Blog posts

When I saw Sylvia's sandwiches I immediately knew what we were having for Father's Day! I made BBA's Italian Bread. Thanks to information gleaned from David's posts I knew to increase the mixing time. I think it took about 10 minutes on medium speed in my KA to pass the window pane test.

I used a regular biga (is there really any such animal?) that I made the day before and held overnight in the refrigerator. I made one loaf and 4 hoagie-style rolls (each roll weighed about 5 ounces).

I TOLD myself to be ready for the change in weather, but it tripped me up once again.  I wasn't taking the warmer weather into account when refreshing my starter.  So lately it was way on the downhill side before I was using it.  Big mistake, as my loaves have been somewhat flatter and somewhat more dense, though certainly edible.  But I'm back on track now, as evidenced below.  Thought I'd better document this here so others can learn from my errors.

This recipe is from page 130 of Eric Kayser's [b]Beyond The Bread Basket[/b].  It is part of a dessert called [b]Strawberries in Wine with Pink Caramelized Almond Bread[/b].  As winter is now in full swing down under, strawberries are everywhere in fruit & vege stores and supermarkets; I thought it would make a relatively healthy dessert for after dinner.  

[u]Formula for Pink Caramelized Almond Bread[/u] 

250g bread flour

a pinch of salt

Today, I baked a couple of boules of San Joaquin Sourdough. The dough was 75% hydration. I used Guisto's Baker's Choice flour and 10% KAF White Whole Wheat. 

I baked the boules on a stone with my usual steaming setup. However, I poured more boiling water than usual over the hot lava rocks, because I wanted to see the effect of heavier steaming. As I had suspected from previous bakes, the effect was good oven spring and bloom but reduced grigne and a shinier crust.

The flavor is good, but I do think I prefer the rye over white whole wheat in this bread.

Put it in your Meatballs!  Roll your Meatballs in your homemade bread crumbs!  Make Rolls!

I was asked for the meatball recipe and for photos on yesterday's blog for Italian Sandwich Rolls I made useing Dan DiMuzio's recipe for Sicilian Semolina Bread...which I snuck in a cup of Organic White Wheat in enchange for the cup of Bread flour...forgive me Dan!!  It was my ADD..I think that's what you call it!

upon multiple requests, here is a picture overview of my lazy bread (slowrising). It takes 20 minutes 'work', excluding oven and wait time, incl cleaning up. I don't remember where I once started out, I guess it was BBA.

Ingredients: 500 grams water (half a liter), 5 grams instant yeast, 440 grams white flour, 220 grams five grain flour (or rye), 2 tsp salt, 50 grams of seeds.

My first pass at the Portuguese Sweet Bread turned out pretty well.  I followed the BBA recipe exactly, and I found that I only needed 24g of water per loaf of the 42g maximum Reinhart allotted.

And now that is has cooled, the crumb shot . . .

Woke up this morning wanting to bake something, but also wanted a rest from building starters, poolishes, or sponges; weighing flour and water and salt and dough; and seemingly endlessly setting the timer. So I did nothing.

Until, chatting with Yvonne about 11 o'clock, she mentioned sticky buns: it had been a long time since I'd made them, "distracted as you were by sourdough, and sourdough, and did I mention sourdough?"

Three hours later they were...

Most people associate pancakes with maple syrup, butter and fruit. Since I have had to stay away from sweets I have begun to use pancakes in a different way. I use them as a savory grain side dish to accompany soup, beans, and stew, sometimes even tearing them up, putting them right in the soup or stew. I use them as part of a snack with unusual toppings and spreads like peanut butter, tahini, chopped liver, salsa or gravlax (home cured salmon).
The high proportion of nutritious ingredients makes these pancakes a substantial part of a snack or meal.