Blog posts

Harbin(哈尔滨) is a city in Northeast China with a heavy Russian influence. Around 1913 the first generation of Russian immigrants came mostly to work for the Chinese Eastern Railway, since then they left noticable marks on local culture, one of which is : 大列巴(pronounced: Da Le Ba). This is a miche like sourdough bread that' was first introduced to the locals by a Russian baker, and has been sold in Harbin bakeries for over a hundred years. Even its Chinese name was originated from Russian word khleb (bread).

New Norcia Sourdough Recipe.

Related post in General Discussion forum.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/recipes/2010/08/05/2974566.htm

Ingredients
Sourdough starter:
250ml cold potato water, grape juice, lemon juice or
plain water
250 grams stone-ground, wholemeal flour

Sourdough bread:
750 grams baker's flour
15 grams salt
250ml starter
250ml water

Hello Everybody!

Coming home from Portland late yesterday evening I had no time to make any pre-doughs for today's baking. So everything was stretched and folded, except for my usual Pain a l'Ancienne dough. No kitchen octopuses to battle this time, the doughs behaved and didn't try to take over the countertop. This morning I got an early start with my baking and was done just in time to Meet The Press.

Tyrolean Pumpkin Seed Mini Breads

Wholewheat Anise-infused Apple Sour bread

Started as the all-white flour Apple Sour bread from the Cordon Bleu Professionals Baker's guide.

Adapted by fellow Arizonan Stephanie Petersen for whole wheat.

Then tweaked by me.

The "sour" refers to week-old fermented shredded apples, not to the flavor.

The texture is moist, the smell and flavor are woodsy with a light background of anise. The apples are inperceptably in the background.

This is my 1st attempt at a multigrain loaf, Hamelman's Wholewheat Multigrain with 50% wholewheat, multigrain soaker, and a liquid levain. It is essentially a partial sourdough, with  1tsp yest added to the final dough.

As i only have white wheat on hand, i used white wheat flour, so the crumb is pale. other 50% is All Purpose.

Experimentation with baguettes never seems to end. Today I decided to try a one day sponge instead of my usual poolish. In addition, I let the rest of the flour and water (that not being occupied fermenting in the sponge) have a one and one half hour autolyse. I then did a double bulk ferment, the first in the fridge for two hours, the second at room temperature for another hour after folding the dough.

What an easy wonderful bread. I went to your blog for your "original " version as I didn't have time to do the soaker. I have been impressed by breads but this one is WAY at the top. Sweet and tender and oh the crust ...it sang and sang. 

I just finished making croissant dough for the very first time with information I could find on the internet. Wow. Making croissant dough is tough, and I'm still I'm not sure I did it correctly. What I just made tastes good, though it's reminiscent of a bread-child between a buttermilk biscuit and a croissant.

In a continuing attempt to improve my handling of higher hydration doughs, I baked Jason's Quick Coccdrillo Ciabatta Bread and a Focaccia bread.  They actually turned out good enough that I wasn't ashamed of them so here are some pictures.

Jason's Quick Coccdrillo Ciabatta Bread

Crumb

Focaccia Bake