Blog posts

Hello, friends!

I made burger buns in the air fryer on the 4th of July, but I didn't document the process. 

I asked my good friend Mike for some of his homebrewed Ale so I could use it in a bake and I have to say the results were quite good.

I thought some fresh milled rye and spelt would go perfectly with the ale and I wasn’t mistaken. I added a nice healthy handful of shredded cheese mix which included Asiaggo, Parmesan and Cheddar which paired perfectly with the other ingredients.

New week, new loaf!

This one is a medley of 3 things:
- Buckwheat (Bobs Red Mill)
- Shio Kombu (thin sheets of kelp boiled in soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, then dried and cut into small pieces)
- Aonori (dried and powdered green seaweed)

This just happens to be the softest, lightest, tallest, least sour WW pan loaf I have ever made. Something I wasn’t sure was possible with my home milled grains. I am not sure I can technically say it’s 100% WW because I sifted out 10% of the bran with a 40# screen but only out of the flour used in the final mix. I left the bran in for lthe two stage levain. This was my first attempt to use yeast water for whole grain after reading something Dabrownman wrote here years ago about how it would lighten up whole grain loaves. Indeed it does!

Maybe one (well two) of my best loaves ever, I think.  I was really happy with these, especially because I made them for a family gathering, and I'm always afraid of making loaves to share that don't end up turning out to be up to my personal standards.

While searching for injera bread last week, I happened upon some roasted barley at an Ethiopian grocery and bought it thinking it might make a richer variation on my experimentation with barley porridge loaves.

Roasted barley- 250g

water (with a little yogurt mixed in)- 500g + extra 

Early on in my baking adventures when looking for a 100% rye sourdough I stumbled across Patrick Ryan and his videos on the ilovecookingireland youtube channel. I was pleasantly surprised when when this more recent video came across my feed and though this would be a perfect way to use some of the fresh basil from the back garden. 

Red, White and almost Blue!

Really a delicious combination, and a pretty satisfying bake. The white chocolate chips mostly melt into the crumb, give an overall cocoa-buttery richness that goes well with the cherries. I guessed at amounts, next time will double the add-ins.

July 4th is also known as Independence Day here in the good ol’ US of A. The day we declared our freedom from tyranny of a different sort rather than today’s nut jobs that rule by decree  It’s celebrated with flags, parades, and picnics which must include hot dogs 🌭. Most grocery store buns are perfectly adequate for holding the tubular mystery meat and mustard but this version of a New England bun is a definite upgrade so much so that it is traditionally used for lobster rolls. I also use them for things like chicken salad and the same recipe can be used for hamburger buns.

Today's bake consists of two separate and distinct phases.

Phase #1 - The Mozzarella

Phase #2 The bake

Phase one is fresh mozzarella. This formula is 80% the ingredients going in. The other 20% boils down to (pun unintended) experience pulling/shaping the balls. My end game needs practice. Very pleased with my first crack at this!

We’re finally getting to visit our closest friends who we haven’t seen since last summer.  So we’re bringing pie and bread, of course!  I decided on trying my recipe for 50% WW 25% butter SD brioche again because it is a little bit sinful with the butter and yet has a good amount of whole wheat.  My friends prefer a soft bread so this should be perfect.