Blog posts

Loaf. 

I almost (almost) decided not to have this be my first blog. Then I thought... Perhaps there is someone else out there having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. We all know misery loves company, and since this day was actually yesterday I can now view it as amusing. 

First... see loaf above. Photo is worth a 1000 words, right? 

Ohh, just digress a minute, I saw "song of the bakers" Rosemary Ficaccia on here..

LOVELY, LOVELY ,LOVELY...

Spaghetti looked good too....

This is one of my favourite breads.

I didn't have much time to bake this weekend, so I decided to fit in a simple focaccia bake to go along side a Spaghetti Pomodoro I was planning to make for dinner.

And away we go again.  

Toasted Sesame Sour with Spelt

(wanted it to be lemon sesame but I didn't use enough zest to taste, maybe that was good)

Formula for 2- 750 g loaves

Levain: (second build from ripe starter) 

26 g Starter
34.4 g Artisan
16 g Wheat, fresh milled
1.6 g Rye, fresh milled
48.8 g H20
------------------------------------
Mix at 75 deg 6-8 hours

For the first time in five months I baked bread at home and it made me very nervous.

It is an entirely different proposition to make a hand full of breads in a home oven as opposed to the rhythm and flow that working in large batches provides. My attention and perfectionist streak is focused on too few ... the dough is essentially the same (though not quite as rewarding) ... but the loading of a home oven is problematic and inefficient.

... the nicest dough in the world can be ruined by a lousy oven.

I have 2 hobbies... Sourdough bread baking and BBQ.  If you are curios about how my loaves look or what a Big Green Egg is, take a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/food_pictures/?details=1

Some different breads. The one in the foreground is a cherry tomato and oregano. It turned out quite good but would go with less hydration next time to compensate for the tomato juice. The one before last is a rasin and pecan an the others are plain. The technique is as described in the other blog:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33632/blueberry-and-white-chocolate-sourdough

I'm visiting my sister in New York and decided to make these last night for today's breakfast.

I have not yet tasted them (I'm still waiting for everyone to wake up) but I think they turned out pretty at least.

The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, although I omitted the poppy seeds.

I started on a silpat

Our family traveled to Spain this past Spring, and Sevilla was our favorite city on the trip, we were there during Semana Santa.  We particularly enjoyed the Tortas de Aceite- yeast-leavened olive oil wafters laced with sesame and anise.  This version is a little different than the standard torta in that it is leavened with sourdough and uses star anise instead of anise seed.

A view of the courtyard in Sevilla's Alcazar, the Royal Palace.

We are now officially on the summer baking schedule.  No more large loaves.  Only 1 small one or possibly 2 if baked on the same day.  All bred baking is done in the mini oven outside.   This particular bake came in at over 1,300 g so it will have to be baked as 2 loaves one after the other to fit the mini oven.  Lucy isn’t quick with basic math.