Blog posts

I recently baked the Pain de Campagne from Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast and was very pleased with the result.  This is a "hybrid" bread formula, meaning it is made with both a levain starter and a small amount of commercial yeast.  After a long room-temperature bulk fermentation, the loaves are shaped, placed in bannetons, and then put in the refrigerator to retard overnight befoe baking.  Forkish directs you to bake the loaves right out of the fridge.  I've often wondered about this method as I have come across conflicting advice from various experts an

Well this here is the bread I grew up on back in Westchester, NY. For me NY Rye is a light Rye with a tight moist super flavorful crumb crumb. The crust is soft and chewy and much of the flavor of the loaf comes in the chew. I used to be able to just pull the crust off in a ring around the slice and each separate from the interior as a kid.  And yes I sometimes squeezed the insides and ate as a dough ball.  But the best is simply sliced and served with butter.

About a month ago I ran across the website "The Italian Dish" which contained a post titled Amazing Artisan Bread for 40 Cents a Loaf - No Kneading, No Fussing, No Kidding.

This is the author's take on the no knead bread baking technique and the book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Pizza Bliss Redux

August 26, 2013

 My first batch of Ken Forkish's “Pizza Dough with Levain” (See Pizza Bliss) produced the best pizza crust and, after freezing, some of the worst I've had. But I did learn a tremendous amount from the comments and the information generously shared by other TFL members, and my second batch will exploit what I have learned.

I hope everyone has had a good summer, baking and otherwise.  Judging from TFL blogposts, it's been a great one for many.  My only indoor project has been the following formula and process.  I recommend it to anyone with a mill, a fine tamis and willingness to go to a little extra trouble for a nice flavor.

This is my third attempt at BBA. I made a little twist to the swirl replacing it with my expiring strawberry jam and flaxseed. This gives the bread a little extra crunch. But the crumb is a little dry not sure if its because I overbaked it.

I still have to work on my shaping skills. it looks a bit.......odd.

This is my first go with Vollkornbrot.  I have no reference on how this bread should be.  So those of you familiar with vollkornbrot if you could give me your honest opinion of what you see and if I need to make any improvements.

The bread tasted great with a tough crust...difficult to slice but the crumb was moist and had a nice bite.  It was amazing how the bread improved with age.

Thanks Faith

In full attempts to make a couple Miche to eat this week I setup and then realized i didn't have my round brotforms.  So I just continue and made small batards.  

50 % Whole Grain Meesh Batards

50.25%% White, 27.75% white wheat, 20% rye 2 % bran toasted
81.3% hydration (Bran and soaking water are both considered flour and h20)

Rye Starter
50 Starter
90 Wheat
10 Rye
100 White
180 H20
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Soaker
22 toasted bran soaked in 75 g h20
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Thanks to everyone on this site for the great baking.  I learn a lot and take away many great ideas.  Tonight, I wanted to make something lighter, so we had a salad with tuna and homemade balsamic dressing and carrot and coriander soup with curry that I had made.  I thought the popovers would be the perfect complement, and they were.  My husband and I really enjoyed them.  I will be making them again!

Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Multi-grain Bread with PEF

August 26, 2013