I've been trying to bake artisan bread for about three years now, since I picked up a copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice as an exchange for a Christmas present. In that time, I've never been particularly good about focusing on one particular bread and practicing it until I get it down, as so many of the wise bakers on this site recommend.
I have really become enamored of late with Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, particularly his basic country loaf which is a combination of APF or BF and WWF. I had to experiment with some raisins and pistachios that I had on hand. The methodology was identical to Robertson's given in the text, same proportions, same times and so forth. My only variation is that I use spring water, I mill local Oklahoma winter hard red wheatberries, and perhaps my method of folding the bread and the number of times that I fold versus the text. I fold 4 or more times depending on what ki
My first attempts at baking bread-like objects involved pizza. About a year ago, Brother David made pizza. It was good. I mean, it... was... GOOD!!! I figured I could do that. So I asked a few (too few, I now realize) questions, and he pointed me to the Pizza Primer on TFL, where I found the Reinhart Neo-Napolitano recipe. I followed it (I thought) a few times, and the results were passable (I thought). The crust was thin (I like that) but not crispy and it didn't really get a big holey crumb around the edge.
I want my weekends back. Some of them , anyway. I would like to have the option of not being tethered to my kitchen, with the ticking clock in the back of my mind, for most of a day off.
The trouble is, I am hopelessly addicted to whole wheat, sourdough, hearth bread. Not a good place to start. Staying up half the night during the week is not the answer either, not for me. I need my sleep.
I'm working on this recipe.
My current state of the art is:
Evening of Day 0
(this approximates 100% hydration starter mix). Let rise overnight.
Morning of Day 1
Here are some pictures of the winning breads at the Coupe Louis Lesaffre Competition at IBIE from Team USA. They now go to the Coupe du Monde in 2012 in Paris to compete against 11 other national teams. Background on the competition process is here.
I've made these flour tortillas for the past year or so...and with the approach of fall, and things beginning to slow a bit, I'm on a mission to find my "perfect" version.....take a look and give me your ideas....Thanks!
http://www.brightbakes.wordpress.com
Cathy B.
As I was feeding my starter (Ralph), rather than discarding I fed the discard and used it to make my first sourdough cinnamon rolls. I'm up to my ears with sourdough pancake mix and just couldn't bear to flush half of Ralph. I happened on the following recipe in COOKS.COM and with only very minor adjustments, I made the cinnamon rolls shown below.
SOURDOUGH CINNAMON ROLLS
Printed from COOKS.COM
My last rye[url=http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/19306/variations-breads-hamelman-and-macguire] experiment [/url]involved a variation on Hamelman's 66% rye sourdough found in Bread. The variation was the inclusion of a boiling rye soaker (brühstück) and toasted sunflower seeds. I was pleased with the result, especially the sweetness imparted by the soaker.
