Blog posts

I may be starting a new career in an Italian Restaurant working for a man named Matt H. Please keep fingers crossed for me!  Thank you,  john M.

I love Autumn in the UP...  Not only the colors that start popping on the maples, but Autumn means the tomatoes and peppers are ready to harvest!

Jalapenos

Fresno Chilis

It was a busy weekend and a busy weekend of baking!  Catching up on a few posts...

Have been trying a few recipes and techniques of other TFL'ers in my last couple bakes, and this weekend I tried trailrunner's holy trinity of equal parts honey, EVOO, and yogurt in place of some of the water.  I chose to try it on one of the whole grain recipes I've been wanting to bake again:  60 rye:40 spelt with toasted pumpkin seeds and flaxseed.

I still have a bag of whole buckwheat flour from Anita’s Mill that I am finding hard to use up. I decided to try it in a milk bread for something a bit different.  Then because buckwheat has no gluten I decided I’d use it in the tangzhong and also as half the flour in the levain.  Buckwheat is neither a grain nor a grass, in fact it is a flowering plant related to rhubarb and sorrel.  It is considered a pseudo cereal.  The seeds of buckwheat are what is used to make the flour and it is becoming in vogue at the moment in French bakeries for bread. 

This bake was made by combining two starters together namely spontaneous sourdough (type I) and sourwort (natural  type II) in search of a more unique and complete taste profile along with good bread appearance.

The motive behind this test was based on the particulars of each one of the two ferments that I keep which possess very different but complimentary characteristics.

    I was so happy with how my last bake came out using a two step levain build I decided to try it again.  I wanted to use some of the Vermont cheese we bought on our vacation last month and I had a bunch of tasty cherries we bought from the store just begging to be put to good use.

I combined some Artisan Bread Flour from KAF with some high extraction fresh milled Ruby Red Whole Wheat from Barton Springs Mill.  The cheese was a mild Vermont Cheddar that was cubed so it wouldn’t completely melt when baked.

I've been on a bit of a whole grain kick lately, and after a brief back and forth with Dave, I decided to give his 97th Bake a try.  Let the fun begin!

Last week Natalya Syanova of Natasha's Baking posted a short video of a babka with a cream cheese filling that I just had to make. The filling she used was made with cream cheese, an egg yolk,  sugar and vanilla, so you can imagine the resulting flavour, and she also use a brioche base for it to ensure a super soft and pillowy texture.

Instead of using her brioche recipe though, I used a Tangzhong one from Bread by Elise.

After several years of thinking about making a loaf of Portuguese Sweet Bread, I finally did so today.  The recipe came from Bread Illustrated (produced by the folks at America's Test Kitchen) and is very simple.

This is based originally on a Buttermilk Rye that David Snyder posted. He got it from a baker on the net. I’ve changed a number of things but want to give credit for the idea . 

This is another mostly hands off formula. The incredible outcome belies the easy process. This once again proves time and fermentation are your friends . 

2150g dough 2 boules 450 /20 min covered graniteware 

   400/30 min uncovered 

levain: 110g freshly ground rye sourced Breadtopia