Blog posts

I've been craving a whole wheat loaf lately. After consulting Tartine Bread (aka book #2), I chose to make Chad's whole wheat complet which is 70% whole wheat flour. I increased the final dough's hydration from 80% to 85%. I used a not-so-young levain because I like it sour. Just for kicks I added some lightly toasted walnuts and walnut oil too. Mine didn't turn out as open and hole-y as the non-walnut WW one pictured in the book, but it sure tasted great. It was moist and hearty and filled with tons of walnut goodness.

This is another take on Lucy’s recent sprouted grain experimentation.   This time she used a 4 whole grain blend of equal parts of: spelt, rye, farro and wheat for the sprouted part and the whole grain part too.  But she cut the sprouted part in half hoping to further bring this kind of bread back down to earth without it fermenting away at ramming speed and over proofing.

Being a beginner baker would using unbleached flour and ap flour give a better rise and crumb.?Or should I just use one or the other? As many wonderful bread as I have seen here my skills are just not ready for some of the other flours and grains yet. One must know their limits.

                           Thanks for all the help.:-) :-)

So, after the success with the loaf from Lesson One I've decided to change it a little before going to the one from Lesson Two.

So I haven't been around in a long time only perusing and wishing I had time to bake. I have missed a great deal and saddens me to have misses some great bakes from everyone. While I'm still short on baking time (this job thing keeps getting in the way....LOL) I made some time last week to make some Pain Au Chocolate and Croissants! I have to say they ended up being delicious and flaky and buttery but not greasy. I must admit I'm not sure about the large honeycomb crumb versus the smaller tighter crumb.

I started it at 3am in the Morning * yes I know I am silly but if you suffer from Insomnia you need to do something, right? *

Ingredients

250g mature Stiff Starter * 50% hydration *

400g Bread flour

250g Whole wheat flour

 100g Rye flour

2tbsp Caraway Seeds * we like the taste so I used quite a bit *

500g tepid Water

2Tbsp Vegetable Oil

25g coarse Salt

I mixed the stiff Starter with the Water, added all the flours and caraway seeds and mixed it until well combined.

Autolised for 50 Minutes.

So, I just found out I have my own blog here. When I sign in I thought I would like to keep a register of my "experiments", and I was thinking of creating a blog for it, it turns out I already have one :D

Since I started again with my baking, I will use this blog to register what I'm doing, so I can keep track and check my improvement (hopefully).

This first entry is about the first bread I made with the help of TFL. The bread from Lesson One.

For the longest time, I tried no-knead recipes, not accepting that my toaster oven doesn't go beyond 450F and I don't have a dutch oven. I also had a really large loaf pan, which meant at least 4 cups of flour and a LOT of badly baked bread to eat and finish when an experiment went wrong. I read loads of stuff (some of it on this site!) about how stone ground atta flour available in India is not really bread-friendly, and other stuff about how maida (all-purpose flour) is okay, but not really healthy.

Hello,

          I have attempted bread making in the past...with disastrous results!! But then I found this site and with the help of my 4 year old daughter We  made bread,and its editable.:-) :-) :-)