Blog posts

Some time ago I promised alfanso to make baguettes once and they are here. Not really very nice, but not too bad at all for the first time. Definitely I have to learn baguette scoring.

I used Alfanso's recipe with a small change that I was using 100% hydration starter, the rest was the same.

I was baking them in my steam oven at 230 dC and high steam for about 25 minutes and at the beginning I dropped 2 ice cubes on a hot skillet to generate a steam blast.

Internet blows at the new house so I started reading about sourdough in november, ordered bunch of shit from amazon and started baking mid december.  

last two batches i've been mixing einkorn into the wholewheat/bread flour and adding stuff like chestnut puree/raisins/nuts.  came out pretty good!

Here are some loafs I've pulled out of the oven from the latest to the first loaf of bread i ever baked.

You are all going to think that I keep posting the same loaf of bread over and over again because they all look so much alike! Ha ha! I promise that they are all different. 

My previous attempt at an artichoke loaf had too much garlic (in fact, I should just call it a very successful garlic bread) and not nearly enough artichoke hearts. The cheese (a mix of shredded parmesan, romano, and asiago) worked really well.

For this attempt, I roasted the artichoke hearts (maybe a bit too much) with Italian seasoning and olive oil. I also used a lot more of it, and omitted the garlic altogether. Because the cheese in the last one was just right, I used more of it in this version. :)

For my third loaf of my personal 50 loaf 2017 challenge, I'm repeating the Tartine-esque country loaf already. It's a great loaf, and I've gotten reasonably good at it (well, my version, anyway) so I'll be baking it fairly often.

Happy new year everyone! Haven't posted any bread in awhile as there was nothing worth posting...until my first 2017 bake, which is perhaps the biggest oven spring that I have gotten.

Why does my bread at times split open while it is baking?

I baked something I hardly ever do anymore (for some reason) - a simple white ciabatta. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to work with a soft, silky, high-hydration white dough with olive oil, and simply fold it into a rough shape. The bread was perfect cut into pieces for dipping into our New Year's Eve cheese fondue, as well as simply enjoying with butter or whatever. Even dry leftover cubes went into the bowls of stew made from the leftover meats, broth and vegetables from the broth fondue, to soak up all that tasty goodness.

   Cookies and yeasted Pretzels  were my gateway baking experience to bread! And this is a post about cookies. On November 2 I had the good fortune of meeting Dori Greenspan, noted cookbook author. I brought my wellworn cookbook,  Paris Sweets  for her to sign and she also signed a copy of her new latest cookie cookbook, Dorie's Cookies! 

These were a few of my favorite things

Whole Wheat Fig-Pecan with 75% hydration mixed flour Levain

Hamelman Olive with 125% hydration Rye Levain

SFBI Pain au Levain with caraway seeds, cornstarch glaze and 75% hydration mixed flour Levain