Hello,
I tried making sourdough semolina this weekend, after getting some pointers and help from Franko (Thanks, Franko!).
I mixed up a batch of dough, enough to make 4 big loaves, and was happy to have this opportunity to practice scoring. 
The scoring on the top loaf was on a whim, wanting to see how diamond scoring would look on a batard.
This is my second attempt at this recipe, my first attempt is HERE. I'am very content, as this is the best Pain Au levain i've baked so far. I've made changes to the Recipe and procedures as compared to the earlier attempt. The changes were:
1 - I increased the % of prefermented flour from 15% to around 20% (THANK YOU ANDY!)
2 - I was meticulous about the last 3 refreshments of the starter prior to building my levain (THANK YOU LARRY!)
These decorated sugar cookies were fun to make and flew away quickly after a lovely family Easter dinner.
Happy Easter,
Sylvia
Happy with the oven spring here :) I've been struggling to get cuts I'm satisfied with the disposable razor blade on a stick idea, so I decided to find an old straight blade razor (think what a barber would have used years ago).. I found one and had much better results - I've often admired Della Fattoria's breads (rosemary lemon, in particular) and have wondered how they cut the designs in the top. I find when I use the disposable blade on the stick - the edge of the blade occasionally get's caught when I'm making a cut and tears the bread slightly.
Well, you know.
Although I went into some detail with my panned bread recipe (which has stabilized at my last published formula (or can get snazzed up with the addition of 12-15% each of toasted chopped walnuts and prunes) I've been working up other formulas and channeling Richard Blais - ever unhappy with my baguettes - I have been tweaking formulas that others might call successful.
Last weekend things seemed to go well.
I have always loved Pretzels. Nothing brought more joy to me than walking through the mall and stopping off at Wetzels Pretzels or Auntie Anne's and grabbing a fresh, warm, soft, and chewy pretzel to devour. The scent wafting from Cinnabon could never win me over the smells of a freshly baked pretzel.
I regularly use and SP5 Micro Spiral mixer, I've had good results with it, but as others have noted, for high hydration doughs - it's usually better to use the double hydration method. I purchased mine from TMB Baking south of San Francisco and they are extremely helpful. Although, it's often reported to be made by "Esmach" it's actually made by Avancini - an Italian cooking equipment manufacturer. I recently had a chance to use a Haussler Alpha spiral mixer. The mixer looks almost identical to the SP5, however, it has a tilting head and a removable bowl.
Every weekend I try to bake something. I did Relay For Life last weekend so I didn't get a chance to get my hands on dough. I made up for it this weekend though... This weekend's bakes:
MIDDLE CLASS BRIOCHE KNOTS:
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As kids, my siblings and I were never permitted to eat a hot cross bun before Good Friday (or an Easter egg before Easter Sunday, or meat on Good Friday). While formalised religion and I have parted ways, I've continued to observe the Easter culinary traditions I was brought up with. I think it's no bad thing to delay gratification with treats like hot cross buns. The building anticipation enhances the experience, and I suspect you savour them all the more for holding off. Anyway...
Time to begin another question for bread perfection improvement! By popular request/persuasion, I've decided to attempt a ciabatta quest, and leave off on perfecting crusty sourdough dinner rolls for another day.
For the next however-many-it-takes weeks, I will bake a batch of ciabatta dough, and post my results to this baker-blog. My goal: to reliably produce a ciabatta with a thin, crisp crust, open, moist crumb, delectable wheaty flavor, and which is tall enough to slice longitudinally for sandwiches.
