Blog posts

"Herbstsonne" - a German Sourdough bread

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I've actually never been much into white bread. I still like to bake it occasionally, to mix up my diet and to have new challenges in my baking, the breads I'm the most fond of though are definitely breads which include some whole grain, some seeds . . . which are overall somewhat nutritious. This is the kind of bread which I like the best as an everyday bread.

Pain au Levain (stiff Levain)

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Folliwing Dan DiMuzio's guidance (and others) re creating a more sour levain I prepared a 500g, 50% hydration levain, and then fed it every 12 hours for two and a half days. I maintained it at 55°F, in our wine closet, thoroughout. Subsequently, I used DiMuzio's Pain au Levain (firm starter: 480g, 60%) formula with two changes. 1. The aforementioned 50% hydrated levain vs. the formula's 60% levain; and, 2. I encreased the whole-wheat flour percentage to 20% vs. the formula's 10%.

Dan Lepard's Barm Bread (100% sourdough)

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My husband text me from China and said his boss told him over pre-dinner drinks that he is a sucker of sourdough!   Immediately I was thinking what would I bake if he ever makes a trip to Australia, not that I've been forewarned of any near-term possibility, but I was just entertaining hypothetical visits.  Somehow, I know it's not MacGuire's that I've been making lately even with all those lovely big holey crumbs that I've been getting.  The flavors of all those MacGuire breads/sourdoughs are not the best of all breads/sourdoughs that

Pain De Tradition sourdough baked in my La Cloche

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This is yet another sourdough version of the Pain De Tradition.  I baked this in my La Cloche bell for 15 minutes covered starting at a 450 oven and then turning it down to 350F at the start of the bake for one hour total convection bake time.

The taste is very nice and I can taste a hint of the extra organic white wheat that was added.  

baking bread and diabetic

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Does anyone have any thoughts on a diabetic wanting to bake bread, pizzas, etc. Are there special recipes or perhaps limits to what one eats or just now do at all. Thanks for any thougths.    ed

Two Good Baking Videos

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I have a niece who is interested in baking and I was going to buy her the King Arthur videos on Artisan Bread and Blitz Puff Pastry.  When I went to their web site I was sad to see that the DVD on Artisan Breads was unavailable.  I don't know if they will make some more and sell them again or if that's the end of it.  I sure hope they continue selling them because it was a really helpful video for me when I was starting the make hearth breads with wet dough.

Adventures in Cake

  As the story goes, Emily wanted a topsy turvy cake for her birthday party. If you haven't seen one, please google topsy turvy cakes and there are even cool video's that make it look oh so easy to do. I had called the bakery and they wanted $230.00 for one to feed 20 people. Not this year! So the Wilton pans come out and this is the result. Now I know it is not a $230. quality cake, 1. because I used frosting and  fondant only on the decorations (it taste like crap) and 2. it was a less than perfect job.