Blog posts

Living in a part of the world with a fair number of Portuguese folks living here, I've heard of and read about broa bread, but I haven't been able to find a "gold standard" in any local bakery to compare to.  I found a broa bread in a Portuguese restaurant, but it was more like a heavy biscuit than a corny, slightly sweetish loaf I've been led to believe it is.  So I thought I'd share my latest experiment with the keeners here at TFL to see what you have to say.

It’s just a piece of home kitchen equipment, but it has inspired opinions from “absolutely necessary” to “nearly utterly worthless.”

Over a year ago I received my copy of Carol Field's "The Italian Baker". 

Until today I only used the recipes for Pugliese and the Chocolate And Milk Bread, both being among our favourite breads.

I wanted to explore this great book more in depth for a while, and took y first step today - making the white Pane Di Como, and the 50% rye Pane Nero Di Bolzano.

Both came out very nice, the Pane Nero with an amazing and surprising note of almond.

We have wanted to take up Michael Wilson’s ‘Spelt Challenge’ of 100% white spelt at 100% hydration ever since we saw his fine post.  In our case we milled the whole grain and sifted it to 78% extraction.

Ok ok, so maybe it's not *technically* Fall yet. But down here in New Orleans we don't get seasons and lately we've been experiencing cool(er) weather than normal. Having lived in the Chicago suburbs all my life I always told myself that I would move someplace warm. Some place where it didn't get cold and it didn't snow. But now that I have the warmer weather.....I miss the changing seasons dreadfully! I miss the leaves changing color. I miss the crisp autumn air. I even miss snow on the ground around Christmas time and bundling up in winter coats and knit hats.

Okay, so every time I go down to my basement I keep passing the bottle of Peppermint Mocha Kahlua staring at me from its perch on our bar.  It's red and white bottle was just yelling at me to try it in a bread or down some with ice, so I decided to do both.

Hello and welcome to my first ever blog!

A little about me. I'm a serious amateur cook with a perfectionist streak. Whether that's good or bad depends on the day. I've baked bread before but have never been excited with the results and for many years I spent my efforts elsewhere. I have the good fortune of having access to quite a good bakery in Rochester, NY and when I visit Boston I often stop at my favorite bakery there.