Blog posts

I'm thankful for bread, this website and all the bread nerds here. Hope everyone is having a great day. I've been wanting to share some pictures of my breads, but never seem to get around to taking pictures, but here are a few I've managed to snap. Instead of being in the middle of trying to throw together ten or twelve dishes like I usually am today, I'm lazily putting off making some quickbreads until the last minute and finally gettin my blog going here. My wife has started working nights and we're not having much of a Thanksgiving this year.

I am trying to find the possible cause for this balloon section in a batard loaf. It did not happen to me, but to some of my romanian readers, and I find this to be an intriguing subject to debate. I think the balloon shape is not a quality, but contrary, is unatractive and not to be wanted. Am I wrong?

I tried to figure what are the possible causes for this particular shape and these are my own conclusions:

Advanced warning: For those seeking pictures, turn back now. I was too busy to pull out my phone and take pictures over the course of production. Sorry. Maybe in December though!

As some of you may know, I moved on to a new bakery a little bit more than a half a year ago. My new employment brought along great opportunities, such as being in charge of bread production, recipe development and better hours. I have been enjoying it, though it has given me plenty of ups and downs, but thankfully I made it through my first holiday at the new bakery.

I recently got a $20 bakers couche from brotform.com and tried it out for the first time today.  I floured it up liberally and whomped up a couple of sourdough loaves with sesame seeds for tomorrow (Thanksgiving). 

Today was my first attempt at croissant making.  I was looking for something that was flaky, but could be used as a sandwich.  While mine turned out kind of small, I'm very pleased with my first try. 

I found this recipe on TFL, then changed it up.  This is what I did:

Mix 1/2 cup of starter, 1 3/4 c all purpose flour, 2 T oil (I used olive oil), 1/2 c warm milk together.  Add 1 1/2 t noniodized salt.  Knead LIGHTLY, for only a few minutes.  Place in oiled bowl with plastic wrap, and put in fridge over night.

Next day: 

Bread braiding videos

Due to my interest in learning how to braid bread dough I examined a series of videos on
the subject and the following is my evaluation of them.

Caveats

Although sometimes it is easier to understand a sequence of stills this comment focuses
only on videos and on the braiding of the dough, not on its intrinsic quality.

Made this today in anticipation of turkey sandwiches over the next few days. From Breadtopia http://www.breadtopia.com/whole-grain-sourdough/

White whole wheat, rye, spelt, KA AP. 

I did a 3-day process: 12 hour overnight first proof, 24-hour cold retard, and 4.5 hour final proof. Baked in my combo cooker, 20 mins covered, 25 uncovered @485F with a preheat.

Have to wait to open it. But it smells incredible! 

I want to buy a new book, and I need your opinions to help me decide which one.

1. I need weights for ingredients in metric system. And bakers percentages, if posssible.

2. I want formulas for sourdough breads. I usually don't bake sweet doughs, just plain and lean sourdough breads (but I don't mind if the book has some formulas for croissants, challah, panetone, etc)

3. I don't want a "begginners friendly" book. I want a book for advanced (home) bakers, with technical informations and professional approach.

These are both "a first time" for me. I never made ciabatta before, and I never made SFSD before. The formula I used for ciabatta was from Txfarmer blog, the one that is made in 36 hours (I made in 40 hours), and I was so pleased with the result, I baked it twice, one after another. First time with some whole wheat in it, and second time with some rye and wheat germs, toasted. I'll defenitely make this formula again, I still have to learn when to stop the fermentation and how much to develop the gluten before putting the dough in the fridge.