Blog posts

Oddly, all this time baking bread, I have never tried making an olive loaf.  I love olive loaves but for some reason never attempted one until now.  Having just recently been given the Tartine book as a gift, I used the idea of using olives, herbs and lemon zest.  I also baked up a few levain loaves to fix that San Francisco sourdough craving I have been having.

Finally we are getting some rain and I'm still on semi hiatus with the Farmer's Market trading and took another week off.  Even after making bread 40 hours a week and taking this off i find myself wanting to play.  I suppose I have a lot of inspiration with "end of the year gifts".  I received Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, Tartine 3, Pizza, How Baking Works for my book collection.  I also got a Cuisinart Burr Mill Ginder so I'm now geeking out on making perfect coffee.  I make coffee on my scale now.  And it feels good.

Lately, when making the Chad Robertson Basic Country Loaf, rather than "save" the remaining 200 grams of levain (recall, baked with it all for my first loaf, by accident.  The bread came out nice but I think it was a bit too chewy), I have been making another 2 loaves worth of dough.  This results in a surplus bread.   So I have been making Pizzas:

Just a quick post.

26 hour Sourdough right out of the oven, still cracking and popping. 78% Hydro

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Great Crumb

 I've made German Pretzel Rolls many times now and they are always a hit at parties and just one of the best types of breads to make.  I usually make the original version using yeast and bread flour but I've made them with some dark rye and sourdough starter before as well.

This time I wanted to push the envelope a bit and used beer instead of water and added some caramelized onions to really kick it up a notch.

To get that authentic pretzel color and crust you must use Lye but if you really are afraid you can use baking soda.

[quote]Ever wonder why supermarkets have bakeries close to the store entrance? Not only does the fragrance of just-baked bread signal freshness and comfort, but store managers know that when you smell bread you get hungry. Some supermarkets don’t even bother with actual bakeries. Rather, they pump the scent of (artificial) fresh-baked-bread through the ceiling vents.[/quote]

I found the article interesting from a branding perspective, but the final paragraph was the killer app.

I love the rich nutty flavor beer adds to a sourdough especially when there is a good hearty mix of whole grain flours and add-ins.

I have finally managed to translate in English this article I published in my Romanian blog about the history of bread and bakeries. My source was the book ”The History of Food” by Maguellone Toussaint-Samat. 

I hope you will find it useful.

 Bordelaise, nothing special, surprisingly heavy, probably over-mixed. Good for soup.

Husband preferred Field Blend # 1( in the back) , less bitter than T3, but thought both were very good. There is a little more wheat in the T3, might be the difference.

At least I didn't chuck any to the birds :)

Yesterday I baked 3 Rye breads from 3 different books.

 Lower left is Bordelaise from French Culinary Inst. 10% rye, 69% hydration, machine mixed.

2 on top are Field Blend #1 from FWSY, 25% whole grain, 75% hydration, hand mixed.