Blog posts

Hello,
This bread is from Beth Hensperger’s book, Bread For All Seasons.
Each ‘season’ in the book has a marvelous introduction discussing breads baked to celebrate various holidays
and occasions, in different countries.
Browsing through the book, I found Ciambella Mandorlata, an almond ring bread; it was noted the French call
a ring-shaped bread la baisure, or ‘kissing crust’ – this seemed like a perfectly sweet thing to bake for Valentine’s Day! :^)

I love the smell of this bread. This is what makes it so alluring and eventually delicious.

Tamari-Roasted Mixed Seed Wholemeal Bread with Mixed Pre-ferments

No big experiments or breakthroughs this week.  I had a promise to fulfill: my mother-in-law wanted a loaf of sourdough.  I made a batch of San Francisco Country Sourdough (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25402/sf-country-sourdough-–-my-best-ever…not-sure-why) into three half-kilo batards.  One served nicely last night as a platform for roast turkey sandwiches and tonight for a side dish with white bean soup.  One for M-I-L.  And one for the freezer.

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread 2/12/2012

Today, I baked two more loaves of my evolving San Francisco-style Sourdough bread. (See: My San Francisco Sourdough Quest and My San Francisco Sourdough Quest, Take 2)

Every so often, I like to make a batch of sourdough English muffins.  My go-to recipe is one from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook, which I have blogged about previously.  Today's post is just a series of photos showing the muffins as they cook for your viewing pleasure; something only a bread-head would love.

Up first, the muffins waiting their turn on the griddle:

After feeling the heat for a little bit:

Last weekend, I had a number of errands to run and it occurred to me that I could plan a route that allowed a stop at Fervere Bakery and then go on to the River Market and (since it was close by) The Planter Seed and Spice Company.  Think of it as a trifecta for a foodie.

Mebake mentioned that I seemed to be a very busy baker of late and I knew that I had been caught with my dirty little secret.  I confess it isn't all me in my kitchen.  For the past 7 years, nearly 8 now, I have been fortunate enough to have a full time German Baker's Apprentice.  She is well trained and has an especially fine (if big) nose for what is good and has become my go to tester and taster for everything I make in the kitchen.  She is sort of short legged, so I have to get things down for her from the high cupboards, but that is small pr

As stated in a past blog[LINK]. I am taking things back to basics. I am going to do the same simple recipe and try and take in what I have learned from each bake, and improve on my baking skills.

So, here I go. I have not added anything to this recipe like last time. This is just going to be a basic loaf.

The recipe is the same:

3 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons of yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

1 1/8 cup water

This is how I went about making this loaf: