Blog posts

Yesterday was the infamous Mardi Gras, and since my drinking and partying days are (for the most part) over, I decided to celebrate by baking pretty much all day.  My husband's family is from Louisiana, and we both assumed that someone would be having some sort of dinner, so the night before I prepared a laminated brioche to be formed into a danish ring King Cake. I had tried this recipe on a smaller scale a couple weeks ago with good results, despite the fact that some of the recipe was somewhat "lost in translation".

This is what happens when one tries to make the Oatmeal Bread from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book on a day that turned out to be too busy to make bread! 

The night before, I had cooked 1 1/3 cups of Roger's Porridge Oats* in 2 cups of boiling water, adding 1 Tbsp of salt once the porridge was off the heat.  I left the porridge to cool overnight in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. 

I have disappeared for weeks for a good reason: went to Argentina and got on a ship to Antarctic! (Trip itinerary here: http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic-expeditions/crossing-antarctic-circle/overview) Here's my trip report...

So many penguins! We are required to keep >5 meters away from them, but there are so many, can't get away!

I made a gluten free Black Forest Gateau  for a friends birthday. It was a challenge for me  since the recipe was written in German . I actually doubled the recipe and replaced the 100 grams of flour with GF flour and the cake turned out perfect. I thought I'd share the recipe in case there are any GF bakers interested, the recipe can be found here http://tinyurl.com/6ptz3fs

Guess I should have cleaned the bench before taking this photo! lol

I want to share with you how happy I am with the Brod & Taylor proofer (I am not a paid spokesperson, just a happy customer). It is well worth the investment. Why? Because it provides a consistent, controlled environment for your dough to proof. It works for building a levain, fermenting dough, and final proofing. I can achieve exact dough temps without it being a hassle. I can predict the timing of the dough much better since the temp inside the proffer is consistent. What a difference it has made in the final bread.

Once more, reminded by Karin's blog, i bake another recipe out of Hamelman's "BREAD". The recipe, cast away behind Volkornbrot with flaxseeds in Sourdough Breads section, was unintentionally overlooked. Karin (hanseata)has Praised the bread, and i had to bake a mutigrain SD sourdough sometime, so i did.

Baguettes made with San Francisco Sourdough dough

I still find it a funny experience to bake and then display small snippets of my life. Over the past fortnight I have perhaps pondered too deeply on this and my relationship with baking and bread … driven poor Nat to distraction I am sure.

So what do I want my bread to be like?