come!

Here are some pictures of my wild fruit yeasts:

Hey guys,

I prepared and shaped a double test batch of the straight dough croissant formula last night, tossed them in the fridge overnight, then proofed and baked them at my baking & pastry arts skills class this morning.

I could have proofed them a bit longer but I had to get out of there as another class was getting ready to start. These were done all by hand. I guess I'll start trying the sheeter at work or school now.

Formula;

Croissant Dough from Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry

My mission to practice making croissants continues. Fourth-time was indeed a charm. I was quite happy with the result and felt that I was on the right track. There could be a number of factors contributing to better outcomes this week.

 Easter as we know is shared and respected over most of the world. Last year I noticed  people were asking for recipies for Easter breads.

So I noted that for next year(being 2011) I would start a blog asking people of different nationalities to share their traditional easter bread from their homeland or even a recipe handed down through their families over the years that comes out as family treat at easter only.

Recently my husband announced that he needed to cut way back on salt in his diet, and after quizzing me about the bread I've been baking, determined that he needed to cut way back on my bread.   Given that he's my principal guinea pig (I mean recipient, I mean,... oh forget it)  I viewed this as a setback.   After some thought though I realized it was an opportunity.   And so ...  Tuscan bread.

This is my second experiment with using beer brewing methods to make a bread.

This time I wanted to see how the flovor of hops would taste in a baked loaf. 

barley flour soaker. Leave at room temp overnight.

Peter Reinhart calls for malt powder in several recipes in Crust and Crumb so I ordered some diastatic malt from Amazon.  Yesterday was the first time I've tried it.  The stuff tastes quite sweet.  I threw together some dough, doubling up on the yeast and malt percentages Reinhart might call for just for jollies.  The stuff rose higher and faster than anything I can recall!!!  It was surprising, almost spooky!